What do Agents Really Want?

Teresa- a Killer post. All so very true for many of us. The Real Estate industry itself is moving form one of a purely socialized type of country to more free American Independents like yourself. Of course some people love being taken care of, coddled and of course pick nicks…but in general, many of the true professionals are seeking to leave their over taxed country (Real Estate Office) and strike out in the vast reaches of the Klondike to strike gold on their own terms. The richness of the internet and the abundance of tools make mining in this new era, quite rewarding. Of course, its nice to NOT have to pay the emperor either.

Teresa –

Excellent post and you’ve been very forthcoming in expressing not only what you want, but also how most brokers don’t get it. As a consultant to brokerage managers and as the National President for the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB), I’m amazed to see so many companies failing to realize that the agent is only listening to one station – WIIFM (What’s in it for me,) yet the recruiting broker will inevitably put on a dog and pony show, sell through the entire interview and effectively “throw-up” on a prospective agent. “We have this tool, this technology, this commission structure, this training,” never considering or stopping to ask the agent what they want or what is important to them.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts so freely!

Good Morning Teresa,
The weenie photo reminds me that the Minnesota State Fair is just around the corner which means an already short summer is coming to an end. Maybe you could put it on a stick to make it even more realistic.

I agree with your basic premise that large offices with bricks and mortar business models may not be what agents are looking for today. They are expensive for the brokerage to maintain and may not be necessary for independent agents like yourself.

The other side of the argument is that agents still need to feel that they are part of a community and want to belong to something greater than just themselves. There is a need to connect with other and to share in the common experience.

I have brokered a 300 agent virtual company since 1989 and have always struggled with this very issue. The brokerage systems are in place and our agents get paid the same day that they bring in their files, but keeping agents engaged has been an on-going concern.

Recent advances in technology have made it easier to communicate with agents. I post a video blog twice a week and use Skype and Eyejot to get more face time with my agents, but it doesn’t replace good old person to person conversation.

Creating and communication a company culture is a great way to retain happy agents. Agents still want to have a leader and to have access to their thoughts. Agents need to share ideas and to socialize on occasion. I agree with you that barbeques in the parking lot may not be the best way to accomplish these goals, but I still think there must be other productive ways to get agents and brokers together, especially in virtual companies.

Any ideas?

Teresa,
Is there an emoticon for blushing? I feel I should be using it after your kind words. Also, I love the idea of a monthly brown bag lunch. Great idea!

Teresa – Where’s the chili & onions? Not quite the sights of St. Paul that I’m used to seeing from you, but it sure is appetizing. You’re exactly right – what’s going to make me smarter, better & more productive? Independence? Of course, most of us haven’t gotten there yet, and depend on national name sponsorship and its “admin”/office support. Of course, Eric’s 2.0+ guerillas, and their synergy, might be the norm and not the exception in the not too distant future.

Teresa – So much truth here! Like you, I have everything I need at home. I have been contemplating my course in the last few weeks. Do I go solo or look for another broker. Independence sounds good – I’m not sure I’m ready.

I do like my franchise name, but they put way too much stock in “their” name with the fees. Or maybe it’s the fancy building, which doesn’t help me sell real estate.

I spoke with a broker today – we’ll see where it leads.

Heck, maybe I’ll go back to my birthplace and look up Eric – sounds like he has it!

Teresa — I’ve been waiting for a broker to open an office completely aimed at your kind of agent. It would be a hub for hi-tech, cutting edge marketing. It would also be a superb setting for the agents to leverage the obvious synergy which would be available in such a setting.

The support for the agents would be in-house and awesome, both in person and online. Agents would be treated as both part of the ‘family’ and separate stand alone businesses.

State of the art work stations would be part of the deal. A ‘Board’ meeting would be held monthly, but not the usual real estate office meeting. This would be to assess current status and suggest future additions and/or modifications in office support, technology, and marketing.

A pipe dream, or a possibility?

Cool Benn. Who is doing it, and with how many full time agents? This is exciting news to me. Thanks

BawldGuy – we have something similar here. . I am not complaining about anything. I am a broker. I can leave any time I like. My point is that the folks who try to recruit me don’t have much to offer. I have everything and more than they can offer. A network of agents in the area, I do some training so I meet a lot of agents who are interested in web 2.0. I have family, friends and neighbors to grill brats with. I don’t need to belong to a real estate office to get any of those things. There are some thing I don’t have that a real estate company could provide, I guess I’ll have to write a post about that. How would they recruit someone like me who has a full busy life and is not so interested in company parties, has her “affilation” needs taken care of and has her own technology.

would love it. my market is a little different. I have found others like me but not a lot.

“How would they recruit someone like me who has a full busy life and is not so interested in company parties, has her “affilation” needs taken care of and has her own technology.”

Maybe by staying the hell out of your way, letting you run your business how you see fit, being there when you needed support and getting you paid within 24 hours of closing?

Is that enough to offer someone such as yourself? Particularly since you’d be giving up the “big brand” name?

If not, what would it take for a small “boutique” and “virtual” brokerage to lure someone such as yourself? I *seriously* want to know, as I’m trying to do it….

@Jay- I think your type of office is and will become an even better great example of the guerrilla marketing force that will lead the industry in the future. And you are correct that Teresa (and Ines) are the perfect kind of folks to be in that team.

@Teresa- thanks.

One note here though…as i kind of found with my merry band of local bloggers and online marketing guerrillas…you don’t “recruit” them. They are attracted TO YOU because of who you are. When they find you, the affinity is already in place…not because of group think, but rather because of the openness and lack of pretense…there is no hot dog and well ummm…noone gets the (dare I say) weenie. Both benefit from the synergy and it results in a surprisingly fun time.

JMO

Eric

@Eric : “you don’t “recruit” them. They are attracted TO YOU because of who you are. When they find you, the affinity is already in place”

That’s been quite true so far. We’ve got 6 agents currently, 2 “in the loop”, and have turned away more than that. The reaction when you decline to bring in “Mr. I’M A TOP PRODUCER!” is priceless… (wonder if I should write a post about that?)

There are a couple though that I’d love to have. They have everything going for them with the exception of “I need a brand brokerage”, or “I need an office”. I suppose one could argue that if that’s the case, then they fundamentally DON’T have “what it takes” (or what we’re looking for).

@BawldGuy – it would be powerful, but our agents don’t want to congregate daily…. I think we can “synergize virtually”.

@Jay..you wrote..”getting you paid within 24 hours of closing?”

What do you mean…we get paid at closing? Do most wait longer?

Teresa – I LOVE this post. You’ve articulated much of what has been rolling around in my brain for several years.

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan wiped out my office on Pensacola Beach. I – literally – took my business home for a year and reinvented it. Although I was new to the business, I was doing a KILLER volume (like many, given the times) pre-Ivan, so I had to spend the following year putting together a truly diversified business plan. I did this by exploring various avenues – some high tech and some decidedly low tech. Ultimately, the year made me begin to question the overall value of being with any particular brokerage.

Here’s what I’ve wanted to say to my brokerage . . . bubbling up from your post!

Big Brokerage – I like your name, but please quit trying to guilt me into using the “marketing tools” you are offering. It’s not a good use of my time to sit week after week and listen to the values of the “Toolkit CMA” and other similar “free” offerings. I’m just not a scripts kind of salesperson. I can see when the client’s eyes are glazing over. Some people can probably benefit from these “free” tools, but stop talking to me about them.

Big Brokerage – Quit recruiting anyone who can fog a mirror. As Jim Duncan indicated, you are the company you keep.

Big Brokerage – On occassion I will need you to run interference. Do so quickly and then get out of my way and let me do what I do best. Don’t slow me down with unnecessary, “well this is the way it’s always been done, etc.” requirements.

Big Brokerage – Wise up on the relocation and stop alienating good agents and clients as well with outrageous fees and splits, high school like popularity contests and insulting requirements for broker to broker and outgoing referrals.

Finally, Big Brokerage – Talk with someone like Eric Blackwell or Jay Thompson. They seem to know a thing or two about the Law of Attraction.

First of all, great post Theresa. Looks like this has sparked some great commentary.

I work from my home office (which really means I work out of my car or anywhere my laptop is), meet my clients at the local coffee shop or wherever is convenient to them, write contracts directly on my laptop wherever we are, receive and send leads from my phone and generally use my brokers office to drop off HUD1’s and pick up checks. Although I belong to a brokerage that (last I heard) has nearly 300 agents I feel as independent as anyone can without being a broker myself. I have a team of 4 (including myself) full-time agents who also work from home and live by their laptop and Treo. However, when I need a question answered or any of the team has a question I can’t answer, my broker answers the phone. If I want to join a training session or be rah-rah’d, he has plenty of those available at any given time. He even does mind-body Anthony Robbins style training. If I wanted an office suite within the brokerage it’s available to me, for a fee of course, but have access to lots of common workspace there. I get paid within 24-48 hours of closing (depending on the time of day its closed) and I have a great split. I only wish we had Eric Blackwell in our technology department. That would be the icing on the cake. I do have to pay for all marketing, advertising, office supplies, copies, etc., but again, I have a great split and can’t expect otherwise in my opinion. My business truly is my own small business and I treat it as such.

I partnered with my broker because of brand recognition since my primary source of business is from the internet, but I stay because at the end of the day, it’s just a good fit and I think that’s what we’re ALL looking for. Good luck finding your fit (or it finding you) .

Pensacola Robin – Perfectly said! And, great post, T. I have an office I rarely visit, a menu of weekly training sessions I never attend, and mandatory sales meetings I ditch at every opportunity. Sometimes I feel guilty about the latter — Just what kind of team player am I? — and then I remember that it is ultimately about keeping my little business solvent, and I have to make business decisions about the best use of my time and resources. I too am completely self contained in my home office, and not only do I not need the shiny office building, but my clients don’t need or want it. I can count on one hand the number of times a we have met clients in the “real office” in the past year. Our contracts are emailed and signed electronically, or we meet in their home. They prefer it this way. We meet buyers at the property or at a local coffee shop, and if a “proper office environment” is ever needed, there are a dozen escrow or title offices who would be delighted to let me borrow their conference room for an hour.

I suppose there are still those who respect and gravitate toward the big brand, but their numbers are fewer today. Last time Steve and I changed brokerages, we made this big to-do over it, making sure our past clients knew about the change. And, we were repeatedly asked, “Who did you work for before?” We have done such an effective job branding ourselves, that our clients don’t really pay much attention to the broker logo. We could be operating out of the back of a pick-up truck, and I doubt anyone would notice or care as long as we delivered the goods.

That being said, there are benefits to hanging your license with someone else. Mainly, the admin and legal headaches become someone elses problems. The question we all find ourselves asking from time to time is, “Does the cost justify the benefits?” It is when that balance is tipped in the direction of “no” that you’ve got a decision to make. Jay doesn’t sleep, so he can handle the additional broker-owner duties. I, on the other hand, like to catch the occassional eight hours, so the answer is not as clear-cut for me.

Teresa – just my opinion but being a broker on your own does not automatically mean you have to manage agents. My firm is just comprised of myself and is run out of my home office. There are a few extra costs versus when I wokred at a brokerage it is still far cheaper than the monthly fees I incurred. My solution to not having agents is to connect with like minded agents and use them as a referral network.
When I left the firm I wokred at I was surprised at my broker’s reaction. He actually was happy that I was taking the intiiative to better myself and sieze new oppurtunities. We are still good friends and stay in communication.

A little more than 6 years ago I read a great article title something like “Clicks vs Bricks.” The article discussed how the real estate might evolve to where the real estate brokerage office with the all the luxury trappings and placed in areas with high traffic could be obsolete one day due to the advent of the Internet. The article further discussed exactly what Teresa is describing – agents would not need the office, but the broker would have to become a lead generator for the agents.

Today,even for a new agent there is so much information available to them via the ‘net the role of the broker is becoming far less important. Especially when as an experienced, productive agent knows it is the agent that needs to be branded and makes the transactions happen.

To wit – 5 years ago, I told the agents with their licenses with me – my business model was changing. It was somewhat scary – but today – my bottom line is much better, higher production, and less issues.

@Teresa; Great post, though the conversations go everywhere in the comments because we are all the stars of our own movies ;-D

The most interesting part of this, after reading the comments sequentially, is that the issue that the cahllenge that needs to be met by the recruiting brokerage is showing the benefit of affiliation – and that is tough since the benefit to each individual is different. @Pensacola said “I like your name, but please quit trying to guilt me into using the “marketing tools” you are offering. It’s not a good use of my time to sit week after week and listen to the values of the “Toolkit CMA” and other similar “free” offerings” In our company, that service (and many others) are free to the agents, because our business model is to provide technology and tools for our agents (and by that I mean providing them, not reselling them for a profit) And still we have agents who don’t step up to met the challenges.

If there was a single point that I think is made by your post and the answers to it, I would think that it might be that one size doesn’t fit everyone and that everyone’s size changes as they grow in the business.

Now if I could figure out how we could have all the AG folks get together to do business, and not need to deal with the people that make our lives less fun. I would not only be a very smart man, but a happy one as well.

@Barry;
Since you’re not a real estate professional I think you’re being confused by the terminology. The Brokerage firm gets paid at disbursement – The conversation about when people are paid relates to to when the money is distributed to the salesperson by their firm. As Buyers or Sellers, we of course are paid at disbursement.

For example, at our firm we usually try to do that Thursdays because our runners distribute the checks to the offices weekly from our corporate center. We do it that way to simplify writing a large number of checks to different people for different amounts. And to assure that the checks we receive have cleared . (Of course our agents also have a really cheap factoring company affiliated with the company, so if they’re cash tight they get their commission in advance for less then the cost of a decent dinner- making the pay date less relevant to them)

Jennifer – sounds nice. not a business model I have seen around here. In general office costs have gone up and either services are cut or increases are passed onto the agent or to consumers. I am seeing that here across the board. I talk with brokers who struggle to be profitable.

@ Jay – When you only have a few agents it’s fairly easy to cut checks ahead of time, but with how often closings are delayed or don’t happen in this market it would be a major headache with an office of even 100 agents.

We are in an office that only cuts checks once a week. Every Friday checks get cut. As long as you know what to expect and they are constant what does it really matter? I know every Saturday or Monday to expect a check in the mailbox.

@Ken- I have been watching the check cutting conversation here and wondering a bit. For our 120, we cut checks 30 minutes after closing documents and checks from the closing during business hours. We do have a deadline at the end of the day because our staff needs to get stuff finalized and to the bank.

It is something our broker decided to do 20 years ago when he opened up shop. To be honest, I never really figured it was done any other way. Color me surprised that it is still this big of an issue….As the tech guy, I honestly put that lower on my list of things to worry about. As one who helps manage the day to day of a fairly good size office…I am now getting a MUCH better appreciation for it.

I DO acknowledge that it is likely or may be tougher in other states due to how closings work.

@Jennifer- Thanks. It is FUN having you here in our office! (Full disclosure: Jennifer and her husband are from my office and are part of my “blogging group”. When I picture an ideal member of an ideal future real estate organization. Their pictures are always there.

@Holly- You are only two hours south of us in Nashville! (grin) The door is always open!! (hehe–just funnin’ you)

If my brokerage ever gets too big to swiftly get someone the money they earned, then I want someone here to beat me senseless.

I bet there’s not a broker out there that’s too busy to deposit a check into HIS account.

Back in my mid 20s (WAY pre-real estate) when I first became a supervisor of employees, my manager pulled me aside on Day 1 and said, “The number one rule of management; don’t F**k with their pay.”

20 years later I was saying the same thing to my supervisors. And I fired supervisors and managers that couldn’t get payroll straight.

@Eric – I’m knockin’!!

@Bill..” you wrote…Since you’re not a real estate professional I think you’re being confused by the terminology. The Brokerage firm gets paid at disbursement – The conversation about when people are paid relates to to when the money is distributed to the salesperson by their firm. As Buyers or Sellers, we of course are paid at disbursement.”

What do you think I’m stupid…LOL…what makes you think that:

a. I’m not a real estate “professional”..(whatever that moniker means)

and

b. As i have said MANY times..we have agents in our office who we work closely with on our deals (very close)…so my question was stated very much in a correct manner and very much as a real estate “professional”.

Barry – yes, we close at the table and checks are cut and disbursed there isn’t any reason agents can’t get paid at the table. Brokers do have to make arrangements for that to happen because technically it is the brokers check. Some do make those arrangements so their agents get paid. There is one local brokerage that has some weird policies so when we deal with them we don’t walk away with a check. I often do leave closings with a check, that I bring to my broker. I used to still have to wait a couple of days for it but last time they cut it right away so who knows what will happen next time. As for me and how I feel about any of this I will just say full time 100% commission sales jobs are not for wimps. The strong survive and the weak do not. I don’t live commission check to commission check so it is more about the principle of the thing than the actual check.

Bill..with all due respect..”Bite Me” with your pompous crap about who is and who isn’t a professional.

You are such a crackpot trying to impose your will upon someone. Save that for someone who will allow it. Ain’t gonna happen here!

Your “definition of “professional” is self-serving and quite a load of crap. “a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers/landlords and buyers/tenants of real property”…LMAO!!!!!!

Dude..you must really think really..really..highly of yourself. You truly need to get out more and experience what life has to offer beyond the confines of your bubble.

As for the disbursement of commissions, of course the broker pays the commission.All he has to do is give the title agent written disbursement orders and the title agent can wire all the funds that need to be distributed at closing. Maybe YOU aren’t aware of that!

You must have some pretty naive agents working for you if they buy that BS about having to wait to get paid.

“Not a professional”…you crack me up!

T.. I also love this post.. it’s as if you are reading my mind.. How sad companies rarely recognize that good agents don’t need them… but rather they need more good agents.

I am fortunate to work for a Broker who recognizes and enourages his agents to work in a manner that best suits them.. If you want to be “in the office” great.. if not working from home is fine.

I have been home based for about 5 years and wouldn’t have it any other way. I do use the office for meeting clients but that’s about it. We have a weekly office meeting that agents want to attend as a lot of information is passed around about local happenings in our market. My broker is one of the most respected in the area. I could not imagine working for anyone else in town. He throws 2 parties a year to “Thank the agents” for how hard we work and for everyone to mingle a bit as many of us are rarely in the office.

I know he would back me 100% about anything and is alays thre to listen and offer sound advice. I feel very fortunate to be with my company..

Teresa – you are so much like myself and have the same thoughts I do about a realty company or office. I don’t have to have the rah rah coaches and training, I don’t want to listen to someone who wrote a boring book because they couldn’t actually sell anything after they had gone thru their family, I don’t need it. When I was asked to join Sky Realty (who I work for now) I thought the same as you “what can you do for me.” I have not been disappointed.

My broker has web/tech classes each week, we all have our own websites, we are being taught how to blog, how to work on our websites, how to use the search engines, etc. It has been exhilirating to have such positive lessons given. When I see friends who work in large cattle call offices they are never as excited as I am as to the new way of real estate. I am happy to work out of my home office, go to the tech classes and drop by copier and coffee shop. You go!!

I went from a family owned company (mom retired) that I didn’t want to take over and joined the best of both worlds in my eyes. My company is an independently owned company that is killing the big guys in market share with almost 1/3 of the agents. Our owner and manager will only recruit agents who are producing and regularly cull the pack of those who aren’t cutting it. We are providing just about everything I could ever ask for (they are lagging a bit on the tech front, but I can make up for that on my own) and provide me with a better than fair split. The office is attractive and because all of the agents are productive, it is actually inspiring to be there. We all help each other out with covering open houses, showings, etc. when needed. We are there to work and while we do so (and quite well) we are enjoying each other. Our commissions are paid very quickly both in and out of house.