Over the past 6 months, I’ve had numerous (too many to count) conversations with Garron Selliken about tools we could build for HomeQuest clients and/or M Agents… Rather than just building cool stuff because we *could*, Garron consistently brings almost every conversation about new tools back to an understanding of how the tool is going to fit into the Agent’s business flow. So much so, that I’ve completely reoriented my thinking and developed a mental model of the agent’s biz cycle in order to track where various tools and ideas fit into the work flow of an agent.
After presenting this “mental” model to a few different audiences, I’ve realized that this model is not only providing the backbone for my presentations, but also for how we think of our product development cycle at HomeQuest… And because I’m using this concept as the backbone of the BuzzRE OC event we’re currently organizing for later this month, I thought I’d share this slide and my reasoning behind it’s importance.
The idea behind the slide is that there’s a core cycle common to all agent biz cycles:
- Using some type of lead generation technique/tool, agents identify prospects out of their sphere or by directly reaching out to consumers
- Using client management techniques/tools, agents provide the information and tools so that they can turn help prospects become clients
- Using sphere building techniques/tools, agents bring past clients and other people from their community into their sphere
For many highly successful agents, the core cycle (sphere to prospects to clients to sphere ) is the basis for their “referral” business… which, even among “internet-savvy” realtors, is the main source of business for most realtors.
The main reason I like this tool is that it helps shape how I think about various tools. In other words, an agent’s “hub” (i.e. website/blog/home search tool) can be an awesome lead generation tool, but only part of the story if good client management tools are missing. Other tools, like DocuSign, don’t add much to lead generation, but can be valuable in the client management stage of the cycle. And finally, some tools, like Facebook, Twitter, and even largely blogs, are awesome at sphere building, but rarely make for effective lead generation or client management tools.
Tomorrow, I’m going to publish the outline for the BuzzRE OC Event and start to explore how the presentation from each of the speakers (we have 8 great speakers lined up!) can fit into the agent’s business flow. However, for today, I thought I would end by asking a few questions that this chart raises for me:
- Are there any agent work-flows that wouldn’t fit into this cycle?
- Where does “your” product fit into this cycle?
- What parts of the cycle are most in need of useful tools?
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