Episode 30 - Leadership qualities needed to build a team or brokerage

**Podcast Transcription Summary: Episode 30**

**Introduction:**
- **Host:** Bob Mangold, The Listing Coach
- **Podcast:** "If You List, You Last" 
- **Episode Number:** 30
- **Opening Remarks:** Thanks for listening, sharing, and downloading.

**Main Topics:**
1. **Business Foundation:**
   - **Discussion:** Setting the foundation for the business you want, not what the market dictates.
   - **Question:** Have you done your planning?
   - **Example:** Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger spend 80% of their day thinking.

2. **Mind Mapping and Future Plans:**
   - **Personal Insight:** Created a mind map for the Certified Real Estate Asset Advisor program.
   - **Upcoming Event:** Review of the mind map on a Facebook live stream.
   - **Facebook Group:** Real Estate Asset Advisor.

3. **Leadership Skills:**
   - **Topic:** Characteristics and skills needed to build and run a team or brokerage.
   - **Options for Income:** Run a team, build a brokerage, or use models like EXP.

4. **Mortgage Market Update:**
   - **Key Reports:** Case Shiller Home Price Index and FHFA Price Index.
   - **Discussion:** Home prices rising and the importance of understanding adjusted vs. non-adjusted numbers.
   - **Interest Rates:** Current rates are average historically, but there’s potential for slight relief.

**10 Laws of Being a Team Leader:**
1. **Own Your Process:** 
   - Importance of having a clear, owned process in your business.
   
2. **Lead and Split Attraction:**
   - Focus on a platform that supports business growth, not just splits and leads.

3. **Daily Database Inspection:**
   - Regularly review and ensure proper follow-up on leads.

4. **Model Behavior:**
   - What you do matters more than what you say.

5. **Meet Agents Where They Are:**
   - Support agents based on their individual needs and goals.

6. **Vision vs. Scarcity Mindset:**
   - Do not let scarcity-minded individuals dictate your vision.

7. **Performance Accountability:**
   - Short-term non-performance is on the agent; long-term is on the leader.

8. **Recruitment Honesty:**
   - Clear job expectations upfront to avoid future problems.

9. **Recognize Individual Differences:**
   - Understand that agents have different strengths and capabilities.

10. **Accountability Without Judgment:**
    - Maintain accountability while being supportive and non-judgmental.

- **Event Reminder:** Bi-weekly Elevate Business Briefings every other Wednesday at 1 PM Eastern.
- **Resource:** Download the book at ifyoulistyoulast.com for more detailed information on the Home Boss process.
- **Closing Remarks:** Thanks for listening and remember, if you list, you last. See you next week!

Join our Facebook Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/realestateassetadvisors

Visit our website to watch replays of our Wednesday "Elevate Business Briefings" at: www.RealEstateAssetAdvisors.org

Download a copy of my book, "If you list, you last!" at www.IfYouListYouLast.com

Transcript

  Hey, fellow listing agents, Bob Mangold, the listing coach here with episode number 30 of the, if you list, you last PO of the, if you list you last podcast. Now. As always, thanks for listening, sharing, and downloading. Now, over the last few weeks I've talked a lot about setting the foundation for your business to actually develop the business that you want, not the business that your company or the market dictates to you.

So here's my question for you. Have you done any of the planning yet? Have you sat down, thought about it, and put your ideas to paper? Now, a few years ago, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were both interviewed and they were asked, what do you spend the majority of your time on each day?  And their answer was  pretty eye opening to me.

And it was, we spend about 80 percent of our day Thinking, thinking. So folks, if you're not planning this out and you're not designing your business and your life.  It will get designed for you by the market, by others, but,  or maybe you won't have any business at all. So why not take control of that and spend a little bit of time?

Now, over the weekend, I actually created a mind map of what this process looks like. I put it down on paper and I'm working on it for a certified real estate asset advisor program. So be on the lookout in the next few weeks. I'll be reviewing it in an upcoming Facebook live stream. So make sure you join our real estate asset advisor, Facebook group.

So you can join in on the conversation or maybe share your thoughts or comments or questions on any of the topics I discuss here. This week what I want to do is talk about the characteristics and leadership skills needed to build and run a team or a brokerage. We hear that all the time. Hey, I want to start having income coming in from Me not necessarily doing all the closings.

That's great. There's only two ways to do that. You run a team or you build a brokerage or you do something like it, the EXP model where you build a brokerage inside of a brokerage. But no matter what folks, if you want to take and get paid, even though you're not the only one doing all the work.

Those are your options. So let's get started. So let's jump into this week's mortgage market update. Last week quite a few things happened and some of the information that came out that I want to share with you today. So the Case Shiller Home Price Index and the FHFA Price Index both came out. Now let me just give you a little bit of a background on that.

The home prices continue to gain the case Schiller home price index, which is really the gold standard for appreciation, showed that home prices rose three tenths of a percent in March. rising to another all time high. Now the three tenths of a percent gain is the seasonally adjusted number, which takes into account the typical stronger appreciation seen during this time of the year.

The non seasonally adjusted, which is really the figure that I like to work with, rose 1. 3 percent. In the month of June. And the reason I like the non seasonally adjusted is just tell us what the numbers are. Why do we need you to make any adjustments? Just tell us what they are for that month. And that's what they are.

But when you start doing adjustments that's where you get into making the numbers. Look how you want the numbers to look now. Case Schiller is not a government agency, so they don't really have anything in it in that manner.  And they are considered the gold standard. But why not just give us the numbers the way they are.

We don't need you to adjust them. Whatever they are. Now prices are up six and a half percent year over year, which is unchanged from the previous report. This is just another strong report showing that buying a home still proves to be one of the best investments. Now the FHFA housing price index, which is different.

So the  FHFA numbers only does conforming loan buyers. If somebody paid cash or used a government loan, then these are not included in the sales. Why? I guess it gives the government more room to play around with things. So basically, Case Shiller is all cash. Any type of loan doesn't matter. All purchases.

FHFA is only a conventional loan. Period.  And so again, don't necessarily love their number as much because well, it excludes cash and government loans. Government loans are about 35 percent of all closings right now. Why would you not include those? So based on that, the seasonally adjusted average again, seasonally adjusted was up one 10th of 1 percent or 6.

7 year over year. Now that dropped from 7%.  Why? Again, you're not counting all of the homes. When you do the non seasonally adjusted case shiller, it's six and a half percent year over year. So you can see the numbers are still fairly close. But we need to understand why those numbers are different, right?

So they only measure the single family on conforming loan amounts and the numbers change because you don't have all the government loans in there. Make sense? Now, a couple other things. The monthly housing price index. If you go back  32 years, back to 1991, we keep hearing, Oh my gosh,  we're never going to be able to get caught up.

This prices are going up and it's not affordable. Folks, if you actually follow that graph through and you look at the price of the home compared to the economic numbers and salary and all those other things, it's a little bit higher now, make no mistake, but  it's not anything that's out of the norm.

What was out of the norm was 3 percent interest rates. That was outside of the norm. The problem is that the government left it in place for so long  that it actually became the norm. And then when we went from three to five or five, five to six, now there's all this economic panic when in reality interest rates are where this, the 60 year average is at.

Right now. So what I would tell you is we're in an average interest rate market.  We're in a strong price appreciation market. So therefore it still makes sense to buy a home. Now you're seeing inventory creep up a little bit, but still nothing significant. So as I sit here today, I can tell you. I think you'll see a little bit of relief in the mortgage interest rates over the next, say, 30 days or so.

And then we'll see what happens through the course of the year. You're starting to see economic numbers slow down, and the Jolt report came out, and that was lighter than normal. So you're starting to see job losses coming into place. I know it sounds terrible, but the Fed is waiting for People to lose jobs and the economy to tank before they do anything to adjust the Fed funds rates.

And again, that does not affect mortgage rates.  It does affect things like car loans, credit cards and things like that. But it does impact the 10 year treasury and the mortgage backed security markets in a psychological manner. So I think towards the end of the year, the way the economy is looking like it's going right now.

Yeah, maybe towards the end of the year, they might do something. But again, they really are locked in that they can't do anything. Say maybe after the September time period, even if they did it before September, people are going to accuse them of electioneering and throwing the, the election and doing things to favor the Democrats and things like that.

So it's no matter what they do, they're going to be screwed and people are going to yell at them. So the best thing to do is do nothing, right? But I do think you'll see some moderation. Again. Team, if we see interest rates into 3%, I don't think it's going to be in my lifetime again. If it does happen, great.

But I don't see that. With that, let's get into what I want to talk about today. Which is 12 Laws of Being a Team Leader.  Because I hear this a lot. It's Bob, I want to build a team, or I want to become a broker. I want to start my own company. Things like that. If you do, I know everybody thinks it's easier, right?

At one point, I own two exit franchises, a mortgage company and a software company.  Leading companies is not easy, whether it's a brokerage or a team. There are things that you have to do to be able to take and lead a group of people.  So rule number one,  is always own a process in your business, right? You heard me over the last few weeks talk about what's your process.

As I talk about listings, that's what we talk about. Here's our process for listing and selling a home. Everything is about a process.  So for me, I told you I was working on that mind map this week for a whole business referral network, which I've put together for agents who are afraid of cold calling.

It's a process. And you have to own the process. It has to be you. You have to believe in it. Because here's what you'll find, folks. You'll have employees or managers that will tell you, no, I don't like it, or no, that won't work, or whatever it is. If you're not in control of your process, then you're going to get disconnected and become out of touch. 

When in reality, if you knew what was the right thing to do, then make it the right thing to do and always make it the right thing to do. So like when I work with agents on a listing process, I don't say, Hey, you can vary it. You could say this, or you could do that, or you don't have to do this.  I know what works and I know what works for literally hundreds of other agents.

So do this. Now that doesn't mean you can't say things in your own personality. But we have a process, the way we price a property, the way we schedule for open houses, the way we do open houses, what we talk about at open houses. We have a process and that's what we leave in place because we know that works.

The other thing, when you're, or item number two is what I should say. If they come to your team or your brokerage for the splits in the leads,  they leave for the splits in the leads. So if you think saying, hey, I'm going to give you all these leads, Guys, leads are leads. They're not good or they're not bad.

Most agents, you just need to be fully aware that they won't follow up on the leads. Or if they do, they call one time. I got a no answer. I left a voicemail. I'm waiting for him to call me back. That's not how it works. The quality of the leads are always going to be the same quality of the leads.

Right, Facebook home value ads. They convert a little bit less than 1%. The end. Guys, that's never really going to change. The question is, what's your follow up process?  And if you start promising people, Oh no, I have the greatest leads on the planet. And they don't turn out to be that, folks.

Then they're going to leave for somebody else, who's going to make the same promise to them. And they just keep hopping around. Go on your state department of real estate and look at how long people stay at brokerages. And in my experience, what I found, it's about three years. Is about the most they see people stick around.

Now, obviously there's exceptions to that. People have been with companies for 20 or 30 years, but if you go in and look at the majority of agents, they're moving around every two to three years, every two to three years. So if you attracted them with leads and you gave them really good splits, the minute somebody else gives them a little bit better split, they're gone.

What you need to do is recruit to the best platform. that allows an agent to build their business. Make sense? It's not about the splits and it's not about the leads. It's about where do we foster  an environment and have a platform that allows you to build a business that allows you to take and generate a great living, build a lifestyle, and put something in place where the  income is there, right?

The business repeats over and over again that referral side of your business.  If you can teach an agent that they're gonna stick around for a lot longer. Number three, inspect your database daily.  So about five years ago, I had one of my coaching clients come to me and said, Hey what else can I do for leads?

My agents are really busting my butt to, to go and get more leads. And I said, why?  And he said the leads that we're getting, nothing's coming of 'em. It's like, all right, cool. So here's what I want you to do. We're not gonna do anything to help you increase your lead flow. We're gonna go back. And I want you to inspect your database  and I want you to take a look at how many times they've called, when they've called  and what they're doing to follow up with them.

Because here's what I'll promise you. They may have called them once, left a voicemail, then started sending them emails and that's all they've ever done. Folks, that's not enough to do it. People have to be talking to people. You have a database wherever you got that database from. They could be leads, it could be past clients, it could be any of those things.

But if your people are not talking to the people in those databases daily, you just won't have a successful business.  And really guys, that's true of a real estate business. You don't have to be a team leader or brokerage to do it. My thing is if you're not talking to 10 potential sellers, or people who can refer me to sellers every day, you don't really have a business.

Now, we talked over the last couple weeks, like, how do you talk to what if you don't simply will net pick up a phone, great. Then you gotta go door knock. Or you gotta, you just gotta do something to meet with them and be able to talk to 'em. The real estate business is a talking business. So if you, as the leader is not going through that database, Hey, how many leads did we get yesterday?

What happened with them? Why wasn't this one called? Why weren't these? Why weren't they done? Your job as the leader is to inspect that database daily and make sure that the processes and systems you have were done. Because when it was all said and done, when I had my coaching client come back and say, Oh my God, I didn't do that.

We went back through and we found and I don't remember the number, so call it 25 deals and see you found those without having to have additional, lead flow. Here's the thing folks, if you have a brokerage or a team and you're promising leagues. All they want to do is get the lead. If they pick up the phone and they call and somebody answers and said, Oh, thank God you called.

I'm ready to buy a house today, or I'm ready to sell my house today.  They're thrilled with that. Problem is that rarely ever happens. And then what happens is the simple answer is all right I don't want to call him. They told me they weren't interested right now. So I don't want to do anything with them.

Just get me more leads. Not how it works. So inspect that database daily. Number four, what you model is everything.  What you say is nothing. You can talk till you're blue in the face, folks. People watch what you do, just like when your kids were little kids. They watch what you do. They don't necessarily listen to you.

What's your tone of voice? How do you talk to people? How do you react when things don't go your way? They're not listening to what you're saying. They're watching how you handle it. It's true in business too. So you need to always remember you have to be the role model, like it or not.

If you said, Hey, I want to build a team or I want to want to have a brokerage, then you accepted that responsibility. So model it. Number five, meet your agents where they're at.  Some will want more time, some will want more money, but you just need to figure out where they're at and support them accordingly.

So don't spend, people who they go, Hey, I make a decent living. I'm cool. I don't want to make 500, 000 a year. I'm making 200. I'm really happy. Don't spend ungodly amount of hours trying to train them to get more money and harping on them about more money when what they're really looking for is a more balanced lifestyle.

Makes sense. As long as they're doing their job  and they're happy with the money that you're making or that they're making, and you're happy with the money that you're making.  Be happy. Support and encourage them from that standpoint.  Okay.  Number six, leaders that allow their vision to be held hostage by scarcity minded individuals  are not true leaders.

Meaning, hey, I have a process  and then I have all these people come in and say, oh my gosh, that'll never work. And I've tried that before. And I don't know. Folks, that's not a leader. They're followers. And the reality of it is they're not going to be in your organization six months from now anyway. So don't sacrifice your vision for them.

Scarcity minded people, negative people, confrontational people. They are a cancer to your business. They may be perfectly fine people, but they are a cancer to your business. And at the end of the day, you're the person.  that's in control of that, not them. And if you allow that to happen, then you're really not a leader.

You're just a follower. You're probably just in it for the money, to be honest with you. So  don't tolerate those things. Number seven, if a team member isn't performing for performing well for a week or two, and let's make the assumption of course, that you've given them the tools and guidance and coaching.

If they didn't do it for a week or two, it's their fault. If they haven't been performing the standard for an extended period of time, it's your fault. You allowed it. Period. What's an extended time? I get that question quite a bit. What's an extended period of time?  Folks, you know within 30 days of people are going to do what they're supposed to do.

Do they show up on time? Do they show up? Are they enthusiastic? Are they looking for coaching?  All that. If they're giving you excuses, oh this person said that and that person said that and you know I just got a little bit down and then I didn't do that right and everybody's natural reaction is oh let me just coach him up, yeah don't worry hang in there.

Hey you can do that a little bit in the beginning but if it becomes a day to day thing they're not the right person for your organization. Do the right thing for you and the rest of your group, the rest of your team, the rest of your brokerage and do the right thing and get them out of your culture.  I know it sounds harsh, but it's true.

Number eight. Every problem that you have with your agent  has roots in how you recruited them. What did you promise? What did you say? Were you honest with them? So for example, I have job descriptions for agents. When I sit down with them, this is what I expect you to do. This is your job. I'm upfront with them.

I'm friendly. I'm personal. This is what the level of expectation is going to be.  And then you have to meet this. I would rather have the conversation with right with you right now, today, tell you what's expected, put it in writing for you. I'm going to have you sign it. So you can never say, Oh, Bob, I didn't know that.

Cause no, I'm going to have you sign it because I want you to understand what the level of expectation is  for my group. I want every one of my agents to be successful. And one of the ways that I do that is to create an environment Where I've got a group of agents who are excited about being successful and making more money and building a real estate business and career.

If that's really not what you're looking for, then this is probably not the right group, company, whatever. It's okay to say that folks. If the person you're recruiting has the right to say no to you, don't you have the right to say no to them?

Number nine, they are not you.  This is the hardest thing for depersonalities like me. You just think everybody can do it. Oh, so easily and effortlessly. It's not, they're not you. So think back, think of it this way, guys. Why isn't Michael Jordan a hall of fame coach? Why isn't Magic Johnson a Hall of Fame coach?

Larry Bird. Larry Bird was actually a pretty good coach. Why aren't they? And the reason is because they have a hard time envisioning like, why can't people do what I used to be able to do? And the real answer is because there was only one Michael Jordan. There was only one Magic Johnson. There was only one Kobe.

They're not you. Your job is to help figure out what they can become. So I've done these podcasts the last couple of weeks on, Hey, what happens if you just can't bring yourself to cold calling, does it mean you can't be successful in as an agent? No, that doesn't mean that just means our responsibility as a leader is to present other options where they can find something that is in their comfort zone, if you will, that they can commit to going out and doing, because if they do, I have a model form.

I have a map for them. I have a checklist for them. I can tell them I have a time block schedule that they can follow. But just because you are amazing at just sitting there beating the phones for three or four hours a day doesn't mean others are going to be like that. And you have to make  or take accounting for that or take it into account because they're just not you.

Again, remember, find out where they're at and then help them do that. And then finally, number 10, accountability without judgment  is what separates the wannabes from the pros.  Guys, you can have accountability, you just don't have to be judgmental or mean. Hey, you haven't been making these calls, you haven't been outdoor knocking, whatever it is, you haven't been doing this, you suck.

That's accountability with judgment. That's what that sounds like. Accountability is without judgment is  tell me why you're not hitting these numbers. Tell me why you're not doing these things. And then if they don't have good answers or you don't think that they can do it. Folks, then it's time to make that decision and do what's right for everybody.

Folks, if they're not doing what you want them to do, they're probably not very happy anyway. So now they're miserable and you don't want misery around you, right? Help them go figure out what it is that they want to do and let them go and do that. But you need to have accountability. You just can't be judgmental about it, right?

You want to put some milestones. Hey, you're not really hitting this. Let's take and put this over the next 30 days. Next week, this is what you have to hit next. The following week, you have to do this, et cetera, et cetera. And then if they can't do it, then that's just a different discussion that you have to have. 

So the reason I felt this was important is that leading people is not easy having a brokerage. I've had a team. I've had a brokerage. I've done it myself.  And I have a large group that I'm not actually like their broker, but I can lead them. It's not easy folks. So I thought it was important to have that conversation and give you, laws that really make sense to help you out.

Okay. So with that, don't forget, jump on our bi weekly Elevate Business Briefings every other Wednesday, 1 p. m. Eastern time. And if you want more detailed information on the Home Boss process, how we use it, how we list, what our process sounds like, You can go download the book at if you list you last. com  and folks, that's it for this show.

We'll talk to you next week. And remember if you list you last talk to you next week.