Your newest agent stops by your office on her way out the door. She’s excited because she just got a phone call from a potential seller and plans to meet him tonight to tour his single-family home. “He said he’d heard good things about me!” she exclaims. “This could be my big break!” As she rushes off, you wonder how the prospect could have heard about your enthusiastic young agent, who has not yet made a sale.
Would you let this happen? What safety precautions does your office have in place to check out the unknown seller, where the agent is going and who else will be there?
The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has designated September as REALTOR® Safety Month. This month, take time to consider how safe—or unsafe—your agents are as they go about their day-to-day work. Because REALTORS® face more on-the-job personal safety issues than many other professionals, NAR is asking you to help your agents keep safety awareness top of mind in September—and all year long. If brokers and agents make simple changes, they can be better protected both personally and professionally.
“As long as there have been REALTORS®, we have been meeting strangers in unfamiliar locations,” says Bob Goldberg, NAR senior vice president, Marketing, Business Development, Commercial Services and Business Specialties. “This is simply not safe. That’s why NAR offers a wealth of online resources to help brokers focus on REALTOR® Safety to be sure they have their office training and processes in place to keep their agents safe.”
Resources to Keep Your Agents Safe
NAR makes it easy for you to share the message of REALTOR® Safety. We offer the resources you need on our website: REALTOR.org/Safety. There you’ll find:
• A simple-to-follow outline for shaping your REALTOR® Safety strategy and keeping a focus on safety all year
• A comprehensive REALTOR® Safety training presentation, including guidelines for the presenter and handouts
• 9-minute safety video to show to agents
• 2 monthly articles on a variety of REALTOR® Safety topics that you can publish in newsletters or on your website
• 52 weekly REALTOR® Safety tips that can be emailed to agents or posted in your office
• Customizable forms that support an office safety process
• REALTOR® Safety Web banners and widgets to maintain a consistent message on your site
Make Safety a Priority 365 Days a Year
“Safety is a big commitment—but it is perhaps the most important commitment you can make,” says Goldberg. “The readymade resources that NAR has available on www.REALTOR.org/Safety make it easy for brokers to effectively train their agents and to communicate about safety all year long.”
NAR also offers resources and a variety of refreshers for the coming year, including:
• Free webinars on REALTOR® Safety. Quality programs are offered twice a year. Sign up for “Social Media and Cyber Safety,” presented by REALTOR® Safety expert Andrew Wooten. This hour-long program takes place September 12 at 11:30 a.m. EST. As NAR members, you and your agents can also access archived safety webinars anytime. Register at www.REALTOR.org/Safety.
• Safety publications, including The Real Estate Guide to Safety and more, are available at www.REALTOR.org/Store.
NAR is thoroughly committed to REALTOR® Safety, but we rely on brokers to bring this issue home to individual agents. Please keep the safety message in focus all year long, take a close look at your office’s best practices and help keep everyone personally and professionally safe.”
