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Lee Woodward, From Me to We, Effective Business Unit


Lee Woodward, From Me to We, Effective Business Unit

There is only so much work one real estate agent can do, so it makes sense to consider an Effective Business Unit (EBU) to get higher numbers, keep up the level of service and build the consistency clients have come to expect in today’s marketplace.

So how does an EBU work? An EBU is a team of three professionals – the lister (or presenter), vendor manager and buyer’s agent. The lister wins the business in the lounge room and chases the leads, the vendor manager handles the administrative tasks, marketing and communicates with the vendor (except on price) and the buyer’s agent works with buyers on a daily basis to get to an offer. Once they receive an offer, it will be passed back to the lister to close the deal. Ideally, a vendor manager is someone with a combination of event management and administrative skills. The buyer’s agent and lister possess a more typical real estate sales skill set, with one more proficient than the other. However, an EBU is not a place for excessive egos – for the unit to work effectively it must be three people working as a team to achieve amazing results.

EBU plan

Real Estate Academy’s CEO Lee Woodward has developed an EBU 10-point plan, which ensures successful implementation of the unit step by step once you agree to use this method.

  1. Make the decision to launch your EBU
  2. Interview and confirm team members and sign off on the pay structure
  3. Allocate all roles using the EBU mind map
  4. Select and install a capable technology platform that enables you to distribute workflow to all team members and produce client reports
  5. Attend a full real estate sales course as a team so you can review and discuss your selling system and process. Achieve team agreement on delivery of service (vendor management)
  6. Hold a business development meeting (BDM) to build and sign off on the team action plans (trails) the unit can follow with confidence
  7. Redesign all EBU promotional material, stationery and marketing in order to showcase the EBU’s team
  8. Design the ideal week for each team member
  9. Consolidate everything you have learnt into a simple business plan, complete with budgets and targets for performance management
  10. Commit to continuous improvement and coaching around your new system, including building relationships with other EBU teams.

EBU Challenges

Even after using this 10-point plan to build your EBU, there may still be some challenges ahead, so be prepared to overcome the following issues:

  • Letting go of tasks outside your role
  • Developing the right communication system
  • Getting the branding right
  • Learning to work on one role as part of a team
  • Having the office adjust to the unit
  • Working out the pay structure
  • Budgeting for the EBU stabilisation period in the beginning
  • Working out your EBU ratio compared to individual sales agents
  • Getting the personality right so each person works for the benefit of the team
  • Finding the right infrastructure for your business.

Workshopping these challenges, Mr Woodward spoke to agents who had successfully implemented EBUs across Australia. Discussing branding, Burke & Smyth said it was one of the most important components to ensure momentum when setting up the unit. “We’ve branded Sold By signs, we’ve branded For Sale signs with our group photos, we’ve even got two of the major banks in town as business partners and they’re contributing towards our advertising commitment every year as well,” the Tamworth, NSW, agent explained. “An EBU is a team environment; it’s about team relationships and we want to get out there in the marketplace and say ‘look you’re not employing one agent, you’re actually employing three to look after your property’,” he added.

When it comes to money, do the members of the EBU team split fees in thirds, or allocate a percentage each by experience? This is something that must be agreed by all parties, bearing in mind they each perform an integral role in making the sale happen. One EBU Mr Woodward spoke with takes 33 1/3 per cent each.

“I, as a presenter, realise more than anyone that the listing is the key of our business, but it’s no good having a listing if you haven’t got a buyer's agent with the right dialogue and right skills and the passion to go out there everyday and try and obtain offers from buyers,” the lister explained. “We couldn’t do what we do without the help of our vendor manager. In our particular EBU, she is my co-presenter and the male/female copresentation in the structure of this EBU is giving us a strike rate of over 90 per cent in our marketplace,” he added. In discovering how EBUs are faring in the marketplace, Mr Woodward has been able to come up with a ratio of what numbers EBUs should be doing, compared with solo sales people. This figure is 2.5 per cent, giving the units a number to base their targets on. Such figures would be impossible for one agent to reach themselves; however in working as a team, with effective systems in place, they can build on bettering this ratio in time.

This action plan shows an effective business unit allows one agent to be out on the road conducting inspections and negotiating, knowing there are two other team members backing them up with buyer and vendor liaison, administration and marketing. The final piece in the unit’s success is the right software to ensure the data is correct and the system runs without a hitch.  


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Lee Woodward, From Me to We, Effective Business Unit