https://www.listennotes.com/e/b4ded5e2c7d54a1e91558d0c93b49e00

Nobody likes change at any point. And when you force it, then that's when you're gonna get the resistance. So you have to get them to buy into it. So you're reselling the product to your team so that they know what the big picture and that if we do get these hurdles, it's okay, let us know. We're here to support you and we'll move forward from it too.

Welcome to the Leading Lane Podcast. For real estate pros, by Real Estate Pros with your hosts Ashley Frederick and Steven Burch. If you're looking for an honest, authentic, and raw perspective, you found it. I'm everyone back to the Leading Lane podcast. We're happy to have you today and we thought we would talk a little bit about implementation and I think that that can cover a wide variety of things. A lot of us are going through some Changes as far as an online platform or contracts, signatures, etc. But I think that that can trickle all the way down to implementation for orientation, for new agents, for new staff. And there's just so many different processes and maybe some of the, you know, life hacks we've seen with implementation or suggestions or things that have worked well for us. So still even what's something that you're working on implementing?

You know, there's so many different products that we're rolling into our company currently, not only just with the changes with, you know, NAR, but then, you know, the platforms that we're rolling into. So I'm gonna try to put this, break it down into just something simple to make sure that we understand what implementation is and then how to actually execute it. I think in business and in life, we have these great ideas that are, Yes, here's this great system. It's the easy button and it's gonna make everything go so well for you. But we're more focused on the end result than we are focusing on what behaviors that need to be developed and then making changes and shifts in people. And especially when you're leading people and you have a group of people, It's not like implementation is turning a light switch on and yay, everybody has it and now you have to figure it out. I think that's probably one of the worst ways to be able to introduce any sort of products, especially to a team of people. For me, we're transitioning from DocuSign over to SkySlope. I try to work everything backwards with implementation as what is our actual last day that we're going to be having for DocuSign? So I know what my hard stop is that I need to make sure that everybody's off of there, but I don't use just that date. I roll it back a little bit to give us some leeway, some buffer time to where what happens if we have the stragglers or life happens or there's issues with the new system, whatever the case may be. So I wanna make sure that I'm preparing myself and my team for that timeframe. that the what ifs that are there. Then I go back from there as well of when are we actually going to start it? And so do I have a two-month window? Do I have a three-month window? How long is this really going to be? And then I go back a step even further is that I truly don't want my agents to engulf into everything at the very beginning once a new product is rolled out. It creates so much confusion, confusion, frustration. And I think that's where people, they'll get stuck into it, and then all of a sudden, they'll be completely resistant to going into whatever direction that you're trying to go, if it's a product or a new process or anything else. So I think it's working yourself backwards of an implementation plan to ensure that you get as many of your, your team members to be able to adapt into whatever process that you're taking forward. So are there issues? Absolutely. Right? But there's so many different resources and it's my job to be able to show the team what the big picture is and being able to say like, okay, this is how we're going to dissect it. This is the way that we're going to make sure that we're wellness out to you. But I already have been doing trainings. I already have the stuff working on the background. And when I say I, me and my team have been doing this so that we can try to find the loopholes or the issues before we even get them over to our agents. So I think as a leader, you have to take that initiative to either put yourself into the shoes or putting, you know, a team member into the how to adapt this new product, then get your team to buy into it. Cause let's be real. Nope, I mean, who likes change? Nobody likes change. Nobody likes change at any point. And when you force it, then, then that's when you're gonna get the resistance. So you have to get them to buy into it. And so you're reselling the product to your team so that they know that what the big picture and that if we do get these hurdles, it's okay. Let us know we're here to support you. Um, and we'll move forward from it too.

But.

I think that kind of answered your question. I think people again think that implementation is like switch, oh, everything's great or you know it. And we automatically assume just because we went through that training, everybody that should have or did go through that training is receiving and comprehending that same content as you. And that's not the case because everybody's brains are thinking totally differently. So yeah, that's cool.

Right.

I mean, inside of the implementation.

Well, I think that, you know, it's like you can go through one training, but much like many other things, until you're repetitively doing something, does it actually click? I think with implementation two, you have to be willing to be flexible. You know, we kind of had an end date and my goal was to just have one agent swap over so that we'd start to learn, like, what kinks did that one agent instead of like seven agents having kinks at the same time. And right, like through that process, we realized that there were for forms missing, Etc. So we're still, like, testing the waters. You know, we had a training, I think, maybe two weeks ago, and everyone was like, we were gonna switch everyone over the. The following week, and we were at this training, and everybody was lost. And everybody was like, no, you do this. No, you do this. No, you do that. No, you do this. So then I was like, okay, we're not changing next week because there is not clear pictures for everyone as to where to go. So.

Right.

Instead of. getting flustered or whatnot. We just took that as a sign that we're not quite ready. We needed to reach out to a couple people from some additional training and whatnot. And you still have to have, you know, businesses operate as you would. I mean, you still have to make the contracts come through and, you know, you make, make sure that everyone, your clients and customers are still taken care of. It can be frustrating because you're so, right, you got into, this will be the third time we've changed. So we had DocuSign rooms. went to dot loop, now going to SkySlope. Right. So we've changed before and every time it was a learning curve at the beginning, but I think that you have to think about the end goal and there are other things too that come into play as far as it might lead to better transaction management or the ability to do your books differently. Like there are long-term goals people have to remember will come through, but I think it's just a matter of being open with everyone. So like you have to have a sense and a pulse on your agents. And if they're not comfortable and if they're struggling, it doesn't make sense to open it wide open until everyone is a little bit more comfortable so that they can represent their clients. And you'd hate to have to be in a, I have to write an offer in 20 minutes and I can't figure out how to access the program or whatnot. And I always tell people at the end of the day, like worst case scenario is you have to go back to pen and paper where you still have that option, but you don't have to give up on something. So I think, just like you said, you have to try to plan it out. It's not going to always go as planned, but you have to be willing to ask the questions, understand that there's a learning curve, and just continue to, you know, if you need additional training, you have to reach out and keep on finding away at it.

You know, I also think here too, like, not only do you need that implementation plan and be willing to adjust and pivot whenever you need to, but also like, this is so huge where your communication plan comes into play as well. Because if you have a team that you're leading, and you don't have a communication plan and they're just, you know, going willy-nilly or going to the wrong place, or maybe they're getting information from YouTube and that's outdated information and, you know, creating more frustration for themselves. You have to be able to figure out how do you get everybody on the same page of when you have a question, this is where you go to, you know, view your resources. If the resources resources are not there, then this is where you go to be able to ask your question and you put it in black, white, put it on, like ours is on Canva, right? Like we have a generic one that we do just as a generic office communication plan. But when we roll out these types of things, we make sure that we have a specific person that all questions regarding Skyslope go to said person. So then that person can now getting all of the questions together, they're going to the correct area, then they're making sure that they're asking the questions to ensure that they comprehend so they can turn around and then train the agents. And now we have a full list of Q&As or frequently asked questions, whatever you want to call it, and everything is streamlined instead of each agent going directly to wherever they think that they need to go. So I think it's communication, right? Like it drills back to communicating the full picture of the plan, working people backwards, not just having the light switch. And then this is how we're going to execute moving forward. And here's how we're going to communicate for this specific topic to ensure you are able to sell more real estate by using this product. And it's going to be easier for you and me on the back end as well. so that they understand what the pleasure is, right, what the quality of their time being with you is going to be.

I think the other thing is, you know, we implemented tango with a lot of sky slopes. So that's a great opportunity for anything that you're trying to learn, you know, help people learn is, they're forgetting a step or whatnot, just have a tango that they can hop on and be like, oh, yep, I need to click this before I click that or, you know, just simple ways that available for them around the clock, you know, old videos or old step through so they can pull it up and be like, yep, I can continue forward.

Well, and that goes back to that Q&A, right? Like now you have that resource when there's a question, you create the resource, let it be Tango, let it be just a screenshot, let it be an SOP that you're writing out, like whatever it's going to be that you have for your company. And then where I think the big thing that I learned with implementation is once we started doing this, I was able to clearly identify who is actually utilizing those resources and who is not. Who's looking to be just spoon-fed and wants to have us just enable them versus the ones that are actually doing the deep dive and doing the research and really utilizing the communication plan. and what we're doing there is we're holding our agents accountable. And I think that that's where some people say, oh, it's not working, or I had an issue with, you know, having to change a signature and then I had a duplicated a draft or whatever the complaints are, like, okay, did you, you know, do to utilize this resource and we can see, we can track, like, no, you did not, or if you say you did, then you obviously did not because it is there in agents and people in general who likes to be held accountable because you're getting called out that you didn't do it. So I think that this is more so from a leadership perspective, that organization and then that accountability aspect of things, like it's imperative that you have that so that you can push back when need be because if they are not even taking the time to learn the process themselves for their own business. They're going to point fingers at you. Oh, we need, we need to eliminate that real quick. Like, that's not a fun place to be.

Well, I think even as a, as a leader, like, it's okay to not have all the answers because, right. My specialty is in real estate. My specialty isn't an online platform. So you can have, you can try your best, but I think that's, again, that's what I'll have to be like. That's a great question that I do not have an answer to, but I am sure member services or someone else can help you. So it's right. Just making sure that they realize that although we might not always have the answers, there's someone out there that has an answer. I mean, there's Facebook groups, there's, like you said, YouTube, like there's other people you can help. I think that what it is is, I don't know, I think it's just when things don't go people's way, they just like to give up. Yeah.

And they're playing with everybody else.

Yeah.

It's way easier to point fingers at you than it is for me to look in the mirror. at myself, of course I'm not the problem. Right.

Right.

Like, come on. And that's the other part of it too, is like the interaction and really where this sparked from, I don't care, I'll say it, like this sparked from a Facebook group that I was following, we both are on, and there's an agent that is bitching about how it's not working and all of this and like, are some of the things, the frustrations valid? Of course. But it appears you're stomping your feet and having a little cry session and wow, wow, wow, and you're yourself in the corner, like you're your own independent contractor, you're your own CEO. If something is not running properly in your business, what does the CEO do? They figure out their resources, they lean into somebody else, right? Like they don't just sit there and stomp their feet because you're not getting your way. But also with that being said too, there's a lot of people on that thread that were more, more so throwing shade than offering support. Like, if you are frustrated and if you, I mean, like, I get it. You're going to a place that you're trying to ask. Absolutely. But I don't think it was phrased that way of, hey, I need help. It was more, let me about, you know, come here and about something. So I think it's all about your, again, your communication and how your delivery is on, on how you're posting, because where the people that were throwing shade, you know, were some of their points valid? Of course. But also, I think that's where just a huge disconnect in leadership and running companies. And I don't care if you're a broker, I don't care if you're an agent, because just as you have to implement from a broker to an agent level, as an agent, you have to implement this from you to your client level too. So I don't think that we have enough trainings and discussions about how do you roll this out? How do you ensure that when you're rolling out from an agent to a client perspective that your client is clearly communicating to you when they are having issues and red flags? And I think a lot of people are too afraid to say exactly what you said. Hey, Link, I'm not an expert on this. This is brand new. So if you have any issues, work with me. And a lot of people really are a-okay with being the quote-unquote guinea pig, as long as you tell them, and if you're experiencing any issues, let me know. I'm rolling this out to you because it's going to better the process. So if you have any issues, let me know and we'll figure it out. But also we have other backups and other methods to be able to accomplish the same goal. It's not going to hinder anything. Just communicate with me and we'll make sure that it works out. But I'm excited to roll this out with you.

Yeah, I mean, I've tested out a couple of things with a couple of contracts and I mean just messaged my clients, right? Like, Hey, this is a new platform than what we typically use. Let me know if you have any issues when you see everything come through. And I mean, most people are like, Yep, no problem. I was able to sign, you know, but I mean, I wasn't sure when I pushed the send button what was gonna happen, right? But letting them know and having it come back and I was like, oh, yeah, that was pretty easy. But you know, like I was struggling with a piece of it and our, our trainer in our office, you know, I was pretty well versed in it. So even as the broker, I just said, can you set aside an hour for me and watch me do what I'm doing and tell me what stuff I'm missing? Right. So, like, have to take the extra time to see where there's a disconnect for me as well. Yeah.

You know, I have to give a huge shout out to Robin Martino in our office. Like, she has taken SkySlope, and there are others for sure, but she really the one that has communicated the most with me on, you know, some issues that are going on and whatnot. And, you know, it is frustrating because you are in the, in the weeds and you're not taking the time to, or not that you're not taking the time, like you're, you're trying to do your, your transactional and you're used to doing it so quickly. So when you have these hurdles, it definitely is frustrating. But Robin has brought those things to me. and I think that sometimes the other issue with this too is that when we work with different, you know, resources or support, let it be SkySlope, let it be anybody else, like they don't sell real estate. So they don't quite understand the same terminology that we use, right? And flip that, we don't understand the tech terminology and the different things that they are used to. So almost like we have this crosshair of how we are communicating to those who are here to help support us in taking things just at face value. Well, Robin, what she's done and what I've looped her in on is when there's issues, cc me on it. I feel like I'm pretty decent at tech and understand the whole concept. Am I in the weeds like Robin is? No, but I understand where she is. is coming from. So I'm almost work as a translator. And if anybody knows anything about me, like if you just tell me no, like I'm not going to take no, right? Like we're going to dive into this a little bit further until I truly understand why you are telling me no. And the things that we've run into is, you know, mapping issues of we, the seller's name isn't coming over onto our contract properly. Something so simple, right? But when we reached out, they were telling us that it's because of our IDX agreement and that's not allowed. Well, that's not correct. We've had other things in the past that doesn't happen on DocuSign. It happens on multiple other platforms through the IDX agreement. So it's almost pushing back a little bit. And I think that's where when you roll this out to your agents or even to your clients, whatever, Just to Robin, I'm here, I'm supporting you, I see the same message, you and I are on the same page, and I'm here in leading with you, let me take the fight. And so you can go and sell real estate and I'll take over on this side of things because I understand where they're coming at, but they're not correct in what we're trying to ask, so I need to reask it in a different way. And eventually we got those mapped out properly. Then eventually this gets a little bit easier and easier. And now it's super freaking easy to be able to click, click. All the data is imported over, everything is coming together, and there's very minimal areas that you actually have to fill out on a contract, and it saves you ample amount of time. So kudos to Robin for, there's been multiple of those examples that she has really worked through and helped me understand her perspective and agent's perspectives and just working together and not just throwing your hands up in the air and saying, I'm done, I'm over it.

Well, I think, like, we were talking about this, like, idx feed. Like, we're still on a waiting list, right? So we don't have any. There's no connection between our. Our MLS and whatnot. And, you know, instead of getting frustrated about it, it's just a matter of you have to do what you were doing in the past, fill out addresses as you were, and eventually that time will come. But, I mean, we can't just, you know, stop what we're doing. Just waiting for another piece to. I know a lot of people are upset about that, but. You didn't have the IDX feed before in ours.

And that's where you celebrate as a team, right? Look how great this is going to be. Look, there is a possibility to make this. Look back in the day, we didn't have transaction management systems like this. Back in the day, we had the typewriter and we had files and you had to fill every single thing out every single time. Right, like how much we've advanced. And so, yes, as there's different advancement in technology, there's going to be hiccups and there's gonna be learning curves. But if you're going to be stuck on the, I mean, the train track, right? Or what is the analogy that we use? Like the train is gonna go and leave with or without you. So if you want to put your heels on the ground and stay at the station, you're gonna be left behind. look at all the people that when the internet came out, oh my God, how crazy. Yep, it's going to be so crazy. It's going to change the industry so much. And it did in a positive way. Then we went from the MLS books that were printed once a month to now we have the MLS online. Oh my God, that's going to be so horrible. How are we going to be able to do this? And each time each of these shifts in the in the industry with technology. There's so many people that don't want to jump on the train and move forward and, you know, advance. And they think that by them saying, no, I'm going to be complacent, that everything's going to be hunky-dory. No, you're going to get left behind and somebody else is going to pass your ass up. So either get with it or you're going to get left behind.

Well, and I think, you know, just in like some recruiting conversations that we've had, you know, there's still a lot of people that do everything by hand as far as their actual transaction management. So they have an accepted offer folder. So they print out everything after it's been accepted and they literally put it on their office manager and then the broker's desk and then it stays in the broker's office, which just blows my mind. You know, so although there might be some pains and struggles of where we're at right now, you still have to figure out again, like what we did or what some offices are still doing. We're still light years ahead, even though there might be some hiccups.

Absolutely. Could you imagine, let's just take your production this month from your office perspective. And every single file was sitting on your desk.

I move my mind.

You wouldn't even be able to see over your desk at all. There's no way. Like how in the hell could you be organized and efficient? Like you couldn't. There's no way. I remember when my, when I took over from my grandma, we were very much paper, very much files, right? Like, my, yeah, there's paper everywhere. So many files. There was, I distinctly remember, like, all of the file cabinets lined up. And I was like, oh, my God, how many trees have we killed here? And then we had to roll out paperless. We're not paperless. We're paperless. And how that, like, I had so much pushback from a lot of the agents because they they still like their paper, and there's still agents that like their paper, and I get it. But my God, I could not imagine having 400 or 500 files.

I remember at our, at a, an old office that there was an actual storage room in the basement, like, dedicated to those. And I think there had to have been 25, if not 30 file cabinets.

Yeah. I don't remember an old office. there were files upstairs because each year we would take all the files out and put them into the banker boxes, right? Like the file banker boxes. We had to Mark everything. Then we would take them all upstairs. And then when we moved out of that office, I don't even remember what year it was. There was, like, 20 years worth of files that were up there. And mind you, like, I just came back from a class and one of the questions that was raised was, if you have sold this property multiple times and you still have that file and you didn't properly dispose of it after the time that you are required to keep it with the real estate commission, and you still have that file, and let's say that in that file it was noted that the roof was bad, but then 15 years later, you come back through and sold it and nothing happened with the roof. You had knowledge that the roof was bad. Could you put yourself out of Jeopardy? Because you had the file still, even though that you don't remember it, it doesn't matter. You had knowledge because it's in your documentation. So, like, we went like, nope, every year, or we want to get rid of another year and properly dispose of it and get it shredded and. But it's just insane how much we've Advanced with just. that.

I think that's just the thing to remember is that all of these things seem like a mountain, right? But they're really probably more of a molehill that you'll get over in a year from now. You can look backwards and be like, okay, well, it wasn't that bad. And now we're flourishing.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think just my, my big thing is communication, communication, communication, and then organization of it. and accountability. Like right there.

And I think if you need help, ask for help.

Absolutely. And there's so many people that are willing. I'm, I haven't told you this yet, but I have a two week window at the end of May or the middle of May that I don't have a lot of bookings. Like I have a cancellation. So I'm actually going to be opening up 45 minute time slots. And for anybody that needs help, like if you want to get on a call with me, there's 45 minutes. We're calling it Struggles to Strategies Call, so that if I can give you any insight or maybe point you in the right direction or if there's anything I can do to help you, let's have a conversation about it because there are resources. You just have to first raise your hand and ask for that help. So I think you make a great point with that.

Yeah, for sure.

Cool. Great topic. I get really passionate about the implementation. I think that it's the gaps in a lot of people's business models of how to truly handle it and how do you handle it before you create a whole environment within your organization, in your office, of all these people stomping their feet. You have to make sure that you get ahead of it and have a plan. And if you don't, then you're going to have a whole bunch of, in my opinion, you'll have a whole bunch of people that are very angry and frustrated. And as a leader, that's my job to try to lessen that as much as I possibly can.

For sure.

Great conversation. So next time, make sure you tune in for next time. As always, we are looking for additional topics, conversations. We are looking for guests, so please reach out to us. And we would love to be able to have you on the Leading Lane podcast.

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