Five Ways Brokers Can Save Thousands of Dollars

While the country is in a financial tailspin, the housing market is already bruised from taking punches over the last two years. Plenty of brokers have already folded, crumbled by failure to downsize and cost cut. Today’s times call for lean budgets, when all brokers – no matter the size – should be reviewing their operational waste and sharpening their ax.

We previously discussed in this blog how brokers waste tons of cash on unnecessary IT departments with elaborate systems such as exchange servers along with their salaries that could be easily replaced with free online systems like Google and call-in help desks.

So what else can you do beyond choking the IT department?

Operationally, there’s plenty. As I visit one brokerage facility after another all I see is waste. To you they may look like expensive copy machines and phone lines, and store rooms filled with file cabinets and stationary. But in today’s times, I see them as unnecessary leases, useless square footage and easily replaceable services.

Below are five things brokers should consider as a way to save money and radically shift your processes to meet the future head on.

1. Ax your administrative transaction help.  Tons of brokers employ what are known as expeditors, people paid to follow up on details of their agents' deals. Given today's climate, there is no reason why agents cannot be persuaded to do these things themselves. For many of these follow-up items, an agent simply needs to set up a tickler on their calendar to remind them to make a 2-minute phone call or check that a document has come through with the required signatures.

Follow-up resource:  Some new tools available online to help expedite this are www.jott.com and www.rememberthemilk.com.

2. Ax your office personnel.  Let's be honest here. With most agents living a mobile lifestyle away from the office, and with most offices no longer entertaining walk-in traffic, why pay someone to answer phones and make copies? Between call forwarding and electronic processes, i.e., tablet computers and e-signature software, your agents should be handling both of these operations anyway, so why pay a salary to push paper around? Agents should be servicing leads that mostly come in via the Internet directly on their smart phones, not via a desk phone answered by someone who takes a message on a Post-It note – services and supplies you pay for.

Follow-up resource:  Consider sources such as www.liveperson.com to connect your Web site to your phone.

3. Rethink your Internet lead management group.  What I'm hearing is that many brokers employ a team of people whose job is to follow up on the lead forms that come in through the brokerage Web site. With today's housing markets as slow as they are, I see no reason agents can't find the time to do this themselves.

Follow-up resource:  Consider sources such as http://www.Realping.com to get consumers connected with your agent immediately or considering using live chat on your site to route interested parties directly with agents who are online. Look into http://www.meebo.com or www.plugoo.com

4. Outsource your finance department.  Again, if the volume of transactions is down as statistics show, you don't need a team of people in-house people to manage finances. Shrink it down to one person if you feel you still need someone and outsource the rest to a service that handles this more effectively and more cost efficiently than a full-time employee. Or outsource the entire process.


Follow-up resource:  Look into services such as http://www.accountantsoffsite.com or www.QuickBooksOnline.com.

5. Downsize or eliminate your physical real estate.  Your agents aren’t employees. Unless your revenue model is based on desk fees, why do you feel obligated to supply individual works spaces to agents that are hardly ever there? I’ve seen the occupancy rate at broker facilities and they are, for the most part, never more than 30% full. The bulk of your agents' work takes place outside the office. So why pay premium retail prices to maintain oversized bricks and mortar? Plenty of innovative and intelligent brokers have proven that a virtual office can work very well in this industry. In fact, there are examples of brokers who vacate large buildings they own, lease them out and relocate into smaller, more affordable spaces.

An aggressive combination of all of these strategies could save you tens of thousands of dollars each month, depending on your brokerage size. Just switching from your mail server to Google mail (for brokerages who require 200 mail addresses and under) can go from whatever you currently pay to $0.00 per month.

Times are lean. Brokers need to get mean if you want to survive.

Comments

[Uber Realty.com]

Why do you need agents, one man show with great web presents and blackberry and macbook. If I get to busy I will get a virtual assistant.
I can get things done on add need bases.

[Indian SEO Experts]

I am also agree with you that Why do you need providers, one man present with excellent web provides and rim and mac laptop.