What is a “Conversion” Franchise?
The National Realty Group franchise is a good example of what’s termed a “conversion” franchise. Unlike most franchise opportunities, conversion franchises aren’t offered to the general public. They are offered to a select group of people who are already in business, or who are established, experienced professionals in the field, and who agree to give up their independence to be part of the franchise system. In order to gain the benefits of franchise affiliation, the independent business owner must change their business name, adopt the franchise systems procedures and guidelines, and pay fees to the franchisor.
As you can imagine, it’s not a psychologically easy to for independent business owners to start playing for the competing team, to give up complete freedom, and to start paying fees, royalties and advertising contributions. For this reason, successful conversion franchise organizations usually have two things in common. The first is that they are in industries in which unaffiliated business owners are finding it harder and harder to compete. The second is that they offer these independents tangible benefits they could not get on their own, such as a centralized reservation service for hotels or car rental companies, national fleet fueling contracts for truckstops or gas stations, or the addition of new profit centers.
An emerging and promising new franchise company, National Realty Group, seems to be
positioned for conversion franchising success. The real estate industry is certainly positioned for a strong conversion franchise. According to National Realty Group founder Jeff Maas [pictured, right], the independent realtor is getting hammered from every direction. MLS property listings, once the exclusive domain of real estate agents, are now widely available to a new breed of discount brokers and Internet resellers. Shrinking commissions, a slew of new agents and a depressed housing market have put unprecedented pressure on even seasoned real estate pros.
The solution? According to Maas, real estate agents need to reduce their reliance on sales and listing commissions, and provide a fuller range of services to home buyers and sellers. He created the National Realty Group franchise program to enable real estate professionals to benefit from two new potential revenue centers: providing their own mortgage and (in some states) escrow services.
National Realty Group’s Maas says that instead an agent helping a couple find their dream house then handing them off to a mortgage and escrow service providers, why not provide them with the mortgage and escrow services as well? “It’s a win-win situation,” he says “Home buyers get the one-stop real estate resource they’ve been requesting, and the real estate agent has two, sometimes three, potential revenue centers instead of one.”
Such an approach, Maas contends, can also help even out the peaks and valleys so common in the cyclical real estate market. According to Maas, “when home sales are soft and the real estate sales side is down, the mortgage side often gets busier with a boom in refinancing business.”
The challenge will be, as it always is in conversion programs, is finding and recruiting the best franchise owners. Says Maas, “we don’t want real estate who are trying to fix mediocre or poor agencies. We want successful, quality-oriented real estate professionals who want to be even more successful.”
With his first few National Realty Group franchise owners up, running, and thriving, it looks like the NRG franchise is off to a promising start.
For more information on the National Realty Group franchise, visit the Inside NRG blog at InsideNRG.Com.
National Realty Group was recently named one of the 100 Top New Franchises by Franchise Market Magazine. For more information about this and other franchise opportunities, visit the Top New Franchises blog at TopNewFranchises.com.
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