Are Real Estate Brokerages Helping Their Agents?

Apr 25, 2011 by temineth

As an SEO webmaster for several individuals as well as brokerage sites I try to find that balance between helping the singular agent verses helping the entire brokerage. The marketing is slightly different in that sometimes I focus on the city + Realtor such as Ruidoso Realtor and sometimes I have to focus on the area and niche for the entire office. This varies when it comes to researching keywords as well. Are more people interested in finding an office or an agent?

How are these brokerages or offices handling the traffic that comes to the site? Why bother paying for SEO services when no one takes the leads? I am going from my own experience here but when I was an agent there were 4 offices in our brokerage and no one took the leads! The secretary might take one if it actually looked really good but many would get forgotten about and swept under the rug. Granted many leads that came through were from a client capture generator for searching and anyone could put in whatever they wanted just to get in. Too many fake emails and names that were sometimes profane and the receptionist or even the agent sitting the office would get frustrated and not take any leads anymore.

Those leads can actually be beneficial if sorted and filtered correctly. As an agent with one office I monitored the leads that came in for this whole office. I got several closed deals because of it and it was my main source of business for quite a while. But it was because I actually followed up on the leads and filtered the rest. I would get dozens of leads a week and maybe only one was legitimate but that one could potentially be a closing. I didn't disregard any lead that was real but personally tended to it. So many agents would simply drop the ball or send a quick, automated email and those never got responses so the agents thought the lead system was useless.

Just like anything else in business, you have to work it. Agents cannot expect to be handed a guaranteed lead. They must work it. Working it does not mean one email. It means a couple emails that are personal and direct. Make contact with the person on a real level with what they need. Don't sugar coat a blanket email that would work for anyone. Get specific. Many brokerages are not telling their agents how to do any of this. They simply want the body in the office, answering the phones on the weekends and paying their desk and/or brokerage fees. If you're going to be an agent or Realtor you must work the job. This is not a job where the work comes to you. You have to get out there and find it, work it and maintain a database to follow up with.

Real Estate is Relationships.

If the client doesn't feel comfortable with an agent they won't work with them. Your clients have to know you, trust you and want to work with you for at least a month or more, or as long as it takes to buy or sell the property. There are a few brokerages out there that perform excellently with their clients and assist in proper lead generation, conversion and training. Las Cruces New Mexico Real Estate has Exit Realty. One of the few brokerages that is increasing rapidly across the country. With an excellent lead capture system in place every potential client is followed up with properly and not left in the dust. In the Northwest there's Hallmark Realty proficient in Kirkland real estate. With agents for short sales, foreclosures, property management and buyers representation you are never short of good training. Just a little farther southeast is the professionals in Wenatchee Real Estate at Windermere. Each brokerage maintains high quality agents and brokers for all their clients needs.

So to recap, are you helping your agents if you're the managing broker of your agency? IF not, you may find that the lack of productivity is not with them, but you. Keep them motivated and give them new opportunities to work their area and clients. It all funnels back into the brokerage somehow. To increase your agent quantity, work on closing with the agents you have now.