The competition is fierce, and it takes hard work and dedication to be successful. If you’re the owner of a brokerage, you probably have long-term goals, such as growing your team, finding new leads, and reaching more people. It can be challenging to achieve these goals on your own.
The good news is that you can do a few simple things to build a team that will dominate. To build a team with lasting potential, you need to take advantage of the latest real estate resources and technology.
What Makes a Real Estate Team Successful?
Being a real estate professional comes with many professional and personal responsibilities. To be successful, you need to be highly organized and work well with others. You’ll need to develop a winning strategy to get ahead in this competitive industry.
One of the best ways to do this is to partner with a strong team. The real estate industry did not catch up to the digital age until recently, and that’s caused many agents to fail. With eXp Realty, we’ve seen that tech can help real estate agents and brokers in many ways.
But what makes a real estate team successful?
1. Do You Have What it Takes to Lead a Team?
It’s one thing to be successful as a lone agent, and it’s another thing to manage a team. Don’t be quick to assume that being a top broker or agent means you’ll be great at leading immediately. It requires a new set of abilities.
From observation and experience, it is clear that a good team gives you a better chance of closing deals and growing your business. Strong teams control the real estate business in most markets than individual agents.
There are benefits to leading a team, but it also comes with its challenges. Consider these factors to improve your chances of being a good team leader.
Consider the implications
Being honest about your goal and what it will cost you is critical. There are several financial advantages of leading a real estate team. But it all comes at the cost of time, energy, and training.
Establishing a successful real estate team means committing to assisting your team members in succeeding. You will have to make your own rules and create a schedule. In any case, your team’s success will depend mainly on how invested you are in it.
Some of the best team leaders are people with a natural flair for mentorship. That doesn’t mean you can’t cultivate healthy leadership habits.
For one, you must genuinely want to help your team grow, even if you decide to charge a fee. Building and maintaining a couple initially may cost you a lot of money. But the rewards are fantastic in the long term.
The amount of work you need to put in and the challenges and rewards of building a real estate team will depend on how big you want your team to be. If you aren’t ready to invest the time and money it takes to build a good team; you should consider being an independent agent.
Prepare to make the shift
Even though you aren’t making a career change, going from being an independent agent to owning a team is a significant move. Every successful team leader must first prepare to make the shift. And I believe this is an important reason many agents fail at leading a team.
Before you change your job, make sure you know why you want to build a team. If your ultimate reason for wanting a team is to make more money, it may be hard to get through the early stages.
Developing a solid real estate team while growing and sustaining a profitable business is demanding. Make sure you are prepared for the demands and are willing to put in the time and effort.
How much work do you have on your hands?
New agents don’t have to worry about building a team yet. It is almost impossible to have the time or financial resources to support a team, even with a considerable workload.
However, the volume of work you have is a crucial thing to consider before building a team. Maybe you’re losing out on new leads or barely have time for other activities outside work. You could also have little time to find new clients because of administrative duties.
In most cases, upward of 60 transactions yearly is too much work for an independent agent. You may need assistance in this case.
Starting a team may not be the wisest option if you aren’t making several transactions annually (at least 40). Contrary to your opinion, building a team without considering the financial implications is not advisable. You must have a fallback plan before taking such an important step.
Before building a team, ensure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Building a team to assist you with your workload makes sense, but that may not be enough reason. A successful group requires much work. As a team leader, you must be as interested in supporting each team member as you are in your business.
2. Organize Your Systems
If you’re sure you have what it takes to lead a real estate team, the next vital step in the team-building process is setting up systems that will support your goal.
Make sure you have practicable real estate techniques and structures to help you during your operations. It may be disastrous for you and your team if robust systems are not in place.
Below are some of the critical systems to put in place before building a real estate team:
- Business goals and objectives. Evaluate your business plan thoroughly and ensure that you can accommodate a team. Create a vision, establish financial objectives, and map strategies to support your program.
- Branding. Having a brand, a name, or something that people will know you by is crucial. A good brand can help you stand out. What are your plans for a logo, slogan, blogs, website, and social media platforms? How can you create a suitable representation for your team using these systems?
- A robust client database. Your team will need a robust database for listings, advertising, and marketing. You will also need a follow-up system and software to help your team manage contacts and maintain its client base.
- Real estate tools and software. Real estate technology enables you to do your job more effectively and grow your team and business. A good example is eXp World.
- Transaction management. What system will you use to process your transactions, including escrow and buyers?
- Referral programs. Will there be a referral system for your agents? How many agents do you want on your team? What are you willing to pay your agents for referrals?
- Commissions. How do you intend to split commissions? Will there be a difference if you provide leads for them?
As a team leader, your job is to create a strong foundation for your agents. While they are responsible for the growth of their business, you are in charge of setting targets and establishing sound systems.
Your team needs systems that can handle an increase in lead volume, even if you must have agents available to manage leads from various sources.
3. Know the Right Role to Hire the First
Finding the right people to help you when you’re busy and overwhelmed is essential. To be successful, you need to get to know your team and trust them to help you do your job.
First and foremost, how do you know who to hire? Let’s give you an idea of a good place to start.
Use a personality assessment tool
Jumping at the first good real estate agent interested in working for your agency is normal, especially when you have a lot on your plate.
When your productivity peaks and you have several jobs to complete at breakneck speed, you will most likely consider hiring a sales or buyer’s agent simply because they’re enthusiastic. But that may not be what your team needs at that time.
Different personality tools help you discover new team members with the right personalities for your vision. Some popular options include
- Keller Williams’ Keller Personality Assessment
- Myer-Briggs personality Test
- Belbin’s team roles
- The DiSC Model
Personality evaluation tools can help you save time and effort due to poor hires. Hiring the wrong person or the right person at the wrong time can cause much damage, both short-term and long-term.
However, these tools are not a one-size-fits-all approach to picking team members. While they will assist you, you cannot fully categorize a person’s personality with these tools.
If it appears that you recruited the wrong person along the line, take firm action and remove them as soon as possible. The success of your team may depend on it.
When you need to hire new staff, it can be tough to find the right person for the job. That’s why knowing the proper role to engage is essential. These roles are an excellent place to start.
Recruit an Administrative Assistant
While many real estate team leaders argue that hiring a buyer’s agent is better, an administrative assistant may be more critical initially.
Hiring a buyer’s agent may seem wiser since they get paid a commission, not a salary. However, you shouldn’t worry too much about spending less money at the beginning of your team-building process.
First off, an administrative assistant can help you with extra paperwork. This will give you more time to focus on chasing leads, interacting with clients, and closing deals. Administrative work might consume much of your time if you have much work.
In addition, an administrative assistant can help you set up all the systems you need to support and sustain a real estate team. By recruiting other agents, all your plans will be fully operational without a hitch.
Traditional administrative assistants operate in brick-and-mortar offices, but you can always hire a virtual assistant if that’s your style. You can still get the job fine with a virtual assistant, and maybe you could save some money if they live in a different country, thanks to exchange rates.
If the cost of employing an administrative assistant (part-time or full-time) is too much for you, you should consider holding off the idea of starting a real estate team.
Recruit a Buyer’s Agent
Now you have the necessary systems and don’t have to worry about paperwork. It’s time to hire a buyer’s agent.
A buyer agent can help you with excess leads. They will ensure no lead falls through the cracks and be responsible for follow-ups and database upkeep. Even if the buyer agent isn’t a rookie, it’s your job as team leader to devise a foolproof lead cultivation strategy for them.
With the help of your administrative assistant, you’ll be able to focus more on generating leads. Your buyer agent is there to help with that. Some of the buyer agent’s duties include:
- Lead conversion
- Making offers and negotiations
- Attending to buyer needs
- Explore for buyer and seller leads
- Showing properties
Your buyer’s agent should be able to manage 4 to 5 transactions monthly. But be prepared to hire another agent if your team is raking in more transactions.
You also need to evaluate whether or not you should hire a rookie buyer agent. To answer that, it will depend on your vision and business goals. You can hire a rookie if you’re more interested in showing new agents the ropes.
However, you shouldn’t hire a rookie simply because they take a lesser commission split. An experienced agent is more valuable to your team since they will be more productive immediately.
Beginning with an accomplished real estate agent is vital to your team’s success. But you can still build a successful real estate team with new agents. The team’s strength will depend more on the dedication and commitment of every team member than on experience.
Recruit an Inside Sales Agent
Now that you have a dedicated buyer’s agent, you will most likely be occupied with closing sales and creating many listings. You may not have the time to stay in touch with your clients and build your sphere of influence.
You may be forced to narrow your attention to urgent transactions and promising leads at this stage. That’s where an inside salesperson comes in.
The inside sales agent handles prospecting for new leads by staying in touch with old clients and people in your network and dealing with obsolete listings and For Sale by Owners (FSBOs). They can help to follow up on these leads and turn them into scheduled appointments.
With the help of an expert inside sales agent, you can monitor and measure your contacts and improve your gross commission income in a short time. You can also use specific tools available online. Make sure your agents get all the orientation they need.
Recruit a Listing Agent
As a team leader, one of your most important responsibilities is ensuring that your buyer agent is actively closing deals and that you have the appropriate amount of listings yearly.
Initially, your inside sales agent can help you with listings. But with time, you may not be able to keep up. All year long, you must maintain a high level of activity for your team and demonstrate your ability to increase sales continuously.
As the demands on your team increase, you may need the services of a listing agent or a transaction coordinator. This agent will play a key role in managing listings and expanding the inventory of listings available to your team. The listing agent can handle some of your tasks like running open houses and prospecting for leads.
Whether you employ a third-party transaction coordinator or outsource the job is up to you. Bear in mind that it costs somewhere between $300 and $700 to outsource.
Additional Roles
Reviewing your staff and considering adding extra personnel each time you reach a new milestone is essential.
Choosing the form of your real estate team will largely depend on your personal and professional ambitions. Several methods to expand your staff include hiring a marketing director or a personal assistant to help you strike that elusive work-life balance.
You might also think about working with other experts, such as a marketing director, photographers, showing assistants, transaction coordinators, and rental agents. When you have enough experience, you will be able to make crucial decisions based on your expertise and judgment.
Mistakes to Evade When Building a Real Estate Team
Real estate agents who want to expand their business often start building a team. They know that teamwork is a great way to build a successful business. But there are a few problems that can arise when building a team. Some common mistakes when making real estate teams include:
Impatience when hiring
When building a team from scratch, settling for less than ideal conditions to expand quickly is common. It’s a mistake, however.
Since they won’t be as totally committed to the team as a full-time representative, part-time real estate agents may not be suitable for your team. Instead, go slowly and hire one individual at a time. Please make sure they are a perfect match and give them quality instruction. The appropriate mindset is something else you want.
Also, you must wait until a new agent has at least six months of past real estate sales experience before hiring them.
Your team needs a person who is open to your assistance and aware of the industry’s challenges. Find a person that is eager to succeed but perhaps hasn’t done so yet on their own. These individuals are going to be driven to succeed on your team.
Don’t forget to monitor your progress
Maintaining a progress log is essential. Create clear pictures of your goals, make a plan, and then monitor your progress. It can affect your team’s success if you follow your gut and don’t check to ensure you are achieving your goals.
Having an unreliable training program
Having unreliable training sessions is a standard error real estate agents make when developing their team. Instead of creating a uniform, consistent curriculum, they undertake case-by-case training as they hire new employees.
It can frequently take a long time for new agents or inside sales agents to start completing transactions consistently. As a result, your initial hiring expenditure will be considerably more.
Instead of reinventing training techniques for every new hire, you can train them more quickly with the help of a standardized training system, which will put them on the road to being influential team members more quickly.
Although creating these comprehensive training courses can take some time, it will benefit your organization greatly in the long term.
Overconfidence and hasty expectations
While it’s essential to aim high, expecting significant breakthroughs too soon could spell disaster for your team.
It’s critical to remain optimistic and upbeat even if things aren’t moving along as quickly as you would like.
Successful real estate teams are not built overnight. Your team members need time to learn, adapt, and grow. Innovative marketing strategies require time and may take time to implement new tactics and concepts.
It would be best to get comfortable trying new things, taking risks, and making mistakes. As a team leader, having a positive mindset will help you push harder while keeping your team together.
Buying leads
Many agents believe that buying leads is profitable. Some may even think it’s a good idea to buy many leads and start a team with those leads. That is a terrible idea.
Let’s say you manage to sell many homes from those leads. There isn’t any guarantee that you’ll make a profit to cover the expenses. With a good team, everyone can work together with what you have. For instance, the buyer’s agent should take over the deals already entered into your system. Your team will be able to expand naturally as a result.
Avoid complicated commission splits
Having a flexible commission split is not a terrible idea. But keeping a simple commission split is helpful to you and your team.
A 50/50 split is ideal for maintaining overhead costs. Having different commission splits isn’t good for the success and sustainability of your team. Instead, you could give your agents bonuses on specific transactions.
If your team members earn more money on their own, it could cause a drop in morale and motivation and affect the stability of your team.
Avoid incurring high costs
Avoid adding any extra overhead costs unless they are necessary. For instance, avoid investing in new tools or systems because they won’t help your team succeed. Instead, sticking with your current tactics and later incorporating necessary tools as needed will be the key to success.
In addition, when you first start up, you generally won’t need to pay rent for an office. Maintain low lead generating costs, as was already said, and expand your workforce organically.
Keep in contact with your customers
As a team leader, you must communicate with your clients. Even if you have a specialist on your team that handles your clients’ needs, you should still reach out to them as often as possible.
Your capacity for obtaining referrals affects how well your team and real estate firm grow. You’ll still have a relationship with the customer, which can be advantageous to your firm, even if that other buyer’s agent eventually departs your team.
A client’s bad experience with one of your agents will affect the entire team. Since you’re in charge, clients will most likely look for you if they decide to strike another deal or need a recommendation from your team.
Managing a Real Estate Team
Managing a successful real estate business is not easy. Many moving pieces need proper management so you can make the right decisions quickly. You must ensure you’re attracting the correct people to build a client base that will allow you to grow your company.
It is notoriously difficult to thrive in the real estate space. It would help if you stayed on top of the market, knew what to expect from your clients, and stood ready to deal with all kinds of difficulties. If you want to stand out from the crowd, Here are some tips to help you manage a real estate team.
Understand your efficiency
Make sure you set up stable systems for yourself before you think of building a team of real estate agents. First, examine your sphere of influence, and consider how efficiently you generate leads and close deals.
In addition, consider the following:
- How many leads do you generate weekly and monthly?
- How many deals were you able to finalize?
- How many clients did you get to sign listing agreements?
- How many parties that signed a deal completed a sale?
Are these numbers significant? Definitely. Knowing these numbers will help determine if your team is booming, especially in the long run.
Keep tabs on your finances
Making a profit is the primary aim of every business. It’s essential to treat your real estate career as a business even when you’re working under someone. Therefore you should pay attention to your finances while you’re independent and when you start building a team.
Maintaining a monthly profit and loss statement is vital to your team’s success. You need to be aware of how much money you are bringing and how much you are spending. You will have to work with other agents from time to time. All your records will help you and your team stay on track.
Remember, you won’t start getting returns as soon as you create a team. The early stage will involve investing and laying a solid foundation.
Simplify your sales process
Managing a team and building a sustainable strategy is much easier when every activity is organized. A fantastic way to keep things simple is to provide your buyer’s agents with a buyer checklist of your sales procedure.
Ensure every team member understands how you handle each transaction. Carry your agents along and guide them through each step. Even if they know what to do, it helps to have a uniform approach to working as a team.
Client Feedback
Client satisfaction is paramount. And there’s no better way to measure clients’ satisfaction than their feedback. Make sure every agent in your team is familiar with your customer service, as this is how you can build and sustain a vital sphere of influence.
Establishing an Effective Structure for your Real Estate Team
There’s so much to do as a real estate team leader. You must stay on top of all the paperwork as a team leader. But how do you make your team more efficient? You must create a structure that allows them to do their best work.
Your team must consist of the best individuals. However, where do you put them on the team? You need to specify a proper model and choose the appropriate organizational structure.
Here are a few key ways to establish an effective structure for your real estate team.
1. Models for a Real Estate Team
A successful real estate agent knows how valuable a strong team could be in propelling their career. But how do you know which team model is best for you? What are the pros and cons, and how will they impact your business? Let’s take a look.
Model: Lead/Team
This model focuses on creating inbound leads rather than centering on the leader. Despite maybe increased charges, there is no cap on your progress. If successful lead generation and marketing methods fascinate you, this model is the ideal choice for you.
Model: Team/Lead
The team leader’s brand is the focal point of this conventional real estate team approach. This technique works well for agents with a solid personal brand or who have a clear plan for developing one.
Model: Mentor/Mentee
You assemble a team and provide them with the skills they need to succeed. After some time, team members can join your downline or start mentoring others. This strategy works brilliantly for people who enjoy instructing and want to use their downline to produce passive income.
2. Types of Business Mentoring Models
If you decide to use the mentor/mentee model for your real estate team, you need to know the different business mentoring models and figure out which one aligns with your vision.
The best business mentoring programs are offered specifically to meet the organization’s and its personnel’s needs. Several factors will determine which mentoring model is best for your business, including:
- The size of your agency
- The objectives mentoring will help you achieve
- Who is involved in the program?
You should consider both the advantages of a specific mentoring program and the goals it wishes to achieve when establishing a mentoring program.
Individualized Mentorship
Individualized or one-on-one mentoring pairs a business mentor and mentee. This strategy is a favorite because it fosters personal contact between the mentor and mentee and offers individualized support to the mentee.
Resource-based Mentorship
This model is similar to individualized mentoring in some ways. However, the mentee is responsible for starting the process by approaching one of the volunteer mentors.
Group Mentorship
Although more than two people are involved, group mentoring is comparable to one-on-one mentoring. Several mentees are supported and counseled by one or more mentors in this connection.
In addition to receiving diverse viewpoints on their professional progress, protégés benefit from this mentoring relationship’s increased sense of support and community. It works well for organizations wanting to create a pipeline of potential leaders.
There are three types of group mentoring, including:
- one mentor and several mentees (the method you’ll most likely use)
- Several mentors and mentees
- peer mentoring
Instructional Mentorship
A training program is a direct link between this mentorship approach and it. A mentor is paired with a mentor to assist the mentee in acquiring the specific skills taught in the program. Due to its narrow focus and inability to help the mentee in achieving larger skill sets, training-based mentoring has several limitations. The software is well known and is utilized by many businesses to train their staff.
Reverse Mentorship
In reverse mentorship, junior employees mentor their older coworkers. By bridging the generational gap between various cohorts within an organization, reverse mentoring aims to assist senior employees in staying updated with new technology and trends. Additionally, it’s regularly employed to introduce minority talent to leadership.
3. Know your Real Estate Team Inside Out
In the real estate business, many sales get influenced by your team. Real estate agents are at the forefront of the real estate transaction, but they’re not the only ones who are essential to the process.
Every piece of your team is essential. Your real estate team is the backbone of your business. It is impossible to do it all on your own, and it’s necessary to know them and your clients.
Here’s how to get to know your real estate team inside out.
Start with you
If you’re not upfront about what you’re not good at, you won’t be able to hire for your limitations or identify systemic flaws. Because you don’t want another you, it’s vital to strike a balance while choosing the proper team agents to join.
Building a successful team is similar to putting a puzzle together. You want to balance each team member’s strengths and limitations.
Use personality tests to help you
Most agents agree that solid team chemistry is essential, but not everyone takes the time to understand how their team functions.
It’s easier to judge a potential hire’s compatibility with the team when you understand their personality and preferences. They collaborate more successfully with your existing team by understanding personality traits and tendencies.
4. Consistency is Key
Consistency is a must if you’re a realtor, agent, or broker in the real estate industry. You need to be consistent with your content if you want to climb the ranks in this industry, and even more importantly, you need to be consistent in how you help your clients.
When business isn’t going well, it can be easy to change your tactics without allowing your initial ideas a chance to shine. The tips below will help you maintain consistency in your efforts and build a successful real estate team.
Decide on your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
As a real estate agent, creating a real estate business plan to lay out your objectives is among the first and most crucial things you can do.
After setting goals, you may create KPIs to track your weekly progress toward achieving those targets. Make sure your KPIs are attainable for you before selecting them. For you to stay motivated, your KPIs should be achievable.
Concentrating on your KPIs may quickly obtain a general diagnostic of your business strategy, allowing you to identify your company’s performance trends and make any necessary adjustments.
Stay Focused
Maintaining your focus on the objectives you have listed in your business plan is critical. You must set realistic expectations and stick to the program. Doing so will help you as an individual and as a team leader.
Achievable goals make it simpler to maintain concentration and prevent burnout. So, create a strategy, and then follow it religiously. Don’t modify your plan for at least six months or a year. After some time, you can make any necessary changes.
Optimize Your Time
Use every minute of your time wisely, and consistency will come more easily. Make a plan that you can follow religiously. You should set out specific hours for work and play and have the self-control to adhere to your timetable religiously.
Time blocking is a fantastic technique to manage your time and track it. To make the most of each hour of the day, you can utilize this strategy to divide your entire day up into manageable time chunks.
Spend Wisely
It can be tempting to start by investing in multiple products or services for your company, especially if you’re a novice real estate agent.
But in most cases, this isn’t the most effective approach and might even backfire. In the long run, you can damage your company.
Instead of investing money in online leads when your real estate business is just getting started, it’s advisable to concentrate on creating leads and expanding your network inside your market.
Leadership Takes Time
The real estate world is highly competitive. Many people easily gravitate toward real estate, but becoming an agent is just the first step. To grow, you must find ways to work with other agents.
Building a successful team will help you grow your business and provide more opportunities. But the resources and time needed to do it right can be daunting. Before you start building a team, make sure you’re prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
Are you sure that you have what it takes? If you are, take the first step. But don’t expect a breakthrough instantly. It could take time to grow into your new job and build a successful real estate team.
