by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Though each office chooses their Top Producers in its own way, the distinction all boils down to who is exceeding in this market and the importance of letting others know about it.
“Recognizing a level of achievement by an agent is one of the most important things we can do as brokers,” said Brenda Horst of Re/Max Unlimited. “It shows we care and appreciate their hard work. It’s an achievement for our company as well.”
Top performing agents, especially in this market, need that recognition to help sustain their business and lend credibility out in the field.
“Sales associates work hard to achieve this Top Producer status and really appreciate the recognition,” said Donna Overman, manager of Watson Realty Corp. Mandarin North office. “It verifies to them, to the office, to their customers and everyone working in the real estate business that it is possible to meet and exceed your career goals in this current economy. It keeps everyone moving forward and it is a positive thing for people all around. We are fortunate at Watson Realty to have sign boards outside of our offices and the offices can display the names of the top lister and top salesperson each month.”
Overman said in February that a newly licensed Realtor was recognized as the top lister in her office.
“This was her first time achieving this status and she can use this title in her marketing materials to attract new customers,” said Overman. “For new associates this recognition is so positive for their career and can continue to motivate new and seasoned Realtors.”
Over time, those who continue to be Top Producers separate themselves from the pack.
“Difficult markets separate the best agents from less productive agents,” said Pete Dalton of Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty. “Sellers and purchasers want to use agents who are productive and give good service. Production recognition helps these customers differentiate between the top agents and agents who may bring less to the table.”
Debbi Mann of Exit 1Stop Realty is adamant about getting her office’s Top Producers recognized. Her Top Producers are chosen based on the closed volume for each month.
“The recognition helps boost their confidence,” said Mann. “It’s good for them to see that their hard work and effort is paying off. I think they deserve the recognition. They’ve done what they need to do be that Top Producer and it helps them to see that their hard work and effort is not going unnoticed.”
Top Producers are chosen in a variety of ways including closed sales, listings, and volume. Each office or company has their own designated way of choosing the tops in their company.
“Top Producers for our company are determined by the amount of closed sales or listings sold and closed,” said Karen Palmer of Homes by Deltona. “In other words, in any transaction there are two sides, a listing side and a sales side. For example, a $200,000 house sells and closes The listing agent of ABC Realty counts that as a $200,000 sale and the selling side, XYZ Realty counts it as a sale of $200,000. If the sale is in house – it’s $400,000 of production. The agent on the listing or sale is credited with this amount. Monthly it’s a total for the month. Quarterly it’s the quarter and the year is the total for the year.”
Palmer said in her company, top producers are top producers totally based on the numbers. In their new construction site offices, the site agents are like listing agents and would be credited for one side.
Re/Max does things a little differently to determine who their Top Producers will be.
“The system we use to track transactions and closings has a Ranking Report which we run after the end of each month,” said Horst. “Top Producers for closed transactions are ranked and recognized in three different categories including tops in total volume closed (value of homes sold), in gross commission earned for the month and in total sides closed (number of properties sold).”
Re/Max also recognizes their Top Listers each month based on number and volume.
“Re/Max Florida also recognizes agents by naming top 100 agents for each month by using volume closed,” said Horst. “Re/Max International gives Club Awards for the year’s performance and are based on Gross Commission Earned. Our agents are self-motivated, but being recognized for their hard and smart work is always appreciated.”
Magnolia Properties uses volume to determine who gets to be Top Producer of the month and year.
“If there is a tie, we use units to break it, the one with that volume and the most units will win,” said Diane Moss of Magnolia Realty. “For listing agents it is the number of units, not the volume. If there is a tie, then we break it by volume. We have office software that lets us know where everyone stands.”
Watson Realty looks at closed business by volume for each month and recognizes the Top Salesperson per our three regions based on those numbers.
“There is one individual or team recognized per region per month and then an individual or team per office per month,” said Sarah Miller of Watson Realty. “Watson Realty Corp. also recognizes the top lister for each region and each office (based on number of units listed). The third category is the rookie of the month. This is based on the first year with the company and one is chosen per region per most months as the highest closed volume compared with the other rookies.”
Annually, Watson’s Top Producers are recognized as achieving closed volume in one of three categories Rookie of the Year, President’s Award, Silver Pinnacle Award, Gold Pinnacle Award and Platinum Pinnacle Award.
The Platinum Pinnacle Award goes to sales associates who closed volumes of over $25 million in one year.
Century 21 has two end-of the-month and yearly categories that include Top Producers based on total gross commission’s earned and top lister based on the total number of listings. Ties are broken by the total sales price of those listings.
“At Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty, we have three categories for Top Producers,” said Pete Dalton, broker of Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty. “They include Top Lister, which is for most listings taken (volume counts on in the case of a tie for units); Top Sales, which is greatest sales price of properties placed under contract and Top Producer, which is greatest gross income generated.”
They recognize an individual agent monthly in each of their five sales offices, a team of over four or more agents and a team of fewer than four agents.