If I Had to Start Over, What Would I Do Differently?

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Transcript:

What would I have done differently? Not a whole lot. The best agents have been newly licensed, I still believe that. No bad habits. The three or so years where I just didn't figure out hiring. Chris was my first hire, and after that I hired a bunch of old-school agents that weren't the right fit. The quicker you can own the fact that the system we created here is the right one and there is no other way, the sooner you own that position. It took me years to figure it out, the better.

If you haven't seen the buyer agent screening filter, it's posted on Facebook. It's a list of 8 things I learned about buyer agents, including no traditional agents, good disc profile fit, they're hungry, there's no drama, you meet with their spouse. You've got to come up with your own screening filter.

The value based commission structure, I covered this before but you've got to decide how the world is going to look on your team. You've got to get to the right GCI levels. Your agents on your team will be productive and make a lot of money because they are productive, not because they are overpaid.

Our focus for recruiting is the net income. Our agents have a clear path to earn $100,000 in the bank with no expenses. Our buyer agent splits are 90% of 30,40, 50, 60. Our top split is 54% and gimmes are 27%. Listing agents make 90% of 25 or 35. So John and Sharon, Sharon is already over $200,000 and John will get really close this year. Jen and Chris are both around $100k and our new agents are selling 2 home per month.

I brought in 3 agents in Mid-April and none of them had sold residential real estate before, and they sold 37 homes between the 3 of them this year. They are off of their 2 minimum per month, but when you account for their 90 day ramp-up, they are on track.

One thing is culture has been way more important than I thought it would be. Agents really respect accountability and leadership. We work hard and play hard and divide those worlds. You want to have gross margin targets on each side of the business, and you're ready to give up that position when you have $300-$400 of gross commission income on the listing business alone, so you can pay someone 25% and step out.

The buyer business gross margin target is 55-60%, yr a 40-45% payout. Overall, the gross margin target is 65%, which is what my team is running now. This is the number one thing I see all jacked up with real estate teams. They don't have the compensation model. I still review financials in detail every month, and I do not miss this appointment with myself.