Team building/ Buyers agents

[Gloria Singer]

I am inundated with leads from my listings and from my website, and need to take on help. I currently have a virtual assistant several hours a week and that's it.
I am seriously considering taking on a buyers agent and then eventually a full tim admin person and was wondering how people structure with their buyers agents? i.e. splits, contracts, etc. I have someone in mind and need to think through the structure. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated and if you have agreements that you could PM me that would be amazing as well.

Thanks in advance!

[AugustaREGroup]

Looks like it's time to read http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Re.../dp/0071444041

[Gloria Singer]

I've read it along with Dirk Zeller's "champion Real Estate Team" book... still wanting to hear from actual people using a buyers agent. I'm not looking to build a giant team like in Gary Keller's book.. I envision eventually a full time admin person, and possibly two buyers agents, and I would be the listing agent. I just have too many leads right now and was wondering if anyone started with a buyers agent as their first step and how they are structuring their relationship.
Thanks in advance!

[MikeNY]

I've read it along with Dirk Zeller's "champion Real Estate Team" book... still wanting to hear from actual people using a buyers agent. I'm not looking to build a giant team like in Gary Keller's book.. I envision eventually a full time admin person, and possibly two buyers agents, and I would be the listing agent. I just have too many leads right now and was wondering if anyone started with a buyers agent as their first step and how they are structuring their relationship.
Thanks in advance!

I tried a virtual assistant but it did not work out. She was calling all the leads who signed into my site as soon as they signed in or as soon as she could. I think she had too much on her plate with other agents she was helping and was not calling them when I wanted her too.

I know an agent in my area who has an admin in her office who calls all the Internet leads that sign in and/or request showings and that is my goal to have a full time person call all my leads. I just added a full time buyers agent last week and working on getting 2 more before the spring. I have a handful of agents I refer a ton of business too from my office and other offices and did very well for me the past year with referral commissions, these agents are not ready for a move yet but 2 of them will be especially since they are convinced of the business I can provide them.

So my 1st step is the buyers agent and she also helps with the IDX leads when they sign in and is doing pretty well actually. She will be overwhelmed very soon so that is why 2 more agents are a must to make sure everyone can work the leads/clients they have. As soon as the cash flow increases from the sales these agents do then a full time admin will be hired but right now the agent is actually doing well and enjoying the calls because she sees the potential and the easy conversion there is with a lot of the calls. In the future the admin will do that work for her and any other agents so the only contacts they deal with are people who have already been spoken too, hot leads and not cold/warm calls.

The hardest thing is convincing an agent to work under you, I think she was skeptical at 1st but told me today she was more than pleased with the clients I have been giving her and is confident this will work out. She even told me she knows 1-2 agents who may also be interested in working under me. I have a vision of a big team in the 5 year short term, my friend works under a team leader in NYC, the team has 5 buyers agents (even though some of their titles are "vice presidents") then 5 admin/marketing/graphic/media director to polish off the entire team. They have a team url like Drew does and it is really awesome because they show the whole team and a bio on each team member.

I think the gold mine is hiring that full time person to make calls from web leads all day long (IDX sign ins and leads that email for info/showings), my previous real estate company had that set up with their home office in NJ and they produced an insane amount of qualified buyers that way and then gave them to the agents in the office.

[waynelong]

You might consider hiring a licensed assistant to do the work your virtual assistant is doing. I actually have 2 licensed assistants instead of buyers agents. They do admin work and show houses, hold open houses, etc. Just food for thought.

[Mitch]

Hi Gloria! Building a team can be a lot of work and very costly if you don't have a plan. In 2004 I finally broke down and added an admin person and two Buyer Agents. It was the smartest move I have made in this business.

With that said, it's key to set up your team in the correct manner. Of course this is my opinion and what I do. Others might not agree. I'm very particular about who I hire and usually interview 5-10 Agents to find one. An Agent coming on board with us has to have a great work ethic along with integrity and honesty. I can teach them the rest once I hire them. 75% of my Agents were brand new when I hired Agents because it was easier to mold them to my business model.

Since I supply all the leads, I pay my Agents a 50% split which can go up to 70% during the year based on volume. Then, depending upon where they ended up at the end of the year, would determine at what % they started the following year.

If you have any questions or would like some advice, feel free to contact me. I spend most of my day helping Agents grow their businesses!

[Gloria Singer]

Actually my VA does not do any lead follow-up. Her job is twofold:
a) She blogs for me twice a week; and b) she does all of the online advertising of my listings (posting to MLS, Realtor.com, craigslist, postlets, etc.) as well as some other of my admin work related to my listings.
I currently have about 13 listings (although several are under contract) and am trying to focus all of my prospecting on obtaining listings. I am finding buyers too time-consuming. So my goal is that my buyers agent would do the lead follow up from the IDX as well as all leads that come in off of the various advertising of my listings.
I don't have time at all to call any of the IDX registrants so I just feel like that is a huge opportunity that I would like to have someone work. I also am trying to not work weekends so this would help in that department as well.
Once more contract come in I will need to hire a full time administrative person I think, since there is so much contract to close work and she could take on what my VA does.
I'm just trying to be smart about it and do things in the proper order and thoughtfully.
I was thinking a 50/50 split with the BA since I am supplying all of the leads. If she brings in a listing lead I would pay her a 25% ref fee. Does that seem reasonable? My main concern is that all of this will be very time-consuming for me and that my productivity would decline as a result.
Do those of you who have Buyer's agents have a contract that you use? Anyone care to share?
Thanks!

[jessiesc]

There was a thread here awhile ago on this topic (can't find it at the moment) and it was very involved.

Check your PM.

[MikeNY]

Jessie can you send me the link as well? Thanks.