Real Estate Success Blog

Real Estate Team Roles & Career-Defining Options - Tom Ferry

Written by Tom Ferry | Dec 26, 2024 6:00:00 AM

Here are 6 Real Estate Team Roles & Career-Defining Options

If you don’t have a transaction coordinator, you ARE your transaction coordinator.

Similarly, if you don’t have a social media specialist, you ARE your social media specialist.

Same goes for your videographer, your IT specialist, your marketing coordinator, and so on.

See where I’m going with this?

 

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As a real estate agent, trying to handle too many real estate team roles and responsibilities yourself leaves you with less time to do what truly matters...connecting with consumers face-to-face, which should be your REAL role. After all, that’s where your income comes from. 

This is why I firmly believe that the idea of a real estate team is the future of our industry. I’ve been saying it for years, and I’m more convinced of it now than ever before. 

It’s time for you to make an important decision about your future in real estate jobs. Keep reading to explore six real estate team options that could take your business to the next level.

 

Real Estate Team Roles & 6 Career-Defining Options for Agents 

Declare Yourself an Artisan Agent

Even if you're hesitant about building a team, you can't deny that defining clear real estate team roles can free you up to focus on more dollar-productive activities.

Right?

If that sounds like you, consider becoming an “artisan agent”—someone intentionally focused on providing higher quality service to a select group of clients. 
Surround yourself with hand-selected team members, whether part-time or full-time, depending on your needs. This could include filling key real estate jobs like a transaction coordinator, marketing specialist, assistant, or VA, allowing you to excel in your face-to-face interactions with clients.

 

Build an Intentionally Small Team

One option is to build a small, tight-knit real estate team with no more than five salespeople, complemented by key admin roles.

These smaller real estate teams are designed to ensure versatility, where each member takes responsibility for their own production while benefiting from the support and encouragement of fellow team members.

Whether you're seeking a transaction coordinator, receptionist, or assistant, real estate team roles should be tailored to your specific needs. Surround yourself with hand-selected team members, whether part-time or full-time, to allow you to focus on what you do best—working directly with clients—while having a strong support system in place, including marketing professionals, assistants, or virtual assistants. This structure ensures your team works seamlessly together to achieve success.

 

Embrace Your Role as a Dominant Listing Agent & Build a Mid-Size Team 

Some agents truly thrive once they understand their strengths and delegate the rest. If you want to specialize in luxury real estate listings but find yourself attracting leads outside your niche, it might be time to build a real estate team. Hiring buyer’s agents, listing agents, and admin staff can help you create a mid-size team of 6-15 agents while allowing you to focus on what you do best...being the dominant listing agent in your market.

As you expand, real estate team roles become more important, and you’ll want to hire someone to lead operations, so you can continue focusing on your high-end listings. Without the right real estate jobs in place, you risk becoming the head of operations and missing out on those lucrative listings.

 

Build a Large Team & Move Out of Production

If your long-term goals lean more toward becoming a CEO and less about working directly with clients, you might want to explore building a large team with diverse real estate team roles, ranging from 16-600 agents, and eventually transitioning yourself out of production. 

Building a real estate team of this scale can be incredibly rewarding, but it requires the right structure and processes to run smoothly and become profitable. It’s a big decision and one that depends on the size of your ambitions. If you’re considering this path and exploring real estate jobs for team members, let’s chat before you dive in: text me at 949-216-5466.

 

Join an Existing Team

Not everyone is a builder. You may not want that responsibility of assembling a real estate team or even creating the vision for where the team is headed.

If you're looking to focus on what you do best...meeting people, solving problems, and helping clients move to the next stage of their lives...then a real estate team is the perfect fit. By joining a team, you get the support and structure that comes with real estate team roles, without the added responsibility of managing or taking on a partner role.

This allows you to maintain your freedom as a sales agent while benefiting from the collaborative environment and shared resources. It’s truly the best of both worlds when it comes to real estate jobs!

 

Lower Your Ambitions

The flight to quality is real… today’s consumer wants things quicker and easier with less friction. They want that Amazon-like experience – click a button, problem solved.

And in my opinion, those solo agents unwilling to build the support system around them simply cannot compete on that level AND consistently scale their businesses.

So if you want nothing to do with a team, the natural conclusion is you’ve got to lower your ambitions. You can’t do it all yourself and compete with the marketing budget or service level of teams who have operationalized those game-changing facets of business.

 

Choose Your Hard

I hope this blog has been helpful, and I also hope that I haven’t made it sound easy to build a team.

Team building is yet another “choose your hard” scenario in the life of a real estate professional.

It’s extremely difficult to build a successful team, requiring tons of dedication, discipline and the willingness to start over when you realize things aren’t taking the shape you desire.

It’s also extremely difficult to fly solo and do everything yourself in this business. And ultimately, I don’t foresee a bright future for those who try to go this route. I’ve talked about “the end of the solo agent as we know it” at several recent events, because it’s simply not feasible for anyone to play every role required of today’s successful agent.

Here’s what I know… the longer you wait to make one of these six choices, the less you’ll be able to compete.

Building a successful real estate team isn’t just about hiring the right people. It’s about knowing how to run a meeting, setting clear expectations, and fostering a culture of collaboration. Whether you’re interviewing for a real estate transaction coordinator, a marketing professional, or an administrative assistant, be sure to ask the right questions and look for key traits to look for when hiring that align with your team’s values. As a real estate team leader, it’s your role to define real estate team roles and responsibilities to ensure everyone is working toward the same goals. By applying effective team building tips, you’ll create a team that thrives and is set up for long-term success. Keep evolving, keep adapting, and watch your team soar.

Which way are you leaning and when will you act on your decision? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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