Experienced agents have often seen it all, from the ups and downs of a sometimes volatile market to difficult clients. While these seasoned pros may be well equipped to handle many common situations, they sometimes need support from their brokerage, according to ONE Sotheby’s Real Estate executive vice president Reginald Fairchild.

Fairchild, whose firm does not hire inexperienced agents, provides a willing ear and sound advice for agents who have just joined the Sotheby’s team.

“I don’t like to think of agents as struggling,” Fairchild said. “I like to think of it as what do we do for agents who want to increase their business.”

Fairchild sees his role as helping agents achieve more success and therefore improving business for the whole firm. Sotheby’s provides training, coaching and mentoring for agents who are new to the brokerage. For instance, a team that recently joined Sotheby’s has dramatically improved its sales.

“We have a team in Fort Lauderdale that came into Sotheby’s not doing $10 million a year consistently, they came to us and consistently started doing $30 million a year,” Fairchild said. “Now they’re close to $50 million a year today.”

Fairchild’s job description is to help each agent maximize his or her potential. He achieves this through the programs that Sotheby’s uses, but with the understanding that every agent is unique and has different needs.

“There is no outline, there is no exact formula, there is no exact template because this is not an exact science,” Fairchild said. “It comes to determining what each individual agent needs to support the business from a management standpoint and provides them with those tools.”

Fairchild often advises agents who are trying to break into a new market and are unsure where to begin. He recommends that agents diversify their business as much as possible and devote energy and resources into the market they want to enter. He cited a Sotheby’s agent who recently sold $350 million in condominiums in New York City to a group of Chinese billionaires. The agent had the vision to see an emerging market and made 15 Pacific Rim trips as she laid the groundwork for the deal, he said.

“If an agent wants to break into a new market or a new price range, it has to be a matter of obligating themselves and holding themselves accountable to devoting 20 to 25 percent of all efforts they use to sustain their business to that new market they want to break into,” Fairchild said.

The dearth of available real estate in Florida also brings agents to Fairchild as they seek help with a shortage of homes going on the market. He sees the positive side, as fewer available homes results in a more robust seller’s market. He advises agents to reach out to potential sellers to see if they’re interested in listing their property.

“It requires an agent to be sharp, on the moment, keep their focus on the radar screen so that when something comes on the market they’re able to get on it right away,” he said.

Fairchild meets with a group of agents every week to offer guidence and advice. He tells agents who have set specific goals to develop a game plan and to hold themselves accountable. The agents he works with are largely business-minded and goal oriented. Apart from those he meets with personally, he makes himself available around the clock to the 380 agents who have his cell phone number.
Fairchild also gives his agents support when they encounter interpersonal issues in the field, such as agents wanting to co-list properties or wanting Sotheby’s to lower its commission. Protecting the brand’s reputation is a principle that Fairchild instills in his agents. He recently advised an agent who was working on a transaction, but the agent on the other side of the deal wanted Sotheby’s to cut its commission.

“The agent advised the other agent on the other side of the table that they can cut theirs by $10,000, we’re not cutting ours by $10,000,” he said. “The agent told her ‘I’m gonna call your manager.’ I said if that agent calls me to complain I’m going to give you 10 gold stars for standing up for the Sotheby’s brand.”

The deal was completed without Sotheby’s cutting its commission.

“The number one thing I deal with are clients that want us to discount our commission,” he said. “We don’t do it. We’re not a discount brokerage. We’re ONE Sotheby’s International Realty.”