Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!
When you’re great at your business, you attract more business; often, more than you can handle. This can cause stress in other areas of your life like family, faith, friends, fun and fitness. However, you can have it all — with great life balance — if you learn to delegate and focus your time on the right activities daily. This often requires an agent to step into leadership and build a team.
Launching a real estate team is a significant step that requires careful planning and execution. A structured timeline not only helps you strategically plan and delegate effectively but also ensures that your team has a clear direction from the start. By incorporating time-tested, proven strategies, you can enhance your team’s potential for success. Here’s a detailed guide to setting up a clear and actionable team launch timeline.
Weeks 1-2: Clarify your vision and set foundations
Define your ‘Why’: Clearly articulate why you want to start a team. Consider your professional goals and personal motivations, such as more family time, higher productivity or the desire to mentor others. This will help shape your team’s culture and purpose. I’ve always emphasized the importance of aligning personal and professional goals to create a cohesive team vision.
Your first hire: Begin by assessing your daily activities and identifying tasks that are non-dollar-producing. A simple way to identify what you need to delegate is simply track what you do in 30-minute increments each day for the next two weeks, then at the top of the page write “$250 per hour.”
As you go down the margin, ask this question on every 30-minute task: “Would I be willing to pay $250 an hour for someone else to do this?” If the answer is no, then you should delegate that task.
We know that prospecting for listings generates, on average, $7,000 per hour — if you delegate non-dollar-producing activities. Then, if you focus your time on generating new business, you will never have to worry about paying your assistant. This will help you see the type of assistance you’ll need.
Start drafting a detailed job description for your assistant or virtual assistant. Run ads on Wise Hire, and get your first assistant hired. Take advantage of templates and tools to streamline this process, ensuring you focus on high-impact activities.
Weeks 3-4: Hire and train your assistant
Hiring: Making smart hires is critical to the success of your future team. Use your clearly defined job description to attract and hire an assistant. Whether virtual or in-person, your assistant will handle critical tasks, freeing your time to focus on lead generation and client relationships. Tap into your network to see who might be able to offer guidance on effective recruitment strategies to find the right fit for your team, including leveraging their extensive network and resources.
Training, onboarding and delegation: Begin training your assistant using recorded videos and clearly defined processes. Essential tasks to delegate immediately include:
- Email management and scheduling
- Client care and communication
- Transaction coordination
- Preparing listing and buyer presentations
- Field services and so much more
The key is that for anything you do three times, you need to create an operations manual with a Zoom video on how to do that task. As you teach your admin, record the sessions so they have a quick, easy reference on how to do the tasks without going back to you constantly.
As a leader, you have full responsibility to make sure things are done correctly, so inspect what you expect, especially for the first few months as you learn to trust each other.
Weeks 5-6: Attract and onboard initial team members
Begin agent attraction: Start searching for your first agents and other team roles. Clearly communicate your vision, the team’s culture and expectations for each role.
Buyer’s agents: For every listing you have, you should be gaining six to eight buyer leads per month. Once you have 25 leads, you need to hire a buyer’s agent. This is designed to maintain a high level of service and ensure that each lead is adequately followed up on.
Commission structure: Create a compensation structure that motivates the leader to let go of the buyers. I recommend a tiered commission structure for buyer’s agents to align incentives and promote productivity. This would be 40 percent for the agent on their first two transactions per month. Then the agent receives 45 percent for their third and fourth transactions. Finally, for their fifth transaction and beyond, they receive 50 percent.
Structured onboarding: Develop and execute a structured onboarding process, ensuring all new team members receive consistent training, resources and support from Day 1. I’ve found over the years that the use of onboarding templates and mentorship programs can facilitate this process. I have used a 30-60-90-day onboarding plan so that new agents are up and running and on track to complete two transactions per month.
Weeks 7-8: Team integration and growth
Team integration: Focus on team cohesion through team-building activities, regular check-ins and performance reviews. Reinforce a culture of continuous improvement and open communication. Emphasize the importance of fostering a positive team culture and provide resources for team-building strategies.
Assess and adjust: Regularly assess your team’s performance, client feedback and your own time allocation. Adjust strategies and processes accordingly to maintain growth and balance. Take full advantage of performance tracking tools and coaching to help you make data-driven decisions.
Maximizing your time and productivity
Throughout the entire process, consistently redirect the time saved from delegation into lead generation, client relationships and strategic planning. At least 50 percent of the reclaimed time should be focused on income-generating activities, ensuring continued business growth and personal fulfillment. The feedback I’ve received is that coaching and support helps maximize productivity, allowing you to focus on high-value tasks.
If you are thinking about a team, you already need one. I have always maintained that if you don’t have an assistant, you are one. I can’t take you to a place where you have amazing life balance and a phenomenal business when you spend 70 percent or more of your day doing tasks and activities that you could easily delegate. The time is now; don’t procrastinate any longer.
Following this real estate team launch timeline ensures clarity, focus and efficient progression toward your goals. By following this structured approach and leveraging available resources, you’ll build a sustainable, successful team that enhances your professional effectiveness and quality of life.
Verl Workman is founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Instagram.
