You and your agent team wear many hats: you’re schedulers, problem-solvers,
counselors, deal-makers, and sometimes, miracle workers. With your hectic
schedule, it may surprise you to learn that in the U.S., the annual hours worked per employee has
gone down in the last 4 years. Even though many Americans say they need
more hours to accomplish their daily to-do list, in reality they have more free
time. So, why does it seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day?
Although we can’t control time, we can avoid the things that derail our
productivity to allow us to focus our energy on activities that help us reach
our goals.
Here are 5 reminders of ‘what not to do’:
1. Don’t Blow off
your Yearly Business Plan Update and Review.
Seems like a reasonable thing to do, after all you just
did it last year right? It turns out that reexamining your yearly business plan
is a priceless activity in that it allows you to feel like you are executing a
plan and have a strategy for moving forward which is deliberate, not haphazard.
In the fast-paced world of real estate, things change, markets are good and
bad, agents come and go. Your business plan is an opportunity to retrench and
reflect currently realities into a plan and a roadmap for the year and beyond.
It keeps you and your team focused on realistic and specific goals for your
brokerage and gives you the opportunity to adjust if you are not hitting your
goals. After all, waiting until the end of the year to find out you
didn’t recruit enough agents or secure enough listings will be too late.
2. Don’t Get
Distracted by Disruptors
You and your team face the ongoing challenge of keeping up with
fluctuations in the real estate market. Beware of disruptors that distract you
from your current priority: your business and your customers. Disruptive
players continue to introduce different models for operating a brokerage,
technology companies are offering a plethora of fancy ways to generate leads.
These are often shiny objects that aren’t going to add a whole lot to your
business when the day is over.
As a broker/owner you don’t have time to chase every new technology or
service that comes along promising to change your world. Stick to those with
proven systems and proven processes and make sure you see real proof of their
success before you leap.
3. Don’t Buy your
CRM and other Technology Services with the Herd.
Choosing customer relationship management (CRM) tools and lead
generation and other services based on popularity and price may be an easy
way to make these decisions. It can also lead you to tools and services that
are completely wrong for your brokerage. It’s tempting though, given the time
this takes and the fact that many brokers are not technology experts. The
bottom line is that you must be involved to some degree in all major technology
decisions beyond just writing the check. Here are some ideas to help you manage
and evaluate these tools.
- Make the tech savvy agent in your office responsible for organizing
these product or service evaluations and training you at your pace. You
may need to compensate them, but it is well worth it in the long run.
- Make sure your team is bought in to using a new tool or service.
Too many brokers tell the story of expensive tools and services they
bought that no one ever used. Buy-in to your goals from the beginning is
key and if you don’t have it at the beginning, you are unlikely to have it
later.
- Look for more than social proof. Asking friends and associates is
fine to get you the names of services and products you may want to
consider, but real proof of the utility of these tools must come from a
solid analysis of the payback, track record, and ongoing costs of use. As
the decision maker, you must strive to know these numbers.
Dealing with brokerage level adoption of real estate
technologies and services does not have to be a soul-crushing experience,
but it should have a process that gets buy-in, and a champion who does not
necessarily have to be the broker.
4. Don’t Get Sucked
Back into the Sales Game
This cautionary tale never gets old. Many brokers are afraid to stop
selling, fearing their agents are not equipped to replace that production.
It can also be tempting to step in and generate some additional revenue
for yourself by listing and selling a few properties. The thing is, when you’re
managing listings, you can’t manage your business at the same time. You’re
diverted from the important longer-term growth drivers for your brokerage.
Resist the urge to take on these sales yourselves. Give them to that
bright, energetic new recruit who’s struggling to get started. Make sure you
have repeatable systems in place to help them succeed. You’ll make more
progress against your goals by focusing on broader activities like lead
generation, recruiting, training, coaching, and brokerage marketing.
5. Don’t Wing It
This is a particularly easy one not to do. If you have systems in
place that are set and repeatable, you will be so much more efficient in what
you do. Whether it’s recruiting, developing a business and marketing plan or
selling systems for your agents, have a structure. Without it, you’ll feel like
you are constantly treading water and that is not a productive way to operate
any business.
This
idea of repeatable systems may well be the strongest value and focus of a real
estate franchise system like the one Weichert provides. While other big box franchises
offer little more than their name, Weichert has taken its decades of growth and
distilled it into processes, training and lead generation systems which have
fueled the success of hundreds of offices. This includes a regular and
repeatable recruiting process which allows you to attract both new and
experienced agents. It also includes some of the strongest coaching programs in
the real estate industry. Our programs give you a diverse baseline of materials
and tactics both online and in person which can then be customized for your
business and presented to new team members with much less effort than would be
required to develop these from scratch. From our online university content
available 24/7, to our much beloved “Fast Track” training program for new
agents which gets them producing fast, our support is comprehensive. Not to
mention a host of tools, technologies, and lead generation tools that can be
game changers for brokerages.
Proven Real Estate
Selling Systems
When you become a Weichert affiliate, your brokerage can stop the
“Don’ts” and focus on the “Do’s”. You’ll gain immediate access to
Weichert Support including our recipe for success, coaching, and technology.
You’ll have the support to help navigate the current landscape and avoid costly
mine fields.
If you’re ready to focus your energy on the customer activities that
build your brokerage, let us show you how partnering with Weichert will help.
