Real estate is a very demanding profession, making it hard at times to accomplish everything in a timely manner. Whoever said “If you want something done right, do it yourself” can’t have been in real estate. That’s why it’s important to have a highly qualified team to help you close sales, grow your business, and finally achieve the work/life balance that you’ve heard so much about.
Need a Team?
If you’re thinking about how you will build a team, first figure out whether or not you need or will even benefit from starting one. Some popular reasons for starting a team are because everyone else is doing it, you’re too busy to handle everything on your own, you want a better work/life balance, and you want to make more money. Starting a team for these reasons can actually hurt your bottom line. As Jim Remley points out, “The No. 1 thing to consider when thinking about starting a team is the number of leads you have. Do you have them and can you generate enough of them to feed a team?”
Agents who are good at generating leads won’t benefit from joining a team; it’s the excellent salespeople who need help finding leads who are going to be drawn to team up. Don’t count on your team members being a big lead generation source, and do make sure you can provide enough leads for them before you finalize your decision to start a team. Try referring out 10-15 of your leads for a few months to make sure you have the business you think you do.
The Right Person
When you’re sure you have enough incoming leads to start a team, start recruiting personnel. The right person for your team not only will help your business grow, but also will benefit from being part of your team, as well. Before you choose a candidate for your team, find out what they’re looking to gain by working for your company, so you can explain how your company can meet their needs and expectations. Training and advancement opportunities are great ways to do this.
Don’t limit your search for the best people to a single location. Search for candidates at real estate schools, educational events, and career opportunity meetings to find individuals who are serious about furthering their careers. You should also consider pursuing professionals who are making a name for themselves in the community or local associations.
Assistant – The very first position you should fill is a full-time assistant to handle the many necessary but time-consuming tasks that come with being a real estate agent. A good assistant should be able to:
- Complete expense reports
- Create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, flyers, postcards and brochures
- Answer phone calls
- Take messages
- Handle incoming and outgoing mail
- Photocopy important sales documents
- Schedule property tours and closings
- Create and manage social posts
If you hire a licensed real estate assistant, they can also help you:
- Prepare listing and sales contracts
- Manage closing paperwork
- Prepare escrow files
- Help clients understand documents
- Reach out to leads via phone
Team Administrator – As your team grows, your assistant can shift into the position of team administrator. Their primary responsibility should be creating repeatable, scalable systems to keep your business running smoothly as it grows. The team administrator runs everything, making sure that you and your other agents can focus on creating revenue.
Buyer Agent/Showing Agent – Another position you can add to your team is a buyer or showing agent. Many team leaders prefer to start with a showing agent who will go out with clients to show them properties, but who doesn’t handle the initial lead qualification or handle the contracts and offers. The buyer agent would handle all steps of the buying process for their leads.
Transaction Coordinator – Your team administrator can handle this job until your team gets big enough to warrant a dedicated transaction coordinator. This is someone who will handle the paperwork and manage the deadlines of your transactions to make sure closings are efficient.
Listing Coordinator – This team member is responsible for scheduling showings, coordinating signs, creating virtual tours and handling all the groundwork required to make your listings successful. If you have too many leads to follow up with on your own, this person could also move up to become a listing agent.
Inside Sales Agent – As your team grows larger, the leads you bring in may no longer be enough. That’s where an inside sales agent comes into play. This person is responsible for incubating and generating leads. The leads may be coming from online platforms, geographic farming, expired listings, for sale by owners, or any other lead sources your team likes to draw business from.
Marketing Expert – When your team gets big enough, a marketing expert can help you create a recognizable brand. They can design and send out marketing collateral such as flyers and postcards, organize buyer and seller seminars, promote your business on social networks, build connections with local neighborhood associations, and otherwise position your team as a desirable real estate team to work with.
Need Help Managing Your Social Strategy? Contact Our Team of Social Media Specialists!
Tech Specialist – Having someone in the office who can help you and your team deal with software updates, website design changes, create videos and handle the other technology needs of your team can be a game changer.
Whether you decide to start a team or not, Homes.com is here to help with a variety of services to meet your advertising and marketing needs. If lead generation is an area you need to improve upon to start your team, Homes.com can help you and your team connect with active buyers and sellers in your area.
For more information, please visit connect.homes.com.
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