Brokerages are feeling squeezed, and profit margins are under pressure as fickle agents jump between the highest bidders. So what’s the best way for brokerages to navigate these choppy waters? The key, some experts say, is to treat their agents as customers.
In practice, this means maintaining a strong company culture, touching agents with assistance at pivotal moments, publicly recognizing them for accomplishments and cultivating their adoption of tech tools, speakers said at Inman Connect Las Vegas.
Troy Palmquist, a broker-founder of The Address, and Linnette Edwards, a partner and associate broker at Oakland brokerage Abio Properties, talked through the ins and outs with moderator Christine Kim.
Maintaining this culture requires implementing a strict interviewing process that can cut through an agent’s slick exterior to tease out their true values, she said. It also means sometimes passing on high-producers who still aren’t a good cultural fit.
Add a top producer who doesn’t mesh, and you risk diluting the culture for everyone. In addition to maintaining a culture that fits, another way for brokerages to please their agent customers is to “touch” them in the right ways and at the right times. This starts with carefully monitoring their activity and level of satisfaction.
For more on how indie brokers are recruiting and retaining agents, tune in to the full video above or read the full live panel article.
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