What makes a great real estate brokerage? It’s a pressing question, especially with how volatile the market is right now, and it’s a uniquely difficult issue for new firms that are just trying to get off the ground. To better understand how to take your brokerage to the next level, the first step is to take a closer look at what makes current real estate leadership so successful. With insights from those already at the top of the field, newcomers can elevate their own efforts, beating the odds for small businesses.
Start With Experience
If you’re interested in growing a new real estate brokerage, one of the most important things you need to keep in mind is that you’ll need experience to be successful. New real estate brokers are often ambitious and excited to strike out on their own, but this is an unrealistic approach, which is why recently licensed brokers should pursue work with established firms when first starting out. These firms can offer critical support and learning opportunities that will equip new brokers to later start their own firms if that is what they want to do.
Ambition Matters
While new brokers aren’t well-positioned to start their own firms, they’re often very ambitious go-getters and can be a valuable addition to other new brokerage houses that are trying to recruit a lineup of real estate agents. That hunger for success and desire to learn more about the industry is immensely valuable when viewed through the lens of growth and retention. When a firm gives new agents exciting opportunities and supports them, they will work hard to build your brokerage.
Equip Your Environment
Great agents are the foundation of a firm, and while some recruitments will be easy, at other times you’ll have to do a lot more work – and in order to be successful in that regard, you’ll need the right tools. Luckily, that’s easier than ever with platforms like Brokerkit, which is designed to help manage recruitment while optimizing time management, helping managers build relationships with potential agents and chart their development once they’ve been onboarding.
Listen Up
Any time the real estate market experiences major changes, brokerages tend to see a lot of agent churn. That means your firm is likely in a vulnerable place right now and needs to emphasize both hiring and retention – and the best way to do that is to listen to what agents want.
Evidence from recent research suggests that, among the most important things firms can offer their agents are opportunities for education. While real estate agents have to complete a certain amount of continuing education anyway, many in the industry have expressed a real desire for ambitious programming. Furthermore, in order to be a successful recruiter and to optimize your growth, leadership needs to prioritize their own educational opportunities so that they feel equipped to do this work.
Successful recruitment and retention programs are, in many ways, very similar to successful real estate programs in that they’re all about cultivating leads, building relationships, and navigating negotiations. Yet, many firms don’t realize these parallels. By employing similar skills and tools to the ones you might use to go from lead to sale on a home, you can take steps towards greater growth and stronger, more competitive performance.
