Jess Lenouvel

7 Tips To Create A Real Estate Budget To Hit Your Big Money Goals

May 3, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Here’s a business task you MAY have been procrastinating. I’m talking about creating your real estate budget.

Look, I get it…

Budgeting definitely isn’t the sexiest part of running a real estate business.

But just because talking about finances isn’t as exciting as sales and marketing doesn’t mean it’s any less important.

Because at the end of the day, if you can MAKE money, but you don’t know how to KEEP it…

You’re going to struggle.

You need to understand how to budget for your business if you want to make your biggest money goals a reality.

Part of shifting your identity from a real estate agent to a real estate CEO means knowing your numbers.

Understanding where you’re at financially is the key to making sound business decisions – about investments, team members, operation expenses and so much more.

So if you’ve been burying your head in the sand – that ends now.

It’s time to face the music and create your real estate budget.

These five essential real estate budgeting tips will help you go from unsure to uber-confident about your business’s numbers!

Separation Is Key

Here is the number one most important tip when it comes to budgeting for your real estate business.

You MUST keep your business budget and your personal budget separate.

Your commissions are not your personal income. Your business pays you your personal money. Your business doesn’t provide all of your personal money.

You don’t want to mix and match between your accounts either.

Every business expense MUST come from your business account, and personal expenses need to be paid out of your personal account. It doesn’t matter if you’re a corporation, sole proprietor, LLC, or whatever else – treat your business like a real business and get it a dedicated account!

By keeping your personal and business finances separate, you’ll be able to more easily track your expenses and income, and you’ll be able to avoid confusion (and potential legal issues!) down the line.

Pro tip: I find the best way to create that separation between the accounts is to have them at two separate branches/banks. This prevents you from being tempted to dip into them or mix accounts!

Real Estate Budgeting ≠ Restriction

If you’re neglecting your budget or have resistance to the task, it might be helpful to rethink your mindset.

Some people think of budgeting as being restrictive and limiting, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

In reality, budgeting is about being more intentional with the money you have – and making sure you’re putting your money towards the things that are most important to you.

I am by no means suggesting that you purge your life of all of the things that bring you joy! Quite the opposite.

If getting a latte at Starbucks makes you a happier human – then go for it.

Similarly, when it comes to the business side, budgeting doesn’t imply being stingy with investments. If a $25/month software is going to make your life easier, then in my opinion, that’s a heck-yes.

But on the other hand, if you have subscriptions you purchased years ago that you’ve barely been using…it’s time to audit your real estate budget and cut some things out.

By creating and maintaining a budget, you’ll be able to make smarter financial decisions and be far more confident in your spending.

Beware of Lifestyle Creep

If your business revenue has been growing, it’s important to be aware of “lifestyle creep.”

This is when your spending gradually increases over time as your income increases.

You get a bigger mortgage.

A nicer car.

You start taking more expensive vacations.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life.

The problem is when your lifestyle requirements start growing at a faster rate than your business.

Now, rather than using your profits to reinvest back into your business and grow it even more, you’re draining your business bank account to keep up with your personal expenses.

This will seriously deteriorate your business’s health.

When you experience lifestyle creep, you also tend to start making business decisions from the lens of personal ones.

The biggest indicator that someone is viewing their commissions as money to fuel their lifestyle is when someone says “I need to check with my husband/wife first”, before making an investment decision.

This shows that you view investing money that your business generated as taking away from your personal income, or income for the family.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Remember, your personal savings goals and spending habits should all be derived from the salary you pay yourself from your business.

Your salary should be another line item on your real estate budget.

So when that $40k commission check comes through, don’t start dreaming up a 2-month vacation to the Maldives.

Remember – you’ve got a team to pay, marketing expenses, taxes, software and so much more.

By keeping your spending in check and being intentional with your money, you’ll be able to avoid lifestyle creep and stay on track with your financial plan.

Be Patient With Yourself

When it comes to budgeting, it’s important to be patient with yourself.

Think about developing financial knowledge the same way you learn a new language.

When you’re first learning a new language, you feel totally in over your head. You try to watch shows and listen to music and you feel like you’re barely understanding anything.

Then slowly, over time, you might pick up on 20% of what they’re saying.

Then 40%.

And then, before you know it, you can watch an entire episode and understand almost everything.

The same goes for your finances.

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed or like you don’t know what you’re doing when you first start out.

Learning to manage your finances effectively can take time, and it’s okay to make mistakes along the way.

With patience and practice, you’ll be able to master the art of budgeting and make it a natural part of your financial routine.

Revisit Your Budget Regularly

Creating a real estate budget isn’t a set-and-forget solution.

You need to regularly revisit your budget and make adjustments as needed.

Once you get in the habit of doing this, you’ll often find that you have items on your budget that you no longer need or use.

Monthly subscriptions you’re no longer using can easily go undetected for months, eating into your precious cash reserves.

Contractors and team members who aren’t pulling their weight will stay on payroll because you haven’t had time to look at the ROI they’re producing.

The solution?

Do a quarterly audit of your budget and assess what things you should continue to pay for – and what things you should cancel.

When you get to know your numbers intimately, you’ll be much more intentional with the financial decisions you’re making.

Your income and expenses will likely change over time, and it’s important to make sure your budget reflects those changes. By revisiting your budget on a regular basis, you’ll be able to stay on top of your finances and make sure you’re always working towards your financial goals.

Open A Business Savings Account

You should be saving 25% of your business’s income. Period.

Because again, it’s not just about making money. It’s about keeping money.

Think about this…

How much more secure would you feel day-to-day if you had 3 months, 6 months, or even 12 months’ worth of savings to keep your business afloat?

Your savings should be an automated expense in your business’ budget.

Think of it like a tax you need to pay, something that’s non-negotiable.

And if 25% still feels way too far away for you, start with 10%. Then, bump it up to 20%. And slowly, you’ll get to where you need to be.

This money should not be withdrawn unless it’s a business emergency or you need to make a really big, strategic decision that will propel your business forward.

This is the oxygen supply for keeping you afloat when the unexpected happens.

Look at Budgeting as a Way to Hit Investment Goals

If you’re struggling to motivate yourself to stick to a budget for your real estate business, it might be helpful to change your perspective.

Learning how to manage your budget isn’t just about trimming expenses in your day-to-day life.

It’s about making those big, lofty money goals a REALITY.

With budgeting, you’re able to set up a system to build up your investments. And I don’t just mean investing in your business.

I mean more passive investments.

Whether that’s real estate, the stock market, or even a different venture – budgeting gives you options.

This can be incredibly motivating!

Real estate is a very active business. But when you funnel your hard work into more passive investments, you’re setting yourself up for financial success in the future.

In 10 years, with the right strategy, you could be making 6 figures passively.

Being strategic with your real estate budget gives you that opportunity.

Want to learn more about what it takes to build a 7-figure real estate business?

Join us in The Listings Lab Facebook Group For Real Estate Agents for more high-value trainings and advice to build a profitable, scalable business.

5 Rookie Real Estate Hiring Mistakes To Avoid At All Costs

April 26, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Hiring for your real estate business?

Make sure you do so with intentionality.

Building a real estate team can be a fantastic business model, but it’s not always as easy as people make it seem.

There’s a lot that goes into hiring solid team members who will stick around for the long run.

When you rush the hiring process or make some of these common mistakes, you’ll only create MORE work for yourself rather than less.

Employees who need a lot of hand-holding, high turnover, and depleting your cash reserves are just a few of the negative consequences that come with a lack of preparation when it comes to hiring for your real estate business.

So let’s dive into these real estate hiring mistakes so you can avoid them – and instead build a team that helps you scale to seven figures.

3 Real Estate Hiring Mistakes to Avoid

Here are three of the most significant mistakes you should watch out for when hiring for your real estate business. Read through these mistakes carefully, because they can cause major harm to your real estate growth!

Hiring Too Soon

Hiring is one of the easiest and best ways to scale your business. But don’t hire until you’ve worn all the hats and are familiar with every single aspect of your business. Hiring too soon will eat up your cash reserves because you don’t actually understand every part of your business well enough to bring in someone else to handle parts of it. That means you won’t know how to direct them in the right way.

For instance, you need to understand marketing before you can outsource it. If you don’t you’ll end up with people who perform poorly, and you won’t be clear on what to do about it.

When you find that you’re stuck in a hamster wheel and relatively maxed out, it’s time to do an Energy Audit—looking at your daily tasks to determine what roles to hire for first. Again, only hire when you’ve identified the things you want and need off your plate.

Not Hiring Based On ROI

You won’t have to worry about your expenses growing before your revenue does if you don’t hire too quickly and if you delegate appropriately.

Every person you bring onto your team should have an ROI, and they should know and understand what their expected ROI over time is.

Even an assistant will add a certain amount of money to your bottom line if they’re freeing you up for income-generating activities. The rule of thumb is that if you pay an assistant $40,000 per year, they should be adding a minimum of $60,000 per year to the bottom line.

Not Hiring In The Right Order

It will become clear whom you need and when. When you do a full Energy Audit, you’ll start seeing things that are outside your Kinetic Domain taking up your time and energy. That’s when you know it’s time to look for either software or a person who can take these tasks off your plate and start owning those outcomes.

First Hire: A Part-time Real Estate Virtual Assistant (VA) Or Contractor

I recommend that your first hire be a part-time virtual assistant (VA) or a contractor who does small, routine admin tasks. Delegating these tasks can free up anywhere from ten to thirty hours of your time per week. There are a lot of VA sourcing companies you can enlist for help; get a referral for a high-quality option.

Second Hire: Full-time Virtual Contractors & Administrators

From there, you can progress to taking on full-time virtual contractors. They’re typically young people or hustling work-from-home moms who will do whatever’s necessary to get the job done and move the needle forward. You might not have these roles really well defined until you see what you need done.

But don’t mistake a virtual jack-of-all-trades who is in a more entry-level position for someone who’s not an A-player. Their level also doesn’t mean your expectations should be less.

Some of these contractors are likely to get a look at your systems and help you revamp some things along the way. In that case, you might bump them from being a part-time VA to your full-time administrator. Your admin probably doesn’t need to be local. If you really need a local person, ask yourself if there are really two jobs being crammed into one person’s workload.

Third Hire: An Expert With Specialized Knowledge

Your third hire should be a full-time person who has specialized knowledge you need. These roles include buyer’s agents, operations managers, listing specialists, and others. It’s smart to make sure they have numbers they need to hit. They need to know that they’re accountable to the KPIs you set for them.

These are people who will bring in more money and not cost you any, with the exception of an operations manager. (But even they will free up a lot of your time for those high-value tasks). You’ll want to find these people via referrals or social media.

Avoiding common hiring mistakes is crucial when growing your real estate business. By understanding when to hire, delegating effectively, and hiring in the right order, you can scale your real estate business to 7 figures and beyond.

Check out some of these other posts to build your powerhouse team!

How Real Estate Team Leaders Can Master Delegation And Step Into Their CEO Shoes

Real Estate Leadership Lessons For A 7-Figure Team With Emma Pace

The Best Way To Get Real Estate Leads ISN’T What You Think

April 19, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Do you feel like you’re doing all of the things but you’re still struggling to get real estate leads?

Are you experiencing burnout and exhaustion, yet your commissions are looking lower than ever?

This might be why…

The reality is, a lot of agents waste dozens of hours every single week focusing on the WRONG things.

It doesn’t matter how hard you work.

If you’re not focusing on the *right* actions to get real estate leads, your pipeline will always be dry.

So if you’re ready to do real estate lead generation differently, read on to know about four shifts you need to make to get more sales rolling in.

Shift 1: Modern Marketing > Archaic Tactics

In real estate, people used to rely on traditional methods like cold calling, door knocking, and “geo-farming” to stay top of mind with potential clients and secure more real estate leads.

But the ONLY reason those methods were used is because we didn’t have any better options available at the time.

But now that we have computers that fit in our pockets, those methods no longer make sense. Yet they persist.

In his book Hook Point: How to Survive in a 3-Second World, Brendan Kane writes:

With more than 60 million messages sent out on digital platforms every day, we have an incredible amount of information being sent to us constantly…. In fact, the average person spends eleven hours a day interacting with digital media (including digital video, audio, TV, newspapers, magazines, etc.) and scrolls through 300 feet of content. People use their phones 1,500 times a week and check their email inboxes thirty times an hour. Every sixty seconds on Facebook, there are 400 new users, 317 status updates, 147,000 uploaded photos, and 54,000 shared links. Approximately 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram on a daily basis.

So why are real estate agents sticking to the old way of doing things?

Buckle up, because you might not like the answer.

Many of the agents who were successful in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s with those old tactics are now broker-owners teaching their agents what they learned way back when. They’re not marketers, and their lead-generation strategies are certainly not up to date.

That old way has got to go.

Today, there is so much software available that can automate the tasks you’ve been doing manually—and that technology should come before you hire another person because it’s so much more efficient.

The real estate industry is being challenged by tech companies and iBuyers. In response, agents are throwing their hands up and getting angry without actually doing anything about it.

You don’t get to choose not to adapt and then get angry when you’re replaced.

If you want to get more real estate leads, think about where your ideal clients are hanging out.

Rather than pestering them through cold messages and phone calls, show up for them through valuable content that converts them from strangers to clients.

You can read this post all about the three types of real estate content for social media you NEED to be posting to get started!

Shift 2: Niching Down > Serving Everyone

A lot of agents think that to secure more real estate leads, they need to serve anyone and everyone.

They believe that casting a wide net equates to more opportunities for sales.

But in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Your niche is NOT a geographical area.

Think about it.

You can have a neighborhood that has upsizers, downsizers, first-time buyers, and investors, all in one postal or zip code.

All of these ideal client avatars have a unique set of needs and desires.

But if you’re using the older methods of marketing—say flyers, for example—your messaging has to be incredibly broad.

All you end up doing is getting an impression for the sake of an impression.

Understanding The Life Transition

When I tell agents to niche down, I mean choosing a group of ideal clients and customizing your marketing to attract them.

You must understand the psychology of the client’s life transition.

What is the deeper reason for their move?

Once you know what’s going on in a client’s head during their real estate transaction, you can use that to create incredibly targeted messaging.

Now, you may have heard other real estate gurus say you should get in front of as many eyeballs as possible—to paint with the widest brush instead of narrowing down to a specific market. But when you do that, you only get filtered out as noise.

The Generalist Trap

The riches are in the niches, and specificity wins—every time.

You probably wouldn’t trust your family doctors to install a pacemaker in your chest. Your clients also don’t want a generalist; they want someone who specializes in what they need.

Because let’s face it, we’re at a point now where everyone seems to have a real estate license. Effective marketing means being able to articulate what’s in the back of someone’s mind better than they can—sometimes even before they can.

You cannot do that if you’re painting with a broad brush. Make no mistake—if you’re still trying to use vague, nonsensical taglines, at some point you will disappear. You will become irrelevant.

Your Client Is The Hero

Most real estate advertising falls flat because agents lean on “I’m number one!” messaging.

They focus their attention on themselves—instead of their potential clients—because they can’t actually create marketing that will truly strike a chord with people.

But people don’t care about you. They care about themselves.

Hearing you talk about how great you are or how many awards you’ve won doesn’t solve your ideal client’s problem—that they’re terrified they won’t be able to find a house before their move-out date or that their marriage won’t actually survive the time it takes to find the said house.

Shift 3: Connection > Perfection

You can’t just hide behind a pretty logo anymore, especially in real estate. This is a human-to-human business, so it’s important that people get to know, like, and trust you.

People create comfort with other human beings, and guess what?

That DOESN’T happen by being perfect.

Perfection is boring, and it makes other people feel inadequate. People build connections through vulnerability and stories. We have to break down barriers to trust.

Become The Approachable Celebrity

One of the best ways to build familiarity and trust is to present as what I call “the approachable celebrity”.

Let me explain…

There are two types of celebrities.

One is very approachable; the other is not.

If you saw Brad Pitt walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable walking up to him and giving him a high five.

But there are certain influencers that most people would have no problem approaching to say hello. Yes, they’re “celebrities,” but people feel like they already know them because they’ve been following their story on their social media accounts and feel like they’re part of their lives.

It’s like when an actor breaks the fourth wall in a movie and talks to the audience. That’s approachability, and it’s what you need to build with your ideal audience.

You might think that to attract more real estate leads, you need to create an image of perfection, letting everyone know about how you’re the top real estate agent around.

But people don’t care about that. What they do care about is that you care about and understand them.

That’s part of what you can demonstrate with psychologically driven marketing content.

Shift 4: Emotion > Numbers

Too many agents focus on numbers and stats rather than creating an emotional connection with their ideal client avatar.

They think they can just pump out market stats and real estate infographics and bring in tons of real estate leads.

You need to understand the emotions your client is experiencing that are fueling the move.

Let’s say you’re serving “upsizers.” These are mostly young families and people who have outgrown their first space.

You need to show that you truly understand their pains, problems, fears, and desires.

There is the emotion of letting go of the first home they bought, the house that their kids were born in.

But there’s also the frustration of fighting every day because they’re tripping over the kids’ toys, and everyone is sharing the same bathroom. And, of course, there are the financial worries that come along with moving into a bigger home.

Most agents come at these situations purely from a numbers standpoint.

And as a result, the clients don’t feel understood. Even worse, they feel like they’re just another deal or transaction for that agent. In fact, I advise you to take the words transaction and deal out of your marketing copy altogether.

Speak In The Language Of Your Ideal Client

A sale is a transaction or deal for you—not for the client. Don’t decide for the client what a sale is for them.

Instead, do your research and find out what language your audience is using. Speak to them in their words and language, not yours.

So if you’re a real estate agent struggling to get real estate leads, remember…

You’re likely focusing on the wrong things.

You might be spending hours and hours on archaic, old-school marketing techniques like cold-calling and manual prospecting…

When you should instead be focusing on a real estate content marketing strategy that gets clients coming to YOU.

You might be trying to cast a wide net and serve as many people as possible…

When instead, you should hone in and solve a specific problem for a specific person.

You might be focusing exclusively on numbers and stats…

When instead you need to cultivate an EMOTIONAL connection with your clients.

Or you might even be falling into the trap that you need to show up as polished and perfect, when you really need to be embracing authenticity and vulnerability.

Not only will these mishaps leave your real estate lead pipeline dry, but they’ll also even repel clients.

Instead, use The Listings Lab Method to fill your calendar with appointments – all without fake or sleazy sales techniques.

Get all of the details for free by downloading The Listings Lab Method Guide here.

Standard Operating Procedures: How To Build Your Real Estate Operations Manual

April 12, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Have you ever gone to hire and onboard a team member, only to find yourself even busier than before you hired them? Building a real estate operations manual filled with thorough Standard Operating Procedures solves this problem.

You probably have a ton of moving parts in your real estate business.

And if the ONLY thing keeping those parts moving and processes going is your own knowledge…

You’re going to be extremely limited when it comes to scaling your real estate business.

Instead, you need to get that knowledge out of your brain and into a repeatable process that anyone can follow!

In this post, you’ll learn about:

What SOPs mean for your real estate business
An easy-to-follow real estate SOP template
How to create and organize your SOPs
The biggest benefits of creating SOPs

So let’s get into it, shall we?

The Meaning Of SOPs in Business

SOP stands for “standard operating procedure”. SOPs act as guidelines for any process you must complete in your real estate business.

In the real estate industry, you might also hear SOPs referred to as your real estate operations manual or your real estate policies and procedures manual.

They contain detailed instructions so that any team member can learn to do what you do!

They are essential for getting information out of your brain – and turning that information into a repeatable, scalable system.

Standard Operating Procedures

When the time comes for you to outsource, you must have standard operating procedures (SOP) for everything you want that person to do.

The purpose of an SOP is to provide detailed instructions about how to carry out a task so that any team member can do it correctly every time. It is critical to have every one of these tasks documented because once you document them, other people can follow them.

Once you have your SOPs clearly and concisely documented, it is so much easier to train new employees and delegate or outsource tasks. If there’s ever any question about how to do a particular job, team members or vendors can pull up the SOP document and video to understand what needs to be done.

Having SOPs saves time and money, and creates better communication within your business.

Real Estate SOP Template

There is a very simple template for creating an SOP.

Basics

The SOP should have a title, date of creation, the department name, and the owner of the document. If the SOP is about commissions or finances, someone who deals with those areas of the business should own the document. Also include when the document was last updated, so that you always know if it’s out of date.

Resources

Be sure to also link to any resources required to do the task. This could include documents, media, or references associated with that task, including email templates and passwords.

Clear Action Steps

Include clear action steps that are accurate or that apply to 95 percent of cases. I can’t emphasize enough how important clarity is. It is incredibly inefficient for team members to come to you every single time they have a question about something they don’t understand.

When they come to you for everything, you just become an assistant to the rest of your team. Clear, actionable SOPs take that off your plate.

Understanding when the job is done

Include in your SOP how to know when a task is completed. You need to give your team members clarity so they can know exactly what constitutes a job well done. Give clear markers and checklists so they can know they’ve done everything needed to complete the process.

SOP Organization

Once you’ve created the SOP document, place it in an accessible location, and make sure your entire team knows where to find it. We have our SOPs in our project management software. You can also place it in a Google Drive accessible to the whole team.

Building Your Real Estate Operations Manual

To streamline your real estate operations and minimize the need for constant oversight, consider creating a comprehensive real estate operations manual that outlines all of your standard operating procedures (SOPs). Once you’ve developed your SOPs, you can organize them into a tracker or playbook that provides a clear table of contents for all of the procedures. This will allow your team members to quickly locate the SOP they need by searching by department or SOP title, saving time and reducing the need for you to answer procedural questions on a daily basis.

Benefits of SOPS For Your Real Estate Company

Having SOPs not only makes operations more efficient, but it also means that your training of new employees is consistently streamlined. If you experience churn on your team, you don’t have to keep personally training them.

That’s especially true if you’ve created a video overview of all tasks and procedures, along with a written document that lists the people who are involved in each task.

Tools For Building Out Your Real Estate Operations Manual & SOPs

To make the videos, use a screen recording software (I recommend Loom) so that when you’re creating a new SOP, you can go through the task on the computer and record what you’re doing so a trainee can easily follow along. This covers people who are visual learners or who need to review instructions a few times.

Yes, your SOPs will take time to set up, but once you’ve done them, you’ll be amazed at the amount of time you get back in your day to commit yourself to the tasks your business needs you—and only you—to do!

Want more support with setting up systems, automation, and building a high-performance team so you can scale to seven figures?

Check out our exclusive year-long mastermind for high-level agents, The 7-Figure Agent Collective.

3 Simple Steps to Skyrocket Your Real Estate Sales (Even in a Tough Market)

April 5, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Have you ever told yourself you weren’t your real estate sales goals because of market factors?

Maybe you told yourself things like:

“The transactions are down in my market!”

“The interest rates are high in my market!”

“The number of listings is down in my market!”

Or something else of that nature?

Well, if so…I’ve got some tough love for you.

It’s time to ditch the excuses.

While certain market conditions can make things more challenging, there’s no reason why your growth has to slow down.

And there are agents out there who are KILLING it – no matter what the market’s presenting.

One of those agents is Kim Osborne, an alumnus of The Listings Lab who’s currently in our 7-Figure Agent Collective program.

Kim hasn’t let a tough market stop her.

In fact, she even says 2023 has been HER YEAR!

She and her partner are on track to hit their first multi-six-figure year.

Do you want to know what she changed to go from struggling to succeeding?

Read on for the three steps she took to skyrocket her real estate sales – even in a challenging market.

She Nailed Down Her Message

One of the most important things Kim learned throughout The Listing Lab and The 7-Figure Agent?

The importance of a clear and consistent message.

Before joining the program, Kim was trying to speak to everyone and anyone, just hoping that someone would listen.

But she soon realized that her message needed to be targeted at a specific audience if she wanted it to be compelling. Kim got to know her ideal clients better and then drilled down on her message – tailoring it to better resonate with them. By speaking directly to their specific needs and concerns, she created a stronger connection and built better relationships with them.

Once Kim got clear on her message, she then learned the value of consistency in delivering her message.

Instead of sporadic communication with her audience, she made a commitment to consistently provide valuable content that helped her ideal clients.

Potential clients soon started referring to her as reliable, and someone they could trust. Not only that, but by consistently delivering her message, to the *right* people, she established herself as an authority in her niche.

If you’re struggling with your real estate sales, take a look at your messaging. Do you know who you’re speaking to? And are you speaking to them in a way that will resonate?

She Stayed Authentic To Herself

Have you ever felt like you needed to fit a “mold” of how the perfect realtor should be if you want to succeed?

Before joining The Listings Lab, Kim certainly did.

She found herself trying to be someone she wasn’t, which made showing up consistently all the more difficult.

However, The Listings Lab and The 7-Figure Agent Collective showed her the importance of being authentic and true to herself.

Kim no longer tried to be overly professional, all of the time.

Instead, she embraced what made her her – like her sense of humor and big personality.

And in doing so, she started getting tons more clients reaching out.

No one wants to work with a corporate robot.

Not only will authenticity get more people reaching out about your services, but it will make content creation feel 10x easier when you no longer have to perform.

She Wasn’t Afraid To Have Tough Conversations

This step might be unexpected, but it was crucial to Kim’s success.

She didn’t shy away from difficult conversations with her clients.

It’s easy to always want to please our clients, and avoid any topic that might make them feel uneasy.

But through experience, Kim learned that transparency is key to success.

Having open and honest conversations with her clients about market trends, potential outcomes, and realistic expectations built trust and created a more positive experience for everyone involved.

By pretending you can promise a certain outcome – you only increase the chances of letting your clients down.

When you’re able to let them know what’s in their control and what isn’t, you’re starting off the relationship on the right foot.

You’re keeping it real with your clients, and they’ll appreciate you for it!

Which only leads to a better reputation, more real estate referrals, and glowing testimonials all around!

Kim is a shining example of what can happen when you decide you’re going to succeed.

While she could’ve blamed the market, she doubled down on her messaging and client relationships, and is now having her best year yet.

Want to know how to attract clients like Kim, no matter what the market’s throwing at you?

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Recruiting Real Estate Agents: How To Find & Retain A-Players To Help You Scale

March 29, 2023 by Jess Lenouvel

Need help recruiting real estate agents to scale your business to the next level?

You’re in the right place.

At a certain point in your real estate business, you can’t afford to do it alone.

Getting to your next milestone will require a powerhouse team.

In this blog post, we will share strategies to help you identify and hire the best candidates, including the five stages of hiring A-players!

I’ll go over:

Why hiring a-players is a must
How to prepare to hire
The best strategies for recruiting real estate agents
Interviewing tips (including must-ask interview questions!)
Setting up a trial period for your new agent
How to onboard your new agent and set them up for success
How to make the most of your new hire using scorecards

Let’s get into it!

Why You Need To Hire A-Players

What are A-Players, and why should you try to hire them for your real estate business?

To use a baseball analogy, you want to seek talent outside of your league because A-players understand the role, want the role, and have the capacity to do the role better than other people.

These players might be more expensive, but they always provide the biggest return on your investment. ( Also, A-players often introduce you to other A-players, which helps you to create a world-class team.)

A-players care deeply about your business and your mission. They motivate and uplift other people on your team, which also helps with the culture.

Because you’re not hiring someone straight out of college who has to look to you for everything, your A-players are actually going to push you out of your comfort zone to be your best.

From the moment they join, A-players are all in. Unlike people looking for a side hustle while they build their own thing, they’re fully committed to you and your business.

My COO, Ashley, whom I affectionately call the other half of my life, is the epitome of an A-player. Outside of being one of the most organized people I’ve ever met and having a phenomenal memory (she’s like a personal Google for the company), she treats my business like it’s her own—not from a place of ego but from a place of care.

As our primary project manager and the person whose job it is to spot inefficiencies and redundancies in our business and correct them, she holds our team to a high standard, and she expects excellence from everyone.

But she’s also the first person to give praise and recognition for a job well done. She sets the expectation for the team of what it means to work for us, and she makes sure that not only do we complete the projects we set, she usually sneaks in a few extra ones every quarter. My job as a CEO is a thousand times easier because I have her in my corner.

You want people who treat your business that way, from your eventual right-hand down to your runner who delivers paperwork and does pickups.

When you have A-players on your team, your primary job is to make sure their lives run as smoothly as possible, not to introduce an agent who makes them less efficient and changes their experience of working for and with you.

Another reason not to wait to hire until you’re desperate is that the top-level people you need are not always easy to find, so you need to give yourself time. If instead you rush and don’t hire an A-player, you plunge the lives of the A-players on your team into chaos.

Five Hiring Stages For Bringing on Top Agents

There are five stages to hiring A-players: preparation, recruitment, interview, trial period, and hiring and onboarding.

Preparation

Most people in real estate are flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to recruiting real agents for their companies. They know they need help, but they have no idea what they’re specifically looking for.

The biggest thing that keeps new hires from performing well is not having a clear role with clear expectations. That happens because the hiring agent did not prepare for recruitment.

You need to have an ironclad Roles and Responsibilities document that helps you identify the kind of help you need and that will allow you to clearly communicate your expectations to candidates throughout the hiring process.

You need an actual hiring process with a timeline. An example is a test or a screening call for a hiring interview.

Also, when I said not to rush into hiring, that means giving yourself at least two weeks to find a viable candidate. For more complicated jobs, you might need longer. You want a fairly large sample of candidates to be able to have the cream rise to the top in an obvious way.

Once you’ve got the Roles and Responsibilities done with a timeline in place, you have to create an application. Don’t just ask candidates to send in a resume. Create an actual application that candidates must fill out because you want someone who has taken the time to understand the role and fill out the application, not someone who’s blasting their CV all over the place.

At The Listings Lab, one of our most effective ways to screen is to ask applicants to follow these instructions:

“Fill out the application thoroughly, and
“Shoot a 2-minute video telling us why you would be an asset to our team, upload it to YouTube as an unlisted video, and email the link to our hiring manager.”

Right away, this weeds out 50 percent of applicants who don’t submit a video or who do it incorrectly because if people can’t read simple instructions, they don’t belong on the team. You need people who, at the very least, can follow instructions to the letter.

At a bare minimum, give an application, test, then interview.

Recruiting Real Estate Agents

Start recruitment with people who are familiar with your market and what you do. Your number-one source is always referrals. Ask your network, team members, employees, and clients, “Who is the best person you know at ‘X’ role?”

You can also go to your current audience via social media, email, newsletters, and the like. Your third option for recruiting real estate agents is online job boards.

Send that pool of people your application and a test that you’ve designed to weed people out. Look for things like attention to detail, level of care, mistakes, level of desire, skills, culture fit, and the ability to problem-solve. Depending on the role, this process should trim the list down to three to five people.

How To Continuously Attract Real Estate Agents

Your online brand and content should do the legwork to continuously attract and recruit real estate agents to your team.

When you tend to your online presence, you establish yourself as a leader in your market. Other agents look to you and admire how you’re growing your business.

This way, when you DO have an opening on your team, you’ll already have a pool of interested candidates eager to apply.

Interviewing Real Estate Agents

Everyone’s interview questions are likely to be a bit different, but your list should always include these three:

“Why is this the job for you?”

“What are your goals?”

“Why did you leave your last job?”

You also want to use those questions and others to look into whether the candidate—

—truly understands the position. Are they on the same page about what the role actually is? If they can describe the role back to you in a way that closely mirrors what you would say, then they get it. But if the clarity isn’t there, you can’t move on to the next step. Address that right away.
—actually wants the role. Are they hungry and motivated? Sometimes, people will temporarily sit in a role they don’t want, and it’s a house of cards. They’ll either leave soon after they’re hired, or they’ll be frustrated in their role and you won’t get the best out of them. You want someone who gets up every morning wanting to do their job. You can’t pay or motivate someone to want it. The desire for the role already has to be there. If you bump someone’s pay, the increase might motivate them briefly, but it’s not a long-term solution.
—has the necessary skill set for it to understand the role and what’s necessary to succeed in it.
—is open-minded, coachable, and excited to learn from you.
—is honest and direct with their responses, particularly about why they left (or were fired from) their last job.
—is clear about the direction they want to go in and why they feel this is the right time for this position.
—has income goals that are in line with what the position will provide.

Also, look at capacity. Does the person have the time, expertise, and the mental, physical, and emotional capacity to do the job? And do they have the time? Or will their life commitments consistently keep them from the weekly hours you need from them?

Skills and expertise, however, aren’t necessarily deal killers. Skills can be trained—as long as you or someone on your staff has the time or patience to bring them to the level you require. If you don’t, recognize that, and don’t settle for anyone who does not have full capacity from the get-go.

Throughout the interview, watch out for red flags, including speaking poorly of past bosses, being focused only on the money, or having no idea about your market.

Also steer clear if they don’t mention any past failures or areas where they can improve, or if they generally have a bad attitude or are overly confident.

Trial Period

Far too many people hire without a paid trial period.

If you’re hiring for a full-time role, the non-negotiable trial period should be thirty to sixty days. If you skip or shorten it, you will suffer the consequences. The trial period needs to be long enough to ensure that you’re not seeing a new hire on only their best behavior, which would be hard to sustain. Sooner or later they’re bound to slip out of their best behavior. Pay attention to that, and see it as the red flag it is.

If after their trial period, someone meets their KPIs and proves to be a good culture fit, onboard them. If not, go back to stage one.

Onboarding Your Real Estate Agents

During onboarding, set clear expectations about both the company’s communication rhythm and the position.

Give your new hires honest feedback about what they’ve done well in their first month or two with the company, as well as where they still have strides to make. You can’t expect someone to improve if you don’t clearly tell them that they aren’t meeting a specific expectation.

Are there weekly reports and check-ins? Is there a quarterly review? What are their performance goals? Talk about salary, performance, and role reviews at the six-month mark.

If someone is going to stay with you, invest in their performance with outside courses and consultants. And check in with your team members personally. If their excitement fades over time or they outgrow the position they were hired for, it’s time to move them to another role that does get them excited about their job.

Scorecards

So many leaders take care in recruiting real estate agents, but then FORGET that they need to retain them.

One key way to retain talent is to prioritize empowering your team.

There is a big difference between delegating tasks and delegating outcomes. For example, you can make someone responsible for the outcome of doubling the number of referrals to your company in that fiscal year. It’s then up to them to figure out just how to do that.

The role scorecard should clearly lay out the following things:

the person’s position
who they report to
the required skills, knowledge, and traits to be successful in the position
the KPIs they are responsible for in the business
the duties of the role and how frequently they are to be performed.

Essentially, everyone needs to know what key outcomes they have to produce. All too often, people run down their checklists each day without owning any outcomes.

Over time, you can change the KPIs for any role. In a quarterly check-in with your team, evaluate the performance of team members, make sure they are ROI-positive, and deliver both positive and constructive feedback to your team about how they can improve and be better accountable to their KPIs.

The quarterly check-in is also when you set the success metrics for that quarter. If , say, referrals were successfully doubled, do you want to maintain that or shoot for an even bigger goal?

Every team member should know what their responsibilities are, what their KPIs are, and what success metrics they are expected to be meeting. Essentially, everyone needs to know what key outcomes they have to produce. All too often, people run down their checklists each day without owning any outcomes.

The scorecard ensures these expectations are communicated in writing and delivered to team members. When they are onboarded, it should be one of the first things they see.

Recruiting real estate agents can be a challenging process, but by focusing on hiring A-players, following the five stages of hiring, providing a trial period, setting clear expectations during onboarding, and empowering your team with scorecards, you can find and retain top performers to help your business grow.

Remember that finding the right people takes time, but it’s well worth the investment in the long run!

Want more tips on growing a powerhouse team?

These blog posts will help!

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