By: Bryan Brooks

There is nothing worse than hitting a wall in your real estate brokerage business!

Maybe you can’t seem to reach (or finally break through) your  revenue goals or maybe your real estate brokerage isn’t as profitable as you planned when starting out.

Having worked with independent and franchised brokers for well over 16 years, I unfortunately hear this all too often, so you are not alone. Although everyone has their own unique situation, I’ve found there are 4 common challenges brokers struggle with in today’s market:

1. Recruiting agents

2. Retaining your top producing agents with training and education

3. Keeping up with technology changes (and costs)

4. Juggling a balanced budget - keeping overhead down

The more real estate entrepreneurs I get to know, the more it's apparent that those who have experienced explosive growth, have one thing in common. They’ve made a bold move and implemented change - sometimes drastic change - within their brokerage.

I’ll assume if you’ve read this far, you have already begun to assess where you are in your business and have probably given quite a bit of thought to where you want to be personally and professionally.

So, then the next logical and impactful step is to make the change needed to make that happen.

As business owners, we can compare ‘war stories’ around the typical struggles we face in hiring, education, bandwith, budgeting, the list goes on.

Below we’ve provide answers to the top 4 issues most real estate brokerages struggle with:

1. Recruiting agents

There is no need to feel defeated with your recruiting efforts. Trying to meet the extensive list of agents’ expectations can be exhausting, but there are a few simple steps that can energize your current recruiting strategy:

• Invite agents to your office, so they can get a sense of the culture. You are giving them a first hand look at the experience of working in the environment.

• Host happy hours and other mixers, where potential new agents and current agents can talk about their experiences.

• Set up giveaways for top producers who come in to learn about your brokerage.

• Promote giveaways at real estate schools to entice students to learn more about your brokerage.

And the most important item - BE CONSISTENT AND METHODICAL with your marketing. In our company, the marketing team creates, schedules and sends 2 marketing pieces a week to prospective recruits and provides them to our Brokers throughout the country. Skipping days and weeks is not an option - and it does not lead to success in recruiting

2. Retain your top producing agents with training and education

There are so many training materials out there. Investing in education is a must to retain your agents, so how do you know what will make the biggest impact to your Agent's’ bottom line? Here’s what we find has the biggest impact:

• Provide educational programs that go over the MLS, the CMA, holding an Open House, marketing tips for new agents - and most important - the presentation to buyers and sellers (they can be great refresher courses for seasoned agents too).

• Host a social hour or lunch and learn where top agents can give presentations. Put their skills on display!

• Schedule a workshop or open forum where your agents openly discuss a challenge and brainstorm new ideas and solutions.

• Direct agents to no-cost trainings - either online or available to them locally.

• Spread the word about an interesting class you took.

Franchised brokers have it a little easier since they can use the training programs of the franchisor. We find this is one of the major reasons why independent brokerages seek out a franchise to be part of. Providing solid training and education is critical for a real estate brokerage to survive.

3. Keeping up with technology changes (and costs)

Technology, more often than, not seems to be the biggest frustration for brokerages. With constant technology changes, numerous costly contracts to manage, and trying to make it  all work together, who wouldn’t be frustrated? Selecting a franchise partner who has an all encompassing software is a huge asset when running your brokerage. Here are other key factors to look for:

• Technology that supports your agents from listing through closing

• Streamlined system that is 100% integrated

• Distinct tools for both agents and broker

• Responsive technical support and training

• Paperless systems that help save time

4. Juggling a balanced budget - keeping overhead down

How do you have the time to focus on the lifeblood of your organization (recruiting) when majority of your time is consumed trying to gather numbers, or worrying about paying salaries and other expenses? Here are some tips we found helpful:

• Automate as many reports and metrics as possible

• Revisit your expenses often to see how you are trending, or where you can save.

• Cancel subscriptions to unused or under-utilized software tools

• Find out if your franchisor can provide certain services more cost efficiently than doing it yourself.

Every challenge can be turned into an opportunities for your brokerage. Make the choice to evolve into the right model in today’s marketplace to achieve what you want!

Find out if the HomeSmart franchise business model is the right fit for you.

Contact Bryan Brooks at bbrooks@hsmove.com