First and foremost, I see a more empowered consumer. The consumer will also want to have a single point of contact through the entire transaction process and not be shuffled from person to person. There's so much information out there the consumer can now has access to, it can be overwhelming. This readily available information is already causing some firms to discount commissions. I think we will also see banks continue to pound away at trying to get a foothold into the mortgage business, more consolidation among companies with additional independent firms being swallowed up, and the failure of the discount, high-tech broker model.
Technology is, by far, the biggest development. The technology is constantly changing and improving. As far as "corporate players," I would again have to answer the potential entrance of banks and the continued consolidation in the industry. Title companies are also driving change to a large extent.
The trendsetters are really the people we serve, the consumer. If you're not out there every day trying to meet their needs and address their issues, you will be left by the wayside. Real estate is, after all, a service business and it's all about serving today's customers, even anticipating their needs before they themselves realize they need to worry about things like schools, traffic, and property taxes.
Consumers today are extremely busy and the concept of one-stop shopping is definitely taking hold in the industry as a result. Consumers don't want to have to worry about title companies, mortgage brokers, etc. Home buyers and sellers want to make this stressful process as easy as possible and are also becoming more demanding in terms of seeing the status of their transaction all the way through the process.
Real estate consumers continue to become more and more high tech and high touch. Companies must follow through on that, make that technology readily available and easy to use. It's more about being a partner to the consumer throughout the transaction than simply selling them a house.
I'm not sure that it is the responsibility of the Realtor associations or MLS because these organizations have no direct contact with the consumer and were not set up to serve the consumer. The Realtor members of these organizations are the ones responsible for meeting and, hopefully, exceeding the consumer's expectations.
A brokerage must always look to control and monitor costs. Looking for ways to do things more efficiently or for ways to cut costs should be a continual process. Set and maintain high standards within your organization. Our organization also works very hard to build and maintain trust with our sales associates. We regularly have what we call town hall meetings to build an environment of trust and communication. In turn, this helps increase our agent retention rate. Profitability can also be increased through alliances such as title and mortgage in order to capitalize on higher productivity per person rates.
I encourage Realtor input on how to grow, regularly talk to my agents about the environment they operate in, promote our alliance partners, and continue to work on web positioning and meeting the consumer on their terms. I also feel it is absolutely essential to have a business plan every year and manage the business according to those goals.
Don't try to be all things to all people. Define who you are and work every day to accomplish that. For Realtor associations, my best advice would be to hire the best staff you possibly can. I'm incredibly fortunate to have that already in place at the Atlanta Board of Realtors. They are indispensable in terms of helping me to accomplish my goals there during my one-year presidential term.
