Does your real estate agency have your best interests and real estate career goals at heart? This can be tough to answer.
Clue 1: Public perception
When people discuss your real estate agency performance around town, what do they say? How do they perceive that agency’s tactics and the agents they’ve seen around? Whether good or bad, it’s vital for you to understand what public opinion of your agency is. This enables you to strategically approach the market according to your current starting point.
An agency’s reputation should be friendly, approachable and professional, and this should come across in all advertising, communications and buyer/seller interactions. If you’re not aware of the public perception, talk to some friends or acquaintances you trust to give you the whole truth.Clue 2: Leads generated
How many leads is your agency giving you each week? Are they providing you with a steady stream of new clients to supplement your own efforts and help you meet your real estate career goals?
Your job isn’t to manage every stage of the real estate process. Otherwise, there is no point of you being affiliated with an agency at all. Compare the number of leads you receive with other numbers cobbed from fellow agents at different shops. You should quickly see a pattern emerging.Clue 3: It’s all about the advertising
Without advertising space, properties don’t get sold – it’s that simple. What advertising options and tactics is your agency employing? Are these tactics successful? Calculate the return on investment (ROI) on the various ads the agency has run for you recently. How are you doing compared to the market average?
Also, think about the ease of running ads. Did you need to spend time creating and updating them, or did you have a PA at the agency organise this for you? Time spent on admin tasks like this is time you could be out selling.Clue 4: Adequate support staff
Is every agent in your office getting the support he/she needs? Are there grumblings among the agents about the extra workload they have to take on, or the incompetency of PAs? If your agency is understaffed, agents become responsible for their own lead generation activities, which takes away precious time they could be spent selling. Don’t let this happen to you!
Clue 5: Managerial support
How is your career being supported by the owner and managers of the office? They should be actively looking for ways to improve your market share, brainstorming innovative marketing plans, planning a vision and five-year-plan for the agency, and helping you to improve your selling technique. By achieving all these things, they will be helping you sell more houses for more money – it’s a win-win. So make sure you’re with the winning agency team.
These five clues are pointing you to one obvious conclusion – it’s time to look for a new opportunity at a different real estate agency. Download our free guide – Quality Agency = Thriving Career: the real estate agent's guide to choosing the right office to figure out what you should be looking for in a real estate office career.
