Today’s RealTrending podcast features Dan Elsea, president of Real Estate One, a RealTrends 500 brokerage. Elsea’s company is in its fourth generation of family leaders. Elsea and his brother Stuart have led through many different housing markets and seen new competitors come into the business. The key to success, says Dan, is to be flexible in your business model and services that you offer.
Dan discusses how his company and business model have evolved over the years, how they are open to experimenting with agent compensation and consumer services and the flexibility he thinks is required to remain competitive in today’s real estate world.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Dan. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: I’ve really noticed a renewed effort to boost agent productivity, especially right now. Really giving agents the dialogue to talk to buyers and sellers about the market, kind of get them off the fence and understand what’s really going on right now. I’ve noticed a desperate need for that dialogue. What what do I say? How do I handle this situation? How do I talk about interest rates and help these people to understand the market and then make the decision that that is best for for them.
Dan Elsea: We try to give them realistic examples and information as opposed to sort of scripts because our we feel uncomfortable teaching them to say, “Well, every market is great, this is a great market, it’s great for buyers.” We try to give them honest information and teach them to be counselors, not salespeople. And there are times when they’re going to counsel a client — a buyer or seller — not to sell right now. And they should be shouldn’t be afraid to do that. That’s what they hire us for, for us to be counselors. We focus on that type of education and training. We created our research group to do that, so we can give them information so they can do what they’re hired to do.
The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.
