by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Imagine that you are sitting at your office on floor duty. You are going over your game plan for the next week, doing some paperwork, maybe finishing a game of Tetris and patiently waiting for the phone to ring.
The phone rings. Aren’t you wishing that the caller wants to purchase over $10 million in property? With cash?
It could happen. And it did.
Liz Bobeck of Prudential Network Realty in Avondale took the call.
“Maybe it was meant to be, but this man called and he wanted to buy 50 to 300 condominiums, no more than $300,000 each,” said Bobeck. “I was like, ‘OK’. I thought it was a joke.
“So, I gave him my information and he said he’d be in touch. I didn’t hear anything for a little while and then one night I was in my kitchen cooking and my phone rang. It was the same man. He said he would be in Jacksonville in two days and so the next day I was panicking trying to find these 50 to 300 condominiums for him.”
When her client, David Bernstein of Larkspur Properties LLC from New York, arrived in Jacksonville, Bobeck and her associate Josh Nugent picked him up at Jacksonville’s Hyatt Hotel.
“The first thing we sold him were 10 condominiums at the Chelsea Lofts for $1.3 million,” said Nugent. “It was a short sale and it finally happened.”
After that, Bernstein bought 183 condominiums at Cobblestone at Eagle Harbor for $10.3 million.
“And we are looking for more for him,” said Bobeck. “He owns properties in Naples, St. Petersburg and Miami and only deals with Prudential agents.”
Bobeck was always a proponent of floor duty, but now really realizes the importance of it.
“Sometimes it’s a little flat and then all of sudden you get business,” said Bobeck. “I got two listing appointments recently all from sitting there for three hours. It’s definitely worthwhile. The more you do it, the better chances are of getting business.”
Floor duty comes in several forms, from sitting at the office for three hours at a time, forwarding the office phone to the home office or cell of whoever is on floor duty, or having a receptionist answer the phone and forward non-specific calls to those on floor duty.
“One of basics in real estate is floor duty,” said Judy Hicks of Re/Max Coastal Real Estate. “My very first sale in was a floor walk-in. We do not have to be ‘in’ the office to accept ‘floor’ calls. I like that concept because I can be at my home office being very productive and have a call and still have access to the information and be able to help the caller. I’ve always had success with floor calls and closed a transaction recently from a call. I never pass up floor.”
Ed Foreman, president of Watson Realty, said floor duty is very beneficial and important to his agents.
“We have a great walk-in traffic and our telephones are very busy,” he said. “Having floor duty allows our sales associates to provide immediate and excellent assistance for our valued customers. Floor time is still effective and a good income producer for our people.”
Forman said most offices have receptionists who assist with the telephone calls. All sales associates have direct lines with voice mail and transfer capability. Most associates transfer their office direct line to their cell phone when they are out of the office. Any calls for specific sales associates are transferred to their direct line. General calls where a specific associate is not requested are handled by the floor person.
Foreman said his company has numerous listings, sales and rentals that are from sales calls and walk-ins daily.
“Our telephones are very active and result in lots of business,” said Forman. “We have lots of walk-in customers due to our name recognition and office locations.”
A survey of real estate offices shows a variety of ways that the duty is handled.
At Magnolia Properties, floor duty is voluntary.
“We carry a large inventory of listings, so the phone rings a lot,” said Stephanie White, the company’s Director of Agent Development. “We cover all day, seven days a week. About 70 percent of the calls tracked (other than showing appointments) are sign calls. We have implemented a QR code system (Tourmenow.com) that allows the agent to track leads from sign hits, as well.”
She shared a recent success story from a floor call.
“A call came in for a $300,000 buyer, the agent sold and closed in about 45 days,” said White. “Just like any system, it’s only as good as the people working it.”
Davidson Realty also is a big supporter of floor duty.
“Floor duty is still a very important part of my business,” said agent Mirtha Barzaga. “Depending on the location of your office, you might be able to pick up a lot of business by being on floor. In my office, because of our location, I strongly recommend the new agents hang around the office and a lot of times they can even take advantage of the overflow of walk-in business we get.”
Barzaga has been with Davidson Realty for four years and still takes floor half a day every Saturday and Sunday.
“The other half of the day I take care of my appointments,” said Barzaga. “This has worked for me. I pick up a lot of prospects. Granted, they all do not buy right away, but if you are able to connect with them and later stay in touch, most of them come back to you when they are ready.”
At Davidson, there are two agents on floor from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and another two from 1-5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday’s agents take floor from noon-5 p.m.
One of the agents on floor sits at the up desk and takes care of setting up appointments for the listings in the office, but also takes all the phone inquiries and a lot of times they have to go out and meet a customer that is calling from a sign rider to show them the property.
“When that happens, the second Realtor on duty steps up and takes over the up desk,” said Barzaga. “Same thing if someone happens to come in looking for information. A lot of times we get more than two customers on one shift and agents who happen to be in the office step up and cover the up desk ending up with either a good phone up or a walk in customer.”
Barzaga said forwarding the calls to her cell phone would not help her in her business.
“Forwarding the phone to my cell would not be a necessity to service my existing listings because we have a receptionist on duty all the time, but I would miss a lot of new business because I’m not in the office to have access to the computer, the MLS, or information someone might call on,” said Barzaga. “I’m in the office to either take on new business, or get work done that I can’t get done from home.”
While she is on floor, waiting for the phone to ring, Barzaga catches up on her communication with customers.
“I can write cards to my customers and friends and I can get caught up on paper work and e-mails,” said Barzaga. “It might not be productive in some offices to do floor duty and it might be that some agents are busy enough with what they have, however I’m never too busy.
“Always welcome new leads because you never know when the people you are working with are going to end up buying and the more balls you have bouncing the better you are positioned in this business.”
A success story Barzaga shared happened one Sunday morning.
“I have had a customer come into my office on a Sunday morning before I even arrived on floor duty and within three weeks bought and closed on a house close to a $1 million,” said Barzaga. “Also, I was on floor about two months ago and went out with a customer, so my backup took the up desk and also went out with a customer.
“By the time I returned, there was a couple waiting for an agent to take them out and show them property. We went under contract the following week and closed in early July. These are just a couple of the great stories I can tell from being dedicated to floor time.”
When someone sees a house they are interested in, more times than not, they want to speak to a person about it, so floor duty becomes very important in those cases.
“I think floor duty is still important; there are many people who want info about a property when they are driving by or when they get home and they prefer to talk to someone live verses online,” said Carol Zingone of Prudential Network Realty. “I take occasional floor shifts and I have gotten listing opportunities and buyers as a result.”
In Zingone’s office, she said, they have what is called floor-ups.
“This means whoever is in the office has the chance to pick up the phone to capture the customer,” said Zingone. “We do not forward our calls to our cells because it’s ideal to have Internet access when working floor. We have people daily stopping in to inquire about real estate.”
Zingone works on administrative projects when she is on floor so she can break away easily and take care of the customer.
Eden Jordan of Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty said her office does not do floor duty.
“We do not do it in our office because most people call or look online,” said Jordan. “I am usually with customers and to be tied to a chair is not productive. We direct all calls to the listing agents. That is why we have our cell numbers on our marketing.”
Jordan says she doesn’t have to be in the office to give information because everyone has access to the information and her office directs calls to the listing agents.
“I work mostly from home or in the field so office time is not valuable to me,” said Jordan.