Shirley Morrison
Broker/Owner
CENTURY 21® Coastal Advantage
Jacksonville, North Carolina
www.c21coastalnc.com
Region served: Southeastern North Carolina
Years in real estate: 30-plus
Number of offices: 3
Number of agents: 60
You recently opened your own CENTURY 21® brokerage after more than 30 years with the brand. Tell us about the experience.
I felt like I was wrapped in a coat of armor. They made sure a representative came here to ensure that the transition was smooth. We did this on January 1 and had a transition period, but they are still working behind the scenes, ensuring that everything runs smoothly for my agents and me. They literally had people fly down here to help retrain agents on the tools and systems. It’s just been phenomenal.
What traits do you look for in agents, and how do you attract top talent to your team?
I believe that it’s more than just a paycheck. We’re all in this to make a living, but I believe in building relationships and making clients for life for both my agents and myself. I’m not looking for someone who is just trying to see if this is the next patch of green grass. I want someone who wants to grow their business, and I want to help them do just that.
What do you think today’s agents find most valuable when considering which brokerage to join, and how do you ensure your office provides that value?
With the agents I select, I like to see that they value having a team behind them that is invested in helping them succeed and is here to catch them when they fall. You need a support team behind you, and many agents look for training, as well as a mentor or business coach, to guide them along their journey. That’s exactly what we provide. I have systems in place, business planning and scheduled training for new agents that’s not just thrown together. It’s a whole system of sessions where they are actually learning and working simultaneously, implementing what they learned in real-time.
How do you and your agents approach the client experience?
My motto has always been, “building relationships, making clients for life,” and I love that the rest of the world truly sees that now—not that they didn’t before. At the end of the day, we have systems to ensure that it’s not just about the transaction. We want to continue the relationship. People want to work with people they like a lot, and usually, if you become friends with those people, they continue to refer others to you. We have schedules in place to touch our sphere on a regular basis. I’ve coined it the “Power of Four”—four quarters in the year, four reasons to touch base with them and four databases.
What strategies have you implemented to snag listings during this time of limited inventory?
It boils down to consistency and persistence, focusing every day on prospecting for people who need to sell a house. You have to talk to people every single day. You don’t just sit back and wait for them to come to you. That means networking and modern-day prospecting, which is texting, phone calls, door-knocking and canvassing the neighborhood. It’s all of the above and, of course, social media plays a role in all of this. It’s working your sphere, asking for the business, staying in front of them and ensuring that you’re doing it intentionally.
For more information, visit www.century21.com.
