You may be the most capable real estate professional in your area. Perhaps you know the local market inside out. Or maybe you’re a master negotiator with a penchant for matching the perfect home with the perfect buyers.

However, if you don’t convey strength and competence when you make that initial impression, you may lose business to someone who does—even if you’re the better person for the job!

The good news is that strong self-esteem is attainable. The following tips may help you gain more business, close more deals, and lead a happier, more confident life. 

1) Project confidence with powerful body language

Back in 2012, social psychologist Dr. Amy Cuddy made waves with her TED talk exploring the link between body language and self-confidence. Her research revealed the relationship between our body language and how we feel about ourselves—aka our self-esteem.

When we confidently carry ourselves (what Dr. Cuddy refers to as “power posing”), we feel a strong sense of empowerment that can lead to improved optimism, authenticity, creativity, executive functioning, and performance, among many other variables.

In other words, we can feel more confident by acting more confident.

2) Pump yourself up with positive self-talk

Whether you recite them aloud, write them in a journal, or speak them internally to yourself, positive affirmations have lasting, beneficial effects on your self-esteem.

Research shows that changing how you think and speak about yourself can help make lasting physical changes to your neural networks.

It may sound strange, but thinking is just another behavior—a physical phenomenon that arises from a series of chemical reactions between neurons.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said nearly two centuries ago, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

3) Get out of your comfort zone and do what you fear

Psychological research has repeatedly revealed that the best means of overcoming a phobia of any kind is gradual, repeated exposure to the phobic stimuli.

In other words, if you’re afraid of something, walk toward it—but do so in baby steps. Whether it’s public speaking or calling up past clients to ask for referrals, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Your chosen profession is one of the most challenging—and rewarding—professions in the world! Real estate agents must be sensitive to their clients’ needs, yet aggressive enough to market themselves to their communities and negotiate on their clients’ behalf.

When you approach the psychological aspect of real estate sales with the same tenacity you apply to every other facet of your business, you open yourself to a world of success.