As sales leaders, we have the ability to significantly impact each one of our team members, both in their professional and personal goals. However, understanding how to shape, form, and continue to build teams is a complex feat. It takes a great deal of time and effort to learn how to effectively lead others while adjusting to an ever-changing environment such as the new home industry.
What It Means to Be a Leader
What does a position of leadership truly mean? While there are many ways to view this term, a leader is someone who wears many hats — teacher, coach, friend, and mentor, to name a few. A leader puts their people first. They keep their team focused and motivated to achieve a common goal while also being a resource and support system along the way. They inspire and continually look out for continued career growth while advocating for and cultivating a culture benefiting both the individuals and the organization as a whole.
Cultivating Company Culture
Company culture involves how every person, in every part of the organization, interacts with each other in a way that is aligned with the company’s core values. It is evident everywhere within a company’s systems, beliefs, and people. When individuals feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, their work becomes more purposeful — this is where leadership comes in. Having a leader who works to implement a positive culture aligned with the mission and vision of the organization is pivotal to a team’s success. Utilizing resources, training, and other items that a company has implemented is a way to cultivate a strong culture with your team.
Creating an Industry-Leading Organization
Dive into creating new resources and encourage your teams to use the resources already provided. Develop training programs, videos, and other assets for sales associates and other employees to use as they advance in their new home selling career. Constantly analyze trends, gain feedback from your team, and actively study what works and what doesn’t work.
With a successful leader, team members are likely to take on a similar mindset and leadership viewpoint once they advance in their careers. Having the right people in the right places will create a chain reaction for successful leadership not only for today but in the future as well. To facilitate this, put a large focus on recruiting or lean into your company’s recruitment resources. If needed, restructure your recruiting process to ensure candidates are screened thoroughly in several steps before hitting the sales floor.
However, don’t forget about yourself — the leader. Never stop learning, never stop growing, and never stop bettering yourself in any way possible. When you’re not putting time into yourself, you won’t be capable of building an industry-leading organization to the best of your ability. Take time to read, enroll in courses, learn from co-workers, or expand your knowledge using available resources.
Qualities to Capitalize On
While every individual will look for leaders who exhibit varying qualities, many employees search for a few key traits.
- Be reachable and responsive. If an employee feels like a leader is there to support and help them at all times, it leads to more consistent and authentic communication, which can build trust throughout the process.
- Show empathy and understanding, yet stay firm. Push your people, yet empathize with them and outwardly show your compassion and care.
- Be consistent in all you do. Consistency showcases dependability, organization, and credibility.
- Give your people a voice. Provide them with autonomy, yet be there as a resource at all times — show them that they are in charge of their future; you’re there to help guide them along the way.
Top Five Tactics to Help You Become a Better Leader
1. Run the Triangle Offense.
The Triangle Offense consists of visiting the model home, inventory home, and competition to assess each one in order to gain a deeper understanding of the new home selling landscape. This process aids in building confidence about your community, establishing additional credibility with prospects, having knowledgeable information about competitors, and strategizing ways to sell more homes more profitably. This should be done alongside your sales agent, and as a best practice, send pictures or video chat your builder throughout this time as well. These meetings should be completed weekly and should never take longer than 90 minutes. Oftentimes, it’s easy for this process to become a checklist, but go in with purpose. Be intentional, be present, and be agile — treat this as a relationship-building activity where you’re able to build trust with your team while creating value for your builder.
2. Prepare weekly training topics structured for seasonality.
Weekly sales meetings are a way to gather your entire team together in one place and continually educate on a specific topic. During this meeting, take time to revisit team goals and track progress on each one. Evaluate any additional needs that your builder may require assistance with. In addition, prepare weekly training topics and structure for seasonality. By instilling continual learning and revisiting goals to ensure alignment between your team and builder partner, it can take your leadership to the next level.
3. Complete a monthly team assessment.
Evaluate your team on a monthly basis, both individually and team-wide. A People Pipeline Assessment, or PPA, can be used to evaluate an individual’s performance and potential. Look at categories such as their overall attitude, leadership qualities, growth potential, sales results, and compliance. This allows you to use repeatable criteria to be able to rank your team members and forecast any future promotions more effectively. Doing this allows you as a sales leader to put yourself, your team members, and your builder partner in the best possible position for continued success.
4. Build personal relationships.
Knowing your people and knowing how to lead them is paramount. Everyone is different — everyone has different personality types, emotions, experiences, and ways of responding to events. Spend time with your people and get to know them on a deeper level. Ask them about their family life, friendships, interests, and passions. Organize both individual and team-based events to strengthen these relationships at least once a month. Use this time as a way to get away from work and bond with each other. If you know what makes each of your team members tick and you’re able to cultivate a personal relationship with them, it will lead to mutual trust from both parties.
5. Balance your feedback.
Providing feedback to your team is essential in helping them grow as professionals. The four types of feedback — positive, negative, technical, and passive — should all be delivered in varying amounts and situations. While there are a number of avenues to provide feedback, not all of them are appropriate for certain messages.
- Positive: The most natural and easy to give and can be delivered in any situation. Do it as often as possible, but don’t overdo it. Above all else, make sure it’s authentic.
- Negative: This is best delivered in a one-on-one situation. While it’s not always easy to give or hear, it’s necessary for growth. Reserve the negative feedback when actions are truly detrimental.
- Technical: Can often be confused with negative feedback. Deliver it with kindness and give your team member a plan of action afterward. Depending on the circumstances, this type of feedback can be given in many different situations.
- Passive: Feedback that is not direct yet still gives the impression that there is room for improvement. A sales leader can recognize an area for improvement, subtly bring it up, and let the individual take control from there. This provides a sense of autonomy and can initiate trust.
Remember to give the “why” behind the feedback so your team members can understand it more clearly. Even though delivering feedback is not always easy, it is a sales leader’s job to provide excellent careers for their people while providing value to each builder partner — and this is one way to do that.
Detailed company operations and constantly evolving procedures are necessary to assist all employees. This starts from recruitment and travels up to the highest-ranking members in the organization. With strong leadership, effective resources, and a group of people dedicated to living out the organization’s culture, the company is on a much better trajectory to stand out in the industry. The work is nonstop, but being in a leadership position is one of the most rewarding roles one can be given.
