Vital lessons CRSs can learn from other business models
By Gwen Moran
There is no question that REALTORS® wear many hats. From salesperson to marketer to manager to chief financial officer, working as the successful liaison between property sellers and buyers requires a wide variety of skills.
Because working as a REALTOR® requires such a broad range of capabilities, there are many opportunities to learn business practices, norms and models from other industries and sectors that can help real estate professionals do their jobs better. Here are four businesses from which CRSs can learn valuable lessons.
Counselors
Before becoming a REALTOR®, Kit Eschner, CRS, employing broker at RE/MAX Urban Properties in Denver, Colorado, was a marriage and family therapist. She finds that some of the skills she developed in that role apply to her work today. Therapists need to listen carefully and discern family dynamics, needs and power centers.
“When I was first getting started, someone would contact me and I’d show them a variety of houses,” she says. “Sometimes that person wasn’t the decision-maker,” she says. Using the skills she honed as a therapist, she began asking important questions that gave her a better idea of her client’s needs, and helped her identify who held the power to make the transaction happen. By building strong relationships grounded in honesty and trust, she built a successful real estate business.
Restaurants
Like many real estate businesses, restaurants are bustling operations requiring many jobs to be tackled. Finding the right team members and training them properly is essential, says restaurant strategist Martha Lucius. Effective restaurant operations take a holistic approach to training, creating systems for various tasks in the restaurant to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
To create such systems, examine the various processes and tasks that are necessary in your real estate business, such as processing new clients or managing showings and open houses. Create a system for them by breaking them down into a series of steps, describing when each step will be completed and by whom, and formalize them by writing them down. Creating such systems can help you spot unnecessary labor, avoid duplication of steps and make training of new employees easier. Adopting a system “basically creates a checklist to make sure each item gets done properly,” Lucius says.
Construction companies
Donna Bruno, CRS, real estate instructor and REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Pleasantville, New York, says real estate professionals should take a cue from builders about the importance of having a plan. First, when a builder creates a new home, especially a custom-built home, the builder works from a blueprint, ensuring they have a plan for the home they’re going to build. “What we find is that agents today have to do the same thing,” she says. “If they just rush into the business and never really think about how they’re going to be successful, it will be a problem; more than likely, they’ll never make it. Today, it is more critical for them to have a business plan.”
Similarly, that plan should include what role they want to play in their own businesses. “Whether it’s in residential sales, commercial sales or something else, agents should design a financial goal or blueprint, as well as a marketing plan that will ensure their success in the business,” Bruno says.
Builders also rely on a combination of paid marketing and word-of-mouth, which they cultivate carefully, she says. Think of the builders who have projects in your area. You likely know which ones use the highest-quality materials and pride themselves on craftsmanship, as well as those who build more moderately priced homes with basic plans and materials. Construction firms spend a great deal of time cultivating those reputations and specialties. When REALTORS® become known for their specializations, they may find themselves with more referral business because people have a better understanding of their strengths, which can lead to building stronger relationships overall.
“What we’re finding now in the classes that I teach is that almost half of an agent’s business should come from their sphere of influence,” Bruno says. “So building relationships and taking time to forge them is very critical, just as it is for builders.”
Executive recruitment firms
Kathleen M. Novak, CRS, founder of Kathleen Novak Group at Howard Hanna Real Estate Services in Aurora, Ohio, has learned a thing or two from watching her husband, an executive recruiter. Retained search professionals work directly for the company and receive upfront payment to find key employees. While upfront payment isn’t an option in real estate transactions, agents should find ways to build loyalty with clients. When you provide exceptional service, find ways to set yourself apart and do the legwork required to find the perfect property or buyer, customers aren’t going to want to go anywhere else, she says.
“You’ve got to understand the needle in the haystack that they’re looking for so that you can use all of your resources to help them find it,” she says. Understanding not only what the buyer or seller needs, but what hesitations they may have and what assistance (e.g., staging, finding a new home, etc.) they may need is essential for success. Being able to provide that extra service requires building a robust network and having a deep understanding of the community, just as a search professional has a deep understanding of the industry and its key players.
CRSs can learn important lessons from other types of businesses. Look around and notice what the companies you see in your everyday life are doing right. Then ask how this might apply to your business. You might be surprised at what you learn. 
Learn more—Take the classroom course “Business Planning and Marketing for the Residential Specialist.”
