In the most recent post by our great leader here on Active Rain, Jonathan Washburn is quick to point out that online brokerages are winning. After you read this post you quickly see the comments which go to the service arguments. I don't think that was the intention. What I think was missing was an analytic view on the data and whether or not it was actually worthwhile.
For instance, Keller WIlliams Realty isn't even on the radar, yet KW is one of the top brokerages in the US. Their internet strategy is "power to the people." Teach them how to fish. So instead of winning the national ranking game, they are kicking tail locally.
If you ever look at Broker Metric Data, you can see the top offices locally are listed out, it always looks something like this:
- Office One: 5,000 Agents
- Office Two 300 Agents
- Office Three: 1200 Agents
- Office Four: 60 Agents
Similarly the data simply shows that some companies, like ZIP, want to generate leads nationally and then sell them back to their agents. Which in the end provides the agents business' zip if the consumers then want to connect with real experts or heaven forbid should the model change.
Locally is really all that matters to most of us...it is how we choose where we work and who we work with...what may be true one place is soooo not in another....and a franchise that may be successful in one market is not in another...real estate and brokerages are local.
I don't care about the data. I am trying to build my company and the company of my broker. I think it only matters what you do for your clients that either grows your business or destroys it. I have worked for a big company and I never got one lead from them. Where all the call in leads went, I have no idea. I guess they go to the agents that have been there the longest or pay the most money for an office???. You might be familiar with the company although I won't say who it was. I wish you and KW the best in 2009.
Touche, Joshua! I left the "market leader" in Toronto to be the first agent to join KW when the first office was openned here. My business did nothing but go up! Before I joined, I called a large number of my clients and asked tow questions: 1) Did they know who I was with at the time? Very few could actauly name the franchise, most said it was "one of the big ones, isn't it"? and guessed. 2) Did they care what company I was with? NOT ONE indicated that they cared who my broiker was!
It just proved to me that, as we say at KW, real estate is "a local business driven by individual real estate agents and their image with their centers of influence". (Gary Keller)
All this data is traffic to ones sites. All zip realty and redfin have are the internet traffic. I want the converted traffic. I want sales not just traffic. He who pays the most does not always win. I work for RE/MAX, and like everyone else I am prideful of the company I work for, but I utilize the resources of remax with mine to increase sales.
We are in a walmart mantallity, but our job is to sell homes. Most people recognize Value. Since I switched to a commision menu . I have gotten 5% everytime with no commision cutting. Value is something we as sales people have to convey. If you cant convey value you will become a discounter. I love my company were I work , but Keller Willams appears to be a fine organizationas well. Keep kicking tail locally and never ever ever pay for a lead !!