Today, at RE Bar Camp Philadelphia, I attended a session with very passionate and opinionated discussion. The topic of the session was “Alternative Business Models for Brokerages”.
The participants ranged from new agents to managing Brokers to Broker-owners. The discussion started with various models of agent splits and became very heated at some points.
Will a “virtual office” model replace the brick and mortar offices of today? Do agents want to work virtually? Is it a good idea for Brokers to allow so many agents to operate with minimal supervision?
The consensus was that Managing Brokers need to take a more pro-active approach to training and educating their agents. That Brokers need to offer more than “carpet and E&O insurance” to their agents.
In addition, most felt that agents need to be better educated and Brokers need to do a better job of weeding out the poor and non-performers.
The agents in the room seemed to be split 50/50 in favor of virtual vs. brick/mortar offices.
My 2 cents? For what it’s worth, I would love to see a Brokerage that has requirements for their agents. These requirements would be: education (both pre-licensing as well as continuing education), full-time employment, accountability and satisfactory customer service. The current policy of “if you have a license and can breathe, you can work for us” has done irreparable damage to the entire industry.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As one of the said Broker’s at REBCPHL I agree that agents seem to want to get information that will help them build business. Let’s just do it dynamically!
I totally agree with you, Tina. Great post!
Agreed – “Brokers need to offer more than “carpet and E&O insurance” to their agents.”…the building has little of nothing to do with the quality of the real estate agent. The question is, “Are they competent, professional and responsive?”
Having said that, an important part of building an effective team (if that’s the objective of the specific office/broker), then its tough to do with a group that is rarely together but operating independently in virtual offices. Will it meet client needs? Certainly?
Build cohesive among the office’s employees/agents? Much tougher to do.
re Requirements for agents…I couldn’t agree more!