As a leader, there are three important things we must do. First, we have to cast the vision. Then we have to organize the team and resources effectively by providing clarity, focus and direction. Third, we have to remove roadblocks.
Casting the vision is always No. 1 because without that North Star guiding the organization, providing a framework for decision-making — as well as inspiration — growth and success are much slower and sometimes even nonexistent.
Vision is everything. It’s what attracts talent to your organization. It’s what inspires your team members to push through during tough times. It’s what bring customers to your company and keeps them coming back.
It’s the vision and story you tell about your company. However, that vision is nothing if it’s not backed up with value. Value is the implementation, the tangible result of the vision.
Training your team members to talk about the value of your team is twofold. First, you want them to be able to explain the value of working with your team to clients and customers. This is how they (and you) will win in this highly competitive real estate market.
Second, your current agents are often the best referral and recruiting source for new agents for the team. You want them to understand and be able to share the value of being an agent on your team rather than some other team in the market.
Understanding the value
The first step in training to speak to the value of you team is to make sure they understand it. I know this sounds pretty self-explanatory, but do your team members really know why they joined?
Was it because of a favorable split? Or because of the culture? The technology? The team’s reputation in the market? The marketing? Do they understand why clients choose your team? Is it the market? The experienced agents? A unique marketing program? A track record of success? Community and client events?
It’s imperative that your team members truly understand the value of the company they joined. Part of the reason agents join in the first place is to accelerate their growth and have the power of a team (which includes the value and brand, along with the systems, models, marketing, leads and more) behind them.
Just like the vision needs to be a part of every conversation that leaders have, so too does the value. Whether you are hosting a team meeting, conducting a monthly training or sending out a weekly email, make sure you are hitting on both the vision and the value.
The more your team sees this information front and center, the more they will start to incorporate it into their own conversations with clients and fellow agents. Training your team members to talk about the value starts with you.
Hosting training sessions
Another way to train your agents to speak about the value of your real estate team is to actually host weekly or monthly trainings about the topic. Again, so simple — but how often are we doing this?
We usually host all sorts of script practicing and sales training, but do those trainings include scripts for sharing the vision and value of you team? If not, get that added right away. The more your team can practice sharing the value, the more natural it will become, and it will simply be a part of their everyday conversations.
In addition to training on how to share the value with customers and clients, it’s just as important to host formal trainings for your agents on how to share the value of your team with other agents or potential business partners and vendors.
The easier you make it for your team members, the more likely they are to take the message and run with it. Listing, buyer and investor presentations should incorporate the value proposition and story of your team.
There is a lot of competition out there, so why should a customer choose your team? And I’m not talking about your team’s awards or stats here. That’s good data to have, but how valuable is that to your potential clients? Do the really care if your team is No. 1 in the state? Only if you can couple that stat with exactly how that will benefit them.
You need to showcase the unique way you will serve your clients to ensure they get the result they are looking for and have a great experience along the way.
Creating assets and recruiting presentations
In addition to client presentations, you can also create recruiting presentations for those agents who want to share the value of joining your team. Again, make it easy for your team members to just grab and go.
Another way our team does this is by creating a weekly social media digest full of graphics, talking points and helpful information that our team members can just take and post or send to clients or potential business partners to continue to share our story and engage with their sphere.
Every team is going to have a slightly different value proposition. Get clear on what your team’s value is, create assets that make it easy for your agents to tell the story and share that value, and make it part of your culture and every conversation.
Training your team to speak about the value of your real estate company will help the entire team grow faster — and that is good value for everyone.
Adam Hergenrother is the founder and CEO of Adam Hergenrother Companies, the author of The Founder & The Force Multiplier, and the host of the podcast, Business Meets Spirituality. Learn more about Adam’s holistic approach to business here.
