53 Ways to Grow Your Real Estate Team

You help clients buy and sell properties, and you know how important it is to have a good real estate team around you. But even though you've worked hard to build your business, there may still be tricks you haven't tried yet. We think we've uncovered some cool tips – as well as some regular ones – so read on to find out 53 efficient ways to grow your real estate team.

The Members of Your Team

1. Get the right members for your team. The office manager, a real estate assistant, a driver (can be useful when showing clients properties where parking is difficult), a concierge (some offices have somebody who greets everybody), and others.
2. Hire agents. Of course! These are special people, and they will make up the largest part of the team, so from here on we only discuss agents. Here are 7 tips on how to pick a real estate agent.
3. Remember, you don't have to hire continuously. Some people are natural team builders, but for others it can be better to build a team slowly.
4. Get yourself a business, not a job! Eventually you may have a team that is so good that you don't need to be there.

Employee Selection Criteria

5. Aim for quality. Quality is better than quantity. The right people, well-motivated, will generate more real estate business than a much larger team of people who you might think twice about keeping on your roster.
6. Hire slow, fire fast. People who don't accept the company culture (which may well be more work than they'd have to shoulder in other companies) need to get out... fast.
7. Get the job done. The people you want on your team are people who are doing the business, not just talking about doing the business!

8. Demand commitment. Commitment to the real estate industry is a key to success.
9. Hire energetic people. Energy is a key personal asset for any potential real estate agent to have!
10. Consider other industries also. Recruiting from outside the industry often brings good results, as such people are enthusiastic and ready for a new challenge.
11. Don't tolerate bad habits. Agents who have been in the business a long time may have developed bad ways of working and aversions to some aspects of the job.

Ways to Find New Agents

12. Be alert and on the lookout. New agents can be found in many places! Some examples follow.
13. Offer the waitress your business card. She's impressed you many times with her customer-care skills – she may be a potential agent.
14. Consider salesmen and the other customer service professionals you meet. They might also enjoy a career change.
15. Consider your clients! If any among them seem especially bright and energetic, you might consider recruiting them.
16. Use social media. Using MeetUP, you might get to know people who are interested in a real estate-related subject, some of whom might be potential agents.
17. Talk to friends who are competitive sports people. These folk can be suitably motivated individuals.

Important Characteristics of a Potential Agent

18. Makes a good initial visual impression. The first impression an agent makes on a client counts for a lot.
19. Dresses correctly. Men need to come to work every day clean shaven and wearing a shirt and tie.
20. Looks successful! Clients are probably making the biggest investment of their lives, so they want their real estate agent to look like a winner.
21. Creates a good audio impression from the get-go. The moment when an agent first picks up the phone to speak to a client counts for a lot.
22. Has a firm handshake. This is very important.
23. Is a company representative. Agents need to present the culture and beliefs of the company they are working for.
24. Is positive. An agent must not be overly negative, a moaner, a drama queen, etc.
25. The same but different! One idea of what makes the perfect agent is somebody who has a similar personality to your own, but whose strengths complement your weaknesses.
26. Has ambition. You didn't really need us to tell you this!

Procedure for Selecting an Agent

27. Get the candidate to meet with the operations manager. This member of your staff pretty much runs the office, so the agent had better get on with them!
28. Introduce them to the boss. The boss will almost certainly know how to do an agent's job, so there's no hiding here!
29. Make them take a CALIPER Profile. This doesn't give a yes or no, but it says what an applicant's strengths and weaknesses are.
30. Introduce the candidate to the rest of the team. They're going to have to get along.
31. You're hired! But only if the candidate passed all the stages and the team agrees they would be a 'good fit.'
32. Try hiring on a trial basis. Some agents might pass all the above tests and yet still not 'fit'!
33. Don't give up. It really can take time to find the right people.

Create a Productive Office Culture

34. Stay 'hungry'! This makes people work, and everybody can own the idea from the moment they wake up in the morning.
35. Encourage cooperation rather than competition between colleagues.
36. Make a business plan for each employee. But don't forget that people are different.
37. Make agents prospect daily. Approximately 100 calls per day is suggested.
38. Make sure agents perform. But make sure they perform in accordance with the company's goals.
39. Encourage agents to monitor their own success. We can all learn from our successes and failures.
40. Try role playing. We can all learn from each other; even experienced professionals can learn from younger ones.
41. Try a 'call night.' Make calls together – e.g. from 5:00-7:30pm – and then critique the calls afterwards.
42. Try letting new recruits 'shadow' you. They would learn so much while you conduct showings and open houses.
43. Train your agents. Maybe with as many as 100 hours per year.
44. Have confidence in your agents. Agents feel confident when the company instills that confidence in them.
45. Define roles clearly. This can be the difference between a successful team and a weak one.
46. Leaders should lead. Leaders should want a team under them not so they can pursue their own selfish ends – they should really want to lead a team.

Important Characteristics of a Successful Agent

47. Train your agents to ask questions. They will discover their clients' needs, regardless of any culture difference.
48. Train your agents to listen. It's better they find out about the client than talk about themselves.
49. Train your agents to be (gently) inquisitive. The clients' future plans – e.g. what they will do with money from a property sale – might result in further business for the agent.
50. Encourage agents to manage their time well. They have to be able to make call after call, and also to know when they need breaks.
51. Make sure agents do not 'wallow.' When a deal goes sour, they need to be able to move on quickly and say "Next!"
52. Encourage your agents to feel like 'partners' in the team. This tends to result in successful agents and a successful team.
53. Encourage agents to be organized. They should prepare their day's calendar the night before.

So, now we hope you feel inspired to take your team to a new level! Maybe you now feel that the time is right to make that staff change you've been considering. Or maybe you realize that the waitress or salesman you've thanked so often might just start thanking you for a job offer! Then one day your business will start taking care of itself.

To view the original article, visit the Point2Homes blog.