Strengthening the Relationships between Brokers and the Association Presentation by Stephen H. Murray, President, REAL Trends to the Association Executive Institute March 14, 2015

Strengthening Relationships Do you know… …what business your broker members are in? …how their business operates? …and have a sense for the impact your programs, policies or services affect the business of a brokerage?

Strengthening Relationships Brokerage firms are in the business of recruiting and developing sales agents. This is the core of every brokerage firm of any size. They attempt to differentiate themselves from their competitors through their tools, programs, educational offerings, marketing services, commission plans, core services, office facilities, management and culture

Strengthening Relationships Lastly they attempt to make a profit – essentially spend less money than they bring in (no laughing matter) Developing strong relationships with agents and differentiating their culture and their offerings are the key to success for any brokerage

Strengthening Relationships The agent is a customer of the brokerage: and a customer of the association at all three levels; and a customer of the MLS Who has primacy? Answer:No one

Strengthening Relationships The lack of any defined boundaries is at the heart of the challenges in establishing strong relationships between the association and its broker member. Secondly is that your brokers are not truly special members in any sense but rather representatives of numbers of your members – the agent

Strengthening Relationships So how can Associations strengthen relationships with their brokerage members? First gain a working knowledge of how your brokerage firms operate and what makes them different and unique Differing sizes Differing business models Differing service packages

Strengthening Relationships Determine what core services the Association can provide that work side by side with the interests of the brokerage firm –Arbitration and mediation –Education – what kinds –CE programs –Support for designation programs –Market information and trends –Regulatory and legal issues

Strengthening Relationships Focus…Brokerage BothAssociation on the core strengths of what the purpose of a brokerage firm is and what the purpose of the Association is: recruiting and retention Improving the quality of the experience for housing consumers building an efficient and fair market place Relationships