ERA Real Estate President Alex Vidal writes that agents are the real heroes in real estate. Leaders need to understand this and support them if they want to achieve better results.
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I remember my first day in real estate as an office assistant. At the time, I was looking for a job and had no idea it would lead to a 26-year career in the industry and the role I have today.
I know nothing. Thankfully, my boss is not one to give orders. Instead, he was very good at explaining things. He recognized my skills and sensed my drive to learn and take on more responsibility. He makes me thrive. Within a year, at age 20, I was the company’s lead recruiter.
This happened because my boss recognized the power of leading as a coach rather than as a manager. That’s the difference. I think managers leaders tell people what they need to do. They tell the team, “Do this, do this, do this.”
I have never enjoyed this type of leadership. I believe the best leaders act as coaches, build trust and help guide their teams to self-discovery and accomplish what they need to do. This is especially important in the real estate industry because you are dealing with many job functions, skills, personalities, and motivations.
I am a leader who is in the trenches with my team. Almost every day, I visit our broker owners and agents on a plane. I am indeed one of them.
My job is to lead and do what I can, what our team can do, and what broker owners can do to make agents’ lives easier and help them make more money. Once we did that, things slowly started to happen. This philosophy allows me to continue to coach and model how our employees support affiliates and agents.
Over the years, many agent owners, office managers, and team leaders have asked me how to easily become a coach, not just a boss or leader. Here are some tips that helped me build my career.
Are they ready to be coached?
Start by finding out if anyone wants to be mentored. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be coached or who truly wants to improve. And if someone on your team doesn’t want to be coached and they’re not performing well, you have to coach them rather than coach them.
The second step in coaching is to gain experience. You must have sat in their seats before. You have to understand what they do. For me, having sold real estate and served in various roles throughout my career, I had the experience and credibility.
I will also give step 2A. As a coach, you have to have passion. You have to have energy. The people you mentor will thrive as a result.
The third tip is often ignored by managers. It’s important to build relationships with the people you coach so that they feel valued, heard, and understood. This includes the simple steps of putting away your phone and looking them in the eye when you talk to them. Ask lots of questions. Repeat their responses to make the other person feel that you are involved, heard, and listened to.
find out the reason
Find out what that person’s “why” is. What drives them? What motivates them to do their jobs well? Go deeper than financial motivations. We all want and need money.
Try to understand the “why” of their emotions. Once you know this, it becomes easier to motivate them, especially on the more challenging days when you may have to remind them why they are in real estate.
I recently had an example where an agent raised her hand at an event at our firm and said her motivation was to make enough money to take her adult children and their families to Europe for the summer.
We worked together and I helped her realize that the amount she needed to reach to make that trip happen wasn’t the right fit for her. She needed a more emotional reason. She beamed when she thought about the joy she had had during lunch with her daughter in Athens. Or her daughter thanked her for bringing the family to Europe.
She would be driven by these thoughts, just like how excited her grandson would be walking through the arena, imagining lions and gladiators competing, because that’s what kids do. This will cause her to get out of bed at a reluctant time in the morning.
Stack wins
People like to win and feel good. As a manager, you want our team members to see success. They don’t need a home run. Help them get single. Stack those singles. When this happens, your credibility as a coach increases, and as you build confidence, they will trust you more and more, allowing you to ask for more.
For example, many agents have difficulty reaching their sphere of influence. They feel embarrassed or don’t know what to say. When they receive guidance, they feel more confident in making decisions. They have good calls and good conversations. Their confidence grew and a listing agreement was finally reached. This is stacking.
My top advice is simple: it’s not about you. It’s about them. Share their wins and tout them, but don’t toot your own horn. You are not the hero; your agent is.
Alex Vidal is President of ERA Real Estate.
