Floor Time.... (agents, Realtor, listing, sales)

[westchester]

How does your R.E office handle floor time......how much time, who gets refferels from calls etc......

[jdhall1]

Each person gets about 4 shifts a month, about 3 hours a shift, since we have a good amount of agents. All prospective customer call ins or walkins who do not ask for a particular agent or for the listing agent of that property go to the agent on duty.

[Michelle Morris]

We get 4 weekday shifts and 1 weekend per month. We get to pick at the end of the month for next month, based on top production picks first. If there are extra time slots when the sign-up period is over, it is first-come, first-serve.

[MikeJaquish]

No floor time.
Works for me.

[Eric Young]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

No floor time.
Works for me.

Same here.

It's referrals or starve.

[Mary Rives Brown]

We have an office of 15 people. Everyone in here, including the broker/owners, takes their turn at floor duty. Here are some reasons why:

1. Being the first person a walk-in or caller meets gives the agent the opportunity to practice any and all of their manners and real estate skills. Each unexpected visitor presents the opportunity for an agent on duty to practice thinking on their feet. Inevitably each of us learns a bit about what we thought we knew or what we need to know. In addition, the more-seasoned agents in most cases end up being the best ones on the phone. This accomplishes two things: they can convert casual callers into prospects and newer agents can listen to them and learn how they do it.

2. A stay in the duty chair gives the agent a set period of time to observe the comings and goings of other agents in the office and we have an opportunity to tune in to many things that are happening around us. Valuable information is constantly buzzing around in the air and because we have a congenial and cooperative team approach to our business it is a chance to catch up on what is happening on many, many levels. Our business is puzzle-solving, and often it takes more than one person to find a missing piece.

3. Whoever gets the call gets the client unless the agent already has a relationship with that person, in which case the client information is given to the other agent. Duty agents ask each call in first if they are working with one of our agents. Our office policy also states that if an agent hasn't worked with a client in 6 months they no longer can claim them and in that case they are fair game but our agents are told to ask a few questions in order to make sure they aren't stepping onto someone else's territory. This is, quite simply, The Golden Rule and it works. For the record, some of my best sales have come from those calls and walk-ins.

4. When an agent gets a duty call or a walk-in, they can find out why they called us instead of XYZ. In this way we can all find out what advertising avenue is working and which is not-this helps all of us to avoid the 'throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks method' of spending our dollars for name recognition as a trusted resource.

I could go on and on, but the bottom-line is this: We are in a market where we all need to go back to basics. There is nothing so challenging as the multi-faceted skill sets one must need to do that time well. None of us at our office feels too busy or important that we can neglect practicing the very skills that made us successful in the first place.

I have been in the business since 1985 and nothing has really changed except the people who come in and out of the real estate world. The enduring lure of this business is that everyday we will learn something new and useful and we have the opportunity to truly provide a service to the public. With all of the bad news out there right now about real estate generally there is the golden opportunity to elevate ourselves in the public's eye as professionals to be looked to for quality information services. That is what we sell, isn't it?

[palmcoasting]

An email is sent in to the office by each agent letting them know if we want floor time during the next month. This enables them to accommodate vacations, bookings with customers, etc. We have three shifts daily, so generally there is enough floor time for everyone. I haven't done floor time in 3 months but will be doing some in January. I believe the walk in traffic will be picking up so I'd like to see if I get any. Can't do anything but give me the possibility of picking up another customer. I actually utilize the time to do work which I would be doing from home if I weren't at the office. I am AMAZED to see agents with floor time playing computer games and such while they are ignoring customers looking at the listings in the window.

[DMenscha]

I have a small office and I don't compete with my 5 agents for floor time. They have 2 days in a row when they are responsible to be here. One of my agents doesn't seem to be bothered by showing up an hour late every day. Yesterday, a guy came in to list some land 45 minutes after we opened and 15 before the agent arrived. Guess who got the listing?

Doing floor time is a lot like being a firefighter, you never know when the alarm will ring, and you better be prepared when it does.

ditto the comment by palmcoasting about game playing.

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by jdhall1

Each person gets about 4 shifts a month, about 3 hours a shift, since we have a good amount of agents. All prospective customer call ins or walkins who do not ask for a particular agent or for the listing agent of that property go to the agent on duty.

In the late 90's, we used to get 3-4 2 hour shifts a week......sometimes more.....and they were good calls, as realtor.com was barely happening then, and there was just dial-up modems. You could bet on 10 sales or more a year from floor back then.....

[socrates1234]

Originally Posted by palmcoasting

An email is sent in to the office by each agent letting them know if we want floor time during the next month. This enables them to accommodate vacations, bookings with customers, etc. We have three shifts daily, so generally there is enough floor time for everyone. I haven't done floor time in 3 months but will be doing some in January. I believe the walk in traffic will be picking up so I'd like to see if I get any. Can't do anything but give me the possibility of picking up another customer. I actually utilize the time to do work which I would be doing from home if I weren't at the office. I am AMAZED to see agents with floor time playing computer games and such while they are ignoring customers looking at the listings in the window.

I remember lots of agents used to play computer solitaire while waiting for calls..the ultimate waste is taking floor time itself, when you should be so busy hustling with business that you don't have 2-3 hours down time during the day to twiddle in front of the computer!