Are
You Living the Good Life?
Why did you get into the real estate
business to begin with? Was it for the
lifestyle? The money? The freedom?
Maybe you hoped real estate would be your path to personal fulfillment
and purpose?
If things are going well right now –
congratulations! What would it take to
feel even better about your business and your progress?
What
Went Wrong?
For many of us, a career in real estate
turned out to be a lot of empty promises.
Be honest, this is not the first time you checked out another real
estate company.
We heard becoming a Realtor® would allow us to
work when and how we wanted to. But the
reality is, most of us feel pressure to be on duty all of the time.
How many times has your confidence been
depleted by working with people you flat out don’t like because you have no
other choice?
What
About the Money?
Yes, the real estate industry offers unlimited
income potential. But let’s be honest, if you lack the resources, tools, and
support to claim your share of the pie, real estate is a lousy way to make a
living.
There
Is a Better Way.
Welcome to ROOST Real Estate Co. and The ROOST Good Life 4 Realtors Promise™. We can help you find the freedom, income, and
purpose you know you deserve. We want to
help you live the life you always wanted to live.
When we first launched ROOST Real
Estate Co. in Springfield, Ohio in January of 2014, people would ask me “How
did you come up with the name ROOST?” I
would jokingly reply that “Zillow was already taken”, and to a huge degree that
is true. Here is how it happened.
I had a pretty good idea of what I
thought a real estate company should look like.
By 2013 had been in the business for almost 13 years. I had been an agent at a successful local
firm in 2001 and 2002 and became a RE/MAX franchisee in 2003. After the downturn in 2008 I associated my
team again with the same local firm and in 2012 began researching new opportunities
including other franchises.
It became clear to me pretty quickly
that none of the companies I met with were the right fit for me. People I trusted urged me to create my own
company but the last thing I wanted was just another local ‘Mom and Pop’
brokerage. If I was going to do this I
wanted to create a business that was both scalable and sustainable. In other words, I wanted to be able to grow
the business and I wanted it to succeed regardless of the inevitable ups and
downs of the industry.
In early 2013, I met Andy Hayes who has
a local business called Hucklebuck Design.
I had seen Andy’s work around town and I really liked his artistic
sensibility. Andy and I began a dialogue
that spring that resulted in a set of brand ‘guidelines’ that really reflected
a company I could get excited about. The
colors, the font, the core values of smart, passionate, supportive,
approachable, and a clear understanding where a company like ours would fit in
the industry all fell into place.
What we needed was a name.
Now you might think that would be the
easy part. It was not. Andy and I generated literally hundreds of
names. At one point I even conducted a
naming contest online. For every name we
liked however, we had to run through three filters. The first was a simple Google search to see
if the name was already in use. The
second was trying to figure out if the Ohio Division of Real Estate would allow
us to license the name. The third was
doing a trademark search to see if the name could be trademarked.
After weeks of deliberation we settled
on ROOST Real Estate Co. The selection
was a result of a process of elimination.
However, I soon got excited about the name because I believe it
accurately reflects something just a little bit different in the industry and
in my opinion is a lot more fun.
How
I Became a Realtor®
In February 2001 I was unemployed and coming off my last ‘real’ job as a District Team Leader for Target Stores on Long Island. The job paid well but to be perfectly honest, I was not very good at having a boss. On top of that, my job required we move every 18 months or so, and my two girls were at the age where my wife Kelly and I really wanted them to stay in the same school district until they graduated. We decided to move back to Springfield, Ohio, the town where I grew up.
I really had no idea what I wanted to do but I had recently read Robert Kyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Kyosaki taught me that the best path to riches was investing in real estate. (It was also a quick path to financial disaster but I will leave that story for another time.) I figured a short cut to investing success was to get a real estate license as well. Based on this rather half-baked scheme, I decided to become a Realtor®.
I had no preparation at all for becoming a 100% commission-based salesperson. I had even fewer qualifications for being in business for myself as an independent contractor. I had no idea what I would do after I got a real estate license. The only thing I knew for sure was that I had to pass the Ohio real estate license exam as soon as possible so I could get back to making a living and supporting my family.
What
My ‘Training’ Looked Like
I became a Realtor® right at the time the internet was taking off. I started going to a lot of seminars and looked to my broker for guidance. The advice I got from almost every quarter left me disillusioned. I was told to go knock on doors, make cold calls, and walk the mall and pass out 10 business cards a day. All I could think of is WTF had I gotten myself into?
I did make a half-hearted effort at these techniques but I just couldn’t do it. The fact was few people were home, landlines were already on their way out, do not call laws were on their way in, and the mall in my home town was already on the decline.
Although I don’t think I was able to articulate it at the time, what I wanted was a business that I could count on. I wanted a business I could grow. I also needed to feed my ego and I was driven to succeed. Most of the successful agents I met early on had been grinding it out for many years. I did not have many years. I needed to make something happen right now.
As much as I craved immediate results,
I knew instinctively that I needed to take the long view for my business and to
create advocates for my services and expertise. This meant that I needed to
build a tribe of raving fans. If I could
find people willing to work with me I knew I could develop the expertise I
needed to really be of greater and greater use to my clients over time.
The
Players in My Office
It did not take me long to understand
how the typical brokerage functioned. I
looked around the office and saw it was only the brokers and the owners of the
firm that were bringing in business and new listings. The rest of us in the ‘bull pen’ were
expected to take floor time and answer the phone calls that came in on the
listings ‘owned’ by the broker.
Almost every one of my fellow agents
was sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. I thought this was crazy, especially when the
listing agents and brokers started advertising their cell phone numbers and
bypassing the bull pen altogether.
I needed a to create my own leads and a
dependable stream of income. There was
no way I was going to rely on my broker to feed me business. It was obvious they only needed me when they
were too busy to work their own leads. I
did not realize at the time how unique this ‘market maker’ mindset was in the
industry.
Working
by Referral
Lucky for me within the first three or
four months of getting my license I found out about Top Producer. Back then Top Producer was a program that
lived on your PC as a client relationship manager. I don’t know if it was because of my
corporate experience or just the way I look at the world, but Top Producer was
the first thing about the real estate business that clicked with me. Top Producer gave me sample letters and
follow up campaigns for buyers, sellers and past clients. It was a way to leverage every single name I
added to the database.
After 90 days of religiously working
the program every day, I hired my first assistant for 10 hours a week to print
the letters, sign my name, stuff the envelopes and mail them out. Every new addition to my database was a
deposit in my business ‘investment account’.
Staying in touch after every transaction meant a steady stream of
referrals and the opportunity to list the home I just sold at some point in the
future. Within two years my business
rivaled those practicing 10 times as long as I had and I still had room to
grow.
Later, I was introduced to Brian
Buffini, founder of Buffini and Company and really started to understand what
it meant to operate a referral based business.
It was not long before I started dreaming of creating an entire office,
and even a company, built around the principles of working by referral. And guess what? I did it and It works!
My
Love / Hate Relationship with Zillow
Flash forward to today and those same
agents who were working floor time are now working for Zillow, and paying for
the privilege. Like most of us in the
business I have a love / hate relationship with Zillow. I love the way they present listing
information on their website – information they get from us for free by the
way.
I hate the hell they have created for real estate licensees who have yet to figure out how to make their own markets and create their own leads. Zillow and all the rest of the online aggregators, figured out how to generate activity from our listings, and sell the resulting ‘leads’ back to us.
I know agents spending thousands of
dollars a month on Zillow in exchange for what are really just a few dozen
unqualified inquiries a month. Thanks to
us Realtors®, Zillow has a market capitalization of over $5,000,000,000.
The idea of having to respond to what
is likely an unqualified inquiry that comes to me via text or email within five
minutes – at all hours of the day or night – or risk losing the ‘opportunity’,
fills me with anxiety and dread. As I
write this I am freaking out. That is no
life and no way to make a living.
Our industry as a whole has outsourced
our lead generation activities to third parties. Many brokers actually encourage their agents
to sign up with Zillow. The idea of
taking responsibility for generating our own business has become unheard
of. The resulting underlying stress and
anxiety makes us question why we got into the business in the first place, and
for many of us, why we stay.
If you expect your broker, Zillow, the latest shiny iPhone app, or any of the thousands of real estate gurus out there to build your business for you, you will fail. Yes, you need a broker who is a partner in your success, yes, you need to employ all of the tools that will both streamline and grow your business, and yes, there are some great coaches out there, but they cannot do the work for you. The big lie in this business is that someone else can make your market for you.
This
is What It Is Like to Be ‘Commoditized’
The internet has undoubtedly improved our productivity and our overall quality of life. It has also made the real estate information we used to control, available for free to anyone with a web browser on their phone. Consequently, our industry is being commoditized. Being commoditized means that the general public sees all Realtors as essentially the same.
We cannot blame the internet for all of our problems. The fact is we as brokers have only ourselves to blame. Most real estate firms today don’t invest in their agents. The ‘honest’ players in this group expect very little from their agents and invest accordingly. These ‘body shops’ provide the bare minimum services to agents at the lowest possible cost. They can still make money provided they have enough working agents to carry the load and the liability for the rest.
The brokerages that make me crazy are
the ones that don’t invest in their agents but continue to believe and act like
they do. These are what I call ‘legacy’
brokerages and brands that have been around for years and at one time were
leaders in the industry. As the business
has changed, they have stayed the same, trading year over year on a diminishing
reputation.
These brokerages continue to charge
their agents high fees in the form of a split but do nothing set themselves
apart in a commoditized world. In other
words, they are charging 10X or more what the ‘honest’ brokerages charge their
agents, but in reality, offer nothing new in the way of service and support.
What
Makes ROOST Real Estate Co. A Different Kind of Brokerage
My dream of creating a real estate brokerage I wanted to work at came to fruition in January 2014 when ROOST Real Estate Co. was licensed and opened for business in Springfield Ohio. I attribute our success to our core values:
- We work by referral.
- We know that relationships are
infinitely more valuable than transactions.
- We understand that to succeed
magnificently we must always provide more value and expertise to our clients
and customers than we may initially be paid for.
- We provide continuous support for every
person in the organization with a desire to expand their individual skills and
capabilities.
- There is great strength in the
intentional identification, and exercise, of the unique talents and abilities
of everyone we work with. When everyone
is free to do what they do best, we all do better.
- There is immense satisfaction in the
consistent application of documented best practices and processes when serving
the needs of our clients, team members, agents, and partners.
Our
company, and more importantly our agents, have enjoyed double digit growth year
over year, each of the last four years.
We are making great progress towards myour
goal of leading the industry in average agent productivity.
In
addition, we have expanded to nearby Dayton Ohio, and the Space Coast of Florida. We are currently focused on expanding in
Columbus, Ohio and gaining a foothold in Nashville, TN.
We
are also beginning to market ROOST Real Estate Co. franchises in Ohio, Florida
and Tennessee, as well as franchises for our ‘twin’ company Lucky Town Real
Estate Co. in the remaining 47 states.
One of the keys to our agents’ success is The Quick Start Game Plan™. The plan ensures that when an agent joins our company, they hit the ground running. When properly executed, agents see an immediate and increase in their personal market making activities. We have seen agents’ average monthly income increase by as much as 85% in their first five months with us compared to their last year with their previous company.
This
I Believe
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
We teach, train, and support our agents to become Market Makers and create self-sustaining and growing personal businesses. We provide our agents with the tools, the tech, the culture, the coaching, and the personalized marketing and advertising they need to be recognized as the industry leaders they are. We are partners in our agents’ success and support their lifelong growth and development.
My
Life’s Work
I created The ROOST Good Life 4 Realtors Promise ™ so that our agents could
experience all that a career in real estate can offer. I want our agents to make the living they
want to make to support their personal dreams and ambitions. I want them to enjoy the freedoms of time,
relationship and purpose that only this wonderful industry of ours makes
possible.
I have been actively working on ROOST Real Estate Co. since early 2013. That is nearly five years of personal commitment to the vision that has become my life’s work. If I am honest with myself, my journey to ROOST began within just a few months of getting my real estate license in 2001. All I learned as an agent, a broker, a RE/MAX franchisee, going through the great recession of 2008 and 2009, and working as a manager for a local independent firm, gave me the raw material I needed to understand how to make a difference.
I have invested every spare moment I have had these last five years creating and building this company. While I could have made a lot more money during this time if had focused my efforts strictly on serving the client base I’ve built using the techniques that make up The ROOST Good Life 4 Realtors Promise™, my calling was always to build something greater than my own production.
My
Unique Ability
To paraphrase Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, my goal is to make a dent in the real estate universe, and to help others do the same. My unique ability is creating business opportunities and strategies that support and add value to real estate professionals and the clients they serve. My greatest satisfaction in life comes when I am free to work within the confines of my unique ability. If all of us focus exclusively on what we love and do best, and build a team around us to do the rest, we all succeed magnificently.
ROOST Real Estate Co. agents are free to focus exclusively on their client relationships. They can do this because we take everything else off their plates. We execute personalized marketing and advertising plans for every agent we serve, all designed to facilitate building and growing a referral based business. The moment an agent transfers their license to one of our offices, a whole series of events take place to ensure that they hit the ground running.
Our agents are some of the most productive in the industry. They complete more transactions on average than any other agent group. The training and technology we provide is designed to eliminate the distractions that take agents away from what they do best – namely working one on one with clients and customers.
We use technology to promote our agents and to facilitate collaboration with their clients. We use technology to communicate and stay connected. We use technology to streamline the backstage work of getting a client to the closing table. And to top it all off, we offer a pretty good cup of coffee to go.
The ROOST Good Life 4 Realtors Promise™ contains eight main components that form the basis of our partnership with our agents.
1. The Four Freedoms for The Real Estate Professional
I do not see the point of being in the real estate business at all
if it does not allow for a superior way of life. There is way too much risk, hard work and
potential heartache involved. Let’s face
it, there are easier ways to make a living.
Successful entrepreneurs enjoy four ‘freedoms’. The freedom of money, the freedom of time,
the freedom of relationship, and the freedom of purpose. It is these freedoms that make being a real
estate professional the best career in the world.
We help you build a self-sustaining business so you can experience the freedoms of money, time, relationship, and purpose.
2. The Training and Development Commitment
The ROOST Real Estate Co. Broker/Partners are also Buffini
and Company Certified Trainers. Buffini
and Company is the leading real estate coaching and development company on the
planet. Our association with Buffini and
Company provides our agents with training that enhances and reinforces our
referral and relationship based business model.
We partner with the finest real estate training and coaching companies on the planet so you are can continuously improve your performance and increase your value to your clients.
3. The Market Maker Advantage™
Give
a man a fish and you feed him for the day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Hand real estate agent a lead and he may make
her next mortgage payment. Teach a real
estate agent how to become a market maker and money will cease to be a concern.
We show you how to make your own market so you will never again be dependent on anyone for your next commission check.
4. The Quick Start Game Plan™
By some estimates agents lose an
average of 20% of their income during a transition to a new firm. At ROOST Real Estate Co. we attack this
concern headlong with our Quick Start
Game Plan™. Our brokers and Agent
Service Managers begin working with new agents prior to transferring their
license to ensure they hit the ground running.
In our experience, agents can expect an increase in business
activity within days of joining our company.
We make the investment in your future on day one so you get an immediate bump in your business building opportunities.
5. The Agent Service Manager
A key member of each office staff is
the Agent Service Manager (ASM). The Agent Service Manager’s sole
responsibility is to support the daily business activities of the agents
assigned to him or her. The ASM manages
all of the agent services we provide and guarantees ongoing training and
support as needed. The ASM’s number one
goal at ROOST Real Estate Co. to ensure that our agents are getting the
greatest benefit from the tools we provide.
The Agent Service Manager is the personal assistant you need so you can spend more time doing what you do best
6. The Rhythm of our Business
There is an annual rhythm to our
business. There is a seasonality to the
market. We need to be aware of it and we
need to make it work for us. I have my
tracked my productivity and the productivity of my agents for several
years. I know exactly when we need to be
‘in’ the business, working ‘on’ the business, and when we need to focus on
recovery and rejuvenation – so we can go out and do all over again.
We will show you how to ‘go with the flow’ and plan your year so that you can go all in when it makes sense, and recover and celebrate before you start to burn out.
7. Your Pay Your Way™
Our commitment is to make it possible
for our agents to make and keep every dollar they possibly can while supporting
every aspect of their business. In
return for the commission split we retain, we provide unsurpassed service,
support, marketing, training, and technology.
We have a pay plan for every agent at every stage of their career.
Your Pay Your Way™ is transparent, easy to understand, and flexible so you can count on the industry leading compensation you deserve.
8. Your Brokerage for Life
We expect to be the only brokerage you
will ever need. Our goal is to grow,
adapt, and create whatever new capabilities are necessary to support you as our
industry continues to change over time.
We are alert to changes in the market and the ever-changing needs of our
associates and clients. We will not be
left behind. We will not allow you to be
left behind.
We pledge to always be creating
strategies to support your personal growth so you never need look outside the
company for your next big opportunity.
I look at our steady growth and the
long-term relationships we have with our agents as the true measures of our
success. There is a good chance you heard about our company from one
of our agents. If not, here are some of
the things our most successful agents have to say about ROOST Real Estate Co.
“What I love about ROOST Real Estate Co. is that the brand really sums
up what we want to be and what we want to do.
We make the process of buying, selling, and investing more approachable,
relaxed, and generally less intimidating than it sometimes is. The support I
receive from Chris when it comes to taking care of my clients is second to
none.” Jennifer Webster Realtor
since 2005
“Being
a new agent I was really looking for training and support to help me get my
career off the ground. ROOST Real Estate
Co. gave me that and more. I am learning
how to build my business by referral and how to make my own market – a business
that is mine and nobody else’s.” Brittany Stover,
Realtor since 2014.
“I’ve
had my real estate license for well over 20 years now. I was excited to make the move to ROOST but I
was concerned about my business taking a hit.
Like most Realtors I cannot afford down time and the idea of switching
brokerages created a lot of anxiety for me.
As soon as I transferred my license however, the entire ROOST team
worked together to make me feel welcome and make sure I was up and running
right away. I really appreciate their
concern for me and for my clients.” Priscilla Sims,
Realtor since 1993.
“I’ve worked with Chris for almost 15
years now. We were actually partners
back in our RE/MAX days. I’ve seen Chris
in good times and bad. At the end of the
day he always comes through with the best interest of his agents as his top
priority. I am so impressed with what he
has done with ROOST and I am happy to be a part of it.” Diedre Koik, Broker Associate, Realtor since
1995.
Make
a Clean Break and Increase Your Sales
The two biggest concerns we hear from
agents who want to join our brokerage are losing income during the transition,
and the emotional turmoil involved with telling their current broker or manager
that they are leaving. There is nothing
harder than telling someone you are moving on regardless of how good a business
decision you know it is. Even if you are
angry at or disappointed in the company you are leaving, the act of resigning
causes anxiety for many of us.
I wish we had a solution for this but
we don’t. We suggest writing a formal
resignation letter and asking for a one on one meeting. There is no reason to get too deeply into the
details at this point as chances are your manager already senses something is
amiss. Be the professional you are but you
owe it to yourself and your future to make a clean break and allow yourself to
get excited about this new chapter in your life.
Agents should be concerned about losing
income during the transition to a new brokerage. By some estimates agents lose an average of
20% of their business during the transition to a new firm. At ROOST Real Estate Co. we attack this
concern head on with the Quick Start
Game Plan™. Our brokers and Agent
Service Managers begin to work with our new agents prior to actually making the
move to ensure they hit the ground running.
In our experience agents can expect an increase in business
activity within days of joining.
In a perfect world, an experienced agent
joining our company will be able to give us a few days lead time before moving
their license. This allows us to put
everything in place that an agent needs to make a huge impact in the market on
day one. Of course, things usually
happen much faster and unexpectedly, so we adjust accordingly
While it is impossible to show you all the
benefits we offer, here are some of the things you can expect on or before the
day you move your license:
- Order yard signs and name slats.
- Order new business cards.
- Get ‘action shot’ pictures taken for new personalized website.
- Complete the 10 questions for your personalized website.
- Order personalized All About ROOST cards for welcome mailing to
your database.
- Create @ROOSTRealEstateCo.com forwarding email.
- Create .CSV or Excel file of database for welcome mailing.
- Obtain new office phone number and phone.
- Create new Dotloop account and Showing Service accounts
- Finalize cover letter for welcome mailing.
- Complete the personalized website build.
- Get new listing paperwork together in new Dotloop account.
- Set up Referral Maker and import .CSV file for first Item of
Value mailing.
- Agent Facebook page setup and ‘boost’ plan.
- Invite friends to like new branded social media pages.
- Notify current broker of your move.
- Overnight paperwork or visit the Division of Real Estate in
person.
- Release the personalized mailer to agent’s database.
- Launch the website with agent’s personal web address.
- Promote ‘Welcome Agent’ and personalized website on company
Facebook and Twitter pages.
- Get new listing agreements signed with sellers.
- Place new signs in yards.
- Deliver new Board of Realtor and MLS paperwork
- Transfer Listings in MLS(s).
Your
Agent Business Manager and broker/manager will be instrumental in helping you
make sure all of this – and more – happen your first 72 hours with us. As you can see our goal is to ensure your
transition is seamless and actually gives you an immediate income bump. It is an exciting and emotional first few
days. Be ready – you are going to be
busy.
How
Much Would You Pay to Live the Good Life?
How do you put a price on the opportunity to finally have a fighting chance to have the real estate career you always dreamed of? How do you put a price on knowing your broker has your back and wants to see you succeed in any market? I’m not sure you can, but I guarantee your return will be worth your time, money and effort.
Our
compensation plan is called Your Pay
Your Way™. Your Pay Your Way™ is
designed to be transparent, easy to understand, and most of all flexible. It is designed to support the goals of the
agent, the brokerage, and the ROOST Real Estate Co. mission and brand values.
We want to be the first and
last brokerage our agents work with.
We want to be your brokerage for life. Wherever you are in your business, a new licensee, an experienced professional, a team leader, or an agent ready open your own shop, we have the opportunities you need to succeed and grow on your terms over the course of your entire career.
Anytime
an agent puts themselves through the emotional upheaval of changing brokerages,
they are taking a leap of faith that their new broker has their best interests
and goals at heart.
We
at ROOST™ are always looking for ways to express our gratitude and appreciation
to our agents for choosing us. Ours is a
relationship with our agents. We are not
interested in a simple series of transactions.
Our
Goal is For Every Agent to Earn At Least $100,000 Every Year
We want to see every one of our agents earn at least $100,000 in gross commissions each year. If that agent is on a 70/30 split they are paid $70,000 and the brokerage retains $30,000. The only additional expense an agent has are their local board and MLS(s) dues and a $30.00 monthly fee for errors and omission insurance.
What
if this agent has a great year and hits their $100,000 sales goal at the end of
September and still has several closings in the last quarter of the year? Once the brokerage gets to $30,000 the agent
keeps 90% of every dollar they earned for the rest of the year. This compensates the agent at or above the
industry average and allows the brokerage to continue to grow, upgrade, and
offer new services over time.
For
a new agent just starting out, we offer full service and support with a 60/40
split. 60 percent of every dollar the
agent earns is paid to the agent and 40% is retained by the brokerage. The agent is responsible for their monthly
MLS(s) fees and a monthly Errors and Omissions Insurance fee of $30 per month.
Agents
with a proven track record earning more than $150,000 per year may negotiate up
to a 90/10 split with the monthly Franchise and Marketing Fee, the Shared Office
expense, the Administrative Staff fee, and the Basic Agent and Technology
Services Package covered with an additional monthly payment. The agent is
responsible for their monthly MLS(s) fees and a monthly Errors and Omissions
Insurance fee of $30 per month.
ROOST
Real Estate Co. is also the best place for teams to set up shop. 10% of commission dollars earned by team
members are retained by the brokerage and the Team Leader pays a negotiated
monthly fee for the Franchise and Marketing Fee, Shared Office expense,
Administrative, and Basic Agent Service and Technology Package fees to the
broker/owner.
The
Team Leader is responsible for their monthly MLS(s) fees and a monthly Errors
and Omissions Insurance fee of $30 per month per licensed team member. For a complete description of Your Pay Your
Way™ for teams, visit www.ROOSTCelebratesAgentTeams.com.
ROOST Keeps 30% – Where Does
That Money Go?
Over the course of a career, an agent is going to pay their brokerage tens of thousands of dollars in the form of expenses, fees, or splits. Personal, emotional, and financial commitments of this magnitude deserve the very the best the broker owner and ROOST Real Estate Co. can offer. ROOST Real Estate Co. brokers have five financial commitments they must meet month after month. This is where the commission dollars you split with the brokerage go.
The
first financial commitment a broker owner has is the ROOST Monthly Franchise and
Marketing Fee. This money is
used by ROOST Real Estate Co. to continue to expand the brand through social
and other electronic media, upgrade our print materials, and to keep the
company fresh and forward thinking. This
fee is equal to 5% of sales and is payable by the broker monthly to ROOST Real
Estate Co.
This
fee is capped through year 2020 at 5% of gross agent sales or a maximum of
$5,000 per agent per year. And, unlike
the national franchises, ROOST does not collect transaction fees or annual dues
of any kind.
The
second commitment the Broker has is the Shared Facility Expense. This fee is collected to cover the overhead
of the physical office space including, rent or mortgage payments, office
equipment, phone services and all of the things required to maintain a
business. This fee is equal to 5% of
sales and is retained by the broker.
This
fee is also capped through 2020 at 5% of sales per agent per year to a maximum
of $5000.
The
third commitment the Broker has is to the Administrative Staff including the
Agent Service Manager(s) or ASM’s.
Whether an office has 5 agents or 50 agents, administrative functions
have to be completed by someone and even if this is done in the early days by
the broker himself, there is a cost involved.
This fee is equal to 5% of sales and is retained by the broker.
This
fee is also capped through 2020 at 5% of sales per agent per year to a maximum
of $5,000.
The
fourth commitment the Broker has is to the Basic Agent Service and Technology Package. We want our agents focused on working with
buyers and sellers. We do not want our
agents doing basic marketing and promotion, setting up showings, or filling out
contracts with pen and paper. The Basic
Service and Technology Package is a commitment from your broker to provide the
following:
- Ongoing support for agent training and development. Our brokers are Buffini and Company Certified trainers for Peak Performers – quite simply the finest working by referral training program in the world.
- Up to 100 personalized monthly item of value members to the very best referral sources in your database.
- Buffini and Company Referral Maker CRM – The best contact management software in the real estate industry. If an agent elects to pursue personal coaching with Buffini and Company – which includes Referral Maker – the brokerage will help pay for it up to the cost of Referral Maker as a stand-alone product.
- Dotloop paperless office. Create contracts and get them signed from anywhere there is an internet connection. Save time and better serve your clients.
- Presentation Brochures – Personalized and branded items to reinforce your place with your clients and customers.
- Centralized Showing Service – Never have to stop what you are doing again to set up a showing. CSS also allows you to share feedback from cooperating agents electronically.
- Dedicated personal cloud-based telephone integrated with the corporate phone system.
- Professionally managed web and social media pages.
The
actual cost of these services alone to the brokerage runs from $500 to as much
as $1000 per month per agent depending on location. There is also a tremendous amount of time
involved in working with agents to get the full benefit of the Basic Agent Services
and Technology Package.
This
fee is also capped at a maximum of $5,000 a year or 5% of sales through
2020. In our experience agents who take
advantage of these services see an immediate increase in productivity of 15 to
20%.
The
Fifth Commitment is to the broker owner herself – The Broker Service Fee. Every fee we have defined so far exists to
cover the cost of owning and operating a brokerage. Every entrepreneur expects a return on their
investment of time and capital. ROOST
broker owners are no different. This is
where the Broker Service Fee comes in.
As
you will note above, the monthly Franchise and Marketing Fee, the Shared
Facility Expense, the Administrative Staff fee, and the Basic
Agent Services and Technology Package add up to 20% of every commission
dollar earned by an agent.
However,
the most an agent will ever pay in any calendar year for these fees is
$20,000 regardless of how much they earn.
These fees are capped to cover actual costs and no more.
The
Broker Service fee is equal to 10% of every commission dollar earned by every
agent. There is no cap on this fee. Whether an agent earns $100,000 or $1,000,000
over the course of the year, the brokerage will retain 10%. We structured our fees this way to ensure the
broker owners are rewarded and motivated to support elite producers regardless
of their volume.
I Believe in You
I
am so confident in you, and the effectiveness of The Quick Start Game Plan™, that I will take on all the
initial upfront investment to get you started.
That means you can join ROOST Real Estate Co. today FOR FREE. I am betting on your success out of
the gate.
ROOST is not for everyone, but for a
select group of agents who want to be heroes to their clients day in and day
out, the job satisfaction and the potential income are unlimited. We expect great things from our agents and we
know they expect great things from us.
We will not let you down.
Just imagine what your life is going to be like just a few short weeks after joining ROOST Real Estate Co. You can expect to be as busy, or likely busier, than you have ever been. You will be renewing past relationships and creating new ones. As your income grows so will your free time and your confidence in the value you bring to the market place. Before you know it, you will start to experience success on your terms.
Join ROOST Real Estate Co. today with zero out of pocket investment and all the benefits the day you move your license. In addition to the Basic Agent Services and Technology Package detailed earlier, new agents will receive as many personalized yard signs they need, and 1000 business cards.
For those of you ready to join us, get ready
to experience the good life. Once you
get a taste of what’s possible, you will never go back to the way things
were. Call or email me today and set up
a time to interview us. You’ll be glad
you did.
I
Believe in ROOST Real Estate Co.
We would love for you to join our
company but honestly, it really doesn’t matter if you sign up today or
not. We will continue to focus on our
clients, increase our market share, make our numbers, and watch our agents
steadily increase their income with greater and greater personal freedom. I know it sounds a little harsh, but without
our help you will continue to work harder and make far less money than you are
deserve.
Would you like to know your Market
Maker Advantage Score?
Want to Learn More About the Market Maker Advantage™? I’d love to sign you up with our company today, but before we go any further, take 20 minutes to complete this scorecard. I guarantee it will give you a better understanding of what we are all about. Take your time and fill in the comment sections too. Click Here.
Once
you discover your score, you will be on the road to The Good
Life. Wherever your score lies, you have the power to design the
life you want and deserve. We can help
you leverage your unique abilities, strengths, and experiences to make an
ever-greater contribution to the world of real estate.
After you complete the scorecard we will email
you a link to a free copy of my e-book called Your Market Maker Mindset
Scorecard – The Eight Mindsets Growing or Slowing Your Business Right Now. Even if you decide that a career with
ROOST Real Estate is not right for you, I guarantee you will find value in this
easy to read pdf.
Thank
You for Your Time and Attention
ROOST Real Estate Co. is the real estate company I have always wanted to work at. ROOST is the product of my experience as an agent, broker, owner, trainer, and team leader. ROOST is about building and maintaining relationships, continuously adding value, and earning the referrals that give us the opportunity to do it all over again with new clients.
There is nothing more gratifying than
helping somebody make a move they have been preparing their entire lives to
make. The real estate business has been
incredibly good to me. I am grateful for
every opportunity I have been given.
Thank you for taking the time to learn
about our business. If you think joining
us is the best thing for your business, give us a shout. Regardless of where your career takes you I
wish you The Good Life.
Care To Learn More About Our Company?
- Try the new Market Maker Advantage Scorecard. Score yourself on the eight mindsets that are either
growing or slowing your business right now.
www.MarketMakerScorecard.com.
- Fille out the form below for a FREE download of my book A Realtor’s Guide to Mad Market Making Skills – The Eight Mindsets That Make The Difference Between Simply Surviving And Creating A Real Estate Business That Works For You
- If you’re ready make the leap and live the good life, email me
directly at Chris@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com with ‘Let’s Start’ in the
subject line.
Marketing
Expert Dean Jackson introduced me to a formula I use to analyze every business
I come into contact with – including my own. The idea is that every business
has 3 parts: a Before Unit, a During Unit, and an After Unit.
The Before
Unit is the unit of your business in charge of finding, identifying,
educating and motivating people to come into your business for the first time.
That is
the Before Unit in a nutshell.
The During
Unit is the unit of your business that delivers the experience that people
have while they
are doing business with you. The During Unit starts from – if you have a
retail store –
the moment they walk into your store, until the moment they walk out of your
store. The During Unit could also be the time a customer spends on an
e-commerce website like Amazon.com.
As a real estate agent, the During Unit could
be the moment you start looking at houses with somebody, until they close on
the house and have spent the first 30, 60 or 90 days in that house.
The After Unit is all about creating new relationships and nurturing
lifetime relationships with the people who already know, like, and trust
you. Your goal in
the After Unit is to ensure you have the opportunity to do business with this
person again in the future, and, earn their referrals to family, friends and
co-workers.
Analyzing Amazon.com
Now let’s take a look at my all-time favorite business. What do the Before, During, and After Units look like for www.Amazon.com? The Amazon.com Before Unit includes targeted Google and Facebook ads, traditional television commercials, as well as print advertising.
Once Amazon gets you in their ‘eco-system’ with their Echo Speakers, Kindle e-readers, and Fire branded phones and tablets, they use their Alexa artificial intelligence technology to keep you informed about products and services that are likely to appeal to you. Amazon.com are the masters of using both old and new media in the before unit of their business. In fact, nobody does it better.
The Amazon.com During Unit appeals to me, and I dare say all of us, because there no checkout lines, no pushy sales people, an almost infinite selection, my credit card is on file, and it is a completely friction-free experience. The photos, videos, and customer reviews make making sense of the vast selection quick and easy. With Amazon Prime I can go online or on my phone, make a couple of mouse clicks or touchscreen gestures, and have anything I want at my door the next day.
The
Amazon.com After Unit is just as amazing to me.
Who can resist personalized emails about things you care about based on
your purchases and search history? I
can’t. Amazon ‘Buttons’ make it way too
easy to restock household basics and Alexa will even keep a shopping list for
you.
Amazon’s
customer service, though I seldom need it, is outstanding, and if I have to
return something it is actually a pleasure.
Prime, Prime Music, and Prime Video all keep me coming back for
more. Amazon.com has it
going on in all three units!
Other great companies that come to mind
are Apple and Disney. Two more masters
of all three units.
Analyzing McDonald’s
Now
let’s look at a franchise situation. What do the Before, During and After Units look like for
McDonald’s? The McDonald’s Before Unit includes saturation TV, radio, billboard, highway, newspaper, and magazine
advertising. It includes coupons and
special offers both online and off.
Their overall brand recognition is literally off the charts with the
Golden Arches being one of the most recognized logos in the world. All of this
contributes to their ability to grow shareholder value year over year.
From the customer’s
perspective, the During Unit at McDonald’s includes the overall design and
décor of the restaurant, including the menu boards, furniture, bathrooms, and
the drive through. The during unit also
includes the order, pay, and pick-up procedures, and the wait time both inside,
and at the drive-through. The during
unit also includes the Big Mac and all of the other McDonald’s greatest hits.
From the franchisee’s perspective, the
during unit includes real estate and architectural services, standardized
recipes, the McDonald’s ‘system’, Hamburger University, approved suppliers and
vendors, standardized ingredients, and use of the ‘marks’. All of these services are designed to ensure
a superior customer experience and a profitably enterprise for both the
franchisee and the franchisor.
The After Unit at McDonald’s is a little
tougher for me to articulate. As far as
I know there is no loyalty program or value added benefit available for
purchase. From the independent franchisee’s
perspective, the periodic addition of new menu items, marketing initiatives
like the Dollar Menu, and continuously updated services and procedures, keep
them profitably happy within the system.
This is just my opinion of course but
the core value of a McDonald’s franchise is in the before unit. I will leave you to be the judge of the
during unit – but it’s hard for me to say McDonalds is ‘fast’ food anymore.
The ‘Legacy’ or ‘Big Box’
Real Estate Franchises
Now
let’s look at a business that hits a bit closer to home. What do
the Before, During, and After Units look like for one of the giant franchises? These companies
include Home Services
of America (Berkshire) and Realogy (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and many
more), KW, Exit etc. I am going to speak
directly about RE/MAX based on my past experience as a franchisee in Ohio.
The
RE/MAX Before Unit includes brand recognition, the RE/MAX balloon,
multi-channel advertising, world-wide market share, Lead Street, and agent
branded websites. Like all of the legacy
real estate franchises, RE/MAX is a master of the before unit. Like McDonald’s, I will go so far as to say
the value of a RE/MAX franchise or agent affiliation is in the before unit.
The
During Unit from a customer’s perspective is at best ‘ill-defined’. The client experience is 100% dependent on
the quality and experience of the agent involved. The agent’s performance is also dependent on
the quality of the leadership in their independently owned franchise
office. In most cases the agents are
true professionals. In other cases, the
agent was brought into the fold in an effort by the franchisee to meet their
recruiting quota.
The
During Unit from an agent, or franchisee’s perspective is a first class
experience, but only for those agents who choose to take advantage of the
benefit. Sadly, the majority do
not. RE/MAX University and the RE/MAX
International Conventions are two of the finest programs in the industry
designed to help agents and brokers gain and expand their capabilities and
continue to excel. Agent and brokers
also enjoy consistent recognition at the regional and national level for sales
performance.
The RE/MAX After Unit from a customer perspective is again agent dependent. The After Unit from an agent or franchisee perspective is limited. However, I consider the recruiting bonuses and down-line profit sharing plans available at Exit and Keller Williams to be agent and broker centric after unit enticements if not real benefits. The reality is these companies are transaction based entities as opposed to relationship based entities. Consequently, the After Unit is generally an afterthought.
The Traditional Mom and Pop Brokerage
What does the typical Mom and Pop brokerage look like in terms of the Before, During, and After Units? Sadly, outside of a few well established ‘boutique’ firms serving niche markets, the Mom and Pops are generally being eclipsed, if not absorbed, by the giant firms. Yes, there are still some strong regional players but the overall trend is clear. Traditionally the value of these firms rested in the Before Unit. Local reputation, market share, and local name recognition are their traditional strengths.
There is not a lot of differentiation in the During Unit of the Mom and Pop’s. For the broker owners however, this is not a disadvantage. Most of the players in these firms are true professionals that have been in the business for decades. Their customer service skills, though likely ‘old school’, are second to none.
From
an agent perspective on the other hand, it is hard to find a lot of value in in
associating with these firms. Most of
these broker owners came up through the years as professional salespeople and
never had the desire to be leaders in the industry. Generally, they opened their own shops in
order to avoid splitting their commissions with an established firm.
The
After Unit advantages of a Mom and Pop brokerage are also elusive. Like with the ‘legacy / big-box’ franchises,
the after unit client experience is dependent on the agent. The relationship-focused professionals will
find a way to stay in touch on their own.
The transaction focused agents will never see the value in an after unit
investment. Every ambitious professional
associated with a legacy Mom and Pop eventually asks the question, ‘what
exactly am I paying my broker for?’
My Vision For The ‘Better Brokerage’
Now
let’s consider ROOST Real Estate Co™ and Lucky Town Real Estate Co™.
I consider bringing this brokerage concept to the world to be my
life’s work. For over 5 years now I have
dedicated every spare moment and dollar to building these brands. My goal is to offer our agents and
franchisees Before, During, and After units that are second to none.
Based on my experiences with both a Mom and Pop and a Legacy / Big-Box brand, I knew that I would have to ‘bootstrap’ an effective Before Unit strategy in order to grow and thrive. As established above, our competition has the Before Unit nailed down.
I also knew that I wanted to influence the During Unit as much as reasonable to bring some consistency to the ROOST / Lucky Town brand experience. We only bring on agents and brokers who are clearly aligned with our values, so our During Unit service standard is built into our DNA. It’s cultural.
Our success from the start was due to offering our agents and their clients a complete After Unit experience. My personal success was dependent on creating and nurturing long term, referral-based relationships. I started with Top-Producer and graduated later to using the tools and training created by Buffini and Company. Early on I wondered what it would look like for an entire brokerage to run this way. I set it up and it worked.
The ‘Better Brokerage’ Before Unit:
Thanks to the microchip, the internet, social media, and smart phones it is possible for any broker to create a vision, message and concept, and introduce it to the world for a tiny fraction of what it would have cost just a few years ago. My brands may not have world-wide recognition (yet) but technology has leveled the playing and given us a more than fighting chance against the establishment.
Today, our Before Unit includes:
- Daily social media presence
boosting name recognition and ultimately market share.
- Buy With ROOST and List
With ROOST content in takeaway brochure form and pdf downloads.
- Brokerage supported
personal Facebook business pages for each agent.
- Personalized ‘just
listed’ and ‘sold’ mail arounds and social media posts.
- Investor sales driven by the
Property Management Division.
- The Quick Start Game Plan™*
- A comprehensive direct
response marketing effort across all lines of business.
- A 52 Week ad calendar
laying our every marketing piece in place.
- State of the art website
with personalized branded agent landing pages.
- Consumer facing blogs for
buying, selling and real estate investing.
- Long form educational sales letters for buyers and sellers
differentiating ROOST agents from everyone else.
- Innovative marketing scorecards for Home Selling Geniuses and Home
Buying Jedi Masters.
- Free e-Books emailed to all scorecard participants.
- Cause Marketing Opportunities.
- ROOST™ Hero Spotlight on Success Video Series
The Better Brokerage During Unit
The
ROOST During Unit is designed to support our independent contractor
professionals with materials that promote a consistent, proven, brand
experience from one client to the next. Support for our Realtors include:
- The Buyer Consultation
Experience
- The Listing Meeting
Experience
- The Home Enhancement
Checklist
- Peak Producers and
Buffini Blitz Programs
- Every broker or manager
is a Buffini Certified mentor
- A complete productivity
and technology package that simply works – including office phone, workspace, and
equipment.
- The Agent Service Manager
- The Training and Development Commitment
- Your Pay Your Way
- The Rhythm of Our Business
The Better Brokerage After Unit
As I said earlier, I credit virtually all of our
success to date to the ROOST Real Estate Co. After Unit. From the moment we activated our license, our
focus has been on creating new relationships, and nurturing
lifetime relationships with the people who already know, like, and trust
us. This of course is the essence of
working by referral. This is what has set us apart from the start. Agent support for the After Unit includes:
- Personalized monthly
items of value executed and mailed on the agent’s behalf and paid for by the
brokerage.
- Branded Pop-By gifts –
shirts, koozies, water bottles, pens, and more.
- Client Appreciation
Events.
- Company paid Buffini
Referral Maker CRM.
- $50 a month credit
towards Buffini and Company personal coaching.
- Your Brokerage For Life –
We pledge to grow with you.
We want
to be the only brokerage our agents will ever need. We will continue to support and improve all
three units of our business. We will not
be left behind and we will not let our agents be left behind.
Conclusion
I hope this information helps you to make informed decisions about your future. The choices and opportunities available in our industry have never been greater. The downside is multiple choices and opportunities also create confusion that can lead to inaction and inertia. I want to see you moving forward.
Care To Learn More About Our Company?
- Try the new Market Maker Advantage Scorecard. Score yourself on the eight mindsets that are either
growing or slowing your business right now.
www.MarketMakerScorecard.com.
- Fill out the form below for a FREE download of my book A Realtor’s Guide to Mad Market Making Skills – The Eight Mindsets That Make The Difference Between Simply Surviving And Creating A Real Estate Business That Works For You
- If you’re ready make the leap and live the good life, email me
directly at Chris@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com with ‘Let’s Start’ in the
subject line.
*By some estimates agents lose an
average of 20% of their income during a transition to a new firm. At ROOST Real Estate Co., we attack this
concern head-on with our Quick Start
Game Plan™. Our brokers and Agent
Service Managers begin working with new agents prior to transferring their
license to ensure they hit the ground running.
In our experience, agents can expect an increase in business activity
within days of joining our company.
