Here I am, broker and lead of a Denver real estate team here in the heart of the country. We’ve had our share of challenges. However, we continue to invest into our business and persevere and it’s paying off. When others are asking, “How’s business?”, we can truthfully say, “You know it’s great. In fact it’s been better these past several months than during the past few years.”  Sure, it’s not as good as it could be but it is better. I’ve had to make tough but obviously necessary decisions and moves towards achieving the end goal of coming out of this lull on top of our game.

Moving Our Office

I recently moved from a small boutique real estate firm to one of the largest and fastest growing brokerages in Colorado. This move helped to bring down costs while expanding the team’s opportunity. Overnight, I increased team incentives via lower fees, and vastly increased my access to in-house agents, now candidates for my team. Instead of hiring new members from outside my company, then recruiting for my team, now I simply need to put the word out to the office.

Hiring Team Support

With some of the savings on the overhead, I hired my first administrative assistant. I’ve spent many, many hours trying to keep up with the vast amount of work I’ve created for myself and now it was time to share. By lightening my load, I’m better able to focus on the larger opportunities and issues at hand. I’m looking at everything from virtual outsourcing, to engaging consultants, to hiring hourly and even salaried employees.

Building & Growing a Team

Before I left my last brokerage I knew I had to better define the value proposition for my team. The exercise included discussions with other trusted brokers and team leads and their offerings. My question was, “What is it that makes your team successful?” Conversation included everything from team agreements, commission splits, marketing, use of assistants, and more. Net out, these chats were very constructive. My goal was to make my team successfully competitive and a win-win for all parties involved. My longest known and most trusted resource is Mitch Ribak with The Real Estate Success Network, for which I am a proud member.

Dialing in the Systems

In addition to pending upgrades, I continue to heavily invest in our marketing and systems. Nothing is off the table where we might find room for improvement. We plan for both success and failure in that I want my systems to work whether my agents are idle or insanely busy. In addition, I continue to advance our Internet presence and focus on bringing the Internet down to the community level. One of my latest ventures is with Pat Kitano’s Domus Consulting Group and the Breaking News Network. I learned of this project over a year ago and I just couldn’t let it go.

Advance the Marketing

In these days of contraction and uncertainty, I continue to increase my spend on advancing our team. This includes all forms of marketing: websites, blogs, Internet marketing, networking, branding, print media, postcards, etc. HomeGain continues to be one of my strategic partners in this effort. Better yet, the friendships that I’ve gained through my involvement with HomeGain have been invaluable. If you invest in any of HomeGain’s online marketing solutions, I strongly advise you to get involved, reach out to other affiliated agents, and be sure to attend HomeGain Nation’s Live Real Estate Forum events.

In many ways, I see those individuals, teams and brokerages who will come out on top of this downturn, will not only be the last ones standing, but they are also the most prepared for the the emerging market. Many of these items discussed are best practices which should occur in good times and those that are not so good.