ACCELERATOR

Chapter 6 contains further commentary on the hiring process that I recommend to agents in Chapter 5.  In the last chapter, we talked about the selection process; Chapter 6 talks more about organizing the human resources on your team.

This guidance flows from my experience with agents who view their support team as “Mini-Mes.”  This view causes the agent to think in terms of delegation instead of acceleration.  When an agent focuses on delegation, the goal is to take as many tasks off the agent’s desk as possible.  When an agent focuses on acceleration, the goal is to have the support team empower the agents to do more of what they do best.  There is a crucial difference in these viewpoints.

Here’s an example. A delegating agent wants the assistant to make copies, open files, coordinate documentation, and record notes in the CRM.  An accelerating agent wants the assistant to drive communication with the client, keep projects on schedule, manage the agent’s attention to prospecting and root out inefficient processes.

“Finder, minder, grinder.”  To me, this describes the fundamental skeletal structure of a high performing CRE team in the commission-only arena.  It boils down to seeing yourself as the finder – the person that must hunt down new business.  Another person on the team serves as the minder – the project manager responsible for executing the business that has been uncovered (the accelerator).  The grinder often provides invaluable support in marketing materials, data mining, underwriting, analysis and information technology.

Try these distinctions on for size.  Is your team divided into these roles?  Should it be?

One more thing: great minders usually cost a lot of money.  Many agents choke on this point. ($120,000! That’s $10,000 a month.  You’ve got to be kidding!”) Once you full implement the finder-minder-grinder philosophy, and abandon the delegation strategy, you’ll realize that the most accurate way to view the cost of the minder is this: how much additional time does that expense buy you as the finder?  What is the return on investment on that cost when viewed in the context of additional revenue that you can generate?  Isn’t paying a great minder really equivalent to betting on your performance as finder?

To receive a copy of the Revisited Edition of Thrive at the end of this 14-part series please click here.