Being a travel agent was included by CareerCast as a “useless job” in their finding that the traditional travel agent is no longer necessary (1). Online booking systems and review sites of destinations have taken away the bulk of their work.

Yet they survive because their customer service is needed by customers seeking a trouble-free travel experience and they have a specific skillset that allows them to package the individual components of travel to offer travel packages to their customers.

Hiring is even on the upswing at travel agencies for agents that can bring repeat and referral business.

Real estate agents provide a valuable service that is often overlooked with the simple comment of “Look how fast that house sold,” without considering the amount of work that goes on before and during the transaction process.

The “territory” of real estate sales is being nibbled away by technology companies that are streamlining the process and tempting “For Sale By Owner” types to go it alone.

What can be seen as the straightforward process of putting a home for sale, similar to booking a ticket, is fraught with dangers that only become evident when the destination is reached and it’s time to sign the final paperwork and close the deal.

The true value of the real estate agent, and travel agent, is to provide a service that accomplishes what it asked of it.

Travel agents personalize the experience to build the trust and repeat business to maintain their livelihood. Real estate agents must do the same. It’s the personal experience in niche markets that will protect the real estate agent from demise.

When discussing the future of the travel industry Eric Clemons, professor of operations and information management at Wharton University, said “Non-value-adding intermediaries will fail.

Intermediaries that provide coaching or some additional service will succeed. But service will no longer be free.” (2)

The internet is great at providing access to information. But it lacks in offering the experience needed to make the right decisions and have every box checked that leads to a favourable outcome.

We can draw a straight line comparison with people making all of their own travel arrangements and people selling their own houses. The lack of experience in unknown areas can create a significant issue if something goes wrong.

Having a travel agent, and a real estate professional, available to “make things work” is what people expect when they hire a professional. Having no one to call for help when things go wrong is the worst-case scenario that happens all too often.

Footnotes
(1) http://www.careercast.com/career-news/useless-jobs
(2) http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/will-commission-cuts-kill-the-small-travel-agent/

When it’s time to meet that next home seller and present your listing package and proposal, in the hopes of signing a listing agreement, you should have a well-documented package that details the property, the neighbourhood, current and recent selling prices of comparable properties, etc.

The one document that is often missing, although always mentioned during your presentation, are the specific services you offer to your seller-clients.

You should have, as part of your presentation package, a “services provided” document that details item-by-item the activities you conduct on behalf of your client.

Much of what a real estate sales professional does happens “behind the scenes” and the client only sees the end result. It’s easy for the client to be unappreciative of the effort put forth by a competent real estate agent if they are never made aware of the effort that happens in the first place.

Add to this the fact that you maybe only one of several agents invited to have a listing presentation and you can see that if you don’t exceed the expectations of the client and allow them to easily compare the services and value you provide, your chances of not getting the listing are high.

The Simple Solution

You need to create a printed list that shows each and every service you provide to your clients. And this list should have two or three additional columns that the client can use to check off what other agents offer.

This type of service provided list allows a potential listing client to visually compare your services with competitors and often times they will use that list in front of other agents, easily putting off less competent and unprepared agents.

You work hard to generate leads and meet with sellers. Make sure your listing presentation is as strong as possible and that your fees are based on the value and services you provide.

This is how you out-perform the “common” real estate agent.

Building your personal brand is, to a degree, about your accomplishments. But it’s important that you are effective in illustrating the “why” you received such recognition and not merely the fact that you did.

Creating a story about how you received the recognition for your accomplishment is much more effective, and presents much better, than simply shouting out that you won this or that.

Awards are great, don’t get me wrong, and the recognition for a job well done feels great too, but it’s the story of how you did what you did is what will interest people.

Showcasing your achievements is a basic element of building your personal brand but if it’s not received by your audience properly you will turn your efforts of trying to create admiration into jealousy, or worse, disinterest.

Don’t Mask It

Do not twist the true content of your message into “humblebragging” that will turn a positive experience into a negative emotion by the people seeing the message.

An example would be posting a picture with the caption “It’s a great day for a drive” while standing beside your Jaguar. Focus the message, don’t allow your message to hide its meaning behind something else. Honest bragging is better received than deceptive bragging.

“I sold a house for 15% over asking” instead should be “A house I sold went for 15% over asking”. Do you see the difference?

Let Others Do It For You

It’s about the experience and satisfaction that others have for your work that makes or breaks your personal branding efforts.

Bragging about yourself isn’t inherently bad but it’s a poor choice for your personal branding efforts. But, when you provide the best service and achieve the best results, you can weave a story that others will be very happy to share on your behalf.

Ask for a testimonial and go beyond the words. Record a ten second video with your clients expressing gratitude for you finding them their dream home, or a photo of them putting the sold sign on the for sale sign.

We’ve moved beyond accepting online words at face value so you need to be creative to reach that emotional acceptance of what you say about yourself.

Step One: Review Your Website

The first thing you need to do is have a non-real estate person take a look at your website. They should tell you if:

• It’s easy to navigate
• The contact form is easy to find and easy to use
• The website content is fresh and up-to-date
• The message of your personal brand is clear but not self-serving or too loud

It’s easy to generalize how people will use your website but keep in mind that only about 50% of visitors will start from your home page. If you’ve correctly “Search Engine Optimized” (SEO) your website content, visitors will enter from many different pages and they need to see what they expect to see, content-wise, on the page, distraction-free.

You may have a variety of sections on your website, and you should, but be certain that there are main content areas that are expected and easy to find, such as:

• Current listings
• Contact information (must be clearly marked)
• About me (this section can be used to showcase your accomplishments)
• Newsletter (preferably a monthly newsletter of tips relevant to your clients)

Step Two: Promoting Your Website Content

The biggest part of your website is having fresh content on it. You should be publishing regularly and using your website content as the backbone for all of your other online and offline marketing efforts.

As a real estate sales professional your content can follow the seasons, offering helpful advice for homeowners. You can also provide community event information. One content avenue you should access is to exchange content with the local businesses you already refer your clients to for help. This has the potential to build your audience reach quickly and without expense.

It’s easy to publish content and cross-promote it across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., using automation tools that are available. If your website is using a Content Management System (a CMS such as WordPress is ideal) then these tools should be built-in or added for ease-of-use.

When you are buying social media ads you should be sending the visitors directly to a specially crafted web page on your site and offering a free ebook or some other immediately available, downloadable gift in exchange for their email address.

Provide Clients with Information Not Marketing

Gone are the days when the loudest voice wins. Now you need to provide value to have a chance in the competitive online world. Short attention spans and an unending stream of feeds, postings and news easily divides the attention of your audience and minimizes the recognition factor of who you are and what you do, until such a time that your unique value has been recognized.

It’s in your best interest to select one or two social media channels and consistently publish to them. Follow the 80/20 rule of 20% your own business content and 80% fun things that your audience will identify with.

Take a few minutes and understand how to read your traffic analytics (Facebook: Insights; Twitter: Analytics; Google: Analytics) so you can see what is being read and when. Even this basic information will help you to determine the ideal time it is to publish content to attract your audience when it will appear in front of them.

Manage Your Online Reputation

It’s certainly not enough to publish and promote yourself, you need to monitor how your content is being shared, what people are saying about you and be ready to act responsibly if your online reputation is attacked.

The first think you should do is have “Google Alerts”  (https://www.google.ca/alerts) set up to email you, daily, all the news and web links about the subjects you need to stay aware of. These include:

• Your name (and variations)
• Your email address(es)
• Brokerage name
• Neighbourhoods you operate in

Add to the list of alerts you create the titles of articles you publish and any online nicknames and usernames you use. This will help you to be aware of what is said about you and where.

You should assume that anything you do online will not be private. More than 140 million Americans had some of their private information hacked and released online in one way or another since 2014.

Be careful how you handle online reviews posted about yourself. Always apologize for whatever the misunderstanding is and offer to take the discussion offline to settle the issue. This is a not a “fight fire with fire” event. Everything online is public and can quickly go viral causing irreparable damage to yourself.

Should you find your reputation being damaged online and you cannot directly contact the person that posted it, you need to email the website and demand the content be removed.

A reputation management company, if needed, can advise you of additional steps to take, should you need help.

Summary

It is expected by clients, past and future, that they can easily get in contact with you, that your service and expertise can be relied on and that you are current in every way they need your help.

You need to manage your time, use the resources you have to their maximum and work hard at building your business reputation because only when you do will you be successful.

The Usual Paths to Brokerage Ownership

Boutique
The independent “boutique brokerage” is the first option many choose to establish themselves as brokerage owners.
No restrictions on the territory of operation, freedom to craft and grow the brokerage as you see fit, coupled with no franchisee fees, a boutique brokerage can be an attractive and generally low-cost business path.

Many boutique brokerages open as a small brokerage, with just a couple of staff (if any besides the Broker of Record) and to minimize expenses many are operated from a home office. The Broker of Record is often the sole administrative staff member until revenues allow the hiring of part-time or full-time staff. It is not unusual for them to become overwhelmed with administrative work. It’s also not uncommon for a husband and wife team to operate the office together.

The downfall to this choice is that there is considerable expense to expand and, outside of a dramatic uptick in revenues, it’s hard to hire the staff required to provide the foundation of expansion. Personal time may also suffer as most real estate people are on call 24/7.

Franchise
The franchise brokerage option is usually a more expensive choice that has certain benefits to start-up the brokerage quickly. A recognized brand name and marketing materials often round out the offerings, alongside the training it takes to operate the brokerage within franchise obligations.

While the limitations vary by according to the available opportunities of the franchisor, the support structure is sometimes minimal and many franchise owners operate on their own, with the only benefit being the brand name they pay for.

The Exceptional Opportunity for Brokerage Ownership Now Available

Realty Point® franchise brokerages bring together the best of the boutique brokerage and franchise options in one elegant low-cost package.

Beginning with a “Your Name First” brokerage business name and providing the experienced staff to push through the paperwork to register your brokerage, the process of opening a brokerage has been reduced to signing a few forms and waiting for the registrar’s approval.

The “office space” search has been eliminated with Realty Point’s five furnished “shared resource” office locations that allow you to operate your brokerage conveniently throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Even the office equipment and furnishings expense has been eliminated from the start-up costs.

The administrative headaches and often overwhelming amounts of paperwork, monthly reconciliations, phone answering and even admin staff hiring and training has been dramatically reduced through the “business centre” model that drives each brokerage operation in the franchise. A Deal Secretary, a receptionist, and experienced brokerage owner’s support and mentoring are just part of the team that provide the day-to-day support a franchisee needs to have a competitive advantage from Day One.

Realty Point® also holds regularly scheduled “new agent” training seminars for their franchisee brokerages. This allows new recruits to get up-to-speed quickly with the tools, resources and technology they will use every day without the brokerage owner having to divide their time between admin work and sales as their brokerage grows.

Brokerage Ownership: Is It Right For You?

The advantages of brokerage ownership are many. From tax savings to the prestige of ownership, owning your own business is the goal for all entrepreneurs. To find out if brokerage ownership is right for you, discuss its many advantages and obligations with a knowledgeable real estate professional, lawyer or accountant.

You can also contact us, confidentially and with no obligation, and we can show you how much opportunity awaits for you as a Realty Point franchisee.

The steps you must take to move your career through the stages of novice to knowledgeable, although rather straightforward, are full of traps that can frustrate even the most hardened salesperson.

Once you become a licensed real estate salesperson you begin with networking, letting family and friends know that you’re now a real estate professional, ready to jump through hoops for their business.

Postcards are sent out, phone calls made, emails sent. Community involvement and business networking gains in importance.

Slowly your contacts will bring clients to you, buyers and sellers, then the real effort begins. Finding the ideal property for picky buyers and negotiating pricing and marketing options for anxious sellers.

You quickly realize not every buyer buys and not every seller sells. Frustration sets in.

The prospecting for clients is continuous and the training you need to market your business, and the properties you list, becomes of paramount importance as you fine-tune your skill set to better serve your clients.

As you develop your renewed marketing plan you seek out under-served niches to specialize in, and you continue to reach out to those that are interested in the specialized services you intend to offer.

Your marketing efforts expand to the online world. You establish a website and a variety of social media channels to be “everywhere” but quickly realize there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete the task list you have created for yourself.

Working for yourself is hard work and establishing your business, as you attempt to follow how other successful real estate individuals do it, becomes a herculean task full of various expenses and time-wasting efforts that don’t always produce the desired results.

Then you are invited to a “team meeting” that a colleague is holding. You look at the team model and find that by collaborating with a team that is dedicated to great customer service, that is also ready to work hard, and who want to specialize to work more efficiently, is the right path to take for your business.

The team is created and you take on the responsibilities that you are most effective at, whether as a listing agent, buyer specialist, marketing wizard, broker training and coaching, or any of the other possible specialist positions that your need needs.

At the beginning of your career, you were a one-person machine with all the responsibilities in your lap and no time to efficiently move your business forward.

Now, as part of a team, you have the time to efficiently provide the customer service you always wanted to be able to provide for your clients. The added bonus of having team members to rely upon to handle specific areas of marketing, client retention, referral building, transaction issues and more, grows your business as you always wanted it to.

Your task list has not grown shorter but it has become more manageable simply because you are not trying to accomplish everything needed to be done by yourself.

Success as a team member brings more rewards and greater satisfaction than you initially thought possible.

Welcome to your future with the new model of real estate sales.

This is how #realestate is changing #RealtyPointhelps http://t.co/ZNxTWp4ZYg pic.twitter.com/7g6pQ9hjYg

— Realty Point (@realtypointinc) August 12, 2015

Cable companies, the gatekeepers of home entertainment (with the worst customer service records of most industries) have been shifting their model from the ownership of the access to entertainment to a more internet-based model of delivering the connectivity that a person needs in the information age that reaches beyond the channels the cable companies have controlled the access to thus far.

“Steaming this” and “downloading that” has changed the way people access their entertainment choices and the once-powerful (and single product) cable companies are being forcefully shifted to a new model of not only delivering content but also being the delivery pipeline of content they do not control to stay in business.

Now consider this:

Realtors, once the gatekeepers of home listing and pricing information through their publications and closely held MLS data, (with consumer opinions that hover around that of a stereotypical used car salesman) will have to shift their model as the access to the information is removed from their control and consumers find access to that same information through sources no longer controlled by a real estate board’s data collection.

“Googling this” and “social sharing that” is replacing the information and contact methods that were once the cornerstone of a realtor’s business model. The information is rapidly being opened up and is becoming only a click away. It’s becoming easier than ever to get a personal opinion from a group of friends when asking for a reference for a realtor to help them instead of only relying on the broker’s marketing finesse.

The similarities of the models are astounding when put under this light.

Where once they controlled the access to the content, now the content is outside of their control. Holding on to the control they have left is not an option any longer as today’s consumer expects the content to be readily available without restriction and with so many ways to get around the access restrictions the old guard had in place, it’s no longer in their best interest to continue to restrict access.

We can see now that cable companies have embraced the role of the “entertainment delivery supplier” through internet, mobile and cable access, while simultaneously investing into the ownership of the creation of the content they deliver. They have evolved along with their delivery systems to maintain their evolving business model, raising their customer service standards in an effort to not be pushed out of relevance.

Realtors, in the same way, must change their content creation to embrace much more than listing and sales data and evolve into a model that is not only readily accessible but is also relevant to the consumer in more than simply processing the home purchase transaction and must evolve to become a larger part of home ownership lifespan of the consumer and provide excellent customer service throughout that lifespan.

How does a consumer put value into the context of the services a realtor provides?

In order to find the value of a realtor, as seen in the eyes of the consumer, we must first identify the aspects of being a realtor that tarnishes the profession.
• Realtors make an exorbitant commission for a minimum of work
• Realtors force consumers to pay more by causing bidding wars and inferring competing offers
• Realtors have a minimum education which casts the profession as a “last choice” career option for those other-wise unemployable or motivated to find “real work”

These three items, of course, are not the only things that cause the professional reputation of realtors to suffer but they are usually the highest number of complaints that you hear when the profession is discussed.

These issues must be confronted, discussed in the open, and shown that the true professionals that call themselves realtors do work hard, always have the best interest of their clients front and centre and are educated and experienced within the real estate industry standards so they are capable of providing the expertise and excellent customer service consumers demand.

Should the pay structure of a realtor shift away from the commission model to a “pay-per-service” model that accountants use? Would a menu board offering “a la carte” service options shine a light on the value of realtor’s services to be ordered?

The competition would certainly heat up for listings as consumers shop around for prices and services to compare. The employment numbers of people that call themselves professional real estate salespeople would certainly decline as many would not survive the scrutiny that a standardized and competitive pricing structure would create.

How do you protect buyers from the anxiety-filled days of multiple bidders and unknown competition for the property they want to purchase? Many jurisdictions are legislating, or considering to legislate, reforms that open competing bids to better scrutiny to protect the interests of the buyers and sellers. This is a step in the right direction that will build confidence in the honesty of the transaction and when these requirements are contravened by unscrupulous real estate salespeople we can only hope their public exposure will create a more confident marketplace.

Should the real estate sales profession have additional certifications to help identify the “better professional” apart from the part-time or new salespeople?

When professionalism and experience is easier to identify in a real estate person’s title we will allow for a greater understanding of a person’s capabilities in the industry that goes beyond the usual “Number 1” or “Highest selling” marketing testaments many real estate brokers use to set themselves above the larger pool of licensed agents.

Is it possible to open up the home seller/buyer processes so the general public has a better understanding of the complexities involved with each transaction?

The average homeowner will purchase 5 houses in their lifetime and their experience will vary with each transaction. How can they possibly be understanding about the intricacies of the transaction when they do not deal with it more often? It is precisely this reason why great auto mechanics and lawyers earn a good living: the average person just expects it to work and for the professional to get them the outcome they desire. We can draw a straight line within these comparisons that anyone can understand.

Solution

It is in the best interest of the real estate professional that anticipates a long and successful career in the industry to build towards the future in a positive and professional manner.

They must work as a cohesive group to elevate the stature of the profession in the eyes of the consumer, not only in the practice of real estate but in the ways the information is held that the consumer now expects greater access to.

Realtors can no longer be regarded as gatekeepers but as advocates that work for the better interest of their client at all times.

Their professionalism and dedication to customer service is what will rebuild confidence in the profession but only so far as this becomes an industry-wide standard.

• Set your own hours
• Create and implement your own marketing initiatives
• Create your own networking opportunities
• Meet and interact with a wide variety of people

Freedom to Work
Most brokerages allow for a wide degree of independence as to how you account for your time and how you market your business. There is a certain level of freedom with real estate sales that isn’t available in most other careers and that aspect is a major attraction for those that consider entering the real estate sales industry.

Most real estate sales people rarely set foot in their brokerage’s office, they’re always on the go, meeting clients wherever it’s most convenient.

Work/Life Balance
A flexible schedule allows for a good work/life balance too. Of course, ask anyone that has a few years in (and a modicum of success) and you’ll be told that you don’t set your own hours, your clients set them for you.

Dealing with the Public
Meeting a lot of people is par for the course and you have to have a certain amount of stamina for all the names and faces you’ll be introduced to.

One of the attractions of being in real estate sales is that you do get to meet a wide variety of people and for the most part they appreciate working with you as your client.

Not all clients are the same, however, and you’ll meet great ones and not-so-great ones too. You’ll meet people that will share with you their idea of a dream house and there are those that will expect you to know what that dream house is without so much as describing how many bedrooms it should have.

Exceeding Client Expectations
Dealing with difficult buyer-clients is a frustration that all realtors have shared and how that frustration starts generally comes down to this one thing: a lack of communication.

As much as a good buyer-client will interview you to find out if you have the knowledge and experience that will benefit them, you will have to interview the buyer-client to understand their motivation for looking to purchase a property.

This is even more true of the client that calls you up with a listing address that they want to see right away. If you don’t ask any questions you’re starting off the broker-client relationship the wrong way.

Only by opening the door of communication, and asking the questions that can provide the answers that will help you to effectively guide them through the process, will you be able to nip the possibility of the broker-client relationship being a fruitless and timewasting exercise of frustration.

Begin by asking questions about the client’s motivation for moving, such as:

• What has changed so that your current home no longer suits your lifestyle?
• Do you anticipate additional changes within the next 5 years?
• When would you like to be moved into your new home?

You should then ask questions that will reveal their requirements during the purchase transaction, such as:

• Who will be the owners of the new home?
• What type of financing will you be applying for?
• How flexible is your purchase budget?
• Do you have a renovation budget for your new home, or should it be “move-in ready”?

By asking the right questions at the beginning of the broker-client relationship you will be better prepared to meet, and exceed, your client’s expectations and bring home a commission check as you happily move them into their new home.

Many brokers tend to rush through the process and not ask the questions that will help to better understand the motivation of their client and do them a disservice by not understanding what they need, what they expect and the best path to reach their goal.

At the beginning of the realtor-client relationship, in order to build trust, you need to ask the questions that will help you to discover the goals your client has, putting aside the immediate requirements of price.

By knowing your clients and identifying where they are in their life you will be able to exceed their expectations while showcasing your expertise.

The Right Lifestyle Questions to Ask

By asking these initial questions you will help your client to put into words, and bypass some of the emotional elements, of their needs and wants.

• Why are you moving to?
• What changed to bring about this move?
  • Upsizing
  • Downsizing
  • Growing/change in family/pets
  • Change in jobs
• When do you want to move by?
• How flexible is your moving date?
  • Moving date or timeline for a completed transaction
• What do you want to be available in your new neighbourhood?
• What do you like, not like, in your current neighbourhood?
  • Local services
  • Schools
  • Shopping
  • Public transportation
• What would you change in your current home to make it more livable?
• What would change your mind about moving?
• What type of house do you want?
  • Renovations
  • Landscaping
  • Neighbours
  • Local services
• If interest rates rose by 2% and your mortgage rose by $300 a month, would your current/future home still be affordable for you?

There are many more questions that you will be able to ask based on the answers you were provided by your client so far and I encourage you to ask them.

Your client, by virtue of contacting you, has opened the door to hiring you for your experience and knowledge, it’s your job to walk through that door.

Now we understand that the very real threats are coming from all sides. Just as there really isn’t a “private life” anymore (short of unplugging yourself from the internet), there is no safety in continuing to do your job as you did before.

“Big Data” will erode the limited access to information that long has been the sole domain of real estate brokers and their respective MLS and real estate boards. Even if the MLS isn’t forced to open up their data it will be revealed by third party websites that are now taking a larger percentage of clients and referring them to realtors, amassing their own stores of data from these interactions and by also including the public data that is accessible, creating a new source of seller data outside of the proprietary MLS system.

The only question here is when will the “tipping point” be realized?

Then we move on to the question of the realtor workforce and the “supply and demand” issue, not of homes but of brokers.

How many are needed to sustain the industry and what future changes will force a change in these numbers?

The usual “thinning of the herd” of real estate salespeople has come from market downturns. Now we are seeing a different challenge ahead: maintaining relevance.

Consumer’s expectations have changed, indeed, our lives have been transformed. At any time when you have a question you can “google it”. The answer is just a click away. Need to fix a leaky tap? Go watch a YouTube video and fix it like a pro. Need a new logo? Go to Fiverr.com and find a designer.

The common denominator is accessibility. It’s what we demand in our lives. If we expect someone to provide us with a service then it had better be top-notch, or the entirety of the connected world will hear about it. And good luck repairing your online reputation.

Let’s look at auto sales as an example: due to the availability of information the car-shopping sales funnel has been reduced from 6 to 8 trips to several dealerships, a few test drives, plenty of seeking answers to questions, etc., to visiting just a couple of online websites and a final trip to the dealership to purchase the car. And a car is usually the second biggest purchase a person makes. Dealerships and specific salespeople are visited or avoided because of their online reviews.

When, not if but when, the real estate transaction becomes “parted out” we will see a shift in the relevance of the real estate professional’s job description. “Big data” is the major variable here. Access to that information will open up, if not today then on a tomorrow soon.

The survivors in this business will be those that have the happy clients that refer them business and have a strong personal brand that they have built a successful business upon. The fast-moving, customer service oriented brokerage will be leading the way because they can nimbly accept the changes ahead and react to the demands of the times.

Large brokerages will be a part of the “herd thinning” for the very same reason many of them merge or fail: they do not provide the support real estate salespeople require and they look to cut costs as their sales volumes diminish. Their “bottom line” focused attention will see savings in costs by offloading many of the tasks that people now do, which is primarily finding and bringing in clients.

Those that see and adapt will win the future, those that do not will lose relevance and be pushed aside.