What is the best way to approach a Real Estate Agent

[Michael Lang]

Being a commissioned sales person myself, I understand there is a certain amount of time that you must invest in someone to build the relationship before you can really claim them as a client and claim ownership of that person amongst my peers at my store. On the other side of the coin, if all things have gone well during the interview phase, the customer has to be willing to eventually make a commitment for the amount of time that salesperson has invested. 

Since I'm brand new to this, I will need a lot of hand holding as I sort through this process and I'm sure I might seem a little "flaky" as I figure things out, particularly in deciding what is the right deal and how the numbers work. So my question is geared to the real estate professionals and I'm interested in finding out, what is the best way to find an agent that will help me find a beach rental property while being considerate of their time knowing this process could take months? I consider myself to be fairly patient with my people and their is a point in a sales relationship where you realize it's time to move on and you fire that customer. Bottom line is I don't want to waste anyone's time but don't really know how to approach a Real Estate Agent abut this.