Building an Awesome Team

When you’ve reached the enviable point in your real estate career at which you have more leads than you can efficiently manage, the time has come to consider building a team.

The benefits of having team members are numerous: for starters, someone is always available to work with clients. Team members can motivate and push each other to great success and you can assign tasks strategically to team members with different skill sets.

Your challenge is to assemble the best possible team. Here are a few tips to consider as you begin adding to your business.

1. Ensure your systems are in place. Chaos will result if you begin hiring without having the appropriate systems in place. Make sure you’ve got routines down pat for lead generation, listings, client care, and closing, so when you hand the reins over you will feel confident balls won’t get dropped.
2. First things first.This is a no-brainer. The first person you hire for your team should be an assistant for yourself. Closing 25-30 deals a year is the baseline for an assistant, and if you add another sales professional before you get an assistant, you’ll just create more work for yourself. So, start out with a professional administrator who can take routine administrative tasks off your plate, giving you the time to spend on revenue-generating activities.
3. Opposites attract.While many of us are drawn to people with similar backgrounds as ourselves, we won’t expand by having too many team members who are alike. Select affiliates and team members with different skills and interests so you can diversify your business. If you enjoy being a buyer’s agent, hire someone who loves being a seller’s agent. There are several excellent platforms for assessing the strengths and personalities of potential team members. One, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assesses how people make decisions, while the DISC test assesses qualities such as dominance and compliance in behavior.
4. Take ownership of your team.President Harry Truman had a plaque on his desk stating: “The buck stops here.” As the team leader, you must be willing to ensure your team members get training appropriate to their roles. You must motivate your team members, manage conflict, and hold everyone accountable. If this isn’t appealing, you should rethink forming your own team.

Finally, don’t get in a hurry. There are many reasons to build a team and ego is one of them. Don’t be so in love with being ‘team leader’ you get ahead of yourself or hire the wrong people in your haste to grow. Having a sales team is a proven way to grow your business and give your team members a rewarding professional experience, so don’t skip steps along the way.]]>

Doug Spak

Doug Spak has over four decades of experience as an advertising copywriter, agency creative director, blogger, and content creator. He joined Vulcan7 as a Content Specialist in 2016. In addition to ongoing website copy refreshes, Doug has produced over 300 blog posts while developing content for Vulcan7’s social media platforms.