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Want Top Producer Status? Join a Team

by James F. McClister

matt-laricy-americorp-chicago

Matt Laricy is the managing partner of the Matt Laricy Group at Americorp Real Estate

There are two ways for an inexperienced agent to reach top producer status: work hard alone for years, or join a team. In every city, the bar for top producer status is set at a different height – some very high, some very low. Chicago’s is high. Achieving such tremendous sales in a single year is an admirable feat for an agent at any experience level. It’s not in the cards for most first-year agents, but being part of a top-producing team could be.

“We’re a boutique shop” was Matt Laricy’s lead-in for why he preferred gaining top producer status as The Matt Laricy Group, rather than as individuals.

“This team thing’s becoming huge – everybody’s getting on it,” Laricy said.

It’s not just good for the person whose name is on the team’s marquee, the face of the top-producing Matt Laricy Group explained – it’s also good for the less-experienced agents who can then leverage the success of the team they contribute to.

“People like the big number,” he said. “It’s America; we’re attracted to fast and sexy.”

Total sales and total volume are numbers that can sell a shopping client, and for agents whose sales and volume reflect their inexperience, being able to draw from a collective effort is a significant advantage. In Laricy’s words: “It’s good for the group to show off its numbers.”

But not every team is organized to redistribute the rewards of the collective effort, which is why Laricy stressed the importance of establishing teams “in a fair way.”

One way the Matt Laricy Group accomplishes that is by not requiring team members to include their sales in the group’s reporting for top producer status if they don’t want to.

“I always give people the option, if they want, if they brought in the business themselves, they can claim it under their name,” he said. He later admitted, though, that he did not understand why any new agent would not want to be part of a team, considering the credentials-by-association that immediately become available to them.

“I would think it foolish not to join a team if you’re an agent just starting out,” he said.

But what about the age of the lone wolf power agent? What is happening to the solo producer standing so tall that their entire market is in shadow?

“You get to a certain amount of business,” Laricy said, “and you’re going to need help regardless.”

Selling real estate is no longer strictly a one-person job. While there are obvious advantages for agents to join a team early in their career, it can also be a smart move for the seasoned seller chasing the big numbers.

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