Last month I wrote a post about "What's Next? Five Trends For The Real Estate Consumer".

One of the predictions was that we will see more salaried real estate agents in the future.

One of the commenters on that post was the fantastic blogger Teresa Boardman of the St Paul Real Estate Blog:

"Salaried agents? Can't imagine how that would work. So many of us gravitate toward the business in part because we love being self employed. If I had a boss, other than my clients of course, it would just suck the joy out of my job. :)"

Teresa has a great point. Many agents become agents because they like the freedom to work for themselves. There are also a lot of agents who in reality are unemployed or selling houses part-time while doing something else.

I don't see salaried agents being a dominant part of the future anytime soon.

Here is why: Starting a real estate brokerage is comparatively speaking fairly cheap. And recruiting agents on commissions keep fixed costs low. Nationwide companies are primarily franchises and don't have the business model in place to support salaried agents.

But there will be more of them. And you will see them in companies that have the following in common:

1. They are great marketers.

2. They generate a lot of leads on a corporate level.

3. They value a consistent and high-quality experience for the end client.

4. The company will be the primary brand - not the agent.

Some of them will be newer companies that we have not yet seen. Or it could be a remake of a long-established luxury brand in the industry.

So to answer Teresa Boardman's question... how would it work?

It would work like any sales-oriented organization. You would get compensated with a base pay and a bonus depending on your performance.

If you're starting out you will likely work on inside sales and have more of a customer service oriented role. More agents will work in call centers in the future. That's just the nature of where the industry is heading. Team work will be more common than in the past.

More experienced agents will of course do high-end sales and manage teams and would get a higher compensation.

Would most agents like to trade their commission based income against a regular paycheck? I would not be surprised, especially in a tougher market environment.

Are you an agent? Would you like a paycheck?

All the best.

-Ola

P.S. Teresa... Big congrats to being mentioned at Realtor.org for your blogging results! Keep up the great work!

Posted by Ola Edvardsson at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

2007 is here. Let's make it a fantastic year shall we?

This year will likely turn out to be one of the defining years in the real estate and mortgage industries.
With a current slowdown in progress, generating leads and converting them into clients and closings
will be even more important.

Let's have a look at three keys to real estate marketing success in 2007.

1. Be remarkable. And make sure you tell your story

We touched upon this earlier in the post
"Calling all real estate agents: Why should anyone do business with you?"

You really need to give prospective clients a good reason to do business with you.

And the stakes are getting higher and higher. Today's consumers are not looking for a "me-too" experience. They are looking for companies that will make them go "wow!".

Don't settle for anything less than being truly remarkable.

2. Track and analyze the returns of your media spend

"I can't afford to advertise or spend more on advertising". It's very common that
people tell me this.

This normally tells me one thing: Your advertising is not really working.

When your advertising is working you're making money. And your goal is to invest
that money into more advertising and referral systems to make more money. That is how businesses grow.

Would you spend $500 to make $1,000? If you knew for sure, then of course you would.
You might say to your self... sounds simple, but it isn't that easy!

The concept really is. It gets a little bit more difficult in the execution.

The problem most business owners face is the lack of tracking of the return of their investments.

The key is to being able to test and track your media spend, down to the initial request and all
the way to the closing.

You can't guess if the ad you're running will work or not. You need to know.

How?

In a small-scale environment it can be done simple by attaching a special code to each ad you run.
In radio spots you have dedicated 800 numbers. In print ads you have special coupon
codes for the special offers.

And on the Internet you can just put a tag on each ad or lead. That's one of the reasons I got started in the Internet marketing industry 10 years ago. The ability to track and get quick data. Any direct marketers dream.

3. Implement or improve your follow-up systems

It's truly one of the "secret sauce" elements of the real estate marketing world. The company with the best follow-up system wins.

It's a very rare occasion when a user do something on the first contact. You always need to follow-up. It can take up to 20 contacts and 12 months before a lead is ready to do business with you.

This means that you're not only in the lead generation business... you're also in the follow-up business.

You need to touch your clients and prospect through multiple channels such as email, direct mail and phone. They have extremely short memory so you need to be there for them helping them and reminding them to do business with you.

All the best.

-Ola

P.S. What topics are you interested in reading about in 2007? Let me know at editor(at) realtio.com

Posted by Ola Edvardsson at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)