Define Roles and Onboard

There are many roles that a real estate team may hire to fill – listing coordinator, marketing manager, transaction coordinator, administrative assistant, buyer’s agent – the list goes on. To facilitate effective teamwork and keep operations efficient during the busy times, it’s crucial that these roles are clearly defined. Job titles should reflect not only that role’s responsibilities – exactly which elements of the buying, selling or listing process the role will handle – but also how the hire will fit in with the rest of the team. This is especially important during the vetting and hiring stages. A clear explanation of how the role functions with other team members gives candidates an idea of how the team works and can help illustrate the team’s culture, which is an important consideration for many new agents – especially younger ones.

Writing formal job descriptions is a useful exercise for the team lead, as it forces the hiring agent to think through the activities and organize the role of their new personnel.

No matter how experience they may be, new recruits should be given an onboarding period. This gives the team time to set expectations and help the recruit settle into the team’s structure. Onboarding activities should include shadowing, training on tracking systems and CRMs and education on other team members’ roles.

Every new team member is an investment, and the time and effort required for comprehensive training and mentoring will eventually pay off. The Wexler Gault team stresses the importance of carving out time, no matter how busy they get, to devote to mentoring and developing their newer agents, as well as creating a support network within the team. “We have learned if you aren’t a team player, it probably will not work out,” says Salinas. A well-balanced team has multiple skill sets and specialties represented, so a new recruit’s training can be shared among members.

Having multiple perspectives on a team has its perks, and though the Carrie and Renee Team is only composed of two people, they reap the benefits of their well-balanced approach every day. “Our backgrounds really complement one another,” says Morris. “Renee grew up in the western suburbs, went to University of Illinois and has her BA in urban planning and real estate finance, as well as her MBA from Loyola. She was a commercial appraiser prior to entering residential real estate. I grew up Michigan, have my BS in marketing from Miami University and have been in sales since graduation. We do believe that in this business it is great to have two perspectives.” Hughes is a “numbers person”, Morris says, while Morris herself tends to focus on the “emotional value” of a house, attending to the more mercurial sentimental aspects of their clients’ homebuying process. “We both know how to do all tasks so we have seamless coverage.”