Take my advice
Career advice
isn’t just for ro
okie agents.
Here are tips to
help your busi
ness no matte
how many yea
r
rs you’ve been
in real estate.
by Ward Low
e
New agents
If you’re a rookie, here’s how to
get started.
Get clients,
close deals,
earn commissions,
and repeat.
It sounds easy enough, but how
do you get started? And once
you’re completing transactions,
how do you transition from
constant farming to a more
established, sustainable business? Four experienced Texas
REALTORS share their advice
for each stage of your real
estate career: Mike Ellerkamp,
who’s in business development
with RE/MAX Elite in Stafford;
Steve Crossland, broker with
Crossland Real Estate in Austin;
Kristen Ueckert, broker/owner
of Ueckert Realty in Keller; and
Mel Harris, broker with KW
Commercial, Elements Realty
Group, in Southlake.
PHOTO & ILLUSTRATOINS © iStock/Thinkstock
®
Who do you know?
“The business is all about contacts,” says Mike Ellerkamp. “If
you like the business, you’re going
to talk about it. I love real estate. I
talk about it all the time, and that
creates contacts for me.”
Steve Crossland agrees.
“Without leads, the career is dead
on arrival. New agents should
focus on lead generation first and
foremost,” says Crossland. “Since
most new agents have lots of time
and not much money, open houses
and phone calls to their database
are the best ways to find new business.”
“Get comfortable talking shop
24/7. Prospect 24/7. Don’t let one
opportunity pass you by,” adds
Kristen Ueckert.
What do you know?
“Study your market and your
contracts,” says Ueckert. “Get to
know your stuff.”
Ueckert knows that most new
agents don’t have money to spend
on classes, so she suggests leaning
on your referral partners. “Go to
title companies, finance companies, and other places that will
answer questions and offer guidance. That doesn’t cost a dime.”
If you can afford classes, she
recommends those covering topics you’re not familiar with. “My
first year, it was hard for me to do a
CMA. So I started with classes on
appraisals and similar things that
would help me understand values.”
Mel Harris suggests another
way to learn: “Listen to what the
consumer wants.”
Harris also recommends
focusing on an area you enjoy and
are knowledgeable about. “Find a
niche that you love and that you
are good at,” he says, “and work to
be the best at that.”
Ellerkamp agrees that liking
what you do is important. It might
be a bit harsh, he says, but if you
don’t like real estate, you might
want to consider another career.
“You can’t work the business if you
don’t love it.”
Sept./Oct. 2013
TexasRealtors.com
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Mid-career
You’ve got a few years and
transactions under your belt. Here’s
how to keep it going.
Focus on your clients
Kristen Ueckert says that while
you should constantly prospect at
every stage of your career any way
you like, it’s more important to take
care of your existing clients.
“What does getting new clients
matter if the ones you have are
neglected? You have to take care
of each client as if he’s the only one
you have. Otherwise, you’ll never
get that stream of referrals and
repeat business, which after five or
10 years is what you should have
primarily.”
“Don’t be afraid to ask for business, and get better at listening
to others,” says Mel Harris. “You
should also get involved with
TREPAC and understand how legislation affects your and your clients’
bottom line. Continue to educate
yourself and network, network,
network.”
Steve Crossland says that once
you’ve reached a “cruising altitude”
and are earning a steady income,
nurture your list of past, current,
and future clients to get most of
your business from referrals and
repeat clients.
Find a way to keep in touch
Ueckert emphasizes that it doesn’t
Veterans
You’re established and successful—
now what?
Think about what’s next
“For veteran agents, an exit strategy
or post-production income should
be planned,” says Steve Crossland.
“Hopefully, the agent has picked up
some rental properties along the
way and will have ongoing retirement income.
“If your database is solid and
well-cared-for, there will be value in
selling the business.”
22
TEXAS REALTOR
®
Sept./Oct. 2013
Are you a know-it-all?
“Don’t think you know it all just
because you’ve been in the business for many years,” cautions
Mel Harris. “Continue to grow
and learn, mentor a newcomer in
the business, and share important
experiences. That’s how we all
grow.”
“Give back by serving on your
board of R EALTORS and mentoring
other agents,” says Kristen Ueckert.
“I just called MetroTex and said I’d
like to volunteer, and I think that’s
what veteran agents should do. “
®
matter how you stay in touch with
your past clients—happy hour,
Facebook comment, birthday
card—just do it. Also, she advises
staying in touch with your peers.
“I’ve been an independent broker
for so long that I’ve found you
can get isolated,” Ueckert says.
“I’ve stopped taking my MCE and
training online and gone back to
the classroom to get the interaction
with other agents.”
Ready to cash out?
An expert offers tips to sell your business
You expect consumers selling
property to get advice from you, a
real estate expert. So you should
get advice on selling your business from an expert in that field.
Here, Don Hankins, president of
Alamo Corporate Group in Irving
and current president of the Texas
Association of Business Brokers,
answers questions about selling
your business, whether you’re a
broker-owner or an just an agent
with a lucrative sphere of influence.
Texas REALTOR : What’s the
most important thing a buyer
is looking for in a business?
Hankins: Buyers want repeatable
®
cash flow. Real estate is all about
location, location, location. A business is all about cash flow, cash
flow, cash flow.
How can you show them that
the cash flow will be there?
You need to have systems in place
that show you handle every transaction in a similar manner. You need
to have management and a back
office in place. The big question buyers need to have answered is, “Can I
step into this business and run it?”
The more you can make your business about the process instead of
yourself, the better price you’ll be
able to get for your business.
What’s a big challenge for
selling a business like a real
estate brokerage?
A realty brokerage is a professionalservices business, and the challenge
with all professional-services businesses is what happens when the
principal rainmaker goes away. Can
John Smith, R EALTORS ® still bring
in clients without John Smith?
Is there anything a Texas
REALTOR should do
to prepare for a sale?
®
Periodically get a financial checkup
for your business, even if you’re not
selling. Find someone to help you
figure out where you are, so you can
make changes and you’ll be ready
to sell. Every business has a mess of
some kind, big or small, that needs
to be cleaned up. Ask your CPA if
you’re structured the right way.
Talk to your wealth planner. You
need to see how selling your business will affect the lifestyle you’re
accustomed to.
How do you determine what
a business is worth?
It’s hard. Every business is unique.
You can’t find direct comps as
you can in real estate—you have
to make judgment calls. Business
brokers use financial statements to
establish a probable selling price.
A lot of small-business owners
run their family out of the business,
so you have to take that out. We
recast the financial statement and
find the economic benefit of owning the company—not the after-tax
benefit. Those are two separate
creatures. That’s why you need
some financial understanding to
process all that data to reach that
economic benefit.
What’s a good first step for
a Texas REALTOR selling his
business?
®
Do a fair self-assessment of your
knowledge of the process of selling
your business. Remember that you
have to stage your business as you
would a home for sale. And if you
need help in the process, contact
a professional through the Texas
Association of Business Brokers.
Ward Lowe is associate director of communications and new media at the Texas Association of REALTORS ®.
Sept./Oct. 2013
TexasRealtors.com
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