5 Strategic Areas to Refine for Widespread Brokerage Success in 2023

As real estate returns to a normal market and we have a little more time to respond to an offer, Allen Tate continues our focus on operational effectiveness. Historically, in good times, companies open offices at a fast pace. As the market slows, companies will often close doors.

Our goal is to be strategic for success in every market. We strive to get the people, productivity, and professionalism just right.

Office Strategy

Our network of 70 branch offices in local communities throughout North and South Carolina is a significant differentiator that sets us apart from the competition, helps our agents and provides consistency to the customer.

Allen Tate believes that physical locations will continue to be important to sustain our culture and community for years to come. During the past few years, we have focused on "right sizing" our branch offices, with correct design that is welcoming and efficient for both agents and customers. In the past six months, we have attracted many experienced agents to our company who left a more virtual company environment. This tells us that agents still want and need a community culture where they have personal face-to-face interactions with their leaders, peers and customers.

A successful real estate company must have a definitive branch office strategy. It's important to understand the market representation of your competition, and understand the space, support, and technology needs of your agents. An essential part of that strategy is an investment in tools and resources that drive transactions. Square footage does not accomplish that goal.

Delivering Innovation through Partner Offices

In recent years, we have introduced a Partner Office option for our top performing agents. We currently have nine Partner Office locations, with a goal to double that in 2023. We partner with high producers with a minimum closed sales volume of $20 million who desire an office of their own. The agents/teams pay for all business expenses, but have access to Allen Tate technology, recognition, and marketing to assist them in growing their business.

This has proved to be a great retention and recruiting solution. The name Partner Office really resonates with high-performing agents. They desire an engaging and comfortable partnership, and they appreciate the transparency. The more we treat them like business partners, the deeper the relationship becomes. This helps us grow our branch network and protect and strengthen our culture.

Agent Productivity

Our approach to productivity is not to be the biggest army, but the best. Our agents average 15 transactions and $5 million in closed sales volume annually. At the close of 2021, we had 1,600 agents, with only 45 who had not closed a transaction – and they were all new hires in Q4 2021. We have always been focused on discipline to stimulate high agent productivity. We choose agents that believe have great potential, and we are laser-focused on developing them.

Agent Retention

Retention must be a proactive process. We develop deep partnerships with our agents that become the fabric of a trusting relationship. We have enhanced our compensation plan with features that rewards tenure, and celebrate achievements with an aggressive awards and recognition strategy. Above all, you must love your people. We create a culture to make our large company feel like family. We never lose sight that real estate is a people and relationship business. We all need a pat on the back.

Inspiring Branch Leadership

An ongoing challenge in our industry is great branch leadership. We need the right people in the right places. As a boy, I remember my father Gary Sr. scrambling the office managers every few years by assigning them to new offices. The impact was significant.

At Allen Tate, we are doing two things to help strengthen branch leadership and build future leaders:

1. Leadership development program - Every two years, I spend time over six months with 12 leaders, with a focus on developing leadership skills. By the end of 2023, all of our 55 residential leaders will have completed the program.

2. Emerging leaders program - This is a nine-month program where a class of 27 agents learn to be leaders. We develop close relationships through our monthly meetings, and these agents become more aware of our strategies as a company and how our internal teams support those strategies. Agents in this program gain a heightened perspective and appreciation that will pay dividends in the future.

I hope that you are all launching powerfully into 2023. I look forward to gaining some perspectives from your contributions to the Broker Resource Network. We will all get better by working together.

Gary Scott is President of Allen Tate Realtors.