Office Management Software Makes Growth a Reality

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By Andrea Personett

Douglas McPherson?s Century 21 Sunshine Realty stretches across the state of Florida from Clearwater and Tampa Bay to Orlando. His company is more than a successful real estate firm. With an experienced visionary at the helm, Century 21 Sunshine Realty exceeds the real estate expectations of West and Central Florida residents with 19 offices and more than 700 knowledgeable sales associates, a relocation department, a marketing department and a commercial division.

McPherson started his company in the lobby of Clearwater?s Quality Inn Hotel in late 1996, grew to two offices and 40 agents by 2000 and in less than six years?with strategic objectives and the help of Lucero Summit office management software?became one of the largest, most successful real estate brokers in the state.

McPherson explains, ?Growth has been my primary goal from the very beginning, but I was new and didn?t know how to go about it. The franchise office didn?t help me much, but I figured good office management software would be the place to start.? McPherson spent thousands of dollars to purchase Power Pack. ?It was a dismal mess,? he says. ?Support was nonexistent. We were so disappointed and we ended up throwing the program away.?

McPherson knew he needed more than accounting software. He needed an operational program. ?In 2000, with only two offices and 40 agents, I realized we couldn?t really grow without a complete operating system like Lucero. Other software companies focus on one or two functions like accounting, but none was a complete system. Lucero was complete and very reasonably priced, and it gave us the opportunity to expand…because it gave us control over everything that happened. We could finally track anything, quickly and easily.?

Lucero was developed 20 years ago by Howard Jones. His research and development team continues to modify and customize the program based on constant feedback from more than 80,000 users in 18 countries. Lucero Summit sales and training is headed by Glenn Hunter, a former real estate broker.

The software program has been a driving force in controlling costs for Sunshine Realty. McPherson says, ?We run 19 offices with only 10 people?besides the managers and administrators in each office. From a management standpoint, Lucero?s reports are invaluable. The first thing I do in the morning is pull up sales pending, cash flow analysis and cash flow projection. I use virtually 75 to 80 percent of the sales reports each day.

?The reports are one of the differences I noticed between Lucero and the other software companies I considered,? he continues. ?The sales reports are very specific. We could get other custom reports for a reasonable price, but we haven?t needed additional reports. Lucero has every one we need?each with tremendous specificity. When I hire a manager, the first thing I do is introduce him or her to Lucero. The program is everything to us.?

Many large real estate company brokers don?t run reports themselves; they rely on staff. McPherson says, ?I feel incredibly comfortable running Lucero?s reports. They are so easy to use. For example, I started using the floor scheduling module a few years ago. Both the module and the report are very easy to run and I actually enjoy doing it.?

Because he is a Century 21 broker, McPherson?s staff enters the same information into both Crest and Lucero. Yet he continues to use Lucero even with the double entry. ?The downside of having to do the double entry was far outweighed by the benefits,? he says. ?It would be great to have single entry, but I am not walking away from Lucero. The program is so strong I would rather pay people to do the extra entry.?

One of the biggest reasons for Sunshine Realty?s success is in the area of agent productivity. ?Lucero is a powerful aid in productivity,? says McPherson. ?From a management standpoint, Lucero really tracks the bottom line. It tells me how much money each agent is bringing into the company. You can run ranking reports in several ways, but I rank agents based on dollars contributed to the company. I like to see what the gross commissions are as a percent of company dollar. That?s most important.

?I sit with a manager and say, ?if you can?t increase contribution to company dollars with your current agents, there?s only one option?you need more agents. You can?t take more from the agents you have?,? he continues. ?The reports don?t lie. They give us guidelines and tell us what we need to do.?

McPherson talks about how Lucero has increased his own productivity: ?Thank God for [Microsoft Windows] Terminal Server! I take my computer home, on the road, to and from hotels all the time. Being on Terminal Server makes all my reports?all my data?available to me no matter where I am. All the updates happen instantaneously, with no interaction from my office staff.

?Another thing I really love is the flexibility of the commission schedule,? he adds. ?It?s outstanding and saves me a lot of time. When we?re buying offices and companies, we never know what we?re getting into. The worst thing to do is make radical changes to the new acquisition?s commission structure. This program allows us to put in whatever commission structure the acquisition has. In fact, Lucero has unlimited commission structures, so each of my offices?newly acquired or seasoned?can have a different commission policy.?

McPherson?s agents use the Lucero program as much as the managers. ?Agents love the commission worksheet because it gives them running totals?totals that allow them to better run their businesses,? the broker says. ?There is so much in the program to help the agents. We?re using a new Web site that is fed by the data. The advertising module is creative and cost-effective; it allows us to keep track of the cost of the ads for each listing. Interestingly, our relocation manager fought using Lucero at first. Now she loves it and doesn?t know what she did without it.

?Even our title company uses Lucero,? McPherson adds.

McPherson recounts the adjustments he?s made in his company because of the reports the system now generates for him. ?All of our managers use the period comparison report for negotiating commissions with agents at the beginning of each year,? he explains. ?I use the sales by branch report to get a good idea of what?s going on. I?ve even fired some agents and managers based on the reports.

?Managers can say things are going well,? he adds, ?but the reports don?t lie. They put me in a strong position to be able to sit down with a manager and say, ?Look, you?re not cutting it.? I?m able to make sure my managers are held accountable with this system.?

McPherson believes that accountability has been instrumental in his company?s success. ?Everything that makes the company more accountable makes me more accountable,? he says. ?When I go to the bank, I take Lucero reports with me. I have a book that?s my Bible and in it is written business for the last three years, closed business, canceled business, productivity analyses. I print those reports, put them in a reference book and track the past in order to optimize my future.?

Sunshine Realty looks upon Lucero as more of a partner than a software vendor. ?I appreciate the responsiveness of Lucero,? McPherson says. ?They?re constantly modifying and updating the program based on the real needs of our industry. We are growing, with a capital ?G.? In fact, we doubled in size last year. Without Lucero I could not have done it.? RE

For more information about Douglas McPherson and his Century 21 Sunshine Realty, visit www.c21sunshinerealty.com. For more information on Lucero Summit, visit www.lucerosummit.com.