By Stephanie Andre
RISMEDIA, April 21, 2008-What do you do to set yourself apart? In an industry that relies largely on name recognition with little or no differentiation from one company to another, the challenge to compete with the mega-brokers can be daunting. Las Vegas-based Avalar Real Estate is stepping up to that challenge, proving that innovation can indeed compete with name recognition.
Genny Babin agrees. After 10 years with Keller Williams in Mandeville, Louisiana, Babin, teamed with Rick and Sandra Roberts, struck out on her own. They knew it wasn’t enough to be “like everyone else.” In addition to competitive marketing, training and sophisticated technology, they were looking for long-term incentives that agents and staff could count on to supplement their incomes today-and secure their retirement for tomorrow. For Babin, Avalar was the answer.
“We were part of a system that already addressed the participation of agents, but we could do better,” says Babin. “Avalar’s patented ‘Path to Success’® ‘revenue-sharing’ vs. ‘profit-sharing’ provides simplicity and certainty, allowing us the confidence that we are not overselling a system based on tenuous promises.”
Here’s how it works: Revenue-sharing is distributed from corporate, or gross dollar volume, paid on royalties. The multi-level system allows for unlimited exponential growth that may continue to increase for years to come. Eligibility includes brokers, owners, agents, full and part-time staff, as well as investors.
Babin chose Avalar over other companies offering agent participation for these very reasons: certainty and simplicity. “Profit-sharing is difficult, if not impossible, to predict with any certainty,” she explains. “Participating members don’t know if or when there will be profits to share. If your office does not attain a level of required profitability, then sponsoring members’ efforts go unrewarded.” That type of uncertainty was unacceptable to the Babin group.
Although the Avalar system provides each member with seven levels of paid sponsorship under unlimited first-tier recruits, the program is amazingly simple. Each member has accessibility to his or her genealogy via the company’s intranet.
Members are able to view the list of their sponsored agents, a complete history of their personal revenue-sharing checks, and pending payouts for the next pay period. Babin fulfilled her wish list: to offer her company an immediate and tangible residual income; passive income based on company revenues as opposed to office profit levels; a program to motivate her team to assist in the growth of the company; and the comfort in knowing that their recruiting efforts would be rewarded today-and into the future.
“The appeal of the program for people who have been around the block in this business is that they like the idea of a franchise, but they don’t want the micromanagement and corporate mandates that come with it,” says Jason Lawrence, Avalar’s executive vice president, Eastern States. “The Avalar business model gives them complete flexibility to operate the brokerage under their own local market conditions.
New brokerage firms typically use the Avalar brand, but a well-established local company may choose to keep its current name, he says. Many Avalar franchisees also have mortgage company affiliations, and offer title and escrow services as well.
Moreover, franchisees have complete autonomy as to whether or not they choose to utilize the programs Avalar offers them, says Lawrence. Franchisees are free to run their office based upon local market conditions as opposed to the broader national market that may not pertain to their situation. This allows for decision-making processes-such as internal policies, competitive commission structures and appropriate technologies-that fit the franchisee, not the franchisor.
“We say, ‘use whatever plan works best in your market’,” says Chuck Scoble, Avalar’s founder and CEO. “Find a model that’s a win for your agents and a win for you.”
Technology and Training
In addition to its unique business model, the company also offers the Avalar Career Center. Launched last year, the center provides the skills and training vital toward its brokers’ continued success.
“Offering agents who have been in the business for many years advanced training is as important as offering the fundamentals to a new agent,” says Lawrence. “The Avalar Career Center is not just for new agents looking to close that first escrow; it is a dynamic resource for the most-seasoned real estate professional.”
Features of the Avalar Career Center include:
For agents:
-Individual Web-based business planning tool
-Weekly marketing to-do lists and account ability tracking
-Over 100 hours of skills-based classes
-Online real estate mentoring library
-Access to more than 1,000 online licensing and continuing education classes
-Access to a wide range of industry designations such as ABR, ASR, C-CREC, etc.
-Special reports covering such topics as: customer acquisition, profitability, bundled services, business planning, technology, etc.
For brokers:
-Web-based business planning tools
-Over 20 different skills based on recruiting, sales meetings, retention, etc.
For more information, visit www.avalar.biz.
