Team Value Proposition: Find Your Best Fit

For some, being a solo agent is absolutely the best decision. And for others, joining a team is absolutely the best decision.

Some people are just not made for a team.

You have to be willing to put your ego aside a little bit.

The team route in my mind is a better route, but of course I'm a team leader. So you know, obviously I think that

some on 90% of the people should probably just join a team, but not any team.

What should you look for in a team?

Being on a team that fits their needs, their strengths, their desires.

Interview multiple teams to figure out where you fit.

Year after that they're at 80, 20 and every year they've seen like a 20% increase in their soi business.

Our main focus is to try to get agents to be self sufficient. Just be open minded. I mean, it could be your career on the line and your stubbornness keeping

you out of making money straight up.

No matter where your business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to Team os, your guide to

starting, growing and optimizing a real estate team.

Here's your host, Ethan Butte. Not every real estate agent is right for the team model and not every team or team leader is right for an agent who wants to join a team. Learn what to look for in a team and what questions to ask a team leader when you interview them. Get a very specific split structure that slides from 5050 to 80 20. Get an honest take on ego, humility, accountability, and what it takes to be an effective team member. Learn from 12 different team leaders how to decide whether you're a great fit for a team, whether a team is a great fit for you, and how to find your best fit if you want to join a real estate team. First up we have Chris Heller, who's a team pioneer. He started his team more than 30 years ago. He's the former president and CEO of Keller Williams and he shares here how to decide whether or not a team is right for you.

Not everyone should be or is suited to be on a team. Correct. But I think, I think, I think there's a lot of people that are. Then the next component is, is it the right team? So if we say, hey, you'd be better off on a team, that may not be true for that person. A more accurate statement would be, hey, you'd be better off on the right team. So being on a team that fits their needs, their strengths, their desires, you know, if, if opportunity is important and being on a team that creates opportunities for them. If culture is important, being on a team that. Where there's a strong cultural fit, you know, if training and support is the thing, you know, being on a team that really offers that. Not all teams offer all those things, or not all the teams are created or built equally.

Not all teams are the same, not all teams are equal. You need to find your best fit. That's why this episode exists. You're going to hear that theme a lot more throughout this episode. Next up, we have Katy Day with your first assignment. It's introspection, figuring out who you are, what you need, what you want, what level of success you want to achieve, what accountability looks like for you, and whether or not you've got some of the characteristics of a really good team member, that's where it starts. Before you go out into the market to start interviewing teams and team leaders, to start talking to agents about the team that they're on, you need to understand yourself first. Here's Katie Day.

Well, I think that you have to take kind of an introspective look, you know, if maybe you're not seeing the results that you want in real estate today of, you know, what are my goals, why am I not reaching them, you know, and what are the things that are getting in my way? And is it me? Right? And so if I had more accountability, if I had more, you know, training, if I had more people around me that were high performers, would I sell more homes? Right. Or, you know, teams all have different levels of accountability and how often they meet and the things that they do, right. We're a pretty high accountability team. So I think you just have to take that look inside yourself to know if that's something that you work well with or not. Right. And then if joining a team is the right fit, I think that as far as agents, to join a team, depending on what the team structure is like, generally speaking, you need to be coachable. And I think that you need to not have an ego, which is. Is difficult in the real estate space. So I think that those are kind of two of the biggest things, is just being coachable and then just being humble and knowing that, like, especially if you're on a team, like, we're all working towards a bigger goal. It's not just, you know, all about me.

Great advice there from Katie. And you're going to hear that word ego come up again throughout this conversation. It's not because you need to wholly suppress your ego. There are teams that are about you, and in fact, you're gonna hear that in this next clip with Phil Gerdes. If you don't have a pen and paper out yet, or if you're not taking notes by typing, you're going to want to do that because he offers four very specific tips for interviewing a team and a team leader to decide if they're the right fit for the next phase of growth in your career. Here's Phil

listening to a team leader. You would always think that they're gonna say, just join a team. And the reality is, I'd say 90% of the people or some 90% of the people should probably just join a team, but not any team. There's a few key elements to the team that you're going to join and the interview that you're going to have that I think are super important. Number one is never ask about splits. Now, I realize that that's the most important thing on so many people's minds. But just understand, like, if you wanted to be a doctor, you would never ask your college. You never ask your graduate school, how much am I going to get paid? Because the answer is none. You're paying them. Okay, Right. But eight years after you become a doctor, you're paid. You are the surgeon. You're the one. Right? So don't worry about splits. And people would say, well, that's not. I got to survive, I got to live. I get it. You do find a way. But this isn't the time number to be hyper honest with the team leader. And when I say that, I mean, if the team leader is saying to you, well, what do you want? If your want is to be with the team for three years, learn everything you can, and then go start your own team, Just be honest with them and tell them that so that they can help. Because a person that actually cares isn't hurt by that. They're not threatened by that. They're excited about being a chapter in your book. And then the next thing I would say is, do not join a team that isn't exceptional at marketing. And you as a solo agent will not make the team exceptional at marketing. And it could, like, you're great at marketing. So if I join this team, they'll probably do what what. What I think to do. If they were gonna do it, they'd be doing it right? There's plenty of people they can mimic. If they're not doing it, they're the wrong team. Because marketing is key. And the last tip I would give is when you find a team that's exceptional at marketing, find out if they're interested in marketing you, because the brand is amazing. But like, for our team, one of the missions that we have is I not only want to build the team brand, but I want to build the brand of every agent within the team. And when we first started the team, my wife and I had the conversation. I said, you know, I want to help people become so good that they have every tool they need to leave us, but I want them to love where they are so much that they never do.

Man, what a delicate balance that is. It's so good. A delicate balance indeed. I hope you enjoyed all of those ideas from Phil, and you're going to get more of them next up, because Veronica Figueroa here answers the same question. What should I look for in a team?

What should you look for in a team? I, you know, there's a lot of teams out there, quasi teams, teams that are, you know, like, just come whenever you want or do whatever you want. But the good teams, to me, have accountability standards. They have training, they have coaching, they have support, they have leads. Not only leads, but they help you develop in your, you know, I would say the skill set of role playing, prospecting, dialing out of your database door, knocking open houses. They have, I would say, an innovative approach towards leading you and also building a team that can scale. Right. Look for those things. Maybe, perhaps again, look at the leadership, look at their track record. How many agents have been successful on the team, how many agents have been successful after they leave the team is another great way for you to decide.

You're just laying great interview questions for people, because I think you should be interviewing teams. You just laid out, like, a number of awesome questions.

Well, and I think, you know, if you come with a, A sense of humility and be like, look, I'm really looking at a couple different teams. I like what you guys are doing. You know, when people come to our team and we chat, I think it's, it's, It's a mutual decision. The team wants to make sure that you're a good fit, and you need to make sure that that team leader is a good fit. And I think what I love is most people who come to our team have said, we've been watching you guys for a while. I've been watching. I've seen how you guys treat your agents, how the, how your agents succeed, your leadership style. And usually by then the conversation is, okay, tell me about your dreams and your goals and what are you looking to accomplish. And then from there, you know, instantly we can Determine if they're a good fit, at least to start the journey on our team. But we're always honest of what's next. Hey, it's going to take a lot of work. Not everyone makes it on our team, but we promise to coach and guide you in the right direction, even if we're not the best fit for you.

Every one of these clips is just a small part of a much larger conversation. My full conversation with Veronica Figueroa was focused very specifically on solo agents thinking about starting a team or joining a team. It is loaded with advice. And that one, by the way, like the next clip with Jeremy Larson, the previous one with Phil Gerdes, the first one with Chris Heller, are all fubcon sessions. I recorded those live, sat down in the same room with each of these guests. And you can find the fubcon sessions recorded at the follow up Boss conference last fall in a YouTube playlist called the Fubcon Sessions. Or there are 20 plus episodes by the way, or in Apple podcasts or Spotify, they're marked in brackets as fubcon sessions as well. So just a little bit of a different dynamic there, being able to record live in person again. Next up is Jeremy Larson, also from a fubcon session, and he shares some very specific key words to help you decide whether as a solo agent, staying solo or joining a team is the right fit for you. Here's Jeremy.

Yeah, so we look at this when we're interviewing agents all the time, right? And for some, being a solo agent is absolutely the best decision. And for others, joining a team is absolutely the best decision. And here's how you make that decision. In solo agent, you have a lot of freedom, right? Freedom is number one to you than solo agent. Because what happens when you join a traditional team is it's like joining a workout class or a workout community or group, right? Like Orange Theory or something. And so you've got a coach, you've got a trainer, you've got people showing up at the same time. And we're all doing this and we're doing it this way. There's opportunity and there's accountability and you've got to implement, you've got to take action. And it's a whole nother world nowadays, right? It really is. And so if you're looking to go full time and really, you know, get your career rocking, get in front of as many people as you can, let them know you're a realtor and stay in touch with them and help them get across the finish line. A team is definitely the path to take. There's, there's no question about it. It's tested, it's clear, it's the path to take.

Some of the language at the end there with Jeremy really speaks to a new agent, and that's where we pick up in this next clip with Jenny Wiemert. She speaks very specifically to new agents and whether or not a team is right for you. But she also goes into experienced agents, veteran agents, even highly productive agents. So no matter where you land on that spectrum, you're going to find some language here that's going to help you understand whether or not joining a team is a fit for you. Here's Jenny Weimert.

The new agents, it's always good for them to start on a team if they are team players. But, like, they don't have to learn the hundred things that a single agent has to do, and they just have to learn eight and like, worry about the clients and how to write a good contract. And then they have a mentor. And so they only have to get focused on this and then they can learn the rest over time. So I don't know how a new agent starts in this market without being under somebody's wing or into a structure. So the new agent is kind of easy. We've had the most success with growing agents. So as much as I hate hiring new agents because it's so hard and you have to like, what's an appraisal? And they, you know, they grow with you and they turn in to be superstars, but they have, they, they, they buy into the team model. They, they have, they feel like they've helped grow it and they don't feel like they have to leave because we're, we're continuing to, to build around them. Like, what, what do they need? How do what, what leverage do they, they need? And, you know, growing them as, as big as they want to grow so it can be done. You can hire, you can attract experienced agents. You just have to know your value proposition. You know, they're not coming just for the leads like they, but, you know, they, they're coming for more of the, the leverage and the, and not feel so lonely out there. And to work around talent. We're attracting experienced talent because we are sharing the cost of the admin over, you know, volume. They don't have to go pay for their own assistant, their own listing director. And so they get the benefit of having a leverage. They don't mind the split because it's fair. Right? Because they're not having to carry that employee salary and wake up every morning worried about keeping them busy and paying them. So that's attractive to experienced agents. They also want to be around other producers. You know, you talent attracts talent and you want to work around people doing things at a high level.

Talent attracts talent. Top performers want to be around other top performers. If this language and these ideas resonate with you, be sure to check out the two companion episodes linked right down below in the description of this episode in the one is called just plug in. The other is called play to your strengths. They're both about when, whether and how to join a real estate team as a solo agent. You'll also love this next clip with Tiffany Galzenis, who speaks very specifically to one of the most common agents. To start a team, which is that very, very high performing agent. You can either plug into a team that already exists or you can start a team of your own. And of course, as you'll hear throughout all three of these episodes, it often makes sense for someone thinking about starting a team to join a team first to understand how it works and to make some decisions and evaluate it before going off on their own. And so here's Tiffany Galzinis helping you understand your next right step as a very high producing agent.

If you are going to look at a team as a high performing agent, you have to be willing to put your ego aside a little bit because you have to understand the principles of economy of scale. Because that's why you're joining a team. You're joining a team for access to more resources. At honestly, if you added it up line by line, a better price, probably even at a 50, 50 split, if that's, you know, whatever the split is for the team. But if you really add up the resources that you get, if you join the right team and you know what the resources are, then you're probably getting access to more things at a better cost and no upfront risk. But you also have to be able to kind of play by the rules of what that team is because that team probably has vendor partners that they're working with. You know, you're not going to be the one that's making the decision on which platform we are. Now I have a very collaborative team, so I do, I do want their input. That's how I make decisions, because they're the ones using things. I need to know, is this working? Is it not working? Is this vendor partner doing what they're supposed to? If they're not, do I need to have a conversation or do we need to replace them, whatever that case may be? So I love that input and I always want to take that input, but ultimately this, the decision is, is not theirs. So. So somebody has to be able to put their ego aside to handle that and be a team player if they want to be on a team. But I think there can be some really great synergy between somebody that just wants to sell real estate and not worry about the rest of the stuff.

Tiffany obviously takes a collaborative approach, as do so many team leaders, including Katie Day. We heard from her earlier in this episode and we're about to hear from her again. And right off the top, she knocks down that common fear or common objection of if I join a team, it's all about the team leader. You heard Phil Gerdes earlier in this episode talk about I want to build the brands of my agents. So there are different types of teams and team leaders for different people. Here again, Katie knocks down that common myth and misperception or fear or objection. And then she goes on to talk about some of the benefits of a collaborative approach in a team environment.

All teams are different, right? Like there are many teams that is very much so, like the Katy Day show and there's, there's agents there, but, you know, no one, no one cares what's happening with them because it's my show and it's my way or the highway type thing. Depending on what teams you've experienced or encountered, like, it very much could be, you know, there's a lot of ego involved and I don't want your ego because my ego is too big. But I think on the flip side, you know, in joining a team, often you're able to lean in on team experiences and the, you know, kind of collective of the team in order to build yourself up more. Right. And so, you know, when my agents go into a listing appointment and they can say, hey, we sold 200 homes last year. If they were on their own, they wouldn't be able to do that. Right. And so, you know, also with, you know, as an individual agent, you know, maybe you have five or six listings, right? But if eight agents on a team have five listings, right, there's 40 listings out in the marketplace. So if, you know this logo is on a sign, you're seeing, you know, the logo far more frequently than just seeing, you know, your individual name. And so I think that, you know, obviously of the collective experience that you can, you can lean in on and, and things like that, you also have the ability to, you know, have like minded people and so, again, like, depending on what your experience with teams are, that may not have always been the case. It may have not been as collaborative. But I know for my team, like, they constantly are, you know, checking in with each other on their goals. They're checking in with each other on, like, hey, I need someone to come with me on a listing appointment. Hey, this is in your neighborhood. I know you live there. Let's go on this together, right? And so there's a lot of, like, lending a helping hand, right, and collaborating to ensure that, like, we get the listing right. And it may be Ethan's listing, it maybe Katie's listing, it maybe Andrea's listing. But, you know, if I can help you to get that listing by going on the appointment with you, you know, I would love to be there. And that's where I feel as if, you know, where our team stands today. Everyone, you know, wants to give that helping hand to each other. So I think that sometimes the setting aside of the ego and being like, oh, well, if I went to the brokerage on my own, I could be at an 8515 split with a low cap versus I'm on a 50, 50 or, you know, whatever split here, you know, if you're able to make, you know, 150k, not having any expenses, you know, having a videographer paid for, having your tc, you know, coordination done and different things like that. Oftentimes, you know, the. The team route in my mind is. Is a better route, but of course, I'm a team leader. So, you know, obviously, I think that.

So Katie wrapped up there at the intersection of splits and. And services. And this is a very common area for questions, concerns, fears, objections, and similar. So we're going to double down on that next with Winston Murray, founder of Works Real Estate. He was kind enough to share very specifically the splits that they landed at. After changing things a few times over the years, the market was changing a little bit. They were growing and developing, and they've landed on a structure that really works for them and their agents. And so this is just one way that it could go. I just wanted to give you a very clear picture of what this could look like for you because, again, a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about splits and splits and services. You have to know both sides of that, by the way. You have to know what you're getting and what you're paying for when you're interviewing teams and team leaders. Again, here's what works for the folks at Works.

Today.

We're at a 70 30. So if an agent has had experience coming in, they start at a 70, 30 on any SOI bill business and then again agent gen or company gen is at a 50, 50. And then as that agent increases their production. So at 15 units maintained in a rolling 12, they go up to a 75, 25. And then for agents doing 25 or more unit and there's a volume threshold tied to it depending on the average price point for the market,

then they

go up to an 80, 20 if they're maintaining 25 units or more in that same rolling 12 measured every quarter with a six month grace period, knowing that not every quarter is going to look the same. But this really has allowed us to onboard agents with like a three year growth trajectory where ultimately, regardless of their level of experience, like our only culture fit is like I don't care if you sold one house or 100 houses, as long as you have a willingness to learn and grow. That's what makes our culture our culture. And so we want to see our agents become incrementally less dependent on our lead sources year after year. If it's a brand new agent has never sold anything, they start at a 60, 40 until they've done eight deals and then automatically their SOI business goes up to a 70, 30. And any company generated business counts towards those first eight as well. And so ideally we're looking at like a brand new agent joining at a 60, 40. They do eight deals in their first year. Next year they're at a 70, 30, the year after that they're at a 75, 25 year after that they're at an 80, 20. And every year they've seen like a 20% increase in their SoI business and obviously the splits are greater. At 80, 20 they're going to see, you know, they're going to be making 2, 200 to 300 grand by their third or fourth year and, and still have, you know, a lot of support and leverage on the back end.

Hey, I hope you found those details helpful. I was very thankful when Winston was so clear and transparent in exactly what they're doing. And again, every team is different, every team does this differently. But this theme of company generated leads or opportunities and agent generated leads or opportunities is a thing. And that's where I want to pick up next with Ryan Rodenbeck, founder of Spyglass Realty down in Austin. And here he shares their motivation to shift agents into the situation where they keep a higher share of the commission, they get a better split on the commission. They want to Shift people from company gen to agent gen over time through training, development, investment, et cetera. Here's Ryan Rodenbeck. Right now we have about 130 agents. We have about 60 of these agents that we call indie independent. And all that means for us is that they're at this current time not taking leads. And then we have about 70 agents

that are taking leads.

Our, our main focus is to try to get agents to be self sufficient.

So of those 70 agents, we'll have 20 at any given time that are

phasing into not taking leads. And then sometimes we'll have, of the

60 agents, we'll have 10 that say,

you know what, I need to fill up my pipeline. Onboarding, coaching, training, development and investment to help you generate more of your own opportunities so you can keep more of the commission. But an opportunity to fall back and rely on the company or the team whenever you need to. That was Ryan from Spyglass. Next up we have Justin Haver who shares with you a little bit more about ways agents are splitting commissions within the team and some of the lifestyle benefits. Listen for the key words paid vacation.

It's a pretty easy system. I mean, usually, I mean the agents have a, they split with a team, right? But then if an agent, let's say, goes away on vacation and, or if there's two agents that work on, on the same transaction, then they have, you know, agreed upon a split there as well. If you look at some of the benefits of someone being on a team and let's say you don't want to share your splits, one of the things that some of our agents will do is, you know what, Ethan, while you're on vacation, if you cover my business for the next three weeks, I owe you three weeks of coverage when you go on vacation. And we have had agents that have gone away for that long and you know, sold seven to nine homes during that timeline. And that's kind of nice to have a paid vacation essentially. I can't say that I've experienced having that much time off myself. But you know, again, I think it's pretty amazing when you have team members that have had the opportunity, opportunity and the ability to do that knowing that you know what their business is taken care of. It's taken care of by another agent that follows the exact same processes in which you do. And everything is logged and documented. So if you do go away, you can jump right back in. You see all the communication.

Such a huge but underappreciated benefit of being on a team. Not only do you have backup, but you have backup from someone else who's been onboarded, trained and coached similar to you, someone who's using the same tech stack, someone who's using the same cadences and flows. And there's accountability and transparency within a CRM or a system so you can know exactly how someone handled an opportunity while you were away. So many benefits there. Next up we have Laurie Finkelstein reader, and she's going to double down on this idea of if you want to start a team. If you're just curious about starting a team, you'll definitely want to interview other team leaders and perhaps even join one of those teams. Here's Lori. Some people are just not made for a team and they prefer to be on their own and like full respect for that. But I think that people who are single agents and they want massive growth or they even want a little bit of growth, I think it's good to interview multiple teams to figure out where you fit. I also think that the single agent potentially wants to be a team leader.

Right.

They're looking to grow their own team at some point. And my advice for that person is a couple things. One, you know, maybe join a team and spend a year or two and kind of see how that runs so you can get an idea of what that looks like. A simple and powerful recommendation and idea there from Lori. And here Keri Shull picks up on it and shares what that should look like in practice. Layered in there is the idea that even if your ambition is to start a team, joining a team is a great way to start that process.

Well, why not see how it's working?

Like you want to go to one

of the most successful teams in your

area and say to that team leader,

I'd like to start my own team in two to three years. How would you feel about me learning under you?

Yeah. And if their responses, well, if you want to start your own team, this

isn't a good fit for you.

That says something. It does. Finding your best fit means finding a team leader who wants your success in the way that you want it. And that takes conversation. That takes a little bit of searching. Last clip here is with Sunit Aggarwal. He will plus that idea up and he'll also challenge you to keep an open mind about the next right step for you and your business growth. Here's Sunit. I believe like it sounds, you do that the team is the best option. You're not going to get as much support or resources in any unless the team rich right team option is the best.

You're going to be getting so many

more opportunities from a team, any good team. And if you don't, and if you can't find a good one, like look a little bit harder. There's other teams like this Team Origins in your market. Find somebody, make sure they're using follow boss that they're probably doing it right then and just be open minded. I mean it could be your career on the line and your stubbornness keeping

you out of making money. Straight up.

There you go. A great closing word from Sunit Agarwal on this episode. As I record this about 50 or 60 hours into my exploration of the team model in the real estate space and I initially thought that this was for and about team leaders and owners and operators very specifically, but it turns out it's very much for and about solo agents, solo agents who choose to stay solo, solo agents thinking about starting a team and of course solo agents thinking about joining a team when, whether and how to do it. This is one of three companion episodes that all released at the same time. The other two are linked up right down below in the description of this episode. I hope you find this helpful. If you do subscribe, go to realestateteamos.com subscribe. You'll see what the show is about, who it's for, what you'll learn, what we're talking about, and you'll get access to subscriber only episodes. It's all at realestateteamos.com/subscribe. Thanks for checking out this episode of Teamos. For email exclusive insights every week, sign up at realestateteamos.

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