8 minute read
HOW TO BUILD A TEAM
from ARIZONA 2-8-21
How to Build a Team That Will Win Big No Matter its Size
In the real estate world building a team is a goal almost every agent strives towards achieving. Doing business with a team as opposed to solo has numerous advantages. With more agents handling clients as well as other employees specialized in areas such as marketing and administrative support there to assist you; you can greatly increase your business and sales. So, when creating a team, logic would tell us that the bigger it is, the better, right? Wrong. When it comes to real estate teams, size doesn’t matter so much as the players you bring onto that team to work with you. A team doesn’t have to be big to win big, and here are the secrets to building a team that wins big no matter its size.
Hire the Right Team Members Put Your Team Members in the Right Positions to Win
You’ve probably heard the saying, “you’re only as strong as you’re weakest link.” That idea holds true for any kind of team, including those in real estate. If you have weak members on your team, then it’s not possible to have a strong team. Drawing strong team members to your business is essential.
To better understand what kind of person would make a strong addition to your team, you need to ask yourself what skills and characteristics you want your team members to possess. The strongest members are often ones that share their leader’s values. When you share values with your teammates, you are all running along the same course towards the same goal as one. Your definition of a victory in this case is also your teammates’ definition of it. This helps strengthen even the smallest of numbers because you are all working together toward a common goal.
Another characteristic too look out for in potential team members is a positive attitude. You can teach someone the skills needed in real estate, but you can’t teach someone how to have a positive attitude. Positive members tend to achieve more due to their optimistic nature, but more importantly, they spread that positive attitude to the rest of the team, which improves every members’ performance. Finding strong team members is just one part of the equation. As the leader of your team, you now have to assess each member’s strengths and weaknesses and position them appropriately. You want the best player for each role playing that part and catering to their strengths. Choose your team member’s roles wisely, and place each individual in the position where their strengths can shine and they can best contribute to a win for the entire team. Every role is important to the team working smoothly and winning as a whole, so it is important to place each team member in the role most suited to his or her skills.
Communicating Your Vision to Your Team
Your team members are the key ingredients to ultimate victory, but what recipe do you follow now to lead them to victory? That is what communication is for a winning team; the recipe you will use to
help best utilize each team member and instruct them on how they need to work together to fulfill the recipe that will lead them to be a winning team. Your team members need to know the plan and you must give them the tools to successfully execute it.
It is up to the leader of a team to help your players see your vision and help them understand what a victory looks like. The goal may seem simple and obvious to you, but you must communicate it over and over again to your team members, so they understand it as well as you do. With different personalities coming together to form a unit, you are going to be dealing with numerous challenges such as competing agendas. You will find this on any team. You must keep the goal and at the forefront of your player’s minds in order to encourage them to put aside their own personal desires in order to come together as one cohesive, single-minded unit and push towards the team’s goal. Give Your Team Members the Tools to Help Them Perform at Their Best
The final thing all great leaders do is equip their team members with the proper tools and training needed for them to succeed. You have to show them how they can each come together with their different strengths to work as a team towards one unified goal. This involves more than simple skills training, but also endurance, so they can last as a team and win even those matches that seem unending and impossible.
Think of all the challenges that they could possibly face ahead, and clear their path to victory by giving them the necessary training and tools they will need to get past any obstacle. As the leader, you must be prepared to continually communicate the team’s goal and your vision. Use that vision to motivate your team members throughout the journey towards victory.
LUMINOUS ANTONIO
“Selling or buying a home is one of the biggest decisions that most people make, and, for many, it’s a very emotional experience and a life changing transition,” says Luminous Antonio, a top agent and broker/owner of Luminous Realty, a boutique brokerage in Sedona, Arizona. “It’s important to have clear guidance and to feel comfortable and supported. My eighteen years of experience has taught me the importance of establishing a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with my clients.” Luminous became a licensed real estate professional in 2002. She approaches real estate in the same way she approaches everything, keeping communications simple and direct. She is attracted to win-win situations, avoids drama, speaks the truth, and loves to create mutually beneficial outcomes. “My easy-going attitude, in-depth market knowledge, and experience attracts the clients I can assist,” says Luminous. “The only person I compete with is myself.”
Luminous works totally solo, but that does not slow her down at all. Her independent boutique brokerage, Luminous Realty, has a reputation built on her in-depth market knowledge, sustained presence, high standards of excellence, relationships, and referrals. Nearly 60% of her business comes from repeat and referral customers. When asked what brings them back, Luminous credits her calm personality and responsiveness. “I’m not high pressure, I’m not pushy, and I am always the one to answer your call or question. Clients seem to like a direct connection rather than talking to an assistant or team member,” she explains. “I fall in love with my clients, I really do. It’s a heart connection, the same way that people connect with houses through their heart.”
Luminous’ clients return that heart connection with their business. “I’ve managed to stay in the top twenty REALTORS® out of the 750 in the area year over year,” Luminous says. “I offer an incomparable level of service and global visibility under a brand that stands for trust, discretion, and excellence. I understand how to reach and serve discerning clientele. Along with this expertise, I offer the tailored, trusted service my clients have depended upon since 2002, collaboration with seasoned and respected colleagues, and referrals to and from my network of the world’s top brokers.”
It’s the people that Luminous really loves about her job, but she also loves the thrill of finding the right house for those people. “It’s like a treasure hunt,” she says. “When it comes to sellers, I love the opportunity to exercise my trained artist’s eye to present the property in the absolute best possible light. My favorite moment is when seller, buyer, and agent are all feeling great about the transaction!”
Luminous is deeply involved with her community. Over the years, she has served on the board for several organizations including Sedona Women and the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition, and she is past president of the Sedona Luxury Real Estate Professionals. She gives widely to a number of charities such as the Humane Society, Gardens for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, Sedona Film Festival, Waldorf Schools, and many others.
When she isn’t busy raising money or supporting local foundations, Luminous has always been one to forge her own path. Beginning at age 18, she brokered sales of European and American paintings from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, period furniture, handmade carpets, fine art, and jewelry through auction rooms in New York such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Doyle’s.
“Then, after moving west, I furthered my art education,” she says. “I earned a degree in Painting and a degree in Performance/Video at the San Francisco Art Institute. My work is collected, shown, and performed in galleries, art centers, and other public places.” An innovator in the uses of Tibetan Crystal Bowls and voice harmonics, Luminous founded X-Static Sound Research & Development in 1986, a project focused on the healing properties of sonics.
As a lifelong world traveler and researcher of ancient archaeological and sacred sites, Luminous published Integrative Archaeology in 2012 – a guide for
travelers to sacred sites. “I founded the Integrative Archaeology Foundation 501(c)(3) dedicated to supporting indigenous cultures to sustain their wisdom, ceremonies, language, traditions and existence,” she explains. A true renaissance woman, Luminous definitely stays busy. “I swim, walk, or do yoga every day,” she says. “I have created over 500 paintings, authored a few books, and traveled the world. And, in that realm, the best is yet to come.”
To learn more about Luminous Antonio, call 928-221-3800, visit www.LuminousRealty.com or email luminoussedona@gmail.com
