While the job of being a real estate agent can be done solo, having a good real estate team can make all the difference in terms of profitability and delegation. In a market as dynamic as real estate, your success may even sometimes depend on collaboration and expertise with other real estate agents. This is why building a cohesive and effective real estate team should be something to consider if you’re trying to expand your business. In this blog, we’ll discuss team structure, commission splits, and how you should go about managing a team of real estate agents. Creating a team that aims to maximize efficiency, productivity, and profitability can open new doors for you in the future.
What Exactly Is A Real Estate Team?
Does a real estate team primarily mean a group of agents working together to improve their portfolios? Well, yes, but it is more nuanced than that. A real estate team is created when a group of professionals who specialize in various aspects of the real estate industry, work together to achieve common goals. The team sizes can vary depending on the requirement, generally ranging from small partnerships of two to four people to much larger organizations.
Why Would You Need A Real Estate Team?
There is sometimes a need to be a lone wolf, but there are other times when you need a group of people working together to see a project succeed. There are numerous benefits to having a real estate team where team roles can be appointed and specialized in:
- Expertise – What team members bring to the table are their specialized skills and knowledge. This brings in more opinions and counter-points to all discussions of potential real estate transactions, making them safer and more informed ventures to invest in.
- Efficiency – Rather than completing every task alone, you can delegate specific tasks to the team members who have the most expertise. This way, each team member will be able to focus on what they do best, improving the overall efficiency of the team.
- Scale – With more people working on projects, your team will be able to handle multiple transactions simultaneously. This is why a team is so important when you’re looking for growth and increased profitability.
- Support – A team environment breeds collaboration between its members. With a group full of professionals in varying areas, you will be able to learn from one another and take on more challenging problems easily.
Structuring Real Estate Teams
1. Defining The Roles and Responsibilities
Every real estate team will need a proper structure to function well. The team members will need to be assigned a role according to their expertise, so this process may take you some time to figure out. Here are the roles generally assigned using a “team leader” model:
- Lead Agent or Team Leader – This role is responsible for managing and leading the entire team. They are also required to have good customer service skills and an affable manner as they will be managing both client and team relationships.
- Buyer’s Agents – This role will focus on working with buyers specifically. They will assist with real estate property searches, negotiations, and transactions.
- Listing Agents – This role will focus on working with sellers. They are responsible for the marketing, staging, and selling of their client’s properties.
For the following roles, a real estate license is not always required:
- Transaction Coordinator – This is the role that will primarily handle administrative tasks This means the role should go to someone who is able to handle a lot of paperwork and ensure that all transactions are completed smoothly.
- Marketing Specialist – As the name implies, this role is in charge of managing the team’s marketing efforts, including the overall online presence (social media and web), lead generation, advertising, and branding.
- Administrative Assistant – This is a support role where the individual provides general administrative assistance to keep operations running smoothly.
2. Establish Communication and Clarity
Communication is vital for a real estate team to succeed. The team leader should take the initiative in implementing regular team meetings, introducing collaborative tools, and establishing a communication structure so that everyone is always on the same page.
3. Making Use Of Technology
Real estate technology can help with streamlining processes, managing client relationships, and effective marketing. The kinds of technology you should consider implementing are customer relationship management (CRM) software, transaction management software, and automation tools.
4. Working On Training
Team leaders are responsible for implementing regular training and development activities for team members. Even though the team is made up of professionals, these trainings will improve their existing skillset and increase the efficiency of the team.
5. Creating A Compensation Structure
The compensation structure incentivizes performance and ensures that the team works toward its goals. Compensation models could be salary-based or commission-split, with split commission being the more popular of the two.
6. Evaluating Performance
The team’s performance should be a key performance indicator (KPI) during regular assessments. Factors such as client satisfaction and total revenue generated should be assessed every few months. Team leaders can then utilize this data to find areas of improvement.
Conclusion
A well-structured team is crucial for a real estate to work together successfully for a long period of time. Without a proper structure, issues can break out at any time and there wouldn’t be a system or hierarchy to manage team problems. A team needs to work like a well-oiled machine with every person assigned a function and specializing in that function to maximize efficiency.
