The saying, ‘It’s not what you know… it’s who you know,’ applies in so many instances.
But for real estate agents, ‘who you know’ is the lynchpin of professional growth and personal success.
Make no mistake, regardless of your skills in negotiation and marketing, the most valuable professional asset you own is your contact list of buyers, sellers and past clients.
In 2017, a friend of mine had the opportunity to interview Leonard Steinberg at Compass, the US real estate behemoth. Leonard said what he looked for most in young agents wanting to join Compass wasn’t particular skills or certain personality traits. It was how well connected they were. Leonard knew that building a network of contacts isn’t something that can be taught, and if you don’t have them, you’re less valuable to the business.
So, your network is a prized asset that’s built over years through hard work and a dedication to providing exceptional service.
This is why I get so annoyed when I hear about business owners unfairly stopping their past employees from tapping into a contacts list that they, the agent, spent years building, commonly while they were commission-only agents (i.e. not even being paid a salary by their employer).
I believe agency owners are effectively stealing their agent’s IP… and it’s got to stop.
Data theft
It’s easy to see how agents lose ownership of their contacts list.
When most agents start in the profession, they join an established business – often a franchise – to learn the ropes.
Mind you, the business gets benefits too. Often new agents are working six-to-seven days a week and are tackling all the ‘grunt’ work, making tough phone calls and generally allowing their bosses to get richer and have a better life.
But agents are also told to log every contact in the office’s CRM database.
Sounds fair? Well, there’s a nasty sting in the tail.
You see, every time you dump a precious name, number and email into the database – people you’ve spent exhaustive hours working with – you are handing over ownership of those details to your employer.
And the longer you work for them, the more of this valuable commodity you are giving away.
Why does it matter? Well, savvy agents will eventually advance their careers by working for a new office or, better still, starting their own agency (preferably with UrbanX).
That’s when they discover a shocking rule within the industry that any contacts you store in the CRM while employed by an agency, belong to that agency. That’s every buyer’s name, seller’s name, past client, phone number, email address… slipped through your fingers and into the pockets of your employer.
And guess what. When you decide to go elsewhere, or hang your own shingle, your old boss will stop at nothing to crush you as competition.
I’ve seen this first hand. Disgruntled business owners, bitter they’ve lost the effortless income stream from a talented agent, initiating expensive legal action to stop that agent using their own hard-earned contacts.
Face it – most, if not all agents, are on commission-only. They don’t get some ‘special compensation’ for boosting their employer’s database.
As I always say – people list with people, not agencies. Most of your customers don’t care where you work. If they’re happy with your service, they will follow you, not the franchise you work for. Your networks are the result of a lifetime of toil, but the boss thinks it’s fine to just rip it from under you.
The boss will say, ‘They stole my IP’, when in fact it’s the other way around.
How to keep your contacts data safe
Fortunately, there are ways to protect your contacts and ensure you are justly rewarded for years of cultivating great relationships.
Firstly, ensure your employment agreement is changed to state that all data obtained during employment remains the IP of you, the agent, and not the agency.
Don’t be scared to demand this change. If you are a productive, high-earning agent, your agency will do what’s necessary to keep you. No smart boss will risk losing an employee delivering hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission.
Secondly – run your own database. Pay a subscription to access your own CRM (I recommend rex CRM), not the agency-provided CRM, and store all your contact data there. That way, when it comes time to move on and start your own business, you don’t have to leave behind those great connections.
So, don’t undervalue all those handshakes, after-hours meetings and long lunches by giving away something as precious and productive as your network of contacts.
Instead, look to secure your data and ensure that you are the beneficiary of all your hard labour.
The views expressed in this article are an opinion only and readers should rely on their independent advice in relation to such matters.
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