If you are a busy real estate agent and thinking of expanding and hiring a team member, you’re probably asking yourself, “What position should I hire first?”
Before hiring someone, you should read my answer to the question, when is it time to start a team? If you are seeing the signs that you are ready for a team, it’s time to bring in some outside help.
The answer to the question of what position to hire for is less clear than the need to hire someone. You are immediately faced with a range of options. Should I hire a coach, an assistant or a buyer’s agent? How do I choose a coach? If I hire an assistant, should they be licensed? If I hire a buyer’s agent, should I get a new or experienced agent?
Unfortunately, there is no one right answer. But, one path is clearer than the rest and seems to work in most situations.
Let’s answer these questions in the order that we usually ask them:
Coach vs. assistant
Whenever someone is drowning in work and completely overwhelmed, they look for answers at a real estate seminar and usually come to the question, “Should I hire a coach or an assistant?”
You’ve probably attended a real estate coaching event and listened to the speakers talk about how all their coaching clients have a perfect business and balanced life while you are a hot mess who ate a stale, half-eaten granola bar for breakfast that you found in your child’s car seat.
The reality is that most agents who hire an assistant don’t know what to do with the assistant when they arrive because everything they do is in their heads.
So, before you hire an assistant, it’s important to have systems in place. That is what the assistant does – they run systems. And if those systems are in your head, you won’t have a successful assistant. A coach can be a beneficial resource in speeding up the creation, implementation and documentation of your systems.
In my experience, hiring an outside coach or systems consultant is step one to building a team.
Assistant vs. buyer’s agent
According to the National Association of Realtors, it takes about eight hours to work with a seller and 32 hours to work with a buyer. So, it would make sense to spend more time working with sellers and less time working with buyers if you want to be efficient and wildly successful.
However, before you hand off money-making activities like working with buyers, you must ensure all the other low-dollar-producing activities are off your plate. That’s where an assistant comes in.
If you didn’t have to submit deal sheets and compliance documents and instead spent your time prospecting for new clients, touring buyers and listing homes, you could generate more money in less time.
Therefore, after you’ve built your systems, step two is hiring an assistant to run those systems.
Next steps
Once you’ve got a great coach and documented systems run by an assistant, you can build your business up to a higher level.
Next week, we’ll answer the question of whether to hire a licensed or unlicensed assistant.
Keith Roy is a REALTOR and Team Leader with Remax in Vancouver, BC. He has been selling real estate since 2006. Keith is a certified RRi trainer who has helped agents and team leaders on five continents. He lives near Kitsilano beach in Vancouver with his soulmate Stephanie and their toddler son, Kai. Keith is available for one-on-one agent consulting for team leaders and aspiring team leaders, and Vancouver real estate referrals.
