I recently became licensed and I've signed with a company but I have no idea as to where to begin.

What should be my main focus as a new agent?

What are you wanting to do sell, list, sit on new construction? What type of company did you join do they give leads or help how much do you have to pay them????????????????

Sell, and I joined Keller Williams

As far as I know they will help and if your talking about monthly fees it's $80

Your main focus as a new agent should be to learn your market and learn your craft and get a good contact management system in place NOW.

Spend time studying the MLS. Learn how to use it, learn how to search for different things. Study trends over the past few years in different areas in your market.

Pick a couple neighborhoods to concentrate on and learn about them. How many homes sell per year? What is the average price? How many for sale now? How many under contract? Go see the homes for sale. Learn the neighborhood routes...learn shortcuts from point A to point B. This is how I know my way around certain developments that I never set foot in before - other agents complain that they don't know their way around...well duh.

Study your real estate contracts. Know the Agreement of Sale and the Listing Contract so that you can deal sensibly with a client. Know your consumer notice or whatever disclosure you are required to give to customers upon your first meeting.

Set up a database/address book or something in Outlook to keep track of your leads.

Write a list of your entire Sphere of Influence. Start contacting them - not to prospect to them right away but just get in contact with them. Don't send a dopey announcement letter announcing your a brand new green rookie - just contact people and say hi, hear their news, and slip in your own news in a casual sort of way.

Make a plan. What are you going to do to drum up business?

Take whatever tutorials and watch whatever DVDs your office provides for training. One of my favorite real estate trainers to watch is David Knox - his videos are usually very very good.

Too many rookies take too little time to actually learn their craft. Yes, some things you just need to learn on the fly but it would be so much better if more people were actually competent before they hit the ground running..

The most important thing for me when I first began my career was learning what the contract really says. If you don't know the contract you may overlook something that could protect your client. The more I knew the more confidence I had in my abilities. Here in CA our boards have wonderful booklets for purchase that walk you through contracts, foreclosures, short sales. I didn't have to study my area of sales much since I have been here my whole life and have seen a whole lotta changes. As for marketing - I like the materials of David Knox and Joe Stumpf. Those are two of my favorite trainers. They have great ideas.

Ask for training in your office. If you can't get any training, change office. You don't want to pay a monthly fee anywhere for now. Just go for training in the first 2-3 months, get all you can get.
Your question should be answered the very first day by your broker/manager. If you have no answer to that by now, I suggest to find a broker/office that will answer it...

You should join a team if you are new.

Get a good contact management system in place. Make sure all of your SOI to know that you are in the business. Network and try to figure out what works best for you. I started with Open Houses, every other week, and got my clients from there, but for you something different could work. I am farming my subdivision and got some listings from there. Good luck!

There are some really great tips here. I would definentally work your SOI and maybe some short sales. Dont be afraid of them, possible even some reos. Check out a few good sites to work with.
One site for coaching and motivation would be Mike Ferry www.MikeFerry.com, a site for buyer leads would be House Values www.HouseValues.com, A site for foreclosure listings would be REO Prep www.Reoprep.com and Reo World www.Reoworld.com. These are a few tips that may give you a jump start.

Lead generation should be your main focus at all times. You have Managers and Broker/Owners and other experienced Realtors to help you if you get stuck or have questions.

Get your DB sorted and start contacting people now. Without leads coming in you may run out of money quickly. Get that SOI together and work it hard. Lots of good advice here.

Is there recommended software packages to manage contacts? Something that would help you keep track of contact history, etc.

TimBer,
There are dozens, if not more, contact management systems available. Many agents, especially new and on a strict budget, use something as simple as MS Outlook. There is ACT, Top Producer (which I use, but a little pricey), Wise Agent (affordable), and so forth. I wouldn't sign a long term agreement with anybody without at least a trial period to test it for yourself. Some databases are saved on your computer, but many are internet based, so you can retrieve all your data from any computer with internet access. Do a Google search for contact management systems for real estate.

I think you manage your contacts from inside MLS.

Point2 websites is $10 a month for the intro version. You can manage up to 100 prospects on it. For $119 a month you can manage unlimited prospects and run an entire team or office.

Try Zoho crm. They have a free version that is pretty good.