A lot of people are not aware that most real estate agents do not work off of some type of salary 0r draw. We don’t get monthly advances or big bonuses at the end of the year. We work on straight commission and we are independent contractors. When I first started in Real Estate, I interviewed at one brokerage that did the salary draw structure but the actual commission structure was so pathetic, I passed. Keller Williams was the most reasonable with opportunities to advance. This is one reason why I choose to hang my license with them.
A lot of people are not aware that we are not just “given leads or clients”. I have never done a second of floor time. This is where an agent signs up for time to sit in the office and take calls from buyers or sellers that directly call or walk into the Keller Williams. Some agents in my office do it, others don’t. It’s not mandatory in my office. I don’t do it because I have developed a way to generate my own business.
A lot of people are not aware that most real estate agents pay out of our own pockets for pretty much everything we do for our real estate business: Association fees, faxes, copies, mailings, fliers, websites, house signs and more. According to our business planner, marketing is supposed to only cover up to 20% of our annual budget. For some agents this can run into the $1000′s per month others tens of thousands. Last week I went to a top producers class held by our local association and the speaker interviewed three top producing agents in our area. All three had monthly business coaches to keep them on track, each pay a little under $1000 each month for this service.
Ok Jamey so what exactly is your point?
Although I have many ethical rules, laws, regulations, brokerage rules and many more practices that I must follow every day (& I do) at the end of the day; my husband and I work for ourselves. In the end, we are responsible if our business fails or succeeds. Only us.
This is why we are very to the point when we start working with new renters, buyers or sellers. We need to make sure that we can meet expectations and we need to make sure that our clients are qualified. People hate the word “qualified” but if I am a smart business person (and I hope you would want to work with a smart business person), does it make sense to run around and show properties to people who do not have the money to purchase or rent that property?
In addition to finding out if potential clients are prepared to buy, sell or rent; when I interview potential clients I am also required to ask if they are working with another agent. It’s against our ethics policy to work with people who are already working with another agent. In reality, it really doesn’t make sense to work with two different agents showing the exact same criteria of properties. Again, not only is it against our ethics policies but it’s also bad business.
I am not in the business randomly showing property. I am in the business of putting together a buyer with a property that matches their needs and assisting them successfully by guiding them through the transaction. I am in the business of doing the same for a renter. I am in the business of helping a seller get their home sold.
Last week I had to discontinue a relationship with a client when I found out that he had made appointments with other agents. When I called to tell this client that I was sorry and that I wouldn’t be able to assist him and explained why, he replied with, “That’s BS”.
In the end, I know that this person was not our client. I also know that our clients are very appreciative of how we work and what we do for them. They know that we run a successful real estate business and are very focused on their needs. We do this because we were trained in a very specific way to run our business. We don’t allow BS to creep into our business; our atmosphere is of successful results, not drama.
In the end, I am running a business, I am my own boss, Keller Williams recognizes this and that is why I chose to hang my license with them. In the end, I am allowed determine the level of BS that we can tolerate and in our little world, it’s not much at all.
I know that in the end, our clients benefit from our best practices and appreciate this too.
P.S. Keller Williams has trained us on how to successfully run our business. Right now our brokerage is still very young in our area and even in this down market, our market center Keller Williams Miami Beach was #2 in our area, our sister brokerage Keller Williams located in Miami Shores was #3.
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We work with Renters, Sellers & Buyers in Miami Beach, Brickell, Downtown Miami & Midtown Miami. We have a strong passion for our business and 
