Most Real Estate Team Leaders Are Losing Out on Business by Making This Simple Marketing Mistake

Being a team leader can be like being a bird bringing back food to feed a nest full of hungry babies. Without you feeding leads to the agents on your team, they may not be able to survive on their own.

Most team leaders don’t start a team in order to train agents and feed them enough business that they eventually fly away to become successful solo agents. Yet, it happens all the time. Agents work on a team until they get enough experience, some momentum, and enough money to feel confident they could wing it on their own… and off they fly!

Which is probably why so many team leaders don’t allow their team members to do any personal marketing or branding. If you’re going to provide them with leads, prospects, and clients, you might as well get the credit for the business they’re doing, and at least not make it easy for them to develop their own personal brand on your dime (and time).

The thing is, not letting them do some personal branding and marketing is also the biggest mistake many real estate team leaders make!

There’s No “I” in Team (Well, Except for One…)

One of the main reasons joining a team appeals to many real estate agents is that they won’t have to spend the time or money it takes to market and brand themselves, or generate their own leads. That’s tough stuff for a lot of agents, and the reason so many licensees don’t last beyond a year or two in the business.

At first, the promise of effortless leads and sales seems entirely worth trading off the ability to make a name for themself. Unfortunately, that can often end up being taken for granted as they gain experience, and jealousy or resentment can creep in because they feel like the team leader gets all the credit while they’re doing all the work. Not that they are doing “all” the work! They probably just don’t realize everything that goes into running a successful team and creating the opportunities for them to do all the work they do. Or, they’ve forgotten how hard it was to do on their own.

Ironically, they may even feel like they’re being used and trapped by not being allowed to do any personal marketing or branding as time goes by. Then they start thinking about how much more money they could keep if they went solo, or dwell on every little thing that irks them about the team concept, or the team itself. It’s only a matter of time before they leave when this sets in.

You could just chalk it up to those types of agents just not being cut out to be team players. After all, as the saying goes, “There’s no “I” in team!” But let’s be honest, there often is an “I” in team. Not all, but the vast majority of teams are named after the team leader. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with naming a team after yourself, but it can subtly cause the agents on the team to feel like they forgo their identity and branding for the good of another agent. And this can ultimately cause some issues.

But it doesn’t need to be an issue…

Regardless of whether your team is named after you, or a more general name, you can not only avoid losing team members, but also gain more business by simply giving the agents on your team the ability to put their own “I” in your team and letting them market and brand themselves as well.

Why You Should Put More Than Just One “I” in Team

As justified as a team leader is in expecting that their name and brand is the focus of all marketing efforts, that approach can lead to missing out on a lot of leads, prospects, closings, and revenue.

Despite the fact that many of the agents who join teams probably weren’t killing it by marketing to their sphere-of-influence, they each have one! Marketing to their SOI is a no-brainer, and many teams probably do market to their team members’ spheres. But that marketing isn’t nearly as powerful as it could be if the agent those people know was the one highlighted in the branding, as much as the team brand is.

You can market to the people your team members know all you want — you can even have their picture on the marketing — but it’ll never be as effective as it could be if the marketing was obviously coming from (and about) them.

People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Sure, some friends and family conveniently “forget” someone they know is an agent, and buy or sell a house with another agent. That’s an unfortunate reality in this business. But for most agents, much of the business they get ultimately comes from people who know and care about them and their success.

So, even if you personally have a huge sphere-of-influence, and your name (or team name) is top-of-mind with buyers and sellers in your area, you should also capitalize on all of the connections each of your team members have as well, by making them look as prominent and important to the team as you are as the team leader. Not only will your agents feel more empowered and recognized — making them less likely to leave the team — you will benefit from leads and sales that might not have been generated otherwise for your team.

You Don’t Even Have to Entirely Change Your Marketing

Marketing and branding your team as a team is important. And you’re probably already doing a great job with marketing if you’re running a successful team, so the last thing you want to do is get rid of your existing logos, team pictures, or marketing pieces. Fortunately, you don’t need to entirely change what you’re doing to reap the benefits of giving your agents the ability to brand and market themselves as well.

We’ve designed a marketing package for team leaders to give the agents on their team access to a whole slew of marketing materials they can each use to penetrate the minds of SOI and constantly remind them that they’re an agent, while also promoting the team name. The best part is that it’s super affordable, it won’t create more work for you, and it’s easy for even your busiest agents to use on a daily basis.

The Lighter Side’s Inner Circle membership gives you a reduced rate so everyone on your team can have access to:

• Almost 2,000 memes
• Over 1,000 articles
• 20 how-to booklets
• Hundreds of email and letter templates
• And some of the most creative real estate postcards ever

Just make sure to sign up as a team from this page.

And with the click of a button, all of that content will have their name and picture on it — along with your team branding — ready for them to share with their friends, family, and followers on social media, by email, or even as hard copies in person.

The beauty of your agents sharing this type of content is that it obviously comes from them. For instance, if they share a meme or two (or more!) per day on social media, they’re signaling to their followers and constantly reminding them that they’re an agent in a fun and non-pushy way.

Or if they share an article on social media (or by email) with a short blurb, they’re not only directly reminding people they’re an agent, they’re also establishing authority and credibility which creates more trust with their audience. They can offer how-to booklets on a number of subjects (and look like they actually wrote them!) as a way of generating specific types of leads.

Simply giving your existing team agents the ability to market and brand themselves should go a long way in getting you some appreciation, respect, and loyalty from them, while tapping into potential business you may otherwise never get. And it’s a fantastic way to not only retain your existing team members, but also to attract and recruit new agents to your team by separating yourself from other team leaders who don’t give their agents the same opportunity!