Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about teams.
For the last seven years, I’ve been working as a full-time Realtor on my own.
The first couple of years were with a discount brokerage where I struggled to get started and spent a lot of time reinventing the wheel. I didn’t know many people at the brokerage, I had no one who I could ask about best practices and I had to figure out what worked on my own.
The last five years have been with Keller Williams and I’ve seen again and again how working together helps elevate the experience for buyers, sellers and real estate agents.
I’ve taken on leadership roles with my brokerage – teaching courses, mentoring new agents, helping agents I’ve recruited into Keller Williams grow and succeed. I’m on our leadership council, working to raise the productivity, growth and calibre of the 150 agents within our office.
One thing that has become clear to me is that none of us is as smart as all of us. The idea that teamwork – which simply stated is less me and more we – is what allows the highest level of service.
The founder of Keller Williams, Gary Keller, had this to say about real estate teams.
“Agents who build a team of carefully selected, highly trained specialists provide a level of fiduciary service that is consistently and predictably higher than the service provided by a single person.”
I’ve worked my butt off for my clients, so reading that stung a bit.
If I’m honest with myself though, I have to admit that there have been times where the level of service I provided suffered because I was on my own. When 14 things need to be done as soon as possible, number 13 and 14 take a while to get done!
Working an individual agent has absolutely been the limiting factor in the amount of clients I work with, as I won’t take on new clients if I’m not certain I have the time and resources to deliver top quality service.
As I’ve taken on more and more mentoring roles within my brokerage, I started considering forming a real estate team of my own. I’ve met so many real estate agents who struggle to succeed despite the best of intentions and the potential to be great.
As someone who knows me, you’re not likely surprised to hear that I’ve been researching the various approaches to see which model I think best suits how I do business.
I love working with buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants – and I don’t want a team where roles are narrowly defined as focused on one type of client. I believe that having a broad range of experience in all types of real estate impacts your ability in any given deal.
Over the next few months, I am going to be launching a real estate team that will elevate the level of service I can provide and help Realtors build careers worth having and lives worth leading. Team members can be located anywhere within the GTA given the planned structure.
A favourite quote of mine comes from Napoleon Hill, who said “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” I intend to apply that principle to my business and grow a team of real estate agents, supported by dedicated administrative help, proven systems and supportive colleagues.
If you enjoy my articles or have found the information I share valuable, I’d like to ask you to answer a question for me.
Do you know a real estate agent (or soon to be real estate agent) who deserves to succeed in their career?
If you have a friend, former colleague or family member working in real estate who is smart, honest and a good person, send me their name. I’d love to be responsible for what comes next.
Regards,
Jeff
RAISED FLOWERS
Soften the edges of buildings, paths, and outdoor areas with flowers. Raise the flower beds so that people can touch the flowers, bend to smell them and sit by them.
This lesson reminds us that you can increase the impact of a feature through careful design. While flowers outside a home are always lovely, when they can only be seen and not touched, smelt and experienced we are limiting their impact.