By Brandon Doyle

I’m an avid reader and an author in addition to being a real estate professional. I know firsthand how influential books can be on a person’s life and career.

After much debate, I’ve come up with my top 10 book recommendations for real estate agents. These titles are in no particular order, but I hope my descriptions will help you choose a book that will expand your horizons and work smarter in your business.

Ninja Selling: Subtle Skills. Big Results. by Larry Kendall

Written by one of the founding partners of The Group, Inc., based out of Colorado, Ninja Selling is a straightforward guide to building a successful career in real estate. Larry explains best practices for providing value and staying top of mind with your database and in your community.

The Conversion Code: Capture Internet Leads, Create Quality Appointments, Close More Sales  by Chris Smith

Chris Smith has been dominating the real estate conference scene for more than five years. He is a thought leader and expert on lead generation and conversion. The Conversion Code covers all of the tactics and insights he and his company, Curaytor, have learned working on behalf of their clients. It is primarily focused on generating leads online through Facebook and landing pages, and following up with marketing automation and phone calls.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris

While I don’t expect that many real estate professionals could get away with a four-hour workweek, the concepts outlined in the book will help you understand what the best use of your time is and identify opportunities to leverage outside help. Focusing on dollar productive activities and delegating “busy work” allows top selling agents to do more deals and still maintain a work/life balance. There are many real life examples in this book that anyone could implement in their business today.

Mindset, Methods & Metrics: Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent by Brandon Doyle, Nicholas Dreher & Marshall Saunders

About thee years ago, after having read many books on real estate sales and attending a lot of real estate conferences, my co-authors and I were left wanting something a little more actionable that would apply to agents in any market. So we set out to write Mindset, Methods & Metrics. In the mindset section of the book, you will be advised of practices and philosophies to help you develop a successful business. Next, the metrics section lays out the critical step-by-step analysis key to determining where you are, where you want to be, and how to construct a specific plan to get there. Finally, the methods section will walk you through a number of proven strategies for marketing your real estate business, developing your referral networks, and establishing practices that you can take to the bank.

The Million Dollar Real Estate Team: How I Went From Zero to Earning $1 Million After Expenses in Three Years by Christopher Watters

The Million Dollar Real Estate Team is perfect for anyone thinking about building a team or who is ready to take their team to the next level. Chris Watters shares his story about how he grew his team to net $1 million in income after expenses in only three years. The book is organized by stages of growth and outlines areas to focus on, marketing methods, organizational structures, systems, including actual costs.

How to be a Great Salesperson by Monday Morning by David Cook

“When you learn something from other salespeople that took them many years to figure out, you just leaped years ahead in your own sales knowledge in mere seconds.” I believe this quote could be applied to books and mentorships in general. For a minimal monetary cost plus a few hours of your time, you’re able to absorb information that may have taken years or an entire life time for the author to acquire. How to be a Great Salesperson by Monday Morning is filled with insights and examples that will help you discover what is really important to your clients and how to best communicate your value.

Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success by Hoss Pratt

National speaker Hoss Pratt covers vision, mindset, and various strategies to build your business. The focus of Listing Boss is to win more listing through active prospecting and effective communication. It includes examples scripts and strategies to overcome objections and win more business. In the back of the book there is a bonus section that will help you build a business plan for the following year that breaks out number of appointments required each week/month along with corresponding prospecting efforts to achieve that goal.

Secrets of Top Selling Agents: The Keys To Real Estate Success Revealed by Joe Sesso

Secrets of Top Selling Agents is a compilation of edited transcripts from previous episodes of the webinar series by the same name, which highlights top industry professionals. Each chapter is based on a different episode and is laid out in a similar format, giving some background about the expert, their story, and key lessons learned. What I like about this book compared to some of the other books written in the same manor is that each contributor offers a different view point and area of expertise instead of repeating the same things over and over again. This book is perfect for someone who may not have time to read each contributor’s works but would like a high level overview of each.

Explosive Sales Growth in Real Estate by Ryan Snow

Explosive Sales Growth in Real Estate is a concise guide of how to establish a career in real estate where you’ll consistently earn a six-figure income. The author, Ryan Snow, understands what is important to building a business based providing value to your sphere of influence and mastering two or three other strategies that match your personality. Early in the book, he warns not to try to master all of the strategies but to focus on the ones that work for you. There are scripts and recommendations for daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly activities for each method.

Mindset, Model & Marketing! The Proven Strategies to Transform and Grow Your Real Estate Business by Tom Ferry

If you’re a fan of national speaker and top-rated real estate business coach Tom Ferry’s YouTube channel, blog posts, or have seen him speak on stage, then you’ll probably like Mindset, Model and Marketing! The book covers proven business-building techniques that will help you get in the right mindset to dominate your local market, including strategies to overcome objections, manage your time, your marketing, and implementation of one of four team models.

If You’re Still Looking for a Title that Piques Your Interest…

It was very difficult to narrow this list down to only 10. Each book that I chose covers a specific topic that is relevant to agents today. That being said, there are hundreds of great books out there, so I put together a list of additional recommendations that I’ve personally read and have given my stamp of approval. I try to stay on top of new books as they come out, but if there is book I missed that you recommend, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to check it out. Again, in no particular order, here are my additional book recommendations for real estate professionals:

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Content Machine by Dan Norris

Harris Rules by Tim & Julie Harris

REAL: A path to Passion, Purpose, and Profits in Real Estate by Dave Crumby, Lani Rosales, and Martin Streicher

Disruptors, Discounters and Doubters by Joe Rand

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Shift How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times by Gary Keller with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

#GetSocialSmart by Katie Lance

The Politically Incorrect Real Estate Agent Handbook (and companion Log-book) by Peter F. Porgelli Jr.

Billion Dollar Agent Manifesto: Secrets to Grow Your Business to Over $1,000,000 by Best Agent Business (Steve Kantor)

7L: The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals by Michael J. Maher

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

Outrageous Authenticity: You Are Your Best Sales Weapon by Leigh Brown

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg, John David Mann

Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuck

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by Grover Gardner

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Never Split The Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it by Chris Voss

Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide for Starting Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, E-Mail, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard

The Book of YES: The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversion Guide by Kevin Ward

Your 1^st Year in Real Estate by Dirk Zeller

Winning Real Estate: 9 Secrets to Success from Leading Pros by Century 21 Real Estate LLC

The Road To Recognition: The A-to-Z Guide to Personal Branding for Accelerating Your Professional Success in the Age of Digital Media by Seth Price & Barry Feldman

E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

The Five Dysfunction of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

Brandon Doyle, ABR, e-PRO, is a second-generation real estate pro with RE/MAX Results in the Twin Cities. He is also coauthor of the book M3—Mindset, Methods & Metrics: Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. Learn more about Doyle at www.doylerealestateteam.com.