The standard agent commission for one side of the transaction was, for a long time, 3%. With the emergence of industry disruptors like iBuyers also came new agent commission structures.
There are nearly 1.5 million REALTORS® and an increasing number of iBuyers in the U.S. With competition as hot as ever, agents are feeling more pressure to cut commissions—but agents depend on their commission fees to make income.
With financial stability on the line, the answer cannot be to give in and back down. Instead, agents must step up and arm themselves with the messaging and tools necessary to deliver stand-out value to their clients. When you provide outstanding value and demonstrate it through your messaging (online, in presentations, etc.), you’ll feel less pressure to justify your income to clients because they’ll see your value and want you, specifically, to represent them.
Focus on the Right Message
In 2020, 89% of home sellers used an agent or broker to sell and, according to Zillow research, the top three reasons sellers use an agent are to sell faster, because it’s easier or because they don’t have the time and energy to sell on their own.
The top reason they don’t? To save money.
At the end of the day, when homeowners consider selling their homes, they care most about three things: minimizing their stress, selling quickly and achieving their target list price.
Make sure your marketing materials address primary seller concerns better than your competition. iBuyers are offering a quick and stress-free sale, and other agents will offer a personal experience, so what makes you the best option?
Craft your messaging to ensure your market knows that you’ll develop a custom home-sale plan for sellers and their specific goals to ensure you achieve the right balance of their priorities. Furthermore, make it clear that by listing with you, they can sell for top dollar, meaning they won’t really save money by listing on their own.
Find the Right Tools
Messaging only goes so far if you don’t develop the customer experience to back it up. Develop a team of partners and vendors who will help you shine by enabling you to provide a tailored solution for every client. Curbio works exclusively with agents, and we built our home improvement process to cater to the needs of REALTORS® and their transactions—with a focus on speed, reliability and transparency.
Curbio allows agents to truly customize the home-sale process by providing turnkey, risk-free and hassle-free home improvements that help REALTORS® get listings move-in ready fast. Whether the home only needs paint and repairs or a whole home makeover to meet sellers’ listing goals, we’ve got your back. Get started at Curbio.com.
Olivia Mariani is the director of Marketing at Curbio. To learn more about Curbio’s pre-listing home improvement solution and how it can help you grow your business, visit curbio.com.
