On the face of it, all estate agents appear the same. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the only difference is the name, branding and faces behind the desks. However in reality estate agents differ significantly. So much so that we couldn’t possibly begin to detail them all here. However with the New Year firmly under our belts and many homeowners now looking to choose an estate agent to assist them with their big move, we thought we’d pick a less obvious difference, in this case staff pay, and provide an insight.
Estate agency is a sales environment and as with most sales based roles, the pay revolves around some form of performance related commission. However there isn’t just one type of commission and it can be structured in a number of different ways. This in turn has an inevitable knock-on effect on the behaviour and priorities of the individual members of the sales team you are dealing with. For example, the most prevalent arrangement is individual commission whereby each staff member is only paid on the sales that they personally agree and complete on. This has the benefit of driving all staff to find a buyer as quickly as possible. However the consequence is that once a sale is agreed, other negotiators in the office will not be interested in your property sale or indeed the progression of it. After all, what’s in it for them? The alternative school of thought, and the way R Whitley & Co do things, is pooled commission. Under this setup all members of staff work together as a team to find the best buyer (not just competing against each other to find any buyer in order to secure the commission for themselves) and subsequently collaborate to progress the sale through to completion, pooling their knowledge and skill to solve any issues that arise along the way. Further, the whole sales team will be motivated to help you whenever you make contact, rather than simply wanting to get off the phone as soon as possible, as once again, what’s in it for them?! We are strongly of the belief that a team approach results in the best customer service and outcome for our clients.
As always there is no right or wrong answer, but it helps to understand the implications when interviewing your prospective agents.
For a free no obligation market appraisal please contact R Whitley & Co on 01895 442711
This editorial is reproduced from the local Gazette newspaper published 1st February 2017