If you’re at Level 5 of Tom Ferry’s 8 Levels of Performance, you’re already well on your way to building a high-performing business. You’ve established foundational systems, made a few initial hires, and delegated essential tasks to free up your time for high-value work. But now, you’re feeling the limits of your current setup. The demand is there, but the workload is intense, and you’re juggling too much. It’s time to step into your role as a real estate team leader by scaling your operations to the next level.
In this blog, we’ll walk through the strategies you need to expand your team successfully, from defining the right team structure and hiring the right people to training and managing for optimal productivity. If you’re looking at hiring an employee for the first time, you should check out our previous blog on Level 4.
What Kind of Real Estate Team Do You Want to Build?
It’s important to consider your vision of the future – one year out, five years out, and ten years out. Understanding what you want will allow you to build a real estate team that aligns with your goals and influence everything from compensation structures and hiring priorities to the training systems you put in place.
- Small Team: Focused on core support roles and a handful of sales agents, typically allowing for a hands-on management style.
- Medium Team: Includes specialized roles, such as listing and buyer’s agents, marketing coordinators, and transaction managers, giving you more time to focus on business strategy.
- Large Team: Structured with a hierarchy of sales and administrative roles, enabling the team leader to step back from daily operations and concentrate on long-term growth.
Choosing your team size will guide your next steps, especially in employee recruitment, training, and compensation structures.
How to Hire Staff for an Expanding Real Estate Team
Hiring for growth requires a structured approach. Start by creating clear job descriptions for each position you’re looking to fill. These descriptions should outline role responsibilities, compensation structure, and specific skills or experience required. For example, if you need more salespeople to handle listing demands or a buyers agent to specifically handle buyers, specify these expectations upfront.
Hiring Checklist for Real Estate Teams
Here’s an example hiring checklist will help you streamline recruitment:
- Define the role and compensation structure (salary, commission, or bonus).
- Write a detailed job description.
- Post on relevant real estate job boards or platforms.
- Screen applicants for cultural and skill alignment.
- Conduct interviews focused on experience and motivation.
- Check references and finalize the hire.
By following a checklist, you ensure nothing is overlooked and that you’re hiring employees who fit the team’s culture and goals.
Traits to Look for When Hiring
When scaling your team, hiring people with the right traits is essential for long-term success. Traits to look for when hiring include:
- Drive and hunger for achievement
- Coachability
- Strong communication skills
- Client-focused mindset
- Self-starter
- Previous sales or real estate experience
It’s also important to consider how much experience is important to you. Would you be willing to pay for someone’s license and take it out of their paycheck, or are you looking for a professional to start immediately? If you’re looking at agents with more experience, consider their motivations for joining your team.
Real Estate Team Roles to Consider When Growing Your Business
Building a robust real estate team involves filling roles that support various functions in your business. Here are some key real estate team roles to consider at this stage:
- Buyer’s Agents: Dedicated agents to work with buyers, allowing other team members to focus on listings and prospecting.
- Listing Specialists: Sales agents who focus specifically on handling listings, freeing you from managing every listing appointment.
- Marketing Coordinator: Responsible for promoting listings, running social media, and overseeing content marketing to keep lead flow strong.
- Transaction Coordinator: Manages paperwork, deadlines, and client updates to ensure a smooth transaction process.
- Client Appreciation Specialist: A full-time professional for nurturing your database and sphere, delivering gifts, and encouraging referrals.
Implementing these roles with tailored compensation structures helps keep your team motivated and your business efficient.
Best Place to Look for Possible Employees in Real Estate
When it comes to sourcing candidates, you need to know where to look. This is one more place where you really need to have a solid recruitment plan and understand where the talent in your area is going to. Here are just a few places to pursue:
- Referrals: Ask colleagues or industry contacts for recommendations; sometimes, the best candidates are found through word of mouth. But NEVER poach agents from other real estate teams. The last thing you need is bad blood in your market.
- Real Estate Networking Events: Local industry events or groups can be great places to meet potential hires who already understand your market.
- Job Boards: Real estate-specific job boards allow you to connect with candidates who have direct experience in the field.
- Hiring Services and Tech: Consider Humanize.io or a specialized recruiting agency.
Implementing Training Programs
How will you ensure your new hires hit the ground running and perform at a high standard?
Here are team building tips for training:
- Onboarding Plan: Introduce new hires to your processes, CRM, and key responsibilities.
- Role-Specific Training: If hiring a listing agent, emphasize strategies for lead follow-up and conversion; for marketing staff, cover social media best practices.
- Regular Check-Ins: Hold frequent progress reviews to reinforce training and make necessary adjustments.
On top of what your training is going to consist of, you also think about how it’s going to take place. Are they just going to shadow you or will you create a specialized training for them?
Some of our coaching clients have had awesome success with creating Thinkific courses for running all their agent training off of. Whatever it is, find an online platform that works and where you can track their progress. You can bring in an expert trainer to help you create your curriculum or utilize tools like TomAI+ to help you generate powerful training content.
Systematizing Lead Distribution for a Growing Real Estate Team
A well-organized lead distribution system keeps all agents busy while ensuring that each lead is handled promptly. Here are some lead distribution methods that work well:
- Round-Robin Distribution: Rotates leads equally among team members, ideal for a small or medium team.
- Productivity-Based: Assigns more leads to high-converting agents, boosting ROI and encouraging healthy competition.
- Specialization-Based: Assigns leads based on specific expertise, such as giving buyer leads to buyer’s agents and listing leads to listing specialists.
Regardless of what you choose, you need to have a clear process for reaching out and following up with each lead. For our coaching clients, there are a ton of Ultimate Real Estate Playbooks available in Tom Ferry Learning where you can see the entire processes of mega-successful team leaders.
Also, clear compensation structures tied to lead distribution can help keep team members motivated, especially if they know their lead volume and earning potential grow with performance. People need to know how they’re getting paid!
Scale Faster with Expert Guidance and Resources
Growing a real estate team is a strategic move that requires planning and commitment. It’s not as simple as employee hiring and making a few training videos. There are so many pitfalls that agents run into, and having a coach is the No. 1 proven way of avoiding them and scaling your operations while at the same time becoming more profitable than ever before.
If you’re ready to start growing your team with a tailored approach, book a consultation with our Tom Ferry team. We can help you design a team building strategy that fits your unique business goals and growth stage.