Vendors know real estate agents provide less value than ever before – a scary thought, maybe. But what’s scarier is that many agents seem to agree with them, and wholeheartedly so. As these agents join the race to the bottom, we’re watching in anticipation: who will be first to provide their service for free? As ridiculous as it sounds, that’s where many are heading.

The downward fee environment spreads every time a vendor doesn’t see value in the agency fee. According to Macquarie Bank, the percentage for service is declining from 2.16% in 2009 to around 1.85% in 2014. It will probably come in around 1.40% in 2016.

And our prediction is the figure will be more like 0.8% by 2020.

Today’s agents are confused as to how to add value worthy of their fees. They have become, merely, ‘facilitators of process’. In doing things the way they have always been done, we’ve become irrelevant. You sign up a vendor. Post a property ad. Don’t quote a price. The inquiry pours in. Then you begin the search for any real buyers in the mix.

You don’t know your buyers. You’re not bringing any value to the process. You’re merely a tour guide. And like the travel industry, consumers now want to navigate their journey without us. We need to offer more.

Building relationships with buyers is the key to adding value. Keep them involved in their segment of the market and they will put their money on the table when their hearts and minds align. It happens fast and the results are measurable.

We’ve forgotten these simple truths.

Remember, it’s 2 or 3 buyers that make all the difference to your vendors’ listings, not 100,000 page impressions, not click-throughs. It’s Business-101 to understand your customer’s need and meet them. Do our vendors want a million viewers, or 2 to 3 motivated buyers for their property?

Where some agents have lost their way, focused on getting as many eyeballs on their listings as possible, others are working intimately within their concise network of buyers. Outdated agents rely on web portals to drive traffic to their inbox before they begin the same shoot-in-the-dark approach each time. Some spend enough time on the phone to survive. That’s fine. But not good enough.

Yet agents (and the industry as whole) seem to think they need to adjust their model to become sustainable in a lower commission environment. Instead, narrow your focus, sharpen your offering.

A few agents are partway there. They have a ‘little black book’ built on working with buyers. But even within the same agency, no one shares this information.

The redundant agent qualifies buyers for the property they are inspecting. A modern agent qualifies them for all of their vendors… present and future. The agent of the future will qualify buyers for their entire sales team.

Think of it as continuous buyer-momentum rather than buyer-reach. Now there’s one tangible way to prove commission fees. Meanwhile, the agents who start from scratch with each new campaign are always 5 weeks behind. If they’re inefficient now, imagine when they’re competing against this new model.

Now imagine being an agent in a group committed to customer-centric delivery.

There is plenty of development and experimentation to be done with buyer practices and collaboration from agents working within the same network. Emerging agents will benefit immediately from a collective approach, while industry leaders will have a real incentive to share their experience – because it delivers ongoing value for their customers.

The agency of the future will encourage its agents to sharpen these focuses. Instead of broad shoot-in-the-dark tactics, the new approach will be narrower, more precise, and collaborative.

Value for consumers = fees for service. But you’ll have to prove your worth.