Broker-Owners: This Is Your Moment...If You're Ready To Seize It
I want to talk to broker-owners for a minute. Not presidents or leadership of big entities where you have no real power to make significant changes. I want to talk to the decision-makers. The ones who shape the fabric of your company and can make a difference at a local level. You have a huge opportunity right now; do you know that?
Let’s face it, running a brokerage is exhausting. Margins are small, recruiting is tough, and there is pressure from every direction. Operating costs and demands from agents are rising, but commission rates are not, and there are fewer transactions. There is a lot of general industry chaos and finger-pointing.
So what will it take to build the brokerage for tomorrow?
Many in the industry are hanging onto yesterday’s successes. They confuse current demand with previous demand. Consumers are becoming more savvy and demanding, and broker-owners (and their agents) are not necessarily keeping up. The fear of failure is palpable. Some of you may be thinking of selling or merging.
Get your story straight. Ensure your company culture is reflected accurately in every conversation that every agent has with every prospect. Now is not the time to waffle on what is best for the consumer. Yes, I’m all for consumer choice when they really understand what that means.
Nurture and recruit the productive agents who are willing to learn and grow. Move the rest into a license-holding company or off to a competitor. It’s not about more agents. It’s about more productive agents. Based on MLS transaction data, stats show that about half of all agents have completed one or fewer transactions. Not a good look. I know that many of that half may be on teams or licensed office staff, but the real tell is that fewer than 30% are actively making sales on a regular basis.
Offer technology that actually helps your agents and customers and that they want to use. The average adoption rate of software in a real estate brokerage is anywhere from 30%-50% of agents who use the company-offered CRM, AI, marketing automation, or transaction assistance. Make sure your technology reduces costs and the need for more manpower. There is a lot of stuff out there, and not all of it is good. Does it make for a better customer and agent experience? I understand agents are independent contractors, but if you are paying for and providing valuable tools, it’s not unreasonable to expect the agents to use them. Or they should have a really good reason why they won’t.
Focus on the homebuyers of the future. Train your agents on the homebuyer assistance programs and how to become consultative advisors to those who want to own a home but have no idea where to begin. There are more than 2500 down payment assistance, VA, and FHA programs across the US.
Create revenue opportunities beyond just the transaction commission. Create an end-to-end homebuying experience either internally or through affiliated partnerships that keeps the customer close before, during, and after the deal. Even if there is no revenue opportunity for your company, but there is a benefit for the consumer, that is a win. And stop assuming agents stay in touch with their past clients. We know for a fact they don’t. According to a 2025 NAR study, only approximately 50% of sellers used the same agent again.
We must create new opportunities and tap into new lines of business. Here’s the one I have built my business on by teaching brokers how to develop a strategy for company-generated business. Corporate relocation, affinity programs for specific groups, local business development, referrals, online leads, license-holding companies, concierge services, and floor calls. These transactions and opportunities already exist; they just need to be more effectively corralled instead of leaving them to other entities or people to manage or sell back to you. It’s about directly capturing a larger share of what’s already out there. It’s about account mentality instead of transactional mentality. The people running your relocation division are the perfect people to manage this intiative.
The future is company-generated business.
Not only does it give you more control and a predictable pipeline of business, but it also allows you to attract and retain agents who will convert these opportunities and appreciate your efforts to support them. Diversifying sources and depending less on the agents to bring in all of the business makes your brokerage more resilient to market and seasonal changes.
And maybe you can get a good night's sleep not having to worry about what happens if a top agent leaves.
Let’s talk consumers for a minute.
How can you be the brokerage that a consumer or an entity wants to do business with? Truth, Trust and Transparency. Consumers are even more skeptical than usual right now because of the practices of some large brokerages and portals. Lawsuits, legislation, and very public brawls are casting even more doubt on an already shaky reputation as an industry.
According to a Gallup Poll, only 17% of Americans rated the honesty and ethics of real estate agents as high or very high. Be the voice of reason. Buyers and sellers aren’t dumb; they are uninformed. Listen to your customers. Their expectations are constantly changing, so we need to stop being so self-serving as an industry.
By positioning your brokerage as one for the people, you can build trust by doing the right thing by them. Offering programs and services that meet their needs shows them you care and creates clients for life. The big national brokerages out there are slow and clunky. They can’t make decisions that resonate on a local level. Your local expertise is your super power.
Your competition isn’t other brokerages; it is consumer skepticism and their ever-changing demands. Brokerages don’t fail overnight. They become less relevant one bad decision at a time. Or worse, by making no decisions at all. That means doing some hard things and shaking up the status quo. Will your brokerage thrive or simply survive?
Want help building your company-generated business? I’m here for you.
