What All (Successful) Land Brokerages Have in Common
I absolutely love the land industry. I like that we all play a vital part in providing affordable, domestic energy. I am proud to be part of an industry that values professionalism and ethics. And I enjoy working with people who know how to have a good time.
Land brokerages provide a critical service and make up the majority of our clients. As a field guy prior to creating TotaLand, I’m coming up on 20 years in the business and, with almost 3,000 users nationwide, have had the opportunity to observe a few things.
Starting with the obvious, land brokerages are as varied as the people that comprise them. Some are large and provide every type of service and in any part in the country. Others prefer to remain small and limit themselves to particular disciplines (unitization, curative, etc.) or geographic areas.
That being said, successful land brokerages tend to have a few things in common: First, they are very service-oriented. They serve at the pleasure of their clients, and may not get a chance to redeem themselves if they fail to meet expectations, so it is very important to not only be in tune with the needs of the client, it is crucial that those needs be addressed in a timely manner. The same goes for the independent landman, for that matter, whether working through a land brokerage or directly for the client.
Second, they are staffed by knowledgeable individuals. The land industry is very complex and good intentions do not get the job done. While there are often multiple methods available of achieving the same end, the bottom line is that the result must pass title opinion muster or it is simply not a success.
Third, they are organized. Part of serving a client is getting him information (the right information) quickly—not merely for the sake of timeliness, but also to reduce the cost of providing that information. A land brokerage that takes a long time to provide answers or provides incorrect answers when asked is not going to have a happy client for very long.
Finally, they keep overhead down. It is stating the obvious that the goal is to make a profit, but when a brokerage can provide the same level of service (or better) at less cost to its client, it makes it more competitive and increases the liklihood of getting repeat business.
We can definitely help with 3 of the 4 key items, providing our clients with a very powerful tool at an extremely affordable cost. TotaLand is a secure and easy-to-use web-based solution for managing billing, title, leasing, mapping and so much more. Nothing to buy, install, maintain or back up and at less than $17 per day. If you're not already a TotaLand brokerage, let us show you how easy it is to become one.