Running a real estate brokerage or team is a full-time, 24/7 business. There’s so much going on:  transactions, agent questions, legal requirements, mortgage, title and other vendor relationships, technology changes, upgrades and challenges  and, of course, the constant need to put out fires. As a result, executives and team leaders are constantly distracted, distracting them from a focus on where they want their company to go and how to get there. Based on T3 Sixty’s work with hundreds and hundreds of real estate brokers and teams in the T3 Fellows growth accelerator program as well as one-on-one management consulting, we have uncovered 10 essential strategies that real estate leaders can apply that consistently get results. These are strategic, detailed strategies that help real estate leaders grow their companies. They are designed to fit the different business models, personalities and opportunities each real estate leader faces. Leaders in the program have applied these to generate startling growth. Read some of their stories here. We share the 10 proven growth strategies below that real estate leaders have repeatedly employed to meet and even exceed their growth goals. Keep in mind: Laying out these steps is easy, executing them, however, remains extremely difficult. The first step is awareness, then making a plan, then execution, then measurement and refinement. Assess your strengths and weaknesses Ask yourself the following questions: What does your company currently look like? Where do you have gaps? Where do you have advantages? What is missing, weak or flawed? To help find better answers, closely examine the following components of your business:

• Company profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet
• Support staff
• Marketing materials
• Brand
• Systems
• Website
• CRM
• Recruiting funnel
• Onboarding process
• Management team

If you are going to grow, you need to take a hard look at what you have, and determine where you’re strong, where your weak and your biggest needs for growth. You can’t do everything all at once, so it’s important to map what you have and then make a broader plan that will enable you to make a plan and priorities. Define your outcome Reflect on where you want your business to go. Ask yourself how you will get there and when you want to arrive. Too many real estate salespeople decide to build a company without a vision to build toward, or they fail to complete the necessary planning. You must know what you want and build the plan to get there to ensure you will arrive at your destination. This sounds straightforward, but it requires honest analysis and some perspective from others with experience. Set specific goals If and how you set goals will often determine whether you can make it to the finish line. Measure your progress by going beyond sales numbers. Include goals that cover other areas of your business such as: recruitment, individual agent production, marketing and public accomplishments. Know the competition If you are going to grow, you will need to not only know who your local competitors are and what they offer, but must really analyze them, and compare your business against them. You have to research them, analyze them, study them and understand them. Very few brokers do this. This, alone, will uncover insights that help you better compete. Agents who may join your company are almost certainly comparison shopping, and so should you. When you know your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can use this knowledge to build your company to be more capable of attracting the agents you want. Craft a unique, authentic pitch Create a quick, easy-to-understand and unique brand story that tells agents and consumers what you are all about. This is a competitive advantage in the sea of sameness that is real estate. Ditch the cut-and-paste marketing, and tell your team members and prospective recruits how and why you are different. Successful companies are built on a great story. Determine which of the 12 story archetypes your brand may be (it could be more than one), then craft a story that aligns with your particular mix. Know your recruits By creating recruiting personas, i.e. semi-fictional representations of your ideal agents, you can get a clear picture of the types of agents that will best fit your organization. This clarity will drive: marketing messaging; the recruiting funnel; positioning; the company’s agent offering.

Build a recruiting process Just like any sales process, you need a top, middle, and bottom of a sales funnel for recruits. Many real estate leaders are running a business with half or one-third of a funnel. Put the entire process in place and make it systematic, so you will always have a stream of potential recruits. We recommend these 10 steps in your recruiting process:

• Sourcing and prospecting
• The call
• Relationship-building meeting
• Follow-up
• Needs-analysis meeting
• Craft your offer
• Present your offer
• Closing
• Handling objections
• Onboarding

Create a system to generate business Agents want and value help grow their businesses. Design a way for your agents to find and win more business, so they can rely on your company to help them consistently bring in revenue. There are many ways to do this, including:

• Internet lead generation
• Sphere marketing programs
• Referral systems

Always have an answer for how you are helping agents make more money. Without this, ambitious agents are always at risk of leaving for greener pastures, and agents looking for help growing their business will pass you by. Hire great people Hiring is often one of the hardest yet most necessary elements of growing a business. If you invest time in hiring and developing a great leaders and staff, you can free yourself up to focus on more strategic activities such as recruiting and developing your agents. Great businesses are run by great staff, so build yours. Tell your story to the world Nobody will know about your company if you do not have a plan to get media exposure and public recognition. By developing media and PR relationships, winning awards and creating unique accomplishments, you can create awareness for both potential recruits and customers. It is a key step that many real estate leaders miss. Building a real estate company can be a lonely business. You can’t talk to peers in your market as they are your competitors, and you often need to solve problems you have not encountered before. Takeaway Building a strong company that creates strong, steady growth requires a consistent application of the core strategies we outline here. While they are simple, they are not easy. You can go through these steps yourself, lean on others you trust, or you can join the T3 Fellows program, which offers two classes each year. In the program T3 Sixty and a cohort of peers and mentors hold you accountable, which helps you achieve success and affect growth. More info at T3 Fellows or you can reach out to head of T3 Fellows Dean Cottrill at dean@t3sixty.com.