Read the blog below:
Anthony: This is a realtor public service announcement, realtor public service announcement. You do not have to accept not getting any support from your company, getting no help, not getting answers to your questions, not getting direction. You don’t have to accept that. I’ve been hearing too many stories lately of people that are at companies, in some cases long-term because they literally don’t know any better, and the companies provide them with no assistance. I heard a story the other day of a company that literally tell those agents to google things. They need help, google it.
I can’t imagine such a thing. If someone on our management or our business development or office managers was telling people to google answers, that wouldn’t go over very well in our company. I want to make sure that people realize this because what I’m finding is a lot of agents, they don’t know what they don’t know. How do you know if you don’t know? You don’t. I’ll give you another example. I heard about a company, a large company that when an agent has a tech problem, the agent’s told to call an 800 number and then they get a ticket. They use that ticket to get an answer somehow to their tech issue.
I’m hearing these things and I’m like, “What?” I don’t mean to come off like I’m directly attacking competitors because, really, this page, all I do is share and give advice. I don’t do that, but I finally yesterday said, “I had enough of hearing these things. I’m going to make sure people know this,” because what we’re finding is there are many, many realtors out there who just accept it. They just think it’s normal to not have support. They think it’s normal if on a Saturday at three o’clock, they need an answer to a question or they need some guidance in writing an offer that no one gets back to them. They think that that’s somehow allowable or okay. I can’t imagine it.
You know what’s funny to me? This is actually part of the problem being totally honest here and frank and going out on a limb a little bit, maybe getting into it a little bit more than I should. What’s funny to me is agents will obsess about split. Some agents will, “What’s my split going to be? What’s it going to be?” My phone’s falling. “What’s it going to be? What are the fees?” It’s like, hold on. How about start with, “What am I going to get?” Remember, price is only an issue in the absence of value. If you’re getting a lot, it shouldn’t matter that much.
I’m not trying to come off like, “Hey, it’s okay to be uncompetitive as a company.” I don’t want to give that vibe because I know competitors will see this and say, “Well, he’s saying that because his splits aren’t fair.” Well, if they weren’t fair, we wouldn’t have agents that are doing one million a year up to agents that are doing 50 million. Come on.
The point I’m getting at is I think realtors have gotten away– not all, but a lot of realtors, a lot of broker-owners have gotten away from focusing on value and instead are just focusing on split, split, split. It’s like a race to the bottom. Because of that, there’s not good service out there. It’s just somehow become an industry norm, I’m realizing. I didn’t realize this five years ago, but I’m realizing it because we talk to more and more agents every day that it’s just somehow normal to not get an answer, to not get support, to not have someone help you write an offer or let’s say you’re having trouble with a seller that’s frustrated or a buyer that’s frustrated. Maybe your business is in a rut, and you need some help and then you reach out and you don’t get any.
I keep hearing these stories. The google one was the one that threw me over the edge, being honest. That was the one that I was like, “All right, I’m talking about this out loud. If I get criticized or my competitors hate me for it, then let the cards fall where they may because it is insanity.” Google it. Can you imagine? It’s just baffling to me.
Getting back to the initial message, what I said is this. I want you to understand, for all those people out there, to understand that there are companies out there that will support you. There are companies out there that will answer your questions seven days a week, 18 hours a day. That does exist and you shouldn’t accept less than that. There are also companies out there that will work to make your life substantially easier.
Bill Thompson, 1,000% right and he’s getting into just what I said. It’s because most brokers are trying to say that we’re the cheapest, and that’s why they should join us. Correct, Bill. The industry has become obsessed with the race to the bottom. That’s what I call it. It really started probably five years ago. There was a certain competitor that came in and just started giving money away, paying people to join, paying people to stay.
It put pressure on the other competitors who then said, “Well, I can’t afford to hire people now, so I’m just going to give away tons of money and not have a real company.” It’s baffling to me. We get agents sometimes that come in and, now I’m really getting crazy, they come in sometimes and they say, “I’m not getting anything from my company.” I’m like, “But didn’t you tell me you were at like 98% split or 95% split? How are they going to afford to hire people?” Whatever. This isn’t about splits.
The point I’m getting at is this, my friends. Don’t accept it and I’ll tell you something else. I’m going to do another video on this in a week or two. Don’t be scared to make a move. I hear more damn people say, “What will adjust if I move? I’m worried my business will crash.” Listen, I was told in 2007 by the broker-owner of the company that I was at, who I do respect, that I will regret leaving the company. That it will be the biggest mistake I have ever made, business mistake. I was told that point blank to my face. An older gentleman, very smart, very hardworking, but he told me that. I remember looking at him thinking, “You’re out of your mind, pal.”
Well, my company now is, I don’t know, five times bigger. My point is don’t accept it and don’t let people scare you into thinking that it’s the norm, and that if you leave, somehow things are going to crash for you. All right, that’s the end of the rant. I went in about nine different subjects that I didn’t mean to. The point of the story is don’t accept that you should be at a company that gives you no help, no guidance, no support, no direction, doesn’t promote you. It’s craziness what has become normal to a lot of people out there.
That’s all, my friends. Have a wonderful day. I am going to sit in front of my fire and read and do some work in my laptop, and probably fall asleep and take a nap knowing me. I’ll talk to you soon, my friends. I’m going to be back about that don’t be scared one. I’m fired up over this.