Q: Denise, I like your idea of looking at transaction categories and applicable commission for agents covering for agents on vacation, but I am just going to be gone for one week over 4th of July and two more weekends. It seems the percentages of commission for those covering for me would be so small other agents may think the extra trouble isn’t worth the potential commission and then I will be stuck! What do you think?
A: The great thing about all agreements is you can incorporate flexibility and allow for special circumstances. For example, if you are going to be gone 4th of July week (and there are many other agents planning on being gone that week) you may indeed need to offer an extra bonus for covering for you for this time. But remember, before you give away the farm, remember that your clients may also be in vacation mode this week and the amount of work the covering agent may need to do is minimal. The bottom line is you want an agreement that is fair for all parties.
Posted in 
Tags: 
The way my wife and co-agent do it is to simply pay an hourly rate to the backup agent. If they write an offer, we get a referral fee. No hourly rate on that time spent, of course. It’s worth the money to have someone to help us when we’re gone that knows they will be compensated for their time fairly and that they stand a chance of making a commission to boot. We have a pretty healthy business and we find it worth the cost, whether we make a commission through the backup agent or not, to have the coverage and maintain our high service level for our clients. Better that than losing future business from a valued client.