About 50% - but, remember, I keep 3 other locals employed and that is a good portion of it.  And I'm big on client appreciation (parties and gifts)!  I also do a lot of mailings so, that is my 3rd largest expense.  

I don't spend money frivolously but, I do spend it generously.  Keeping my 3 assistants employed is very important to me and as long as I am alive and have a business, I plan to keep them that way!

What about you, Barbara Todaro?

Most of it is reabsorbed into the machine, very little for marketing but lots for people, equipment, travel, and donations.

Barbara Todaro About 25% give or take.

10% to 15%

Average is between 15 and 20%

Barbara,

It really depends on the marketplace, I have surveyed our clients in the luxury industry and your numbers are close.  A

Roughly 40% is the average over the past several years but that includes salary for one of my daughters.

Not much Barbara.  For years our accountant was shocked at how little we had in terms of business write offs.   Last year our total line-item write offs were 10.7% and that included all write offs - home office, vehicle, promotional, office supples & software, dues & fees, etc - not just marketing costs.  We run a pretty lean business. -Kasey

No more investments for me.

It's fairly sizeable. At least 25%.

Oh! I need income? I'd better check to see where that money is going!

I would say we are probably in the neighborhood of around 15 - 20%. It's not as much as others suggest but we are very happy with our level of growth and don't want to expand a lot.

+/- 15%

Fred Griffin nailed this one!

I do about 25%

Barbara Todaro - at least 20%.

I invest 25%                          back into it

Generally about 30%

Since I'm in startup mode, almost all of it.  Good question though for established offices and their respective business models.

15% or so

Since so much of my business is referral and past clients I no longer spend but 20% or so. It works for me as I am no longer trying to grow my business and do not want a team.

I'm a big believer in investing back into business, especially if there is quantifiable ROMI. I invest 25-50% of monthly proceeds (depending on the month and what I'm doing). I'm in a different business and it IS paying off!

Remember; investment from proceeds going back into the business is not taxable, depending on the tax bracket one is in, it could mean that most of the money going back in would of otherwise been paid in taxes (for those in the high tax bracket). As long as it has a high ROI or ROMI, it's a good thing to do in my book.

Minimal.  Not sure on the percentage, but I know advertising is minimal.

That seems way too high for marketing expense. When you add in dues and subscriptions and taxes what do you have left? You would have to do a large volume.

About 10% is what I do

It depends if I am doing a website upgrade like this year

Before I got into management my marketing budget was 10% of my commission.

Very little and that is limited to hard items like cell phone/laptop etc.

10%

After reading how much you put back, I see that I need to increase my percentage.

Barbara, I too see about 30-35% going back out for advertising.  That does not include buying computers or other technology to aid to my business.