There are dozens of reasons why the “team” approach may be the most strategically sound way to approach real estate sales. But, what defines a team? How do you create a team? How do you sell and promote a team? All great questions and none of them having actual answers. Teams can be anything agents dream them up to be.
I contend, teams are “stories”. What story does your team tell? Call it a “sales strategy” or “elevator pitch”, agents must develop what differentiates their team from others and why anyone should care?
Developing a story that creates differentiation is so much easier in a team environment. Shaping the career experiences of everyone on the team to tell a story is the easiest way to develop a niche. Your team member experiences are in: flips, new construction, Buckhead, Midtown, rentals, farms, acreage, Cobb County, Peachtree City, etc.
Who do your team members know? The pooling of contacts can often reveal new avenues to explore. The “small world” phenomenon is real. What do your team members do for fun? This is very much an overlooked area of concentration. Case in point; the “Bullseye Team”.
They are long gone now, but the Bullseye Team used their leisure activity to their advantage. Turns out they were a husband and wife who happened to enjoy competitive darts. There is, or was then, a pretty large world of competitive dart players in pubs throughout Atlanta. So you’re hanging out in bars drinking with people having fun doing something you all like. Yeah, that wouldn’t help sales.
The Bullseye Team developed the “perfect” prospect base. We should all wish of such gift-wrapped sales leads. For them, customer acquisition really wasn’t work. It was a Friday night.
I once met a woman who knew a lot about cars. My Cousin Vinny type car stuff. She wasn’t a realtor, but I told her she could be successful as one if she wanted to be. There are tons of car shows and parking lot meet-ups for gear heads to display their knowledge. A catchy car-themed name for a team wouldn’t have been hard to create. Touching people on things they love always creates bonds. Bonds lead to trust and trust leads to sales.
As agents develop their team’s stories, they also must consider their team structure. As we discussed in our last blog, personality counts. A team can be any number of agents, but there must be at least two designations. One person needs to identify as the sales lead and another person must be designated as the logistics lead.
Teams comprised of only logistics-type agents often find their sales sluggish and slow. Conversely, teams consisting of all sales-types always seem to have that, “hair on fire” aura around them. Obviously getting the right agent mix can be critical to team development.
Expense is probably the best reason for joining or starting a team. It really doesn’t cost that much to electronically advertise in today’s world. Still, as an individual, that expense can be a heavy lift. Sharing expenses across all team members makes branding much more realistic.
For many agents, working as their own boss was the reason they got into real estate. Joining a team doesn’t seem to fit that mold. But remember, a team is not the end goal. Agents are still their own Bosses, and as industry “free-agents” they can, and probably should, join any number of teams.
Unless the team you join is filling all your time with steady work, agents should look to join other teams to effectively manage their own schedule. As long as an agent can keep up, they should keep going.
Theoretical Scenario (Agent with $600 monthly budget for advertising)
Who wins? Whose pipeline will be fuller in 8 months? An agent with their own single brand spending $600 a month versus an agent joining three different teams for $200 each?
Nobody knows the answer, but I bet everyone has one. But, one thing that is certain, joining a team and working within a team requires agents to be proactive in their approach. A full participant. If you are a wallflower-type waiting to be told to do something, the small team environment may not be for you. Franchises are your safe places.
But for the bold and those who study media and marketing, the team concept offers the most in terms of client variety and income potential. Join a team today! Why not?
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