As we enter business planning season for most real estate agents I’m already starting to see plans of doubling business from last year or something along those lines. Companies go through phases of grown and sometimes survival is success. As markets contract and the rules of the game change growth doesn’t always show up in the form of more units, more GCI, more volume, etc. Sometimes growth shows up in holding the line on your current numbers when the industry around you is 30% down. Stop and read that line again…. Many economists anticipate that over the next 12 months we will see somewhere between 20 and 30% less closed units than we saw over the previous 12 months. If that holds true there will be many businesses that shrink by 20-30%. If we are able to hold the line on our current production and/or market share we’re still winning. All we have to do is stay in the game for long enough for others to quit. If we hold the line while they’re quitting we’re setting ourselves up for victory and to take massive market share when they’re gone. Of course this message assumes if you’re reading this you will be one of the ones still with us however many will not be that lucky. NAR publishes the number of members by year directly on their website. Check these numbers out. This chart shows the number of members in NAR over a period of time.
