The #1 Job of a Real Estate Leader

This is the #1 job of a Real estate leader. Success or failure depends on this one thing.

As THE leader in your real estate team or brokerage, your first job is clarity. YOU are the one who must decide what needs to be done. If you are not crystal clear on this, whether it’s the short or long-term vision for the business, how can you possibly expect anyone else working with you will be? It’s no secret! The bottleneck is always at the top. You must be able to effectively transfer your vision to everyone else who makes up the rest of the bottle.

Let’s get really clear on clarity! Clarity is not just having great communication skills, it’s knowing the core reasons of your business objectives. In other words, it’s knowing your WHY and making sure that everyone in the business knows it too. I’m going to lay down 8 very important WHY questions to get you and your business in the right frame of mind.

This is your homework. Set aside an hour of undisturbed time to think deeply about each question. Use these questions to refresh your frame of mind on clarity and if there’s confusion or uncertainty, it’s YOUR FAULT.

You’ll be amazed how this exercise will provide clarity, passion, and purpose to all departments in your real estate team!

1. Why did you choose the path of being a leader or entrepreneur and why are you particularly in the real estate business? What’s your clear ‘purpose’? An 11-year survey of 207 companies showed that businesses committed to a clear purpose averaged 571% higher gains in earnings!
2. Why are you located where you are? Is it to optimize growth or lifestyle or did it just happen and you never questioned it? Are you operating in the right part of ‘town’? Are you in the right city, the right state or province, the right country?
3. Why do you have the business model you have? Will it be relevant in tomorrow’s ever changing and increasingly competitive landscape? Are there current trends that point towards a different future that could disrupt how your real estate business may operate? What are you doing to protect your business to such changes?
4. Why do your target customers choose your real estate business over competitors? Take the time to carefully answer the questions below:

   When your target customer is choosing you:

   a) what are they really trying to achieve?

   b) what do they want or need to know?

   c) how do they want to feel?

   d) about how much do they expect to pay?

   e) what combination of functional, emotional and financial value are they looking for?

5. Why should people sign on as a client specifically to you or your team or brokerage? What’s your clear and compelling value and experience proposition that ‘grabs’ your target customers, clearly differentiates you from your competitors, makes clients advocate your brand, and grows our bottom line?

One of the biggest complaints I get in the real estate industry today is that ‘there’s no such thing as customer loyalty anymore’. This is simply not true. It’s misguided and false! The truth is that people are loyal to what’s best for them or what they assume is best for them. It’s always been this way. So, your first job is to do the work to be what I call the clear ‘wise choice’ for your target customers. Your second job is to communicate your compelling value story in everything you do, because there’s no point being ‘the best’ if you’re also the best kept secret.

6. How can you leverage new and up and coming technologies to communicate to your clients as well as enhance your experience with them. Are there technologies you are currently not using (or perhaps even need to develop) to maximize the value you give to your clients.
7. For each process, policy or rule in your real estate business, why do you do it that way? Is it working or is it dysfunctional? Does it deliver compelling customer value, more engaged staff, a safer workplace, an environmentally responsible outcome, improved efficiency or profitability?
8. Why would top-performers want to work for you, rather than someone else? Are you a ‘talent magnet’? If not, what needs fixing?

Ken Goodfellow
Coach Ken International