Are ‘Dual Career’ Agents Hurting You?

by Carla Cross

Are ‘dual career’ agents hurting you and your business? In Stefan Swanepoel’s publication, Trends Report 2010, he calls the real estate licensee with another job the ‘dual career’ agent. That’s what we used to call the ‘part-timer’. Although ‘dual career’ sounds much more important than ‘part-time’, the result is the same:

Less time to devote to the consumer. The conflict that an agent feels when he has another job is causing the consumer to rate our service lower than ever before.

Dual Careerists Are a Growing Trend

More and more real estate agents are getting second jobs to make ends meet. In fact, the 2009 National Association of REALTORS® Member Profile says that 26% of REALTORS® stated that real estate was not their only occupation. (I’m sure that many more licensees that aren’t REALTORS® have other major sources of income). In addition, less than half of all REALTORS® surveyed reported that real estate was their primary source of household income.

Is the Dual Careerist Doing the Industry More Harm than Good?

Having been an agent, manager, and owner a long time, I know how difficult it is at times for an agent to ‘hang in there,’ put their heads down, and keep working through tough times. It’s a great temptation, and a relief for many to take that other job just to ‘tide them over.’ From the broker’s perspective, too, keeping the agent at least licensed with the brokerage to get that one transaction seems to be better than losing that one transaction. Several problems accrue, when the agent gets another job:

• The agent’s mind, energy, and dollars drift away from the needs of the consumer because the agent must focus on another job
• The agent can’t keep up on the technical, legal, and business developments
• The consumer demands just can’t be met when the agent is unavailable for large blocks of time
• The broker must carry a much bigger responsibility for the agent’s transactions

What We Need to Do About This Trend?

Managers: Set standards so you are living out that vision you took all that time to write in that business planning course! Do you have agents with you who are not dedicated? Do you have agents who don’t practice in the way your company wants? If so, you are ‘shattering your image’ and greatly hurting your chances to recruit. Fix it while you can.

Agents: Go to your manager and ask why the ‘dead wood’ (a horrible term, but, the consumers have told us to get rid of them, and we’re not listening.) is still there. What benefit do they provide you? What benefit do they provide the company?

Short-Sided: It May Destroy

Our Industry Unfortunately, our industry has spent too much time on the immediate, and not enough time on the long-term. One of the easiest ways to see this is to look at the low producers and part-timers we’ve kept as licensees. Why? Because we think they may sell a home or two before they get discouraged.

There is Leadership Showing the Way

There is a growing trend to upgrade the industry. Take a look at what industry leaders are doing right now. They are putting standards in place, training and coaching to get people to their standards, and are counseling out those who just aren’t meant—or committed—to a career in real estate.

Support on Putting Standards in Place

For the last year, I’ve done lots of work in helping companies put standards in place. Although it’s challenging, it’s absolutely critical if we are to protect our business models as we like them!

Note: See Four Steps to a Stunning Standards-Based Organization, a webinar I did for the National Association of REALTORS® Learning Library.

What Do You Think? Do you believe managers should keep anyone who wants to be kept? Let me hear your opinion–and, if you have a solution, let’s share it with our industry!

Carla Cross is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Carla, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.