Buildify on “Strategies for Building a Successful Real Estate Team”

Hello and Welcome!  

Thank you for joining us here at the Buildify blog. Welcome to Buildify and The Buildify Method. 

My name is Aaron Keith, and I will be leading the conversation around this this topic. 

First off, I want to welcome you and thank you being a part of the Buildify family.  I know you have a very busy life and I really appreciate your interest in learning and growing as a business owner & entrepreneur!

Before we get into the content of this specific blog topic, I would like to explain why I created Buildify & The Buildify Method.

I created Buildify because this allows me to do what I love to do, which is teach business owners how to better own and operate a successful business. In each blog we will do a deep dive into very specific topics and distinctions that make up The Buildify Method. 

I also created these blogs because I feel it’s very important for business owners to make time to learn tangible skills that they can take back to their companies the very next day!

I believe it’s very important for business owners to be constantly looking for ways to better own and operate their business. And I designed each of these blog topics to do just that.

And those are the reasons why I created Buildify and all the resources under its umbrella! …with that in mind, let’s get to work! 

The topic of this specific blog is on… “Strategies for Building a Successful Real Estate Team”.

The intention that we are out to fulfill on in this blog discussion is…“That you understand how to be more Organized, Efficient & Productive through improving your relationship to Scheduling and Task Management.”

This is a huge subject, so we won’t get through everything there is to talk about here in just this one blog.

Sense this blog is about Teams… let’s start by talking about “Why” to have a Team? 

Why have a Team? 

What’s the benefit of having a Team?

I recommend that the size of your team be given by the size of your Sales Goal. 

Start by creating the Sales Goals of a company each year during our Annual Planning. 

Once you have the Annual Sales Goal set, then determine what you’re Staffing Model we need to be in order to hit that Sales Goal. 

The good news is, this is the exact time that you all should be doing your  Annual Planning for the New Year!

In real estate your year starts November 1^st, so that means your Annual Planning for your New Years needs to be done by October 31^st. 

Once we have our Annual Sales Goal in place, now we can start to work on configuring our Team Staffing Model.

Let’s talk about the different configurations of Teams that I have seen be effective models.

I will break up the Team Configurations by:

1. Small teams
2. Medium teams
3. Large teams

I am going to cover the different configurations of teams.

A Small Team is often set up like this.

1. Lead Agent (owner)

1. Full Time Assistant (licensed agent)

1. Buyers Agent (help with showings, take small buyers & listings)

The benefits of this configuration is…

• It maximizes the agent’s ability to be out there with clients making money. 
• Takes most of the tasks that are not the highest and best use of their time off their plate. 
• Allows the agent to leverage others to maximize their skillset and spend time marketing and spending time with more qualified contacts. 

A Medium Team is often set up like this.

1. Lead Agent (owner)

1. Fulltime Office Manager

1. Fulltime Marketing Assistant 

1. Agents:
   1. Senior Agent
   2. Mid-Level Agent
   3. Junior Agent

The benefits of this configuration is…:

• Biggest change at this size in team configuration is the Marketing Assistant. A dedicated person in this role make a huge difference is growth!

• The other main difference is the levels of agents.  Different levels of agents or skill sets allow you to market the business in more ways. Junior agent can do more aggressive cold marketing, mid-level is steady and can handle a lot of volume and the senior agent has their own contacts and can cover for the owner so the owner can take more time off or help leverage the owners time. 

A Large Team is often set up like this.

1. Lead Agent (owner)

1. Fulltime Office Manager

1. Fulltime Marketing Assistant 

1. General Manager – (manages budgets, agents, & statistics) 

1. Agents: (several at each level)
   1. Senior Agent 
   2. Mid-Level Agent
   3. Junior Agent

The benefits of this configuration is…

• The main difference in this team configuration is that you have a General Manager, who is managing a lot of the business items such as budgets, managing the agents, tracking KPI’s, holding all the people accountable for the owner. 

• Other main difference is the number of agents per level and making sure you have the right balance of agents per level. 

Now we have configured our team staffing model, now we need to increase the productivity and accountability of our team.

Let’s talk about the foundational systems I recommend you use if you have a team. 

Here are the Systems I recommend:

1. Sales Goal breakdown
2. Agent Weekly Promises
3. Weekly Agent Meeting 
4. Pipeline Report

Let’s talk out each of these Systems.

Sales Goal by Agent broken down:

• You want to have your 2017 Sales Goal set, and broken down by average sales price, units sold, appointments and leads needed. 

• This should be broken down by agent. 

• This should be saved on a document and reviewed monthly. Must have it visual!

• Sales Goal – Everyone must be fully committed and aligned to their goals and the goal of the company. 

Agent Weekly Promises:

The Agent Weekly Promises is a system used to manage the stats week-to-week, and month-to-month to keep people present to what they are producing in relationship to what they are supposed to be producing to hit their goals. 

This document allows the owner to hold their agents accountable and to know how they can support them to increase their performance and effectiveness. 

This document also keeps people emotionally engaged in their Goals. 

This system has 3 things in it…. 

1) Lead Generation Actions

2) Statistics Tracking 

3) Questions / Topics to discuss

Weekly Agent Meetings:

Having a standing weekly meeting is critical to the performance & accountability of a team. 

During your team meeting is when you will talk over each agent’s Actions, Stats, and Questions / Topics. 

If you want your team to perform you need to do strategy and planning time with your team on a regular basis!

Your meetings are also an opportunity to develop and uphold your team Culture! 

Pipeline Report by Agent:

The last foundational system that helps improve productivity & accountability on a team is a Pipeline Report. 

This system is designed to keep people mentally, emotionally and physically engaged. 

To have this system work it needs to contain a few things.

1. Sales Goal per month 
2. Sales Actual in pipeline that month
3. Difference to see how much they are ahead / behind goal. 
4. Must show at least 3 months in advance at all times, to stay out ahead of their business. 

Now that we have a great team, and we have great systems for the team to use, now we need to get you to be a great Leader for your team. 

Here are some points I strongly recommend you implement…

• Work on your business, and not just in it.

• Stop being an agent 24/7 and be the CEO.

• Work with your team:
  • Team meetings
  • Do reviews with staff quarterly

• Have a culture statement. Having good culture in your business is critical to retaining top talent. 

• Do fun things with your team. Cant just be all work and no play.

To learn more about this topic, you can go to the Seminars Page and you can watch the full seminar on “Strategies for Building a Successful Real Estate Team”.

Website link:  https://www.buildifysystems.com/seminars/

If your business could benefit from having the kind of seamless experience that only the Buildify Systems suite provides, log in now and start Buildifying your systems! 

At Buildify, we are committed to empowering business owners by giving them powerful tools right at their fingertips. 

In the Buildify Systems platform, we have made creating and implementing key system easier and more efficient for you. We are committed to providing your with all the foundational business systems you need in order to grow and scale. Aaron Keith, our founder and master business coach, has masterminded our dynamic systems with his more than 20 years in business and having worked with more than 10,000 companies over that time. 

To learn more about Buildify Systems or to start your Free Trial just https://www.buildifysoftware.com/

To listen to The Buildify Method Podcast go to https://www.thebuildifymethod.com/