My Top 5 Wins as I grew my Real Estate Team

Many people in the real estate industry will say that one of the hardest things to do is to build a successful team. It requires a lot of dedication, passion, and hard work. I've been in the business for over ten years, and these are my top five wins as a real estate team leader.

1). The first thing I did was hire an in-house admin. I've always laughed at how much I struggled in making my first hire. At first, I only wanted the most affordable, so I did VA's and part-time. Such a huge difference when it was in-house. Having someone in the office helped with morale and efficiency and made things run smoothly. There are many factors to consider when hiring an Executive Assistant, especially in the Real Estate industry. I tried using Virtual Assistants, and while it has benefits, nothing beats having an In-House Assistant. Taking the Recruit Select training course from Keller Williams helped me visualize this. The course not only taught me how to interview potential candidates but also how to select the right person for the job and then train them properly. Just as importantly, it also showed me how to create a culture of success within my team. By following the steps outlined in the Recruit Select course, I was able to hire an Executive Assistant who has made a tremendous impact on my business. I would recommend using WizeHire as a great solution to place your job ad on various sites with the bonus that all applicants get filtered through Wizehire. It’s like a CRM for hiring, but my favorite feature is its DISC integration. Super valuable.

2). The second thing I did was focus on online lead generation and kept all those leads throughout these years. In today's day and age, it's essential to utilize the internet to its fullest potential in real estate. So I could sustain a successful business by generating leads online and then keeping them in my CRM. The way this is useful for us today is that our database is over 25k people that have registered for updates from us. Always keep in mind that online lead gen is a long ball game. Great systems allow you to convert these opportunities even if it’s 2+ years since the lead registered on your site. Totally helps you shift the focus of some agents that like to say “these leads suck”… well, no… they’re just not ready. Stay in touch. Huge win fo us.

3). The third thing I did was work on my CRM workflows before a team member joined. Always focused on efficiency, this helped me get new systems in place so that when my team member came on board, they could hit the ground running! And since we were already efficient, this only added to our bottom line. The approach I like to take is the reverse engineering approach. Start with a problem and work to find solutions. A great leader is aware & in tune with the problems & challenges that their team is going through. Start there. Find your top 3 current challenges and be thankful for them. Commit yourself to a short-term solution. Once that is implemented challenge yourself to improve that short-term solution. A few things we worked on is creating a list of who the agent should call today by order. For us, it’s a smart list from 1-8. Starts with calling leads that have not been called, then new leads that should be called once a day for the first 10 days, then unconverted leads that are active on our site, then converted leads (hot, warm, cold) that we haven’t spoken with in a relative time frame to their stage… and so on.

4). Fourth, I led from experience. What worked for me as an agent? When you're the team leader, you need to be able to take your knowledge and expertise and apply it to your team. Doing this can help them avoid any pitfalls you may have encountered and set them up for success from the start! At the same time, while you lead from experience, you as a leader must always continue to grow. Some of the best growth strategies for me have been to read & implement books, obtain coaches that keep you accountable & attending events that I can walk away with 1 item of value that I can implement to the business within a month.

5). Fifth is a 2 part equation for me. One side is hiring the right people that fit your culture and that you as a leader believe in. The other side is having a student/growth mindset. Attending training & events helps keep me sharp and up-to-date on the latest trends so that I can pass that information down to my team members! If you're not continuously learning, you're falling behind! At the same time, you can’t look at your team as numbers. These people have a vision of their own definition of success in Real Estate and trust you to lead them there. It takes a lot of love to get them there so it’s always easier if you just hire people that you believe in. You see that potential. A great quote from the book “Dare to Lead” that has been sitting with me lately is “I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.” These are just a few of my tips for anyone looking to build a successful real estate team!