Best Practice: Agents Switching Brokers

I was sitting in a broker's office having a casual meeting. Her office manager sent her a text to ask if he could interrupt. One of the top agents in the office who creates more strife than good was threatening to leave—again. She politely excused herself for a minute and returned a few minutes later. She shared the story with me and I asked her what she did. Her statement was succinct and I shall never forget it. She said, "I shook the agent's hand and told her, 'Thank you for the pleasure of working with you, we are going to miss you.'"

The truth is, agents come and go every day in brokerages. If you are successful, more are coming in the door than going out. Great brokers compete on value and relationship rather than commission splits. It is important to have an onboarding checklist when new agents arrive. Aside from the administrative stuff that you should have ready to send via DocuSign, Instanet, or whatever document-and-signature solution you use. You should have a well composed set of materials on the broker services and a schedule for the agent to become acquainted and trained on each of them. Most of all, you should review that material in detail at least once a year. Think of it as part of your 2015 game plan for offence and defense. (Sorry, as I write this, it is Super Bowl Sunday!)

WAV Group performs analysis services for brokers. We interview people who have recently left the company along with people who have recently joined the company. We have a way with asking questions that get to the heart of the matter. Heart is what it is usually about. People act on emotion and justify their actions with logic.

I know of a top-producing agent (over $100M) who switched companies after 18 years because the new company "had a great mobile solution." The mobile solution was the logic speaking. She switched companies because she had lost the emotional connection to her other firm. She effectively left her old broker to replace them with one that had more swagger and sizzle. The best part is that it worked. This agent was rejuvenated through the change. She was excited about her new business partners. She was happy to leave the drama and envy of the old office behind her. She was thrilled to tell her new story to her clients.

To retain agents, focus on the emotional relationship. To recruit agents, focus on the emotional relationship. However, be sure to provide logical reasons that support the agent's decision.

I doubt that anything that I have shared in this article revealed a hidden secret to success in operating a real estate brokerage. But it should make you do a self-assessment. Success comes from performance analysis, benchmarking, and repetition. It's all about how well you execute against what you know. If you need to train staff to execute effectively, we can help with that, too.

Read Best Practice: Clients Switching Brokers