Can Your Brokerage Really Help You Sell Houses?

Let me begin this by saying that brokerages don't sell houses. The Agents do. Let me be blunt about that. 

Your brokerage is not going to help you sell a house. It’s actually you, who’s going to help you. Most agents believe that a brokerage is going to be the end means to help them sell a house. While it’s true that some brokerages are better than others, a traditional brokerage in that direction is gone. Now, what do I mean when I say “the traditional brokerages”?  I'm talking about the old-school brokerages that have been around it for a while. 

Brokerages recruit agents. That's their job. Brokerages want you to be successful. Because if you're successful, they can make more money. But have you ever asked yourself, when was the last time a brokerage actually sold a house? It’s actually the agent that's doing it. They can teach you a lot about compliance, contracts, and things of that nature. But when it comes to the real-time, know-how to sell a house, you get that experience once you are in the field. 

Back when I was with Keller Williams, I would go into their office to train, which for me was a trap. I understood that they wanted me in the office because they were bringing people who sponsored them, who gave their brokerage money so I could come to their training and have a full room of people for the training. 

If I'm in that room all day long for training, I will not be selling houses. It is proven and tested that the best agents in the industry are those who are not stuck in the office and training all the time. These agents have hands-on and real-time training on the field.  I'm not implying that you don't get your training brokerage. What I'm saying is, look at the amount of training that you're going to get because that is not going to help you sell a house. 

A lot of agents think that they need to take the training, then absorb the knowledge and then put that into practice. How long does it take for you to put something into practice and to make it something that actually works? How can you actually sell or get that buyer into a home if you are not learning on the field?  Will you ever know what you’re talking about once you’re there? Can you negotiate on it on your buyer’s behalf? Can you show them houses and make it work now as a listing agent? Can you actually sell your clients a home? Do you know how to do that? The bottom line is, you have to sell or you can't do it ever. 

I know a lot of agents who are hopping from one brokerage to another simply because they're looking for the right fix in the right place. This is what I have to say, STOP IT. The only place that you should be looking at in the mirror. Because sometimes, the reason why you're not successful is that that person right in front of you is holding you back. I know this for a fact because that was the moment I stopped going into the office all day long. Instead, I started talking to everyone about what's going on. I didn't waste any hours. I stopped wasting time and I got really better because I was practicing what I’m supposed to learn in the training out there in the field. 

It was at that moment that I started selling my houses. It was at that moment that I turned off ESPN or any other forms of distraction so I can actually get started in doing my job more. I got really serious about tracking my information. I made sure that I truly understood what my clients wanted. I became a much better agent. I changed my commitments and priorities, and I became more committed to people, particularly my customers. I changed my commitment by changing my mindset. That is why I put my business first, I  put the things I needed to do that made more sense first and I said forget the little stuff. The less I went to the office, the more homes I sold.  Once I saw that correlation, I stopped going to the office altogether, and then I created this. They made me a space in which I can have a cave and sit down and do what I needed to do.

So do the brokers really help you sell houses? A big fat NO. They can train you about trivial stuff, they can teach you about compliance, and they can get you going. However, they don't help you sell houses. They may have the tools that you might find very useful. Just make sure your broker has a really good CRM and a great website that actually works.

I'll say this again so you will know its importance. There's a lot of brokers out there that will tell you a lot of stuff, but then their tools don't work and it's crappy. It’s supposed to help you grow up and get better. Make sure you tell them to give you something that actually works especially if you're paying a commission split. Because whether you like it or not, you will be paying for these things on a monthly basis. That is why more than anything else, make sure that their tools really work. If you do go to a discount brokerage, you might be happy and doing what you're doing from that perspective, but there may be a huge chance that you will not be getting the right tools and resources there as well. 

You might feel that your brokerage is a fit but at the end of the day, they're not helping you sell houses. Take one deep look in the mirror and change your activities. Figure out what you need to do, and I swear to you, I promise that your real estate business will change. 

I hope my insights really helped you in gaining confidence in setting yourself out there for success. 

You can always check out the Tech Ninja YouTube Channel to get more useful tips that I designed for you, new agent.