"Consult
The Coach" Archives
Stuart Kaufman, MS, MBA
“The Real Estate Coach”
Summer
2005 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Q.
Dear Coach:
I
have been a realtor for quite some time and I'm ready
to take it to the next level but find myself completely
unorganized. Last year I did about 15 transactions.
My Goal for this year is about 25, with the intent
to grow every year from there. At this
stage should I try to get organized on my own or should
I be looking for an assistant? I want to build
a strong team for the long term so I can get
myself more involved with meeting people and developing personal
relationships that produce results. Because
I'm a bit of a control freak, I'm thinking it would
be best to find an anchor office person to take charge
so I can stay completely out of his/her day to day.
But I am unsure on how to go about this. Should
my assistant(s) be licensed, not licensed? How
do you determine their salary and/or commissions?
If they should be licensed, do I pay for their licensing
and how do I keep them loyal to the team after
they become experienced agents themselves?
Signed,
At
a Road Block
A.
Dear At a Road Block:
How
to hire an assistant is a frequently asked question
among agents who are ready to move to their next level
of success. The transition can be quite scary and
intimidating, but also quite rewarding.
The
first question to ask yourself is “What is my goal
or intent for wanting to hire an assistant?”
In
your letter, you begin by saying that you find yourself
“completely unorganized”. And ask if you should try
to get organized yourself or look for an assistant
in order to help move you to you to a higher level
of productivity. While hiring the right assistant
will undoubtedly help organize the processing of your
transactions, do your organizational needs go beyond
this? If so, you would likely benefit from first tuning
up your own organizational skills. Organizational
skills are life skills and will help you not only
in business, but in your personal life as well. Here
are some ideas:
- Be
sure you are using a calendaring and scheduling
system that works for you. Write down all appointments,
commitments, and obligations. This system should
have an audible reminder feature (alarm) to help
you stay on track and be on time to your appointments.
As simple and obvious as this suggestion sounds,
too many agents continue to miss appointments due
to not having systems in place for writing things
down. Or, if they do have a system, they don't have
audible reminder cues to help them be on time.
- A
Contact Management System is an extremely valuable
tool to help keep track of all of your clients (potential,
past and present) addresses, phone numbers, e-mail
addresses, their transaction status, and your “things
to do” list. For a comparison of the common Contact
Management Systems used by Real Estate agents, go
to the Resources section of my website, www.GetYourSphereInGear.com
. You may want to hire a Temporary Employee
from a temp agency, to help you enter your contacts.
They are paid an hourly wage to do a specific job.
When the job is over, the temp goes away.
- Develop
a marketing calendar to help you keep track of all
of your marketing activities (Sphere of Influence
daily calls, mailings, networking meetings)
- If
needed, hire a “Professional Organizer” who can
come into your home and office, and help you develop
systems to help you manage your flow of information.
The National Association of Professional Organizers
can provide a referral by going to their website,
www.napo.net .
By
getting organized and putting systems in place, you
will become more efficient and be able to spend more
time with clients and prospective clients. And, you
may discover that you are quite capable of handling
your current, monthly transactional load.
At
15 transactions per year (your stated level of production),
that equates to about one per month. Typically, agents
can handle 2-4 transactions per month before beginning
to feel that they are getting “bogged down” with the
administrative work.
So
to recap, if your primary goal is to get organized,
I would suggest that you first attempt to do this
on your own and separate this issue from hiring an
assistant. Once better organized, you can then better
assess your potential need for an assistant.
Eventually,
you (and every successful Real Estate Agent) will
want to examine their need for an Assistant.
Let's
start by looking at some common reasons why Real Estate
agents hire an assistant:
- To
expand their business and increase their production.
- To
provide enhanced customer service
- To
delegate work that they don't enjoy or prefer not
to do
- To
manage the administrative part of transactions
- To
help manage and coordinate marketing activities
- To
be able to take time off and know that someone they
trust will answer the phone and respond to clients.
- To
spend more time with prospective clients and engage
in other business building activities.
Before
hiring a part-time of full-time assistant, get clear
on what you want this person to do. Write a one-page
job description to help you get better clarity on
the work you want to delegate. In addition, identify
those skills and characteristics you would want your
ideal assistant to possess (organizational skills,
being detail oriented, excellent phone skills, follow-up
skills, etc). A common cause for aggravation among
assistants is a lack of clear expectations of what
needs to be done and by when.
You
indicated that you are a bit of a “control freak”.
That can create issues. For any assistant to be successful
in supporting you, the following is essential:
- Give
clear and concise direction (what needs to be done
and by when)
- No
micromanagement – let the person do his or her job
without looking over their shoulder.
- Treat
the assistant like a member of your team, because
they are! This means to be respectful, thoughtful,
and considerate of their needs.
- Trust
and expect that they will do a good job
- Allow
your assistant to do the job their way, even though
it may be done differently from how you would do
it. The important thing is the outcome/destination,
not how you get there.
- Be
available to answer questions and be supportive.
- Provide
ongoing feedback and direction in a respectful and
constructive manner.
Most
agents start by hiring someone on a part-time
basis and sharing this individual with other
agents (usually in their office). It is not unusual
for 3 or 4 agents to share one assistant, allowing
the assistant to work a full schedule. In this situation,
the assistant is paid on an hourly basis (by each
agent) and no benefits are provided. Ask around in
your office to see if there are part-time assistants
available.
Other
part-time options:
1.
Transaction Coordinators
A
“Transaction Coordinator” (TC) coordinates the administrative
aspects of each transaction. They are paid on a “per
transaction” basis, so you only pay when you actually
have a transaction. I have several clients who use
TCs very successfully to manage all their transactions.
This allows them to spend more time with perspective
clients. Ask your Broker for TC recommendations.
2.
Virtual Assistants
A
'Virtual Assistant' (VA) is a self-employed person
who works at home, usually connected to the internet.
He or she can do a variety of tasks (update your database,
plan, and implement a marketing campaign, or make
changes to your website). A VA bills you only for
the hours he or she works. For more information on
hiring a virtual assistant, check out the International
Virtual Assistants Association, http://www.ivaa.org/
, which maintains a comprehensive directory of
virtual assistants.
So,
here are three action items to help you begin moving
forward:
- Work
on getting better organized and managing your current
level of business – get help if you need it.
- Create
a sample job description (and skills needed) for
an Assistant, as a way to begin identifying what
you want this person to do.
- Think
about what behavioral changes you would want to
make in order to successfully manage and direct
an Assistant.
Due
to the length of this response, it will be continued
in my next column. So stay tuned!
Recommended
Resources:
About
the Author:
Stuart Kaufman, MS, MBA, is a Real Estate Coach
who specializes in helping Real Estate agents
be more profitable while living a great life.
He resides in Washington State and is a regular
contributor to numerous Real Estate publications
nationwide. Got a question for the coach? Contact
Stuart at coach@stuartkaufman.com
or 206-725-1584.
©
Copyright 2005, Metamorphosis Coaching. All Rights
Reserved.
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