Hiring someone for your team is a big deal.

Bring on the right person and it will impact the success your company experiences forever.

Employ the wrong person and you could lose a lot of money and the support and commitment of the people already on your team.

There’s a delicate balance to be struck, but when you hit it on the mark...the results can be amazing.

As with everything in building your real estate company, achieving an optimal outcome is only possible by following the right steps in the right order.

And, while there are lots of things you can do to bring the right people onto your team, there are 4 main things you must do to hire the right people.

Let’s take a look at them in chronological order:

1. Have the budget to make the hire.

I’m sure there are days when you wish you could duplicate yourself multiple times to handle all the activities that are going on in your business.

Lead generation, customer service, sales, transaction processing, listing management, etc; all of it can chew up a day faster than you can say “Administrative Assistant”.

And, if you find yourself starting work in the morning when it’s dark and finishing it at night when it’s dark again, it may just be time to bring on some help.

For most agents, making that initial hire is somewhere between 2 and 3 homes sold per month. And, if you’re going to hire an Inside Sales Agent ( ISA ) that hire comes somewhere between 4 and 6 homes sold per month.

All of this said, you should never hire anyone unless you have the requisite money set aside to bring someone on board.

On average, the amount you need is roughly four months of the salary you’d pay the person in that position, plus the cost for any technology and materials that the person would need to do their job.

We say four months because that gives at least one full sales cycle (and then a little more) to cover that person’s income while you make more sales.

Granted, time frames for the selling and closing of homes are a bit accelerated in this market, but it’s not always going to be like that. At the very least, this strategy you to focus on selling homes and training this person without having to worry how you’re going to pay them.

Not having enough financial wherewithal to make the hire puts a lot of stress on you and could wreak havoc on the life of the person you hire if you’re not able to pay them on time...or at all.

It makes good sense to have the money set aside, where you don’t need to touch it, if you’re going to do the best job when hiring someone.

2. Have a good job description for the position.

When you hire someone, you want them to be as effective as they possibly can be in doing their job from the first day they join your team.

In order to allow this to happen, you should have a clearly defined job description for the position that they are assuming. On top of that, you should either have the systems in place for them to do their job or have the systems on hand for them to implement and document in your business as they do their job.

Good job descriptions have:

• A summary of the goals of the position
• The job description itself with a specific list of duties
• The reporting structure for your company
• The experience and skills required for the job
• What the ideal candidate looks like
• Schedule and location of the office where work is done

If you don’t have a job descriptions for the various positions that you would have on your team, you can get them from other, more experienced agents in your office, from the Internet or by clicking on the link below and getting it from one of our Strategic Business Advisors.

Keep in mind, it’s highly unlikely that all of your ducks will be in a row when hire someone for the first time to fill a specific position on your team.

The good news is that you can have your employee help you build out the requirements for the position as they matriculate in the job itself.

That said, at a minimum, you need to have the basis foundation in place for them to build upon.

3. Have solid core values

Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization.

They are also guiding principle that require specific behavior of team members while guiding them on the difference between what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Core values not only help companies to determine if they are on the right path to fulfilling their goals, but also they provide a framework for hiring, managing and firing people.

Without core values, it’s virtually impossible to build a cohesive team of like-minded people all working towards the same goal.

Core values are the “common ground” that everyone agrees to each and every day as you conduct business with your prospects, customers and clients.

They provide for a consistent experience for both your customers and your team members.

Also, because everyone was hired with these core values in mind, it’s easy to see when someone is not working in accordance with them, making it easier to let them go and find a more suitable replacement.

Core values are the glue that keep your team together and working to create an amazing product for your client and an incredible workplace for your team.

4. Have a good hiring process in place

If you’ve ever hired anyone before, you’ve heard the old adage: “Hire slowly, fire quickly.”

While it’s not bad advice, it’s not terribly descriptive.

Hiring slowly doesn’t mean that you slow play your candidate, testing their patience to see if they hang around.

What it does mean, though, is that you do your due diligence and interview them thoroughly for the position for which they’re going to be hired.

Inclusive of this process should be a group interview if you have a team and a one-on-one interview with candidates that pass muster on the team interview.

The reason we have a group interview is because this person you’re hiring needs to get along with everyone that you’ve already hired. And, since everyone you’ve already brought on board exemplifies and lives by the core values you’ve adopted, their input should be highly regarded as to whether or not a candidate should make a face-to-face interview with you.

Tony Robbins believes that three criteria need to be met for a person to be hired by your company:

1. Can they do the job: Are the capable and do they have the skill set, personality, acumen and background to excel in the position?
2. Will they do the job: Does this person love the work associated with this job and will they show up, day in and day out, willing to do what’s asked of them to get the job done well?
3. Good team fit: Does everyone on the team like them, do them embody your team’s core values and is this someone who you can work with every day?

If they meet all three of these criteria and everyone on your team likes then they get to meet with you for a final interview.

If they don’t meet the requirements of these three markers and/or at least one person on your team doesn’t like the candidate...it’s a no go.

You must have these minimum standards in place to hire the right people and to maintain the integrity of your team.

Again, hiring the right people for your team can be a game changer, no doubt.

The key thing is to make sure that you follow the steps I’ve laid out here so that you bring on a blue-chip employee who can make your team even better.