I always look forward to the annual industry reports that rank the country’s top brokerages by transaction sides and sales volume. This year’s surveys are a good reminder about how many different players—with very different styles—are vying for sales and marketshare these days.
With a little digging, other interesting differences emerge as well—especially in per-agent productivity, the most telling metric of all.
Need an example? Just go back and look at the Top 10 brokerages in RISMedia’s 2019 Power Broker Report, as ranked by transaction sides.
Variety of Styles
The Top 10 firms on this year’s list are an interesting mix of newer players and longtime power brands ranging in size from just over 1,000 agents to more than 50,000. There’s a wide variety of styles and business models at the top—all of them boasting big-time sales totals.
As CEO of RE/MAX, I’m proud to note that RE/MAX Results, a 39-office powerhouse in Minnesota and Wisconsin, ranked No. 9 in transaction sides in RISMedia’s 2019 Power Broker Report. Owner John Collopy, CEO Brenda Tushaus and their outstanding leadership group have built a cutting-edge, highly strategic operation around a single mission: to help their agents be as successful as they want to be.
It’s obviously working. RE/MAX Results’ 1,048 agents closed 24,008 transaction sides last year. That’s an average of 22.9 sides per agent—an impressive number to say the least.
What makes it even more impressive, though, is how it compares to the per-agent productivity of the other nine competitors in the Top 10.
A Wide Gap
Among those 10, RE/MAX Results is an outlier. Only two of the other nine firms have sides-per-agent averages in double digits—one at 15.5 and one at 12.1. Another comes close at 9, followed by a 7.8, a 6.8 and a 6.7. For comparison, these figures aren’t too far from the overall Power Broker average of 7.5 sides per agent, based on data from this year’s 1,000 qualifying companies.
After that, there’s a significant drop to the last three Top 10 averages—a 4.7, a 3.9 and a 3.8.
That’s a 6X range of per-agent productivity among just 10 companies—the ones at the very top of the list. Surely, the gap would be even wider among a larger sampling.
It makes you wonder what such a disparity looks like from an agent’s perspective.
Decisions
Think about it. If you were an agent choosing an office, would you see a difference between a brokerage averaging nearly 23 sides per agent, and one averaging less than four? If you’re serious about the business, you want to be closing sales constantly—not every few months. Right?
To me, per-agent productivity says a lot about a brokerage—and the brand. Companies with high per-agent averages have systems and competitive advantages that support peak performance. Whether through leadership, culture, professional development, accountability or something else entirely, these offices focus on creating an edge that helps agents succeed.
The result is a dynamic, productive environment that attracts even more agents who are wired to aim high, push hard and reach higher levels. Personally, that’s the place I’d want to be.
Adam Contos is CEO of RE/MAX, LLC. For more information, visit www.remax.com.
