Real estate team leaders or team managers are one of the most challenging positions in the real estate industry.
Many take the leap in jumping from individual sales to becoming a team leader. Most of them without any understanding of what it means to become a leader or even ready to become a leader. As it may sound interesting to become a leader in real estate, many professionals underestimate the time, responsibilities, and skills it takes to transfer to this position.
We can tell you one thing a leader really needs to succeed in real estate. To become a successful team leader, you must REALLY WANT IT!
The “Let’s see’’ or “Let me give it try’’ mentality has never worked. EVER! So in order to succeed you need to really have the hunger in serving a group of people for their success, not yours.
Here are 6 things you need to know before becoming a real estate team leader or sales manager.
1.You must be willing to take accountability for everything.
If team members are not happy, the first reaction of good leaders in real estate is to ask “Why?” and “What can I do better?” Poor leaders react with anger at “them” for disagreeing with “us”.
It is about constantly looking at the ways you can improve communication and make your team members see the value of the team.
If you are not prepared to change (particularly in this period of rapid technological evolution), if the problems you encounter are always going to be someone else’s problems, you are not going to enjoy your role as a team leader.
You have absolutely got to approach each day thinking, How can I support my team members, agents, and company in the best possible way? What must I change to do this? Who do I need to become in order to be the best team leader?
You cannot become fixed in your ways, in thinking your ways are the only way. This will make you lose all the time.
2. Lead by example and set your own high standards
Your team copies your behaviour as a leader, no matter what. So upholding your own standards and making them the right ones is essential for good leaders.
If you are not consistent, structured and to the point, your members will copy that exact behaviour from you.
The best real estate managers and leaders will always model a positive self-image. It sets a positive example your team members will watch and aspire to replicate.
You can control your own mindset, the attitude you bring to work each day. That is something you, as a leader, can do. It is something you can control and its impact is enormous on those around you.
Emphasize a lot on habits, routine. and daily communication with your team. This way your team will duplicate, copy this and make it a standard.
3.You know how to track people towards high performance
Exceptional leaders check-in with their team members regularly. Not to boss them around, but to track their growth. Through this, you are able to support your team members in the best possible way.
In order to get your team to work towards high performance, you have to manage them in the following areas:
- Do they have the clarity in what is important?
- Are they managing their energy?
- Are they working productively?
- Is their focus on influencing their clients?
- Do they feel the necessity to win every day?
- Are they demonstrating enough courage?
Managing these 6 areas is not an easy thing unless you use strong tools to track your team.
Great team leaders track every team member every month. This helps you to see the strong points, weaknesses, and challenges.
4.The “Never Give Up” Mentality Shouldn’t Be Questionable.
If I have noticed one thing about great leaders is the fact that struggle and failure are fuels for their achievements. They are constantly mentally prepared for the struggle and downturns of their careers. What this means in real estate is that you will always:
Have people you would need to fire from your team! People that go against you in your team! Would get backfired by your team! Need to sacrifice for your team? And need to admit the mistakes you made to your team!
The last one (admitting a mistake) is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of authenticity. What this means is your team would see you make mistakes, they will make mistakes, and everyone will make mistakes.
The key is, how do you move on from the mistake, failure, or struggle.
Simple, it’s just part of the game and you honour it. You simply never give up and keep moving forward. You show your team it’s just part of the game.
5.Burn-out Leader Vs Burn Through Leader
My father used to tell me when I was very young, ‘’Son, if you want to become successful in life, you must work very hard.’’
Little did I know how much impact this would have on me. Throughout my twenties I worked harder than anyone else, resulting in going broke twice.
There is something about this ‘’working hard’’ mentality that doesn’t add up. Working hard equals success is simply not true. Otherwise, things would turn out for the better for many people, especially those that are hard working.
Later I realised the word ‘’hard’’ is not in correlation with time, amounts, or frequency. It simply refers to you being made of ‘’hard’’ stone. This means you have to be as solid as a rock. Stronger than a tornado and more powerful than the hulk. Why?
Because being a leader is both mentally and physically an exhausting adventure.
You need to be fit, smart, balanced and at times relentlessly selfish. You need to be able to burn through walls, cross overseas and chop down trees to make things happen.
6.Always Get The Front Row Seat As A Leader
You must be thinking, what does the front row seat have anything to do with being a leader. Well, it simply refers to the fact that you as a leader always need to be first.
If a market changes, you need to adapt first. If a new technology comes on, you need to be the first to try. If you want to target a new geographical area with your team, you are the first to do the research.
As a leader, you want to make sure to be innovative and a trendsetter for the rest of the industry. Many people will join you for this reason. This way you will always be able to cover the following:
- Adapting to change
- Ensuring growth
- Evolving with your market
- Remaining relevant in your market.
All these things you as a leader must be focussed on daily.
The real estate industry is rapidly changing. We see the millennial generation as vastly different from the Baby Boomers. If you as a real estate leader are not evolving with that market (seeing their needs as they do and giving them what they expect, which is rapid responses because they will not wait for you) and do not actively deliver, you will become irrelevant.
In closing, I would like to give you one more piece of advice. Be YOU-nique as a leader. Just be yourself and don’t copy others. You can learn from others, steal (read:copy) ideas from others, but the best thing you can give to your team is your YOU-nique personality. That’s the most powerful weapon you have as a leader.
