For Woodroof, profitability in the new normal of real estate also demands a focus on building international business.
“The market was changing and people were changing— we began to see a lot more opportunity in the international market,” says Woodroof. ‘Our challenge was that we weren’t speaking to the whole market and had to get better at that.”
In order to widen his firm’s reach and aggressively court international business, Woodroof hired global real estate expert Dr. Oscar Gonzales. One of the first orders of business was to create a separate logo for the firm’s international division and then position the company as experts through the use of international certifications and tactical strategies such as building relationships with law firms that specialize in international business and colleges that offered foreign language courses. Today, 32 languages are spoken within Woodroof’s firm.
Leading brokers agree that increasing profits in the new age of real estate will also require a careful review of all current processes and business decisions, such as the volumes of data brokers are pushing through various online listing portals. Power brokers are continuing to weigh the pros and cons of doing so.
As Forsman says, “We put people in business by giving our data away, and we’re not getting anything back.”
