Where Are You Doing Your Business?

As a recent transplant from the Verde Valley to Phoenix, I find that where I’m doing business has changed. In the Verde Valley, I was an office girl, every day like clockwork. It was my routine. Office first thing and meet clients there, especially sellers when I was presenting an offer. It took them out of the comfort of their home and away from that laminate floor they installed themselves after watching HGTV and which they were sure would bring them $5,000 more in sales price. I worked the office advantage every which way I could. It was expected to meet people there, and people knew where to find me. But the distance traveled was a bit different in a small town.

Now, in the metro area, my time is spent a bit differently. I still have my office “office,” but I also have a home office that I am working out of more and I am traveling to my client, to the title company, to wherever. “Need to write an offer? Awesome… I know you are scared, it’s your first house and we are doing this in person… Yes, I will drive to you.” Presenting that offer now, I’m at the kitchen table of my seller. So if I am spending my time coming to you in Surprise via central Phoenix, while my office is in Scottsdale and my home in between, life becomes simpler if I use my “home base.”

I will tell you, my move south did affect where I do business, but I may have been behind the curve when I look at how the industry is evolving. Some of the road warriors have already transitioned to home offices or they never got into the office “office” thing. Some agents are working with their favorite title company to utilize their smaller conference room to meet clients. Overall, as an industry, many agents/brokers have reworked their overhead. Let’s call it a market adjustment. So what does the future look like?

As sales people, we are very relational. I like people… I like the discipline of working with other disciplined people who are driven but also willing to share collective knowledge. I enjoy that synergy of ideas and people to bounce them off of. In the southeast Valley, there is a brilliant collective of agents working at RETT (Real Estate Tech Tank). Awesome concept! They are not all from the same office, just looking to make money, synergize and work for their clients. I think it is one of the cool, groundbreaking ideas as our industry continues to evolve. How we do business and relate collective knowledge? Sharing is a beautiful thing. In the smaller market, if I didn’t know something but I knew someone in another office did, I called them. Metro Phoenix is a bit bigger, so RETT is pretty cool. I also am asking questions on social media to those who have put themselves out there representing their area of expertise. Ours is not an industry where you can or should become a hermit.

• So how are you reaching out to others?
• Where are you reaching them?
• What’s working for you now?
• How do you want to be working in the next 18 months?

The industry and how we work are evolving… Are you?

Tags: coworking, home office, RETT