Q & A

Q. We are about to set goals for our sales department for the first half of 2019. What KPI's do Best Practice agencies consider to be reasonable?

A. 
1. Apprasial to list rate: 80%
2. List to sell rate: 90%
3. Vendor paid advertising: 95%
4. Repeat/referral rate: 75%

Q. What percentage of sales departments collect 100% of vendor paid advertising in advance?

A. Four out of ten (40%) collect 100% in advance; 35% collect 100% on account after sale; 15% collect only part of the total due; 10% do not collect any advertising costs from the vendor.

Q. Does Best Practice have any statistics on the age of top 10% principals and sales agents. 

A. i) The average age of an Australasian top 10% residential agency principal is 53 years. They have owned the agency, on average for 15 years.

ii) The average age of Australasian residential agency sales agents is 43 years. They have worked in the industry for an average of 5 years.

Q. I am a sales agent. I have exceeded my monthly commission target the last 6 months in a row but I seem to have plateaued. Do you have any suggestions on how I can go to the next level?

A. Hire a personal assistant.

Q. We operate a suburban agency in Sydney with a total of twenty eight employees, including two principals. Most new agencies seem to be smaller start-ups. What is the norm?

A. The overwhelming number of Australasian agencies (95%) employ fewer than twenty persons, including principals. Three quarters (75%) of these businesses are single principal operations.