Jen had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to join D.J. Paris on his podcast, “Keeping It Real.” The Keeping It Real podcast is based on explaining to real estate agents, teams and brokers what REAL components go into being the best producing agents and what it takes to be successful overall.
JEN’S TAKE
Jen prides herself and her business on creating the incredible team she herself is a part of. Jen’s team consists of over 10 knowledgeable agents and 5 full-time admin staff. Not only does Jen run the JDRE team, but she also runs an in house staging company, along with in house marketing and many other variables that her flourishing business consists of.
THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Keeping It Real, Jen describes what drove her to start a team, as well as what you need to know before starting a team, or joining one. “Jen also discusses what her team is doing to keep active and motivated during these challenging times. She goes on to talk about open houses and their importance in this market. Last, Jen describes what she expects when interviewing a new potential team member,” says Keeping It Real.
Here are a few tips that could help you further understand what a real estate team embodies.
WHEN TO START A TEAM
“A good time to know when to start a team is just really knowing when you’re feeling pushed. If you’re not able to service your clients and you are feeling held down by having too many buyers or too many sellers, you can’t give everybody that great quality of service. Maybe it’s time to add a team member, so that way you can still provide that great service to more people. Another reason that I grew my team is that I can’t be everywhere at once, surprise, surprise. The Columbia Gorge area is a pretty good size area, where some areas with demand are 45-to an hour away that I don’t service. So we’ve started growing our team that way, by finding great agents in those areas and having them be a part of the team while serving all different areas of the gorge,” says Jen.
BEST TEAM PRACTICES
“Meeting regularly to train and talk about what we’re going through and scenarios we might be facing, is really important to me. If a scenario comes up, we sit down and discuss what you do in this scenario, along with consistently asking my agents, “what do you guys see? What are you feeling? How were your open houses last weekend?, etc…” Talking it out and being able to sit in the room with the whole team is crucial. Team meetings where everybody pitches in and talks about what they’re going through and what they’re seeing out there, makes all the difference. It helps the team come up with solutions and pitching in their thoughts is powerful!”
WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING OR JOINING A TEAM
“I would recommend doing your research before starting or joining a team. Making sure that you really dig in and ask for recommendations from people, not other realtors, but people in the area. Asking “who have you worked with and who have you had a great experience with as a realtor?,” It’s very telling. Furthermore, just make sure that the culture of a team you would like to join, or the culture of the people you would have join your team, is a match. Go to a team meeting and make sure your personality fits in and you resonate with them and visa versa! Those are all really important things. These are the people that you’re going to be surrounded with all the time, every day. So making sure that you really feel comfortable is vital.”