Real estate professionals have a lot on their plates and there aren’t many tools available that can be a solution for brokers.
Between dealing with the industry-wide concern regarding lack of inventory, recruiting top-performing agents and battling the competition — both traditional and non — the worries are enough to create many sleepless nights.
Those are only a few of the many factors leaving brokers counting upward of thousands of sheep while they lay in bed each night, according to “What Keeps Brokers Up at Night?,” a 2018 survey conducted by Better Homes & Gardens® Real Estate and RISMedia.
It didn’t take this survey for ShowingTime to realize the many challenges brokers face, however.
In 2018 we announced the launch of MarketView Broker, a web-based solution for brokers that allows them and multi-office firms to identify and recruit talent, analyze their market to determine the best opportunities for growth, and monitor, manage and coach current agents.
Do those issues sound familiar? According to the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate and RISMedia survey, they directly align with what brokers are feeling as 2018 gets underway.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest challenges facing brokers this year, and how MarketView Broker can help:
Most Pressing Issues
Unfortunately, we don’t have magic tools to easily build new homes and increase inventory — the lack of which 51 percent of brokers said is their chief concern, according to the survey.
Running second, however, was recruiting, with 29 percent labeling it as their second-most pressing issue.
Here’s a sampling of how brokers are currently handle recruiting:
“I mostly do my own recruiting. I try and judge the people that I think would make good sales associates.”
“Ongoing monitoring or local agent’s production. Setting up lunches/coffees to get to know them better and understand what their goals are.”
“Hired a full-time recruiting professional to work with and to hold managers accountable.”
With MarketView Broker, you can easily identity recruiting opportunities by monitoring agent activity, as well as agent, office and/or firm trends. Plus, you can “favorite” agents and add them to watch lists to easily keep tabs on them.
You can also access contact information, current and historical MLS activity, and sales trends.
Other pressing worries faced by brokers include non-traditional competition (25 percent) and traditional competition (14 percent).
MarketView Broker allows you to compare your office against the competition by firm size and/or property characteristics.
Profitability and Operational Challenges
It seems many brokers are concerned about making sure their agents are productive.
Thirty-six percent of brokers surveyed listed increasing agent productivity as one of their main profitability challenges, while 26 percent listed it as a main operational challenge.
A big part of increasing agent productivity and forming a successful team is building a strong culture, as multiple respondents said:
“Maintain a culture of support and focus on agent growth and development. Foster integrity, honesty and sharing among agents. Build a cohesive group of independent contractors who depend on one another.”
“We offer coaching and focus strongly on building relationships. We have lots of workshops and office parties to have a healthy mix of work hard, play hard.”
Offering the latest technology also is a solution for brokers.
Not only does it signal to agents — and clients — that your brokerage keeps up with the latest trends, but it also gives agents the most up-to-date data available when it comes to understanding their market.
With MarketView Broker, you can create comprehensive reports that can be sorted by more than 17 different filters, including closed units and volume, year-over-year production, market share, property characteristics and more.
What’s Leading to Sleepless Nights?
Recruiting (22 percent) narrowly beat out new business models (20 percent), an uncertain economy (15 percent) and other issues (15 percent) among those surveyed. Keeping up with technology came in fifth, at 14 percent.
Unfortunately, ShowingTime has yet to figure out how to ease worries about the economy.
But MarketView Broker is a solution for brokers to make their lives easier with recruiting tools, its state-of-the-art technology and, hopefully, a few less sleepless nights.
Interested in MarketView Broker or other ShowingTime products that will help make your life less stressful? Learn more about how our products can help you ease your burden, save you time and enhance your business.