You’ve probably been given some bad advice when it comes to building your team. This probably was not done intentionally, but it is something that could be dramatically impacting your recruiting, production and retention.
It’s a problem that affects many of our organizations and a big part of the problem is that most coaches have never been in the trenches.
That bad advice is: “Your Agents Are Your Customers”
Thinking of agents as customers can be detrimental to effective leadership. They are not customers; they are your valuable business partners.
Allow me to define the term “customer”:
Noun: customer; plural noun: customers
- A person or organization that buys goods or services from a business “Mr. Jones was a regular customer at the Cafe”
- A person or thing of a specified kind that one has to deal with “The fish is a slippery customer, and quite hard to catch”
Most customers believe: “The customer is always right and everything should cater to that individual.”
Ask yourself: is this approach working well in my organization? I guarantee that there is an unconscious expectation and relationship that your agents have with you. This mindset can put you on the defensive and lead to retention issues.
A customer relationship is primarily transactional, where you are constantly selling something to your agents or convincing them of something.
This can be exhausting for both parties involved. This bad advice has festered, but we can rewrite the script!
So what’s next? Agents grow tired of constant sales pitches from their leaders. As you can see, this leadership approach is destined to fail. Instead, focus on mastering the basics and sticking to them.
Leaders and agents, you are business partners
Both parties contribute their time, talent, and resources to a shared vision that serves something greater than just the team leader or agents themselves. The health of the organization and the community you work in is a joint effort, everyone has a part to play. In fact, agents often make more money than their team leaders.
I understand the profit and loss details and know the agent splits.
Agents typically earn around 50% of revenues or even more, while team leaders earn around 20% to 35%. This partnership actually favours the agents.
Leadership takes on the risk at the beginning of every month, often facing a monthly overhead of $300,000 or more. Team leaders have to write that check regardless of the outcome of sales.
So, leaders, will you listen and make the change? Recognize that your agents are not customers; they are your business partners. Agents/Team Members: You are business partners, not customers. Wake up each day with a mindset of contributing to the partnership asking, “what can I do?” instead of “what have you done for me lately?”
Until next time…
Live your Purposeful Life.
Andre Chin
