Building a team
and a culture
that lasts
agentdynamics.com.au
smashing the real estate myth with Agent Dynamics
Thank you for taking
the time to read
our e-book series,
“smashing the real
estate myth with
Agent Dynamics.”
This series was written to
give you, Agency Principals
and Agents, an alternative
approach on how to manage
ourselves and our teams and
how to recruit better.
The Agent Dynamics system applies to
all facets of Real Estate and all types of
real estate professionals - Salespeople,
Property Managers, Business Owners
and importantly support teams.
To be fair, each book in the series was not
written to be a quick fix ‘How To” guide or
instruction manual but rather as a study
on how our industry is changing and
what we can do because of that change.
Our goal is to promote alternate, or
lateral, thinking and for readers to
see that the “perfect” sales person or
property manager does not exist, they
just think they do.
We hope that you will identify with
our little anecdotes, case studies,
testimonials and stories and that you
will see how we can help you fufill your
business and personal goals.
Julie Davis and Neil Williams
BUILDING A TEAM & A CULTURE THAT LASTS
WHAT WILL YOU GET OUT OF READING BUILDING A TEAM AND A CULTURE THAT LASTS?
Understanding Purpose Reality
• You cannot have a
winning cricket team
full of fast bowlers.
• You cannot have a
world class Orchestra
full of conductors.
• You certainly cannot
have a hospital only
staffed by surgeons.
• Recruiting the right
people is a must.
• Discover where the
holes are in your skill
set and business.
• Start filling holes.
• There are quite a lot of
business owners and
principals who were
once the shining star
of the sales team -
but are they the best
person for the job?
BUILDING A TEAM & A CULTURE THAT LASTS
The one overriding
element of a
successful team is the
team culture and it is
one of the first things
that Agent Dynamics
assess when we work
with an Agency.
Understanding the mix of
personalities and skills is essential
for developing a way forward, where
everyone is working well, working
together towards a common goal.
In our experience we often find
that agencies can sometimes have
a high flyer or gun agent that is
bringing in more than half of the
business.
Under certain circumstances these
agents have, over time, morphed
into veritable “500 pound Gorillas”
and consider themselves the centre
of the universe.
With enough time they do their best
to make themselves indispensable
and irreplaceable and it is not long
before the owners of the business,
or management, are answering to
their every whim - beck and call -
for fear of losing them.
While no business owner wants
to lose their top earner, they are
fostering an environment where
there is a flagging team culture
The best teamwork comes from men and women who are
working independently toward one goal in unison.
James C Penny
Neil talks about how
to get your real estate
business thriving with
a great team who work
well together.
and the other team members now
consider themselves part of the “B”
Team, just making up the numbers.
This situation is toxic and leaves
the business owner extremely
vulnerable.
Few businesses can stand a 50%
drop in turnover so the Gorilla is
left alone, time marches on and the
status quo remains. The “B” team
members slowly start to exit the
agency and their replacements are
introduced into the same culture.
You are not alone if this is the
position you are facing and if you
are the top performer in your office
- give some thought to whether
or not you have become the 500
pound Gorilla!
A rewarding team culture is about
each and every member valuing,
knowing and understanding,
the different skills, experience
and wisdom that everyone is
contributing.
That value builds trust and the more
the team value each other the more
trust that will be cemented into the
foundations of the business.
Shaping, and in some cases re-
shaping a team culture isn’t as
difficult as you might think.
Team cultures starts with the
simple things that mean a lot.
Like knowing the names of the
partners of each team member,
whether or not they have kids and
how old are they? How do they relax
and what do they do on their days
off?
You need to understand why they
do what they do and what they
aspire to.
This applies to everybody from the
first year receptionist up through
the entire team and remember that
nobody is bigger than the team.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
The first hurdle to get over is to
learn to manage each individual
team member and not have a one
size fits all approach.
Salespeople come in all shapes,
sizes and personality types. We
need to respect their right to be
individuals and manage them
accordingly. It is imperative that we
know what makes them tic and
understand why they get out of bed
each morning.
Are they introverted or extroverted
and what do they value most? Do
they display creativity or do they
have a superb sense of timing.
Would they prefer to “squeeze the
flesh” or “crunch the numbers?”
When you understand and respect
your team, they will understand
and respect you. Understanding
and respect provide an environment
that everybody wants to be part of
and when they find that place, they
want to stay there.
If you don’t know “who your people
are” it can make communication
very difficult. If you have a team
member who is in their flow working
with data and systems but you
want to send them to a networking
breakfast, good luck. Likewise, the
agent who is in flow speaking and
mixing with people will have their
eyes glaze over when questions
about days on market and average
selling prices come up. Creative
agents’ love the hunt and the kill but
rarely follow up and those that are
sensory by nature have the feel for
the deal but write boring ads.
If you know your people then
Value builds trust and the more the team value
each other the more trust that will be
cemented into the foundations of the business.
Team cultures starts with the simple things
that mean a lot.
BUILDING A TEAM & A CULTURE THAT LASTS
you can provide them with an
environment where they will
flourish. You can focus them on
working within their flow because
we know that when they are in flow
they are happier, more productive
and better time managers. By
extension they will then list and sell
more property, be more prosperous
and your business will continue to
grow. It really is that simple!
RECRUITING
A fair percentage of Real Estate
Agencies have owners who started
as a successful salesperson and
then either opened their own
agency or bought into their current
agency. This makes sense and is
common across our industry.
However there can be danger best
avoided here and that’s when it
comes time to start recruiting.
What often happens is, that when
they need to grow the team and
put on more team members their
perception of a “successful” job
candidate can be a little biased. In
short, they go looking for a clone of
themselves. Sometimes, they find
two or three candidates just like
they are and give them all a start.
They have just employed another
three fast bowlers when they
should be looking for batsmen and
a wicket keeper! As the team grows,
non-clones become the odd ones
out and can feel isolated and less
understood.
In my time in the Industry I have
learnt three things above all else.
1. Team members leave an Agency
because they are not happy, it is
rarely about the money. If they
are not happy they are ripe for
poaching by competitors and
move on with alarming regularity.
The revolving door spins a little
faster.
2. The “Perfect Salesperson”
candidate in a real estate office
is a figment of the employers’
imagination. A prospective
employee’s hair product, clothing,
type of car and track record have
little bearing on how they will
perform in YOUR team.
3. An unbelievable number of
candidates have been rejected
for positions and not even
started in our industry because
of the stereotypical thinking of
employers.
Getting the mix of your internal
dynamic is essential to making a
success in any real estate business.
If you aren’t sure about your culture,
chances are it could use some fine
tuning or potentially an overhaul.
It’s the engine for your business and
like all engines it requires constant
maintenance or else a complete
overhaul or rebuild might just be on
the cards.,
If you don’t know who
your people are it can
make communication
very difficult.
A winning team culture, where all
players ‘get’ what it is to be a part
of the success, is within reach
of every business. You just need
to know where to look, who to
focus on and how to shape it from
within. At Agent Dynamic’s your
culture & success is our focus!
PRINCIPAL SALES AGENT PROPERTY MANAGERTEAM OR PODSALES MANAGER ADMIN/SUPPORT
Regardless of your role, your experience, where you work and your position we can help.
agentdynamics.com.au
Learn about us through what
our CLIENT’S are saying:
Client case studies and lasting impressions
Feeling enlightened but wanting more,
get the NEXT book in the series:
‘Old School versus New School Selling’
Suffering from culture shock?
Tell us more and we’ll reach out to you
BUILDING A TEAM & A CULTURE THAT LASTS
To get more information or to
book in a time to talk please
contact us in one of these ways:
Social Media:
twitter.com/agentdynamics
facebook.com/agentdynamics
linkedin.com/in/agentdynamics
Online
julie@agentdynamics.com
neil@agentdynamics.com
www.agentdynamics.com
Tel:
0412 752 366 Julie
0417 249 688 Neil