Taking the Plunge – with a Dash of Realism

You’ve been an agent for many years. You’ve been recognized by ABR for your sales numbers on numerous occasions. You have a referral list as long as Peachtree Creek. And you’re well liked by everybody in your office.

So, with those accomplishment under your belt, you would make a great managing broker right? Well…not necessarily. Whenever one of Murray’s agents tells him they are considering a management position, his advice is always the same.

“I tell them, ‘Go home, sleep on it and come back to me tomorrow,'” he says. “The biggest problem in becoming a broker is, you give up a lot of your freedom as an agent. Most people are in personal production because they enjoy the freedom, and they like working when they want to work and where they want to work. That’s not the case when you’re a broker. So that’s my biggest question, is the agent sure that they want to do that? Because it means giving up a lot of your freedom.”

Rawlings says he also has to clear up misconceptions on how the managing broker position actually functions, and how it differs – quite dramatically, in fact – from that of an agent.

“I educate [interested agents] on what the role of a broker is, versus someone in sales, and the things that are different about my role today, versus my role when I was a top producer,” Rawlings says. “Sometimes, the agent’s idea of the broker position is, you work full-time and make more money. Those are not true. So sometimes, I have to correct some of the stereotypes that are out there.

“Yes, you do work a Monday to Friday schedule,” he continues, “but you’re also on call during the weekends, just like agents are. You do have an opportunity to make more steady money, but most brokers do not make as much as their top producers make. We are in a high-risk, high-reward business, and as a broker, my risk is lower than that top producer who has no steady income coming in.”

But beyond the differences in the position, there is the core difference in motivation. Agents strive to build their business, to help their clients and to sell their listings. Managing brokers, Jones concludes, have no such agenda, and only agents with a  selfless approach to the business will ultimately thrive as brokers.

“Zig Ziglar has a quote that fits me to a ‘T,'” she explains. “It says, ‘You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.’ Being a leader is never about you. I’ve told agents that all the awards, the accolades – all those things are gone. When you’re a broker, it’s no longer about your success. It’s all about helping someone else be successful.”