What Does a Successful Year in Real Estate Look Like?
We're officially into holiday season territory, which means plans, plans, plans—for your well-deserved break, but also for your business in the new year. Another year makes for more experience, more wisdom, and more numbers under your belt. While we've focused on more immediate topics like how to keep your CRM up to date and sell to your nurtured clients when they're ready, now is the time to zoom out and see how those topics and many more fit into the bigger picture of your business. And what better way than to hit two birds with one stone, with a plan for the new year? That's why we're excited to showcase our latest calendar resource. It's a list. It's a calendar. And it's jam-packed with resources, all in one place. But enough talk. Let's get into what makes this checklist shine. A list, for both brokers and agents. First and foremost, this checklist is designed with both brokers' and agents' needs in mind. Whether you need to keep an eye on your brokerage as a whole or you need to focus on keeping track of past and current clients, we've got you covered. A calendar, divided into quarters. Think less about the days of the week, and more about the seasons of the year. And since different selling seasons call for different software, we've split this guide to mirror your goals every quarter. From tax prep at the beginning of the year to riding the waves of the busy season in the summertime and more, every quarter focuses on specific goals based on the ebb and flow of what that time period means in real estate. Plus, we've woven review points for your business strategy throughout, so you know what to check and when to check it, which keeps you on top of your business. A preview of our quarterly themes: Q1: Reflection. Q2: Busy season. Q3: Slowing down. Q4: Quiet season. A hub of resources, to meet your goals. Finally, we couldn't resist making sure that this checklist would be jam-packed with further resources. Whether it's the first quarter and you've just realized that your agent marketing tech stack could use updating, or your brokerage performance is leveling off and it's time to add some new recruits, we've included Lone Wolf solutions that could be just right for filling in the gaps. New year, new plans. No matter what, it always pays off to be prepared. Now that you've gotten a peek at this handy checklist, find it available to you anytime as a printable, interactive resource. To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.

7 Easy Tips for Making Your Brokerage Recession-Proof in 2022
The beginning of Q4 2022 has been one of the most uncertain in recent memory for real estate professionals. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates again on November 2 and signaled that it would do so again if inflation remained out of control. The current rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is just over 7%, a rate we haven't seen since before the housing bubble in the early 2000s. Inflation remains at a stubborn 8.2%. Sellers are spooked, buyers are tired, and your team is caught in the middle. Your brokerage is likely experiencing a slowdown after a pandemic-fueled buying frenzy. But if the past two years have taught us anything, it's that real estate professionals are adaptive and resilient. There are lots of ways to take advantage of slower times to not just survive, but thrive—and come out on the other side stronger. Let's take a look at seven of them. 1. Branch into new segments or markets Downturns affect every segment of the market differently. The market your brokerage typically serves may be slowing down, but is the same true in neighboring areas or at other price points? You can also consider ways to generate new leads. Hiring is slowing in some areas, but many employers are still hiring as job growth remains strong. Some analysts are also talking about an "affordability migration," where workers in more expensive areas look to move to cheaper ones. This means many workers, particularly in knowledge sectors, may be moving, and relo (or relocation) leads could be a great new source of business for your brokerage. Another market that is stronger than ever is rentals, given that houses are still expensive and scarce, despite high interest rates. So, in addition to relocation referrals, you might drum up leads by helping renters locate apartments, condos, and other kinds of rentals. The same local expertise that makes your team perfect for homebuyers is ideal for helping renters find housing, too. Could relo leads be the biggest source of business your brokerage is missing out on? Learn more about relo leads in our dedicated relocation blog post. 2. Keep your online presence and digital marketing strong When the market slows down, the last thing your brokerage should do is disappear. Leads will be scarcer, so every single one counts. Staying present and active on social and other digital channels will ensure that they can find you. The best (and some might say the worst) thing about social media is that it's everywhere, and it's largely free. With a little effort and consistency, you can build an amazing brand online, both for your brokerage as a whole and for each of your individual agents. This is true of busy periods and slow ones. A slowdown might be the perfect time to implement social publishing at your brokerage. With the right social media tools, you can leverage the best of automation, AI, and lead capture to market all your listings and leverage the power of your collective spheres of influence to stay top of mind all year round. 3. Respond to leads fast The precious leads you do receive will not stick around for long. According to the Harvard Business Review, the average lead response time across industries is 42 hours. HBR found that responding within an hour of receiving a query made it seven times more likely to qualify that lead. One study that is frequently cited online says that 78% of leads go with the first person to respond. We don't know if that's true, but we do know that the speed and the quality of an initial response go a long way to convince a lead to work with you—because that's how we all feel when we're shopping for goods or services. The right real estate CRM will help your team respond to leads fast. If you don't have a CRM yet, or if your CRM is falling down on the job, this slower time is the perfect opportunity to assess your CRM needs and find the right solution for you. 4. Give your current clients the royal treatment Let's not forget that referrals are still one of the best sources of real estate leads! Even if your team is having a hard time finding the right listings and closing deals for your existing clients, make sure they feel taken care of. Be extra responsive, help them price their property appropriately or expand their criteria just enough to find that hidden gem, and negotiate the very best deal for them, even when market conditions might favor the other side of the transaction. 5. Check in on your warmest "cold" leads If times are tough at your brokerage, chances are they are tough for a lot of your prospects, too. Gas is expensive, interest rates are soaring, and the holiday season is right around the corner. The holidays are a notoriously low-inventory period (who wants to move between Thanksgiving and the new year?), but they're also the perfect opportunity to reach out to old leads for no reason at all other than to wish them well. It's far easier to keep leads warm than it is to revive cold ones, but when leads are scarce, you've got to start somewhere. Search your CRM and filter out leads from the past year that stopped engaging with your nurture campaigns or otherwise never went anywhere—then reach out. Remember, it can take some real estate leads up to 24 months to incubate, so keep at it. 6. Give back. Your community will remember. You might also consider occupying your extra time by volunteering in your community, hosting a food drive, organizing a neighborhood cleanup, volunteering at a soup kitchen, and more. Not only is it a great way to give back, it's also a great way to get your team's name out there. It's truly a win-win for everyone! 7. Take advantage of the slower pace to make some much-needed business updates Running a brokerage is tough work! Sometimes you have to put essential work off until "later" because you're too busy, and then a year passes without any meaningful changes. If things feel slow around your office, it might be the perfect time to: Update your website with a brand-new look and feel Enhance your website's search engine optimization (SEO) Optimize your back office accounting and commission accounting Tackle that other project you keep putting off! If you're not sure where a little investment might have the biggest investment, we can help. Learn about a FREE tech stack audit and sign up for one today! To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

How Agent Accountability Actually Drives Profits
Amongst real estate teams, accountability is often seen as an afterthought. But, if you really want to level up your business, accountability should be explicitly woven into your process and business plan. Accountability is defined as "the acceptance of responsibility for one's own actions — implying a willingness to be transparent, allowing others to observe and evaluate one's performance." Accountability is a valuable tool that team leaders and brokers can implement within their team cultures, but it's also an essential quality that single agents should adopt to build trust and boost productivity. Rather than being viewed as a punishment — where you need to get these tasks done, "or else" — accountability should be a motivator. Why Accountability Matters Strong accountability practices drive agents to perform better, helping them maximize their efforts and ensure that everything they intend to do actually gets done. When entire teams work together with accountability as a major focus, it's easier to collaborate effectively. The group can capitalize on everyone's best efforts, leveraging their collective power to increase production, transaction results, and client satisfaction. When individual agents dedicate themselves to becoming more accountable, single agents can improve their work-life balance by organizing their task lists and prioritizing how time is spent during the workday. Whether you're a team leader looking to make accountability a cornerstone of your team operations, or you're an individual agent that wants to achieve more, here are some tips for incorporating accountability into your real estate culture. Start Setting Specific, Actionable, and Trackable Goals Breaking down bigger goals into specific, smaller tasks that can be measured and tracked is an accountability best practice. If you map out each step that needs to be taken to generate the results you want, you'll be able to take baby steps towards the larger goal. This way, you can make sure that you and your team are on track. Goal Setting in 3 Simple Steps 1. Set an Overall Team Goal As a team, what volume do you want to achieve? How many units do you want to transact? Have a deadline in mind to help you determine how much time you have to meet this goal. 2. Set Individual Goals for Each Agent Next, break up your larger team goal into smaller, agent-focused tasks. If you're a single agent, your team goal will be your individual production goal. For teams, assign each agent an individual goal to help guide their efforts and ensure that the entire team is on the same page. Go to each team member and outline the goals being set for them. Giving them a minimum acceptable, midrange goal, and maximum attainable can help clarify expectations. For example, if you're looking for three units from each agent, the minimum acceptable may be two units, the midrange goal may be three units, and the maximum attainable may be five units. Make sure that you're talking to each agent about the goals being set for them. Ask them if they feel like it's realistic, or if they think it's a low-ball and that they can achieve more. This also gives team leaders the chance to talk to their agents and see if anyone needs help, more training, or tips to improve their work. 3. Step Back and Take a Bird's Eye View Once you've assigned roles to each of your team members based on your overarching team goal, take a moment to assess whether or not all of the bases are being covered. If you don't have the bandwidth to meet your goals, you may need to hire additional team members. Pro Tip: For teams, goal setting should be a collaborative process. In order to achieve team-wide goals, be realistic when establishing expectations for each agent. Make sure that the goals being set for each individual match their qualifications, skills, and talents. Streamline Accountability When you work with BoomTown, you'll gain access to your very own accountability dashboard. Documenting everything in your BoomTown database can help teams track progress, keep a current log of all activities, and make your CRM more effective with strong data inputs. Team leaders will be able to oversee and monitor agent activities, helping leaders determine which team members are thriving and which agents might need some help. Some brokers and team leaders even require that agents submit proof of tasks being completed before they are given new leads. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

3 Easy Methods to Instill a Culture of Accountability in Your Real Estate Brokerage
No matter what team model you use, what business plan you're embarking on this year, or what software system is powering your team, they will not help your business if you do not have a culture of accountability instilled in your team. A culture of accountability helps guide business decisions, it encourages team members to support one another and cheer each other on, and it creates clear paths to growth with explicit expectations and realistic goals. Accountability can get a negative rap. Some feel like it means "babysitting" your team members, or holding everyone to a standard that doesn't suit individual work styles and personalities. While this can certainly be true (if done incorrectly), the real focus of accountability is making clear standards and goals that team members adhere to. These are concepts at the core of your business and day-to-day. Set Clearly Defined SMART Goals The saying "what gets measured, gets managed" outlines the importance of goal-setting in installing accountability in your real estate office. The fastest way to unravel accountability efforts is by not having defined goals that your team members should work towards. A study conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews at the Dominican University in California found that those with written goals had a 42% greater chance of accomplishing them than those who didn't. SMART refers to goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. When you use this methodology for your real estate business, it helps you set a real number to track against and concrete deadlines to hit along the way. A goal of "generate more listings in my farm area" does not fit the bill, but if you give it the SMART treatment. With "generate 20% more listings in my farm area by Q3," you're giving yourself more tangible objectives to work with. Make sure you're building a foundation for communication into all of your systems and processes: Have agents create a business plan with goals, objectives and strategies to reach them. Take the time to review the plan, address personal and professional goals and demonstrate how to track them. Set up a mentoring program partner up junior team members with a more experienced "mentor" on the team to act as a sounding board and an example of how they can progress in your company. Share best-practice strategies in dedicated meetings Bring in outside experts from the industry to host workshops and mastermind sessions Sarah Pickens of the Kris Lindahl Team, RE/MAX Results holds a weekly meeting with the entire team, in conjunction with monthly one-on-one meetings with each agent. Also, the team uses a private Facebook group for personal and business communications. These touch points of communication go a long way and have helped the Kris Lindahl Team retain its culture of accountability, and its agents. Create a Culture of Accountability Your team's perception of accountability will depend on how your present your key performance indicators and how you help to motivate them. When REAL Trends released their team study, "The Real Estate Playbook: Aligning Structures and Strategies with Goals and Growth," after interviewing some of the top-performing teams in the industry, the biggest benefits they shared to being on the team and the phrases that were used over and over were words like: synergy, accountability, leverage, knowledge and support. These words do more than describe one particular element of a team; they allude to the overall culture of teams and the notion that everyone needs to be on the same page, every member needs to be accountable to the unique goals of their role, and to support the team as a whole. That is a culture of accountability. The Role of the Broker in Accountability In order to instill a culture of accountability, it's critical for brokers and leaders to forge a "want to" relationship with agents, becoming less of a manager and more of a coach. While agents should be held accountable to brokers for their tasks and goals, brokers should be accountable to agents for helping build their pipelines and coaching them toward success. Agents will then come to see accountability as something that increases their performance (and paychecks) and improves their careers. Bob Sokoler of the Medley Sokoler Team, RE/MAX Properties East in Louisville, KY leads a 20-person team and and he holds himself accountable to providing leads for his team and fueling their pipeline. The goal for Bob's team is to hit 30 to 50 leads per sales agent per month. This number is what Bob estimates the average agent can reasonably service each month. The minimum goal for the Medley Sokoler Team is roughly 450 leads per month to support the 15 sales agents on the team. The number of leads that Medley Sokoler Team aims to provide each month to its sales agents is triple the average number of leads per agent teams reported to generate each month from the collaborative survey. Accountability done the right way means better agents and stronger brokerages. Peer Accountability The role of the manager should not be limited to calling out problems and constantly monitoring your team. Brokers should work to create a team culture where agents can address concerns directly and respectfully with each other, as well as challenge and encourage each other. Pushing team members to reach their goals is also critical to successfully creating a culture of accountability. Reaching team goals on the Duncan Duo team of RE/MAX Dynamic in Tampa, FL means that Andrew Duncan rewards his entire 40-person team with an all-inclusive trip to destination cities across the United States.The whole team, sales agents and support staff, is motivated to reach the team goals because they all benefit from the reward. Last year, the Duncan Duo team averaged 28 transactions per sales agent and earned an all-inclusive trip to Los Angeles. This type of incentive is a form of actionable accountability that motivates sales agents and support staff alike to reach their full potential. Friendly competition can go a long way. Even something as simple as writing everyone's numbers on a whiteboard can motivate team members to work harder. By making goals visible, the expectations are clearly set and holds people accountable to them. Friendly competition can increase personal motivation while improving team communication. There is a strong connection between peer accountability and team performance, as discussed in research by Harvard Business Review. Here is what they found: In the weakest teams, there is no accountability. In mediocre teams, bosses are the source of accountability. In high performance teams, peers manage the vast majority of performance problems with one another. Whether it's in the form of light-hearted competition, challenging each other to do better, or confronting issues, motivated agents under a culture of accountability contribute to building a higher performing team. Tracking Accountability The success or failure of your agents depends entirely on how much accountability they have and deliver. And the only way to truly succeed is to track and measure their goals. Many top performing teams have effective tracking systems in place to keep agents accountable. This could be something simple, such as keeping track of numbers on a spreadsheet or the aforementioned whiteboard. However, most teams will agree that investing in good CRM software has made a world of difference in their accountability and success. CRM software like BoomTown allows you to track important tasks right from the beginning. The Accountability Dashboard allows you to monitor agent activity such as how long it took an agent to get in touch with a lead, when they spoke and how they have communicated. For Chris Speicher and the Speicher team, this has been a game changer. "I can tell you what each of my agents is doing — how many deals they have going, how many closings they've made, and how much money they've generated. You have to know these details. Otherwise you have no idea how healthy your business is. I can tell you down to the agent and the dollar, month and year who's doing what. An integrated system of success has to be actively worked and built into your business. And it has to cover all facets because as an agency, you're the CEO, the CFO and the Chief of Marketing all in one. But if the systems are in place and the motivation is there, success can be yours." Smart business decisions come from data. It's easier to pinpoint what is and isn't working when you're taking the time to measure the results. By tracking activity and streamlining communication, you get the insight you need to keep everyone performing and productive, and make critical decisions based on real data. It's no secret that keeping yourself accountable, your agents accountable, and your entire team accountable to business goals as a whole is no small task. But, with these strategies, and the right system, you can build and sustain a culture of accountability, and effectively hold your team accountable to their goals, and you business accountable to greater success. To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.

Building Blocks: Building a Brokerage
In our third and final installment of the "Back to Basics" series, we wanted to offer some content specifically for those looking to build a brokerage. During a previous webinar with our friends at LabCoat Agents, Jay Steinback and Amanda Alejandro of Realty Shop joined us to offer their thoughts and strategies on building and running a successful brokerage. And these two should know! After starting Realty Shop in 2018, they have achieved a lot of success selling four times the industry standard. Read on to learn about their top two tips—and for more details, check out the video for the full conversation. Here are two major tips from Jay and Amanda to build a better brokerage: 1. Set your foundation This includes investing in the tools and infrastructure needed to run the business. Realty Shop and their team of agents use Chime as their IDX and CRM foundation. Chime records all their calls, texts and correspondence so anyone on the team can help move the lead forward. If the initial agent isn't available, someone else can review the notes and pick up right where it was left off. This process makes it seamless for the client and accelerates the closing process. 2. Treat your team like your clients Team culture is the cornerstone of a successful brokerage. Jay and Amanda have worked hard to create a culture that values the efforts of employees and agents alike. They strive to be the type of company where everyone knows they are on your side and have your back! To be of value to their agents, Jay and Amanda run their company with the mindset of catering to two different sets of clients—those buying the houses and the agents selling the properties. For more tips, check out the webinar. To view the original article, visit the Chime Technologies blog.

8 Modern Problems that Every Business Faces
Being a business owner today is anything but a walk in the park. A host of forces--local, national and global--challenge business owners to be resourceful or close up shop. But here are the top eightl business problems that entrepreneurs are up against today – and how you can overcome them.

Adjusting Your 2019 Budget with Economic Data
It is that time of year again when budgeting for next year takes hold of your company. There were a few economic indicators released by First American and by the National Association of REALTORS that provide some very interesting economic truths that need to be factored into your forecasts – especially when they are factored together. Our advice to brokers and to the technology companies that serve them is to cut fixed costs by 15 percent.

5 Technology Expenses to Review for Budget Season, Part Two
Part two of this two-part series continues to explore technology expenses and strategies for budget season. In part one, we discussed the importance of reviewing your technology partner agreements and telecommunication expenses. Part two focuses on finding savings in cloud services, the benefits of a hardware refresh program, and capturing Shadow IT costs. So, let's start.

What You Need to Know about Transaction Fee Brokerage
In partnership with RE Technology, WAV Group facilitated a webinar with seasoned real estate executive, Rick Haase, about transaction fee brokerage. Haase is one of the few brokers in America who operated both a traditional brokerage and a transaction fee brokerage at the same time. There are really two sides to the coin between traditional split commission fee brokerage and total transaction fee brokerage. It is pretty easy to imagine the recruiting and retention strategy of transaction fee brokerages. The agent gets 100 percent of the commission. That is a pretty strong strategy. But what Haase brings to light is that traditional split commission fee brokerages have many compelling attractions that allow them to be equally as powerful in recruiting and retention. In this webinar, Haase brings forth information about the front-line battle between these two business models, articulates the merits and challenges of each, and highlights strategies that help brokers to understand how to navigate through to success. Please enjoy this video:  

How to Plan and Organize a Business Move
Is your business moving? The process can be a pain without proper planning. Your move will go more smoothly if you use this plan of action. Here's how to plan and organize a business move. Draft Business Moving Specifications Think about the foremost reasons for moving your business. These could be more space, better infrastructure or better quality of life for agents and staff. Then, identify the specific qualities you need in a new business site to afford these improvements. For example, you might want an office with 3,000 square feet of space and a location in San Francisco's financial district.

Launching a Real Estate Brand from Scratch: Baby Steps and Big Changes
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 10:00 AM PST Thinking about launching your own Real Estate brand? Stacie Perrault Staub, Founder and owner of West & Main Homes, will share the baby steps and big changes that you'll need to take! In this webinar you'll learn: Telling your Managing Broker (spoiler alert: sooner isn't always better) Knowing when you're ready to take the leap to Company Owner Prioritizing logistics and investments Hiring the right team to get your company off the ground Creating effective systems from Day 1 Register now!

5 Strategies for an EPIC 2017
We all know that resolutions are nice in theory, but only 8 percent actually achieve them. In fact, within the first week, 25 percent have already given up! Why? Because we don't fully grasp that we have to change our entire way of thinking to adapt to this new desired reality – which is incredibly challenging to do. So why are we leaving the change we want to see in our business and our lives to something so ineffective? Strategies will win in 2017. Let's implement strategies–now–for an epic 2017. If you want to lose weight, don't just say you're going to lose weight. Come up with 50 recipes to choose from, weekly grocery lists, and block off time on Sunday nights for making lunches. If you want to learn a new skill – great, sign up for the course now, pay for the entire year, and set time in your calendar to practice. And if you know that being obsessive with your sphere, your network of key relationships, is core to your business, get the processes and tools in place now, so Jan. 2 is all about execution. Don't waste another second of your remaining time on earth on an intention. To get you started, here are five specific strategies – recipes you can implement today. We at Contactually have given a webinar to thousands of folks with about 18 strategies in total, but these are the key ones you should focus on as we enter a new year.

Broker Business Tips: How to Read Your Financial Statements
Your financial statement is the roadmap to your financial health. Read it like you were heading somewhere. You don't go on a trip without planning your route and tracking your progress. So why would you treat your company any different. Having accurate and timely financial statements is the key to financial health. Knowing how you did six months later is useless. Planning, monitoring and utilizing is what counts. So how do you plan? With a budget. And then when you print a financial statement, you are able to compare your actual results against what you budgeted. Budgeting is not a science but an art. And the financial statement tells you how accurate you were. A financial statement that allows you to see monthly numbers, year-to-date numbers and prior period numbers is critical to understanding where you have been and where you are going. The financial statement needs to track information that is actionable. Too much detail just drowns you and too little doesn't do a thing for you. The first number that you need to be able to track is how much of each dollar coming in do you manage to keep. Whether you run your office as a traditional split operation or you use per deal fees and/or desk fees, what you need to keep your eye on is the gross revenue from your operations. No matter how you get it, that is what you have to operate your business with, paying your overhead and creating profit for yourself.

What Are Your KPIs?
When WAV Group supports an organization on strategic planning, our first phase is discovery. We spend a lot of time gathering information about the business. Our process involves three methods: talk to people, survey people, study reports. Talk to people The first method is phone calls. We talk to a lot of people about the organization to listen to what they say and to appreciate how they feel. The interviews are as much about understanding what is in people’s hearts as they are to understand what is in their mind. Survey your customers The second phase of discovery is to do a survey. Great surveys are like works of art that blend industry wide benchmarking questions with business specific measurement questions to tally up the facts about how an organization is measured by their people. Beyond the tally, we look at cross-tabs to understand differences among the various personas. Brokers may feel differently about an MLS than agents. Buyer’s agents may feel differently than listing agents. New agents feel differently than experienced agents. The entire audience will feel differently if you have recently made a service change (switched vendors). Just for fun, we can also compare organizations to similar organizations or groups of organizations across the county. Unlike any other, WAV Group research can deliver perspective.

16 Ways to Be Productive in 2016
2015 flew by and it's crazy to think that 2016 has started. Since most of us probably felt how fast 2015 flew by, we cannot waste time in 2016, especially at the beginning. Resolutions and setting goals are important, but staying productive is at the top of most of our minds in order to achieve these resolutions and goals successfully. It's clear that productivity and to "be productive" is a trending topic right now, so how do we all maintain this stride for the rest of 2016? There are many lists for ways to be more productive and we've found many to be helpful. However, here's our list of the top 16 ways to stay productive throughout all of 2016. 1. Energy Mapping When do you feel like you have the most energy? During the day, when do you feel most productive? For a week, log your days, the amount of work you completed, and the timeframe you completed it in. You'll be able to see at the end of the week the times you feel most productive and energized. Then schedule that time where you feel most energized for whitespace or to get stuff done.

Stop Buying Technology!
It's the season. WAV Group is fielding satisfaction surveys to determine how agents and brokers use or don't use technology offerings. We even encounter a curious situation where we are measuring satisfaction with broker solutions and MLS solutions in the same market. Sometimes the easiest answer to a strategy is the simplest. What WAV Group sees today is that less is more. Too many technology solutions in real estate have feature creep. Regardless if it is a broker CRM or the MLS system, they are too complex. In real estate technology, usability trumps functionality. Change is Hard The most difficult thing for anyone to do in life is change. Moreover, the older you are, the harder it is for you to learn or change. Real estate people are old. We see this constantly, and even NAR yells it from the rooftops. Before you switch systems, think very carefully about the overhead that it will cost your organization and users in functionality. Everyone takes a big hit. In most cases, you are taking your user intelligence way backwards to inch forwards. Tread very carefully and try not to change too often.

Treat Your Brokerage Like a Sales Organization
I want you to think about two things; you're running a business and that business is a sales organization. Let's discuss some real estate best practices. In my seven plus years providing real estate professionals with technology related services, I've found (time and time again) more often than not, Broker Owners/Team Leads/etc. don't treat their teams like either. Today, I wanted to point out a few best sales/business best practices that you can adopt to make the agents you're currently managing work smarter and get more sales--and a few simple things to adopt to make you a better CEO (which, as you should know, is how you should be looking at yourself). Sales best practices: Have monthly strategy sessions Have monthly (minimum) pipeline reviews In the aforementioned pipeline review, determine if they are on pace to finish behind or ahead of their individual goals (GCI, number of transactions, etc.) Look at what marketing efforts are yielding the highest ROI and, conversely, what is not. Use this information to guide yourself and have relevant talking points in the pipeline reviews Hopefully, whatever system you're currently using, gives your agents the ability to see behavioral data (how many times did they view a property, where did they share the property, what properties did they save or request information on?) and use that data to have a compelling reason to call "Have you found any properties that are of interest?" Make it a "curious" call so as not to give the impression Big Brother is watching! Use this data to make intelligent and relevant contact. Have a preset list of goals going into each call.

Technology Self Audit For Real Estate Companies
If you are a mega broker with thousands of agents, you will have an IT department that watches over your software and technology infrastructure. If you are a small or medium size broker, that chore usually falls to you, much like it does for us, in our consulting company. We watch real estate technology on a daily basis and advise some of the best technology companies in the business on how to improve their product's user interface, how to put together marketing and communication plans and many other services--and even for us, this is a daunting task. Every time you turn around, there is another new vendor coming out of the woodwork with another new widget, approach or process. I mentioned that large real estate companies usually have their own IT departments, but they are not immune to the complexity of our technology world either. The reason is simple, the solution not so simple. The reason we have such a mess in the broker technology world is the way our technology has evolved and the many layers of services and needs that have to be addressed. Over time, many brilliant solutions have been offered for accounting, contact management, drip marketing, IDX, VOW, lead management, lead generation, showing systems, back office systems, forms products, transaction management, document management, custom CMAs, broker/agent websites, and on and on. These products may have been best of breed in a given moment, but the way most brokers have selected and implemented technology is like building a car out of unrelated parts from technologies and standards that have nothing to do with each other. In the case of a car, imagine one with four different wheel sizes or an engine computer that can't talk to the electronics or seats that aren't made for a body style, etc. It would be a mess, and in the case of broker technology, it is also often is a mess even though our very talented broker professionals find ways to make it work with gum, paperclips and scotch tape pulling the whole mess together.

6 Business and Strategic Planning Tips for the Year Ahead
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to think about how you want your real estate business to grow. From building a business plan to formulating an online marketing strategy, we've published plenty of great articles that can help you get organized and plan ahead for success. The articles below are a sampling of the best business and strategic planning articles of the past year. Take a look for ideas on how to succeed in 2014. 1. New View of Broker Social Media Strategy - by Victor LundOne of the key shifts in online marketing that has occurred over the past five years is the evolution of social media marketing. What is astounding is how far removed most broker websites are from executing baseline social media strategies effectively. 2. Did You Forget About the Data? - by Lorne C. WallaceWhen integrating one office to a new environment, the back office systems are often not the same. And, even if the two companies are with the same technology partner, the service level or menu of products can be different and will require some advanced planning to seamlessly integrate.

The Real Reason Resolutions Fizzle and How to Change It
Everybody loves a new year. It's a bright, shiny, fresh, clean slate. A vista unblemished by mistakes or regrets. A brand-new chance to make those changes and accomplish those things we've been meaning to do forever. Yet, undermining all this glorious potential is the hidden truth we're aware of even as we proclaim that this time we'll really lose 20 pounds or get out of debt or finally launch that long-dreamed-of business: New Year's resolutions are nothing more than fairy tales we grown-ups tell ourselves. That's right. If you're like 92 percent of Americans, you're not going to keep those resolutions. What's more, you know it. What you may not know, says Brian Moran, is why. "The number one enemy of most New Year's resolutions isn't feasibility, a lack of know-how, or even a lack of motivation, though those things can come into play," says Moran, coauthor along with Michael Lennington of the New York Times best seller, The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months. "The No. 1 enemy of most resolutions is time." Think about it: It's all too easy to procrastinate through January, February, March and even longer. No problem, you think. I have over half a year left to do what I said I'd do. Even when July and August roll around, there are still enough months left in the year that you don't feel a real sense of urgency. Next thing you know, the holidays are almost upon you. You're still over your ideal weight, drinking too many sodas a day, working the same job, with less savings than you'd like. Too late to do anything now, you figure. I'll try again next year. Ultimately, says Moran, effective execution happens daily and weekly and on a consistent basis. To perform at your best, you will need to get out of "annual mode" and stop thinking in terms of a 365 day year. That's where the 12 Week Year comes in. It's a system that works for businesses striving to meet their goals—and it will work for you, too. Moran offers eight ways to get yourself out of the annualized thinking trap—and into the much-more-productive 12 Week Year, where resolutions do come true.

8 Secrets Every Real Estate Agent Needs to Know for a Successful 2014
This post comes to us from the HomeFinder.com blog: Real estate sales tend to slow down around the holidays, but if your goal is to increase your brokerage's profitability in 2014, the end of the year is vital to your team's success. Set the scene for a prosperous 2014, by encouraging your agents to incorporate the tips below into their year-end business goals. 1.) Resist hibernation: As we enter the months of November and December, real estate agents often go into hibernation, says Christopher Fox (Director of Agent Growth, RE/MAX First). Avoid this! This goes back to the basics of sales – every real estate agent needs a sales funnel of clients either looking to buy or sell their home. Focus on prospecting clients to refill your funnel to start 2014 on a high note. 2.) Build a reliable network: Make a goal to create at least six new business relationships in different industries (ex: mortgage broker, professional stager, professional mover, real estate attorney) to give and receive referrals, says Kristine Wyatt (Broker Associate, Smart Click Realty). Surrounding yourself with a strong network will drastically improve your reach, and will also allow you to pay it forward. 3.) Master the art of time blocking: Regardless of the stage of your career, time blocking is essential to grow your business. Fox advises to allocate a certain time of day – every day – to complete the tasks that are key to growing your business, like prospecting, returning calls, or building your social media networks.

Have You Started Planning for 2014?
With summer behind us, the New Year is approaching quickly. Make sure your office is ready for 2014 by following the tips below: Create an Annual Business Plan Having an Annual Business Plan allows you to focus on what creating primary goals and focus areas for upcoming year. A basic Annual Business Plan should have the following: A mission statement that spells out your company purpose for 2014. Goals that your office will strive to achieve (i.e., market share, new technologies) Plans for additional recruitment of agents Plans for retention of current agents A master calendar with all of the events, sessions and meetings your office is planning on. Take the business plan you've created and use it as a foundation for choosing the direction of your brokerage in 2014.

Cloudy With a Chance of Disaster
Apple introduced iCloud to the world of consumer computing. The service promises to provide access to files, such as music and photos, from multiple devices. A radio advertisement touts the benefits of an online payroll system that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and is so easy to use that even a boy operating a lemonade stand can use it. The concept behind iCloud and software that is accessible anywhere is not new, but is part of a rapidly growing technology platform called the cloud or cloud computing. Cloud computing gives both consumers and businesses the ability to use software applications and input and access data on any number of devices anywhere in the world. Cloud computing is generally the ability to remotely access software and data from off-site servers and other hardware through the Internet. It is divided between public and private clouds. A public cloud services multiple clients and customers, and a private cloud, similar to traditional outsourcing that is controlled by the user, services only one or a limited number of clients and customers. Application software offered in the cloud, or software as a service (SaaS), runs on servers located off-site or in a remote location--the software does not reside on the desktop or local computer or server. Netbook computers are designed to operate SaaS because they don't need a hard drive, but instead merely need access to a browser and the Internet to operate the SaaS application. Many of us are already in the cloud with Google's Gmail, Yahoo mail, Facebook, Flickr, and Google docs. The number of business applications is rising rapidly. The economic and other benefits cannot be ignored, particularly in stressed economic times. There are several potential drawbacks, especially for business applications, however, that need to be addressed before fully embracing and launching the concept.

What Has the Industry Learned From Keller Williams?
They call it "Family Reunion" and for 2013 it was Dallas, Texas that played host to over 11,000 raving Keller Williams Real Estate participants from all over North America and nine overseas markets who gathered to celebrate the company's 30th birthday party. For those who made an appearance at CEO Mark Willis's State of the Company presentation (and that would be all 11,000 of them since both "respect" and "being there" are intrinsic elements of KW's now famous culture), there was even a birthday present. At long last, Willis was able to make the announcement that KW had become, by agent count, the largest brokerage organization in the industry. Interestingly enough, this achievement was confirmed with KW auditing its competitor's websites for reported office agent populations. This auspicious event and accomplishment make this a good time to review the many contributions that KW has made to the North American real estate industry over the past thirty years. This article is not intended as a tribute to KW, although many might argue that one is due. Neither is it to suggest that there are not several entities within this industry that have made significant contributions to the industry over the past two decades, because there certainly are. It is to say that in the annals of entrepreneurialism, the KW achievement deserves special notice for what it has done, how it did it and when it did it. Over the past 30 years, KW has created and perfected a business model and corporate culture that long ago declared a wide range of traditional business practices irrelevant and impractical. By doing so it brought upon itself a level of attention and comment that frequently went beyond that reserved for mere competitors, approached ridicule and occasionally reached levels of unhappiness that one might have thought were associated with heretics.

Create Your Success Blueprint
In order to realize your dream, you must build a blueprint for success. How do you build a blueprint? You must have a crystal clear vision of what you want your business to be. The more powerful your vision is, the better chance you will achieve it. For example, If you wish to make $500,000 through real estate marketing, you have to plan each day so that you're working on the things that make you the most money. Develop your ideal client, then come up with a mission to reach that client.

Build a Business Plan... Build a Business Plan... Build a Business Plan!
Guest contributor Ernie Whitehouse of PCMS Consulting says: Have you had enough of the pundits screaming "Build a Business Plan" from the lecture circuit? While they are correct, the fact is few of them have actually done it themselves. They are terrific motivational speakers, and they really can talk the talk. But walking the talk in the everyday pressure cooker of running a business is a different story. Especially in this economic environment. Most of us start the New Year with great aspirations about developing and implementing a new business plan for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, three quarters of the business plans never get fully implemented. Instead they end up filed under good intentions. Understanding the reasons why business owners build a business plan, but then fail to implement it, is another long and complex blog post entirely. Resolving those issues for your specific company is better served with a diligent real estate coaching and/or consulting program. However, there is a simple formula for business planning success in 2013. We have successfully used it in the businesses we own and run, and with those of clients we serve. Its core components include simplicity, clarity and accountability. We call it: Build a Business Plan--SIX... FIVE... ONE... THREE

A Broker’s Dozen: 13 Productive Culture Trends - Part 1
Are you caught in an endless cycle of putting out fires, quelling arguments, dealing with difficult agents, and financial survival every month? After years of consultation work with brokerages, I'm convinced that the goal should be one oriented to solution-finding for increasing productivity and decreasing stress. The following list is a compilation of real world observations of trends that are, I believe, counterproductive to a positive and growing culture. Once you know the issue, correction and improvement isn't far behind. 1. Not switching from building their own sales business to building a company. Often top salespersons strike out on their own when they hit a "critical" mass in their production. Financially, it may make sense to establish their own office and identity in the marketplace. Initially, these top salespersons must continue to sell in order to afford the expenses that coincide with business ownership. What occurs, however, is that over time many will not relinquish or scale back on their personal sales in order to concentrate on building up their licensees to replace the income they once earned. Consequently, a double workload is laid upon the owner/producer's shoulders--keeping their own sales production at a high level and stressing out at not being available to handle inner office issues.

Boost Your Real Estate Business in 21 Days
Famous sales guru Zig Ziglar plays an interesting game with his audiences. He asks, "How many of you need to increase sales?" Everyone raises their hands. Then he asks, "How many know at least one thing you can do within the next three weeks to achieve that goal?" Again, the hands go up. Then Zig laughs, "You've just admitted you know exactly how to increase sales in just twenty-one days. What do you need me for?" Ask yourself those same questions. Are there things you can do within the next three weeks to generate more leads and cultivate more repeat business and referrals? Think about what you can do with your REALTOR® CRM. Ideas to Boost Your Real Estate Business: Update your real estate contact database Make one improvement to your listing presentation Re-establish contact with a past client and assign them to a marketing Activity Plan in your REALTOR® CRM

Successful Brokers Measure Repeat Business, Not Just Closed Transactions
Life would be simpler if we could gauge business success solely by closed transactions. Unfortunately, your success as a real estate brokerage is all about repeat business, and closed transactions won't tell you whether or not your customers will be coming back. Why Does This Matter? According to NAR (as reported by RISMedia), "Repeat business accounted for a median 19 percent of activity in 2011 and is higher for those with more experience – for members with 16 years or more in the business, that number rises to 38 percent. Referrals accounted for an additional 20 percent of business activity." If your business falls below this level, you face an even bigger challenge in these already-challenging times. Are They Coming Back? Here are a few ideas for gauging how many clients will return to your brokerage for future transactions. 1) Ratings and Reviews Online ratings and recommendations can indicate the performance of individual agents and your team overall. Don't just request feedback from happy customers. Make a commitment to surveying everyone. Unless you look at the whole picture, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Look Out! Business Process Systems Are Everywhere You Look
Why don't brokerages update their business process systems to create the exceptional real estate transactions consumers and agents are looking for? Most real estate companies don't run efficiently because effective business process systems are nonexistent, and any business process management is a mostly rudimentary, manual process. So I wonder: If the manufacturer of a coffee drink or automobile can have systems that assure consistency, quality, and great experiences, why can't the same be said of a $300,000 home—the most important investment most Americans will ever make? "I would like a Frappuccino™ please." Business process systems are everywhere you look. Someone at the front counter presses a button on a computer; A barista follows a very specific series of instructions, illustrating which ingredients to use, how to assemble and then package the drink; Each location purchases their products and ingredients from approved vendors that follow strict guidelines set by corporate. This ensures quality, fresh products are served to their customers. Your Frappuccino™ tastes, looks, and is delivered the same way whether you are in Miami, New York, Boston, or Los Angeles. This business process management yields efficient and consistent results, benefiting the customer, store and corporate. I am a firm believer that the real estate transaction has been commoditized. What is going to separate the winners from the losers will be the quality and consistency of what the brokerage and its agents can deliver to the consumer. The key to this will be the ability to install business process systems that facilitate the seamless, accountable, and transparent organization of information key to the real estate transaction. Improving your business process management will allow you to deliver the best real estate transaction possible for agents and consumers.

What's the social media strategy for your brokerage?
Jose Perez of PCMS Consulting says: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, blah, blah, BLEH! Unfortunately, that is the general attitude of our industry when it comes to leveraging social media. It is a complete and total shame that our industry squanders one chance after another to embrace new ways of communicating with real estate consumers (email, the internet, and now social media.) How can we continue to ignore how our customers want to communicate with us? Two important statistics that should be front and center for every broker and agent: 87% of consumers start their home search online; and, 41% of consumers still rely on personal referrals to make their choice. Both of these stats underscore the importance of developing a social media strategy for your brokerage. Reaching out to consumers (instead of forcing them to come to you) generates revenue. If you can catch (and then engage) a consumer early in their online search, you position yourself and your agents as the brokerage that understands the needs of the modern consumer. Furthermore, establishing yourself in the preferred social media channels of your consumers generates referral business. Your visibility in your clients' social media feeds becomes a tacit endorsement of your services – the very best type of referral! If you don't embrace social media and implement a real communications strategy, someone else in your market is going to figure it out. Don't let that happen! Social media is not that complicated. It just requires focus and investment - like any other public relations, marketing, or advertising effort you freely invest in today.

The NAR Power Broker Roundtable: Search Engine Optimization: the Need, the Quest and the Payoff
The Power Broker Roundtable is brought to you by the National Association of REALTORS® and Rei Mesa, NAR's Special Liaison for Large Firm Relations. Watch for this column each month, where we address broker issues, concerns and milestones. Moderator: Rei Mesa, Special Liaison for Large Firm Relations, NAR, and President/CEO, Prudential Florida Real Estate Services Participants: Jennifer Marchetti, VP, Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Parsippany, N.J. Helen Hanna Casey, President, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, Pittsburgh, Pa. Chris Kelly, Gen. Counsel, Reece & Nichols Real Estate, Kansas City, Mo. Rei Mesa: According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR's) 2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 35 percent of all buyers and 40 percent of repeat buyers are starting their home search online. That's approximately double the number of those who begin the search by contacting an agent. The big question is: when consumers do search online, what brokerages pop up first? In this new age of search engine optimization (SEO), how can you tell how well your efforts in that direction are paying off in hits—or closed business? Jennifer, you specialize in Internet marketing strategies for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. How important is it today? Jennifer Marchetti: You might compare it to how important it is to have prime shelf space at the supermarket. Unless committed to a certain brand, the average consumer will reach for the box at eye level. So getting your brand out where the customer will see it first can be critical.

Three Traits of Every Rock Star Real Estate Agent
It's certainly been a rough few years for the real estate industry. In most cases, there are fewer deals happening, and those which do close, sell for significantly less. Given this, agents need every advantage they can find to stay ahead of their competition and provide each and every customer with the best experience possible. Happy clients (and the referrals from them), after all, are what fill the bulk of agents' pipelines. Agents are feeling pressure from both a soft market and from the ever-shifting demands of consumers clamoring for reduced hassle in their transaction, which nowadays includes a completely electronic environment. It's this shift in the industry that requires agents to take a different approach to their business and adopt the traits of those who are truly "rock stars." Here are three ways the most successful agents have adapted to the ever-changing industry and market: 1. Client Convenience. It's a fact: Inefficiency and time kills deals. Agents need to adopt technology that solves real problems, instead of relying on tools (or multiple tools) that solve a portion of the problem or a portion of a business process. Look for a solution that solves an entire business process. Buyers and sellers — especially the younger generation — expect to do most of their negotiating, amending and signing online. This client expectation is what should drive implementation of technology, making everyone's lives easier, including that of the agent.

Social Media’s Impact on How Brands Connect to the Fragmented Consumer
New communications channels have changed how brands and their customers interact, making it a necessity for businesses to adapt and create stronger digital relationships that extend and strengthen their customer connections. Where and how consumers spend their time online has changed. They're choosing aggregators and social media over individual company sites and are increasingly accessing content and information via the mobile web using smartphones and tablets. In fact, to put the explosion of mobile usage in perspective, according to the Mobile Marketing Association of Asia, of the 7 billion people on the planet, 4.8 billion have a mobile phone while only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. Online marketers who syndicate branded experiences in destination sites can ensure a strong brand presence within the market space. With the help of Facebook and its 900 million active users, social media has quickly established a track record of successfully connecting digital brands to an ever-growing fan base. Marketers were quick to launch branded pages on Facebook that linked out to their own websites. The traffic to their Facebook pages quickly took off, but consumers didn't need to leave Facebook to click to the individual company's site—the brand had been brought to them.

Your Business Plan is Your Primary Navigation Tool
Guest contributor Kashoo says: “What is it that you do again?” You are asked that question all the time, and you should have your concise, yet informative answer ready at all times. That answer is called your “elevator pitch”, and we’ve addressed how to formulate one for your business elsewhere on this blog. But in order to truly understand where you want your business to go, and also to evaluate where your business has been, you need a written business plan. Moreover, your business plan tells your financial stakeholders (bank or credit union, family and/or friends, clients and customers) how you plan to make a profit with your business. A well-thought-out and well-written business plan contains the mission, the vision, and the goals and objectives for your business. It is your roadmap and navigation tool for your business. It is important that you review and revise your business plan on a regular basis; at a minimum, every calendar quarter. Are you staying within your budget? What was going on in your business last month, last quarter, last year? Where do you want your business to be next month, next quarter, next year? Are you reaching your goals? What is working and what needs to be adjusted?

4 Reasons to Start a Rental Division
We’ve been wowed by whitepapers from RentJuice before. Well, they’re back at again with an exceptional whitepaper entitled “Everything You Need to Start a Successful Rental Division.” You can download the whitepaper at RentJuice.com. Without further ado, let’s look at the reasons to start a rental division. 1) The economy calls for it. The disastrous state of the housing market has changed the real estate profession. One of the changes is that rentals are in demand. The RentJuice whitepaper points out that: Rental vacancies are at an all-time low. A Barron’s report predicts an additional 10 million people to move into rentals in the next five years. The increase of renters deferring home purchases and the increase of homeowners switching back to renting is also influencing this shift.

Simple Steps to Your Best 2012 Business Plan, Part 2
Real estate agents are people, too. You have personal lives. You have emotional ups and downs in addition to financial ups and downs. The following steps, continued from part 1, ensure that your 2012 Business Plan works for your business and your life. 1. What will be the evidence? What will you have that you want and how will your life change? This will be the clear indicator of your strengthened skill at the end of 2012. a. What do you want to stop or start doing, do more of, buy, practice etc? b. What daily or weekly actions will you take, every day or every week to ensure that you strengthen that skill? 2. What is the one greatest weakness that stands in the way of your success? a. Do you want to strengthen that weakness or successfully strategize around it so that you can succeed without it? How will you do that? b. What daily or weekly actions will you take, every day or every week to ensure you strengthen or strategize that weakness? c. At the end of 2012, how will you know you have succeeded? 3. Quickly, without analysis, what amount of income, sales volume, or number of sales would give you the indication, the confidence that you are well on your way to the success you imagine? Translate your answer into all three; income, sales volume, and number of sales.

Be Thankful for the Good Things in Life
The real estate industry is as competitive as it’s ever been. For many REALTORS, success requires working smarter, a tough skin, courage, and innovation. The difficulties and frustrations of a highly competitive atmosphere make it all too easy for work to dominate our lives. Other aspects of life can get easily pushed aside when you need to head back out the door to meet with a client or stay up late to work on marketing strategies or through an outdated transaction process from the stone age. The high stress load, deadlines, choke points in your business process and use of technology can block out many of the good things in life.  

Broker Management: Successful Leaders Know How to Follow
One of the first things every person is taught about what it takes to be successful in business is “listen to your customers”. In sales training, we’re taught listening is one of the key components of success, but in leadership training, there’s less emphasis on listening skills and more on communication skills. Ah, but the core outcome of being a good listener is the ability to communicate (connect) effectively. Of course, good listening does not refer to good hearing but good understanding. It is a process through which leaders are able to interpret what their customers (internal or external to their organization) are saying, so they can develop solutions that meet the customer’s needs. I chose to use the word customer here because the real estate sales professional is the customer of the broker. So is the end consumer, but brokers do not lead consumers; they lead agents using skills the agent can hopefully emulate to lead (guide, consult to) the consumer.

If a Technology Solution Isn't Simple, Is It Really a Solution?
Adopting new technology solutions for your business is never an easy decision.  With so many choices, weighing the pros and cons is essential to get the best return on investment. Many companies offering technology solutions are in direct competition with one another, therefore have many similar features with minor variances.  Some offer basic packages at little or no cost, while upgrades usually require a monthly payment of some sort. When deciding on a new solution, it’s important to remember what best serves the individual or the company.   A recent article by WAV Group suggests that a successful technology solution should have a clearly defined purpose while being simple to use.

It's Not Too Late to Get Your 2011 Business Plan for Free
REALTOR.com® recently released The Ultimate Business Plan for real estate professionals. This document was designed to help real estate agents and brokers build their ultimate business plan in 5 minutes and make more money. The business plan includes: 1.) Review this year and set listings and sales goals for next year 2.) Assess systems and tools 3.) Receive Ultimate Business plan which includes:      - Expert recommendations      - Personalized phone consultation      - Free tools and downloads for 2011's market