May is Inman’s commission and payroll month. We’ll sort through the noise and misinformation and provide you with the latest facts and strategies on how to prosper after a commission settlement. And find updates directly in your inbox with Inman’s new weekly digest, The Committee Chronicle.
The real estate industry has changed dramatically in the past few months as antitrust commission lawsuits sweep the country.
The settlement between the National Association of Realtors and individual brokerage firms could lead consumers to question the value of agents, meaning agents need to stay ahead of the curve now more than ever.
One way to achieve this is for agents to be more strategic in the way they think and operate like a small business, said Jonathan Lack, agent, coach and founder and principal of MyBackOffice.RealEstate. Lack joined the industry in 2018. Lack works with some of the country’s top agencies to boost their businesses, including Sally Forster Jones of Jones Fridman International’s Compass.
In his latest book, published in January, You Can’t Eliminate Clutter: An Experienced Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Working Smarter and Selling MoreLack details a 90-day plan for how agencies can increase market share, sales, profitability and overall value, detailing what to do over the next 30, 60 and 90 days – in a recent conversation, Lack shared Got some insights with Inman.
Jonathan Lark | Courtesy of Jonathan Lark
“[Real estate brokers and agents] It’s a small business and they need to think like a small business,” Luck told Inman. “It’s a new concept to them. That’s the original intention of the book, because we know that high interest rates and NAR settlements are only going to make things more complicated, not make things more complicated, just make things worse in the market.” Be More Competitive, Not Less The responsibility of an agency is to work smarter, which is a full-time job for any small business person.
Luck likes to remember an acronym he developed as an overarching guiding principle, “SELL,” which stands for Strategic Planning, Execution, Leverage and Leadership. Here are some tips he shared with Inman to help agents dig deeper into their business over the next 30, 60 and 90 days to increase their value and differentiate themselves from industry change.
30 day plan
The centerpiece of Lack’s first 30-day business plan is cultivating relationships with customers.
“Having customers is critical,” Lake said. “As agents stay in the industry longer, they expect a higher percentage of repeat and referral business, rather than having [to find] There are new customers every year.
Lake said that in the current market, where there are more agents than homes for sale, agents must develop talking points that best position themselves within their market, whether that’s a certain geographic area or another niche of the market.
“Why would anyone choose me, or you, or anyone else? [as an agent]? Lake said. “In today’s market context, every agent should know what their talking points are and what their added value is.”
Next, Lake adds, make a plan on how to contact past clients and schedule quality time that aligns with their interests. Then, start having these interactions with new customers and potential customers as well.
“So you first take care of your past customers through activities, and then you say, Okay, what do I do for a new client? Because I have to get new customers, that should be a plan people are thinking about in the next 30 days,” Lack said.
60 day plan
Lack told Inman that during the first 30 days and the next 30 days (the 60-day portion of the plan), agents can start digging deeper into their business data to gain deeper insights.
A key step they should take is to conduct a sales audit of their business, which means either creating a spreadsheet with details of every client they have ever worked with and the sales they were involved in, or updating their CRM to ensure all Information about customers and their transactions is up to date.
“The goal is to engage with these people more deeply and not chase new people so much but leverage the relationships they already have,” Luck said. “[But,] They don’t remember all the relationships they had,” and that’s where auditing is useful.
Lake added: “As competition becomes more intense, agencies will need to narrow down and explore deeper as they need to stand out to the right target audience.”
Likewise, agents should conduct what Lack calls a competitive audit, or an analysis of other agents in your market who compete directly with you and may even sometimes work with you. Consider how they market and advertise, how much available marketing space they take up in your area, and how to track what percentage of listings they have in that area. Then, strive to match or exceed that share.
“Once you know where you want to focus, you should know who else is focusing on the same area,” Lake said. “The area can be a geographic area or a social area, but it should be targeted and you want to know who else are your competitors. Because you’re going to be working with some of those competitors and you’re going to be competing from some of those competitors. To capture market share, you must know who they are through actual metrics. These are easily obtained through searching and reporting on any MLS system.
In Lack’s experience, top agents rarely have more than 20% of listings in any given market, which means competing agents still have ample opportunity to capture their fair share of the market if they put in targeted efforts. .
“This is the age of real estate today,” Luck said. “You have to leverage data. It’s your friend; it’s not something to be afraid of.
Agents who are less data-savvy should also seek out qualified administrative assistants, transaction coordinators, etc. to help them parse and understand the data, which can also save agents time focusing on the data, Lake said.
90 day plan
Lake told Inman that throughout the 90-day plan, agents should think bigger about their business and its future.
“The big picture is, ‘What are your goals?’ It depends on the age of the agent and what stage of life they’re at,” Luck said.
“What are their personal, professional and financial goals? This is a career, and [agents] One needs to understand that business is a means to an end. But they need to know why they are doing it and what they need to get out of it financially.
During this 90-day period, agents should take steps such as conducting a brand audit to determine how their brand reflects their business and values, and meeting with their bookkeeper regularly to understand their different fees and whether they are paying over the long term -semester.
“They can say, ‘Oh, we’re spending too much on this,’ or, ‘We’re spending too little on this,'” Luck said. “That way they can start refining their spending and budgeting, which helps them understand the inflows and outflows of business.”
Once you understand these regular expenses, Lack says it’s time to develop a 12-month business development and marketing plan.
“It’s a rolling, 12-month basis,” Luck told Inman. “[Don’t] Only consider each month, but consider the entire calendar year. Think longer term – This can help mitigate market volatility.Whether we were expecting rates to go down and they’re going up, whether it’s the NAR settlement, whether it’s limited inventory, whether it’s buyer discord, whether it’s the consensus now that buyers are going to sign contracts [with one agent] … They’re going to work with the agency that they think can provide them the best value based on their needs.
“The NAR settlement will eliminate many agents who are not competitive and will force those who want to stay in the industry and be competitive to work smarter,” Lake added.
Get Inman’s Luxury Lenses Newsletter Delivered directly to your inbox. Every Friday is an in-depth look at the biggest news in high-end real estate. Click here to subscribe.
Email Lillian Dixon
