Part 3: Preparing for growth

Brokers and owners rely on the growth of their company to catapult their success. By merging with or acquiring a competing brokerage in the marketplace, broker/owners can quickly grow their business.

In the first two installments of the three-part merger and acquisition blog series, Part 1: Identifying the Right Market and Part 2: Choosing the Right Deal, I determined the several factors which can indicate whether or not a market area and a specific competing company is a good fit for a merger or acquisition. In this third part, I will dive into the importance of planning for growth and being able to maintain high-level service.

Is your brokerage prepared for growth?

When brokers choose a merger or acquisition as the next step in growing their business, they don’t necessarily consider what that means for the future of their company. Growth is more than just hitting a set of numbers-- it's a package that includes changes to your company in terms of operations, production, staffing and facilities. In addition, it’s important to think about what growth means to you personally. What will your life be like when your company grows and profits increase? How hard are you going to have to work? Are you ready and willing to do what it takes to maintain a well-run brokerage?

Just as you plan for when things go wrong, also plan for when things go well. When you're prepared for growth, you can better manage the changes it brings and let it take you to the goal you set when you started the business.

Successfully scaling a 100% brokerage.

When it comes to adopting the 100% brokerage model, the simple part is understanding the transparency of transactions and fees, making people aware of your technology and how they can use it and your continued training and education offerings. The high value, low cost model can be more difficult in practice if you don’t have the right service and support to maintain efficient and effective operations.The challenge is making sure the model is applied and adopted in the most effective and profitable way.

At HomeSmart, we have a franchise operations team dedicated to making sure our franchises succeed. Beyond regular collaboration with that team, franchise owners can subscribe to Centralized Services. From centralized career services, where we recruit and set appointments with potential agents, to agent services, where we answer your agent calls and emails, HomeSmart gives brokers more time and money to focus on their clients, so they can cost-effectively build their brokerage business.

If you do plan to grow through a merger or acquisition, make a deal with a company who is happy to adopt the model completely-- technology, systems and services included. Once you’ve identified that business, plan to manage the influx of agents and their transactions, whether that means hiring on additional staff, opening more offices, or utilizing centralized services.

We’ve done all of the testing and learning on how to make a merger or acquisition most successful. Now you get access to what we found works.

If you have questions or are considering an acquisition target, feel free to contact me directly at bbrooks@hsmove.com.