The best time to become a great agent is a quiet market.

Anyone can sell property when the phone won't stop ringing. When prices are climbing and buyers are queuing, a mediocre agent looks like a star — the market is doing their job for them. Then demand cools, the queue disappears, and you find out who can actually do this. In twenty years of building brokerages, I've learned that real agents aren't made in the boom. They're made in the quiet.

I say this to every person I hire, because it's the single most important thing I can teach them: a soft market is not a problem to survive. It's the best career move you'll ever make. The agents who learn to produce when it's hard build skills, habits and relationships that compound for the rest of their careers. The ones who only know how to ride a wave get wiped out the moment it breaks.

What separates the agent who eats from the one who starves

When demand is thin, the difference between top producers and everyone else stops being about luck and starts being about behaviour. Here's what the great ones actually do differently.

1. They prospect instead of waiting. A weak agent sits by the portal and refreshes their inbox. A strong one creates demand — calls the database, works past clients, follows up the leads everyone else gave up on. In a hot market, deals come to you. In a quiet one, you go and find them. That muscle, once built, never leaves.
2. They become the most useful person in the room. When buyers are nervous, they don't want a salesperson — they want an advisor who can tell them the truth about the market. The agent who knows the data cold, who can explain why a price is right or wrong, becomes irreplaceable. Nervous markets reward expertise, not enthusiasm.
3. They work the relationships, not just the transactions. A quiet market is a gift for the patient. The deals you plant now — the buyer who isn't ready yet, the owner thinking about next year — close when the market turns. The agent who stays in touch, adds value, and asks for nothing wins the next twelve months of business while everyone else is panicking about this week.
4. They control the only thing they can: activity. You can't control interest rates or headlines. You can control how many meaningful conversations you have this week. The best agents I know stop watching the market and start counting their own numbers — calls, viewings, follow-ups — because activity is the one input that reliably turns into output.
5. They tell the truth, fast. When it's hard, the temptation is to over-promise and hide bad news. The great ones do the opposite. They set honest expectations, deliver bad news the day it happens, and become the one voice a client actually trusts. Trust is the whole business — and it's built precisely when things aren't going to plan.

Why I hire for the downturn, not the boom

When I look at someone to join my team, I'm not asking whether they can sell in a rising market — almost anyone can. I'm asking a harder question: can this person produce when it's hard? Do they have the discipline to work a slow Tuesday, the character to be honest when a deal falls apart, and the patience to build relationships that pay off next year instead of this week?

Because a market where demand isn't high isn't a reason to lower your standards for who you hire — it's the perfect filter. The agents who commit and get good now, while it's difficult, are the ones who'll dominate when it turns. And it always turns. Dubai, London — I've watched these cycles for two decades. The people who used the quiet stretches to sharpen their craft came out the other side owning their markets.

So if you're an agent reading this in a market that feels slow, hear me clearly: this is your moment, not your excuse. Learn to produce now and you'll never have to fear a cycle again. That's exactly the kind of agent I want on my team — and if that's you, I'd like to have the conversation.

Saied Nazemi — Founder, TRPE Real Estate · Building agents since 2006