None of the brokers we’ve worked with believe that their office managers are doing what they are supposed to be doing — sales training.
Instead, they act more like den mothers. When they could be working on sales coaching or recruiting, office managers are consoling agents who lost big deals, troubleshooting broken printers, or 
retrieving lost MLS passwords.
It’s too easy for office managers to spend the day putting out a series of small fires. Its easy to use all of those daily tasks as excuses for not focusing on the most important roles that managers are responsible for.
The path toward a More Profitable Office
The first thing for brokers to understand is: You are going to have to change the way you — and everybody in your office — thinks about success and productivity. Office managers are stewards of productivity. You need to arm them with resources and tools they need, and you need to shift the expectation (both in yourself and in your agents) that the office manager is any kind of glorified fire marshal.
Here’s how you do it.
The 5-step process
You probably already have the basic tools you need to make this shift work — the array of technology offerings that you’ve made available to your agents, and your hard-working office managers.
Step 1: Clear the decks. Everyone in the office needs to be trained on how to manage basic administrative tasks. A transaction coordinator is a good hire at this point, someone who understands the law and can help agents with sticky deals or contract negotiation scenarios that the agents haven’t seen before.
Step 2: The “reset” meeting. Hire a facilitator to come in for a planned meeting; this person can explain to managers how their jobs will change — and get them excited about it.
The facilitator should explain the renewed focus on sales success and shift away from administrative tasks. They will also have to talk about the gentle balance of retention and how helping agents sell more real estate will be the BEST way to retain them in the long run.
Step 3: Training the trainers. You want to turn your office managers into technology trainers, and that means they’re going to need to understand the technology. Ideally, they will use appropriate technologies in their own business. How about learning how to use the CRM system to manage recruiting efforts and business planning sessions with each of their agents?
Urge your office managers to complete training on all of the MLS tools available, too — the MLS system, public records software, transaction management software, showing appointment software and any other pieces of tech that your agents touch.
Step 4: Training the agents. Managers can now work with each agent to make sure they understand how to use those tools. They can meet with agents and help them create business plans and monitor progress throughout the year.
Ideally, office managers will keep track of the progress each agent is making, identify any roadblocks and help them get back on track so agents will learn how to blow away their sales goals.
Step 5: Hold everybody accountable. None of this is going to work if you don’t take the whole concept of office-manager-as-trainer seriously. Form accountability groups that meet regularly and a much more regular focus on sales coaching. Schedule regular one-on-ones to review progress and inspire your agents to do even better.
You may find that you need to hire a lower-level administrative assistant to help manage paperwork — and that’s OK. If you make a serious mindset shift and follow all of these steps, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly your fire-marshal office managers become superstar sales success coaches.
WAV Group works with manager development for brokerage companies with more than 500 agents.
Instead, they act more like den mothers. When they could be working on sales coaching or recruiting, office managers are consoling agents who lost big deals, troubleshooting broken printers, or retrieving lost MLS passwords.
It’s too easy for office managers to spend the day putting out a series of small fires. Its easy to use all of those daily tasks as excuses for not focusing on the most important roles that managers are responsible for.
The path toward a More Profitable Office
The first thing for brokers to understand is: You are going to have to change the way you — and everybody in your office — thinks about success and productivity. Office managers are stewards of productivity. You need to arm them with resources and tools they need, and you need to shift the expectation (both in yourself and in your agents) that the office manager is any kind of glorified fire marshal.
Here’s how you do it.
The 5-step process
You probably already have the basic tools you need to make this shift work — the array of technology offerings that you’ve made available to your agents, and your hard-working office managers.
Step 1: Clear the decks. Everyone in the office needs to be trained on how to manage basic administrative tasks. A transaction coordinator is a good hire at this point, someone who understands the law and can help agents with sticky deals or contract negotiation scenarios that the agents haven’t seen before.
Step 2: The “reset” meeting. Hire a facilitator to come in for a planned meeting; this person can explain to managers how their jobs will change — and get them excited about it.
The facilitator should explain the renewed focus on sales success and shift away from administrative tasks. They will also have to talk about the gentle balance of retention and how helping agents sell more real estate will be the BEST way to retain them in the long run.
Step 3: Training the trainers. You want to turn your office managers into technology trainers, and that means they’re going to need to understand the technology. Ideally, they will use appropriate technologies in their own business. How about learning how to use the CRM system to manage recruiting efforts and business planning sessions with each of their agents?
Urge your office managers to complete training on all of the MLS tools available, too — the MLS system, public records software, transaction management software, showing appointment software and any other pieces of tech that your agents touch.
Step 4: Training the agents. Managers can now work with each agent to make sure they understand how to use those tools. They can meet with agents and help them create business plans and monitor progress throughout the year.
Ideally, office managers will keep track of the progress each agent is making, identify any roadblocks and help them get back on track so agents will learn how to blow away their sales goals.
Step 5: Hold everybody accountable. None of this is going to work if you don’t take the whole concept of office-manager-as-trainer seriously. Form accountability groups that meet regularly and a much more regular focus on sales coaching. Schedule regular one-on-ones to review progress and inspire your agents to do even better.
You may find that you need to hire a lower-level administrative assistant to help manage paperwork — and that’s OK. If you make a serious mindset shift and follow all of these steps, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly your fire-marshal office managers become superstar sales success coaches.
WAV Group works with manager development for brokerage companies with more than 500 agents.
