We are among the most elite real estate professionals in the world, yet at times it seems as if we are more like glorified babysitters for our staff.  I have to tell you, this is one of the biggest problems I see with the top producers I work with.  You think to yourself, “If only my staff would show half the level of commitment and passion that I do…”  I would like to say that I sympathize with your situation, but I don’t.  The fact is - it’s your fault!  You are the boss and you are letting it happen.  Over my many years of coaching the best agents in the world, I have yet to see another cause.  There are many reasons why and how this happens, but there are 3 major issues that arise every time I begin coaching someone who is having problems with their team.

1.Hiring

What is your system for hiring?  Let me guess, your team consists of at least one family member, a friend you brought into the business, and a group of characters that were underachieving agents in your office that you thought could work if you took them under your wing and showed them the “ropes”.  That may be fine, but don’t you wish you had some way of knowing how their personality types will interact with each other and how they will influence the work environment, and more importantly will they prosper with your management style … before you hire them?  Believe it or not, there is such a thing. The DiSC profile is world renowned for it’s accuracy in hiring decisions and to help weed out problems in your existing team.  I believe so strongly in this method that I employ a full time DiSC specialist, exclusive for our clients in the Coach Ken Mastery Program.  The test can be sent to your entire team in seconds via email.  Then in a matter of a few days after receiving the completed tests, we will give you and your team a printed report on every member and debrief your team on where the problems are and what the best possible solutions may be for your team to begin running more efficiently.  It works the same way for hiring.  You can simply ask them to complete the DiSC profile as part of the hiring process and in no time you will know if that person will fit in with the other team members and the best way to handle them in future events.

2.Management

Think back for a moment to when you first got into the real estate business.  It was just you against the world, knocking on doors, making cold calls, asking your family and friends for referrals… working 24/7.  You worked like a dog!  But in some ways, wasn’t it so much easier?  At some point, you suffered what Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth Revisited) refers to as an “Entrepreneurial Seizure.”  This means you hit the point when you needed to hire staff to do more business, and you thought that you could just hire more people and just go on and do the same things you were doing before you started your “team.”  Management is the most overlooked skill among top producing agents.  The way that I look at it, as soon as you add your first team member, you go from salesperson to CEO.  As CEO, your job is to train, motivate, and provide direction and vision for your “company” on a daily basis.  If your staff is properly managed, not only will your business have exponential growth far beyond what you thought possible, but you will be amazed at how independent your team will become.  Management is usually the last thing that salespeople want to become, but over the years, I have seen so many successful teams explode their business with a little more direction and attention.  I know what all the top real estate teams are doing and would love to share every one of their secrets with you, so you don’t have to try to figure it out yourself.

3. Shuck the losers!

This may seem harsh, but it is holding back so many successful teams.  There is nothing worse for team moral and productivity than having one or two team members that just are not pulling their weight.  It becomes like a cancer within your organization that just grows with time.  “Shuck the losers” is a term that Lee Iacocca came up with when he was saving GM.  His philosophy was to always replace the bottom 10% of your staff.  Jack Welsh (CEO of GE) had a similar 20-70-10 principle, which means 20% of your staff are all stars, 70% of your staff are good and the bottom 10% are replaceable.  That is exactly what he did.  Can you imagine how focused that would keep your staff?  I don’t believe you can use these methods in small business but the principle is right.  One of the things that I tell my coaching clients is to hire slow and fire fast.  Once you realize that someone is not a fit for your team, get rid of them.  This may seem obvious, but how many people on your team are underachieving but you don’t want to fire them because they’re well liked or they are a personal friend of yours?  Remember, it not show friends…its show business!

You may already know about these three points, but it always comes down to: are you actually doing the things you know you should be doing.  Think about it… You may think you are doing a lot of business … but you could be doing so much more.

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