There is a significant gap in what we are promoting and the ability to personally own it. The REALTOR® community is flush with agents that call themselves REAL ESTATE CONSULTANTS but only know and understand the commission model. Some of these truly are consultants. They have the experience, knowledge, proven methods and a business approach whereby they are giving their clients the best advice and produce justification, evidence and work products to back up their opinions. How they charge for services is irrelevant except for the fact that it may not be very transparent. They know real estate and practice consulting but only grasp one business model.

Just discovered this signature by-line on a Ron Stuart email:

“You can have better outcomes and financial advantage by engaging a fee-paid advisor, instead of a commission salesperson, to assist with property transactions. Activity-based service fees, instead of a percentage of the property price, favour your equity and encourage full disclosure, transparency and harmonized interests!”

Could not have said it better!

"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour."

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimrohn109882.html

The Business Practice course is now a required course segment and the associated Workbook is now updated with some minor organization changes and examples of calculating prices on example tasks. The new Workbook can be accessed in the Library under Course Books and is linked here for reference:

Strategy, Rates & Fees Workbook September 2011

It is also available in your account under Business Practice (OPEN MY WORKBOOK).

The exam has two additional questions (total of 12) added as of today.

How many times have we taken a listing at a great (or not so great) commission rate, spent many hours getting the listing set up, taking classy pictures, adding a virtual tour, getting the sign, lock box and fancy color brochures and running repeating ads in the local print media only to have a listing sit on the market too long because the seller is reluctant to get competitive on price, becomes impatient and then fires us and finds another agent? Yuk. All that expense (including your time) with absolutely no return. What really ticks me off is when the seller lists with the next agent at a price we were telling them to lower to in the first place!

Risk:

• In the standard commission model the agent is taking all the risk.
• If we were to be paid on time and materials, the client takes all the risk
• Sharing risk - here's an alternative approach I used to get paid for what I do and at the same time share some risk with the seller:

This is a new post on these important issues and how they relate to alternative business models. There were many great comments off subject on the recent Ambassador Program Brainstorming Session Announcement which I will attempt to collect and move to here. To do this I have to manually modify the data base (literally) that supports the Exchange. This will be a time consuming process but, the comments are valuable enough to attempt to do this. It will take a while.

In the mean time, if you have thoughts on these subjects comment on this post.

One of the articles I presented some time ago is "Why developing fees is so hard to do" and is filed in Best practices and Setting rates and fees. One of the important concepts introduced is about process. Here's an important excerpt ...

A body at rest tends to remain at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

I vaguely remember this from a high school physics class (and I mean vaguely). But, it is true. It is absolutely the hardest thing any of us has to do: step outside our comfort zone and dare to be different. The real challenge is to find the inertia (energy, motivation, need, etc.) to get the body at rest to begin moving. I think we have some of the best minds available to help you. Unlike other "motivational" coaching that is available everywhere, we practice what we preach.

I began using Consumer Choice models when I established my relationship with RE/MAX way back in August 1, 2004. Over time, we accumulated significant experience with different approaches and what works and what doesn't; the pitfalls, potholes, roadblocks and agent/broker scourge as well as documented successes. This stuff works! I believe it IS the future for the real professionals in this business.

Where did the models come from? They were developed based on a service/consulting fee model I used for over 25 years as an executive with EDS, an IT and Business Process services provider. In fact, it is a business model I have been familiar with for longer than my career with EDS. It is based on Activity Based Costing. Here's the simple explanation:

Maybe but mostly NOT! Don't do it.

Check out this article: Social Networking Dinosaurs.

Let's consider Facebook ...
If you want to advertise your real estate business, create a business page and invite friends to follow. Encourage your friends to invite others. Post your listings. Post your opinions on the industry. Make it a "I want to know more about what she/he thinks." Consulting? What are you telling your business audience about how you work and why?

Your personal FB page is for creating relationships. Invite your contacts to be "friends." In due time, invite them to your business page. Our business is about creating trusting relationships. Once established, business will follow.

Here's my FB business page: BIG (MT). You are invited to join!