A Broker’s Dozen: 13 Productive Culture Trends - Part 1

Are you caught in an endless cycle of putting out fires, quelling arguments, dealing with difficult agents, and financial survival every month? After years of consultation work with brokerages, I'm convinced that the goal should be one oriented to solution-finding for increasing productivity and decreasing stress. The following list is a compilation of real world observations of trends that are, I believe, counterproductive to a positive and growing culture. Once you know the issue, correction and improvement isn't far behind.

1. Not switching from building their own sales business to building a company. Often top salespersons strike out on their own when they hit a "critical" mass in their production. Financially, it may make sense to establish their own office and identity in the marketplace. Initially, these top salespersons must continue to sell in order to afford the expenses that coincide with business ownership. What occurs, however, is that over time many will not relinquish or scale back on their personal sales in order to concentrate on building up their licensees to replace the income they once earned. Consequently, a double workload is laid upon the owner/producer's shoulders--keeping their own sales production at a high level and stressing out at not being available to handle inner office issues.