From mitigating risks to your company to best practices for supporting your agents, industry veterans and experts provided a plethora of resources for brokerage owners and managers during the REALTORS® Conference & Expo last week. These thoughtful discussions often resulted in the sharing of real-life stories and examples that brokers can put to use immediately. Here is a sampling of REALTOR® Magazine’s coverage from the event.
What Makes a Great Leader?
“We’re only as great as the people we lead say we are,” real estate coach Alicia Matheson told attendees at a Sunday session on “Evolutionary Leadership.” A broker’s ability to inspire, motivate, and collaborate may be at the heart of creating happier, more productive employees. But leaders tend to overrate their skill set when it comes to how well they perceive their management style, research shows. “Being a better leader starts with collaborative ideas and pushing the boundaries of human capital with cutting edge technology and innovation,” Matheson said. She offered 11 leadership tips you can start using in your business today.
Data Will Help Tell Your Market’s Story
Every real estate market has a story to tell, and data tools, research, graphics, and interactive maps from the Federal Housing Finance Agency can help you tell yours. Learn how real estate investment can transform a city, or how price increases in downtown housing started long before millennials’ urban renaissance. Get inspired on how to use data points in your marketing.
Best Practices to Manage Team Risk
Teams can give agents a competitive edge, but they can also create a variety of issues and challenges for broker-owners and managers. Signing a written agreement that clarifies the relationship between the broker and team leader is a great first step. Glean other tips and tools that will help brokers protect themselves from risks associated with teams while also helping them thrive.
Invest in Your Agents First
Brokers can ensure their real estate company stays competitive for years to come by providing meaningful support to agents and teams. Start with quality agent recruitment and retention. Then, give them something to show up for, said Leigh Brown, ABR, CRS, broker-owner of RE/MAX Executive Realty in Concord, N.C. She gives her agents hands-on tools, scripts, and dialogues they can use in their business. But providing a solid company culture is just as important as training, said Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Read more about the panel’s discussion.
Tips to Vamp Up Consumer Engagement
The human touch in real estate isn’t going away. In fact, it’s needed now more than ever, according to brokers who presented at the “New Strategies for Engaging Consumers” session. But some technology can be good—even necessary—to consistently engage with customers, as well as give them the attention they need and information they want. “If you’re only using old-school approaches, that consumer will be picked up by another company that’s targeting them and helping them out before you’re even aware they’re a client,” said panelist John Murray, president of Realty Pilot and Key Realty.
—REALTOR® Magazine
