In House Transaction Coordinating Service vs. Virtual Transaction Coordinating

This is an actual email I received today: “Would love to talk to you about the closing coordination services you offer. We have a gal that does it in our office, but our phones are SO busy that it is hard for her to do that and answer all of the calls without things falling through the cracks!” As of this blog post I haven’t spoken to the agent who wrote it however sadly her situation is not unique. Well meaning offices often bring in a Transaction Coordinator into the office to help the agents with their productivity. Initially everyone is jazzed about it, for just a small fee for each transaction they can have the help of a Transaction Coordinator who has been personally selected, screened and placed in the office by their broker or manager. Generally one of three scenarios play out: - She’s a rock star, can handle 75 transactions a month and doesn’t mind workingrock star - Transaction Coordinator 60+ hours a week to do it (at least initially). However as we all know working 60+ hours a week for too long leads to burnout and while she may be doing great for a while, soon this star either fades or implodes. - She receives little to no training on handling the volume of real estate transactions she’s expected to handle and soon many agents discontinue using her services because they are frustrated that they don’t get the personal attention they thought they would. Rather than having a weekly meeting, a website to post updates or even emails they pop by her desk and “hang out” which only distracts her and slows her down. (thus things fall through the crack) - A storm begins to brew, the agents aren’t happy because things are missed. She has no leadership to help her methods of coordinating are putting out fires and being reactive, rather than a system to effectively do her work. In addition to handling the transaction coordination she’s also being asked to do other “favors”. She’s covering for the receptionist who is on vacation, she’s helping out on the phones with showing instructions and even creating a few flyers for some agents in a pinch. Over the last 12 years I’ve seen these scenarios happen or heard this from our clients time and time again. In a few cases I’ve been called in and the transaction coordinator joined my team and the office then had all of its transaction coordination done off site and they were happier for it all around. In other cases I’ve done consulting work to help the office create systems and train the Transaction Coordinator to use them. Sometimes agents just get frustrated, after all most of them are independent contractors and they just call on a service like ours to help them out. After a few transactions with us they realize that they really didn’t need someone onsite after all and that with their TMC transaction coordinator being assigned to only manage transactions they receive a much better level of service. Your clients deserve the best from contract to close and so do you. This doesn’t mean you have to do it all, it simply means bringing in the best solution for you and your clients. GREAT NEWS – after a lovely chat with the Real Estate Broker in North Carolina who sent the originally inquiry I’m pleased to say she said “YES” and is one of our newest clients. Now the person in her office that was the Transaction Coordinator /Receptionist/Office Admin can now focus on helping make things in the office run smoothly while our team ensures the transactions are coordinated. I LOVE happy endings.