It’s true that the Merger and Acquisition market is back for the big players in the real estate market. The biggest get bigger. But we all know you can’t buy relationships. The one you have with your clients. If you have a good relationship with your clients they don’t care whether you’re with a big company, small company or what company name is on your business cards. There are about 1,000,000 REALTORs in the US and about 150,000 real estate offices. That makes about an “average” of about 7 REALTORS per office. Less when you exclude the “big” companies. There are advantages and disadvantages for being with either a “big” real estate company or a “small” real estate company. Here are my thoughts on how you can take advantage of either situation.

Whether you are with the biggest or smallest real estate company you may hear objections about either. “We don’t want to work with a small company because large companies have more resources” or “We don’t want to work with a large company because we may just be another number”. The problem lies in the fact that many buyers and sellers that choose a real estate “company” are missing the information on how the real estate business works. You have a company logo on your business cards but YOU are the real entrepreneur. The buyer or seller won’t be working with a real estate company as much as they will be working with YOU. Of course, your company may have features that other companies don’t, whether your company is big or small. It’s OK to sell those features. However, in any case, the biggest feature you need to sell is YOU. They are two different objections that have the same answer. Here are a couple of ideas on how to approach the objection.

Prospective Client: “We don’t want to work with a small company because large companies have a lot of resources”.
Agent: “In a service business like real estate resources are certainly important. When I work with a service company I want to get the most service for my dollar just like you. I know I am with a small company for a number of reasons but one is I can provide the best personal service. You won’t be working with my company you will be working with me. I assure you that I work very hard for customer satisfaction and because I am a REALTOR I have all of the resources that any other real estate agents have. Not only having resources but working hard for customer satisfaction is important to me. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Prospective Client: “We don’t want to work with a large company because we may just be another number”
Agent: “I understand how you feel. After all we are the largest company in the (area, state, etc.). However, there is a reason for that. Our company is built on (the largest independent, a national franchise, dozens, hundreds, thousands) of individual real estate salespersons like myself. Each one of us is individually dedicated to the highest quality of customer care. You won’t be working with a large company you will be working with me personally. I assure you that I work very hard for customer satisfaction on a personal level and you will never be a number to me. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

The same basic answer because the difference is YOU. Being successful in real estate is about YOU, YOUR PLAN and with the SUPPORT OF YOUR BROKER WHETHER BIG OR SMALL. IT’S YOUR OWN BUSINESS and that’s what’s important. The market is there for your taking.