Job Description?

Job Descriptions & the 3 D’s

What fascinates me in real estate is that most agents and their support staff don’t have a job description. It’s no wonder then that most agents and support staff are running around doing tasks and activities randomly without ever really knowing exactly what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

The job description is one of those fundamental things that seems to have been lost over time. So why is a job description important?

Without a job description, we will not know exactly what it is that we do. In big corporations when people hire for positions, the first thing they do is create a job description. This job description is extremely detailed as to what is expected of the applicant and what the demands of the job are. As a result, they’re able to clearly outline what that employee should be doing. Obviously, it is then very easy to monitor that employee and assist them in getting maximum production out of them.

It should be no different in real estate!

Every employee and every person within the Real Estate office; be it a salesperson, a support PA, a buyer manager, an administrator, or a property manager, each individual and role should have a detailed job description. From there you should be able to keep the employee and even yourself accountable for what you should and could be doing.

So how do you do this, how do we fix this?

The first thing each person needs to do is jot down every single task and activity that you do in your day, week, and month. This might not be easy to do but the best way to go about it if you are struggling is to keep a logbook where you just record every little activity and task that you do. That way after about four weeks you should have a comprehensive list of all the activities that consume your time.

Once you have compiled this list, it’s time to apply the 3 D’s.

What are the 3 D’s?

Do, Delegate, and Delete. In other words, activities that you should be doing more of, activities that you should be doing less of or delegating, and activities that you shouldn’t be doing at all.

As a listing agent, there are 7 High Dollar Productive Activities, which I go over in detail at the Real Estate Brilliance workshop. It is important that you highlight these activities, as they are your ‘Do’s’.

Then you need to look at what you can Delegate. These are tasks that are important but not high dollar productive. In other words, they can be delegated to support staff or outsourced at a rate which is lower and more cost-effective than you, as a listing agent, doing.

The final ‘D’ is Delete. Once you have your list of tasks that you will do and a list of tasks to delegate, you look at the rest of the list and in most cases, you can delete them.

It is really important to understand that from now on you should always have a job description and most importantly when you’re hiring staff and support people they need to have a job description too.

Of course, what you then do with your job description is, drop it into an Ideal Working Week.

If you’d like more information on how to implement the 3 D’s, which activities are considered High Dollar Productive, and the Ideal Working Week, why not book some time to talk to me, I’m always happy to help.