What Makes a Sacramento Real Estate Agent the #1 Top Producer?

What makes a real estate agent a #1 Top Producer in Sacramento? Lots of real estate agents can call themselves the best Sacramento real estate agent or the top Sacramento real estate agent, but what criteria do they use to qualify themselves? Some agents, I suppose, just call themselves #1 because nobody told them they can’t do it and they’re simply clueless. If you don’t know any clueless real estate agents, then hey, I bet you’re one of those guys who say they don’t know any gay or lesbian people, either. Some people can’t see past their own noses.

I heard there was a big war — and maybe the war is still going on — over which agent has the right to call herself or himself the #1 Top Producer in the entire world, universe and on the planet earth. I’m astonished that this Sacramento real estate agent, yup me, Elizabeth Weintraub, sold enough homes last year to have my ranking pushed to the #1 position for Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate for number of homes sold.

Even if a certain unnamed agent who no longer works at Lyon Real Estate was still at the company, my number of homes sold in Sacramento County far exceeded that agent’s production, more than double the number. A client who lives in Wilhaggin called last week while on vacation at Marco Island to ask if I would be interested in going to Italy with her, and when I mentioned my accomplishment, she gasped in an incredulous tone, “You mean you sold MORE than XYZ agent?” Yeah, I did.

Never in my life have I been the number one top producer agent in Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate by selling such a phenomenal number of homes. This is a first for me. And I’ve been in the business for 40 years. My clients were a mix of traditional sellers with equity, investors, first-time home buyers and some were short sales. Upper-end homes, lower-end, I sold them all. I don’t discriminate.

I suppose that if I do it again in 2014, I’ll start to get used to it, and it won’t be such a big deal to anybody, much less me. But when you earn a distinction like this, and it’s good for business to let people know, that’s what you should do. If other agents look at that advertising and mutter under their breath: who does she think she is? I can tell you. I’m the #1 agent in Sacramento County at Lyon Real Estate. Smiley face. I’m excited. My passion for what I do is paying off.

Some agents qualify their top-producing status based on dollar volume. But if I sold only one home for, say, $25 million, how much respect would you have for me if I called myself the #1 agent? I would say I sold the highest priced home in Sacramento County, if that’s how I qualified. Other agents might qualify themselves by selling the most homes in any given ZIP code, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they disclose how they arrived at that designation. I think where agents get into trouble and begin to lose credibility is when they make broad statements without clarification or hide the facts.

And let’s not forget that some people erroneously believe that a top producer has no time for them, and that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. The status can backfire, publicity-wise. I got to be a #1 Top Producer by providing individual, personalized service. That’s my secret. Each client is a precious gem. Plus, I have two team members who support me, and a fabulous transaction coordinator. No agent is an island in this business; I don’t care who you are –but the day you surpass me in production is a day I will be happy for you.

Source: Trendgraphix Top Producer 2013 by Units, January 2014.

Image: Sacramento Bee 2/9/14.