Brokerage Management and Sales Training from an Alaskan Perspective

International Real Property Foundation

PeggyAnn McConnochie E-mail: PeggyAnn@ACHConsulting.com

©2008 ACH Consulting

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Outline•Managing People•Data Collection and Analysis

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Question•What do you want to get out

of today?

•What are your expectations?

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Managing People

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SALES AGENTS

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Sales Agents

• Consider how many you want in your office• Will they be new to the business so that you

will need to train them or will they be experienced (but you still need to let them know how your company operates)?

• Will they be able to have assistants and work in teams?

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Sales Agents

• Interviewing for new agents, ask questions such as…– What do they know about the real estate

profession?– Are they motivated?– Are they detail oriented?– Are they organized?– What is their background and experience– Other questions?

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Sales Agents

• Interviewing for experienced agents:– What has been their experience thus far?– What has been their sales volume since they got

into the business?– Are they detail oriented? Like paperwork?– Are they willing to learn and follow a different

system?– Other questions

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Agent Assistants and Teams

• In the United States the other big trend is agents who have assistants; each one taking care of the sales aspect of the business that best suits their talents with one agent clearly charge

• Can create more headaches for the broker• Can be difficult to supervise• Does help good agents to be even better

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GOAL SETTING

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Company goals

• Income goals or production goals• Sales or management volume goals• Percent of the market goals• Other

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Agent goals

• Agents, especially those that are new, need help to set goals that are realistic, attainable yet goals that are set high enough to challenge and motivate them

• Even seasoned agents need help to set goals – near and long term

• Goals need to be concrete and specific• Goals need to be shared with the broker

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MOTIVATION

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Find out what motivates people, then create an environment in

which people can succeed because they feel motivated

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Teamwork

• Create a mission that speaks to everyone and gives the team a common goal and direction

• Create a system that team members can use to recognize each other for good work – it does not need to be expensive

• Monitor team goals and help them to see where they are on the road to reach those goals, giving suggestions and directions when they are not quite on track

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One on one

• It is not always money that motivates agents or staff

• Ask the individual what motivates them and help to support them by providing them incentives that mean something to them

• Help them set reasonable goals – give them ideas on how to improve where they are weak and support them where they are strong

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Learn from your successes and your failures

• Conduct exit interviews with agents and staff;–Why did they leave

• It will help you improve your relationships with agents and staff

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TRAINING

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Training – new agents

• Professionalism and company policy

• Working with buyers• Working with sellers• Writing contracts• Negotiating with respect• Closing transactions• Service through it all

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Training – new agents

• Communication with the broker• Importance of getting their

questions answered• Setting up a mentor• Learning the players in the

industry• Risk management

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Training – experienced agents

• Professionalism and company policy

• Working with buyers• Working with sellers• Writing contracts• Negotiating with respect• Closing transactions• Service through it all

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Training – experienced agents

• Communication • Risk management• Getting their questions

answered• Reputation

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Truths

• If done well at the beginning for new or experienced agents and new office staff, it means you will have less problems later

• Put together a training system to insure that everyone gets the same consistent information

• If a new person seems to be struggling, go back to the training period

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Truths

If people have the right tools and support from the beginning; they will succeed and be a productive and happy member of your team

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LIABILITY REDUCTION

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Reducing risk

• Look at everything with an eye to risk reduction:– Contracts and agreements – Money and trust accounts– Insurance for the business and for property– Errors and omissions insurance

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Reducing risk

• Train your agents and your staff to recognize what has the potential to be problem then give them the tools to help avoid problems

• You need to be aware of the potential risks with every aspect of the real estate process, then plan and prepare to reduce the risk

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Reducing risk

• Each aspect of real estate has different risk factors:– Residential sales– Commercial sales– Residential property management– Commercial property management

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Reducing risk

• Each aspect of real estate has different risk factors:– All have confidentiality issues that must be

addressed– Money issues and the risk must be addressed

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Reducing risk

• What are some of the areas that pose the greatest risk for you here?• How can you avoid them?

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Data Collection and Analysis

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You cannot make good decisions without good data!

But do not go overboard!Avoid analysis paralysis!

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Data

• Find reliable sources for your data• Do not share company data

with anyone!• Share market data with agents

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Data

•Data compiled over time is one of the greatest resources we have

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LISTING

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Market numbers to track• Numbers of properties for sale per week or

month within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties for sale per week or month within each category and the basics on each property

• Numbers of properties sold per week or month within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties sold per week or month within each category and the basics on each property

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Company numbers to track• Numbers of properties for sale per week or month and

by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties for sale per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Numbers of properties sold per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties sold per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

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Competitor’s numbers to track• Numbers of properties for sale per week or month and

by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties for sale per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Numbers of properties sold per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

• Prices of properties sold per week or month and by whom within each category and the basics on each property

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Market Analysis

• Develop a way to help sellers responsibly price their properties for sale– Through the collection of data, you can use it to

help develop reasonable marketing ranges for your sellers

– An informed seller is one who will be eager to work with you to get the property sold in a responsible manner

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Market Analysis

• Develop a way to help sellers responsibly price their properties for sale– Teach your agents how to use and analyze the

information that you have gathered– And teach them how to explain it to sellers

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ADVERTISING

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Company

• Create a consistent “look” and “feel” for your company– Logo– Color scheme– Tag line– Company website– Cards, letterhead, envelopes– office

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Company• Which advertising mediums will you use? In the

U.S. we use:– Newspaper (local and maybe national)– Radio– TV– Company website– Franchise website– National and international websites– Blogs– You Tube– Newsletters (paper or e-mail)

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Company

• How much will you spend on each medium?• Look at your costs on a weekly, monthly and

yearly basis and crate a budget realizing that comments may have heavier advertising budgets than others

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Agent

• Ads within company ads• Page on the company website• Agent website• Blogs• Newsletters (paper or e-mail)• Social networking sites• Plus others

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Agent

• Help agents to develop their own budgets depending on what type of commission system or desk fee system they are on

• In the U.S. agents must (are required by law) to list the brokerage firm name in all advertising

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Property

• Single property websites• Property signs• Directional signage• Flyer boxes• Open houses

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Property

• Typically these are costs paid by the agents themselves

• Make sure that agents (especially those that are new) know about these additional options

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People

• Once again typically paid by the agent:– When you have a buyer who is looking for a type

of property that is not currently on the market you might advertise to see if someone may be thinking about selling that type of property

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SALES

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Tracking your company sales

• Type of property• Listed price• Sale price• Terms • Time on market• Amenities

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AGENT PRODUCTION

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Setting guidelines and goals

• Always remember if your agents are successful, you will be too!

• Set up guidelines and suggest equipment that they need to succeed– Number of people they need to talk to each day– Activities that will make them successful– Set them up with an experienced agent to mentor

them– Other

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Setting guidelines and goals

• Help them to understand what they can expect and aspire to for listing and sales volume during the first 6 months, the first year

• Let them know how much they will spend to get themselves set up and organized for the first 12 months

• Give them the market information that they will need

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Setting guidelines and goals

• Help them to understand and then take advantage of every opportunity to get more education in their real estate area, or in a new area in which they want to practice

• Help them set up a system to manage every person they speak with about real estate

• Do not be afraid to fire an agent who is not meeting their goals and your expectations

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DECISIONS BASED ON DATA

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The data has to be good for you to make good decisions – remember

the old American adage “junk in means junk out.”

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Data

• Know what data you want to track• Get the data only from reliable sources• Be consistent with your tracking of the data

and what data you are tracking• Remember, tracking data for data’s sake is not

helpful. It must be accurate, pertinent, topical, and useful.

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Data

• Average agent expenses first 12 months• Average agent income first 12 months• Average agent income years 2 through 3• Average number of contacts made

before a sale• Other

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Data

• Sales and listing data (residential and commercial)• Rental data (residential and

commercial)

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Data

• For example on residential sales– Type of property– Location (neighborhood)– Lot size– Age – Building size– Amenities– Listed price, sold price, sold date

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Data

• Company income and expenses:– Monthly and yearly and year over year– Budgeted, actual with variance

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Thank you!

See you tomorrow for

Day 3

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