Get Back to the Office - Leaders Edge Training

The pandemic has been a blessing and a curse on our industry. The blessing is that migration fueled a hot real estate market. The curse is that with agents not going into the office, it created a void that will be felt for years to come if we don’t start coming back together again. It’s time to get back to the office.

This week I was at a meeting in Connecticut with about 75 managers. It was the first time in over a year that the group got together live. Everyone commented about how wonderful it was to see each other. You couldn’t ignore the level of enthusiasm in the room. I could see it on their faces. I could hear it in the voices. Most of all, I could see it in how they communicated with each other and the excitement for the future with things going back to normal.

Many agents enjoyed working from home during the pandemic and say they plan to continue because:

It is cost effective (don’t pay office rent)
It is time effective (no commute)
It is convenient (you can multitask at home)
It has a tax benefit (write off for your home office space)
Less distractions (you are not caught up in office drama)

These reasons are all relevant, but they are missing the greater benefits from working from the office. There are several reasons why working in a business environment will increase your income and expand your business. We got into this business to make money, and the truth of the matter is, you’ll make more money working from the office.

We all want to work in an office that has a culture of awesomeness. That only happens if we get together regularly and build bonds with our colleagues. Let me give you five compelling reasons why you should work from the office, rather than working from home:

1

COMPETITION

You rise to the company you keep. The pack sets the pace. Most agents are competitive. We love the feeling we get from winning. Let’s face it… no-one plays to lose. Our business is a performance-based business and we all love the recognition (almost as much as we love the money). We are emotional creatures and we need constant reinforcement to stay motivated to work hard. If you are working from home doing 2 deals a month, you might be satisfied with that. But if you are in the office and your colleagues are doing 4 deals a month, you will try harder and close more deals.

2

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Everything I know in real estate was taught to me by someone who walked the path ahead of me. Other agents, managers, broker/owners, mortgage reps, appraisers, all contributed to my knowledge of the industry. In my opinion, field training is the best way to master your craft. There are nuances that you can’t find in a textbook that can only be taught to you by the people around you. If you isolate yourself at home, you will never gain this shared knowledge and it will negatively affect your income. Real estate is a people business, and the more you put yourself in situations where you are around like-minded, motivated people, it will have a positive influence on your career.

3

ACCESS TO REAL-TIME OPPORTUNITIES

If you are in the office and an agent brings in a new listing, you will often hear about it before it gets broker loaded which puts you at the front of the line. Sometimes this little advantage is the only advantage you need. I can’t recall the number of houses I have sold because the initial offer fell apart and I was in the office when the listing agent came in to vent about it. Often, I was able to get my back-up offer accepted with good terms and pricing because the seller was frustrated with the first experience as was a little more flexible. If you want to be first in line for opportunities, you need to be in the office to hear about them.

4

ACCOUNTABILITY

It is easy to hide at home. Soon, another year has gone by and you didn’t hit your goals. Accountability is a cornerstone to an agent’s success. When you own where you are and you push hard every day to meet your goals, you increase your income. That is why we created the FREE Agent Success App. It is like having a coach in your pocket reminding you what needs to be done every day to stay on track. Make your manager your Accountability Partner in the app so they can continually push you to be the best you can be. Going into the office and meeting regularly with your manager is like having a personal coach. They will be your biggest cheerleader.

5

FOCUS

When you work from home it is easy to get distracted. We end up watching Oprah, doing laundry, or walking the dog instead of working. That is why so many people who are health conscious go to the gym. It is not that they couldn’t work out at home but going to the gym and being around other health-minded people motivates them to work out harder. The same happens for your career when you work from the office. When you are around busy, productive people you focus on work. Agents tend to be a little ADD and if you work from home, you’ll find a million excuses not to do the tough stuff.

Let’s revisit the reasons why some agents want to continue to work from home and why those reasons aren’t benefiting your career as much as you think:

It’s cost effective (don’t pay office rent)
It may cost you an extra $10,000 to work from the office, but the increase in your production due to the access to real-time information will outweigh this cost. Your commitment goes up when you have skin in the game.
It’s time effective (no commute)
One of the secrets to success is getting up early, suiting up in professional attire and showing up at the office. If you work from home, you’ll tend to sleep in, put on your track pants, and be distracted. It may cost you an hour a day to commute to the office, but it will force you to get up, suit up and show up.
It’s convenient (you can multitask at home)
You’ll find every reason to do personal tasks around the house and you’ll avoid doing the tough stuff that makes you money. You should work while you’re at work and take time off when you’re at home. Have you ever experienced insomnia? Therapists would tell you to stop eating and watching TV in bed. Don’t confuse your environments.
It has a tax benefit (write off home office space)
If your office only takes up 10% of your house, you can only write off 10% of your expenses. At the end of the day, the time it takes to record all of these expenses is hardly worth the write off. You are better to pay office rent and claim 100% of it on your tax return.
Less distractions (not caught up in office drama)
Granted, there will always be colleagues in the office who can be a distraction. You’ve met Negative Nelly and Cranky Carl. Every office has them. You must get good at managing these relationships. The positive effect on your business from hanging out with the successful agents will far outweigh the negative effect of the drama queens.

Forcing yourself to go into a professional office every day, and work with successful people, will drive you to do more business than you will ever do on your own at home.

If you want to learn more about how to take your career to the next level, check out https://leadersedgetraining.com/virtual-training.

Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training