Veronica Figueroa on Starting or Joining a Team [FUBCON Session]

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Veronica, what is a must have characteristic of a high performing team?

Great question. It's something I'm asked a lot and I have to say it has to be accountability and standards.

Okay, I love that you went there right off the top. Yeah, accountability in this context, you don't need to like drill into a bunch of tactics, but like, I think a lot of people throw that word around, but it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And you're obviously highly successful, so I have a feeling you have a good handle on it. What, what does accountability mean to you in this context? And then maybe what are a couple of tactics that you found useful over the. Over the years?

Yeah, so I love to share stories and perhaps my own personal experience so people can relate. But like, I remember running a team when we didn't have accountability and standards and it was like the wild, wild west, the country club. You really didn't know, you know, if an agent was gonna make it on your team, it was honestly fly by the seat of your pants. And even though we would say, yeah, two contracts a month, or this is what it's gonna take to get on lead flow, we really had no true roadmap or standards for an agent to truly succeed. And I remember as a leader, I think you are the chokehold of your business. And there were certain things that would keep me up at night. And I used to say, what is it that we really need to take our team to the next level? And I felt that as a leader, I had a responsibility to the future of our team to really step up. And I needed to be accountable and I needed to make sure that I could truly hold my team accountable. And I sat there and I just thought about what was missing in our business. And I knew I wanted to have authentic leadership while also having a partner or a leader on my team that was equally obsessed with data accountability standards as I was for loving on my people, development of people. And I remember when I sat down with that, who that finally came into my world. And we just sat there and talked about measuring behavior, making sure that there was consistency in our business, that we really could use information to make decisions and how important every business, you know, that wants to be profitable, that wants to last, regardless of what industry you're in really needs to be able to have some sort of measurement. And I realized I was entering the big leagues at that point, and I was like, wow. So I have to go back to all of my agents and tell them the culture that we're gonna build is a culture of accountability and standards. You know, we use these words like consequences or what happens. And I didn't really want. I always felt like that was a negative, you know, connotation or like, oh, my God, consequences. But, no, it's the reality. If you don't do this, your business won't grow, or, you know, if we don't have something to measure, how do we know we're doing well? And it was. It was a bit, I would say, a crossroad for our team. And I remember standing in front of our team rolling this out, and people who are kind of like our legacy agents kind of like, I don't want to say rolled their eyes, but thought, okay, they're just saying this. Then when we actually started implementing the accountability and really measuring, giving them time to ramp up, you know, really holding them to a higher standard. I'll never forget an agent who was really good but was really bothered. And she says, well, you know, we talked about accountability before, but we never had it. Now that you are, you know, truly following through with was. She says, it was something that we, as a team just didn't know how to embrace. So I recognized that it fell on me, like I was the reason that I allowed that to go too long. And then when I finally decided that was the culture that we were gonna live by, I faced some risk, and it was me losing partnerships or people that were comfortable with the type of business that we had previously had. But to this day, now that agent now runs a team. And I remember saying to her, just one of the things that I hope that I can inspire you to maybe implement in your team is having standards and accountability from day one, because you will face some of the challenges that I face, which was when you try to implement accountability or you move in that direction, I'd love for you to avoid the mistakes I made as a leader. And so it meant really holding them to the standards of, like, how many leads they get in their database, you know, the expected communication cadence, you know, just kind of, you know, making sure that they're meeting their standards of checking in with our success coaches for following through with, you know, what the, I would say, expectations of the journey of that, let's say, lead. I hate to call them leads, but the Opportunity. We also have partnership agreements with really big companies that expect accountability. So we explain to them, you know, it's not that we're trying to stay up at night and make your life miserable. It's that we have a duty and a responsibility to our partners, you know, to make sure that we're maintaining the proper cadence of communication, updating the database, you know, that referral fees are paid out, and it's just the right thing to do. And I sleep so much better at night. I sleep so much better at night knowing that from how we onboard them, how we develop them, how we offboard them, everything now is held to a certain standard. And it's not ad hoc. It's just. It's simple. Follow it. And if you can't follow it, then usually we'll coach you up, really find out if there's an issue internally or perhaps we weren't clear, make improvements. And then the accountability and the standards allow us to know if you're a culture fit or not. You might look like a good agent, you might talk like a good agent, but on our team, we won't know until you're in our world and 60 to 90 days have passed by or, you know, when you're shifting out of alignment, then we'll know as well, and it comes down to the accountability and standards that we have in place.

Yeah, so much good stuff in there. I love that you broadened it out to. Every business needs to be thinking this way, and they should, and many of them do. Some of them do not. I also like where you close there on agents who can look like or talk like they're the thing. Because what that reminds me of is the cultural shift that you had to build within the team. It's one thing to talk about, it's another thing to show people what it looks like, bring it to life, figure out how to hire into it, coach it, train it, etc. I also like that you went wider than kind of the activities. That's kind of where I want to go next, is I assume that there's some mutual goal setting. Not every agent, you don't need the same thing from every agent. Not every agent wants the same thing for themselves. So you set some standards there, and that probably breaks down to a set of activities. So talk a little bit about activities versus what I'll just generically call and then you can give it whatever language, however you think about it, kind of the how side of it. It's not just making the calls. It's the way that we make the calls. It's not just going on the appointment. It's having some qualitative measure of, like, how did that really go? Was that a 7 out of 10 or was that a 4 out of 10? And do I know what a 7 is? And do you know what a 7 is? Like, talk a little bit about the what versus the how and how much maybe freedom. The agents get to kind of do some of that, like, collaborative goal setting for themselves that then breaks down into the standards that you can hold them accountable to.

Yeah. So on our team, we don't necessarily feel like each agent is created equal. I mean, we don't. You know, everybody has different goals. One of the things that I think I learned through the coaching that I've been through, and my coach is John Chaplak. He's amazing. He's taught me a lot. You know, we. We do this exercise where it's called Go to the Board. Right. And every agent is open and honest about their goals together in front of the community as a collective. We're there to celebrate them, cheer them on. Some agents, their goals are 24 transactions a year. Others are just 20, 30. I have one agent who's on track, and her goal was 72. And then we try to understand as a collective community, what will that do for your life? What does that mean? How can we support you? And. And it just really changes how we look at each person's individual goals. And we do this as a community. And now we're tied to that trip to Hawaii or to that dream home for their mother or that dream vacation for their loved one, or marrying that dream girl. Right. I think we then can bring that into the coaching conversations, into how we hold them accountable again, how they do it. Right now we can create a roadmap for them. Of course, we know there's a minimum standard of our team of at least X amount of calls just to. And it's not just calls to have a call conversation. Right. It's. Look, you know, what's a win? What feels like a win to you? I got an appointment a day. You know, one appointment makes me feel like I gotta win. But we know that the activities, the compound effect of the activities. Right? How many open houses do you feel like you can do? And it's your number, not my number. Right. And again, what is it that we're looking to do? Are we just looking to do the open house? Are we looking to connect. Connect with one neighbor? Right. By going to 10 houses on the left, 10 houses on the right. Across the street, inviting them to give you feedback, you know, saying, I got 10 people in my database that I at least have new conversations, not necessarily an appointment. So, yeah, I think winning looks different for each agent. But as long as you're tied to their ultimate, call it, why? Goal vision. I think you're going to be able to truly help your agents have more intentional conversations and really feel like you're a part of this journey with them. And I think not only will they appreciate it, you'll feel so connected with them. When you're. When you're watching them win, but also when they're having a setback, you could be like, hey, listen, I know how important. Buying your mom a home, I know what that means to you. So what's gonna get in the way? And they're like, nothing's gonna get in the way, or I'm gonna get in the way. And then say, how can I support you through this? And, you know, let's talk a little bit about this. What's changed from when you stood up there and you said that? Because life happens and, you know, is real estate what's gonna get you there? And if so, then I'm committed to helping you, even if it's not on my team. Like, if it's a. If it's a better fit elsewhere, I'm also gonna support you with that, because I want to know that I'm a leader, not just focused on when I'm winning. It's also I want to see them win in life. So, I mean, how they get there. I think it's a number of, you know, multiple conversations, really getting clear. And then if you do that exercise with them, you even can. You can ask them, like, so what does this look like? How many conversations? How many calls? How many appointments? How many open houses? Like, you know, what's. What's going to get in the way? And they're the ones telling you. And then you say, okay, is that your number or my number? And then they'll say, that's my number. I'm like, you don't seem convinced. And if you see that they're giving you a little bit of pushback or resistance, I'm like, okay, let's get to a place where it's your number and you feel good about it. And then it's interesting. Ben Kinney and I were talking, and I love the way he coaches, and he's like, you promise, like, who's this gonna hurt if you break your promise? And then, you know, like, you see people's faces just light up and they're like, wait, no. Like, I don't want to let my, my wife down. I don't want to let my, my daughter down, that she can't get into the college she wants to because I can't afford it. So like, dude, so like, how's that going to make you feel? And then all of a sudden they're like, all right, I'm, I'm, I'm going to do this. And if that is that word you promise, is it, you know, again, yours or mine? Do you give me permission to hold you accountable? And then all of a sudden it just becomes a game changer.

Yeah, it's that clear, clear, clear communication. It's clear mutually set expectations. And it's, I mean, you can't want something for someone else. They need to want it for themselves. And this idea of kind of like laddering into that makes so much sense. Let's go really high level. You've been in a, I mean, you've been in the industry, very successful in a variety of different roles. We talked a little bit before we sat down about some of the iterations, you know, some of the teams, models, brokerages, brands that you've been in. So I assume you have very unique perspective on this or very practical, I should say. There are solo agents watching or listening who either want to start a team or they're curious. They're team curious, let's call them. Or they would be. They're suffering a little bit inside a brokerage as a solo agent, let's just say, you know, decent broker. But like, they have to be good at all the things, more things than any one person can really be good at. They might be better off joining a team. So speak to those two people a little bit, or you could even speak to them in the form of a question. Like, how would you advise someone thinking about starting a team? What are two or three things they should be thinking about before they know whether that's a road for them? And then after that, maybe someone who might be better off joining a team. How should they evaluate a team? What's in it for them? What Maybe some misconceptions. I feel like, for example, some people are afraid to give up the split because they don't understand the value that they get in exchange for that and what that's going to liberate them to do. I also think that there's maybe a misperception of like, I'm giving up and I'm going to join a team because I can't do it on my own, but that's not it either. So anyway, I asked you a lot there. Share whatever you like. See what your contacts are doing on Zillow. Monday, December 8th join follow up Boss for a sneak peek webinar where you'll be among the first to see how to get Zillow searching, browsing and saving insights for the contacts in your database directly inside. Follow Up Boss so when a past client of yours gets that late night and extra bedroom would be really great right now. Kind of feeling you you'll know before anyone else who's showing high intent to buy or sell insights about what's happening right now so you can deliver a personalized touch at scale. See what your contacts are doing on Zillow. Monday, December 8th at 1pm Eastern 10am Pacific learn more and sign up through the link in the description below. You're in your podcast app. Check out the description of this episode right down below. It's the first line and the first link. Now back to the conversation.

Oh my gosh. I love this question because I understand what it is to be a solo agent. Before I was a broker, before I was a team leader, I was a solo agent and I was overwhelmed. I was extremely successful as a solo agent and I realized when I was overwhelmed with an abundance of business that I needed help. And that's when I decided to start a team. But at the time, there was no real success in teams back then. I'm aging myself. This is probably like 15 years ago. So it was what the red book. At the time, it was a lot of theory and people were doing stuff, starting teams and lots of iterations of teams, but no one had cracked the code. You know, I think we watch each other. We're like, okay, that's working for them. I'm going to follow what they're doing. And then we crash and burn. So I had no idea. First it was just hire a bunch of buyer's agents or do you go admin heavy? So I could say I've made every mistake that you could possibly make when starting a team. I've done it the right way. Many times, I've done it the wrong way. So I want you to know I've been in your shoes if you're looking to start a team. But I hope that you don't have to make the mistakes that I've made. I think now, like we've kind of opened up, I would say, the playbook. There's so many people out there who've done it in Great way. In many ways I would I call great ways that you could follow. But for me, as a solo agent, the first thing is a, I knew I was passionate about helping others, and I had enough business to help other agents succeed. I wasn't trying to become a team leader just out of ego. Where I didn't want to sell homes, it was like I had to too much business to support on my own, and I could bless others with the opportunity. I was a farm, you know, I was a heavy farming agent and the phone was ringing and just vulnerable. Permission to be vulnerable is. I know what it feels like to miss a soccer game, a recital, to not have time to be there for your family, to go on vacation and be on the phone the entire time and miss dinners and not truly be present in your family's life. So that is why I started a team. Two reasons. A, I needed leverage and support, and I needed help. And then I also went on a personal mission to say, I don't want agents to suffer the way I did. And it wasn't suffering because I didn't have business. It was now that I had this business, I didn't have the proper infrastructure or support to help me run this business. So, you know, that was a blessing in disguise. And from there, that's where I started this journey of starting a team. So if you're looking to start a team and you to this day, you know, and I hear people say, I want to start a team, but I don't have enough business. So maybe it's not the time to start a team right now. It should be growing your business and maybe a good admin can help you really work on the things that you need to do so that you can generate more business. But if you are in a position to where you have enough business and you're looking around and you're like, man, I'm overwhelmed. You know, maybe it's starting off with an admin TC and then a showing assistant. And then from there, you know, I think you can really work on, you know, what kind of team you want to build, whether it's, you're the bot, you're the lead listing agent, and then you have buyer's agents. That's the journey. I went, I had, you know, Ethan, I did 75 to 100 listings a year by myself. It was overwhelming. So it was thanks to my husband. He said to me, he was like, okay, it's time for you to build, you know, a listing division. Cause at first it was, I was the listing agent. Then I had all the buyer's agents. Well, there's only one one of me. So I had to decide if I was going to gift my book of business of listings and from there groom up a listing agent. And the goal and the mission there was make them better than I ever was as a listing agent. And I became the trust mark and I would say the brand and showed them how to become a great listing agen while I just focused on generating more opportunities for the team. So I know there's a lot of team leaders out there who are the team leader. They're also the lead listing agent, they're also the lead ISA or everything. And I learned quickly to delegate and to compartmentalize my business and leverage these opportunities. So if you're a team leader that is thinking about, I'm sorry, an agent that's thinking of leading a team, I just ask you to really be honest with yourself. Are you prepared to really support the lives of others while also taking a pay cut? You know, because I had to make a decision to take a pay cut only to take, you know, to move forward and focus on building the business. The other thing that you asked was, you know, if you're an agent considering a team. Right. I love teams. I think teams are great. You know, there's so many great team leaders that are just in it to help you succeed and they are willing to share their database, their experience, their book of business and you don't have to think about where the next deal is going to come from. What you need to do is just focus on learning the best practices from people who have walked the walk. They are sharing their experience with you. Think about the leverage, think about all the expenses tied to having to secure your first few transactions. You can bypass all of that and focus on the most important things. Learning, being developed, being in an ecosystem of collaboration, coaching, and I call borrowed authority. You know, if you can take your ego out of it and just say, look, I am humble enough to know that I don't want to do this alone and I want to be able to borrow not only your authority, but your experience and your mistakes stakes, you are going to fast track your business way more than anyone who thinks, oh, you know, the splits. Well, if you look at this, the cost of running a team, the cost of having an admin, the cost of photography, the cost of, you know, management support staff. And then on top of everything that they've invested over the years, I've invested millions of dollars, millions of dollars to build the trust Mark that we have in our market. And an agent that is culturally aligned just simply is able to plug in and therefore, and from there grow. Their net profit is way more than what it would be if they were a solo agent. And, you know, I, I say don't step over dollars to pick up pennies.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think every agent who gets started, unless you have a large network and you have the financial means to go six months to a year without the stress of needing a closing, should join a team. Because on a team, it could fast track you. You'll get momentum right away. I say in 90 days, you should have at least two to three closings. As a good, you know, I would say benchmark to measure your success. And what should you look for on 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 infrastructure. I mean, they 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, you know, door knocking, open houses. You know, they have, I would say, an innovative approach towards leading you and also building a team that can, can scale. Right. Look for those things maybe, perhaps, you know, 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 out 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 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. But, yeah, I think teams are great if you're a solo agent looking to build a team, you know, make sure that, again, you have the right foundation and do it for the right reasons. And if you're looking to grow your business and joining a team, make sure you join a team that is aligned with your values as well. And teams are great. Teams are great. And I think what's interesting also is that I'm seeing even more experienced agents. They're calling and they're saying, hey, I'm finally ready to expand, explore what it looks like to be on a team. And these are veteran agents. Veteran agents that when we sit down and have a conversation, it is not a step back in your career when you join a team. Oftentimes it could be a step in the, you know, in the right direction towards a new future. What I think is really cool is a lot of them are saying, partnerships matter, community matters. I don't want to do this alone. And we can, I would say, goal setting, career path together on what matters, like, not only financially, but what that peace of mind looks like and, you know, what your future looks like for your family. And those are the conversations I'm having a lot more with top agents who are saying, I'm tired. I don't want to do this alone. So it's really interesting to see, I believe, more top agents or agents partnering with teams.

Yeah. And whether it's new or established, going farther, faster. You also mentioned toward the end, there kind of the some of the priceless factors, like the lifestyle factors are all there. This has been awesome. You are a pleasure. Congratulations on building the number one mega team with Exp. Thank you for spending this time with me. I have a lot more questions for you that we'll do on another day, but I do have one more fun one before we close. And you get to pick either of these two to answer. You don't have to answer both. Veronica, what is your most frivolous purchase or what is a cheapskate habit that you hold onto even though you probably don't need to?

Mm, gosh, such great questions. I would say my most frivolous purchase. Oh, gosh, good one. I would say I really didn't feel proud when I bought that G Wagon. I don't have it anymore.

Okay.

But, yeah, awesome. Didn't like it.

I love that you corrected that one.

Appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you so much, Veronica.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thanks for checking out this episode of Team os. For email exclusive insights every week, sign up@@realestateteamos.com.