Understand Your Agents’ Toughest Challenges

Don’t let your agents fall through the cracks. Instead, you can retain more salespeople by learning their pain points — and offering help.

Tom Ferry, motivational speaker and star of a real estate web series called the “#TomFerryShow,” surveyed 3,330 agents about their major career challenges. Out of the 56 questions participants answered, these five challenges emerged most often:

1. Prospecting consistently
2. Managing time
3. Maintaining a database
4. Maintaining mindset and personal psychology
5. Staying organized

Both new and seasoned agents face obstacles in their real estate careers, and usually all they need is a little guidance, Ferry says. But unfortunately, nearly 20 percent of respondents said they don’t feel supported by their brokerages. Most agents said they want brokerages to improve in three areas:

1.  Keeping current and up-to-date on industry practices
2.  Transaction management
3.  Marketing support

At the same time, the survey also found that broker-owners and managers struggle most with agent recruitment and profitability. The solution likely lies in coaching. According to survey results, agents who said they work with coaches also perform better in several job-related areas. “For instance, coached agents have business and marketing plans in place. They track their daily activities. They also have more numerous and effective lead sources than agents who are not coached,” Ferry says.

Here are thee tips to help brokers to get their agents on track:

1. Train them on how to use a CRM system. Nearly 25 percent of agents surveyed said they don’t use a customer relationship management system to organize leads and contacts. Put a system in place and train agents on how to effective use the CRM to follow up on leads consistently, Ferry says.

2. Make sure your agents are using the best lead generation tools. Ferry found that 70 percent of the agents surveyed are using Facebook for lead generation. But agents who earn $300,000 or more per year prefer more specialized lead sources like BoomTown ROI or Google PPC, according to the survey. It might be time to help your agents step up their game.

3. Formally collect client feedback if you aren’t already. Nearly 60 percent of the brokers surveyed said their company doesn’t have a process in place for gathering consumers’ thoughts on their buying or selling experience, Ferry says. “When firms do survey the consumer experience, the most common area of improvement is better agent communication with the client and associated parties,” he says. Once brokers have that consumer data, they can share it with their salespeople and use it in coaching.

Hungry for more? In this recent episode of his show, Ferry dives into the issue of prospecting consistently, and offers additional ideas and tips.