Virtual open houses, digital closings, conversations from behind face masks — what productivity looks like for real estate agents this summer covers new terrain for all of us. All June, Inman surveys the New Productivity: the tools, skills and insights needed to make it work now.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the modern world on a grand scale. As the medical community races to develop a vaccine, organizations are starting to move on from the crisis and learn to operate within the “new normal.”
As we enter a time of recovery, our eyes go toward rebuilding. Leaders need to make smart decisions that allow their teams to overcome challenges and accomplish greater goals.
Start with improving team productivity using these tips.
Adjust your expectations
It’s time to take a look at all your assumptions. One way to look at the current situation is that we are in the process of a rebirth.
The gap between the causal agent and the professional will continue to widen. Service expectancies will increase in order to maintain your current value proposition. Productivity per agent will be affected, and your team will have to grow to maintain the same volume.
What we are experiencing right now is growth pains. These are inevitable, but the best way we can adapt to these situations is to adjust our aim and look for better targets.
Reevaluate your team structure
Teams can be insanely profitable if structured right. Each person should have a specific purpose and niche. If done well, your retention will be 90 percent or more a year. However, if you aren’t making more from your team than from your own production, then you are probably doing it wrong.
Feel free to reach out, we are more than happy to give you free ideas on how you can straighten out your structure for better profitability.
Evaluate each person’s potential
Having a set standard within the team is a practical challenge. Each person is different. They all have different goals and needs. Effective team management involves catering to these specific goals and needs.
After all, the potential of each member is the untapped productivity you are leaving on the table. You need to help them achieve their own level of greatness to produce better collective outcomes.
Reevaluate your team comp programs
The post-crisis era is a good time to revisit comp programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Is each person making what the job is worth? Are you getting a good return on investment from each person on payroll?
Keep your admin staff well-paid for the position through W-2 payroll. Avoid complicated comp plans, bonuses or per-transaction pay for these people.
For your sales associates, it’s pay-to-play only. Make your commission program simple and effective. Each sales associate should make $100,000 to $250,000 a year if they are producing at their potential. The team’s splits should reflect that.
The road to a full recovery has hurdles along the way. But success in this journey depends on how you lead your team and make improvements along the way. The pandemic has resulted in considerable losses, but it did not stifle your organization’s potential to come out stronger from this crisis.
Chris Pollinger, partner, Berman & Pollinger, LLC is a senior sales and operational executive skilled in strategic leadership, culture building, business planning, sales, marketing, acquisitions, operations, recruiting and team building.
