When
should I hire an assistant? How should I train them? What should
they do for me? These are questions I get asked every time I coach
a new client or speak before a group of realtors. Assistants can
be an important addition to a realtor’s business. Hiring an assistant
can also be one of the most frustrating experiences and financially
challenging times in business.
Before a realtor should
hire an assistant you should clearly identify the need for one and
the job responsibility of the assistant. I believe the purpose for
the assistant is two fold. First, to relinquish the low pay off activities
to someone who has less value per hour than I do. Second, to fill
in the gaps in the areas I am not highly skilled at doing.
To determine what the low
payoff activities are, make a large T the size of a piece of paper.
On the left write the high payoff activities. On the right fill in
low payoff activities. List the things you do based on value on each
side. Value based dollars returned to you when you do those things.
We generally earn 85-95% of our income doing about a half dozen things.
The key is to identify those things. Then create a game plan to increase
the time we are doing those high payoff activities on the left side.
By taking the right side low payoff activities you can develop an
assistant’s job description. Over time they should be trained to
perform the bulk of the low payoff activities so you can focus more
energy on the high payoff activities.
Now we need to focus on
what we are truly skilled at and enjoy doing. Separate those tasks
and activities. Create a list of activities you are not skilled or
highly efficient at. These should be delegated to staff, affiliates
or completely dropped from performing. Then we must find the person
who has the skills and enjoys doing those functions.
Too often we hire people
like ourselves. This does not allow someone to fill in our gaps.
I always looked for staff that enjoyed the paperwork aspect, the
office behind the scenes environment. Someone who had strong organizational
skills. Someone who was a great follower. We already had a leader
and did not need another leader- I was it.
The timing of adding a staff
member is important. We often add an assistant too late. We are overwhelmed
and throw the new assistant in the pressure cooker with us. We have
more business than we can handle effectively so we hire. The problem
is we have no time to train. We get discouraged by their performance
and ability to perform effectively right now. That is truly a no
win situation for an assistant.
My advice is to hire before
you are in a crisis. Try hiring your assistant in the slower months
of your business. I realize you will have to feed the business for
a few months. But you will be able to invest the training time necessary
to produce a quality assistant who will be ready to perform at a
high level when you take off. When you are growing and very busy
it is hard to find time to train staff properly. Preparation is the
key to achieving success through assistants.
Take the steps to evaluate
your need for an assistant. Then create the job description out of
your low payoff activities. Then invest the time daily to train,
coach, and monitor your assistant. These steps will ensure your hiring
an assistant that is a wealth center. A quality assistant will increase
your business and give you more freedom to spend with your family.
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