Agent Academy: Farm Fed Agents vs Wild Agents?
In episode 20 of Agent Academy, I want to discuss which type of agent you are raising. If you are a team, are you raising farm fed agents or wild agents? If you’re an individual were you working one way in your early years and now working a different way?
A metaphor I use to describe Farm Fed Agents vs Wild Agents is Farm Salmon vs Wild Salmon. When a wild Salmon, sees food it is going to do anything to get it because it does not know when it’s next chance will be. Whereas, the Farm Fed Salmon are not going to have as much fight because they live in an abundance of food.
Wild Agents behave in the same way with a lead, they will do anything in their power to keep that lead, whereas Farm Fed Agents are more relaxed with their leads.
Early in an agent’s career, mine included, when I got a call from a lead I would stop what I was doing and start working, setting up their saved search, and sending them emails, because there was no way I was going to waste time. As time went on and the leads became more abundant those habits started to go away.
Both Farm Fed Agents and Wild Agents have Pros and Cons.
Farm Fed Agents
Farm Fed Agents have great retentions because they become dependent on the supply of leads. There is also margin advantages because you are supplying the business, you can have a greater split structure. Farm Fed Agents experience psychological advantages allowing agents to operate in a positive manner and stay confident even if they lose a deal or a lead. However, Farm Fed Agents are more wasteful, they don’t appreciate all the hard work of getting leads and business.
Wild Agents
You can anticipate lower expenses with wild agents because they can make more out of less, and don’t need as many leads because they go after each one aggressively. There is also a margin advantage with Wild Agents, the split is higher because of the lower cost. Wild Agents also have more grit, they do not allow business efforts to go to waste.
Both have advantages but will need a different model, with different expense structures and split structures. Make sure that your model equals the profit you are looking for and the margin makes you happy.
When you are creating your business image of exactly where you want to be in in the future, think in terms of if you want a marketing based business, prospecting based business, or a blend of the two. Prospecting based businesses tend to have team members that are more wild, marketing based businesses will succeed better with Farm Fed Agents.
The most important thing is that your business reflects who you are and takes you and your team members toward your vision for the future.
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