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In talking with a friend of mine a while back, we came to a sobering conclusion for how our intense focus on what we do best will many times make it harder for us to see new opportunities for growing our business. We sort of fall into this type of tunnel vision, and only the observations of a third party can help us see things we can't see ourselves.

This is much of the basis the work my team does for our realtor partners. Every day there is a small group of us that try and better understand the daily process of agents, and improve our service offerings to help you get the next deal. This playbook we are developing, includes unique strategies and procedures designed for maximizing time while growing both an agents list side and buy side business. What has made this project most exciting for our partners is that new strategies are added and updated the more we learn from and about you – and our most recent addition has helped some of our partners double their business – I'd like to share with you the story of how it came about.

A few weeks ago I was at dinner with a long time partner of mine we will call Jim. Jim and I were talking about our week, the ups and downs, the good and the bad. I shared with him a little bit about a wild closing I had earlier in the week. The buyer was selling his house and needed to move into the next place quick so as to not have to live out of a hotel – and by quick I mean in less than 15 days. As I continue with the story and how we had to overcome some issues related to the buyer, Jim says to me, "wait a second, the buyers wouldn't happen to be the Johnson family would they?" I told Jim "Ya, why do you ask?" He told me "I sold their home, I know that situation well. They're really wonderful people I'm glad you were able to help." "Well" I said kindly, "I appreciate that very much, but why didn't you help them buy this next house?" Jim casually said to me, "I'm a listing agent, every day all I think about is how can I help sell more people's homes, I've never really considered the idea of taking my client through the next leg of the transaction. Honestly it's not really common practice."

It's not really common practice. That's all I needed to hear, so I went home and decided to do some research, and what I found could only be described as mind-blowing.

According to the national association of realtors, recent sellers ages 51 and younger are typically buying their next home within a 10 mile radius of the home they just sold. Let me repeat that, the typical home seller 51 and younger are buying their next home within 10 miles of the home they just sold. Statistics also show that 88% of all buyers purchased their home through an agent or broker, and preferred to use someone local with knowledge of the market. And the cherry on top? Across all generations, the majority of recent buyers would definitely use their agent again or recommend their agent to others. Well friends, the recipe for doubling our business became clear as day!

Jim and I realized what we were missing in our partnership, and it was leaving the easiest money to earn on the table – we weren't fully committing the client into our team process flow. Jim realized that what he should be doing immediately upon securing a newfound listing he must encourage that seller to be preapproved for the next property they are going to buy. The value in this is two-fold – 1.) it's what's best for the client. Mortgage guidelines have changed over the years and it's in the best interest of the client to know with certainty that they will qualify for their new home before selling the one they currently live in. 2.) It brings the client into the fold of our team process and allows Jim to capture two deals for the price of one. Since Jim started incorporating this strategy into his process, the number of transactions he has closed as a result has almost doubled.

Identifying and supporting our partners in implementing this new strategy from our playbook has been so much fun. Every time we identify new opportunities to help our partners make more money is a reminder as to how much I love what I do – I am truly in service to others. The Playbook is our pride and joy, but we're happy to share it with you in the hopes it can bring you as much success as it has others. If you'd like a copy for yourself, give us a call at 561-425-9521 and we'll email a copy to you.       

 

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The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.