As an experienced real estate broker, you already understand that the agents that make up your team are not truly your employees. However, they do look to you as their broker and many will look to you the captain of the ship. After all, you are the one in charge of recruiting new members, guiding your brand, keeping everyone in compliance with the law and basically make the rules for the brokerage. Still, if you want to empower your team to achieve optimal success, you need to influence their performance more as a leader than a boss. The experts at Weichert recognize that these five characteristics are what make the type of leader that achieves the most success.
1. Leaders Motivate, Not Intimidate One of the most distinguishing differences between and leader and boss is how they achieve performance results from their team. While a boss may resort to scare tactics and confrontation to compel a team to meet benchmarks, a leader will take the time to discover what motivates each person and deploy appropriate methods to keep them motivated. If you are determined to build a positive culture within your brokerage and continuously elevate performance, you would be better off behaving like a leader that motivates your agents on multiple levels. For example, you can establish financial, emotional, and professional motivators like bonuses, awards for performance, and promotions within your team. 2. Leaders Focus On Sustainable Solutions Anyone can throw together a lackluster short-term solution for problems that arise within their brokerage. However, a true leader takes the long-term future of their agents and their brokerage seriously and avoids applying the proverbial band-aids on bullet holes. If you plan to lead your agents rather than boss them around, you should include contingency plans within your annual business plans. The more that you plan ahead for things that could go wrong, the better you will be at leading your team to success with ease throughout those challenges. 3. Leaders Listen, Support and Share the “Why” Nobody enjoys working with or for someone that runs their business like a dictatorship. In fact, brokers that don’t listen to their agents will experience a higher rate of costly agent turnover and issues. If you are the type of broker that strives for the best for their entire team, it would be in your best interest to keep your eyes, ears, and mind as open as possible. Not only could you open the floor to your agents during team meetings to allow for free expression of ideas, but make one-on-one appointments to check in with agents on their progress, guide them through challenges, and allow them to share their opinions or ideas with you. These are the perfect opportunities to show every agent in your brokerage that you care about them and are happy to support them in their career as their leader rather than their boss. And if there are specific practices you need agents to engage in, make sure you are not just “ordering” it to happen. Make sure you are giving them the context of “why” it is vital for them to engage in it. 4. Leaders Strive For The Successes Of Others Another noticeable difference between brokers that behave like a leader vs. a boss is their desire to see each and every member of their team succeed for more than their own personal gain. They put the goals of their agents above their own. Obviously, when your agents make money, you do too, but the more you invest in helping each agent achieve their personal and professional goals, the more success you will all achieve. It’s a feel-good way to approach your business and a win-win for you and your agent. Agents that know that their broker truly cares and helps them, are far more driven to produce results. 5. Leaders Build Confidence As you probably remember, starting a career as a real estate agent can seem a bit overwhelming at times. It can be difficult to build up the necessary confidence to run a profitable real estate business in the face of all the rejection that inevitably confronts agents. You can define yourself as a leader by instilling your team with the confidence they need to approach leads, negotiate contracts, and navigate unexpected issues that arise. You can remind them that failure is ok; it happens to everyone, and the key is to let it go and move forward. The more you invest in training, educating, and supporting your agents through every stage of their growth, the better they will be able to perform with confidence. Be The Leader you Always Imagined Ironically, it can be challenging to build up your own confidence as a real estate broker and leader, especially if you are trying to navigate these waters on your own. One of the main reasons that many brokers choose to join a franchise like Weichert, is that they can get their own support as a broker and a leader, as well as the educational tools they need to empower their agents. For more information about how joining Weichert can help you grow as a leader, please visit www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/5-characteristics-that-make-you-a-leader-instead-of-a-boss/
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Franchise Success Spotlight: Weichert® Affiliate Ronda Bailey Cooper Weichert, Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy Ronda Bailey Cooper never set out to be a Weichert Broker. In fact, Ronda never set out to be any kind of broker at all… Indianapolis Indiana and its suburbs support a thriving and dynamic real estate market. Despite its misunderstood moniker as “Naptown”, the city and its roughly 1 million inhabitants, are anything but sleepy. Ronda Bailey Cooper grew up here and despite an occasional relocation, she is a proud Hoosier and Indiana is the place she has always called home. Ronda Bailey Cooper operates Weichert, Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy from almost the dead center of Indianapolis. Her clients are mostly suburban homebuyers and renters who work in or near the city. As Ronda reflects on the crooked line of fate and career that landed her on the doorstep of Weichert, she will tell you, “I never planned to be a broker–it just kind of happened!” The Jagged Path to Real Estate Broker Ronda’s working life started as a high-school teacher and sports coach for girls volleyball, softball and the cheerleading squad. In this mix, it was the coaching she really loved. The ability to mentor athletes and inspire a team to come together, compete, and achieve something important, hardly seemed like a job. What’s more she knew she was good at it. After many years as a teacher and then a day-care center operator, Ronda was casually introduced to people from Indiana’s largest home builder. After some thought, Ronda agreed to forgo the day care center for a job as a salesperson for the builder, selling houses under construction across the state. With her newly minted real estate agent license in hand, Ronda had precious little experience in the role of builder salesperson, but her energy, mature business skills and personality got her the job. Ronda set about the hard work of publicizing the developments, partnering with other real estate agents and brokers and sponsoring huge professional events. Over a 12 year career, Ronda rose to regional manager, and ultimately sales director for the entire company. In 2008 Ronda and her team were responsible for the sale of 1700 homes across the state. But the Recession hit. And in 2009, her company was out of business, and Ronda was out of a job. The recession hit builders across the country hard, and Ronda’s company was no exception. But she had developed more than a sales team there; she had developed a culture that was open, supportive, collaborative, and focused on winning. The culture changes extended throughout the company. In this job, she had become coach and mentor again and the thought of starting over was tough. It wasn’t long before Ronda accepted a job out of state, moving her family to Alabama to work for another builder who hoped Ronda could duplicate her success there. However, it soon became clear that their culture was very different than the one Ronda wanted to create and they were not really open to the kind of transformative change they thought they wanted. It taught Ronda how important a culture and the cultural fit is, and how if the fit isn’t there, it isn’t always possible to make it work. In 2012, when her daughter graduated, Ronda took the family back to Indianapolis and got her first traditional real estate agent job, hanging her hat with a tiny Mom & Pop brokerage who provided little more than morning coffee. To train herself in her new profession, Ronda created her own coaching and mentoring program by hiring and paying friends and professional contacts from all over town to teach her the ins and outs of being a real estate agent. One day a friend called her with congratulations. Ronda asked her what for, and she said “for being a top 10 realtor,” as published from results pulled from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors for the greater Indianapolis area. Ronda had no idea. She had closed 240 homes in just her first two years of being an agent, and the local industry was starting to notice. Agents reached out to her for mentoring. Brokerages tried to recruit her. Ronda decided that maybe it was time to make a career move. The Road to Weichert Ronda got her broker’s license and shortly after started her team with two agents, one a friend, and the other, her daughter. It was around that time that she had a preliminary discussion with Weichert, but she wasn’t really interested. “I had never been anything but independent, and I was really afraid of losing that.” Ronda persisted alone, growing her business slowly and being very careful about who she hired and who she kept. “For me it was all about attitude. I wanted agents that would be open to the culture, the coaching and mentoring I wanted to provide and who would work more as a team.” That meant both a careful screening process and being willing to let go of producers when they had a “bad” attitude. After two years, the agency grew to 6 people and was doing well, but Ronda was becoming aware that she didn’t know what she didn’t know, and her growth was being impacted because of it. “The technology stuff and the brand development were not really my forte. I’m more a people person.” As Ronda planned a trip to NY city to see her daughter, Weichert happened to call and she thought, “What the heck, they can pay for my visit and I’ll stop in to see them while I’m in the area.” While listening to Weichert at their corporate offices in Morris Plains, NJ, all the pieces started to fall into place. Recruiting process? Check. Plug & Play Technology Solutions? Check. Active one-on-one expert support? Check. New agent training process? Check. Branding and Marketing Solutions? Check. Still, Ronda wrestled with concerns over her independence. While she knew that Weichert was the only affiliation she would consider, it was almost a year and a half after these initial meetings that she finally came on board. It was her daughter who, after watching her struggle with the decision, finally said, “Mom c’mon! What are you waiting for!” In 2017 Ronda became Weichert Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy. The Weichert Experience “The human collateral I’ve had at Weichert since day 1, has been amazing”, remarks Ronda. “As a people person, the ability to take live trainings, attend our SAW sessions and management retreats, have been tremendously exciting.” What Ronda likes the most though is the culture of transparency and sharing that exists within the Weichert broker community. “There is simply no scarcity mentality or being secretive. I never want to be the smartest person in the room and with Weichert, I never am.” When it comes to tools, Ronda is using it all, from the Doors listing presentation methodology to the Weichert Fast Track training for new agents. The plug and play nature of much of these processes meant that she saw improvements on day one that have continued through her two years with Weichert. “With Weichert, it’s not about any one single tool or process, but the way they’ve made them all work together and complement each other is quite amazing.” Ronda has doubled the size of her team using Weichert methods and has seen a 15-20% year over year growth in sales since becoming an Affiliate. She still builds her team her way, though—slowly—with an emphasis on openness and cultural compatibility. “It turns out that Weichert has the same culture that I do when it comes to openness, sharing and teamwork,” observes Ronda. “Weichert delivered 100% on the promises it made to me all those years ago and continues to do so.” Weichert – A Culture of Support As a Weichert affiliate, you’ll have a dedicated real estate business consultant and regional service manager assisting with everything from business planning and coaching to recruiting and financial management, plus support to help you leverage the wide array of marketing and sales tools at your fingertips. You’ll have the opportunity to attend local broker councils and management trainings to network with colleagues, as well as regional rallies and exciting conventions, along with your agents, so that everyone on your team is rallied around a common goal. The support you get will enhance your skills to make you a better leader. Be our next success story. Call Weichert Franchising today or visit www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-accidental-broker/ A broker recently told us about his first ever performance review as a manager. “I remember my boss telling me that though I was very smart and energetic I had to learn to ‘let go of the bench’. It is a lesson I took to heart when I became a real estate broker.” This is great advice for all brokers and something we stress to the many brokers we speak to on a regular basis. And it’s not hard to see why.
For many brokers, such as yourself, the decision to open your own business simply made sense – after all, you’re experienced in the industry, have a great track record and know how a brokerage runs, so taking on the business side of things is just one more task. Except sometimes, it’s surprising just how much time it really takes. Running your own brokerage means recruiting your own real estate agents, real estate marketing, and managing it financially and administratively. When you are dedicated to seeing your business succeed, this often means you try to take on everything yourself. And if you don’t–or can’t–get something done, it doesn’t happen – and that doesn’t help your business. This is where learning to “let go of the bench” comes in. Developing the ability to delegate managerial and sales work properly is one of the keys to successfully running any business, but is especially true for brokers because so much of your time is spent is spent on essential, but non-sales related tasks. There’s no way you can multitask while running an open house, for example. Delegating not only means that you have access to additional people to take on certain tasks, it also means having access to people that you can trust to do those tasks properly. This is an essential part of the process of taking yourself from real estate agent, to effective leader of a brokerage, and having the time and resources to be able to put in place the plans, processes and support needed to build and grow your business. Without it, you risk being overworked and overwhelmed, and your business has trouble moving forward. How to Delegate Effectively and Turn Employees into Managers
For more information visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com. This blog was originally posted at: https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-marketing/develop-managers-brokerage/ There are many reasons why independent brokers chose to hitch their wagon to a real estate franchise after going it alone for years. These reasons are as diverse as the brokers themselves. Some want a better lead funnel. Some need operational support. Some look for a better quality of life with guidance from a partner who is an expert and is vested in their success.
Still there are a few common themes that persist more than the rest. If any of these items have ever crossed your mind, maybe franchising would be a fit for you. The Power of a Name Many of the brokers we talk to have a good reputation and are known in their local market. Despite this they are concerned that they are missing leads to companies with more brand power behind them. Whether it’s due to the inherent trust and familiarity that a recognized brand name carries with it or the brand’s ability to invest more heavily in marketing and recruiting materials and advertising. In fact, depending on your location, Google searches favor these national brands putting consumers instantly in touch with big brand competitors right in your local market. Franchising offers brokers the chance to leverage a national brand in their local market. Almost overnight, they accrue all the brand power and visibility of the franchise brand they affiliate with. They become that recognized, trusted, and stable industry leader. One that has the infrastructure and processes to offer clients the best practices and service in real estate and offer recruits the best training and support around. Being able to instantly access the strength and reach of a franchise brand can take a load off your shoulders because you’ve leveled the playing field. The brand you now wear only adds to the reputation you’ve already earned in your local market. Lead Generation Many independent brokerages are also looking for a steady source of leads to help bolster their business. It’s important to find a franchisor who invests in lead generation and is structured to provide various sources for leads. Many real estate franchises claim to offer this, but in reality are just speculating that the new sign out front will attract more clients than before. A franchise such as Weichert, on the other hand, is an example of a franchisor structured to provide its franchise brokers with access to leads from a variety of sources:
The Weichert Lead Network, positions our national brand in local markets through both digital and traditional mediums, so your agents can get the call when buyers and sellers are looking. Calls are routed to our national call center, screened and transferred to you in under a minute. Our investments in Search Engine Marketing drive over 40 Million visitors to our corporate website every month from all over the country. When lead generation is a key consideration for a brokerage, it’s important to align with a company that is aggressively investing in their brand like Weichert. Support and Coaching for Real Estate Brokers Brokers are also looking for the right tools, marketing support and guidance. Having a blueprint to follow and a coach by your side, is always easier than having to go it alone. The best real estate franchises offer multiple levels of support that are designed to assist their business in a strategic way, allowing them to succeed and grow even through challenging times. As an example, Weichert offers one-on-one business coaching, as well as a full array of training opportunities, including its Weichert University online courses. Combine that with a full suite of marketing and sales systems and tools, franchisees experience a level of support that simply doesn’t exist when you’re an independent broker. Discover if a Real Estate Franchise is the Right Fit for your Brokerage At Weichert, we’re in the business of building real estate success stories by delivering the support, tools, quality leads and brand power that brokerages are looking for. If we sound like the right fit for your business, speak to our representatives today or visit us at http://www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/top-3-reasons-invest-real-estate-franchise/ Brokerages fail for many reasons, but sadly many real estate businesses follow the same, time-worn path. Is yours one of them? To ensure success, you’ll want to avoid common mistakes. However this is a lot easier said than done, as in real estate, brokers often assume the path to success is the most heavily traveled one. Here’s how to avoid taking the wrong exit.
The Recruitment Express Lane Many brokers don’t focus on recruiting. It’s a sporadic activity at best, often prompted by a vacancy left by another agent. Yet recruiting is critical to putting your agency in the fast lane for growth. Jim Weichert discovered this early on. By making recruiting an organized activity of your office, you create a pipeline of agents that will ensure a steady flow of business. Agents will always come and go, but a strong pipeline will minimize any disruptions in business. What makes up a strong recruiting strategy? Setting goals for hiring and staffing. Consistently engaging in the right activities to attract prospects and having attractive marketing materials to effectively market your brokerage. Once you’ve hired them, you want to retain them. This requires you to consistently promote your value as a brokerage. What do you offer your agents? How do you support their professional development? How do you help them secure listings? How do you help them find buyers? What types of farming support and systems do you provide to help them grow their business? Sales & Listing Rubbernecking Many of today’s agents tell us that they’re feeling the pain of today’s low inventory market and are always on the hunt for a leg up on lead generation. This can too often leave your best agents peeking over the fence toward the seemingly greener pastures of competitive brokerages. A recent Inman survey of agents identified buyer leads (32%) and listings (30%) as topping the list of valuable services their brokerage does not–or could do a better job of– providing. What are you doing to help generate sales and listing leads for your agents? Do you have a highly dependable and productive lead and listing system for keeping agents engaged? Or brokerage specific Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for effectively managing customer contacts? In today’s high-stakes, instant-access mobile world, minutes could cost you a solid lead. Stop looking back at what competing firms are doing, and zero-in on what you can do in your own brokerage to reach success by developing a coherent and disciplined action plan with tried-and-true methods. When your agents perform well – so does your brokerage. Agency Bypass How do you stand out in your market to avoid being bypassed? Building a strong presence requires consistency. Consistent marketing, consistent promotion and a consistent level of customer service by your agents to create a memorable experience for clients. However, it can be a daunting task to implement those things and keep up with them all by yourself. Joining a national brand is a great way to raise your profile. It also allows you to tap into constantly refreshed resources for marketing, promotion and training of agents so they are confident, productive and can provide the best real estate service in the market and stand out from the crowd. You also benefit from networking with peers to learn what has worked for others with similar challenges. Paving a Smooth Road Ahead You wear a lot of hats to ensure your brokerage’s success – but you don’t have to go it alone. Tested and proven systems and tools exist for successfully addressing your brokerage’s growth challenges. You already know you have to attract agents, stand out from the competition, boost listings and move inventory faster. A franchise partner such as Weichert is an example of a resource with proven, successful systems that businesses can plug into encompassing everything from recruiting and securing listings to attracting and managing leads to marketing your brokerage. Discover how to put a Weichert® real estate franchise opportunity to work for your business today. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-broker-marketing/fast-track-success-failure/ |
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