Worth Clark broker Chris Day on mastering the 100% commission model recruiting

HousingWire

In this episode, Chris Day, managing broker of Worth Clark Realty in Orlando, shares insights on transitioning to a 100% commission model, effective recruitment and retention strategies, and how to succeed in the competitive Villages market. Discover how support, personal branding and innovative systems drive growth and success in real estate.   Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:   Transitioning to 100% commission model   Recruitment and retention strategies   Market insights for The Villages and Central Florida   Support systems and training for agents   Market challenges and opportunities in Florida   Related to this episode:   Chris Day's LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-day-mba-1a82a025/  Worth Clark Realty  https://worthclark.com/  The Villages  https://www.thevillages.com/   The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.

Transcript

00:08Today on the Real Trending Podcast, I am speaking with Chris Day. He's the managing broker of Worth

00:14Clark Realty in Orlando, Florida. He specializes in the villages, which is a very unique micro

00:21market of Central Florida. And we talked all things small brokerage and a small but growing

00:28brokerage and how he's managing that growth and what he's doing to recruit while also selling

00:35real estate. And if he plans to make the leap to not selling anymore. So enjoy the podcast.

00:43Thanks so much. So Chris, welcome to the Real Trending Podcast.

00:47Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

00:48Yeah, I don't often get to interview people right in my backyard. So it's good to see you.

00:54Yep. You're practically a neighbor. It's pretty cool.

00:57Exactly. So you've built a fast growing office in Central Florida in just a few years. So let's

01:04talk about that. What did you see in this market early that others may have missed?

01:09So I was previously a traditional brokerage model owner, a franchise owner. And one thing I noticed

01:17pretty quickly, and at the time I had 30 agents, we were eight and a half percent market share in

01:23the

01:23villages. But I noticed many of the agents did not use what was in the franchise portal. Think of it

01:29like there's 20 things in there that they can use. And the usability was pretty slim. So I always

01:36struggle with that being a broker, a franchise owner that we're paying for something and it's not

01:41getting use. And I will tell you when I landed here in the February of 2022, I wanted to see

01:51what it was

01:51like about these 100% models. And once I started running my own deals through, I was like, wow,

01:58this is the future. This is really going to crush the traditional model.

02:01And so there's a big misconception about 100% that you get what you pay for. So basically,

02:08you're not offering any agent services. And I know Worth Clark does offer some agent services.

02:13So talk to me a little bit about that. That is definitely a common misconception and one that

02:19I had my own myself. And like I said, once I started running my own deals through it, I said,

02:23holy cow, this is the future. One of the most important features to me, because I'm a working

02:30broker is one called Compliance Plus. And it keeps me moving. And think of it like when I

02:35do a new listing and let's say I've done it live with a seller, I come back and scan it

02:40and I email it to docs at worthclark.com and they input it all in the rooms for me.

02:46They answer all the questions on the deal and so forth. And, you know, who's involved in the

02:51transaction, but I would guesstimate it saves me an hour to an hour and a half per deal. So

02:56as a top agent, I could not live without that. So the service is here and I'll get into it

03:02later,

03:03but I definitely support at a very high level. Yeah, absolutely. So you've added agents quickly

03:08and you're, like I said, you're a fast growing brokerage. What's your philosophy on recruiting

03:14versus retention and how do you balance the two of them? So I actually really like recruiting.

03:20I like, I will send emails that are very professional into different brokerages.

03:27I have sent videos out there to the masses to all, you know, let's say five, 600 agents that are

03:34in the local market. I definitely like recruiting. Not every broker likes that, but I am very passionate

03:40about what I'm selling, which is this model. And I definitely get a lot of FaceTime coffees,

03:47lunches with agents and kind of just tell them how great it is. Retention comes for me from

03:54supporting at a high level. And I'm the type of guy that even though I sold at a high level

04:01last year,

04:02I mean, I sold 30 million, but I still try and answer my phone, deal with problems and situations

04:08very quickly. And from a support level, I'm supporting probably better than they've ever seen

04:13at other brokerages. And when they start telling their peers in real estate about that, it leads

04:17to more people coming and, and more retention. A great example is I had an agent that had been

04:22at several brokerages and she said to me, geez, Chris, I could never get a broker on the phone.

04:28And this could be in a traditional, you know, brokerage model. So I try and answer, I try and deal

04:33with problems. I know what it's like to have those problems because you can imagine in over the

04:37thousand plus deals I've been involved in, I've seen everything. So I try and relay that. I have all the

04:42answers. So it's really cool. Um, they really appreciate what's in this brain over the last

04:4822 years, you know, that I've dealt with in real estate. So have you ever considered making the leap

04:53to, um, a non-competing broker? You know what? I have such a passion, not only training and

04:59developing, but I love doing open houses. I love meeting people. Um, I think I would miss that too

05:04much. Um, I definitely have agents that bring it up as a concern for instance. Oh, Chris, you're

05:10competing, but I always say there's no phone number coming in. Like it's not like at other

05:17places where there's a main number and someone is calling in and I'm taking the call and running

05:21with it. Um, I always believe in it's your list and your lead. I do occasionally get some calls

05:26in because of random ways. And I forward that immediately to the agent. But, um, the other

05:31thing is, and this is a true story, even from my past life, but it'll tell you a little bit

05:34about me. I remember, um, getting back to the office and, uh, talking with some agents about

05:40this great home. We had done a CMA on. And after we talked further, we're like, Oh my God,

05:45we did the CMA on the same exact house. And what I did was, um, I definitely took the high

05:51road. I

05:52called the seller and said, Hey, great news. You're going to have this great agent and me in the

05:57background. They're going to take very good care of you. I didn't know we were both there, but you

06:01know, I took a step back because I've been blessed in this business and I do very well.

06:05And I think what's made me do well is, um, not fighting for every dollar, right? Because, uh,

06:13those things have ramifications in the long run. Yeah. I know it's a very difficult transition to go

06:19through because you have to take a loss of income in order to transition. But sometimes it's the next

06:26step that you have to make in order to grow the brokerage even bigger. Um, so that's why I asked

06:32whether you would, would consider that or not. Um, because it is, it's tough. It's tough to, to do.

06:39I'm definitely feeling, and I'm not saying this in a negative way, getting slowed down. So, um,

06:44it's back to that same philosophy. I don't need to make all the money. Like my goals now are not

06:50as much,

06:51uh, personal goals, but they're more company goals. I want to build something, you know,

06:54the biggest, uh, brokerage around. And I think that will be my next, you know, calling and that

06:59will be a special thing. So it's going to slow me down. I don't think even this year I can

07:03perform

07:04like I did last year, but I'll still be a top producer if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah,

07:08absolutely. Um, so a lot of brokerages can grow fast and then stall. So what systems or disciplines

07:14have you put in place to make sure your growth is sustainable? So we talk about support, but two other

07:19things that I do is I, I treat this in many ways, like a traditional brokerage model. And what I

07:26mean

07:26by that is every Tuesday at 8 AM, I have a regular team meeting. Um, that is, uh, it can

07:35be in person.

07:35It can be, um, over Google meets. And then I also record them as well. And so if an agent

07:41isn't able to

07:42see it, we use a Slack channel with all the area agents, and I will put a recording of that

07:47in there

07:48and they can always watch it later. Uh, Thursday morning from eight to nine operates as what I

07:53call CE continuous education and same thing. I'm training on a topic like actually this morning,

07:58uh, I trained on some of the new reports that were in showing time that may be helpful to

08:04differentiate my agents on their listings when they're going on CMAs to show a seller, like,

08:10Hey, look at the money I'm investing. Look at this additional information I'm going to be able to

08:13provide you. But that's kind of mixing in a little bit of, um, the traditional brokerage.

08:18And again, that leads to more support and retention. I mean, I've had agents with me

08:23and they said, geez, Chris, I've learned more from you in a couple of months than I did in 13

08:29months at my past brokerage. You would be astounded with what is out there in the traditional brokerage

08:35model as far as training or lack there at all. I'd say, I mean, one gal even said, Chris, I

08:39got

08:3912 links for videos. It was like getting VHS tapes of how to do the job. That's how outdated it

08:45was.

08:45And it didn't prepare her for anything. So my, my goal is to teach, train, equip, make people better.

08:51Um, one thing that always comes in my mind is real estate is an 87% failure rate. And I

08:57always

08:57feel as a person, if I can move that to 80% or whatever it is that I've done my

09:02duty to the real

09:04estate world. Yeah, absolutely. So you work in the villages, which is a unique and competitive

09:11kind of micro market. Um, so what does it take to win there? I mean, attitude and mindset are,

09:18uh, very important. Um, I am a very self motivated person. I wake up every day with, uh, will drive

09:25and ambition to succeed. Um, this is a unique market and, um, it is an intimidating market for

09:33some, like for instance, I have a very good friend that's a broker and used this and he sent me

09:38a

09:38referral and I'm like, man, why are you sending me this referral? And he's like, Chris, I don't know

09:42the ins and outs of all the different properties, but you really have to know your stuff here.

09:46There's many different types of homes, homes range here from when the villages started, uh, in the,

09:52you know, 40 to 50 years ago as a manufactured home community to homes now selling it in the 3

09:56million plus range. So you've got to know your stuff. Um, what I bring to the table is I know

10:03every

10:03floor plan. I, uh, even agents will come back with it from a CMA and they'll text me, Hey Chris,

10:09you know what this floor plan is? And I'll tell them that exact floor plan. And the other 10 names

10:12it was called. I know every street, I know every golf course. So I'm bringing that type of knowledge

10:18to my agents, but, but it's definitely a tougher market to come into. I've seen, um, other agents that

10:24may have been great other places and really struggle here because it's a different animal.

10:28It's a different buyer as well. Um, seniors have different needs because, um, they've been thinking

10:33about this for a long time or they're, or they're struggling to downsize, but you really got to

10:37know this market. Um, other things that are here are the, um, the monthly amenity fee, which you have

10:43to know that, you know, in and out. And also this is a community development district. Um, the villages

10:48was an early pioneer of that concept after the Disney celebration community. And you've got to know

10:53how that works. I mean, if a buyer, you've got to imagine if a buyer's asking you some of these

10:57questions, Chris, tell me how the bond works. What's, you know, tell me what's the amenity fee is and

11:02know what that covers. If you don't know it, you're not going to make a sale. Yeah. Uh, you

11:06know, I have to know whether the, the, um, rumor about all the little balls on the golf

11:12carts, the loofahs is true. I heard they all, each color has a different meaning. Yeah. That's

11:19a funny rumor. There's been a lot of rumors like that. Um, you know, uh, I even remember

11:24one agent, this is, they had, think of it like one of those, uh, big five gallon water jugs

11:30and they stuffed in all the loofahs in there and they had it during like an open house or

11:34a broker open house. Like guess the number of loofahs in here to, uh, win X. And then

11:39also a funny story is, um, my, uh, a gentleman I work with named Michael Simpson. He was, uh,

11:45selling the new, um, top dog at a Walmart, a house. And, uh, I remember joke, you know,

11:54joking with her at closing about having a loofah end cap at Walmart. And so she laughed hysterically.

11:59She knew about it as well. So that rumor has been out there a long time.

12:02Yes, for sure. Um, so you described kind of leveraging your standing and influence locally.

12:08So how much of brokerage growth comes from down to personal brand versus like platform

12:14or, or compensation model? Personal brand has definitely helped me. Uh, this is a marketplace

12:20I've been in for over, uh, 22 years, um, as a top producer. I think a lot of times as

12:26agents,

12:26you'll see people being very successful and you wonder, geez, how was that person doing

12:32it? And, uh, you want to emulate that you want, you a lot of times think that that person

12:36has a secret sauce when in actuality, the secret secret sauce is always, it's always hard

12:42work. Um, when I started this market, I felt like in a given day, I was doing things three

12:48to four times more than the average agent. And you do that every day consistently for a long

12:53period, you start running circles around people. So my personal brand has definitely been helpful.

12:58And that's another thing that I offer. Um, I teach everything that I've done to be successful

13:04and to, I would say I've sold over a thousand houses in the villages and I don't hold anything

13:08back. And I think a lot of people sometimes do hold something back, but I tell them every

13:12marketing thing I've done from just sold letters to, uh, e-marketing to everything. This is how I've

13:18gained business and they love that. Yeah, absolutely. So what are you seeing right now

13:23in the central Florida, um, market in terms of buyer and seller behavior that might like surprise,

13:29um, people outside of the market? Well, in central Florida in general, I mean,

13:33you, you live in a similar neck of the woods as me, uh, inventories rising. Um, we've now had a

13:39spike

13:39in interest rates days on market is longer. Um, Florida is also having challenges with,

13:47uh, insurance. You know, I read an article the other day that insurance had went up like 70%

13:52over the last, you know, since 2019 or something like that. So it's, we're facing that we're facing

13:57property tax issues, which there's legislation on the floor right now to deal with, but it's very

14:03interesting. Florida went during COVID timeframes to netting netting around 300, 400,000 people in a,

14:10you know, in a year into the state. And most recently I saw it was about 20,000. So there's

14:15been other States that have, uh, I think Florida's dropped to number eight. So there's many challenges

14:21out there that a lot of people wouldn't realize, but this is where, when I do business, I want to

14:27educate a seller and say, Hey, I know you heard the other one sold down the street, you know,

14:32multiple offers, uh, in two days, but let me tell you the reality of what we're most likely to face

14:37and, um, and I can show them all those statistics and it helps me because some people, um, over promise

14:45and under deliver, and I never want to, um, set the wrong expectations on the front end and have it

14:51come back and bite me later. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so looking ahead to the next couple of years, where,

14:56what do you see as your biggest opportunity or even your biggest risk or both, um, as a managing

15:02broker? So the biggest opportunity, uh, well, let's start with the biggest risk. Um, it's back

15:06to that, um, we're growing tremendously and, um, I'm one human being, right? So the, the risk is,

15:14can I keep the support level at a high level? Can I, can I continue to deliver? Can I continue

15:19to

15:19answer the phone? Can I deal with any problem expeditiously and it's not slipping to the next

15:23day or many days? So that's, that's a risk as you get bigger, uh, less attention for people.

15:28Uh, the other risk that I see out there is these a hundred percent models are really

15:33growing in traction. Some of the fastest ones that are growing in the country, uh, are a hundred

15:38percent models. And with agents, this was even in the traditional brokerage model world. There's

15:44always a shiny object that one of these brokerage has, right? And you're like, geez, I wish I had

15:50that. Uh, the shiny object for me is already here. It's compliance. Plus I was telling you,

15:56I can't live without it. Uh, that's my shiny object. Uh, that's what I try and convey to

16:01other, other people. Um, my biggest opportunity is, um, just continuing on the trajectory that

16:09we're on. Uh, I feel right now we're at about 85 agents in the villages and another, you know,

16:1315 or 20 around central Florida that I manage that doesn't factor in South Florida or Tampa,

16:19but, uh, the biggest opportunity is, is continuing to grow, you know, continue to, uh, bring the right

16:26people on, um, teach them about these, this model and how successful it has made me and how it can

16:33help you. So there is a ton of opportunity. I, I personally feel that every agent is going to

16:39transition into one of these models and I just got to get the word out there so I could talk

16:43to them

16:43about it before the next other type of model. Yeah. Um, so we're going to go into a lightning

16:48round. So it's just kind of your first thought. So one word to describe the central Florida market

16:53right now. Challenging. Most underrated growth lever for a brokerage. I'm going to say support.

17:00That's, that's, that is, that's, if it's there, you're going to, that's, that's huge. It's, it comes

17:05down to support and it comes down to compensation. I'm going to deliver the highest level in that first

17:09one. Um, you're recruiting pitch in one sentence. I'm going to teach you everything that I did to

17:14be successful along the way. And if you emulate it, you too will be successful. Biggest mistake

17:19new brokers make. Not supporting. Um, I, I can expound if you want, but not supporting their agents.

17:27Okay. Um, and then one thing you're doubling down on this year. More personal attention.

17:32Okay, great. Well, Chris, thanks so much for joining the Real Trending podcast. It was a pleasure

17:38for speaking with you today. Yes, Tracy. Thanks. So thank you ladies so much for your time. I enjoyed

17:42spending some time with you and you have a great day. Thanks.

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