"What are so-called top performing agents doing, possibly behind the scenes, that result in more/better/faster sales?"
Have a pool of buyers and investors waiting for a specific home in a specific price range and neighborhood that might suit them.

You also have to remember that the "Top Producers" are called that because they are producing for their office. It means that they have lots of sales. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are giving better overall service to their clients, just that they have lots of clients. Quite often top producers have one or more assistants doing a lot of the day to day work. I have talked to one so called "top producer" who didn't even know the color of one of the houses he had listed. His assistant had had all of the contact with the sellers.

Enthusiasm! If an agent is excited and knowledgeable about the house, that really helps. And I think the most successful ones do lots of networking.

Good question - our selling agent only sells, no schlepping buyers, no dual agency. If someone calls him to buy, he sends them to someone else in the office. He literally has saturated one part of a geographic area so that if you want to buy a home in that area, odds are good he's the listing agent. He started small and sold and sold before the days of the internet with paper advertising. His face was literally everywhere, so if you were thinking of selling you give him an interview. Eventually, he saturated an area of the city and its northern suburbs. He is VERY concentrated - basically a 5 sq mile area. He truly knows what the houses are selling for at that moment. And, he's flexible. We wanted a 90 day contract, he was like "Ok, I'll get it sold way before that!" The other realtors were "Nope, 6 months only, sorry."

So, basically he has market saturation, advertising, flexibility, an excellent staff and good communication skills.

Our RE agent networked constantly. He also advised on staging and brought in his personal interior designer to select paint colors and suggest minor changes. He made arrangements for the painter, too; I just had to write the check (for a reduced price which the RE agent negotiated.)
He does not do Open Houses, either for agents or the public, and he only posts one photo on realtor.com. However, he hires a terrific professional photographer to shoot pics for the brochure and for a local website. Mainly he works his phones, night and day, and he knows which agents at other firms, as well as his own, have clients who may be interested in his listings. My only complaint is that he focuses almost entirely on that one neighborhood. While he helped us purchase our current home, he is not interested in listing it when we sell. Instead, he will refer us to someone he believes will do a good job for us and who really knows this community. I wish I could clone him!

I suspect that in addition to a wide knowledge of the area and good relationships with other brokers, the ability to CLOSE a sale or listing are important -- negotiating skills.

We've only lived in this neighborhood for a few months, but there is basically one guy that sells here. Our sellers used him. He and his helpers go door to door one weekend a month and pass out flyers with a calendar, selling tips, and his face on it. He sent us a small calendar with magnet for the fridge at Christmas. At Halloween, he stood on a street corner in the neighborhood and passed out prizes to a certain number who came up and mentioned his flyer. The homes I've seen him list sell in less than a month. We are in a buyer's market. I haven't heard anything bad about him yet. Of course, if he is only selling houses, the sellers are leaving the neighborhood and we don't get to hear the negatives.

The small town where I sold my house last year was sort of odd. The top agents were either loved or hated. NO middle ground that I saw. The people who hated them all had an ethics (lack of) story to share. I suspect these realtors were able to keep being top because they had strong people skills and had a relationship with the businesses in town that were bringing new employees in. The locals didn't seem to think highly of these particular realtors.

Also note that there is a difference between top performers and 100% sellers. I think Remax and maybe other RE companies have special designations for 100% sellers.

Top performers may get there for sheer quantity or big ticket sales. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to do a great job with every house, especially the lower-priced ones.

100% agents get there by constantly pressuring their clients to drop the price and/or readily making up the gaps between buyer and seller by dropping their commissions. If I needed to sell, I'd take a 100% agent over a top performer any day, because the 100% people need to go to bat for every client to protect their status.

I agree that top selling producers do a lot of networking. We have one agent who keeps in touch with us every year, in spite of the fact that we have told her we don't want to sell for at least a few years. She is pleasant, not pushy, but just has a nice way of reminding us she is there if we need her.

I just ran into the agent who sold one daughter a house 3 years ago, she asked about her, how she liked the house, what she was doing with her life...

The agents who sold another daughter her house, sell half of the homes in our small town and surrounding area. They send out mailings regularly, with their latest sales and their "cute couple" photo on it. They geet you in a friendly way in the store or on the street and ask after the family,etc. They also were willing to go the extra mile in making a sales transaction go smoothly, even to the extent of hiring a dumpster and sending their sons to clean up the mess their seller left for our kids.

All the top selling agents I have known have been high energy people who loved selling and relating to other people.

How could I forget that! sharon_sd is so right. Good salesmen in any field LIKE PEOPLE, or at least convey that impression.

When we were interviewing agents, the top agent we interviewed wanted to price our house very low and then hope for multiple offers to increase the price. Yes, he sells a lot of houses quickly but I don't believe for the best price.

We selected an agent that wasn't the top performer but was a strong performer and have been extremely pleased with her. She was one of the few that actually understood the term marketing plan to be more than putting it in the MLS, having open houses and talking it up everwhere they went.

I'm in sales. In front of a large audience and without warning I was asked once why I sold so much more than my coworkers once and couldn't think of anything besides luck. I was approached after and told that I couldn't be on that long of a lucky streak. I gave serious thought to what I do differently.

I believe as a top performing salesperson, though not real estate that it's just the unwillingness to take no for an answer and likewise the ability to make the customer see the "what's in it for them" of what they're buying. I think it's also about personal presentation and demeanor. One has to be knowledgeable and have people skills. You have to not only know, but love your product. By knowing your product, I mean know every detail about your product and details other people don't. You also can't be disuaded by a few "no's" You have to be resilient. One also has to be driven to succeed.

Those are the characteristics I would be looking for if I was looking for someone to sell anything for me, my home included.

Also note that there is a difference between top performers and 100% sellers. I think Remax and maybe other RE companies have special designations for 100% sellers.
Top performers may get there for sheer quantity or big ticket sales. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to do a great job with every house, especially the lower-priced ones. 100% agents get there by constantly pressuring their clients to drop the price and/or readily making up the gaps between buyer and seller by dropping their commissions. If I needed to sell, I'd take a 100% agent over a top performer any day, because the 100% people need to go to bat for every client to protect their status.

While this is an interesting thought, its not exactly what it means. If you are referring to RE/MAX, the 100% club (or agent) simply means that agent has reached between $100,000 and $249,999 in income.

Top performing agents sell more than others. It doesnt mean their customer service is better, in fact a lot of times its worse. (they are too busy). The top agent in my county happens to be in my office. She came up with a slogan years ago that people remember. She gets the calls because of that slogan, and she gets the listing because she is very likeable and she knows her business. She also has the most complaints because you can't get her on the phone, but she sells, and consistently makes over $500,000 per year. People call the name they recognize, this is why personal promotion is so important in real estate.

Warning: This is coming from a venting place. They might try listening to their clients once in awhile. My realtor doesn't really understand acreages, a concern when I decided to use her but I didn't even listen to myself:(
My acreage is small but agricultural zoned even though close to town and since I've been trying to put it together myself a little rougher than a gleaming 5 acre McMansion development - you can do anything here, no restrictions. She thinks my market is horse people. Sure it is, part of it - but not the part she's thinking about. The suburbanite who's going to go into a Developer's 5 acres of sod, 2 pretty horse pets allowed McMansion types. My acreage will also appeal to retired farmers who want to be closer to the city where their kids now work but not too close, who may want a few feeder calves or 4H animals for the grandkids. People who don't like HOAs. That's what I think anyway and since I'm all about acreages I think she ought to listen to me but she won't. I've suggested she advertise in a small city south of here to get to those retiring farmers etc. but she blew me off. I hope I'm wrong but I'm biting my nails.
I think the same would go for any speciality property, lakes, gated communities, retirement communities, vacation property etc. the market is different but not necessarily understood by every realtor. Sometimes the client does have good ideas and you can work together!