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As we’ve discussed in some of our previous blog posts, the process of hiring and building out a team of rockstar real estate agents can be quite the undertaking. But what if you’ve already managed to recruit a killer team of agents who are enthusiastic, excited and ready to hit the ground running? The next step in your path to successfully growing your team is to train your new recruits in a way that ensures they are up to the tasks that are expected of them and that they are set up for success early. To do this, establish their performance expectations upfront in four easy steps.
1. Walk Through the State of the Business
The first step to effectively training and retaining your real estate team is to start by talking them through where you are today, or in other words, 
the state of the business. Real estate in and of itself is a notoriously unstructured industry. So start by clearly laying out your expectations for how you structure your day and how you expect your team members to manage their day to day responsibilities. In real estate, there are very few things that are set in stone, and real estate transactions certainly don’t happen the same way in every office, so it’s critical for you to set those expectations and parameters early. Make sure that you:
- Communicate your vision, your point of view on the state of the industry and the unique vision for your real estate business.
- Demonstrate the level of service you expect from your staff, your standards for interacting with clients and how you prefer for your team members to interact with their leads.
- Explain the unique value proposition that your team provides to its clients and ensure that your hires can articulate that value proposition to potential prospects.
- Outline the value gained from prospects working with your team versus other real estate teams.
- And finally… Reiterate your expectations when assessing new hire performance to ensure that everyone remains on the same page.
2. Bring New Hires up to Speed on the Home Buying/Selling Process
Another great place to start new hire training is by walking your new hires through each of the stages of the home buying/selling process and what that looks like visually to an actual homebuyer/seller. Because not everyone has gone through the actual process of purchasing a home (and those who have won’t necessarily remember everything that that the process entails), this is an excellent exercise for team members who are new to the real estate industry. If you can paint a picture of what the homebuying journey looks like for your leads, your agents will be more in touch with the overall client experience and therefore much more successful in setting appointments and helping you close more deals.
3. Be Mindful of the Technology Learning Curve
With mobile and digital platforms becoming the new normal for managing on-the-go communication, there’s no doubt that technology will continue to play a key role in the success of your real estate business. So it’s important to be mindful of the learning curve associated with bringing a new team member up to speed on your technology platforms. For instance, if you’re currently utilizing a marketing automation platform like a CRM to help your team manage your leads, you’ll want to have a plan in place to bring new team members up to speed on your platform. Aim to have your communication policy laid out by outlining best practices for successfully engaging with short and long term leads via your platform’s interface. Also outline your preferred appointment structure, offering examples. The type of training and oversight needed and the steepness of that learning curve will largely depend on the skill level of the agents themselves, so be ready to adjust as needed.
4. Make Training an Ongoing Priority
And finally, never subscribe to the notion that training is something that only happens at the beginning of a job rather than something that’s offered continually throughout the course of one’s career. As a leader of others, it’s important to stay continually committed to helping your people grow and develop their potential. And if you are using a real estate marketing automation software, you’ll need to ensure your team stays abreast of your software’s capabilities. A one-time software training isn’t sufficient for keeping your people current and up to date on new product features, systems and capabilities. It’s too easy to get comfortable with one technology and to find yourself behind on current features and capabilities. You can also try incentivizing your training in some way shape or form to motivate your folks to stay ahead of your competitors.
When all is said and done, your new hires will continue to learn as they sell and grow over time, but one of the biggest failures you can make when hiring a new recruit is failing to train them right off the bat. You can hire the person with the greatest potential in the world, but if you lack sufficient training, you’re failing to set the individual, and by extension yourself, up for long-term success. Follow these 4 easy steps, and you'll be well on your way to training and retaining top performing members of your real estate team!
Are you finding that it may be time to step up your real estate team’s training capabilities? Are you ready to build your real estate dream team? Download our FREE Team building playbook to help you:
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