Earlier
this year, our company had the privilege of hiring Helen Jackson.  Helen is a very talented individual who I’ve
known for many years.  She has served our
community (a mid-sized suburb of Seattle) in many non-profit, education and
athletic advisory roles.  She is known
and admired by more people in our community than I could begin to count.

Her
daughter Emily grew up playing baseball
(not softball) with a couple of my sons. 
I remember frequently asking my boys…"Did Emily strike you out today?" The answer was often…"Yes, she did!"  That’s a tough thing for a teenage boy to admit. Emily is now playing softball
at a Division-I college in Illinois.

When
Helen agreed to work with our company, I was eager to hear her perspective on
our business and the role we play in the real estate industry.  Being competitive herself and working with so
many high performers over the years, I suspected her insight would be helpful.

I’ve
not been disappointed.  She has worked in
a consulting role with one of our clients in the Midwest over the last couple
of months.  As a recruiting coordinator,
she works closely with both hiring managers and candidates.

Last
week, she offered to record some of her thoughts on working in this new
role.  Her thoughts (in this dialog) are
from the candidate’s perspective, and I thought they were worth sharing.

"I've
been working with Tidemark for several months as a recruiter and I am
continuously surprised at how very few individuals truly understand the
challenges and opportunities of becoming a real estate agent; particularly in
choosing the right broker.

My
mother was an agent and a broker well into her sixties and mentioned many times
that it allowed her to survive as a middle-aged widow with no other form of
income. As a broker, she had several agents working in her firm and she always
said that making sure your agents were successful was the same as having a
successful business.

But
that was in the time of the real estate boom, in a small New England town where
she knew most of the residents. What about today, I wondered?

Today,
the real estate market seems to work like the stock market, albeit a little
slower, but still driven by the economy and the whims of buyers and sellers. So,
the broker an agent chooses is extremely important.

In
researching what makes a great broker, I realized that the characteristics of a
good broker are exactly what I would want in an agent if I were buying or
selling a home.

I
developed the following acronym to express those defining features:

Honesty. Tell me what I can expect
financially and explain the relationship of the
broker and agent in clear and concise terms.

Opportunity. What are the opportunities;
how long will it take for me to realize the
opportunity and where are the pitfalls?

Mentoring. What classes and training are
offered. Who teaches the classes? Is there
a fee?

Expenses. What are they? Do you assist
in developing an expenses spreadsheet?
What are the splits? Can I really make a profit? How?

Support. Are you there for me? Can I
come to you for advice; encouragement? Do
you reach out to me to see how I am doing?"

 

Do
a quick inventory:  Do you find yourself
positively addressing these issues during your interactions with
candidates?  It’s important to remember
that new agents are “buying” a business relationship with their broker. Helen
has done a great job of identifying what many of the best buyers are seeking.

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.