When An Agent Won’t Conjunct You Stand To Lose Out

Firstly, let me give you the definition of the industry term: ‘Conjunctional Sale’.

It simply means a sale conducted in conjunction with another agent or agency.

For example, let’s say you have your property listed with an agency/agent. Now let’s assume an agent from another agency has a buyer for your property. They contact your listing agent, they agree to conjunct and a sale is concluded. In a conjunction the vendor only pays the commission once and the two agencies/agents share the commission (how the commission is shared is a matter for the two agencies - but mostly it’s in the order of a 50/50 split).

The big advantage a vendor gains by listing with an agency that openly and proactively conjuncts with other agencies is that they can increase the exposure of their property and receive extra promotional leverage whilst at the same time retaining all the benefits of listing exclusively with the one agency (refer SECRET #3).

Of course agents who conjunct their listings with other agents/agencies from day one of listing the property are clearly acting in the best interests of the vendor.

Regrettably, there are many agents out there who don’t like sharing their commission and will NOT conjunct the property in the early stages of marketing. Some agents will only conjunct after 3 or 4 weeks of a property being on the market and even up to a week after an auction has been run (that’s about 5 weeks). During all this time, had they been willing to conjunct then the property could have been sold sooner. This would have saved the vendor time and in many cases advertising expense.

How on earth is this in the best interests of their vendors? Clearly it’s not.

So how do you ensure that your agent conjuncts from day one?

A good place to start is to ensure the section of the Appointment To Act Agency Agreement – the one that details the conjunctional arrangement policy of the listing agency - is clearly filled out. Additionally ask them to put it in writing that they will definitely conjunct from day one.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GET THE BEST FROM BOTH WORLDS…

OK here’s the scenario…

You’re trying to choose between two agencies to list your property with.

One stands out as the better marketer. The other tries to entice you with their large database of buyers.

You determine both agents are equally proficient salespeople and negotiators.

Who to choose?

Answer: list ‘exclusive’ with the stronger marketer provided they’ll conjunct from day one with the other agent.

That way your marketing campaign is more likely to generate a good buyer for your property.

Meanwhile, if the other agent does have a motivated buyer for your property as they suggested, they will be able to conjunct with the listing agent.

The Key

Be wary of an agent motive for refusing to conjunct. By conjuncting you’ll still pay the one commission fee; it’s simply divided between the agents.