I think we can all agree that you have two customers: One is the consumer—your buyers and sellers—and the other are your agents.
In order to have a mutually beneficial relationship with your agents, you must continually add value to them. Doing this fosters a long-term relationship…and, well, not doing it will put that relationship at risk.
Ask yourself “What is my value to the agents I lead in my office?” or “Do I regularly communicate my value and our brand’s value (tools, services, programs) to our agents daily and weekly?” If you look for ways to add extreme value to your agents and help them increase their business, keep more deals together, decrease their costs and grow their bottom-line profit, you become an invaluable partner to their success.
Follow these proven methods to add more value to your agent relationships:
1. Be responsive and available.
Agents need a manager who is available to answer their questions in real-time. Answering your phone or responding to an email or text immediately creates trust. It is in the field when most of their questions need a broker or manager answer, and your timely response builds confidence in your relationship with the agent. Getting back to them hours later, or even a day later, doesn’t cut it. The most successful managers respond to their agents quickly—even if you don’t have an answer, but just acknowledge their request. Build a trusting relationship by responding to your agents timely, and it will go a long way.
2. Ask how you can help them grow their business.
Don’t assume that agents know how to grow their business on their own. Many need your guidance and support, and will be so happy you made a personal commitment to helping them grow by 10 units or sales. That could be $10,000-$50,000, in some cases, of increased income, because you believed in them and gave them the confidence that they could do more, and helped them with time management. Make a difference to them and help them grow their production. They will be loyal to you.
3. Educate, challenge, inspire and lead.
Agents don’t know how they can increase their conversion rate, double the amount of appointments they go on, decrease their expenses or increase the number of listings the generate. They need direction and inspiration from you—their sales manager. You can help them increase their marketshare in a given community, help them learn to sell 2-3 houses from each listing, how to negotiate and communicate better and how to overcome objections, all because you provided the coaching and training in your offices through sales meetings, training sessions, webinars and personal one-to-one coaching. This will help you grow your office by growing the agents you already have. They will be so grateful for your investment in helping them succeed and grow. This creates a culture of success, and success is contagious.
4. Meet with them and share their numbers with them.
Agents love to be given updates on their monthly stats and year-to-date listings, sales and income, and they love that you provide this information to them without them asking. This shows your personal commitment to them and that you are on top of their business. Make a habit of knowing their business and letting them know where they are to hit certain milestones. They will appreciate your time.
5. Recognize and praise them every chance you can.
Never miss an opportunity to recognize the rock star agents on your team and how much you appreciate them and know how hard they work. Praise in public; praise them individually. Write them notes, send them texts, post successes on social media and show them how much they contribute to the team.
Adopt these methods to communicate your value proposition and help make a difference in your agents’ businesses. This creates loyalty, and a culture and spirit of teamwork and highly-performing agents. Remember: You can make a significant impact to your agents by adding extreme value to them every week to help them grow for years.
For a free copy of my exclusive Agent Business Planning worksheet, which will help your agents set and achieve goals and grow their income, click here.
Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 20 years of experience in real estate, Johnson offers coaching, consulting and keynotes, and is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour and the Official Real Estate Coach for McKissock Learning and Real Estate Express. For more information, please contact coaching@sherrijohnson.com or 844-989-2600 (toll-free) or visit www.sherrijohnson.com.
