Why Individual Agents Will Struggle to Find Success as Real Estate Evolves

Chris Watters worked as an individual real estate agent for years before founding Watters International Realty in 2010. As he watched the industry change around him, he knew incremental growth wasn’t going to cut it and created a real estate model that challenged outdated clichés and yielded better results more efficiently. Watters quickly learned that the team model was the best way to withstand the developments and changes the future of real estate poses.

“In the 1980s and ‘90s before I entered the industry, the relationship between brokers and agents had less favorable splits because brokers did a lot more to support agents,” Watters said. “When discount models began popping up and splits became more favorable, the industry started to decline in terms of agent competency. Firms began upselling training on top of their splits,” he explained.

“Most people go into a career expecting their employer to train them and give them the tools to succeed. In real estate, this was offered but at a premium fee, meaning lots of people can't take advantage, making the failure rate very high,” Watters said. “Only about 18 percent of agents make it through their first year.”

This high failure rate is exacerbated by the multitude of roles an individual agent must take on in a highly complicated process. “A traditional agent at a big box brokerage has to be a great marketer, handle all accounting and bookkeeping, manage the transaction with the IRS, and pay for education and sales coaching to learn how to get their client committed to hiring them,” Watters pointed out. “It's a huge uphill battle wearing all those different hats. The old adage ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ rings true here,” Watters said.

The Watters International system aims to combat high failure rate and simplify agent’s roles through a robust recruiting funnel, training process and support team that helps train agents into real estate experts.

“As a part of the Watters International Realty model, agents leverage and co-operate with in-house marketing specialists and transaction coordinators through the sales process,” Watters said. “They are onboarded with plenty of leads so all they have to do is put the leg work in. Watters' team concept handles the back end of the real estate business, empowering the agent to do what they are best at,” Watters said. “They no longer have to oversee marketing or worry about selecting the right technology and can instead meet buyers and sellers face-to-face to deliver them the dream home and result they want,” he added.

Watters made a point to emphasize that while technology makes real estate transactions easier and more efficient, it will never make agents obsolete. “Agents are scared technology will replace them, but real estate is too complex for human involvement to ever be completely removed,” Watters said. Team models are better equipped to embrace and harness technology to better their offerings and keep businesses going than any single agent is.

Watters International utilizes an ecosystem of various tech applications that are totally integrated through a proprietary system developed specifically for its sales team, the first such industry tool of its kind. Watters said the brand put a lot of emphasis on embracing technology because of how it provides more transparency with clients throughout the entirety of the transaction.

“Great technology allows for better communication and consumer understanding,” Watters said. “Through technology, reports are shared and clients can receive live updates on how the real estate transaction is progressing. Incorporating seller, buyer and agent creates a transparency that is a huge differentiator for us,” Watters said.