How Real Estate Brokers and Teams Can Skyrocket Their Growth and GCI: A Segmented and Focused Support Approach

The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, is a well-known concept in real estate. However, with the rise of team growth over the last decade, we've shifted closer to a 94/6 paradigm in many small to medium-sized brokerages. For Broker/Owners aiming to grow their Gross Commission Income (GCI), there are two options: external and internal. For those looking to scale GCI rapidly, internal growth is the most effective path. Typically, the top 10% of your brokerage can generate up to 70% of the total GCI. Even a small growth in your top 10% can significantly impact your GCI—improving your top teams by 20% can change everything. Given that margins for teams are roughly three to seven times more than the standard 3% for traditional brokerage models, focusing on internal growth is crucial.

Growing Your Top Teams

To grow your top teams, you might consider buying more leads, adding more support, or upgrading your technology. The real solution lies in creating a support platform that is both focused and segmented across multiple teams, roles, and tasks. As technology evolves, taking complexity off the plates of your sales leaders and teams allows them to do what they do best.

Here’s a detailed approach to segmented and focused support across multiple teams:

Expand Your Tech Stack and Adoption

Revisiting the Pareto Principle, consider this: adoption of technology by your entire sales team is typically around 20%, and of that, 80% are only using 20% of the features. Increasing adoption across your team can yield immediate results and create a strong baseline. Most CRMs allow multiple teams to use the same platform while maintaining strong firewalls, keeping each team within its silo. One critical role in this process is that of a CRM Manager. Use your top CRM Manager to manage all teams and allocate costs, rather than trying to find multiple experts to fill this vital position.

According to the National Association of Realtors, 77% of real estate agents use CRM software, yet only a small fraction fully leverages its capabilities. This statistic underscores the importance of not just having technology but ensuring its effective use. By increasing the adoption and utilization of CRM tools, brokerages can enhance their operational efficiency and boost GCI.

Creation and Utilization of Shared Resources and Roles

A dedicated CRM Manager is vital for growing teams, and managing customer relationships, and data. Adding Virtual Assistants (VAs) can improve efficiencies and are cost-effective. VAs can offload routine tasks from sales teams, allowing them to focus on high-value activities like building relationships and closing deals. They offer scalability, enabling teams to expand without the burden of hiring and training additional full-time staff.

Efficient Management of Leads and Clients

Once your CRM has a standardized baseline, you can standardize daily activities, filters, messaging, processing, and lead flow. The goal is simple: create a single, high-performing system instead of multiple, average-quality ones. Not all teams will work the same but creating a single role to manage 75% of the same functions for all teams creates significant efficiencies. A strong CRM manager can handle a $4M to $5M producing GCI.

Lead Generation Consolidation

The sales funnel for lead sources is broadening, including online platforms (paid and organic), open houses, existing relationships, past clients, and advertising. A common gap is not just establishing connections but integrating them into your CRM. Adopting a scalable mindset is crucial. As lead sources proliferate, consistent processes, steps, and best practices must be applied across similar sources. This ensures leads are effectively integrated into your CRM, allowing your manager to take responsibility.

A study by Real Trends found that brokerages that effectively consolidate and manage leads through a centralized CRM system see an average of 18% higher conversion rates. This statistic highlights the importance of a streamlined lead management process in driving sales and boosting GCI.

Creating a Bandwidth of Deep Support

Less than 10% of real estate teams take advantage of lower-cost VAs, yet their adoption is crucial for efficiency and growth. By identifying a CRM Manager to oversee all client relationships, you can introduce an additional layer of support within your team. This support role can handle 50% of repetitive tasks, monitor operations, generate reports, and manage daily functions. This shift in task distribution allows your sales team to focus on the top 40% of activities that drive results.

Improved Client Segmentation and Personalized Communication

Digital marketing platforms can help brokers segment their audience based on factors like buying readiness, property interests, and past interactions, enabling more personalized communication. Analyzing client data to categorize and segment them based on preferences and demographics allows for targeted marketing strategies. Tailoring messaging and content for individual client segments fosters stronger connections and increases engagement.

Leverage Your Client's Entire Lifecycle

Build sustainable relationships for all phases of life, not just during the home-buying process. Most clients purchase a home once every seven years. What are you doing to grow your relationship during the other 72 months? Focus on action plans like closing, post-closing, adding reviews, providing annual CMAs, sending newsletters, and outreach. This segment is crucial for building the full lifecycle as an end-to-end relationship.

Cost Allocation Methods and Approaches

Cost allocation can be managed in multiple ways. The standard approach is a result-based method that allocates GCI, transaction count, or production-based metrics as a percentage of costs for each team. A team's production of 34% of GCI would contribute this same amount to all shared resources. Usage methods, especially for time spent on repetitive tasks, can be utilized. Advanced methods, like an equal shared cost for the CRM Manager role and usage allocations for VA resources, can also be considered.

The presence of a dedicated CRM Manager not only enhances efficiency but broadens the sales funnel on a larger scale. This individual can operate beyond the local market, expanding your team's reach while reducing dependency on sales personnel for all lead activities. With the CRM Manager overseeing lead nurturing, data management, and tracking, your sales team can prioritize building relationships, negotiating deals, and closing transactions.

Creating a bandwidth of tasks, functions, and management levels within your support team maximizes efficiency, streamlines operations, and drives growth. Embracing VAs and dedicating roles to specific responsibilities ensures efficient workload distribution and leverages the expertise of your team. This strategic approach empowers your sales team to focus on high-value activities, optimizing performance and achieving remarkable growth in the competitive real estate market.

By adding strategic support and leadership roles to your technology framework, you can support your sales teams with a segmented approach, expanding your GCI across your entire franchise. This comprehensive and focused approach not only enhances your brokerage's operational efficiency but also positions you for sustained growth and success in the real estate market.