Written by Adam Horth

If you’re a selling real estate principal, you likely fall into one of two distinct camps.

Firstly, there are those who simply love selling. They thrive under the challenge of competing for listings and seeing campaigns through from start to finish. The reason they have their own agency is to make their vision a reality for how sellers should be treated and their properties presented.

These leaders are often surrounded by energetic team members, all pulling in the same direction.

More importantly, they have a wonderful career and love their business. If you feel you fall into this camp – this article is not written for you.

The second group are those selling and feel ‘stuck’ in their need to produce. Without their personal productivity, their business wouldn’t survive. Often, these ‘stuck’ leaders are not surrounded by the right team members. Try as they might, they haven’t been able to take their business to the next level.

This is a common scenario faced by thousands of real estate principals across the country. It’s seldom a lack of work ethic that has put them in this situation, but rather a lack of the right processes, systems and support.

If you are this second leader looking to grow your agency and transform it into a true business, here are three steps to reduce your agency’s reliance on you.

1. Begin building a team

Easier said than done, but as the expression goes: a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.

The first step in building a team begins with looking for team members. A great team is made up of great people, and great people are everywhere. You simply have to begin looking.

Smartre Training teaches its members to implement three effective recruitment channels to attract and create your future salespeople.

You will be familiar with Channel One – the traditional recruitment process.

This is the most common form of recruitment and can still be effective. Simply advertise an available position for your next salesperson. Use websites such as Seek or Indeed but don’t limit yourself to job sites alone. Consider a recruitment campaign on social media using video, telling people the benefits of working at your agency.

To attract people, your offer must be attractive. What does working in your agency look like? What support and training will new team members receive? These are the key questions candidates ask so you must know the answers.

Channel Two turns you into a Talent Scout – you become ‘winner aware’.  

Wherever you go, seek out potential team members for your agency. They may be the person serving you at a café or selling you a suit, a buyer viewing a property or even a past client.  

Many people have considered a career in real estate, and many of them may be suitable – they just don’t know where to start. Telling someone they may be suitable might be the nudge they need to turn this idea into reality.

When you find a potential candidate, ask them if they’ve ever considered a career in real estate. If you pique their interest, arrange to meet them for a coffee and chat.

Channel Three is growing salespeople.

No, we don’t mean conceiving and waiting a couple of decades (although this strategy has proved successful for some!), but rather developing a junior into a salesperson.

Young people are enthusiastic, driven and have the capacity to work hard without distraction. An eighteen-year-old today could be an outstanding salesperson by the time they turn 20. How many young agents have you seen succeed? Plenty.

These candidates are easy to find, and over 12 to 18 months working as an Associate can learn the right skills, habits and work ethic to build a career as a salesperson.

2. Begin training your team

The appeal for many leaders of attracting established ‘talent’ from other agencies is the idea that upon joining you, they should – in theory – immediately begin producing income.

It seems the entire real estate industry has been taught that ‘poaching’ should be your primary recruitment strategy, but Smartre Training is convinced there is a better way.

Of course, if a ready-trained agent’s appeal is their skillset, the challenge for the inexperienced is a lack of skill. It takes time and effort from you, the leader, to train them in the art of real estate sales.

To address this challenge, Smartre Training supports its members through online training, in-person events, and phone consultations for all new team members. New sales recruits are put through a structured three-month process – known as The Launch – that provides them with the skills and techniques to find and win business on their own. 

Although the Leader plays an active role in The Launch process, it does not come at the cost of business.

The great benefit of The Launch Process is that whilst training, the new recruits are actively prospecting for listings – in essence, they are self-funding..

This investment of time and training builds loyalty from new team members, increasing your ability to retain them for years to come.

3. Transform your agency

Remember, this article is for those who wish to reduce the agency’s reliance on you the leader for listings and sales.

To successfully do this, the third and most important step is to transform your agency into a business.

A business is built on a foundation of the right culture and the right people, and then runs on the right systems and processes. To run a successful real estate business, you need to know what these elements look like and have the desire to implement them into your agency.

The number one difference between you having a business or a job is your agency’s reliance on you to produce.

When you learn the right systems and processes, and begin implementing them into your agency, it will slowly but surely become a business. The team members around you will develop both authority and autonomy within their roles, and you will begin leading the business in the direction of your choosing.

Sound appealing? Sound achievable?

If you’re sceptical about your ability to see this agency transformation, it might be time to reach out to Smartre Training for a discussion. We have countless clients who, through the implementation of The Smartre System, have achieved the above and more.

Click here and listen to this interview with Steve Allen. Within two years of joining Smartre Training, Steve transformed his agency in these ways:

·       Increased annual revenue from $600,000 to over $1.5 million.

·       Increased profit margins from 20% to 35%.

·       Consistently writing $100,000+ per month in Sales, with record months after implementing The Smartre System.

·       His personal productivity during this time reduced (by design) by 80%.

Steve is a great example of the system succeeding. 

Smartre Training has a thorough 6-month implementation plan for new agencies. With this, you can begin taking the above three steps immediately and see instant results.

Our next Real Estate Agency Seminar, where the above and much more is discussed in detail, is being held at Port Douglas in mid-August. Full details can be found on the events section of this website.

If you’re considering joining us, please reach out and we can arrange an obligation-free over-the-phone consultation about where your agency currently is and where you would like to take it.

Want to stop selling and start leading? Smartre Training can help put you in that motion.