Real Estate Business: The 6 Most Important Hires Of 2015
By JD Esajian on April 13, 2015
It’s hiring season in the real estate business! So who should you be recruiting now?
Peak home buying season is just a few weeks away. Whoever has the best talent, and has a team to facilitate more market share will win. The real estate pros and firms that make the most money, and do the most deals this summer will be one step ahead for the rest of the year. In fact, they’ll be better positioned to roll into 2016, and beyond.
There are certain hires every individual real estate agent, investor, and company needs to have. If you want to survive and thrive, you’ll be hiring these team members fast:
- A General Manager
A general manager is one of the first hires to make. This applies whether launching a small real estate sales team, tech startup, or investment firm. Hiring a GM first provides someone to handle all of the small details, and someone to make other hires. While the personal management workload is small for this team member, they can handle more functions. A GM is critical for any real estate pro or entrepreneur that hopes to scale, and for those that simply hope to build value in a business.
- A Real Estate Coach
Having a coach makes all the difference in the level of success real estate pros and businesses experience – period. Some will gripe. Some will try to piece together fragmented advice and tips from poor sources. Some will launch head-on into the fray to learn by trial and error, even though it has all been done for them already.
Name a single Olympic athlete, NFL player, real estate mogul, Forbes’ ranked CEO, or billionaire that hasn’t leveraged coaching in some form. Robert Kiyosaki, LeBron James, and even Warren Buffett have all had coaches and mentors.
If you are going to get into real estate, you have a choice: you can get a coach and become an all-star player, or you can be one of the tens of millions of others that no one remembers. So get a coach that will help bring out your best performance. Find one that specializes in your area of focus.
- Customer Service Rep
Even the solo real estate agent, investor, and startup founder needs a customer service rep. Customer service is critical today. Those that provide the best customer service keep winning and gaining market share. The type of personality which makes a great business leader isn’t always the best frontline customer service representative. Even if you have the graciousness for it, and love it, it isn’t the best use of your time. Excel at both growing your business and building customer loyalty with a good customer service rep.
- Content Creation Expert
Content is the make or break point for most real estate businesses. Poor content will sabotage everything else that is great. Great content can make up for a lot of other issues. An experienced real estate writer is key. For those watching their budgets; the right writer can also fill a variety of roles. A great content expert can take care of user experience, PR, social media content, blogging, real estate website text, and more. Even if you are an award winning writer, hiring someone to fill the position will free up time and ensure consistency.
- Transaction Coordinator
If you’ve already done a deal or two, or tried, you know how important transaction management is. Getting a deal from contract signing to funding still requires a small army. It takes multiple individuals at multiple companies. There are lenders, loan officers, underwriters, loan processors, title underwriters, title closers, Realtors, sellers and buyers, appraisers, insurance agents, and others. That’s for each deal in the pipeline. Trying to manage this alone is crazy. At least if you want to be adding more deals to the pipeline. It is crucial. But not the best use of your time. And it will burn you out. Hire someone to handle it. If you can’t afford the modest sum to outsource this role, then leverage others. Perhaps your Realtor, Realtor’s assistant, title company closer, or mortgage company processor can pick up a lot of the slack.
- Personal VA
Most real estate agents, investors, and CEOs now have virtual assistants. Many have multiple VAs. A personal VA is different to an office assistant. A virtual assistant many not be on the job 24/7. Unless you pay them to be. Some of the above roles are referred to as ‘virtual assistants’ by those hiring them. But these team members may be offended by this term. Especially if they are experts in their fields. A true ‘personal assistant’ may help with business needs. But they can help with personal ones too. In fact, having a dedicated personal helper is equally as valuable. Let them field all of those items which slow down your business progress. Let them handle researching and arranging your next vehicle purchase, vacation rental, flights, gifts, restaurant reservations, and more.
Success Tips
- Double up positions early where you can, then expand
- Empower them! For real!
- Micro-managing is worse than not hiring anyone
- But recognize remote contractors are not like in-house employees. They can take your efforts to the next level. But they typically do not thrive with the same treatment that is used to motivate low-level in-house 9-5 staff