How Top Agents Are Adapting

The Times Are Changing.

As the market changes, so must the agents who work with it.

There are many agents today who are having a tough time coping with the rapid changes this market is going through.

They share that they have a hard time getting homes under contract or that the market is too saturated with too many competitors, for example. Further, some are not keeping up with technology changes.

My take is that often these agents are hobbyists who got into the industry for the “easy money,” not to serve customers at a high level. Many have had one foot out the door from the beginning, rather than committing to this industry as a professional. Indeed, the percentage of agents who are more dabblers than professionals is high, perhaps 50-60% of the total agent market. It shows up in the numbers.

The Truth: The excuses these agents make for their poor performance are not valid.

How do we know? Because even in this topsy-turvy market, top agents – agents like those at Momentum – are having some of the best years of their professional lives.

Modifying Strategies to Address Market Changes Brings Success.

Agents who modify their business strategies to adapt to the still hot, but constantly evolving, market of the past few years, are doing great.

• They're listening to the market and studying it.

• They’re learning to use new tactics and strategies.

The market, by definition, is constantly changing. That change can be a blessing, an opportunity to improve, if you're willing to change with it.

But if you ignore a rising tide, you'll drown standing still.

Responding to Covid-19 is an example of how change must be addressed.

Agents who are using the same strategies and scripts now that they were prior to the COVID-19 shutdowns, are probably among the unsuccessful agents.

Unfortunately, I have observed that many brokerages are teaching the same scripts and tactics today that they taught pre-COVID.

I find that mind-boggling, because the year-long shutdown has profoundly changed the real estate market, perhaps permanently.  

By ignoring the market changes, these brokerages are doing a disservice to their agents.

Those who follow their increasingly ineffective and irrelevant strategies are losing share to those who are learning, testing, and adapting.

The reality is that the more intense the market, the more aggressive you must be in your business. Otherwise, you won't get your market share.

Being aggressive – confident by data and pro-active – has always been integral to success.

The market rewards those who put in the work, and people reward those who show the work that they do. But these attributes are even more important during an intense market like we have now.

The difference between those who just go along for the ride and those who put in the work is on full display during market changes like we have now.

In this market, you must be the most aggressive you've ever been. And if you’ve aggressively learned and adapted your entire business plan, if you have the confidence to experiment in this new market, you're likely experiencing the best year of your career.

Reality: The Pie is Bigger

The number and volume of housing units selling -- and thus the commission dollars available to agents -- has never been greater.

From the perspective of dollar amount commission available, there has never been a better opportunity to be in real estate. Although access to the pie is more competitive, the pie itself is bigger, and those agents who've adapted -- even practically become apex predator agents -- are taking bigger dollars out of it.

The Winners.

Which agents are crushing it? Often, they are in one of these categories:

#1. Luxury agents, which for our market means a $500k+ price point. Local demand for that market has nearly doubled.

#2. Listing-based agents who have the skill to use their listings to generate more business.

#3. Agents who know their value propositions (their numbers vs the market's numbers) and share their expectations with customers via consultations (i.e., they don't just go show property). Overall, these successful agents qualify their customers before committing to them, and they don't take on unrealistic or uncooperative customers.

The Losers.

Which agents are struggling in this market? Often, they are in one of these categories:

#1. They're working with buyers/investors under the $300k price point, a market share that is extraordinarily competitive.

#2. Most of their business comes from buyers rather than sellers because they have failed to implement a sphere-based business that feeds them listings. Usually these are agents who buy leads, since 90%+ of online leads are buyers in price ranges agents cannot control. However, those agents working with higher price points may be benefiting from this market, so it is primarily the price point of those leads that matter.

#3. They're not qualifying their customers financially, or they are working with unrealistic, needy customers because they failed to set expectations through consults. These agents are “being driven crazy” (the stories I have heard!) by such overly emotional customers because of their own failure to grow more effective strategies for setting minimum benchmarks for their customers.

If you aren’t one of the winners, are you ready to learn how to join that club?

The bottom line is this: if you're not having the success you want, start associating with people who are.

And once you surround yourself with agents having massive success, mimic what they say and do.

Yes, it really is that simple. To connect, email the author Jon at jon@jonkbrooks.com.