Ed McMahon: A pulse, a passing grade, and a business card
Carnac the Magnificent: Name the three things required to become a real estate agent
Inspiration
Lots of talk these days about the brokerage of the future. The brokerage model is under intense scrutiny. This is a good thing.
In fact, I’m inspired by those who seek a better way.
Still, a dark cloud hovers.
One that continues to rain on their progress.
Grab an umbrella
Over a recent dinner discussion, my guest – a broker who oversees 1,500 agents – asked what I would do if I were to start a brokerage from scratch.
We had just ordered appetizers. By dessert, after answering dozens of questions, he got to his biggest concern: the agents. He wanted to know what kind of agent I would recruit, what their qualifications would be and how I would overcome the pervasive technological, social and professional illiteracy inside the agent family.
I suggested we have a liquid dessert.
Yelppos!
Seriously, I told him, I’d invite all tiers. From top producers to relative newcomers. All would be welcome to interview.
But there would be standards.
They can leave their black book at home. Like Zappos, my brokerage would have an internal culture born from my beliefs, standards and morals and grown by people who share in those beliefs.
And if an account executive at Yelp needs to have a college degree and at least a year in sales to sell web ads to restaurants, well, then I can require at least as much of people who will be selling shelter to families. I know, hard ass!
But there is more to it. I ask myself all the time how it is that despite the billions earned through the transaction of real estate, why so many in this industry dangle by a thread above the abyss of poverty? But I guess it’s pretty obvious why that is. Few own major market share. Everyone scrapes by. Agents spend inordinate amounts of time warding off knuckleheads and brokers provide little in the way of true leadership and value back to agents. Consumers can’t distinguish one brokerage from another… because almost all of them hire too many lame agents.
This is simply no way to run a business.
My agents must be different. Better. Smarter. If I can’t get them, I don’t do it.
Raising the bar
Consider the technology knowledge, communication skills, multitasking ability, social networking finesse, customer service mojo and killer salesmanship that define today’s best agents.
Consider the combustion of consumers energizing the online marketplace and the myriad of platforms through which to communicate with them.
Consider the new opportunities that are almost too fast and too furious to keep up with.
Consider the torrent of technologies that allow every broker to strip expenses off their P&L like layers of dust caked on a collectible.
My agents would be all over this stuff.
My guest asked me if I wasn’t being a tad unrealistic, if it was reasonable to expect such things
I sipped the last of drop of my Grand Marnier.
Then chose these words carefully.
“Why not” ?I said. “Shouldn’t we aim higher?”
Doesn’t the real estate customer deserve at least that?
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A mist of difference
Kevin,
You asked – Would your agents and brokerage support a “full service” approach to consumers?
I had not thought about these services until I read your comment.
For this post, I simply considered the agents I’d hire. Then I wrote this post http://bit.ly/aKmQXA and tackeld a bunch of things I would do to lure these agents to my brokerage.
But as I think about it now, here’s how I would approach it.
I’m more about doing one thing great than 10 things average. This is why I am in love with Jay’s response. Passion drives his brand, nothing else. Honestly, there is a lifetime of things he can do to present that passion to the marketplace and never have to worry about anything else.
If I had to boil my brokerage brand down to one word, like Jay, it would be sophistication. As David pointed out, I lean in that direction. I like sophisticated engineering in my cars, as I do in the spirits I enjoy after dinner. I am obviously wooed by sophisticated individuals to represent my company. So all my energy would be focused first on nailing a sophisticated set of services within my real estate brokerage.
Therefore, the way I would handle title, mortgage, and remain true to my brand would be one two ways:
1. Find partners who can deliver these services with the same air of sophistication
or if they do not exist
2. Create division within my brokerage that does.
I realize the revenue advantages of providing these divisions but I also recognize the greater advantages maintaining a complete brand experience for my clients. So the decision on what I would do would be made by where the most complete and seamless delivery of sophistication would come from.
I would sooner waive the ancillary fees of a selling a loan or insurance policy internally if I found a partner I could refer who can do it better and with more sophistication that I would.
Having said all that, I am pretty confident that I’d be hard pressed to find partners who would deliver like I would so yes, I would over time, build separate companies that deliver these services or simply buy these partners and take part ownership in their operations.
Does that help?
Marc,
Thanks for your answer and thoughts. What I like about your comment is that you are consistent in how you approach the totality of your “brokerage” (sophistication all around). In my opinion either you commit to doing core services really well (your sophistication) and for the right reasons (passion & great service), or don’t do it and find someone else that can. If you do it (your passion) well the money will follow (like most good businesses).
It happens to be an important passion of ours, that’s why we built our own companies with lots of love and with great supporting partners so we can make sure the experience (for both clients and agents) is a great one. We wouldn’t use our brand name on it if we didn’t, too much at stake. Happens to be an important reason we attract great agents that want a great client experience, and I believe our capture rates are a report card.
Now, that does not mean every brokerage should aspire to do it. May take some scale and your passion may be somewhere else.
Keep up your passion Marc, we love seeing, hearing and reading it.
@Marc
“Having said all that, I am pretty confident that I’d be hard pressed to find partners who would deliver like I would”
You point out another challenge trying to deliver on a high level of customer service model, leveraging technology. A few years ago I built a Virtual Closing Room using Google Apps. The technology was pretty sweet, and best of all would not cost participants one thing. The challenge was finding and training the “other” services involved in the home sale process; the mortgage company, the attorney, the title insurance company, the inspector, the appraiser. It was like trying to herd cats.
I envision one day being able to do a complete turnkey transaction where the clients experience is the same all the way through. If I were in a larger market with a larger firm I would tempted to bring all these things in house if possible. Where not possible I would require anyone working with my firm on a closing to be trained in the process and technology.
[...] the mess/meltdown. There are small pockets of people scattered around nationwide who want to raise the bar in the real estate industry and there are folks who want to or already do offer different real [...]
Enjoyed your analysis of this fascinating idea. Noted and will check back for more entertaining discourse. thanks
Isn’t it odd that aspiring agents need to be reminded that they need to possess these qualifications to be successful? Even weirder are the companies that hire subpar agents without offering “true leadership and value”, and then expect them to perform their tasks flawlessly.
However, it works on Chrome, Safari, Opera, IE, Firefox and NeoPlanet. But thanks for this info.