Written by Adam Horth

Does every engineer at NASA have the ability to run the space program? Will every decorated soldier be given the opportunity to become a general? How about every outstanding coder within Google? Will Sundar Pichai (current CEO) eventually give them all, one by one, their chance to lead the company? 

The answer is, of course, no. Not because they lack the knowledge or commitment. Many, in fact, will have more than the required amount of passion for the role, but not everyone has the light of leadership within them. 

Real Estate, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same barriers to entry that NASA, the defence force, or public companies have. While not every great salesperson will be afforded the opportunity to lead their own real estate business, many will.

Salespeople across the industry eventually become leaders and owners of their own agency, some by promotion, others by a lack of choice. You might be one of them.

Many Real Estate Principals begin their careers working for someone else and, after a time, decide they want to do business differently. They see themselves being of service to sellers, buyers, landlords, and tenants in a way that their original agency wasn’t.

Eventually, they open their own agency and begin to build a team around themselves and their vision. Some go on to build a great business. For others, this is not the case. They don’t ever build the team or grow the business to where they originally envisaged.

The Mindset of a Leader

Yet where do some Principals go wrong, where others go right? When the purpose is clear and the desire is strong, why do some succeed while others struggle? What is that unforeseen obstacle one person conquers, and the other doesn’t?

It is simply because some salespeople become leaders, while others remain salespeople. There are many in real estate who, while holding the title of Principal, remain, in their hearts, salespeople. These individuals think and act like good salespeople.

Good salespeople thrive on results—specifically immediate results. Results give good salespeople a ‘high’. And it is precisely here where many go wrong. Rather than focusing and working on the management and leadership tasks that are necessary for success, they instead chase immediate results.

Put another way, these leaders focus primarily on today at the expense of tomorrow.

Patience and Foresight

Imagine you’re heading to a nursery with the aim to buy a shrub; you want to add some privacy to your backyard. You find the one you want, yet the landscaper working at the nursery explains it will take close to 5 years to grow into the size you need. “Five years – that long! How much for one that’s already 3 meters tall? I’ll have that one!”

You might be able to do this for shrubs. In fact, with the right resources, you can do this for many things in life, but not real estate. If you want to build a great real estate business, you can’t buy that. You have to work at it and wait for it. You need both patience and foresight.

Being the leader to build the business you desire is a balancing act. You have to ensure results today, while simultaneously laying the foundations for your future successes – tomorrow.

Today’s results might be listings and sales, yet tomorrow's are likely developing the salespeople who will eventually be responsible for those same listings and sales. 

Today’s results might include signing new business for your property management department; tomorrow's are developing the systems and procedures to deliver a quality service to your landlords and tenants.

An Example of Leadership

An example of this is Google reviews. Within The Smartre Management System, we advise leaders to place a large emphasis on collecting Google Reviews from happy buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants. 

A few glowing reviews won't likely sway a home seller, but by systemizing the collection of reviews from all clients, you will create a consistent stream of positive feedback bringing business your way.

Reviews of your agency are important, yet they’re not urgent. One review won’t make or break your business; 1000 great reviews will.

Sometimes a principal attends The Smartre Management Seminar and hears about the value of reviews. Upon leaving, they’ll often set a specific target for the number of reviews they want and go after it relentlessly. For a period.

Then, nothing happens. Nobody calls the office; the reviews are not mentioned by clients nor team members. These principals are not congratulated by peers within the industry. Their business isn’t immediately transformed. Put another way, there is no immediate result.

Here, the urgent overtakes the important. The principal (remember, a salesperson at heart) goes back to listing and selling and creating results. This search for today’s result at the expense of tomorrow’s is a genuine obstacle for real estate leaders.

What Should You Systemize?

When you become a leader, you must think like a leader rather than a salesperson. As onerous as some management tasks may be, applying yourself to ensure those tasks that lead to long-term success become permanent within your agency is a worthwhile pursuit of anybody serious about creating a successful and respected real estate agency.

Systemizing anything new into your business is a challenge. Maintaining focus on the new system when there are no immediate rewards is harder still. 

But hardest of all is the what and the how. What should you systemize, and how should you systemize it?

Smartre Training has done this last part for you. We’ve identified five essential elements for managing a real estate business, and each element has the systems and steps for implementation all laid out for you.

Our management seminar will show you how to identify the right elements for your business and teach you how to ignore the rest. Our method of implementation ensures you don’t lose focus on tomorrow while simultaneously maintaining results for today.

The Smartre Management System allows you to achieve both the urgent and important tasks of building a great business.

The next Smartre Management Seminar is being held in Melbourne, July 21st – 24th. Over these four days, amongst many other takeaways, you will learn what and how to implement the right systems for your agency. So that you can build the business you envisaged.

If you’d like more details on these sources and on attending this seminar, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.