Melissa Collins
Principal Broker, Weichert, REALTORS® – Market Edge
Harrison, Arkansas
https://www.weichertmarketedge.com
Region served: North Central Arkansas and Southern Missouri
Years in real estate: 14
Number of offices: 1
Number of agents: 17
After a record-breaking past couple of years, how are you maintaining growth in your brokerage?
Weichert, REALTORS® is consistently named one of the best real estate franchises for a reason. The training and technology support to run a real estate brokerage is tremendous. Having business partners who complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses allows for assigning management and training opportunities to help our agents grow confidence in their prospecting for listings and how to best serve their clients. As a result, each year we rank as one of the top brokerages in our market.
In what ways do the resources provided by Weichert help streamline the agent’s job and make them more productive?
Our agents have access to the best real estate trainers in the business. Additionally, our technology platform allows us to have a single location for lead, client, training and transaction management. We also provide the tools for all the latest internet and social media advertising. When independent brokers say to me, “I don’t want to have to pay franchise fees,” I think to myself, “If you only knew what you’re missing out on.”
What customized tech strategies are you using to attract first-time buyers?
Our buyer’s consultation plan helps to educate the first-time buyer about the highs and lows of traveling the journey to homeownership. We’re then able to connect them to a lender who will travel along with them. Our plan explains client agency in a way the first-time buyer understands and illustrates that for a Weichert agent, this isn’t a sale, but rather, a service we provide to help them.
What type of culture do you work to maintain in your brokerage?
Our office culture, according to our agents, is a 10 out of 10. I attribute that to the team atmosphere we’ve created. Our agents help each other. We pray together regularly, have book club meetings, work on community events together and invest in their success.
What is one of the challenges your market faces, and what are you doing to overcome it?
Low inventory due to a lack of quality housing. As the principal broker/owner, I personally get involved in the economic development of our community. I served as chair of our Chamber of Commerce during a pivotal point in strategic planning to bring developers to the area to build housing. We’re starting to see the benefits of those efforts.
What is your team focusing on in Q2?
Growing as a brokerage will always be part of our plan. My partners Travis Arnold, Franklin Harp and I are always planning for opportunities to grow locally, add services for our agents and clients, and expand to other markets. Weichert allows us to be “recession-proof” because our agents are always ready to adapt and adjust to whatever the market holds. It’s fun to help a new agent develop and watch the confidence when they walk out the door to meet a new client. We want to focus on relocation because our community and industries are growing. People are relocating to the Ozarks for all we have to offer in Harrison, Arkansas.
For more information, visit https://www.weichert.com/.
