Home > Blogs > Thomas McCormack > The Resourceful Realtor: Thomas McCormack, Resources Real Estate

The Myth of Floor Time: Part Two

By Thomas McCormack

Real Estate Agent with Resources Real Estate

December 10, 2012 05:30 AM

Why Floor Time Is Bad for The Agent

  Ask any listing agent, "Who is the most logical agent in this office to handle calls about your listing?" and the answer is always the same: "I am."  

And yet so many "traditional" real estate companies continue to operate with floor duty where agents respond to calls on other agents' listings.

Not only does it poorly serve the client (see Part One: "Why Floor Time is Bad for the Client"), most company floor time policies don't serve the agent very well either.

Think about it:

You work hard to acquire a listing, shouldn't you directly benefit from that hard work?
Why would you want another agent to be the beneficiary of your lead generation?
When the office phone rings because of one of your listings, shouldn't you be getting the call?
Do you think your production might be higher if all calls on your listings were forwarded to you?

Of course.

At Resources Real Estate we don't have floor duty. And we believe in rewarding agents for a job well done.

One of the most important ways we do that is to direct call-ins on available properties to the listing agent. That agent gets a direct benefit for their listing efforts: buyers. It helps that agent sell more and it frequently helps get the listing sold faster. (It also prevents those embarrassing calls when an agent on floor duty can't answer any questions regarding the company's own listings.)

One agent I know (me, before I became a partner) closed five sides from one listing: the seller, the buyer and three other buyers who bought something within a short period of time. Every listing is of value.

Who doesn't benefit? The agents whose "strategic" planning is nothing more than passively waiting for a seller or buyer to be given to them. (Hey, we have leads too, we just don't believe in taking them away from the one who's got the active listing that's generating them.)

Curious about a different way to do real estate? Contact Thomas McCormack, Managing Partner-Broker at Resources Real Estate. 112 E River Rd, Rumson, NJ 07760, 36 Beach Rd, Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750, 4A W Front St, Red Bank, NJ 07701. 732-212-0440. www.ResourcesRealEstate.com. tom@resourcesrealestate.com

Re-Blog

Comments(10)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Hannah Williams

HomeStarr Realty - Philadelphia, PA

Expertise NE Philadelphia & Bucks 215-820-3376

In our office and in most offices that I know of if the listing agent is in they get the call on their listing when it comes in . Thomas why would anyone do floor Time if they did not get any calls ???

Dec 10, 2012 05:42 AM

Doug Rogers

RE/MAX Coastal Properties - Destin, FL

Your Real Estate Resource!

Floor time is a great way to waste time. Unless of course the agent is doing other tasks to lead generate during this time block.

Stacey Mayer

Snohomish-Homes.com - Everett, WA

Snohomish-Homes.com

I agree completely.

Anytime there's another layer between the seller, or buyer, and the listing agent, you increase the chance something won't be conveyed accurately, and, you surely increase the frustration involved!

Dec 10, 2012 05:45 AM

Thomas McCormack

Resources Real Estate - Rumson, NJ

Hannah: We don't have floor time for that very reason. But many offices in our area require the agent to perform 'unpaid receptionist' duty in the hope that they may get a lead. Its not very productive and very short-sighted on the part of the brokerage, in my opinion.

Dec 10, 2012 06:03 AM

Doug: Agreed. If you have to do floor time then by all means make it productive. Open houses can be a waste of time too but you can make the best use of that time if you prospect while waiting for buyers to show.

Dec 10, 2012 06:04 AM

Stacy: It's true. Sometimes I think as realtors we are just grown-ups playing 'post office'... the message that gets delivered often bears little resemblance to the message uttered.

Dec 10, 2012 06:06 AM

Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS

Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA

South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

We use our direct line numbers on our listings. Why confuse the prospect with an agent who has to fumble around looking up the listing....

Dec 10, 2012 06:46 AM

John Juarez

The Medford Real Estate Team - Fremont, CA

ePRO, SRES, GRI, PMN

I started to write my comments and before I know what happened I had written a new post on the subject of floor time. Stuff happens!

Dec 10, 2012 07:43 AM

Paul: In New Jersey it's required that the brokerage have their phone number on the sign (and larger type size than agent's number). Our office has a (paid) admin assistant who answers all the calls, routes them to the proper agent and gets assistance for the caller if the listing agent is not available.

Dec 10, 2012 10:17 PM

John: I'm glad the subject sparked a creative fire! I enjoyed your post and commented on it as well.

Dec 10, 2012 10:18 PM

The Myth of Floor Time: Part Two

Comments(10)

Thomas McCormack

Real Estate Resources

Recent Posts

Additional Information