RISMEDIA, November 29, 2010—Since joining ERA Real Estate in 2009, President and CEO Charlie Young has been focused on growing the brand and differentiating the company from its competition by offering systems, tools and services to help its brokers and agents find success.
“When we decided to transition the company’s branding and services to be more effective in today’s market and in the future, we took a look at how to leverage the strength of the brand to make sure it was as relevant as possible in today’s world for consumers, sales associates and brokers,” says Young.
By focusing on growth and quickly responding to market conditions, Young and his team have set the company up for continued success in today’s difficult market and well into the future.
A Focus on Collaboration and Differentiation
In order to foster the culture of collaboration—a staple in the ERA® business model—the company is constantly working to assist its agents and brokers in staying up-to-date with what’s going on and what’s working in the fast-changing marketplace.
“We have a great group of brokers at ERA that are interested in working together to share ideas with one another,” says Young. “Everyone is always looking out for each other and doing what it takes to help fellow members succeed.”
While differentiation comes in many shapes and sizes, ERA Real Estate has introduced numerous new programs to help cultivate the information-sharing culture.
“Within the last year, we have worked hard to introduce programs that would help our brokers achieve success in today’s market,” says Melody Bohrer, vice president of broker services at ERA Real Estate. “We want to be sure our brokers and agents are always working toward success, so it is crucial to utilize knowledge from each of our brokers, so that we learn from our collective experiences.”
ERA Real Estate keeps its brokers and agents up-to-date and working together, driving everyone to success. Idea-sharing programs, like ACE (Agent Community Experts), a virtual session that brings agents from around the country together to share best practices, and Regional Council Connections, live meetings at which local brokers share ideas and discuss regional trends, capitalizing on the peer-to-peer connections that characterize ERA Real Estate. The team coaching and the market expert series are programs that provide ERA brokers with the knowledge of experienced business consultants and industry leaders.
Restoring Faith for Today’s Home Sellers
“One of our core competencies at ERA is our ability to network and take any feedback we get from our agents and brokers and pump it back into the company,” says Bohrer. In fact, it is this competency that was the impetus for the company to recently take a look at its ERA® Sellers Security® Plan—to ensure it’s attracting a wider audience of consumers.
“The ERA Sellers Security Plan is one of the staples in the ERA brand,” says Debbie McGriff, senior vice president of business development. Today’s difficult market made it crucial for the program to be repositioned in order to help a larger segment of the consumer population.
“With homes sitting on the market for months on end, the program wasn’t conducive to the current market,” explains McGriff. One of the biggest changes made to the program is an expanded absorption rate: from zero to nine months to zero to 15 months. This means a larger number of consumers are potentially eligible to benefit from this program, giving eligible sellers the assurance that their home will sell within a finite period…even in today’s difficult market. The ERA Sellers Security Plan can be successful, in part, because sellers are required to market their home under the ERA Gold Star Property program, which positions homes to sell by requiring a home inspection and staging. In addition, the program is well positioned so that ERA agents can provide senior living facilities and new construction with a unique option for their buyers.
Laying the Foundation for the Future
“We take our job of gathering and disseminating ideas and information seriously,” says Young. “We consider ourselves a broker-powered network and our main concern is to do everything we can to make our affiliates better.”
It is that broker-centric approach to real estate that has enabled ERA Real Estate to work collaboratively with brokers to develop, refine and execute tools and services that set its agents and brokers up for success.
“Staying ahead of the competition is about understanding the strength of the ERA brand and what we offer to brokers, agents and customers,” says Young. Being in tune with brokers doesn’t end with tools. It extends to a focus on core fundamentals, like an unrelenting focus on business planning, and mergers and acquisitions that promote growth.
Founded nearly 40 years ago, ERA Real Estate is constantly working to make sure it stays relevant to brokers, agents and consumers.
For more information, visit www.era.com.
