After listening to our users and leveraging the best that the iPhone platform has to offer, we have added four new features to the App that make the home selection process even easier.

• The home screen has been improved to link users to a map showing all of their property albums and the properties’ respective locations, at a glance

• We’ve added a “Contact an Agent” button, which when tapped, will enable the user to search for an agent using their current GPS location or ZIP, and contact them directly

• The “Points of Interest Mapping” feature will allow users to search for points of interest (such as restaurants, parks, etc.) in the area surrounding the property. The closest 50 points of interest will be displayed on the map as green pins

• The “Photo Enhancement” feature has been improved so that users can change the orientation of the photo from portrait to landscape or vice versa and use the buttons in either orientation

In addition to consumers, we know that our agents are using the App to relay important information about the homes and surrounding points of interest to their clients. With all this information at their fingertips, agents are always the subject matter experts on the home and the community.

With these updates, agents are now only one email or phone call away from prospective and existing clients.

Check it out for yourself, and download it free at BHGRealEstate.com/iPhone.

Fast forward to the week before Inman in 2009. The team was busy putting the finishing touches on a project we coined “Next Generation Real Estate Brokerage,” which Sherry Chris unveiled as the next generation project on the main stage of the conference.. Over the last year, there have been dozens and dozens of blogs, hundreds of Tweets and a countless number of conversations in the industry about what the future of the real estate brokerage model should and shouldn’t be. This is exactly what we had hoped for.

There are several highlights from 2009. One of which was attending with several of our franchisees. In twelve months we had grown from zero to over 2000 agents. We were on our way to fulfilling the vision of the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brand.

And here we are the week before Inman 2010. We have lots of great stuff planned this year. We continue to stay committed to sharing and learning with our colleagues in the industry.

We start the week off at the first ever Agent Reboot on Monday. Sherry will be discussing life style branding strategies for agents.

I’m honored to be facilitating the Brokers Summit on Tuesday morning. We have gathered some of the brightest and most innovative operators in the business together for a morning that promises to be full of ideas and insights.

Sherry will hit the main stage on Wednesday as part of a Leaders panel and again on Thursday to unveil the next chapter in Next Generation Brokerage. We’ve been working hard on bringing some new and interesting perspectives on the future of the industry.

In between all that, we’ll be hanging out at our booth in the trade show, in the Premium Lounge and if you can’t find us at either of those locations search for the nearest Starbucks! We’ll need the caffeine.

We hope to see you there. But if you can’t be there in person, please follow along with us here, on Twitter.com/BHGRealEstate and on Facebook.com/BHGRealEstate.

We tell them to:

• Set goals.
• Have a prospecting plan.
• Practice your value proposition elevator speech.
• Pick up the phone and call expired listing owners and for sale by owners.
• Create contact campaigns with follow up and tracking.
• Utilize social media networking for visibility.
• Be visible in the community and talk to people every day about real estate.
• Include both proactive and passive prospecting activities every week.

We tell them when they do these things, they will get more listings, have more sales and make more money.

Talent attraction is prospecting for broker and managers. How do you approach talent attraction? The competition is stronger than ever to attract and retain good talent in real estate companies if we are to grow and prosper. The best way to accomplish the goal is to practice what we preach.

NAR estimates that as many of 180,000 buyers along with the thousands of agents who worked with them may not see the keys to their new home or a commission check. These buyers had an accepted offer in place prior to the April 30th deadline of the HomeBuyer Tax Credit but may not be able to close that transaction by the June 30th deadline. Despite the efforts of many people, lawmakers failed last week to vote for the bill that would extend the closing from June 30th to Sept 30th.

This combined with the discouraging economic news on new construction and mortgage applications have been a frank reminder that although the first part 2010 gave us hope, we still have a long road ahead. There is still a slim chance that an extension on the closing date for the tax credit may happen. We’ll know more as this week plays out.

My first broker used to tell all his agents “Don’t spend your commission checks until you have them in hand.” This latest turn of events has certainly reinforced that advice.

All of these drastic numbers and record lows have some arguing about the dependence of the housing market on government support. That argument may heat up, as the Senate voted down the bill which would have extended the closing deadline for the home buyer credit to September 30 from June 30.  It probably didn’t help that an audit found prisoners fraudulently receiving the tax credit.

In good news, pricing of homes rose for a second straight month. In California, prices rose 23 percent in May.  Speaking of California, state legislators are considering a bill that would redefine the obligations of many defaulting homeowners. Do you think other states will consider similar bills? What about on a national level?

Take a page out of Mortgage Bankers Association President Jim Pair’s book and counsel borrowers to not charge large purchases or change jobs as their applying for mortgages — if at all possible, they should wait until after closing. This will prove especially important as Fannie Mae’s introduced new requirements to recheck a borrower’s finances shortly before closing. In other advice for your consumers, Fannie Mae’s “unusual hardships” policy provides relief for homeowners with problem drywall. Pass it along!

Fannie Mae also announced this week that in an effort to deter the trend toward strategic defaulting, it will temporarily deny new loans to borrowers who deliberately default and walk away from their homes. Who would have thought a measure like this would have been necessary?

Live and work in one of America’s dirtiest cities? Perhaps you can help think of ways to get involved to clean it up!

Ask yourself a few key questions about how reducing office space would impact your culture.

• How will consumers be best served?
• Will compensation structures for virtual agents differ from brick and mortar agents?
• How will the expense savings on the physical plant be put to work?
• Will you create new and useful tools, services and programs that will attract top agents?
• Will you pass on some savings to agents by helping them set up virtual offices?

Strategically visit potential changes that may need to accompany office space reduction. Things such as marketing plans, advertising, agent bonus structures and incentives must be taken into account before any action is taken.

Brokers who choose to induce change toward smaller offices by motivating agents through compensation incentives might consider the following examples:

(a) Give 5% more across-the-board if agents work virtually, or

(b) Make the ‘in-house’ plan 5% less than current practice and pay out at current splits only if agents work virtually (we prefer choice b)

(c) Consider introducing commission indexing by CPI or another metric in order to assure that margins will be maintained over time despite the higher payout to agents working virtually (see below).

Indexing of Commission Plan

Each year, increase the dollar thresholds that make up the different bands of your commission plan by some multiplier (e.g., the consumer price index).  For example:

Before: XYZ Company has only one commission plan that resets every January 1^st and is structured as follows:  each agent gets a 55/45 split on the first $50k of GCI, 65% for everything between $50k and $100k, and 75% on everything above $100k.

After: What occurs if the thresholds are increased by only 4% each year?  The first band (agent gets 55%) now runs from $0 to $52k (not $50k) while the second band (agent gets 65%) is now from $52k to $104k.  Fast-forward another year and the targets are now at about $54k and $108k and after three years they’re at about $56k and $112k, and so on.  It’s not too dramatic a change from one year to the next but the cost of not doing this is ever-shrinking margins that become uncomfortable over time.

I participated with several agents from my office and upon arrival we were met by the local builder who provided each of us with a carpenter’s apron, a hammer, nails, a tape measure and our assignments.  Mine was to hammer floor boards.  The builder barked out instructions, demonstrated with a few swings of his hammer and left me to my work which I took on with feverish excitement.

I tapped the first nail with the hammer and it quickly slid from my fingers onto the board then rolled to the ground.  I should know how to do this, I told myself.  I hang pictures all the time.  I tapped harder on the next nail and the next.  That worked better, but it seemed I tapped forever until the nails head finally rested in the wood. My excitement waned as I quickly realized how unprepared I was for the job.  The harder I tried, the more frustrated I became. By the end of the day, I wasn’t any more experienced in carpentry than I was at 8 AM, and while I was equipped with the tools and I participated, and contributed, I was not at all productive.

I’ve observed similarities with real estate agents. When an agent comes to the real estate business, he/she has a tool box.  It includes two things: their license and enthusiasm.  When they join a company, the tool box grows. Company tools are added, marketing materials, presentation books and/or programs, scripts and in many cases, training.  I challenge you that training alone is not enough.  We train dogs.  They learn to follow commands – sit, lay, heel, come.  People are different.

Preparing agents to succeed is three fold. I call it the ETC approach:

Educate – Teach agents the fundamental rules of prospecting, working with buyers and sellers, understanding motivations, uncovering needs, asking powerful questions, marketing. Without fundamentals, agents will follow commands. Agents need to have a thorough understanding of contracts and representation.

Train – Role play, scripts, case studies, assignments, practice, repeat, practice, repeat to learn and internalize information.

Coach – Follow up with agents for at least 90 – 120 days following the program to achieve at least one listing and one buyer.

Whether an agent comes to us fresh out of licensing school or with years in the business, it is our responsibility to assure they know how to use all the tools in their tool box.

Instead think of a triangle. What makes this shape special is that it’s three sides are all the same distance. I view the relationship between broker, agent and consumer like a triangle. In other words, equal.

The consumer is on the top and both brokers and agents should be focusing on meeting the consumer’s needs in the best way possible. At the base of the triangle is the broker at one side and the agent on the other. Both need to bring equal value to each other and both deserve to be rewarded for that value.

We saw this relationship get out of balance starting back in the late 90′s. With agent centric business models being adopted by brokerages, the agents kept more and more of the commission dollars. Brokers began offering fewer and fewer services and tools. However, agents expected certain things from their brokers and were often disappointed. The broker and the agent were in a bad marriage with each other. They shared the same house but had stopped communicating and started sleeping in separate bedrooms.

Then the market downturn hit. That combined with the emergence of technology and the changing needs of today’s consumer left the agent and the broker looking at each other agreeing that it was time to work things out.

And that leads us to today. The successful brokers and agents I see across the country have recommitted to each other. They have found a place where they are each offering a mutually beneficial value proposition and collectively as a team they are focusing on delivering exceptional real estate experiences to the consumer.

Brokers and agents are like parents who should be working together to provide the best possible environments for their kids (i.e. the consumer). Isn’t it time we worked as a team?

My thought:  It doesn’t matter – Keep Selling.

It is important that we know what is happening in our industry and to remain aware of what others are saying to our potential customers – so continuing to read and educate oneself is always good.  But, don’t allow external forces determine your success.  I’ve know many sales professionals who have done well in down times and I’ve known many more sales people who have done poorly in good times.  The difference is always in the person and their attitude.

Long ago, I had a sales and training manager who broke my sales development into three areas: knowledge, techniques and attitude.  Knowledge included market conditions, competitors value props, trends, and products.  Techniques included communication skills, presentation skills, negotiation skills, and conflict resolution skills.  Both knowledge and techniques were tangible and easy to translate/teach/track. But attitude? How do you know if you have a good attitude or a bad attitude and who is to judge?

What I have witnessed in myself and others is that attitude, in sales, is simply the reflection of your work habits and work ethic.  Strong work habits and a productive work ethic is the reflection of a good attitude.  Poor habits and a lazy work ethic reflect a bad attitude.

My old manager use to say “your attitude will determine your altitude.”  Don’t worry about what the others say and just keep working hard – the results will show for themselves.

That advice seems as good to me today as it did then.

At the end of each lease renewal, ask yourself whether or not you would open up a new office in this location, if you had to do it again.  Depending on the strength of the local commercial real estate market, inquire about subletting rates to see if it’s worth staying or if there are better options “out there.”  Also look into the possibility of renegotiating your lease. This is especially important, if you’re assessing the possibility of closing a given location. Since occupancy is one of the largest fixed expenses in a real estate organization, renegotiating a lease could help to regain margin needed to sustain a viable business operation.

For multi-office firms, map out locations and determine where business is coming from, in order to analyze if and where opportunities for consolidation exist. Analyze costs savings less expected breakage (attrition of agents) vs. staying the course.  Determine what the payback period would be. Consider the 6 office company below:

If the above represented your company, here are a few questions that you might consider.

• Will office 5 continue to be profitable given current market conditions?
  • Why was only .34% ROR generated in office 5, given $4,297,685 in GCI?
  • Is Office 5 located near enough to another location to consider consolidation?
  • How much breakage might occur in Office 5 if agents were asked to move?
• Can Office 2 be far behind Office 5’s situation, or are there mitigating circumstances that make office 2 different?
• How much could operating costs and profit be impacted through lease renegotiation?
• Which managers are performing well and which are underperforming?

Do you consider your space to be a “showcase”? Is this important enough to justify the amount of space that you currently occupy? Business realities have changed rapidly, and as a result, leaders need to give serious consideration to redesigning offices that have fewer desks and less square footage. If there is excess space that cannot be eliminated, consider leasing desks to a mortgage company, title company, a home town bank, insurance person or some other relationship that offers ‘core service’ benefits.  This will help mitigate rent cost and may also provide trailing dollars.

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