why less is more
Making the case for being a one-listing woman
The case for one listing at a time.
We like one. It represents a steadiness, presence, and attention. But if you were to suggest to a room of business brokers to list one business at a time, you’d see 🔥 flicker in their eyes. This goes against everything we're told in the biz-brokerage industry. There is one way to do things, and it looks like this:
An agent gets as many listings as possible and hopes to hell that something someday will close. Blessed be. 🙏🏽
Simple. Totally simple and easy to reproduce the model. But at what cost?
You’ll hear regurgitated, “it’s a numbers game” over and over. And yes, any sales training would tell you the same. The more cold calls you make the more meeting you have, the more meetings, the more listings, and the more listings, the more sales. And boom! Before you know it you’re jet-setting in the Bahamas and leading an MLM masked as a real estate firm.
I’m not saying this business model doesn’t work - it does. But you know what I’ve realized? It doesn’t work for me. 👎🏼
When I first started out in business brokerage, I worked with my dad. We had 100+ listings - all food & beverage businesses. Impressive, right? At first glance, yes. We were wildly successful, had a mostly good reputation, and at any given moment 4-6 agents working their asses off in hopes of making a sale. I’m speaking about my experience with a high-volume firm, but I'd argue that 90% of business brokerage firms suffer from the following:
High agent turnover
Splits that favor the firm
Moderate to low success rate
Moderate to poor quality of listings
Poor follow-up with clients after listing
Insufficient support and training
Yes, this sounds harsh but I want to illustrate what the "listings at all cost" mindset does to the integrity of business brokerage practice.
Here are some questions to reflect on
How can you possibly give good service if you have 10-25 listings?
How can you feel confident bringing a solid business to market when the pressure to produce forces you to take whatever listing you can get?
How can you give your clients the attention they deserve?
How can you trust the ethics of a broker if the pressure to close a deal is all-consuming?
Ok, ok…I hear you now, “but Patty, what about getting a CRM, or an assistant, or using AI to write my listing packages?”. Yeah, but I don’t think they can offset the toxic hustle culture of the brokerage industry.
Maybe some of you love the intensity and the extreme highs and lows of a straight commission lifestyle. I don’t care for it and it nearly made me throw in the towel. But hey, I like being dramatic and quitting business brokerage forever is def a theme around here.
But what if I can do it on my terms? I’ve come to a novel conclusion about my own practice. I like having one listing at a time. It suits me, and I can tell you from experience - it suits my client too.
Less of what I hate:
Bye-bye cold calling
Let’s forget that daily pressure to get more listings
No stress about the 12 listings that aren’t getting any action
No need to follow up with those 12 owners with the bad news/no news
Forget fielding inqueries from the small army of unqualified buyers
More of what I love:
I can give one client my full attention
I have the power to take on the listings that suit my fancy
I can be very organized and stay true to my system
My marketing can be top-notch
I develop a real relationship with the client and their business
I’ve seen it with my own eyes folks - brokers who are overworked & under-pressure are sloppy. The last thing you want when dealing with a sale as life-altering as someone's business is a sloppy broker. This approach may not jive with you, but I want to be proud of the work that I do and take every listing I get to closing.
Cheers to one at a time! 💪🏼
