21 Mistakes

In my latest book, "21 Mistakes Real Estate Brokers Make and How to Avoid Them," www.AcclaimPress.com, Corky Hyatt and myself discuss a number of issues and mistakes "most" real estate brokers make regularly.  Mistake #11, "Neglecting Regular Job Performance Evaluations," is a tough pill to swallow today with the current economic market conditions.  Or is it?  Yesterday, while attending a meeting in Chicago for the Council of Real Estate Brokers and Managers I learned some interesting facts about Generation Y.  Most Gen Y's wanted and expects accountability according to the research presented.  Unfortunately, as brokers and managers we believe holding people accountable will discourage, de-motivate and drive a wedge between management and the associate.  Holding people to be more accountable is difficult for most of us, but in reality, research shows that most people want the accountability measures and for a healthy end of the year performance, accountability is critical to any organization.

Therefore, how does one implement a regular job performance audit for their employees/agents?  It's easy, sort of, if you follow these steps:

Get everyone on the same page.  Job performance and accountability should be included with your job description.  Yes, "everyone" should be given a job description, whether they are an independent sales associate or not.  Although real estate brokers should use caution when defining job descriptions for independent contractors, there is still nothing wrong by outlining with your team members what you expect from them.  Agreeing to regular job performance review and accountability measures should be included with your job performance evaluation.

Let the real estate agent set their own goals.  I recently developed a new accountability worksheet for my associates that give them the flexibility to set their goals and objectives for the coming week.  It incorporates four areas of personal development and prospecting measures.  Each person determines their goals in these four areas and then charts their progress for the week.  Along with this weekly scorecard is a year to date progress chart allowing the person a quick way to identify what areas need improvement.  I've included this accountability scorecard with my "Ultimate Real Estate Sales Meeting CD-ROM" for brokers available at my shopping cart web site. 

Set a regular time for review.  It's easy to let the hectic aspects of a business day or week ruin good plans, but it's important to create a schedule and follow-up system to track progress for your agents.  At the conclusion of each job performance evaluation, both broker and the sales associate must agree and commit to the next review appointment, and what goals and objectives are sought for the next evaluation.  Remember, set goals to reach and set a date to review at the conclusion of each evaluation.

Finally, be brutally honest with each other.  Sometimes it's easy to sugar coat a situation or try and avoid the real problems in job performance evaluations, but the truth of the matter is disguising the problem will not help matters get better.  Use skill when correcting or explaining an issue with your agent or sales associate, but have the ability to be honest and open with what needs to be done to meet your expected minimum requirements.  Which, by the way, will be my topic for my next blog and is a part of our 21 Mistakes book.

Holding a regular job performance is a good thing, and should be one of your companies' top priorities to help your associates grow and prosper in any real estate market.

For more information on my sales meeting resources, visit www.GotoSalesMeeting.com.