The Speed of our Business

People who are managing real estate company-generated business lines like eCommerce, corporate relocation, and broker referrals, often make the mistake of trying to use the same specialized agent teams for all lines of business. I have found it is a small pool of individual agents who can successfully cross over between the various types of customers.

The exception maybe if you are using a real estate team headed by one rainmaker who has an arsenal of specialized agents and staff working with them. They will often have buyer’s agents, eCommerce agents, and a bevy of support staff to ensure everyone stays on task. The key here is to ensure the teams are all trained and meet the various requirements outlined by the sources of business. And depending on their commission split structure with their team members, they may not be too keen on handling encumbered business. Or as the provider of the referral, you may not be too keen on paying their typically high split but having one of their lower-level agents actually handling the referral.  

Here’s why many solo agents don’t crossover between relocation and eCommerce:

Slow, then quick

I refer to the corporate relocation business as ‘slow, then quick’. What I mean by that is the process is triggered when a person is tapped for a potential job or corporate relocation. It is a relatively slow process and many middlemen are involved to ensure everything is compliant and the preferred vendors are used.

Because the customer is often directed to a specific broker, it could take days or even weeks for the order to be placed and the agent to have access to the information to make contact. The challenge with this process is the minute the person finds out they may be moving they are searching the internet clicking on every website they can. It is often hard to rein them back in. But once the home-finding or tour date is established, then the process can move relatively fast. Trust and rapport have to be built quickly with the agent and the transferee and their family. If they only get one exploratory visit to the destination location, they will often make an offer relatively quickly if they can find a suitable property so they can get the ball rolling with the relocation and get on the job and their family settled.

It may mean their patient agent hauls them around for four days in a row for eight-hour days to maximize their visit. The agents who excel in the relocation space love to show off their community and know every detail that will benefit that family as they move into a new community. And they typically possess meticulous detail to perform the excruciating amount of paperwork and updates involved in the corporate listing process.

Quick, then slow

Internet leads are the opposite, they are ‘quick, then slow’. The minute a person begins searching on the internet they expect responses to those inquiries…immediately. It is typically way before they actually have any intent or ability to buy or sell. It may just be a pipe dream to see what they might be able to afford and explore the market. But what we do know is that the online shopper is impatient. There is a reason they call it ‘speed to lead’. They want a response within minutes of their inquiry.

We have been conditioned by our online shopping experiences to expect a high level of responsiveness or we move on. There is really no reason to wait around for information when it can be readily had by just going to the next website or clicking on the next agent. And we will click and click until someone responds. But then it may take months of follow-up and nurturing to before the clicker actually responds.

Statistics have shown that it can take as many as nine outreaches before an online shopper will engage. The selling cycle can be very long with many parties trying to capture their attention. That is why building rapport and delivering good content is so critical. And an agent really needs to be ‘all in’ to eCommerce to be successful with the appropriate tools and strategy. It may sometimes feel like crying into the wind, but they are out there and the agent’s persistence may just pay off. While the process can be quite systematized, it still takes a human touch and rapport building. If the prospect wants you to stop, they will eventually tell you.

These two business lines call for different selling strategies and communication types. But what they both require is patience.  It doesn’t mean you won’t find agents who are excellent at both. Several of them pop into my mind as I write. But it is critical to set the expectations and ensure the agent has the skills, resources, technology, and most importantly the right temperament to shapeshift into the type of agent needed to succeed in these unique business lines.

“The three S’s of winning in business are speed, simplicity, and self-confidence.” ~Jack Welch, an American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001.