RISMEDIA, September 16, 2010—Twenty-four-year-old Joan Johnson left her real estate office this morning to tour the house of a prospective client. No one at her office noticed she’d been gone all morning until she didn’t show up for a lunch meeting—and now she can’t be reached. What should her broker do? More importantly, what should Joan have done?
“It’s time for us to rethink the way we do business at the day-to-day level,” says Bob Goldberg, NAR senior vice president, Marketing, Business Development, Commercial Services & Business Specialties. “Brokers can help ensure the safety of their agents by implementing processes to find out more about each prospective client, and to track where each agent is at all times. Just as importantly, they can continue to educate agents in REALTOR® safety.”
Start by encouraging your agents to practice the key components of Realtor safety: Knowledge. Awareness. Empowerment. You can do this easily with help from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR). Beginning this month, NAR is kicking off another year-long focus on the crucial issue of Realtor safety.
Everything You Need in the REALTOR® Safety Kit
September is Realtor Safety Month, and NAR has shipped copies of the revamped, comprehensive Realtor Safety Kit to the top 500 brokerages (as well as 1,400 Realtor Associations) to help them adopt safer office procedures and give them ready-to-use tools to promote vital safety information to their agents.
The Realtor Safety Kit, which includes everything necessary for group presentations as well as materials you can use all year, is designed to teach and reinforce the basic tenets of safety in the office, with clients and at home. It can be used to kick off Realtor Safety Month, as well as during new employee orientations and regular staff meetings to continuously build agents’ safety awareness.
All This and More, Online
The contents of NAR’s Realtor Safety Kit, along with a safety video, a widget for your website that updates with a weekly safety tip, and more can be found at REALTOR.org/Safety. In fact, the site has become so robust and well-utilized that NAR has decided to replace the hard-copy kit and CD-ROM with all Web-based materials beginning next year.
Make Safety a Focus 365 Days a Year
“The safety materials offered by NAR can help brokers review what they’re doing and implement new procedures to help keep everyone safe. We also want to help your agents understand the best practices for personal safety,” says Goldberg. “NAR is counting on brokers and Realtor Associations to get this information out to every agent in September, and to keep a focus on safety throughout the year.”
Remind all your agents to know the dangers they face every day, to be aware of their surroundings, and to empower themselves with precautions and preparations so that they can avoid risky situations. And don’t shift your focus after September: NAR is asking brokers to make Realtor safety a year-round commitment.
To help, NAR offers resources and a variety of refreshers for the coming year, including:
-A comprehensive safety website available 24/7 at REALTOR.org/Safety.
-Free quarterly webinars on Realtor Safety, presented by experts—as well as access to all archived safety webinars.
-At-cost safety publications, including The Real Estate Guide to Safety and more, are available at www.REALTOR.org/Store.
NAR is committed to Realtor Safety, and we know you are, too. While we’ve provided in-office safety training materials, webinars, handouts and more, it’s up to brokers to create and follow business practices that will keep every agent safe on the job. Work with us to keep the safety message strong all year long, take a fresh look at your office’s best practices and keep agents like Joan Johnson, who headed off alone to meet strangers, safe!
