HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US
YOUR INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE
REALTOR.ORG/realtormag
.







Marketing your brokerage
Analyzing the Business Climate


 

Setting Marketing Strategies

Analyzing the Business Climate

Creating Your Market Identity

Planning Your Advertising

Coordinating Company and Salesperson Marketing

Developing Public Relations Strategies

Enhancing Customer Service
  3 Skill Areas to Rate Your Company On

Analyze your sales associates abilities in three major areas: sales, listing, and skills/operations. Once you've pinpointed your firm's strengths and weaknesses, you can compare it to your competitors.

Rate yourself and your firm on the 21 activities below.

1 = excellent; 2 = very good; 3 = fair; 4 = needs improvement.

Activity
Rating
Personal Rating
Company
Sales
Finding potential buyers
Evaluating buying potential
Following up with potential buyers
Interviewing, qualifying buyers, building rapport
Showing properties buyers want to see
Helping buyers decide (closing)
Spending time helping each buyer (too much? not enough?)
Listing
Finding potential sellers
Qualifying sellers
Evaluating marketability of properties
Giving effective listing presentations
Closing for listings
Promoting properties
Time properties spend on the market
Skills/Operations
Counseling buyers
Negotiating earnest money agreements
Following up before closing
Following up after closing (building referral business)
Marketing broker and brokerage
Telephone skills
Open house skills
Adapted from The Real Estate Agent's Business Planning Guide, Carla Cross, Dearborn Publishing

Factors to Compare in Assessing Your Competition

In many ways, analyzing your competition is similar to performing a comparable market analysis for a real estate client. In each case, you choose several options to compare, then rate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. For each brokerage company in your chosen market area, answer these questions:
  • What exact geographic area(s) does the company serve?
  • How many office does each company have? Is it local, regional, or national?
  • What are the total number of salespeople affiliated with the company?
  • What was the sales volume of each company last year? Estimate if you’re not sure.
  • What percentage of current listings does the company have? If you have the data, determine the listing percentage over the last six months.
  • What percentage of sales has the company accounted for over the last six months?
  • How long has each company been in business?
  • What is the reputation and image of each company among the general community?

TIP: Use a customer survey to assess community opinion of each company. To conduct the survey, ask a representative sample of people in your market area how they would rate you and your selected competitors on several factors relating to real estate, such as service, knowledge of the market, etc.
  • What is the reputation and image of each company among the brokerage community?
  • What ancillary services does each company offer?
  • What affiliations does each firm have—franchise, relocation, etc.?

Analyzing Your Current Status With Customers >