Above, from left: Gretchen Pearson, Jennifer Lind, Ken Baris, Joe Skousen and Whitney LaCosta. Photo by AJ Canaria.
While real estate professionals have spent the last six months trying to hit a moving target, leaders today are laser-focused on moving forward. And as commission lawsuits continue to play out in court, now’s the time to double down on revamping your firm’s approach to buyer agency.
This topic was discussed in-depth at RISMedia’s 36th Annual CEO & Leadership Exchange this past September during a session titled, “How to Revise Your Buyer Agency Game Plan”—where a panel of real estate leaders shared strategies to help agents up their game and become better at buyer agency.
Moderated by Whitney LaCosta, broker/owner of Howard Hanna | Coach REALTORS®, panelists included Gretchen Pearson, president/owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties; Jennifer Lind, regional president of the West for Coldwell Banker Realty; Ken Baris, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty; and Joe Skousen, CEO of Inside Real Estate.
LaCosta first turned to Baris, who highlighted the importance of systems as a key component to enhancing the effectiveness of real estate agents.
“One of the things we did is we said we have to really improve and treat a buyer like a seller in terms of the literature, the presentations and our buyer email alerts,” explained Baris, “so our campaigns have the value proposition, it has the agreement, it has a video of me explaining the value of working with us and that it’s like a marriage.”
Upping the game even further, Baris has turned sales meetings into troubleshooting sessions, focusing on those who had a buyer brokerage agreement that was signed easily—drilling down into how that occurred—and those who had a buyer brokerage agreement that either wasn’t signed, or presented a challenge—breaking down the language and how it was presented in order to make the next one easier.
“The engagement and the dynamic of that portion of our sales meetings has totally upped the game of everyone because (we’re) learning from everyone else’s experiences,” said Baris, who pointed to the importance of getting back to being a real estate salesperson.
“The most important word in ‘real estate salesperson’ is ‘sales.’ We have to sell. And how do you sell this? You sell it by providing value and a thoughtful conversation and then getting to the agreement last in that conversation, not first.
“Having those conversations about getting these agreements signed in a great way is a very important part of the process,” said Baris.
Continuing the conversation, Skousen commended those in the room for stepping up to the plate.
“You’re getting specific about your content and policies, your systems and processes,” said Skousen, who likened real estate professionals to wartime generals who shine in a calm environment, but who are also fantastic when things get hot. “And by specific, I mean you’ve got it written down, you can rattle it off (in) a heartbeat, and you can hand me the piece of paper that you’ve got it written on, right?
“The most successful wartime generals right now know exactly how to do that. You know how to pitch it, and you know how to use the material,” added Skousen, who encouraged attendees to get specific.
“Tell the agents what you need from them. Tell your top teams this is how to certify in it, and how to be brave. And if you know how to do it, they’ll respect you for that.”
From there, Pearson pointed to a change in mindset, with now being one of the greatest opportunities for the industry to reset.
“Our business has turned into a commodity where our sellers in California were choosing agents based upon how far they would dig into their purse. What I mean by this is, ‘What is the commission rate?’ Will you pay for staging, for photography? And they were making the decision based upon who was going to do all those things except not their experience, not their skillset,” she explained.
“And so this was a grand opportunity where we got people to believe this is a new chance for it not just to be how much they’re going to pay, (but) to set great standards for the sellers to make decisions on what their success rate of closing is, their years in the business. This is a chance for them to reset and not just be in a bidding war and seeing how far they have to dig into their purse.”
While understanding your numbers is critical as far as systems are concerned when it comes to transitioning from being compliant to being skilled, the discussion then shifted to the importance of leadership as we navigate through the ever-evolving market.
“The leadership team right now is so important,” said Lind, who pointed to the fact that what we know today is what’s going to change tomorrow—and to be ready for that.
“This is a level-up moment for the entire industry,” she added, referencing an analogy of flight attendants on a plane.
“The pilot says there’s going to be turbulence and the turbulence hits, everybody’s fine—but if turbulence hits, and the pilot didn’t mention that, I always look to the flight attendant. Are they serving drinks? Are they buckling up? What’s happening?
“We’re the flight attendants, and it’s just setting expectations (to show) that we’ve got your back,” said Lind, “making sure the empowerment part is the most important word. Our leaders have to feel empowered to know how to get answers for today and prepare to transition tomorrow as well.”
It’s this top-down leadership that panelists believe will instill confidence across the board, underscoring the need to understand and believe that value proposition in order to be able to teach it.
“You’ve heard me comment about writing things down in this moment, writing questions down for clarity about the question you’re actually trying to answer,” said Skousen, who said he firmly believes that right now, there’s too much talk and not enough clarity.
“And that’s the fundamental issue with the confidence, right? It’s not that we shouldn’t talk or get together and collaborate, but (it’s the) clarity on where you need to be, what your answers are and what questions you’re trying to answer that will empower more than you realize.”
The conversation continued with Lind diving into the educational piece, pointing to the three components causing agents stress: the forms, the legality and the buyer presentation.
Emphasizing a holistic approach, Lind made a point of differentiating between the presentation (how you work, how you get paid and the value you bring), the consultation (defining the clients’ needs and what’s happening in the market) and the representation component (the legal contract detailing the working relationship).
“This is a fundamental shift of how this business is being run. There’s an art and a science to this, and I think we’re leaning really heavily into the science part, and I think we have to remember the relationship and the trust and walking them through this,” she explained.
“If you’re a good agent, and I think you’re all seeing across your companies’ great agents, it doesn’t matter what form you put in front of them, they’re going to be successful. I think that sometimes our agents right now are trying to take an old way of doing business and twist it into a new way, and that’s where we’re having the problems,” said LaCosta.
To that end, Pearson pointed to independent contractor agreements as one area that may present a challenge as we continue to adapt to the new environment post-August 17.
“Take a look at your independent contractor agreement, and see if it needs to be revised,” said Pearson, who noted that there may be some non-standard forms coming in that warrant a conversation on the front side.
Wrapping up the conversation, LaCosta asked each panelist for one final thought:
Skousen: “Set your great date. What is the date that you’ve set out for your team and your life, that by this date, we are fantastic at this. It forces you to say, ‘what does great look like and mean,’ and work back from there.”
Baris: “This isn’t a surprise. We’ve been preparing our team for a year. We’re growing through this, and our revenues are up through this because our people feel great about it. And the key word would be fun. Make the process fun for your clients, and they’re going to love working with you.”
Lind: “There’s a video we’ve circulated with our team for the last couple of years, and if you haven’t watched Duke’s women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson has a great speech on how to handle hard better, and it’s to stop waiting for things to get easy. Just know how to handle the hard things better. That’s what life is about. That’s how you become great.”
Pearson: “I agree that this is going to be quite an opportunity for the skilled agents in the way of profitability, but it’s also a great time of innovation to rework, relook and rethink.”
