Client loyalty sustains independent real estate agents

Many agents also make the decision to put their names on their own companies as well.

John Schnoebelen struck out on his own earlier this year, leaving Murney Associates to form Schnoebelen Commercial, 412 S. Campbell Ave., in October.

Though Schnoebelen was out of town and could not be reached for comment on his new business venture, he’s certainly not alone in his desire to control his own real estate business.

Todd Chambers has been in commercial real estate since 1993. He started Chambers Real Estate Services LLC in December 1998.

He said that his previous business experience, combined with his master’s degree in business administration, prepared him for the added responsibilities of running his own firm. Chambers previously worked in sales management at two Fortune 500 companies, and at realty firm McLoud & Co. prior to opening his business –

“When you go out there on your own, you don’t have anyone else within your company to turn to, so you have to be a jack-of-all-trades,” he said. “You have to do accounts payable (and) accounts receivable to manage a small business.”

Chambers’ independent spirit also has led him to help with the development of Chestnut Crossing, a 37-acre development at West Bypass and Chestnut Expressway.

Sometimes, the opening of a new firm is the fulfillment of a longtime desire. Such was the case for Mark Snow, who opened the Snow Group in early 2001 after nearly 10 years of working for other area companies.

Snow said his goal had always been to have his own firm, and during a six-month stint with Mellinger Commercial, he decided the time was right.

One reason for the decision: Snow had established a solid client base.

“A lot of the clients that I work with, even to this day, I’ve worked with long-term,” Snow said. “They work with me – it doesn’t matter who is on my business card. I was thankful for the clients that I had then. I’m thankful for the clients I have now. At that point in time I bit the bullet, and luckily I still work with some of the same clients.”

Chambers said client loyalty has been important for him as well. For instance, he has worked with Gillenwaters Development, owner of several area shopping centers including Brentwood Center, for more than a decade.

The other direction

Independence offers advantages for some agents, but not all agents who change affiliations do so to open their own firms.

The Rankin Co. joined national real estate company Sperry Van Ness in April, choosing to take advantage of an offer by the California-based company to use its national connections and resources in exchange for an undisclosed percentage of its commissions.

Jeff Childs, senior adviser with Sperry Van Ness Rankin Co. LLC, said the partnership gives the company unique advantages over other commercial real estate companies in southwest Missouri, including national exposure for its listed properties.

“We hold weekly calls where we present all of our listings – more than $1 million in listings are presented on that call – to over 750 Sperry Van Ness brokers,” Childs said. “We’re also able to utilize our database and expose those listings to over 65,000 brokers nationwide, as well as put them on all the major listing Web sites.”

As an example, he pointed to the former Frito-Lay distribution center in Joplin, which had been posted on the company’s Web site. After posting the property with Sperry Van Ness, interest skyrocketed.

“We had offers from California, New York, Colorado (and) one from Texas, and all of those offers were made in the same day we put it in the system,” Childs said. “We wouldn’t have seen that in the past if we had just been using the local marketplace.”[[In-content Ad]]