Hi,

I am now faced with a decision that will impact the rest of my life, and I can't seem to decide which way to go. Here's the scenario:

I have been in RE for 2 years, and absolutely love it. I work in a small agency and am currently the top agent, aside from the owner/broker. The part I am not crazy about is prospection, but if I look back finding clients hasn't been THAT hard. But, still, this is an item I don't think I'll ever be 100% comfortable with.

My first year was somewhat difficult, but this past one has been awesome. I have proven to myself I can actually make a good living at this, and have gained tremendous knowledge of my market, etc.

I have always been attracted to one of the top teams in my city. A few months ago I sent them my cv, thinking it would fall in the cracks and don't get noticed. I got a call back and had a first interview with the team director. I then got a second interview with the actual ''leader'' and his other director, which lasted 2 hours. I left that meeting emotionally drained and didn't know if I had gotten in or not. The next day I got a call saying the whole team wanted to meet me next week.

I think I may have gotten the gig.

Now, for the past week the reality of it all has actually hit me and I don't know what to do.

My worry is mostly tied to the financial and time management aspect of it.

According to the numbers I ran, I would have to close about 3 times as many deals to achieve the same salary I made this past year (based on the way the team works).

Now, I am a hard worker and am not afraid to get my hands dirty, BUT, I am also quite confident that, even if those clients are given to me and no prospection is needed on my part, the time it will take to close 3 times as many clients is probably astonishing.

I am at a loss. I can't seem to decide. I don't have a gut feeling that tells me which way to go.

I am now coming to you guys for some guidance.

Thank you!

I would stay put.

Why go from being your own boss, which you have done successfully, to someone else's worker bee?

If traditional prospecting is a turn off for you, consider pursuing expireds, or check out Jennifer Allan's books Sell With Soul, and If You Aren't Having Fun Selling Real Estate You Aren't Doing It Right. http://www.sellwithsoul.com is her website. She is a member of this board but hasn't been here in a while - you could send her a PM to say hi and ask her about her books.

Her methods are not liked by those who espouse traditional in-your-face prospecting methods.

I do not really prospect at all. I generate most of my business from the Internet and from personal referrals. I will contact expireds if I want the listing badly enough - I don't consider calling an expired the same thing as cold calling people out of the blue.

So . . . . what are the benefits (for you) of leaving where you are and joining this "team" ?

It sounds like they want you MORE than you need them !

What's in it for me?

Being able to be out in the field without prospecting. Somewhat of a ''guaranteed'' income coming from the commission pool. Less worry about getting business. More coaching. More clients. Being exposed to more real estate than I am now, being on my own.

What I forgot to mention that that my current listings (not sold before I join the team) - about 4, would now get signed under the ''leader'' (if my clients accept to sign of course). I would basically loose them as they would now enter the pool. All listings are officially under the leader's name.

I know it sounds crazy for me to go there. If I analyze how I tend to think, I realize that I start getting real nervous when I don't have anything official down the pipeline. Like, right now for example. Sure, I work with buyers and I have some listings, but I have notarized all that was to be notarized. That's when I tend to get nervous.

Also - when I say prospecting...I don't cold call people. I do expireds by mail, do lots of mailings, use Twitter and FB, do open houses for other brokers, etc.

Urrghghh.

I would never do it. But that's me.

There is always a trade off. I value my independence more than anything; I would hate having to "punch a clock" per se for someone else other than the clients I choose to make appointments with...

Your income isn't really guaranteed is it? Isn't it like everyone else's, based on sales? You are now interdependent on others as well as answerable to them. Not for me!

But hey...I'm just a rogue.

I'm not in Canada; but if you currently work under the auspices of a Canadian Broker . . . . wouldn't your current Listings stay right where they are, with your current Broker? At least that's the way it would be in U.S. jurisdictions . . . . the Listings BELONG the Brokerage.

And when you go to a new Brokerage, your new Listings will then belong to that Broker . . . . NOT some "leader".

The listings do belong to the brokerage but each brokerage will have it's own policies as spelled out in their contracts with regards to what happens with listings if you go to a different brokerage.

You join the team and fast forward 5 years to where you want to part ways with the team.

You have no experience generating leads.
You have no sales record to use to generate leads because the team takes all the credit.
You will be starting 'new' all over again.

Where you are now you can build up a business which you can take with you whenever you get the urge to move to a new company.

Why in the world would you want to join a team where they take 2/3 of your money?

[quote=Vermont][quote=MarieMtl]What I forgot to mention that that my current listings (not sold before I join the team) - about 4, would now get signed under the ''leader'' (if my clients accept to sign of course).[/quote]
I'm not in Canada; but if you currently work under the auspices of a Canadian Broker . . . . wouldn't your current Listings stay right where they are, with your current Broker? At least that's the way it would be in U.S. jurisdictions . . . . the Listings BELONG the Brokerage. [/quote]

Hi Vermont,

Yes, technically they would belong to my current brokerage firm. However, knowing my broker, she would most likely ask me to ask my current clients how THEY wish to proceed with the change. I would tend to think they will likely wish to stay with me (vs a broker they don't even know).

That includes a 2M listing. :-= Not sure I'll actually sell it, but I still worked hard to get it, and would hate to see it go to somebody else. :-=

Now I feel bad having pursued that option, if I'm about to tell them I'm not going ahead with it! lol

I guess I have to learn to be even more confident in my own abilities, and learn to deal with uncertainty even further....

The Listings do belong to the broker.

However in the part of Canada, what actually happens can really depend. What normally happens is that the listing is transfered over to the new brokerage with no problem.

However if an agent switches brokerages and the current broker wants to play hardball, I've seen a general brokerage for sale sign go up on the lawn or the listing being transferred to another agent within the original brokerage. When this happens often the listing is put on "DO NOT SHOW" and ends up back with the original agent after the contract expires.

After all as a client I want to deal with a specific agent not somebody that the brokerage assigns to me.

As to the OP. I think that this is a personal choice for you. We have some "teams" similar to what your describing around here, not something I would want to participate in, since the "name" broker seems to be the one making all the money, while all of the agents are on a revolving door.

However if the stress of finding new clients for you is too much, this might be a good thing for you to avoid burn out.

A 3rd option for you might be to form your own team with 2 or 3 other agents in your current office. Since your the top agent I'd bet you'd have no problems finding potential partners.

So you're already doing well, without significant prospecting, and you can do things pretty much your own way. Your option is to work for someone who is going to be calling all the shots, and you'll have to hustle to do triple the volume in order to make the same living.

Sounds like a bad deal to me. If they're THAT excited to have you, clearly they recognize it's going to be benefit them. It doesn't seem like you'll get nearly as much out of it as them. I'd rather be a top performer in a small group than a nobody in a big group.

BTW, I don't enjoy prospecting either, and I don't do it. SOI, referrals, internet marketing, and mailings have worked well enough that I have never needed to cold call, door-knock, or hound FSBOs/expireds (and I don't ever intend to do any of them).

You can always get coaching, training, etc. if and when you want it. Since I don't have to share my commission with anyone, I can pay for all the coaching I want and still be in fine financial shape. Whatever coaching the team offers had better be worth all the extra work you'd have be doing...

Don't feel bad for them, they will find another sucker or brand new agent to do their slave work for them.

Please don't sell yourself short. You've done well. Continue to do so.

Sounds like you've already sold yourself into making this move. If you're already good, it seems like you're hurting your long term prospects. Like bigtoe mentioned, you will have ZERO clients when you decide to move on. At the same time, if you dislike prospecting, then you can stay with this team until they disband, and move on to another team down the road.

Wow... I agree with the others. I too do not enjoy "traditional" prospecting. Although I'm quite new, I have found people seem to gravitate to me naturally because I'm simply being myself - meaning, I'm not being pushy, and I'm truly interested in them, and their needs.

If I were in your shoes, there is no way I would switch to being part of a team. You've clearly proven yourself and your abilities. Continue to do what works for you - and that obviously includes being your own boss. :) If you join the team, it will always be about the numbers.

And I'll point out, that because they likely prospect quite aggressively (not that there's anything wrong with that), your leads may be more difficult for you to manage and relate to, since YOU were not in control of the relationship from day one. If you're like me, you don't care for the prospecting part, you may find you prefer to be in charge of (and responsible for) the relationship from the get go, rather than having them simply passed off to you. Having "prospects" passed-off to me from someone else would feel awkward. But that's just me. :)

Instead of just telling them you don't want to work with them why not use the situation to your advantage?

Tell them the commission split is too small to justify the move and if they are willing to meet your terms you might reconsider. First figure out what it would take for you to switch, jack that number up so you have room to negotiate down and see where you end up.

They obviously want you, now find out how much they are willing to pay. This business is all about negotiations, so start negotiating.