Wow – this year’s Inman Connect NYC was filled with great information! Most of the keynote speakers were great and their message was very relevant. There were some great learning “tracks” which featured panelists, experts and practitioners. All in all, it was a wonderful conference.
So, let’s start with day one and the results of the recently conducted Inman Agent Survey. Inman surveyed agents across the country making at least $100,000/year. Here are some statistics Chris Smith and Katie Lance shared from the survey:
- 92% of these agents are in their “brick and mortar” office less than 15 hours/month.
- 17% never/rarely go into their office.
- 42% never attend an office meeting.
Wow – only 8% of successful agents are using their office more than 15 hours/month! Seems there’s some obvious brick and mortar fat to cut there!
- 35% do not pay desk, technology and/or marketing fees.
- 61% are considering opening their own brokerage.
- 83% want to be communicated with digitally.
Over 60% of successful agents are considering leaving their brokerage and opening their own. Does that mean that over 60% don’t see much value in their existing brokerage brand?
Next, they described what the 61% of these agents who are considering opening their own brokerage look like:
- 75% have their own Facebook business page.
- 47% have over 500 “friends” on their Facebook business page.
- 69% are on Google+ (early adopters?).
- 81% have a Youtube channel.
- 44% post to social networks at least 1x/day.
Now, we need to understand that this was an Inman survey. Of course, there are successful agents out there who probably haven’t even heard of Inman and have a minimal digital footprint. This survey was to highlight the technology-driven successful agents and how they are feeling about their business and brokerages.
Where do these agents get their business?
- Their past clients/referrals
- Their website
- Their social media presence
- Their lawn signs
- Their SEO efforts
- Real estate search portals
- Networking events
- Online classified sites
- Open houses
- Their Broker’s website
Ouch! #10 seems to explain why most are considering opening their own firm. When an agent is more successful with their individual website efforts than their broker is successful with their company site, there’s a problem. I wonder how many of these agents rank higher than their brokers for relevant keyword searches?
- 98% said email marketing is working the best for them for lead generation of leads that actually go to closing.
- Their average annual marketing budget was $7500.
- Their average annual technology budget was $3750.
Do certifications and designations matter? No correlation was found in the survey between certifications and production/income.
What did these agents say was their biggest time waster? Paperwork. 69% want to outsource paperwork. 85% are using the cloud. Why don’t their brokers offer virtual assistants to help them out?
Why would these agents leave their present brokerage?
- Lack of technology offered
- Culture of the company/branch
- Confidence in the future of the company/brand
As I looked around the room, there were a lot of shocked faces in the audience. The session was geared toward Brokers, Managers and Execs so that might explain why. I suppose these results prove that being technologically illiterate and operating a real estate brokerage don’t work together anymore.
