Beginning with a "Baby" Real Estate Team

I was just approached to start work with a brand new, "baby" team.  Meaning - a successful agent has had his wife join him and they need to leverage themselves with higher-level systems.  What also generally happens is that they eventually add assistants and build a mega team.  How exciting!!  I love this.  Call me a nerd, but I love systems and organizational models.  This will be the third team that I hope to help build from scratch.   As a consultant with McLean International, I have worked with lots of other teams across the country, but its starting from the ground up that's really exciting. 

One of the first things to do is analyze what's going on.  Where are they, how effective are they now, where do they want to go, and what do they need to get there?  Some simple questions will get the answers to those questions.  Information on personality styles, professional strengths and weaknesses, and information on last year's production stats are very important. 

Next, I'll need to look at their systems and technology currently in use.  I am asked all the time "RJ, is it time for me to hire an assistant?"  I always say "that depends".  Hiring an assistant is a huge responsibility.  Sure, the pay off is there.... I learned from Star Power that real estate agents with assistants earn five times as much money as those agents without assistants, but if you make a bad hire, the cost is unbelievably high!   

Here's the real deal.... first, make sure you are completely leveraged with technology.  That means, are you using a real estate specific software program like AgentOffice or Top Producer?  Secondly, how are your current systems.  Are you working smart or are you working hard?  Have you out-sourced wherever you can?  Have you taken advantage of your office transaction coordinator?    Those are just a few of the questions to answer before hiring an assistant. 

As far as my brand-new baby team - all systems are "go" and I look forward to the ride.  I'll keep you posted as we go, and I'll share information about systems and people leverage as we go along. 

What are your thoughts?  What's worked for you?  What was your biggest mistake?

Rj

Comments

[JDG]

Sounds like a great topic to watch develop. As an agent with a growing business I entertain some of the same questions. Hope to learn from the experiences of others.