| There has been a big push in the real estate | | | | do the lead follow-up for them. They want the |
| industry for agents to establish teams. The | | | | team members to do all of the prospecting and |
| number of agents using listing coordinators, | | | | lead follow-up, so they don't have to ever again. |
| transaction coordinators, marketing coordinators, | | | | Too many agents want a team so they can |
| runners, buyers' agents, and listing agents has | | | | avoid prospecting. That is the wrong reason to |
| increased drastically in the last few years. | | | | create a team-based business. If you manage to |
| I was one of the first agents in my sales area of | | | | hire someone who is exceptional at prospecting, it |
| Portland, Oregon to elicit the help of assistants to | | | | won't take them long to figure out how to go out |
| build a larger, better practice. I hired my first | | | | on their own. They can easily calculate how much |
| assistant before I completed my first year in real | | | | money they are bringing into the team. When the |
| estate sales. I added more administrative help, | | | | number gets large enough that they feel they can |
| and more sales help through buyers' agents, in my | | | | make more on their own because they know |
| second full year in the business. I speak from a | | | | how to generate leads, they will move down the |
| position of experience from making tremendous | | | | road or across the hall and become your newest |
| mistakes in those early years in hiring, firing, | | | | competition with inside information about you and |
| accountability, time management, organization, | | | | your business. You can't stop the practice of |
| structure, implementation, and systems | | | | prospecting your sources of business. In fact, you |
| development. The building of a great team is | | | | might have to increase your prospecting time to |
| much more than hiring a few people. It's much | | | | increase your volume of leads to ensure your |
| more than hiring great people. The initial step | | | | cash flow to help capitalize your new or growing |
| starts with you. | | | | team. |
| Having coached and trained hundreds of | | | | The second core reason prospecting and lead |
| thousands of agents (thousands of whom had | | | | follow-up drop is because there is a new focus on |
| teams), I have found that the most successful | | | | system development and increased management |
| agents do not approach establishing their team | | | | responsibilities. Now that you are adding staff, |
| with the right steps in the proper order. To | | | | whether they are administrative or sales |
| achieve lasting success in business, it's not enough | | | | producing, some of your time needs to be |
| to know the steps you need to take. The right | | | | devoted to monitoring, managing, and coaching |
| steps in the wrong order will lead to disaster, as | | | | them. You will also need to establish checklists, |
| well. You might be able to fend off the looming | | | | task and priority lists, job descriptions, and many |
| catastrophe longer, but it will come soon enough. | | | | other items that fall under the buzzword of |
| Conversely, the right order with the wrong steps | | | | systems. If only we could just download all the |
| will send you crashing to the rocks, as well. The | | | | skills, knowledge, and information we have |
| application of correct order and correct steps is | | | | acquired in the business in minutes to new staff |
| the only way to circumvent disaster. | | | | members by connecting a cable between our |
| A team will not make up for deficiencies in core | | | | brains and hitting the download button. |
| skills that you may have as an agent. The core | | | | Too many agents have a view that is driven by |
| skills in real estate are time management, | | | | their ego that the larger the team, the better. |
| prospecting, sales skills, qualifying, presentation | | | | Bigger doesn't mean better. With every person |
| skills for buyers and sellers, objection handling | | | | you add to the team, you increase the |
| skills, and closing skills. On the larger scale, your | | | | management, monitoring, personal problems that |
| skills that directly link to lead creation, lead | | | | come to work, inter-staff politics, distractions, and |
| conversion, and prospect commitment must be at | | | | disruptions. My grandmother, Bobbi, had a saying |
| the Champion Agent level before you can even | | | | about productivity and people that I must have |
| hope to build a Champion Team. You will rarely be | | | | heard a thousand times. It was, "At work, one |
| able to hire people who possess these skills. You | | | | boy is a whole boy, two boys are a half, and |
| will have to instill and train these skills in others. | | | | three boys are no boys at all." If we are only |
| Champion Team Rule - Your individual, personal | | | | focused on volume of people or size of the team, |
| productivity is the most valuable asset in your | | | | we can end up with no team at all. The added |
| business. | | | | staff must enable you to provide a higher level of |
| Most agents, when building a team, let their direct | | | | service to your clients that is recognized and |
| income producing activities (DIPA) slide. The DIPA | | | | appreciated. This can lead, with the right |
| activities are prospecting, lead follow-up, listing | | | | consistent prospecting and marketing approach, to |
| appointments, buyer interviews, showing property, | | | | an increase in referrals, as well. The added staff |
| writing and negotiating contracts, and even | | | | should directly increase revenue because they are |
| personal development time. All of these activities | | | | sales people. Examples of this would be buyers' |
| connect directly to income. That's why they are | | | | agents or listing agents on the team. The added |
| direct income producing activities. The tendency | | | | staff creates a better quality of life for you. You |
| for most agents, when establishing teams, is to | | | | relinquish lower value activities, increase your time |
| reduce the hours invested in DIPA. The section of | | | | off and frequency of vacations, and make it to |
| DIPA that gets hit hardest is the prospecting and | | | | more t-ball games and date nights. How ever you |
| lead follow-up. For many agents, when bringing on | | | | define quality of life; it is improved. |
| staff to expand their team, these two activities | | | | More of anything in life for the sake of more |
| cease. | | | | doesn't achieve the results of success. If you |
| There are two core reasons why the prospecting | | | | have a poor business model with a low volume of |
| and lead follow-up drop heavily when an agent is | | | | leads, more staff will only bring to light your poor |
| working to establish or expand their team. The | | | | business model and lead deficiencies faster. |
| first is that they want the team to prospect and | | | | |