Thinking of switching brokerages?
If you’re brokerage shopping for 2023, this may be the perfect time to plan your change and execute it.
The past couple of years has made many agents feel more or less invincible. For newer agents, hitting the ground running may have been the priority. For veteran agents, splits and caps were probably the only things that mattered.
Now, as the market slows and the economy presents challenges, many agents find themselves brokerage shopping for 2023. This time of year may feel like the right time to plan a change and execute it.
For some agents, change is good, and the changes they make now will be positive. For others, changing brokerages won’t get to the root of what’s wrong in their businesses.
Now is the time that agents should consider switching brokerages if they are going to do so before the beginning of the new year. However, you need to make sure that you set yourself up for success and that you’ve asked yourself some hard questions before you make a change.
Before you start your search, Before you begin looking for a new brokerage home, you need to do the following:
1. Make sure that you’re switching for the right reasons
Are you switching because you’re scared, even though your business is currently doing well? Are you switching because of a personality conflict? Are you switching because you’ve never navigated a down market and don’t feel supported?
Get a handle on the motivation behind your switch and see if you can address it in some other way
2. Look at yourself in the mirror before you make a switch.
Are you dissatisfied with something in your professional or personal life and looking for a change to avoid dealing with it? Are you insecure about your ability to navigate your career and seek out the cover of a bigger or more prominent brokerage when you should be betting on yourself?
Remember, your name is bigger in your sphere of influence than any brokerage or brand; are you staying in touch with your SOI?
3. Find out whether you’re looking for a brokerage to do the work you should be doing for your business.
Are you hoping that a big-box brokerage’s name will take the place of the brand-building you should be doing? Are you hoping that a prominent local broker at the helm will keep you from having to push yourself and prioritize your own growth?
4. Have you let the easy market of the past couple of years make you a little lazy?
- Are you doing the marketing activities that count?
- Are you working in the business or in your business?
- Are you chasing a better commission split because you are selling fewer homes?
- Are you being promised cold inbound leads and hoping that will make up the difference in production?
- Do you know your numbers, and do you know what caused the increase or decrease?
- What could you or should you do differently to increase your production?
5. Remember that word will get out that you’re talking to brokerages, so be discreet
If your current broker is a friend or mentor or if they took a chance on you and helped you launch your business, give them the courtesy of an honest conversation.
6. This is not the time to burn bridges
Remember, you will need to maintain your professional network, and that includes the agents and brokers in your current brokerage. Do your best to stay on good terms with them by leaving in a friendly and professional manner.
7. Look at what the new brokerage offers and its differentiators when you’re evaluating your new brokerage; you’ll want to consider what it offers and what differentiates it from your current brokerage. Have a clear idea of your professional goals, and find out how the brokerage you’re talking with will help you accomplish those goals.
Determine what they offer in terms of each of the following:
- Are they an independent or big-box brokerage?
- What kind of support staff do they provide?
- What kind of tech stack do they provide?
- What marketing support do they provide?
- What training do they provide?
- What does accountability look like in the brokerage?
- What is the commission structure, and what additional fees does it charge?
8. Remember, anyone can make promises during recruitment.
Find out what kinds of assurances they can offer of long-term support, tech availability, and other resources.
9. Take advantage of slower times
As the holidays come in, you typically have fewer transactions. That gives you time to get organized and ready for your upcoming move. Buy some coffee, have some conversations, and make sure you’re ready to hit the spring market hard when it comes around.
10. Get all of your marketing dialed in
Plan ahead with new brand elements, marketing collateral, updated social media accounts, and updated contact information on all real estate portal profiles.
11. Start letting your clients know what’s going on now
Connect with them through a holiday letter, holiday-themed pop-bys, pie deliveries, grateful letters, a New Year’s letter, a 2022 wrap-up letter, and their closing statement (so they’ll have it for tax purposes) delivered in January.
12. Send an announcement letter to your sphere of influence
Make sure people know what you expect to be able to offer through your new brokerage — enhanced marketing, better service, greater reach — so that it feels like a win for them, too.
13. Leverage what the new brokerage has to offer
If it’s tech, use this time to learn that tech, top to bottom. If it’s marketing support, connect with the support staff, and find out how they can help you. Creative copywriting? Mastermind classes? Events? Training? Look into and learn the systems. If it was important enough to make you switch, it’s important enough to get serious about it and get the most out of it.
Switching brokerages is not something to do casually or to take lightly, but when the time is right and when they’re offering something you need, it can be the right call. Do it the right way, and get the most out of the opportunity it provides so you will have many happy years in your new professional home base.
Post a Comment