There is a debate amongst real estate brokerages recently about their role in the real estate world: Are we here to service our agents or are we here to service the real estate customer?

The answer depends on how you want to define that servicing. Some brokers, and agents will tell you that agents should be the sole focus of the brokerage and the agents should be focused on the customer. I think that’s shortsighted and dangerous. Everything comes down to one key piece of the transaction and that is the customer. The customer is the linchpin to the transaction. Without the customer, nothing sold or purchased.

The broker/agent relationship is a partnership. The agent should be working with their broker to provide the best service to the customer that either can provide and vice versa. It’s a symbiotic relationship at every level. It’s near impossible for an agent to perform all the various tasks they need to perform to keep sales flowing through the funnel: marketing, prospecting, lead nurturing, transaction management, sphere maintenance, listings, showing, and on.

The brokerage should be focused on the support of those agents to ensure that the customer is serviced correctly. It’s the sales and service process that the brokerage’s heavy lifting comes into play. Transaction management, technology, marketing, training, brand promotion(both brokerage and agent), and accounting are all roles that the brokerage should be filling to allow the agent to focus on the service process and ensure that the customer has the best experience possible. When your customer base is happy that is mutually beneficial for brokerage and agent.

Brokerages need agents who are customer focused and understand that the needs of customers shift depending not only on their financial situation, their experience with home buying, and the market health; but also the channel that the customer arrives through. Sphere customers initial expectations are very different that Zillow customers.

Agents need brokerages that are customer focused and understand the needs of both the agent and the customer so that everyone’s needs are met in the sales process. Brokers need to make sure they have the infrastructure in place to ensure their agents succeed.

Agents: if your broker doesn’t understand this concept and isn’t actively working to make sure you have a partnership whose goal is to service the customer then you need to start looking for a partner and not an office.

Brokers: if your agents don’t understand this concept and aren’t working with you to service your communal client base then you have two options: 1) Train your agents to understand your respective roles or 2) start recruiting agents that understand the brokerage partnership and don’t just want someone to hold their license.