"Consult The Coach" Archives
Stuart Kaufman, MS, MBA
“The Real Estate Coach”

Summer 2005 - Volume 5, Issue 2

Q. Dear Coach:

I have been a realtor for quite some time and I'm ready to take it to the next level but find myself completely unorganized.  Last year I did about 15 transactions. My Goal for this year is about 25, with the intent to grow every year from there.  At this stage should I try to get organized on my own or should I be looking for an assistant?  I want to build a strong team for the long term so I can get myself more involved with meeting people and developing personal relationships that produce results.   Because I'm a bit of a control freak, I'm thinking it would be best to find an anchor office person to take charge so I can stay completely out of his/her day to day.  But I am unsure on how to go about this.  Should my assistant(s) be licensed, not licensed?  How do you determine their salary and/or commissions?  If they should be licensed, do I pay for their licensing and how do I keep them loyal to the team after they become experienced agents themselves? 

Signed,

At a Road Block

A. Dear At a Road Block:

How to hire an assistant is a frequently asked question among agents who are ready to move to their next level of success. The transition can be quite scary and intimidating, but also quite rewarding.

The first question to ask yourself is “What is my goal or intent for wanting to hire an assistant?”

In your letter, you begin by saying that you find yourself “completely unorganized”. And ask if you should try to get organized yourself or look for an assistant in order to help move you to you to a higher level of productivity. While hiring the right assistant will undoubtedly help organize the processing of your transactions, do your organizational needs go beyond this? If so, you would likely benefit from first tuning up your own organizational skills. Organizational skills are life skills and will help you not only in business, but in your personal life as well. Here are some ideas:

• Be sure you are using a calendaring and scheduling system that works for you. Write down all appointments, commitments, and obligations. This system should have an audible reminder feature (alarm) to help you stay on track and be on time to your appointments. As simple and obvious as this suggestion sounds, too many agents continue to miss appointments due to not having systems in place for writing things down. Or, if they do have a system, they don't have audible reminder cues to help them be on time.
• A Contact Management System is an extremely valuable tool to help keep track of all of your clients (potential, past and present) addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, their transaction status, and your “things to do” list. For a comparison of the common Contact Management Systems used by Real Estate agents, go to the Resources section of my website, www.GetYourSphereInGear.com . You may want to hire a Temporary Employee from a temp agency, to help you enter your contacts. They are paid an hourly wage to do a specific job. When the job is over, the temp goes away.
• Develop a marketing calendar to help you keep track of all of your marketing activities (Sphere of Influence daily calls, mailings, networking meetings)
• If needed, hire a “Professional Organizer” who can come into your home and office, and help you develop systems to help you manage your flow of information. The National Association of Professional Organizers can provide a referral by going to their website, www.napo.net .

By getting organized and putting systems in place, you will become more efficient and be able to spend more time with clients and prospective clients. And, you may discover that you are quite capable of handling your current, monthly transactional load.

At 15 transactions per year (your stated level of production), that equates to about one per month. Typically, agents can handle 2-4 transactions per month before beginning to feel that they are getting “bogged down” with the administrative work.

So to recap, if your primary goal is to get organized, I would suggest that you first attempt to do this on your own and separate this issue from hiring an assistant. Once better organized, you can then better assess your potential need for an assistant.

Eventually, you (and every successful Real Estate Agent) will want to examine their need for an Assistant.

Let's start by looking at some common reasons why Real Estate agents hire an assistant:

1. To expand their business and increase their production.
2. To provide enhanced customer service
3. To delegate work that they don't enjoy or prefer not to do
4. To manage the administrative part of transactions
5. To help manage and coordinate marketing activities
6. To be able to take time off and know that someone they trust will answer the phone and respond to clients.
7. To spend more time with prospective clients and engage in other business building activities.

Before hiring a part-time of full-time assistant, get clear on what you want this person to do. Write a one-page job description to help you get better clarity on the work you want to delegate. In addition, identify those skills and characteristics you would want your ideal assistant to possess (organizational skills, being detail oriented, excellent phone skills, follow-up skills, etc). A common cause for aggravation among assistants is a lack of clear expectations of what needs to be done and by when.

You indicated that you are a bit of a “control freak”. That can create issues. For any assistant to be successful in supporting you, the following is essential:

1. Give clear and concise direction (what needs to be done and by when)
2. No micromanagement – let the person do his or her job without looking over their shoulder.
3. Treat the assistant like a member of your team, because they are! This means to be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate of their needs.
4. Trust and expect that they will do a good job
5. Allow your assistant to do the job their way, even though it may be done differently from how you would do it. The important thing is the outcome/destination, not how you get there.
6. Be available to answer questions and be supportive.
7. Provide ongoing feedback and direction in a respectful and constructive manner.

Most agents start by hiring someone on a part-time basis and sharing this individual with other agents (usually in their office). It is not unusual for 3 or 4 agents to share one assistant, allowing the assistant to work a full schedule. In this situation, the assistant is paid on an hourly basis (by each agent) and no benefits are provided. Ask around in your office to see if there are part-time assistants available.

Other part-time options:

1. Transaction Coordinators

A “Transaction Coordinator” (TC) coordinates the administrative aspects of each transaction. They are paid on a “per transaction” basis, so you only pay when you actually have a transaction. I have several clients who use TCs very successfully to manage all their transactions. This allows them to spend more time with perspective clients. Ask your Broker for TC recommendations.

2. Virtual Assistants

A 'Virtual Assistant' (VA) is a self-employed person who works at home, usually connected to the internet. He or she can do a variety of tasks (update your database, plan, and implement a marketing campaign, or make changes to your website). A VA bills you only for the hours he or she works. For more information on hiring a virtual assistant, check out the International Virtual Assistants Association, http://www.ivaa.org/ , which maintains a comprehensive directory of virtual assistants.

So, here are three action items to help you begin moving forward:

• Work on getting better organized and managing your current level of business – get help if you need it.
• Create a sample job description (and skills needed) for an Assistant, as a way to begin identifying what you want this person to do.
• Think about what behavioral changes you would want to make in order to successfully manage and direct an Assistant.

Due to the length of this response, it will be continued in my next column. So stay tuned!

Recommended Resources:

• Joeann Fossland's Hiring an Assistant E-mail class . http://www.joeann.com/emailclasses.htm
• Multiply your Success with Real Estate Assistants , by Monica Reynolds
  

About the Author:
Stuart Kaufman, MS, MBA, is a Real Estate Coach who specializes in helping Real Estate agents be more profitable while living a great life. He resides in Washington State and is a regular contributor to numerous Real Estate publications nationwide. Got a question for the coach? Contact Stuart at coach@stuartkaufman.com or 206-725-1584.

© Copyright 2005, Metamorphosis Coaching. All Rights Reserved.

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