If you are among the many real estate agents who have worked tirelessly on their careers but barely getting by, you might have thought of starting your own real estate team. The real estate industry is well known for its quite competitive and cut-throat nature. Any agent looking to have a meaningful edge should consider establishing or joining an established team (like Place Real Estate Team – Oakwyn Realty). Gone are the days real estate agents outdid each other in the market, trying to close deals and build their real estate business. It’s now common to find real estate agents pooling together as teams. Michael Jordan sums it up in this quote, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Being in a real estate team with effective structures is a sure way to access bigger revenues and is where the real estate’s ‘real fun begins.
What is a Real Estate Team?
A real estate team comprises a group of real estate agents working in sync and reaping profits together. The team structure includes one team leader coordinating a team of specialists with various assigned roles. Everyone is tasked with lead generation and managing listings. Real estate teams come with different working designs. Some may include a team with experienced real estate agents working side by side to boost revenues, buyer’s agents, sole licensed agents with a team of non-licensed assistants, inside sales associates, listing agents, etc.
So, what should inform your decision to consider starting a real estate team? Read on to find out what questions you need to ask yourself first before thinking of launching your dream real estate team.
#1: What is my Reason for Starting a Team?
The main reason that should justify any agent to consider starting a team is if they have enough volumes of listings. You should be so strapped with listings that you must sacrifice others due to lack of time. Similarly, you should be confident that you will be able to balance the financial realities of bringing in a new agent. It guarantees that any new agent you bring in will have a healthy ROI to mitigate costs. Whatever your reason for wanting to start a team, it should be a perfect business move.
#2: Am I Ready to Tackle Leadership Challenges?
If you’ve been operating as a solo agent and have succeeded at it, you should know that leading a team is different. It requires an entirely different unique set of skills and approaches. Many agents have fallen into pitfalls by rushing to start teams without the needed amount of transformation on their abilities to steer a team effectively. To get this right, you should differentiate your sales skills as an agent from the required leadership skills. Work on building your leadership skills before starting your real estate agent team.
#3: Do I have Effective Underlying Systems to Run a Team?
The systems you put in place will significantly boost your team’s success rate. They include marketing systems, progress monitoring systems, lead generation & monitoring systems, new listing launching systems, etc. A team is successful when various functions within the team are run in a timely and consistent way. Well, integrated systems and processes ensure consistency of these functions and are the backbone of a successful real estate team. Lacking even a simple systematic arrangement within the team, such as how to distribute new leads between team members, can collapse the team.
#4: What is my Hiring and Team Expansion Strategy?
Hiring the right people for the right roles and at the right time is also crucial for the success of a real estate team. This means you’ll need an effective strategy to guide your team expansion goals systematically. For instance, your hiring plan should consider hiring the admin before other roles. A detail-oriented and organized admin is instrumental in setting up the team’s core business systems. Other roles can follow, such as buyer agent, inside sales agent, and listing agent.
#5: Do I have an Effective Onboarding System?
Even if you hire the best people for all expected roles, you’ll still need to train them before they can start working. Things get messy with time when there is no uniformity in how things are done. Every team member should know what is expected of them. This is where a well-structured onboarding system comes in. It should onboard new team members based on three aspects; cultural, technical, and systems.
Whether you’re starting or joining a real estate team, it’s a great platform to boost your revenues and enhance your professional development from various resources within the team. It also provides many agents with an excellent safety and security net and lets them concentrate comfortably on particular areas.