{"id":14388,"date":"2020-02-21T12:51:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T20:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=14388"},"modified":"2020-02-21T12:51:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T20:51:57","slug":"agent-real-estate-teams-keep-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/agent-real-estate-teams-keep-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Love or Money? How Real Estate Teams Keep Their Best Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019ve just decided to start your own real estate team<\/a> or you\u2019ve been leading a team for years, you\u2019ll inevitably face this challenge: How do I keep my best agents?<\/b>\u00a0 There may be strength in numbers, but it\u2019s not unusual for agents to gain experience and exposure as part of a reputable team before choosing to head out on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s hard to keep agents because when they get successful, they think, \u2018Oh, I can do it on my own,\u2019\u201d says Denie Dulin<\/a>, head of The Dulin Group and a top agent in Baltimore. Dulin formed her team seven years ago. She has seven agents on the team today, and the longest-tenured agents have been with her since the beginning.<\/p>\n

Rather than fretting over the potential lost time and resources from a departing team member, consider instead how to retain your best real estate agents. What does it actually take to build and maintain<\/i> a strong, happy, productive team?<\/p>\n

To learn their best tips for agent retention, we spoke to Dulin and Mario Greco<\/a>, head of The MG Group in Chicago, which recently won the Agents\u2019 Choice Best Real Estate Team award<\/a> from Chicago Agent<\/i> magazine. Greco has a team of 15 agents who are currently averaging eight years with the team, and the longest of whom has been with him for 14 years.<\/p>\n

\"Agents<\/a>
Source: (Christina @ wocintechchat.com \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Money talks, but it won\u2019t say everything<\/h2>\n

Team or no team, the one thing all real estate agents can agree on is the importance of a fair commission split. Of course, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach to compensating your agents. A 2018 survey<\/a> conducted by the National Association of Realtors showed that 38% of team-participating respondents had fixed commission splits, 22% had graduated commission splits, and 13% of respondents earned 100% of their commission while on a team.<\/p>\n

As a team leader, you\u2019re in a unique position to balance value and paycheck to keep your crew satisfied.<\/p>\n

Dulin runs her team with a graduated commission plan, and agents earn more over time as they need less of her support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I look at it, my time is free to [my agents],\u201d says Dulin, \u201cand the assistant\u2019s time is free to them. The more they use me — as far as calling me on weekends, as far as making mistakes in contracts or needing to know how to write the correct contract for the right property — the less of a split they\u2019re on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dulin feels that this strategy facilitates a natural progression for newer agents to grow into a higher commission split.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ideal situation is that over six months to a year, they learn a lot. They learn about negotiating, they learn about contracts, and even though the assistant will do the contracts, I want everyone proficient in contract writing. And once we get there, once they\u2019re using less of me, I\u2019m happy to bump up their split because that frees up my time to do my business,\u201d Dulin explains.<\/p>\n

How you choose to navigate commission splits for your agents may be further influenced by your procedure for referrals. While it\u2019s not uncommon for team members to work their own leads independently, some team leaders will hand out referrals on a case-by-case basis. The question, then, is what happens to the split on subsequent business?<\/p>\n

\u201cI let my agents keep any resulting business that comes from business I give them,\u201d Greco says. \u201cThere\u2019s no tail on the referrals that I give out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break this down:<\/p>\n