Brokers heard from real estate agents on what's important for them in the relationship
The current sluggish housing market has heightened the importance for independent brokers to improve relationships with referral partners – chiefly real estate agents.
During the recent FUSE conference staged by the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), three top real estate agents provided their perspective, revealing strategies on doing just that. Moderated by Brendan McKay, AIME’s president of advocacy, the panel discussion comprised Gogo Bethke (pictured top left), founder of Gogo’s Real Estate Team; Thao Nguyen (pictured centre), team lead with Win Nguyen Real Estate Group; and Jeff Glover (pictured top right), founder of Glover U Real Estate Coaching & Training.
Michigan-based Bethke provided an impromptu demonstration of her methods of recruitment (she prefers to call it attraction) by directing those gathered to look up her real estate page on Instagram. By commenting on any of her videos the word “partner,” users receive an automatically generated form that enables them to set up a phone or email appointment with her to discuss potential partnerships. She has attracted more than 1,200 real estate agents with the tactic, she noted.
McKay began the discussion by asking Bethke for her approach.
Taking a systematic approach at luring partners
“I’m very systematic with everything I try to do,” she said. “My brain, for whatever reason, just works like a computer. I look at everything as, ‘What is the end goal and what are the steps we need to build,’ – kind of like reverse engineering. I built a Staple easy button for everything,” she added, referring to the symbolic red button from the office supplies chain meant to convey an ease of ordering its products.
“This is attraction because they took action,” Bethke said of her approach. “They already raised their hand and showed me they were interested. She said she tries not to overpopulate her IG page with such videos but populates just enough to lure partners. “If I start posting attracting agents every day, I’m going to lose them over time,” she said.
Overcoming personality clashes
Houston-based Nguyen shared how one of her top real estate partners and she didn’t even get along at first, illustrating how obstacles can be overcome to grow together.
“We didn’t like each other,” Nguyen acknowledged. “She thought I was too aggressive, and I thought she was too extreme. But as we started working together, we liked each other more and more and we understood each other’s style.”
One of the traits Nguyen most admires about her real estate partner is her ability to take accountability when needed, she said. “Whenever she or her team make a mistake, she always steps up, corrects the mistake and takes full responsibility. For us, that is so important. That’s why she’s my number one referral partner.”
Since they have gotten to appreciate one another more, the partner has genuinely helped grow Nguyen’s business: “What I really like is she is always very honest, gives me a lot of good feedback, and always tries to build my business,” Nguyen said. “She’s the one that helped me build a very strong back-end support system. She is always there to support me, and that’s what I love about working for her.”
Using marketing to heighten one’s profile
Self-described as the “No. 1 producing real estate coach in North America,” Detroit-based Glover detailed his strategies in heightening his profile in part to lure the best business partners. As part of that campaign, he invested heavily on billboards as well radio and television advertising ten years into his 21-year career. Since then, he’s scaled back on television given the changing broadcast climate, he said.
“I actually reached the law of diminishing returns with prospecting,” he said of the time he decided to change up the marketing mix. “No matter how many contacts we made, our results weren’t improving so that’s when I started buying online leads and advertising.”
Along the way, he’s learned valuable lessons: “A couple of things I’ve learned through that process,” he said. “Number one, when you do something like that, you have to go all in. You can’t just buy one radio station or one billboard. If you make the decision to get in, say, radio, you have to buy in multiple radio stations and run ads frequently for at least six months.”
He’s also changed the frequency of play. “We’re only on TV maybe six weeks of the year, whereas billboard and radio might be more like three, four, five months of the year.”
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