How High?!? | Raising the Bar

Lenn,

From your response, it's clear that this brokerage would not fit your style...and that's perfectly alright.  What I'm curious about is the visceral reaction to a Merit profile.

Having taken these kinds of profile tests in the past (yes, even as a real estate agent) I'm shocked that ethical, honest, hardworking and innovative agents would respond so vehemently against them.  And, as a broker, we feel it makes PERFECT sense for the broker to want to understand who they're bringing into the company. By the time you find out an agent is bad, it's too late. The time to find out is BEFORE the agent is engaged, not after the horse has left the barn.

Our founder, Michael McClure, was offered a job running a large RE/MAX office just before he decided to create Professional One. He was put through a battery of tests, including a DISC test, a psychological profile and interviews with the various owners of the franchise. He was offered the job - which he turned down - but he was impressed with the process, and this was the genesis of his belief that this sort of screening process would be of great value in creating a better real estate company, and, on a larger scale, a better real estate brand.
 
Also, as I haven't seen you as an active participant in the #RTB movement - of which we've been at the forefront - allow me to summarize the conversation we've been having on a national level for the last six months with many of the major voices in real estate industry:

• The Harris Polls clearly state that the public doesn't trust us, as Realtors have ranked dead last in those polls for 30 straight years
• The vast majority of the status quo in the industry have resisted any real conversation about enhancing professionalism in real estate. Too many big players have a vested interest in keeping the "any warm body will do" big-box office model that is the classic operation we see in our market
• In the end, we've heard a clear voice from the masses, and the voice has said this: raise your own darn bar. A major Century 21 broker on the east coast even wrote a blog post about us that had that as its title! So, that's what we're doing
• We expect pushback from the masses. When probably 80% of the industry won't meet our barrier to entry, we know that people are likely to lash out at us. We understand that, when the public realizes that a real estate company is FINALLY standing up and taking an honest shot at professionalism in an industry known for everything but professionalism, there's likely to be fear on the part of those who won't make the grade
• We've been advised by one of the largest real estate brand consultants in America. His view? He thinks our barrier to entry is TOO LOW. He sees enormous upside for our concept, because he agrees that the public is just fed up with the hollow promises and poor service that is the hallmark of our industry

Also, our blog - see at P1Fran.com - is full of posts that would help you to better understand the depth and breadth of our research and our attempts to get the industry at large to deal with the issues that we see as obvious. We'd invite you to check those posts out.

And as for advocating the raising of the bar, we've published our standards.  What are yours?

John,

Thanks for your input!  I've struggled, for a long time, with the paralysis of analysis.  I used to believe that I could never have enough "information" before I set forth on any path.

Your statement about actually doing something, therefore, really strikes home, and I'm grateful for your words.  Your suggestion about past client references is wise.  I need to chew on how to quantify what you've proposed.

And thank you for being one of the few to correctly read that the college degree was one aspect of the education/experience requirement.

Lenn,

Oddly enough, the email notification of new comment from your last comment, came through vastly different than what is currently posted.  And again, oddly enough, I agree with your original comment 100%.

Here's the original comment before you edited it and dropped in some troglodytic reference:

"The fact that an agent or broker doesn't participate in YOUR circle doesn't diminish a brokers' dedication to raising the bar.  My target is quite often the NAR, which countenances low standards in their quest for membership and, of course, legislatures who write the license laws at the behest of mega brokers who benefit from low standards of entry in our industry.

Clearly, I advocate higher standards of entry and have done so for many years.  I just don't endorse the "standards" in your proposal."

This comment couldn't be more on point! The NAR and the big franchises are built on renting as much desk space as possible.  These are just some of the reasons for our existence as a brokerage…we cannot stand to see quantity triumph over quality.  The consumer deserves so much better!

It is clear that our brokerage would not be a good fit for you.  Again, that is perfectly alright.  What fascinates me, however, is the seeming disregard for brokerages to set & enforce their own guidelines on who can and can not be a part of their brokerage.  I don't think you are advocating the status quo, but the level of vehemence directed at a few, simple standards for our humble brokerage is befuddling.

Now, to your edited comment: with all due respect, there is a wider pool of folks talking about raising the bar that don't frequent ActiveRain. Ever. 

As A|R is showing about 180,000 members currently, that's what, maybe 15 per cent of all REALTORS®?  Via the social networks, namely Facebook and Twitter, not to mention countless other blogs, the raise the bar discussion is being hashed out in front of MILLIONS of people, not just real estate professionals active here on the Rain.  And isn't that the point?  This is a discussion that consumers have implicitly asked for when they consistently rate our profession as one of the LEAST professional professions, year after year.

So, while it's well and good to be "working the system" from the inside and affecting change, isn't it more important to show consumers we recognize there is a problem and that we are openly, actively trying to change it?

To put some perspective on our "cave" dwelling, our founder, Michael McClure, was named one of Inman's 50 Most Influential and one of Proxio's 25 Most Connected in large part because of his outspoken leadership on the issue of raising the bar. Our blog is full of posts that he and I have written on this single topic. It's our passion and it drives everything we do, every single day.

As Stefan Swanepoel, who seems to agree with most of what we're saying,  (archived interview here) said:

"I have publicly supported and encouraged a continual uplifting of the educational process and the professionalism of the real estate brokerage industry in most of my last 16 books and reports.. The time has come for a big change. I think a significant “Game Changer” type shift is now required. Otherwise we may, as an industry, slip further and further downhill until one day “others” outside the industry will find a new solution that may not include real estate agents as we know them today."

Would you not agree that these are not the words of a man who thinks the real estate industry is in a healthy place?

As Swanepoel wrote, a "significant "Game Changer" type shift is now required." More broker training and minor elevation of licensing thresholds (which is most cases are a joke) do not, in my humble opinion, constitute "significant "Game Changer" type" shifts. It's just more of the same old platitudes that have typified real estate forever and which have led to the poor image under which we now suffer as an industry.

Finally, our entire approach is focused on WHAT THE CONSUMER WANTS, not WHAT THE TYPICAL REALTOR WANTS. We're not trying to recruit 70,000 ordinary agents. We're trying to recruit 5,000 phenomenal agents who will enjoy an increased income level that will result from the public's reaction to our concept. The public is hungry for professionalism from our industry. If you haven't read the blog at 1000WattConsulting.com/blog, I would highly suggest that you do so. All the things we're doing come straight out of their playbook. And they are the smartest visionaries we've found in real estate.

I can also speak from personal experience: since I joined Professional One back in November of 2009, I've been amazed at how consistently well received our branding concept is. I came from the largest real estate company in Michigan (Real Estate One), and before that I was at RE/MAX. I have encountered zero resistance from people, and in fact I have seen first hand how people react to a branding concept based on professionalism and excellence. They LOVE it.

Oh, and I nearly forgot: the reason I joined Professional One was specifically because the branding image appealed to me and I knew it would appeal to the public. Most of the big brands have blended together in the minds of the consumer (have you seen the video I made?) and that's the main reason agents don't really care where they work. Because the brands have lost their value.

Again, our focus is on attracting buyers and sellers who are fed up with what they get from real estate. The only way we saw to get from here to there was by creating a meaningful barrier to entry into our company. Exactly the kind of barrier that the industry itself refuses to establish.

We'll see what the consumer thinks...