How do we control success?

This may sound silly but where do we say no and how do we set up procedures to control what is in process. Let me explain.

Last year I had a good year (I started in May of '04) at least I think I did. I closed 77 sides and had no assistant. This year is off to a good start too. So far I have closed (through 3/9) 13 sides and have eight pending. Effective the 15th I have hired an unlicensed asst. But frankly in the short term it is liable to slow things down a little but long term wise it should work out.

It is easy enough to make errors in this business without the press of several business deals to make it even more confusing. So far I have worked through most everything and there have been no long story screw-ups. Perhaps the best paart is I get referrals from over 50% of my clients. But still I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. So my question of you all is what systems do you hve in place to control your business? What have you done to make traqining an Asst work well?

By the way my listing/selling is about 50/50 and I very seldom do a dual agency preferring instead to pass it off to someone in the office for a referral (not included in my above numbers).