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Agent Simulator
Real estate brokerages are realizing that pairing up experienced salespeople with fresh faces leads to better retention and higher office production.
With the ink on her real estate license still wet, Pamela Gregory walked into the Wimbish Riteway office in Fort Lauderdale last October, looking for a place to hang her shingle.
Armed with a handful of potential, upscale buyers, Gregory had a good handle on real estate principles and laws, but little knowledge of what it would take to build a successful real estate business for herself.
Looking for an office that specialized in high-end properties, Gregory had heard that Wimbish Riteway didn't typically take on salespeople without track records, but visited the company anyway, hoping to get a piece of the luxury property market.
After a meeting with the manager and Rebecca Riley, an accomplished salesperson with about five years of experience Gregory walked out of the meeting as a new Wimbish Riteway salesperson.
But there was a twist: For one year, Gregory would work with Riley in a mentoring relationship. "When you get your license, they don't teach you much other than how to pass the state test," says Gregory. "So they hooked me up with Rebecca, who would guide me, train me and hold my hand through the early real estate processes."
The pair signed a one-year contract and works together on an as-needed basis. Riley gets 50 percent of the commission on deals on which they work together. The first sign of mentoring success came in December, when they split the rewards of Gregory's first sale: a $500,000 waterfront home.
A Mentoring Success
From Riley, Gregory says, "she's learned the fine points of pricing properties, matching buyers with the right homes, completing contracts and paperwork and doing her homework before attempting to work with buyers or sellers."
Early on, Riley's ability to quickly find the right home for the right buyer paid off handsomely, says Gregory. "Getting hooked up with her early was a real blessing," she says. "She can really zero in on property and nail it down to just a few options instead of 15 or 20."
7 Tips for Successful Mentoring
1. Lay the groundwork. There's no cookie cutter approach to mentoring. The key is to create a mentoring program that works well with the individual office's corporate culture, needs and resources.
2. Consider personalities, but don't limit yourself. Pairing up well-matched personalities can be good, but people with different experiences and ideas can also learn from one another.
3. Define the goals. Clearly spell out who gets what from whom and when�? before starting the relationship to avoid misunderstandings down the road.
4. Get it in writing. Whether the program is formal or informal, it's still a business relationship that should be documented in writing and signed and understood by all parties.
5. Create an amicable compensation plan. A common sticking point in mentoring relationships, the creation of a compensation plan (50-50 or 25-75 split), is a key component.
6. Look at mentoring as a two-way street. The beauty of mentoring is that you can learn something from everyone. Even the youngest, newest associate can offer new knowledge or insights to a veteran salesperson.
7. Track the progress. Document the progress and accomplishments of each mentor-protoge pair, then use that information when pairing up new associates and tweaking your program. --> continued