If anything put fear back into the real estate industry lately, it was the sluggish first quarter performance. There are few valid explanations for it. Inventory is at a reasonable level and interest rates are low. People should be buying homes like they did last year.

Rather than trying to figure it out, it is time to apply a healthy dose of resourcefulness to your business. The best way to do that is audit your expenses and your people.

A Typical Story

There are times when WAV Group finds significant problems in a business that management did not see. But that is rare. Most of our clients know the problem, but they lack the gumption to fix it. We interview directors and management as part of our strategic planning process. After about three or four calls, every other call begins to sound the same. Everyone knows what is in disrepair.

The same thing happens with our customer satisfaction research. After the first day of the survey going live, little changes. The numbers just grow in support of identifying the company's strengths and weaknesses. We do research, build consensus, develop action plans, and assign those action plans to individuals. The action plan becomes the key ingredient for making a company resource efficient.

Audit

Every year, WAV Group tackles this task with brokerages and MLSs. You would be amazed at what we find. Accounting departments are very good at paying bills for stuff that a business is no longer using. Now that the tax season is over, it is a fine time to take a close look at your budget and your business plan to make some critical decisions that will tune your business for success.

It is also a good idea to create a calendar for contract renewals. You will want to provide yourself with a 120-160 day window if you are going to shop or replace a vendor. Regularly, we see firms wait until the last minute and making a change becomes unreasonable. Oh, and make sure that you make contract modifications for favorable terms on agreements that you do renew.