5 Key Real Estate Team Leader Strategies to EXIT Production in 12 Months – Commit to It
Throughout this article series, we’ve covered the most important strategies for real estate team leaders to implement in order to pull themselves out of production. We’ve talked about how and who to hire, setting clear expectations for your team, how to implement training, and the importance of culture.
The strategy we’re going to discuss in this article is the one that really brings all of the others together. It’s actually committing yourself to the goal of getting yourself out of the day-to-day trenches of your real estate team.
Why Committing Yourself to the Goal Matters
Because you’re a real estate team leader, I’m guessing you already know how important it is to actually state and define your goals. And removing yourself from production within 12 months is a goal like any other. It’s a very big goal, but the concept is the same.
The first four strategies that I talked about are really things that all real estate team leaders should be implementing, whether their goal is to get out of production or not. They are the ingredients for a productive, successful team. You can and should take advantage of those strategies for your own team, but unless you commit yourself to stepping away from directly generating and converting leads, meeting with clients, and bringing in business like other agents on your team, then you’ll remain an integral part of the process.
If your goal is to not be a part of that process, then you need to actively step away. The strategies we’ve discussed so far are the prerequisites for accomplishing that.
Shift Your Focus
Once you have your team, expectations are set, training is in place, and your agents are producing, you need to slowly pull yourself away. Stop actively working leads, and start passing leads that you do have to your other agents. A successful real estate team leader needs to focus on the business as a whole, and that’s where you need to start shifting your attention and effort.
The last article in this series talked about culture. That is where a lot of your focus should start to shift to. Instead of directly producing business, be a mentor to your agents. Help them produce more and more business. Give them support and encouragement. Help them become rockstars. As you pull yourself away from production, you also have to scrutinize the systems and processes you have in place.
Do a deep dive into your CRM to make sure it’s being used as effectively as possible. Research what other successful real estate team leaders are doing to make their teams more successful. Look into different types of commission splits to see if there is a better way to do things than the way you’re currently doing them.
The time when you are still involved in production, but to a lesser degree, is one of the best times to look at these things, like your CRM or lead generation processes, because you are still directly using them. That gives you a first person view to how things are working or how well changes help or don’t help make things better.
Stick to Your Guns with Your Real Estate Team
We already covered setting clear expectations for your team. But I want to reiterate it. Once you have the minimum standards in place for your agents, you have to stick to them. If you don’t, you will never get to the point where you don’t need to be involved in production for your team to be successful.
You offer immense value to your real estate team. They receive support, training, leads, systems, marketing, coaching, and business development resources. For that, they need to provide something in return. Set a minimum number of homes they must sell or volume they must produce in order to remain part of your operation. Put consequences in place if they continue to fail to meet those minimums.
For example, if they miss their monthly goals for a quarter, then they are on probation for the next quarter. If they fail to meet the minimums for the next quarter (or two quarters, whatever you think is better for your team), then you have to consider letting them go.
To fully commit yourself to exiting production, you have to put the expectations in place, and hold your real estate team accountable. That’s the only way you’ll end up with a team that you don’t have to directly be a part of.
Real Estate Team Leaders Aren’t Alone!
As a real estate team leader, you can often feel like you’re all on your own. Especially when the market starts to slow. Trust me, I know how overwhelming it can feel. Because, ultimately, it falls on your shoulders.
The good news is that you are not alone in implementing any of the strategies we discussed. In addition to training resources for your team, at Smart Sales Coaching, we also have leadership coaching programs. We’ll help you set up a sustainable business model that gets you out of the day-to-day trenches and avoid working an impossible number of hours.
By the end of the program, you’ll have a team that dominates your market, without you in an active production role. You can work less and spend more time with your family – all while growing your real estate business. This is the path to a truly leveraged and self-sufficient real estate business.
Commit yourself to getting out of production, and rely on us if you need some help along the way!