EMPOWER YOURSELF AND YOUR STAFF

If you are looking to regain some free time with your family and increase your business, you need to get quality help. Cultivating a quality assistant or team of assistants is crucial to long-term balance and growth in real estate. There will always be a limit to the amount of business you can do by yourself. For some Agents, because of their organizational skills or systems, this production level could be quite high without the addition of staff. You can also raise the production level if you are willing to trade more time. But no matter how organized you are or how much time you put in, you will eventually “hit the wall” of production increase. The “wall” is the limit to what your one head and two hands can do; you can’t break through to increased production. Many Agents spend years staring at the “wall” without change. You must change your business if you want to get over, around, or under the wall. The only way to get beyond “the wall” is to have an assistant or assistants.

But it is not enough just to add staff members; you have to make the best use of them, as well. One crucial component is to create a winning environment for your staff. Work to empower your staff rather than to encumber them. We all struggle with turning over parts of our business to an assistant. It is difficult to relinquish control of client listings or escrows to staff members. But if you hold on to control of the tasks that you have given to your staff, they will never get to take ownership. You will leave your assistants very little room for growth or for job satisfaction. When you give your staff the opportunity to take ownership of a section of your business, you will empower them. Your staff will have their own areas of responsibility, a signature on part of your business. Everyone performs at a higher level in an ownership position.

Let me give you an example of a company that does give its staff ownership, with outstanding results.

The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain is one of the best hotel chains in the world. Ritz-Carlton hotels are legendary for excellence in service and amenities – so much so that they were awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The Ritz-Carlton hotels invest in their employees. They recruit quality people, coach them to succeed, and then manage them for the desired result. The one thing that sets the Ritz-Carlton hotels apart is the power they give their staff to serve the customer. Every employee of a Ritz-Carlton hotel -- including the doorman and the bellhop and the housekeeper who cleans your room -- has the authority to spend up to $2,000 to solve a problem with a customer without manager involvement. Think about it: any employee can spend more money than many of them make in a month to solve a customer problem. What do you think the end result is for that housekeeper and that bellhop? Do they feel like they are owner-managers of their own businesses? How focused are they on making sure that the room is always spotless and the bags delivered promptly? What about when a problem arises or a customer needs additional attention? They truly are the CEOs of their own businesses inside the Ritz-Carlton’s business.

What if you were to place the same value on your staff and your customers as the Ritz-Carlton does? Do you have the trust and faith in your staff that the Ritz-Carlton has in theirs? I am sure that if you empowered your staff in that fashion, their enjoyment of their jobs and production on the job would increase dramatically. Do you think your customers and clients would notice the difference between you and your competition? Truly, you would own the marketplace. No one could compete with you and your staff.

You can have that kind of a business, if you start right now to recruit quality people, coach them well, manage them well, and reward them well. Empower them for success. Give them ownership of their own areas, and watch them grow as well as your business.