Commercial Real Estate Agency Staffing Strategy

In a commercial real estate agency you have to be really careful how you integrate the sales and agency team with the administrative team.  The job roles and specifications must be carefully set so that both arms of the business work to the common goals of market share and commission.

The administrative people in your agency are the ‘processors’ of the business whilst the agents and salespeople are there to bring in the new business.  I know that statement may upset some very hardworking administration people; the fact of the matter is that they would not have a job without some successful salespeople bringing in the listings and the leads.

There are a couple of problems in the commercial real estate industry that need to be made clear:

• Top agents need support.  If this is not done they will either lose focus on the paperwork that has to be done, or they will spend too much time on the paperwork and the commissions will fall away.
• Many top agents are not good at the paperwork side of the business.  Whilst there is no excuse for this, it is a common problem in the industry and team leaders should deal with the problem.  Everyone in the team has to work together in harmony.
• The administrative staff should be chosen for their ability to support the sales team.  On that basis they should be checked out as to a character of ‘cooperation’ and their administrative skills.  Uncooperative administrative staff can destabilise the business and the output of the sales team.
• The members of the sales and agency team should respect the value and services of the administrative staff.  In this way more work and better results will occur.

The salespeople that you employ in your real estate business are there for one thing and that is to generate business.  Every day they have to prospect, cold call, market properties, meet clients, take inspections, and process listings.  In all of those things there is a lot of paperwork.

You cannot have the sales team ‘bogged down’ with paperwork.  Yes, they do have some paperwork to do and it must be accurate.  The burden of mundane and ordinary paperwork can be lifted from the team with a good administrative support team.

How many salespeople should you have for one administrative person?  With ordinary salespeople that are not yet at the top of their game, the ratio is about 3 salespeople to one support person.  With more sales and listing success that ratio will change.  Top Agents will usually have one totally dedicated support person working for them.

If you want more tips to build your commercial real estate team, you can get them right here.