How to get more out of your agents? Agent Success System for Brokerages
Last week, we spoke about the ongoing wave of brokerage acquisitions and how the dollar value of the brokerage depends solely on the quality of its agents.
Here’s an executive summary:
Having good (read: producing) agents not only helps generate more cash flow.
But it also helps sell the brokerage for more money.
Developing good agents is a great business with so many eager buyers sitting on piles of cash and looking to expand their market share.
But as you know, getting agents to pick up a phone is probably the second hardest thing to accomplish after colonizing Mars.
Despite not being talked about widely (for obvious reasons), every broker is facing the challenge of low agent productivity. And somehow, no solutions are addressing this problem.
Well, it always starts with “What if...”
What if we could build a simple, scalable, and repeatable process for “manufacturing” professional real estate agents?
Agent Success System
The first word I used to describe a process was “simple”.
I deeply love oversimplifying everything. I think oversimplification is the only true way to handle all the complexities of this world.
If the agent development process is too complex, executing this process will become impossible, especially for larger brokerages.
The second word I used was “scalable”. Being a part of a large brokerage should NOT be a disadvantage for agents.
Even the largest brokerage can be run as a team with the right use of technology, enabling every agent with the resources they need to succeed.
The third word I used was “repeatable”. Instead of a short-term boost, the system needs to continuously cultivate agent success.
Let’s dive in.
Top sellers, mid-tier, new agents & non-producers
Treating all agents as equal is fundamentally wrong. One-size-fits-all does not work in real estate.
At different stages of the real estate career, agents have totally different needs - recognizing this is key.
Our first step should be to segment agents into 4 categories based on where they are in their careers. You can add additional segments like Part-Timers if you need to.
You can define your own criteria for what it means to be a top seller or mid-tier agent.
As a general guidance, top sellers (10+ transactions in 12 months), mid-tier (1-9 transactions in 12 months), new agents (less than 3 transactions since joining), and non-producers (did not have a closing in 12 months).
Our goal is to give each agent segment the resources and guidance they need to progress to the upper tier.
The complex job af agent development comes down to moving agents from the bottom to the top tier.
Personalized goals and actionable guidance
Now, how can we do it?
By individually addressing the needs of each segment.
New agents (onboard and put into production)
The objective here is to complete the onboarding process and put them in production. Most brokerages offer 30-60-90 day checklists.
Here are examples of the north star metrics for new agents:
# of days to complete the onboarding checklist (typically under 10)
# of days for getting the first client under contract (ideally under 60)
% of agents who have successfully completed onboarding (the benchmark is 80%+)
Mid-tier agent (increase transactions)
They know what it takes to take a client all the way to a closing.
Doubling down and doing more of what’s already working well for them.
Exploring additional lead generation sources, optimizing lead nurturing, and lead conversion techniques.
Example:
How to Confidently Articulate Your Value to Client - that one training can have a significant impact on conversion rate
% increase in the # of transactions is the metric to measure mid-tier growth
With the right guidance, agents who were previously closing 3-5 transactions per year can be elevated into the 10+ segment.
Top sellers (retain)
Our main strategy here is to support top producers through operational efficiencies.
Regular engagement and recognition will help drive retention.
Executive coaching programs.
The top-producer retention rate is the main metric.
Non-producers (revive)
Similar to new agents, we need to give them an actionable roadmap to get their first client under contract.
As you can see, agents add different stages of their careers have totally different needs.
Engagement & tracking
It doesn’t matter what CRM, AI, or marketing tool we throw at our agents - if the agent is not engaged, they will not suddenly turn into a top producer, thanks to that new CRM.
By “engagement”, I mean leadership’s ability to communicate information to agents and agents’ responsiveness to whatever has been communicated.
Having full visibility into agent engagement is a prerequisite to running a successful agent development strategy.
The best solution for agent engagement is a custom-branded brokerage app that consolidates all the agent development functionality under one roof.
The app is the first thing you agents install when they join and the last thing your agents delete when they leave.
It allows you to deliver communication, provide onboarding steps, training, coaching, and ultimately give you visibility into how your agents are progressing.
Every month, you can focus on different aspects of the business, assigning relevant training & coaching strategies, and tracking execution.
Follow through
Religiously follow through. It’s a simple system to stick with.
Any brokerage has 4 agent tiers.
The goal is to give each agent segment the actionable guidance they need to progress to the higher tier.
Some agents will execute, others won’t, but having the visibility will allow you to incrementally improve your Agent Success System to develop a professional sales force.
Join us in shaping the future of real estate
Agently is a startup on a mission to develop the ultimate Agent Success Platform and help brokerage transition into the new world where real estate is a professionals market.
If you share our vision and are interested in joining us, we’re opening a new round of Seed funding.
We’ve built the product and proven the concept with over 5700+ agents, and we’re now looking to accelerate our growth and expand our impact.
We are looking for strategic investors who can contribute more than just capital. For more details, please review our investor deck below.
