Recruiting & Retention of Agents
Written by Rich Casto
on 10/2008 - Word Count: 427
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Here is a tip for full service brokers. GET BETTER. PERIOD. I come from an extensive background in real estate, all full service brokers. Agents that are educated, trained and truly serve their clients get fabulous results and can charge accordingly. Higher skills equals higher commission. What is the leadership doing in full service companies to ensure their agents are the best? If you are feeling pricing pressures, look in the mirror. Obviously there is a market for the discount broker. The basic business model says value = quality over price. Every year the public ranks our profession and industry close to last. Our customers brought the discount commission model to our business and we are responsible. Passing a law that prohibits that service does not help the customer, it hurts the consumer and the quality of service they deserve.
If you want to limit the effectiveness of the discount model, do it with the spirit of competition. How good are your agents at negotiating? Are they trained? Do they have a specific strategy? Do they include new construction as a comparable in their market analysis? Are your agents offering attached, fixed mortgage rates to their listings to help attract buyers if interest rates go up? Do they really know how to make a listing competitive besides pricing the property properly? Really? If you can answer with a resounding “YES” to these questions, then, you’re not to worry about the discount commission company.
Bring on the discount model. Bring on the banks. We need them to get better. The customer tells us every year that we are just not good enough. Our quality is not representative of our price. Until the full service brokerage maps their quality to price, discount brokers will have a place in our industry. And, they should.
Rich Casto is the Founder of The Real Estate Coaches, a Recruiting and Management Solutions Company that supports brokers, owners and managers in the management and recruiting solutions arena.For more information,
