7 NEW Must-Read Books for Real Estate Agents in 2020
This is a fresh list of books that have come out since I published my last must read list in 2019. Obviously that list has some timeless gems that are worth your time as well (including obligatory reads like Gary Keller’s The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, The One Thing, and Shift).
Success Is in Your Sphere: Leverage the Power of Relationships to Achieve Your Business Goals
Zvi Band is the founder of the CRM Contactually, which is now owned by Compass.
Zvi is an industry favorite whose CRM was very much focused on personal connections and working your sphere. So, it’s only appropriate to consider his book he wrote on doing just that!
This book is full of actionable steps to perfect your relationship building that will lead to success professionally and personally.
- Zvi Band
- 2019
- 288 pages
Disruptors, Discounters, and Doubters: A Guide for the Client-Oriented Future of the Real Estate Industry
Joe Rand will take you to explore real estate’s “original sin” – being a salesperson instead of a “client oriented real estate” model. This has given discounters and disruptors an opening, and they’re taking it.
This is a must read for something thinking about their business model and how it is going to thrive in the 2020s and beyond.
- Joe Rand
- 2018
- 164 pages
How to be a Great Real Estate Agent: The Principles of Client-Oriented Real Estate
Two books from the same author in barely a year?
If his previous book Disruptors, Discounters, and Doubters looks more at the landscape of real estate, this one dives into more hands on how-tos of delivering that “CORE” experience to customers.
- Joe Rand
- 2019
- 230 pages
Commission Impossible: Rogue Agent
How about a comic book?
If you aren’t familiar with The Broke Agent’s irreverent humor, go give it a look! His YouTube, Instagram, and comics are full of laughs that sometimes might be a little too true.
- Eric Simon
- 2019
- 198
Rethinking Real Estate: A Roadmap to Technology’s Impact on the World’s Largest Asset Class
2019 was a huge year for proptech. 2020 is no different, minus an unexpected hiccup from a pandemic.
Dror Poleg dives into the billions of dollars flooding into real estate technology and analyzing what it means for the industry, both commercial and residential real estate.
- Dror Poleg
- 2019
- 306 pages
YouTube for Real Estate Agents: Learn How to Get Free Real Estate Leads and NEVER Cold Call Again
Here’s a short book from Karin Carr on YouTube in the 2020s.
Of course, the first thing you want to do when checking the bona fides of a social media guru is check out their social media channel. Her YouTube is full of useful info for real estate YouTubers and I highly recommend it!
- Karin Carr
- 2019
- 94 pages
Every Day Agent: Straight Talk & Proven Methods to Grow Your Real Estate Business
This relatively quick read is perfect for newer agents just starting out in the business. It’s to-the-point and gives practical tips and expectations for your real estate career.
- Whitney Ellis
- 2019
- 132 pages
Other Stuff I’ve Been Reading
I’ve been on a leadership binge recently, and have been reconnecting with my military roots. These aren’t directly real estate related but I highly recommend them for brokers, team leads, and managers. The Army style of management is not the Full Metal Jacket scene that might first pop into your heads. Instead, military leadership is all about flexibility, innovation, adaptability, and empowering your subordinates. It’s a great model for business leadership, too. These books dive into actionable ways to apply it.
- The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results
- Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
- Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Conclusion
Hopefully for real estate agents, brokers, managers, and employees, this is a great start to some newer books that maybe weren’t on your radar. It’s always important to keep those skills sharp!
Books are just a part of it. I recommend staying on top of podcasts and blogs!
