7 minute read
HOW TO BUILD A TEAM
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
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.
Put Your Team Members in the Right Positions to Win
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
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.
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 com peting 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 togeth er 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.
ANNE SCHREIBER & JACK ARCHIE
Top Agents Anne Schreiber & Jack Archie of The Schreiber Team serve the entire San Diego area— accomplishing $74 million in volume last year.
The Schreiber Team isn’t motivated by the deal. “We’re motivated by the client,” team owner Anne Schreiber says. “We’re comfortable pacing things at the rate the client needs, and we’re willing to wait until the right time to get our clients their favored outcome.”
“It’s part of the culture of the team that impacts everything we do,” says Jack Archie,
Sales Partner with The Schreiber Team. “We provide a high level of service, and it’s evident from the first time that clients meet with us that we’ll place them first. It’s about their priorities, not our paychecks, and that’s a refreshing change for people.”
Anne has been in real estate for nine years, after a successful stint as a fitness
professional and kindergarten teacher. “I had the opportunity to go through a bunch of real estate transactions in a short window of time, and it gave me the idea that I could offer a better service experience than what I saw,” she says. She found success immediately, earning her way to the top 1% internationally quite early in her career.
Jack, meanwhile, grew up in a real estate family. “Coming from a top real estate family in Wisconsin, I always knew it would either be real estate or baseball!” he says. Jack has five years experience under his belt, and he finds that his degree in Business Psychology often gives him the edge in transactions.
The Schreiber Team serves Anne’s hometown, the entire San Diego area, and last
12 Copyright Top Agent Magazine year they accomplished $74 million in volume, with about 40% of their business coming from repeat and referral clients.
The culture that sets The Schreiber Team apart comes from the top down. “I love the trust that is exchanged between our clients and our team,” Anne says. “Buying or selling a home is a profound life event for families, and I like being the problem solver and the voice of confidence and reason.”
“Whenever something pops up I dig my heels in to get results,” Jack agrees. “Solving these high level issues earns you not only lifelong clients, but also friends.”
“We care about every single person we get a chance to interact with,” says Anne. “We feel blessed and humbled to sit at the table for such an important moment in someone’s life, and everything we do is through the lens of understanding what a big deal this is for people.”
Looking to the future Anne thinks in five and ten year increments. “The next five years is to grow the infrastructure,” she says. “There’s a point where a team gets too big, so while I want to grow the team
I want it to grow with quality people, and to take our time finding them.
“The most important thing,” she continues. “Is to respect the culture and the productivity
of the team. I want to provide more opportunities for my agents and then, when we get past that five year mark, for me to move more towards coaching and being an accountability partner, guiding the brand and the vision.”
To find out more about Anne Schreiber, Jack Archie and The Schreiber Team,
visit their website at
www.theschreiberteam.com, call 858-367-8471 or
email them at anne@schreiberhomes.com and jack@schreiberhomes.com
