If your eyes glaze over when someone starts talking about data, it’s probably because you don’t understand the impact knowing your numbers can have on your business. This is true whether you’re an agent trying to get more listings and negotiate better deals or a broker or team leader trying to recruit and retain the right agents for your business.
I recently sat down with Sean Soderstrom, co-founder and CEO at Courted and 2024 Inman Innovator of the Year. Check out our conversation above, or read on for key takeaways that will impact the way you view data in today’s market.
Agents must know their numbers (beyond sales volume)
Three data buckets matter: personal, market and brokerage. “It’s not just about your numbers,” said Soderstrom. “It’s about what’s happening in the market and what’s happening among other agents” — both in your market and in your brokerage. It’s not just about where you rank; it’s about how local data can help you evaluate an offer or price a new listing.
Soderstrom emphasizes that going as narrow as possible is helpful when you’re dealing with market data, rather than looking at the whole MLS. “There are so many different nuances between sub-neighborhoods, property types and price points,” he said.
Because most agents are only tracking basic metrics, if they’re tracking data at all, they’re missing the deeper insights and apples-to-apples comparisons that directly impact trust-building, negotiating power and business growth.
Data fluency offers a competitive advantage in shifting markets
Guesswork doesn’t cut it in volatile markets and when conditions are changing. “Having a strong command of key market and individual performance metrics can help you win listings as you strategically position yourself versus the competition,” Soderstrom said.
Sellers want data-backed confidence, not hype, and they respond to agents who show up with hard stats around close-to-list ratios, days on market or list-to-sale price comps.
“Maybe I’ve only sold three homes relative to the five that the other agents have sold,” Soderstrom said, ”but my close-to-list price ratio is 5 percent higher. The debate as to whether your commission should be 2 or 2.5 percent is a total wash when you show you’re generating 5 percent more value.”
Agents who can determine their market share and core performance statistics in their specific niche, including sales volume, days on market and close-to-list-price ratio, can communicate and prove their value to prospective customers who are interviewing multiple agents.
Data provides insight for both agents and brokers
Brokerage leadership can analyze agent retention and performance by analyzing their metrics and providing real data-based feedback. It allows a broker-owner, coach or team leader to walk agents through their numbers quarterly and annually, so they can acknowledge milestones or offer support as needed, Soderstrom said.
As an agent, knowing your own performance data versus brokerage benchmarks adds leverage so you can ask for more support — or know when it’s time to leave for another brokerage. It also gives you the ability to ask questions about commission structure. When considering joining a new brokerage, savvy agents will ask for its data around agent growth patterns at the six-, 12- and 24-month marks.
A data-based approach can also provide specialized reporting that unlocks long-term agent potential because it shows not just what you sold or for how much, but where you win, broken down by niche or micro-market. That’s valuable information both for the agent who wishes to improve and for the broker who wishes to recruit, cultivate and retain great agents.
The numbers every agent should know
Start gathering the data you need to improve your performance and articulate your value to clients and leadership. Ask yourself the following:
- What was your sales volume last year?
- What was your number of buy-side and sell-side transactions?
- Where do you rank in your office or on your team?
- Where do you rank in the city where you focus your business?
- What is your close-to-list-price ratio, and where do you rank?
- What were your days-on-market, and where do you rank?
- What was the relationship between your close-to-list-price ratio and days-on-market for your closed deals last year?
- How do you compare to your office or market across these metrics?
The right tech at the right time removes barriers to understanding and allows you to apply real-time performance insights, turning data into actionable, practical decision-making. Stop guessing about how to improve your performance and start tracking the metrics that matter.
This post was updated Sept. 2, 2025.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and principal at HomeCode Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
