Wherever you are in your business, even if this is day one and you’re brand new, you need to be thinking:
‘How do I build a team or be part of an infrastructure that has one?’
I recently went deep on the topic of the most important hire for real estate agents with Virtudesk. Because, let’s face it, it’s nearly impossible to go it alone in this industry. But building a team comes with a never-ending list of questions, including who to hire.
Here’s why a Transaction Coordinator should join your team before anyone else.
Delegate and Get Back to Business
What happens when you get your first listing as a new agent? If you don’t have a Transaction Coordinator, you’ll be the one spending hours each week on data entry, checking dates, and making sure the transaction goes smoothly.
Your job relies on building relationships with prospects and clients. Spending more time with clients enables you to develop deeper connections, add more value, and, in turn, they become more likely to trust you. And clients who trust you will send more business your way—whether through a future transaction or referrals.
This is not a turn-and-burn business. The lifetime value of a customer could be worth $100/200/300K in future business. So, instead of rushing to get the next task done, spend the extra half hour with them. Realistically, this can only happen if someone else is doing the paperwork, checking the dates, and doing data entry. That’s where a Transaction Coordinator comes in.
Trying to do it all yourself is how agents end up at the bottom of the roller coaster, when they’re doing the work someone else should be doing. So, the most crucial hire—the first hire—should be someone who can manage the backend.
And it grows from there.
Virtual Assistants as Transaction Coordinators
Every one of the Transaction Coordinators I’ve hired have been Virtual Assistants. It’s a structure that works well for my team, and I’ve found that the pool of applicants from Virtudesk is strong.
In fact, the first long-term Virtual Assistant I hired is now the Operations Manager for my real estate business. She’s a pillar for team culture and holds everyone accountable—including me.
Hire and Train Early
To build a successful team, you must be proactive—starting with the first hire.
Of course, there’s always a risk involved in hiring. The best way to mitigate that risk is to go out and hire a Transaction Coordinator before you need one. Waiting until you need someone to lighten your workload will make it impossible for you to allocate time for onboarding and training.
I recommended hiring a Virtual Assistant—specifically a Transaction Coordinator—at least two months ahead of schedule, so you can spend the time training them.
Don’t wait until you’re inundated with business. If you’re suffering from burnout and desperate for a helping hand, you will not have time to adequately onboard and train your VA. And the consequences could cripple your business.
Commit to four solid weeks of intense training—Zoom makes it easy—so you can train your VA on your systems and on your company culture. Take the time to write SOPs so they’ve got the bullet points, the checklist, or whatever it might be. They need to know what to do and what you expect from them.
Two months later, your business will speed up to five to ten times what it was before. That’s the power of having a skilled TA in your corner.
If you are ready to hire a VA, but don’t know where to start, check out the first volume in BAM’s “How to Hire a Virtual Assistant” ebook series with Virtudesk.
