Real estate is changing from what many of us have known for a long time now. It will be a long time before we see another market as we have had in the past, an easy career choice where one can make money with no effort. Lazy agents are failing and experienced agents are happy the bottom feeders are exiting the business. The revolving door is still moving but this time there are not a lot of incoming bodies.
Real Estate is still a very viable career path! The media is making it sound all doom and gloom and unfortunately Real Estate companies did not plan for the lean times by training their agents to survive this type of economy when business was good. No one planned for the famine, they only reaped the rewards of the feast and sadly they squandered their time, money and opportunity to put away for the lean times. How many brokers have trained their agents to run their business as a business? This is a whole other topic, maybe one for later.
What we do know is that no longer will real estate have an onslaught of new comers who get in the business and make hundreds of thousands of dollars without working for what they earn. No longer will brokers be overrun with people wanting to get in the business. Now brokers will have to learn to “fish” and cast a larger net to help them recruit more agents to the business. They WILL have to position themselves as the broker of choice and help others understand their value proposition.
So here is my question, if you want to recruit and retain more agents, What makes you so special? Answering this question will help you understand your value proposition. No longer is it enough for a real estate company to boast about their training, their technology or size. Small is the new large and big armies don’t always win the war.
If you cannot clearly communicate what makes you so special then maybe it is time to reach out to someone or a company who can help you. AlignMark has been helping companies for more than 30 years with their human capital investments. Alignmark recently launched the latest Recruiting technology, AccuRecruiter, to help brokers reach more passive job candidates. This new technology helps convert more leads into hires. If you want to learn how a click, connect, converse and close can help you contact AlignMark for more details.
I thought this was an excellent article. Very well said Maria and your expertise continues to benefit the real estate industry.
Comment by Glen — November 12, 2008 @ 7:56 pm |
Thank you for the dose of reality. For the professional who has learned the business this is a great time to be in real estate.
Comment by Paul Semanek — December 2, 2008 @ 12:35 pm |
Great message. We constantly ask ourselves here at our company “what separates us from our competition?” and “what is our brand?” and “what do we offer to new and existing employees that no one else does?” We need to constantly ask ourselves these questions before we can even conduct an elevator speech or market our clients.
This economic turndown will definitely kill off the weaker real estate companies leaving the truly strongest companies on top. Look at Southwest Airlines!
Hang in there everyone!
Comment by Bob Naegele — December 2, 2008 @ 1:13 pm |
Excellent message Maria. Too often companies get caught up in the good times without properly preparing for the bad. The brand of a company and how a company differentiates itself from its competition should not be static…it needs to be re-evaluated as market dynamics and consumer opinions change. Now is the time companies need to be evaluating their message and training their agents. Keep up the great articles.
Comment by Rebecca — December 2, 2008 @ 2:51 pm |
Maria,
Another great article. You really hit home again. We must always differentiate ourselves from the competition. And, we need to help our agents develope a workable business plan and more importantly, hold them accountable to the plan. Thanks, Mike
Comment by Mike D'ottavi — December 2, 2008 @ 9:39 pm |