As part of my daily routine I read hundreds of blogs among them are 94 personal blogs of REALTORS and affiliates associated with the real estate industry. One of the many reoccuring themes I read is the REALTORS and affiliates are unsure what an association does for them on a daily basis and why they exist other than to bill them.
Frankly it is a fair question; I have long said that we do a lot of great things at the association but one of the things we do worst than anything else is informing our members of them.
Well to start lets examine the staffing at the Bay East Association of REALTORS. We have 30 full time staff members and as I stated in an earlier post around 7000 members. That is roughly one staff person for ever 234 members.
Out of the 30 staff only 2 staff members are focused on billing. The rest work in various areas including marketing and member benefits, ethics and rules compliance, government affairs, training and of course technical support. In fact over 25% of the staff is in technical support where we support everything from the MLS platform (Paragon) to iTunes (I have even helped out with a microwave or two).
In an average day I respond to about 230 emails, take an average 10 phone calls that last an average of 30 minutes each. I also work with various third parties and business partners to ensure that my members data is protected and they have access to the very best in tools and resources. On average our technical support center takes over 4000 calls a month and fixes over 150 computers on site. Our training department gives an average of 2 classes a day and does an average 2 on site training visits to member offices a week. Our Government affairs Director is frankly the busiest person I have ever met; I honestly think he only sleeps between meetings.
The point of this post is not to say that we are so great.
Truly it is to share with hopefully some readers out there that do not understand the level of commitment their association staff has in their sucess. To call what we do merely a job is as much an understatement as to say all REALTORS do is sell houses. Our passion, our very reason for getting up in the morning is to see that you are successful.
The best rewards I have recieved ever have been the excited call from a member telling me she sold her first house and that the CMA I helped her prepare sealed the deal on the negotiation. Or when a long term member called me and asked if we could meet and go over an e-marketing campaign as he had a house on the market for 3 months and he was concerned that his client was going to lose her home. We sat down strategized and the next week he an offer on the table. Its when a council member brought in grapes for us to enjoy, and when we learned about the birth of the third grandson of a member.
I am sure at your own associations your staff have hundreds of stories like these and more. I am frankly proud to work with the people I work with and would have no other job over what I currently do. Now that you have read my post let me know how an association can better inform you of what they are doing on your behalf…
-Mark Flavin
Ah, articulating the value of association membership. It’s a lot like technology — nobody notices it until: a) something goes wrong or b) the bill arrives.
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