Creating Great Partnerships in a Shifting Market. Who’s your partner?

Referral partners meeting

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“Walk with the wise and become wise,
 for a companion of fools suffers harm.” – Proverbs 13:20

My mom used to say, “tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you want to be.” There are so many analogies to this that sometimes the truth of this statement loses its impact. As the real estate market begins another shift, it seems there are thousands of real estate professionals and leaders that have never experienced a shifting market. Welcome!

In 2006, I became the leader of a large real estate office in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learning how to lead a real estate office in the worst recession in history was an adventure! The team of people in my office, my coach, and my mentors turned that experience into a foundation for success. When a shift changes, you need to really lean into your partners. Who are your partners?

In the real estate world, I see your partners in a few areas:

  • Networking Groups

Who do you sit with at networking events? Do you participate? Do you volunteer? Is the conversation around solutions or problems? Are you part of the solution? Is the discussion around new ideas or implementing tried and true strategies of the past? Where we go to get information and associate ourselves with like-minded professionals says a lot about your idea of partners. Have you evaluated your network groups to ensure these are the people that will help guide you through this next phase?

  • Social Media

Schedule time to look at social media. Set a timer. Use social media to share solutions and new ideas you learned from your networking group. Answer questions and be a beacon of information to guide your clients and friends through the multitude of data out there. Watch motivational videos and share them with others. Pay attention to who is getting access to your mind and your mood. 

  • Leadership

Whether you are a leader in this shift or looking to a leader for guidance, this one is important. Many analogies have been given about looking at the flight attendants and listening to the captain’s voice during turbulence. By the way, no airplane ever crashed due to turbulence. Sometimes the bumps and scary noises are just that! The analogy is a good one.

What perspective are the leaders giving you to adjust during this shift? As a leader, what books are you reading? What podcasts are you sharing with your team? How do your social media posts represent you and your leadership style? 

When I ran a real estate office in 2008, I did a daily blog. The blog was first an email sent out to the agents in my office to let them know what we were doing in the office that day. I invited them to training events, reminded them about network meetings, and generally encouraged people to come into the office! We wanted to see them and felt they would feel less alone as part of the team. Many agents in those days were scared and embarrassed by their lack of business and needed to come into the office to re-energize.

  • Your Realtor & Loan Officer Partnership

If you have never had a Realtor/Loan Officer partnership, this is KEY! It is how 1+1=4! I had a loan officer partner during my entire career selling real estate. When I was a standalone Realtor, my loan officer partner and I met weekly to hold each other accountable for our business and personal goals. We set weekly activities on our own and some together to increase our sales pipelines. We knew each other’s business plans and families well. The encouraging nature of these meetings and weekly sales activities helped us succeed. 

As a Branch Manager of a real estate office, my in-house loan officer was my partner. They would come to my staff meetings as part of the staff to get clarity on activities and vision for the office. We would also meet weekly for accountability and sales activities to do together. The additional layer was that we also discussed recruiting talent! As a leader running in-house mortgage relationships for a large real estate company, the same activities lead to fantastic results. I met weekly with the leadership team to discuss goals, vision, recruiting, training, and culture. We helped each other be successful. ALL of these partnerships were truly a win-win scenario.

Be really clear on who your partners are during this shift. I promise that you will be creating bonds that will last a lifetime. They will be the current that helps direct your boat to success or failure. 

If this is your first shift in the real estate market, please subscribe to my YouTube channel for helpful tips and suggestions. If you think you need a little more one-on-one support, click here to schedule a free 20-minute consultation to discuss if coaching is right for you.

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