When you hire a buyer’s agent, your workload increases and your hourly rate decreases. Here’s why:
Increased workload: When you bring on a buyer’s agent, the amount of work you do increases. Between hiring, onboarding, training, shadowing, problem resolution and lead generation...you’re putting in extra time to make sales happen. In addition to that, you still have to do your own deals to keep money coming in, but it’s hard to keep that up on a consistent basis.
Decreased hourly rate (and even your income): The tough news is that as you take time away from your production and put it into helping your buyer’s agents. You’re putting in more time, spending more money on your business and leads. But now, you’re getting 50% of the income from the deals you’re working with your buyer agents. This is not a bad thing when you have other staff to help with administrative work and lead generation to keep your pipeline full (think Inside Sales Agent (ISA); it can be a beating when you don’t.
By hiring an administrative assistant first, you get all of the non-dollar-producing work off your plate. You free yourself from the tasks that need to get done — listing management, transaction management, customer service, other paperwork, faxing, bank deposits, etc. — and give yourself to focus more time on generating leads and converting them into sales.
The ultimate benefit is that you can make more money, in a shorter period of time, that puts you in position to do bigger and better things with your business...including making hire number two.
Your Second Hire When Growing Your Real Estate Team
One your administrative assistant in place and your sales are coming in at a clip of four to five deals per month, you’re in great shape to make your second hire.
And no, it’s not a buyer’s agent. Remember, you’ve only relieved yourself of administrative duties in your business. You still need to sell homes and bring revenue through the door. Hiring a buyer agent now would still cut into your time and earning power that could — and likely would — stall and/or halt the growth of your business for a while.