As some of you know, a few months ago I "jumped into the deep end of the pool" and began forming a new real estate brokerage in Silicon Valley with a group of agents and one very experienced broker. Our company, Luxor Real Estate Group, is up and running and is growing, despite the crazy market conditions and our newness.
Each of us Founders (9 in all) brings something different to the table: insights, tools, gifts. One thing I am going to help us to implement as a company is a focus on good systems (thank you CRS and Howard Brinton of Star Power Systems for opening my eyes to their value years ago). Some of it's simply a matter of having a form so that the process is done the same way each time (anything from turning in listing paperwork to letting the office know you're going on vacation and who's covering what for you). But much of it is more like a campaign or an action plan.
There are two questions I have in this arena:
First, I wanted to ask the Active Rain Community if they have any favorite company systems or checklists (or other tools) that they would advocate having or if there are any they'd be willing to share.
One of the big challenges for a new real estate firm is simply growing. When I go to the board breakfast meeting or go out on tour, agents often pull me aside to ask about Luxor. Established agents are often wary about how much time & work will be involved in moving and whether or not they'll lose business in the process, so I'd like to create a "transition plan" that is more than just a to-do list for agents that join us. A to-do list is extremely helpful but what I have in mind is a step beyond that and would include a more comprehensive marketing plan to make sure that our new agents have a smooth time coming over once their license is moved and the first steps are all taken.
So the second question is, I'd like to ask if any of you have or use a plan to assist agents as they join your brokerages in making the transition smooth and as simple & easy as possible.
It's fun, exciting, and sometimes a little overwhelming to go from being an agent in another's company to being a principal in my own. I'm grateful that our broker, Dennis Byron, has 38 years experience (dwarfing my 16) and that several of our founders have outside business experience (and one has started 11 other companies) as well as real estate and lending experience. But it's an incredible amount of stuff to do (I am in charge of technology too!) and to want to get right - so I very much appreciate the collective insights of the group and hope that I can return the favor to you as well.
Thanks so much!
;)
;)
Hi Mary~ Congrats on your growing business! That is exciting. As someone who works with a variety of teams as clients I can tell you what I feel has worked with our business systems and communication.
Create an Office Bible: Take the systems you use now, for Lead Generation & Management, Listing Coordination, Transaction & Escrows, etc and break everything down into a How To Training Manual, so that every detail of the business has a system.
Create Job descriptions: Take every role in the team or office and have a very detailed description of duties and responsibilities.
Create an "Ideal Day" Time Blocking Plan that new agents can use when they have time in the office, floor time to make sure they have things to do that are productive and create areas for continued learning. (You could even build an Action Plan in Top Producer for new agents so that they are reminded in their TO DO, assigned activities list what they need to do to facilitate getting themselves set up. (i.e, business cards, signage, photo, etc.)
Have an Online Collaborative Office System Set up: Whether its Top Producer, or a Google Intranet Site there needs to be a central business that everyone can communicate on. Top Producer is great for assigning tasks for lead generation and follow up, and for creating Action Plans and email campaigns so that buyer/seller leads are ALWAYS taken care of and not dropped through the cracks.
Sorry this is so long, oops! But if its documented and written down, no matter how many new agents come in, they have your company policies, procedures, standards and can hit the ground running! Hope this helps:)