How did you start a Realtor team?

Question

I am a fairly new real estate agent who is still learning the ropes. One of the agents in my office who signed up the day after i did has really clicked with me and we talk a lot and actually realistically help one another. The real difference between us is he is more of a phone person than i am due to his past experience working in health insurance for many years and i have been spending most of my week knocking doors in my new farm area for listings and leads.

Today we grabbed dinner together and kinda got on the subject of teams since the vast majority of the office we work at is all on one single team, like 41 agents on the same team under 1 veteran agent. We were just brainstorming on how we would be able to work things out if we signed up and worked together as a team. I was just curious what input you guys would throw in the pot.. we were thinking of maybe doing a split 50/50, just unsure how we gauge it if one brings in more business over the other.

Keith Hancock · Answer

We were actually supposed to have a class on this but it was cancelled. Check out Gary Keller's team break down on YouTube. His seem to make the most sense. I think are several other agent in the office that may also be interested in forming a team.

William Huston · Answer

what about this idea, 60% to lead generator and 40% to the partner, then split all marketing 50/50

Jeff Copeland · Answer

In addition to the commission split, you need to decide how you will split expenses - particularly marketing. I think one of the biggest advantages of a team is being able to invest more in marketing. Beyond a certain critical, mass, the gains are exponential.

For example:

Say you, as an individual, can only spend $100/mo on marketing in a given zip code, you might get one lead per month, which leads to one new listing or sale per year (assuming an 8% conversion rate).

Now, say you team up with two other people, and start spending $500/mo*, which leads to 8 leads per month.  Using that same conversion rate of 8%, your team has now generated 96 leads and 8 new transactions - an 800% increase over the lone wolf tactics, and 2.66 times as much new business for each individual.

(*The marketing costs, and the commission splits, don't necessarily have to be split equaly between all team members...the trick is to make it a win-win).

These numbers are plucked from thin air, but these are the types of things you'll want to keep track of to see if the ROI is there.

Finally, the hidden prize is the fact that transactions lead to more transactions. Every one of these transactions you generate through marketing should eventually lead to one or two more through referrals and just general exposure to your market, and that part is largely free of charge.

Dennis Seeman · Answer

I am been researching teams as well and you have hit the biggest issue or drawback that I have come across----who owns the client and how is commission split.  I think it is important to have clearly defined roles on the team and to acknowledge that each person is responsible for contributing their share and doing their part to keep the team prosperous for all members.  It seems inevitable that at some point, one or more of the team members will feel that they are doing more for the team than the other members.  It is important that the team members feel that they have an obligation to discuss these feelings before they become detrimental to the team.  Team building exercises seem to be an effective way of building the team as they move through their various stages of forming, storming, norming and performing ((https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm).