In the latest RISMedia webinar—“Preventing Agent Burnout: Leadership Strategies for Sustainable Success”—panelists Dave Greenbaum, chief customer officer at MoxiWorks, Kendall Bonner, broker associate at eXp Realty, and Brian Workman, broker/owner of Bender Realty LLC shared leadership strategies to help prevent agent burnout. The webinar was sponsored by MoxiWorks and moderated by J. Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate.
Kicking off the webinar, the panelists discussed what exactly to look for when identifying agent burnout. From productivity to dealing with constant industry changes, learning where agent issues stem from is the first step in helping them learn to pivot towards success.
“I think the biggest thing that we should notice is when an agent is producing a lot of activity, but not necessarily any productivity or effectiveness. They’re not seeing the return on investment of the time and energy that they put into what they’ve been doing,” said Bonner. “When you see agents working really hard, they’re doing lots of activities, but not feeling as if they’re getting that return, that’s probably one of the things that you’re looking for.”
Bonner also touched on the fact that while there are some agents who will take the initiative to reach out to leadership for help, it is important to pay attention to those who don’t raise their hand and quietly disappear.
In addition to day-to-day productivity and tasks, the industry is also seeing a lot of change. Workman touched on recent lawsuits and rule changes, including local MLS consolidation, and how staying in touch with agents and asking the right questions can help fill in the gaps.
“Leadership is doing your rounds with your agents,” he said. “You make sure you’re checking in with them, whether they’re showing up to the office or not. So calling out, touching the agent, seeing who’s not stopping in, who’s not checking in with the staff and who normally would.”
Scott also touched on recent changes in the industry, including interest rates and existing home sales, and how there are multiple reasons why an agent may experience burnout.
“Pre-COVID, we were at 5.3 million transactions of existing home sales on a yearly basis,” he said, referring to a conversation he had in June with Dr. Lawrence Yun. “Right now, for the last four months, it’s been at four million, down 25%. So, there’s other items coming into play in the marketplace.”
With multiple factors that come into play when talking about agent burnout, it is important to look at recruitment and retention and how to maintain long-term success for agents. Workman touched on his company’s approach, from providing the right support and services for long-term success to properly utilizing AI to provide value to agents.
Bonner also offered some insights into providing the right systems for agents.
“I have a pretty simple philosophy,” she said. “If we’re going to do something more than once, we should ask whether it needs a process. And then, once we decide that a process needs to exist, we build it. Then we ask, “Does the person we’re asking to do this actually need to be the person doing it? For agents, what can be delegated? What technology can handle it? What AI tool or system can actually process this for you?”
She offered a simple way to break down workflow and break through the exhaustion with four words: Systemitize (take the time to build the system), Delegate (when appropriate), Automate (if possible) and Eliminate (if it doesn’t work effectively).
Once you identify the reasons why agents are burning out, figuring out the right changes, especially when it comes to systems and technology, are crucial for success.
“Technology should eliminate work, not simply relocate it,” said Bonner. “If you’re adopting a tool that means another login, another dashboard, another database, another place that an agent has to check and another system they have to remember to maintain, I wonder if that’s really actually creating a leverage they’re looking to build.”
Greenbaum, representing the webinar’s sponsor, MoxiWorks, also dove into agent productivity and tools when it comes to agent burnout, offering insights on what brokers and leaders should be looking for with their technology.
“One of the things that we’ve learned as a company is that the tools that really succeed and the tech companies that exceed are the ones that don’t require the brokerage to acquiesce to the product, but the product acquiesces to the brokerage,” he said. “No two brokerages work exactly alike. And the tech needs to be able to adapt for that.”
The panelists also discussed different types of agents, their needs and how technology can help prevent burnout. Bonner describes three different types of agent approaches: Do it yourself, done for you and done with you.
“Leverage doesn’t look the same for every agent,” she explained. “Some agents just want that complete control and you have to be prepared for that. And then some want the brokers to get them 80% of the way there and they’ll personalize the rest of it. And then of course others want you to take it completely off their plate.”
“Strong leadership, I think, designs for all three of those.”
After identifying the ‘why’ for agent burnout and determining the best technology and support, the panelists discussed how leaders should encourage high performance and create the right infrastructure for successful agents.
Leaders should also be pinpointing where agents are wasting time or focusing their energy and helping them realign the right activities best for their business, as well as offering their agents proper support staff and centralized services.
“We don’t require them to be the Jack and Jill of all trades. We really just try to line it down to where it’s them and their sphere of influence and the people that they know, love and trust that they want to work with that hopefully already know love and trust them,” said Workman. “Spend your time working with them to pick up their business and their referrals.”
For Scott and his company, the approach to infrastructure focuses on a per transaction basis, utilizing the help of transaction coordinators to speed up the process while freeing up time to focus on what’s important: their database and engagement with their database.
“They handle the whole transaction process, and I’m glad it doesn’t take 35, 40 days to get the transaction process complete anymore. It’s more than 10 or so days and the move-in date is after that,” said Scott.
Bonner also touched on the importance of staffing, preparing for what agents need and the value proposition a brokerage offers.
“You want to build a profitable business that is sustainable and efficient,” she explained. “If you’re an existing brokerage with an existing value proposition, go back to your agents, find out what they need and what they would like for you to do differently, and then build systems around that.”
For Greenbaum, this is especially important when it comes to figuring out the right technology solutions, and differentiating among the options which would best fit your brokerage and its agents.
“When you’re shopping for your tech, make sure that that tech is able to adapt and service your support model no matter what it is,” he said.
Greenbaum concluded that agent productivity “isn’t about asking people to do more…It’s about the right environment, the systems and support to help them do their best work. And that’s something we’re very focused on at MoxiWorks. It’s the core of our products.”
For more information on how to improve agent retention, structure support systems, find the best technology for your brokerage and prevent agent burnout, check out the full webinar here.
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