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Posted by Bob Albanese
“Rule #13 - When put in charge…take charge”
One thing that agents want to have is a decisive leader. Yes, they want us to hear ‘both sides of the story’ and we must be always be good listeners, but when all is said and done a decision must be sometimes be made solely by the leader. This is what General Norman Schwarzkopf calls Rule #13…”When put in charge, take charge.”
Premise: Let your goal be for your agents to become independent of you and, ironically, they will rarely leave you
In short, Isaac Newton was right… “Every action” does have “an equal and opposite reaction.” The thing that Newton did not fully explain to us in his writings though, is that this principle also applies to many aspects of human behavior. I call this “The Law of Opposites.”
One of your main objectives as a leader should be to develop the skills of your team members to the point where they become highly knowledgeable and potentially ‘independent’ of you. In other words, help them to think like business people and to become self-sufficient, highly competent professionals. This may sound wrong or backwards to some real estate leaders because they believe that this degree of knowledge will cause agents to leave them. However, please stop for a moment and just think about it.
As leaders, we hold a very formidable position in directing our people’s professional lives. Leaders exert great influence over and impact the success or failure of their sales agents and staff whether acting as a CEO, a branch office leader, or any other position whereby we touch business lives. It took me five or six years of running a real estate operation to fully understand the degree to which I represented the voice of influence to my sale agents.
This realization is the beginning of true growth in leadership skills. In other words, if you believe that you will influence the outcome of individual business lives, then you will. Conversely, if you lack belief that you can influence outcomes, then get some coaching on that issue first, before attempting to implement change.
One thing that I do every day is to make sure I am working on building relationships. Real estate is a people-intensive business and could easily be argued that we are actually the business of fostering‘relationships’, as opposed to managing‘transactions.’ As a result, the most critical activity for real estate sales associates, managers and owners alike, is to strengthen their relationships. This applies to both business and personal contacts and needs to be worked on a daily basis. Whether prospecting for buyers, sellers, hiring a top producer, or zeroing in on an M&A opportunity, effective relationship-building is the key to continued success.
Before going any further, it is important to draw a distinction between good relationship building and what is commonly referred to as ‘networking.’I would submit that networking,as it is now practiced,is a passé concept. The implications surrounding some networking techniques almost defeat the purposes for which they were designed. Terms such as ‘speed networking’ and other similarly impersonal ideas almost offend the senses. Stop and ask yourself… how can anyone build a relationship while moving at warp-speed? I always remind myself that the most important thing one person can give to another is their time and thoughtful attention. This is where quality relationships are born.
Whether speaking about a sales person, a manager or a company leader, the ability to embrace change is the primary personality trait for those individuals who maintain a ‘hip’ and progressive persona in our business. This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, but remains something that is easier said than done. The successful agent understands that as customer needs and wants evolve, so must our business vocabulary. Even more, the most successful agents that I have met actually learn to enjoy the changing business environment.
Just take a moment and consider all of the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years alone. In 1998, many agents did not have presentable Web sites or even effectively used e-mail as a communication tool. As time passed however, sales professionals learned to use technology in building and managing their businesses and navigated the advent of VOWs and IDX solutions. Brokers and agents have witnessed the transformation of marketing and advertising from sole focus on newspapers to a primary focus on Internet environments, as well as countless other key changes too numerous to mention here. Now, prospecting and social networking are coming together as building blocks to enlarge an agent’s sphere of influence.
Posted By Bob Albanese
In this time of almost apocalyptic change on the consumer side of our business, evolution must also continue in the area of business consulting and service support from a B2B perspective. It seems to me that the very word “consulting” is being associated with a more generalist type of role rather than one of a serious business-development function. Innovation in producing creative financial reporting structures, business analytics, menus of strategic services, and competitive analyses is needed in order to help real estate brokerages thrive and expand their each.
Over the past nine years, I have been in the enviable position of having conversations with principals from many real estate organizations across the United States and Canada. Meetings would often lead to points regarding the support required in order to remain competitive through market changes. The results of those conversations can be summed up in the following four key observations: Read the rest of this entry »
Hello everyone,
My name is Bob Albanese and I will be a regular blog contributor. I have been in the real estate industry for 22 years and have seen this industry from every vantage point. Whether as a top regional salesperson (1986-1990), award-winning Broker/Manager (three locations, 1990-1999) for Weichert Realtors or as Director (1999-2006) and later Vice President (2006-2008) for The Prudential Real Estate Business Consulting Team, real estate has been my singular focus.
I joined the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate team on April 24th, 2008, and the pace has been fast and furious ever since, which is exactly how I like it to be. Many things about launching this new iteration of the brand inspire me, but I think that the most fascinating aspect of this endeavor is the ability to at once re-launch such a well-respected brand name, while at the same time having the ability to align that brand with today’s sensibilities and critical 21st century business requirements. The brand’s effort is unique in this respect and I believe that time will prove our new model to be perfectly suited for ongoing success in our industry.
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