Reflecting on our team advance day yesterday and while there were a ton of incredible ah has, action items, activities and announcements the one thing that stood out to me the most was the number of producers in the room. There's no surprise that this will be a record year for us, where we should hit close to $300M with maybe about 40 full time producers and when I think about HOW we got to this point, I gathered a list of things we have done consciously over the last few years...
1) We made it all about the agent and less about me. Everything from branding to database to social media... when you put your agents first they'll not only want to stay but they'll attract other producers who are paying attention to how much we make them the brand.
2) We increase our standards year after year. We don't allow things to get stale by keeping the bar set where it is. When we reach it, we raise it.
3) We have leaders who are in the trenches with our people. Our leaders know what it's like to be in a transaction so they can have real conversations with our agents about what they're going through.
4) We protect our environment. We don't just hire anyone who will fog a mirror even though that's been the trend the last several years for many. We actually are very strategic of who we bring in and how long we keep them.
5) Our highest producers all come into the office and that encourages the newer/lower producers to do the same. We have contests, events, activities, etc that all revolve around getting into the office.
6) I personally got out of the way to let our leaders lead. Heck, I even steeped down from my role yesterday and we announced Taylor Kerrigan as the new CEO so there's a clearer line of communication and execution (and she deserved it with what her and her leadership team have accomplished this year).
7) Maybe most importantly, we actually have a mission and a vision that wasn't taken from a textbook or stolen from another company. It wasnt something i saw and thought was cool. Its a mission and a vision that our associates came up with and they rally around.
Whether you're a leader in your organization currently or not, I want you to think about how you could help with one or all of the 7 above and in the meantime, let's have an unreal Tuesday!