Blog / Leadership
The Complete Real Estate Sales Management Course
With Lee Woodward CEO Real Estate Academy and Mandy Wurth CEO Mandy Wurth Consulting
Where did all the sales managers go?
Who is holding all the sales teams together?
Lee Woodward and industry leader Mandy Wurth have been travelling around Australia and the world, and they’ve noticed that a pivotal person seems to have gone missing in action – the sales manager, especially in larger agencies. This is a worrying trend for the future of the industry because in the past, the natural progression was for a sales agent to move into a sales management role before considering business ownership.
The sales manager is almost extinct
The number of sales managers has dwindled Australia-wide because the industry has fundamentally changed. Preoccupied with digital disruption and creating integrated marketing strategies, Lee observes, “For the last 20 years, we've been travelling and observing and working with salespeople, property managers, leaders, managers, administration, and you get to see this whole helicopter view. What happened in the real estate industry was the sales manager went missing across all the companies. It's only now that we're starting to see the need to come back. A sales manager can bring it all together so people will want to join the business so that it's got support. But they are also important in retaining the business, because it's better to plug and play here than open and compete".
Mandy concurs, “I believe that the industry hasn't been set up to support sales managers. The tools that were required for recruitment, onboarding, training, were never there, so it's still that analogy, like ‘Here's my team, take it on, grow it, and make some money for me’. So you are scrambling the whole time to make that happen, and all you are doing is people and performance, because that's all you have at hand to see where the accountability is. There is nothing else that can assist you along the way."
Bring back sales managers!
Even though the position may not exist anymore, agencies nevertheless desperately need sales managers. Mandy says, “If you are running an EBU, you're actually running a small business, and I think that's how you've got to approach it. EBUs are not just two people or four people; they're five and six people now, so you've actually got a small business that you need to manage. Also from a lead agent point of view, you've got to wear more than one hat - so we want to help you wear those hats appropriately, and show you how to manage your team. We're going to try and help you manage that team, which may then help you move to the next level of what you want to do."
Lee adds, “An effective business unit leader, that has got four or five people in the unit now, they're earning over a million in fees. A lister to leader is a sales management position. You have to recruit, manage lead generation, lead conversion. You have to manage yourself and your leverage agents.
You have to meet the key performance indicators. You have to provide and create the visuals and technology to hold your unit together. Sales managers used to do all that."
Help is on the way
Yes, the industry has to continue dealing with the digital challenge, but the need to sell still remains and sales teams need help to sell. Determined to rebuild the sales management culture that our country once had, Lee and Mandy, with all the resources of REA behind them, have decided to bring sales management training to the forefront.
Mandy says, “I've gone through The Complete Salesperson Manual from front to back. I've listened to audios so I can't listen to any more audio, I've gone through the Management book, the Frameworks book. So in every asset the Academy has, we've taken parts of that to build this course that I believe, as a sales manager going in, will give you the tools you need to manage your team well, to lead your team well. I think managers now are leadership. There's not that line. You can't have a hybrid where here's the leader and here's the manager; you're all sitting in leadership."
At least four or five hand-picked, best ever in Australia, audio sessions will go with each module of the course. All the audio interviews with industry leaders that Lee has done in the last decade contain golden nuggets that must be shared with the next generation. Lee adds, “When we look at some of the audios that have been featured in Hot Topics, you've got The Complete Recruitment Process with Bradley Brown, very famous inside-the-bunker audio with Craig Nealon, RIRO by Bradley Brown - which was a very famous piece of work in Australia. Everyone who's ever been interviewed at a leadership level, talking about recruiting and sales forces, will be shared with course participants."
It’s not just about learning, it’s about implementation too
Held in the beautiful surrounds of Byron Bay, this powerful two-day event will take you through 10 modules delivering all the knowledge and resources on how to build a winning sales team and drive success through others. Mandy says, “Attendees will walk away with a very clear job description of ‘This is what I need to do’. They're going to have a plan of how they train people on listing presentations. They're going to have a plan on how to recruit and onboard, and I think that in itself, just to onboard people, is where we fall down all the time. We think we've got it right, but it takes more than a week to onboard and ensure you're bringing this person into your business and into your culture. So they're going to have all these assets that they've never had before at their fingertips."
Lee adds, “We've got over 15 examples of great business Frameworks that have been done by some of Australia’s leading companies.” In a hands-on approach, participants will be able to look at all the assets that REA has developed over decades – the Frameworks, the Web Books, the video - all now embedded in the learning modules, to determine what they need to develop and teach in their own businesses. Mandy says, “You've got to be able to implement. We're going to give you the tools to do that."
The workshop will cover…
Limited to 30 participants for optimal learning and group interaction, this two-day intensive workshop will explore in detail:
- The role and responsibilities of a sales manager as distinct from the business owner.
- The specific management functions the sales manager must perform in order to add
- significant value to the sales team, the business as a whole and their own career journey.
On completion of the two days, you will leave with a blueprint for success complete with the models and structural management tools and resources to build an outstanding career as a sales manager.
The modules
Over two comprehensive days, you will be taken through ten game changing modules centred on the core responsibilities and KPIs of a sales manager. In addition to reflecting your KPIs, each module represents one of ten key deliverables to make a real estate sales team and business grow, flow and thrive. Winning sales teams follow a proven working plan and business framework. When adopted company-wide, the framework becomes the business operating system and blueprint for sustainable growth and profitability. Each module will include Real Estate Academy’s signature Mapping process. Mapping is a tool designed to assess where you are now and highlight where you should aspire to be (best practice). You will find that your responses on completion of the course will be very different to those at the start.
Bring an open mind and profit from collaboration
Lee says, “When you come along, become open-minded. You may have run the business for many years a certain way, but there's some great things happening right across the nation now, and some of the managers attending have just done some great little things in one of the lanes and they'll be sharing what they've done. We've got some great young leaders coming through, and we've also got some mature leaders who are deciding to attend the course to reinvent their business. They realise, ‘We can't just keep going the way we have; we need to shift our focus, make that change’, and I think in this environment, you'll also get some sales management network friends that you can collaborate into the future as well.” Mandy adds, “I think that's the biggest thing, especially for some of the younger sales managers coming through. You can feel like you're working in isolation quite a lot in leadership, and I think to be able to form a network that you can bounce off actually gives you the support that you need, that can keep you working for a long time in this role, because what we find is they burn out very quickly because they don't have that source, that network that they can rely on."
Make your life and business instantly better
Mandy says, “We want you to participate in this, we need you to put what you feel on the line, so we can help you then move it forward, and we can see what great ideas you have. I think it's a time for sharing, it's not a time of competition, so don't think your competition's going to be in the room. Let's take an attitude of ‘We're going to share, because we can all grow together’." Andy Warhol said, ‘They always say time changes things, but you have actually have to change them yourself’. Maybe it’s time to take control and change things. Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things, but you have actually have to change them yourself”. Maybe it’s time to take control and change things.
Book now: The Complete Real Estate Sales Management Course Date: 23 Aug - 24 Aug 2018 Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm The Byron @ Byron Byron Bay NSW Presented by Lee Woodward and Mandy Wurth
Why did I decide to build a course for sales managers?
A note from Lee Woodward
I believe a good sales manager is an incredibly valuable and underrated asset to an agency. Australia needs more of them – NOW. Real estate consultant and a former sales manager and general manager for many years, Mandy Wurth agrees with me.
So we decided to do something about it.
Mandy and I have built a new sales management two-day hands-on workshop that will see you walking away with:
A clear job description,
A plan showing you how to teach the skills necessary for sales success – the listing process, negotiation, vendor management and prospecting
An implementation framework (specific to the role of a sales manager), and
A plan on how to recruit and induct new people into the team. We’ll give you instant access to all the tools you need for immediate and easy implementation back at the office. You’ll learn, network and collaborate with other sales managers, existing and new.
Bring your laptop or iPad, share your breakthroughs, actively participate and be guided and supported in your role.
As two people who have witnessed the demise of the sales management role in the Australian real estate industry, Mandy and I are looking forward to helping rebuild the strong sales management culture our country once had.
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