Despite the West Australian boom ending almost two years ago, some agents and agencies in this state are still living with a boom time mindset and are resisting the need to adapt to the needs of a new market and a new era in property and finance.
The past year has been a very challenging one in this industry, but we had the First Home Owners boost firing up the market. We are now facing a whole new range of challenges and those agents who cannot shake that boom time mentality are going to find survival very difficult and in turn find it very hard to deliver for their clients.
In WA, the most critical issue facing agents is plummeting listing stock. There is going to be a whole new level of competition in the market place and agents are going to have to fight for listings.
Agents should already be proactive in seeking listings. Often agents are only ever focused on the immediate and the ‘sale’, this is a serious mistake. Their focus should shift more heavily to an emphasis on business development, concentrating on that first part of the cycle and their role should involve aggressive and proactive measures to attract more sellers. This is the perennial challenge all real estate principals face through all phases of the property cycle.
The fact is competition will increase as fewer properties become available, creating a whole new playing field for agents. It will be the agent who thinks strategically who will score the new listings. Roll up your sleeves and sell yourself, or you are simply going to be left behind
In my opinion this situation will see some agents leave the industry, because if you are accustomed to easier times, these conditions will feel very difficult. What is interesting is the fact I’m seeing a high level of employment enquiries from people outside the industry who are looking to enter. We usually only work with experienced agents but we are starting to see a real opportunity in hiring inexperienced agents. The thing is these new agents haven’t been spoilt by the boom or practices that belong in another era. They’re fresh and ready to meet the demands of the new market, as opposed to some existing agents who will stick with old comfortable approaches and wonder why business is so difficult. Of course, we are also always on the look out for established agents who have the ability to shift with the market.
The way forward for agents is to rebrand themselves, they need to become seller managers, not sales agents. Sure the sale is a big part of what we do but the cycle begins with attracting listings and this needs time, energy and resources. At Realmark we promote this internally by building on the thing agents find easiest – the sale – and automating work flows in a way that automatically draws more and better sellers and listings to them.
There are two types of sellers; ones who are ready to sell today and others that will sell in the future. Too often the attention is on the immediacy of the seller for today, not on building long term working relationships with potential clients. Our business begins with the seller and many agents are just not putting enough effort into connecting with them in a meaningful and distinctive way over time.
As originally posted on Sold. The Magazine for Real Estate Professionals.
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