What’s the true cost of using a website or CRM that your brokerage provides? Troy Palmquist looks at the financial conundrum
Free coaching. Free CRM. Free training. Free marketing collateral. Free photocopies and business cards (remember those?).
Whether you’re a new agent or a veteran agent shopping for a new team or brokerage, “free” may be an attractive incentive — or it may just be a ho-hum part of the onboarding process.
Will people use free resources?
How often have you joined a gym, only to ignore that membership day after day, month after month? Want to know the best way to make sure you show up? Hire a personal trainer to work out with you.
From websites to CRMs to lead generation portals, brokerages always have some free technology to offer as part of their value proposition. However, the perception of those free resources may make a big difference in how (or whether) they are used.
A lot of agents don’t use a free resource when their brokerage provides it. There’s no skin in the game for them financially if they don’t use it, and, if they’re not convinced of the value (it’s free, after all), they may choose to ignore it altogether.
Business coaching and mentoring programs that come with a cost are more likely to be effective and less likely to be a waste of money — the cost inspires you to show up and do your part. Talk to your favorite top producer and you’ll find that not only do they work with a coach, they work with a top-tier coach like Tom Ferry or Brian Buffini; the testimonials and case studies those coaches provide are evidence of the effectiveness of their paid programs.
According to the National Association of Realtors, 88 percent of clients would use their former agent again or recommend them to others. To keep those clients in your sphere of influence and remain top-of-mind, a modern CRM is essential.
If your broker provides you with a CRM and you don’t use it — because you don’t like it or because you find it too complicated — the cost at stake is the missed opportunity value. It’s the sphere of influence you didn’t keep up with and the follow-up you didn’t do.
How free is that free website?
Every agent should have their own website, but the question then becomes what type of platform to use and how much to invest.
Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine who has a corporate-provided real estate website that is free to her and her brand.
After talking to her about who she is and how her current website represents her agents and herself, we came to the realization together that her website is not an authentic depiction of her brand. What is the site’s intangible value? How much lost revenue is it responsible for, by suppressing the growth of her brand and brokerage. What does it take for her to overcome the cost of that “free” website?
We as agents have to realize that we can’t use tech that’s paid for by the broker as a crutch. If you don’t use it, it’s useless. And if you use it as a reason to not subscribe to or acquire a piece of technology that you and your team will actually use, it’s hurting you.
If you’re thinking about creating organic content, you owe it to yourself to use it to develop your own personal website — one that gives you a custom or a semi-custom experience, preferably on an easy-to-maintain platform, such as WordPress. After all, why spend your precious time developing that “free” website that comes from your broker? Instead, you can own all the work that you put into the development process — and you can take it with you if and when you leave for another brokerage.
Maybe the website platform that your company provides is too difficult to put together and there isn’t customer service available to help you with changes or implementation. Maybe you serve a specific niche, but you can’t easily adapt the content on your website to reflect specialization. Inevitably, that free website never goes live.
How free is free? What does it cost to use, for example, a free, brokerage-provided webpage rather than building your own brand identity and customizing the content?
What’s the value of a free website that the brokerage provides if it isn’t search engine optimized, it doesn’t have IDX, or if the bells and whistles and customization options just aren’t there?
Potential clients may find your Zillow profile instead, because your website isn’t ranking high enough on Google search pages, where they may end up finding and connecting with another agent.
By using that broker-provided plug-and-play webpage, you could be saving a few hundred dollars a month now, but what’s the impact on your bottom line and the long-term health of your business?
Sometimes free is just not worth the cost
If you’re just starting out as a new real estate agent or joining a new team or boutique brokerage where alignment makes sense, you may choose to use what your broker provides. If you really love the platforms you’re getting for free, by all means, learn how to use them well and optimize their capabilities.
If, however, you’re not getting much out of your brokerage-provided resources, take a look around and invest in your business by spending some money on a CRM, website or other tech solution — one that you know deep down will make a difference for you.
Find out if having skin in the game will make you more faithful in learning and updating your tech tools; you may find that those tools will pay for themselves once you’re actually using them.
Free is pointless as a broker-supplied product. If it’s not being used, it’s (literally) useless.
Agents, your broker must provide roadmaps to adoption. Ask about onboarding and training opportunities, and use the tech regularly.
Tech shouldn’t be a laundry list brokers trot out during recruitment and then ignore. Support the tech stack you have, and support your agents in making the most of it, or getting rid of it.
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Troy Palmquist is a visionary in real estate and proptech, known for his innovative leadership and strategic insights. As the founder of HomeCode Advisors, he helps proptech companies and real estate teams navigate today’s market with cutting-edge solutions. Previously, Troy served as Director of Growth for eXp California and VP of Growth and Product Marketing for eXp Realty. He also founded boutique indie brokerages The Address and DOORA, both of which redefined client-centric service and agent empowerment. A contributing author and frequent speaker, Troy frequently shares his expertise on technology, growth, marketing and industry innovation. Email Troy at troy@homeadvisors.com.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s / RealTrends Verified editorial department and its owners.
To contact the editor responsible for this piece: nate@hwmedia.com.
