Elite AgentLEADERSHIPOPINION

It’s A Balancing Act

BELLE PROPERTY PERFORMANCE Coach Andrew Robinson suggests the best way to lead and motivate your team is by setting a good example which incorporates both building your personal business and spending quality time with your team.

Successful agents andhigh-selling principals lead the majority of real estate businesses these days. Agents starting out need guidance and motivation, and they look to their principal for leadership and knowledge.

The most successful offices I work with are those led by a principal who works tirelessly, not only on personal sales and profitability, but also by spending quality time with the agents and staff within their business. Principals who share their industry knowledge and experience with their agents foster a better team of working professionals. It’s a win-win structure; it’s leadership from the front.

YOUR PERSONAL SALES BUSINESS
Have you set your ‘big three’ goals within your personal sales business? Do you have a structure around your Effective Business Unit (EBU)? Do you meet with your EBU frequently, and discuss how you are tracking towards your personal and collective sales targets? If you answered ‘no’ to any of those questions, it may be wise to re-evaluate your priorities and business structure so that your sales business and office do not go off track.

It’s important to write down your individual sales goals and to communicate them with your EBU and office. By having transparency around individual and business goals it will ensure everyone is working towards a common objective.

In today’s marketplace, it’s essential to have daily ‘alignment meetings’ or ‘clarity sessions’ with your EBU. By tracking the progress of individual tasks, and more importantly your own personal pipeline, you reduce the risk of losing opportunities you’ve worked so hard to grow. Conducting regular meetings with your EBU, roughly five to 10 minutes a day, will give your team more guidance and clarity, in turn increasing overall productivity.

Do you know what is motivating your team? Does each individual have a set of goals and a plan to become successful? Setting goals with your EBU and working towards them as a team is ultimately how sales agents should work. If your team members all know what their own objectives are, and those of the overall business, then the whole office will work more collaboratively to achieve them.

PERSONAL PROSPECTING PERFORMANCE
As a principal, how hard have you been prospecting lately? What type of prospecting are you doing? Many of my coaching clients say, ‘I wish I could hear other agents around me prospecting; it motivates me to get on the phones too.’ Some agents even question ‘but I don’t see the principal doing it’, so they lack the motivation and encouragement to action it themselves.

More often than not, it isn’t necessarily the team’s fear of prospecting but confusion around what type of prospecting they should be doing. I remember wishing I could hear other people in the office prospecting around me; I wanted to learn the effective ‘one-liners’ and dialogues that other agents used.

Think back to when you started out as an agent. How motivating was it to see peers and leaders prospecting around
you? This is your opportunity to lead! Get your entire office together for two hours a day to prospect, and create an energetic environment where people can learn from others.

DEDICATING TIME FOR YOUR OFFICE
As a principal, how hard is it to stick to an ‘ideal week’ when you are often distracted by other members within your office asking questions or needing direction? Having an ‘ideal week’ is what all agents genuinely work towards, yet many distractions can occur that throw the week off course. Being distracted during these times can completely ruin a prospecting session and other dollar-productive activities, and it takes time to refocus.

It is vitally important for you as principal to have dedicated time for your staff, making yourself accessible to answer questions and lead your team. I recommend making yourself available to your team at the very beginning of the day, when tasks have not yet filled your plate and people are generally fresh. Having received the answers they need from you, your office can then be more productive and efficient for the rest of the day.

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Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson is the chief auctioneer for Belle Property and head of Belle Property Advisory. He calls more than 350 auctions a year on Sydney's Lower North Shore. For more information visit belleproperty.com