Dave Panozzo is the co-founding owner of The Panozzo Team-HomeSmart, a real estate team in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Humans are naturally inclined to work well in teams or group environments — as long as that work environment provides the optimal elements for making a great team.
As a real estate professional and leader, having a strong team and creating power players who are aligned with your vision is so important for success. At the Panozzo Team, we position our team members through our coaching, culture and digital presence. To start, here are some questions you can ask your team to determine if you are on the same page:
• What do we do?
• Who are we for?
• What unique benefits do we provide?
• Do any of our processes seem inefficient to you? How can we fix them?
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If you get multiple different answers, then you know that your message is not clear to your team in terms of what you are trying to accomplish. And not having clarity on your team can create problems and issues down the road.
Here are some other ways we were able to leverage the power of a team and how you can, too:
Coaching
We found coaching our teammates and partners on things like unique client approaches and how to build rapport is not only very elemental in the growth of our team but also creates an environment of learning. Between my wife and I, we have 24 years of real estate experience and provide invaluable coaching for our team through our weekly team meetings. Our meetings only last about 30 to 45 minutes. We start by having everyone share a win, then go over scenarios that happen in the marketplace and provide a new strategy or lesson.
In your next team meeting, make sure to get to the point quickly by figuring out what the pain points are for your teammates and collaborate as a group to find the solutions. Great leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses, so remember that you don’t have to know everything and you can’t coach what you don’t know. Consider hiring a coach to consult your team in the areas of life and business you consider your weak spots.
Culture
Speaking of coaches, I have a business coach on staff who does not specialize in real estate. This is an investment my wife and I feel has repaid us tenfold because he has been able to help my team get over different obstacles. As a business coach, he helps you look at things from a new angle, put your problems into perspective and gives you a different mindset to help you perform better. These coaching sessions build upon our company culture, as the whole team is left with high energy and increased focus, which carries us throughout the workweek.
Our coaching sessions are just one way we build culture on a regular basis. Once a quarter, we also host a team event that has a tendency to be pretty incredible. If you are a team leader, it’s important to build your company culture through non-work-related events that allow you to really get to know your team members.
Lastly, ask these four questions to promote the culture you have and further define what kind of culture you want on your team:
• What are five to 10 qualities you think are must-haves for enriching and diversifying our team’s current culture?
• Which company value would you like to embody more?
• What inspires you to succeed every day?
• How are we different?
Digital
In the digital arena of social media, leaders should strive to encourage team members to utilize content and marketing through free online platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more. At The Panozzo Team, I provide videographers and photographers for my team members to use for content creation and have hired social media coaches in the past. We encourage all partners to be their most authentic selves, posting content that will provide value to their audience and build trust within their community. Although some team members have been reluctant to get in front of the camera, through the encouragement of the whole team, those same partners are creating videos and getting great results from them.
When it comes to promoting yourself or your brokerage, do both — people want to see who you are personally. They want to know, like and trust you before doing business with you. So many people are hung up on what brokerage they should be with because they think the brokerage brings them business, but it is the individual who finalizes the deals, not the brokerage.
Additionally, having your whole team on social media can bring attention to one another’s posts, which will encourage the algorithm to favor your posts and show them to more people. Consumers have so much information thrown at them that it can be overwhelming, so it is important to be quick to help your clients before you get snubbed by the competition. Have your team connect with one another on social media and repost and draw attention to each other’s content. This simple trick can make a world of a difference in building team morale and sales.
If you are at a point in your life and business where you are ready to build your team or just want to strengthen the integrity of your team, take a look at the way you approach your coaching, culture and digital presence.
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