Recruiting – I like the way author Jim Collins puts it in his book, Good to Great: “CEOs need to fill the bus with the right people and then get the bus going in the right direction. To find the right people, you must assess the firm’s weaknesses and then seek team members who can compensate for them.”

Training – I hear over and over from agents that they want brokers to provide plenty of training opportunities so their skills stay sharp and powerful.

Delegating – Think of the restaurant analogy: you do not see one guy cooking, waiting tables, cleaning tables and greeting guests. Not delegating is one of the biggest mistakes brokers make. They fail to stay focused on the big picture and end up becoming too involved in minor, day-to-day operations of the company.

Keeping Return on Investment (ROI) front and center – CEOs live and breathe ROI. Look at the goal of your business and then ask if every action you, your agents, and your support staff take is leading toward that goal. Start with yourself. Are your actions helping everyone else achieve the goal? Are you pouring the right kind of oil into the machine? If not, you have some work to do. These actions, all of them, must pay for themselves in some way.

Building relationships – For offices to reach the highest profitability, brokers must be effective at building relationships with their agents. (I recommend thinking of agents as clients and treating them as such.) However, brokers also must develop affinity relationships with peripheral industries such as mortgage, title, insurance, builders, etc.

Communicating – Place an emphasis on face-to-face communication and make sure communication is two-way by putting as much effort into allowing agents and support staff to communicate with you as you do with them. Then have a system in place to manage that feedback, because a common complaint from employees is nothing ever happens from their feedback.

When brokers do these activities well, I have seen first-hand accounts of drastic and favorable change: First I see focus, then consistency, accountability, and finally, sustained growth.

It is one thing to know the skills required to be a successful broker, but how do you develop them? Like anyone else seeking to improve an activity, you take classes, get mentors and hire coaches and consultants. There is no magic pill. It takes courage, determination, humility and a constant desire to improve.

Brokers who set up systems and free up their time to take on the responsibilities of CEO can make great strides. I have worked with clients who have doubled their firm’s revenue in a year. Sometimes an outside perspective can make all the difference.

By Jeremey Roberts. For more information and resources to sell your Los Angeles Condos just visit this site www.losangelescondos.net

Team building is important for any organization and this is just as true in real estate as it is in any other industry.

Team building has many benefits such as improving morale and leadership skills, finds the barriers that thwart creativity, clearly defines objectives and goals, improves processes and procedures, improves organizational productivity, identifies a team’s strengths and weaknesses, and improves the ability to problem solve.

To learn more about team building for your real estate business purchase Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Team at RIS Media.

If you want to get started right away, RIS Media has a list of team building activities for real estate agents which can get you started in your next team meeting.

The successful real estate agent. King of the mountain. No task too heavy, no burden too great.

You’ve done it all. You’ve succeeded in the real estate business and there’s no one that can sell more homes than yourself. Your ego is larger than life.

You’ve accomplished everything you can as a real estate agent. Now it’s time to take on a much more daunting task…becoming the broker.

Many successful real estate agents become so they can teach others how to succeed just like they have. If you’ve reached that point in your career, it’s time to build your team. Here are some great articles on building your real estate team.

How to Build an Effective Real Estate Team

Top 10 Real Estate Team Leader Best Practices

How To Build a Strong Real Estate Team

4 Tips To Building a Real Estate Team

Keys to Success in Building a Real Estate Team – Hire Talent & Effective Systems

Real estate agencies and real estate sales agents; are you looking to increase your market share? A step toward reaching that goal is to adopt the model of “Teamwork/Partnering”. Real estate, by its structure and competitive nature, can inhibit “Teamwork/Partnering” because real estate sales agents are usually independent contractors and consequently that can lead to an all for me attitude. The agency is only as successful as the sales agents and vice-versa. Real estate sales agents procure listings, which produce business and revenue for the agency and sales agents. The agency, through marketing and advertising, generates increased market exposure that attracts buyers for the current listings and sellers, drawn in by the agency’s portfolio of listings. The Boston Red Sox have players with specialized roles such as; 3rd base, pitcher, etc., so it is the same with real estate sales. Agents may have strengths in specialized roles like: high end single family, condos, geographic markets, and varying sales experience. All of these factors must be considered when implementing “Teamwork/Partnering”.

“Team Work/Partnering”: Inexperienced Agents

The Boston Red Sox send their rookies to minor leagues so that they may have the opportunity to develop their skills until they are ready to play in the big leagues. More often than not, new agents with little experience (“rookies”) are thrown into the “starting line up” without adequate training or time to develop. This is one of the biggest fauxs pas real estate agencies make. Nearly every other profession requires specialized apprenticeship programs for “rookies”. Solve this problem by teaming up less experienced agents (apprentice agent) with the agency’s more knowledgeable agents (mentor agent), who often times are burdened with a heavy portfolio of listings. Compensation can be negotiated to keep both mentor and apprentice happy. The mentor agent can free up time for marketing, contract issues and pursuing new listings. The apprentice agent can handle property viewings and become an active participant in the entire real estate process working hand in hand with real estate transactions under the watchful eye of their mentor. During this process the apprentice agents should be provided guidance to insure they have the greatest opportunity for success. The managing broker must monitor and evaluate the apprentice agent’s progress; as this will allow him/her to safely recruit and develop new untested agents while insuring the agency is not vulnerable to legal mishaps resulting from lack of knowledge or experience.

“Team Work/Partnering”: Niche and Agent Experience

“Teamwork/Partnering” should also include niche specific expertise relationships. For example, Shane has vast knowledge of marketing and selling multi-family properties. Hannah has just set up an appointment while on office duty to list a 3-unit multi-family home. However, Hannah has never handled such a property. Scenario #1: sales Hannah goes on the appointment and loses the listing to an agent with more experience selling multi-family properties. Scenario #2: Shane and Hannah work together utilizing Shane’s experience and thereby increasing the chances dramatically of securing the listing. Shane is rewarded by sharing the listing; while Hannah picks up valuable experience in multi-family properties and the seller gets two agents for the price of one.

“Team Work/Partnering”: Geographic Market Experience

Geographic market area is also a great way to build “Teamwork/Partnering”. For example; Meaghan is the only agent with any real success in Ocean-town, and now has a number of listings there. The agency does not have a strong market share in Ocean-town, but would certainly like to. Rachel received a call requesting an appointment to list a home in Ocean-town. The seller mentioned she saw the agency signs in her area. Rachel hasn’t worked in Ocean-town, but has more overall sales experience than Meaghan. The ordinary solution would be to have Rachel refer the listing to Meaghan; but together they can offer the sellers a clear understanding of the Ocean-town market coupled with vast sales experience. Meaghan and Rachel both get the listing. The agency succeeds in increasing the market share and there are now two sales agents that have experience in Ocean-town.

In closing, “Teamwork/Partnering” is a successful model that more and more real estate professionals are turning to. It takes time to implement and there may be some resistance at first, but if encouraged and supported by the agency, even the most reluctant agents will soon be on board. The role of the managing broker is to encourage “Teamwork/Partnering” relationships; even if it means handing down some business to sales agents who are willing to work together to get things started. Their success in a short time will be a model for others to follow, and soon “Teamwork/Partnering” will be embraced by all.

by Ken Farrelly

There is commercial, retail and high-end residential real estate in Monmouth County and Bruce Germinsky of Jersey Shore Real Estate is taking full advantage of it.

It always surprises me when a broker tells me that he only has his agents selling housing in the town or city, but not the other properties that could be potential opportunities. There is not one single management philosophy that says you will succeed if you put all your eggs in one basket. All successful companies have multiple sources of income from different channels. Jersey Shore Real Estate also deals with professional & medical class A office space, retail, shopping centers

This is why even when one aspect of the real estate market is down, they can still generate revenue from other aspects of the market.

So whether you’re selling oceanfront luxury condos or waterfront homes make sure that your inventory of assets is well diversified so your brokerage firm can succeed.