How to automate 60% of workflow without sacrificing service

by Amy Stockberger | Jun 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

StreetEasy listings fell this week. The portal says FARE isn’t the issue

by Marian McPherson | Jun 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Small, medium or large? Choosing your Goldilocks real estate team

by Verl Workman | Jun 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Building a real estate team can be a game-changer for your business, but choosing the right size is just as important as having one in the first place. Too big, and you may struggle with inefficiencies and unnecessary overhead. Too small, and you may find yourself overwhelmed, unable to scale or leaving money on the table. It should all start by matching the size of your team with your work style, business goals and the lifestyle you want to create.

Most team leaders don’t start off wanting to grow a specific size or type of team. They feel overwhelmed and stressed with more opportunities than they can handle or the pressure of not being present when they’re with family or friends because they’re focused on work all of the time, which causes them stress or anxiety.   

Believe it or not, there is a mathematical process to determine when and who to hire. Let’s lay it out. For every listing you have active, it should generate 1.5 buy-side closings. 

Each listing, when marketed correctly, should generate six to eight leads per month. Every 25 leads generated in a 30-day period from all lead sources requires you to hire one additional buyer’s agent. So if you have 10 active listings, you should have three buyer’s agents on the team to hold them open, follow up with buyer leads and convert the opportunities into deals.  

If you look at your numbers and see that you are not getting 1.5 buyer sides to each listing, then chances are you don’t have the time or energy to follow up with the B and C leads, so you put them on drip campaigns or auto hot sheets and hope they call and turn themselves in. Hoping is not a strategy. 

Understanding the different types of team structures

There is no right or wrong in creating a real estate team. Some are good as lone entrepreneurs, whereas others thrive well with an organizational structure and specific roles with different levels of leadership.

At the most basic level, there are small teams, where the team leader still acts as an active participant with clients. These teams are mostly composed of a team leader, a buyer’s agent and an administrative assistant or transaction coordinator. This arrangement works best for agents who enjoy interacting directly with clients but require support for efficiency.

Mid-sized teams will take delegation further by including listing partners, inside sales agents and dedicated marketing staff. More volume can then be accommodated while maintaining healthy client relationships.

Larger and mega teams operate more like corporations, with a CEO or team leader overseeing multiple departments. A VP of sales might manage a group of buyer’s agents, while a chief operations officer ensures transactions and marketing efforts run smoothly. This structure is ideal for those who prefer leading rather than working directly with clients.

Matching your work style to your team size

Your work approach is the greatest determining factor for the size of your team. If you enjoy immediate client contact and the high-speed environment of closing deals, having a small team may be your best option. But if you are more concerned with leadership, business development and creating a long-term brand, you need a large team with distinct roles and delegation.

One of the key considerations is control. Solo agents and small team leaders maintain full control over every aspect of the business. They decide marketing strategies, client interactions and how deals are handled.

With a larger team, control shifts into leadership and management. The team leader is no longer the primary point of contact for every client, but instead, they are responsible for mentoring agents, tracking performance and ensuring systems are in place.

Lifestyle is another reason. Some agents want to expand their business to the maximum level, while others prefer a well-balanced workload that allows time for personal issues. A lean, high-efficiency team will give you very strong earnings without the need to oversee a huge team. But if you want to step away from production and focus on long-term growth, then a structured team with clear leadership roles will be the perfect fit.

Key considerations when choosing your team size

Regardless of the size of your team, certain elements need to be in place to ensure profitability and smooth operations.

Clearly defined roles are important. Whether you have two people or 20, everyone needs to know what they are responsible for. The job of the team leader, especially in larger teams, is to replace themselves in day-to-day operations by hiring the right people for each position. This means gradually shifting tasks like buyer consultations, listing presentations and lead generation to specialists as the team grows.

Compensation design is essential to profitability and drive. Small teams often have simple commission splits, whereas larger teams need a well-designed pay system that includes salaries, bonuses and production incentives. It’s an art to keep agents and staff motivated without compromising profitability, but a carefully designed commission program will have every team member impacting the bottom line.

In addition, lead generation and conversion efficiency must also be considered. Most agents believe they require more leads, when, in actuality, they require better conversions. A small team can be highly effective with a strong follow-up system, but bigger teams require a dynamic lead distribution strategy so they do not get left out of opportunities.

Technology and systems help streamline operations at any size. A solo agent may only need a CRM and a transaction coordinator, while a large team benefits from automation tools, AI-driven lead scoring and data tracking to maximize performance. The right tools keep your team focused on income-producing activities rather than administrative tasks.

Planning for growth — or staying lean

One of the mistakes that most real estate agents make is growing too fast without thinking whether they actually need a bigger team. Just because you can hire more agents does not mean you should. A well-organized small team can be as profitable, if not more so, than a large team weighed down by inefficiencies.

Conversely, if your intention is to step back from production and create a business that operates independently, you must prepare for leadership succession. Succession planning will keep your team strong even when you step back, and it also provides room for agents in your team to develop into leadership positions.

Whether you want a small, agile team or a full-scale operation, your business should support your lifestyle, not the other way around. Choosing the right-sized team for your work style is about more than just numbers — it’s about creating a business that works for you.

Verl Workman is founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Instagram.

How to show up online without selling out: Visibility with integrity

by Debra Trappen | Jun 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Finding Financial Freedom: How Courtney Smith empowers women

by Melanie Klein | Jun 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

This series highlights inspiring stories of women who have created successful and sustainable careers in real estate and/or invested in real estate to achieve financial independence, gain lifestyle flexibility, and create lives built on their own terms.

Historically, women have faced numerous barriers when it comes to property ownership and wealth accumulation. For much of history, laws in many countries, including the United States, did not allow women to own property in their own right.

Women’s financial autonomy was limited by their legal status as dependents of their fathers or husbands. In the U.S., it wasn’t until the 19th and early 20th centuries that married women were allowed to own property under the law. Even after property ownership became legally accessible, women still faced significant social and financial hurdles.

However, as societal norms evolved and women gained legal rights to property ownership, their role in shaping the real estate landscape grew. Today, women are making tremendous strides in real estate, both as homeowners and investors. According to the National Association of Realtors, women make up 65 percent of the homebuying market and female homeowners are projected to continue outpacing their male counterparts in the coming years. This shift marks an empowering change, as real estate continues to provide women with valuable opportunities to achieve financial independence, wealth and freedom.

Courtney Smith combined her penchant for operations and love for strategy, finance and design and turned it into a successful business. She built a real estate team which sold over 1,500 homes during her tenure before selling the team in 2019. After a year coaching female entrepreneurs across industries she joined Compass, the largest residential real estate brokerage in the U.S. by sales volume, where she serves as a real estate coach and strategic adviser.

Her story illustrates how both investments and careers in real estate can offer women greater opportunities and choices in life — helping them unlock doors to possibilities once considered out of reach. 

Smith’s path to real estate was not one she initially set out to pursue. Growing up in a working-class family, she was encouraged to be prudent with money and career choices, but her entrepreneurial spirit emerged early. From babysitting and piano teaching gigs to retail and service jobs, Smith learned the value of hard work, value articulation and negotiation.

Her college years at the University of Southern California were marked by a dual-major workload, multiple jobs and a relentless side hustle mentality. She cultivated a deep interest in learning from each person she encountered and growing her skills with each opportunity that came her way.

Her first career was in the film industry, where she worked her way up from intern to executive roles in development and production. Yet it was the world of real estate that truly captivated her. Smith’s initial entry into real estate came through homeownership. She purchased a small one-bedroom condo in Los Angeles in her early 20s, guided by the timeless adage “location, location, location.”

It was there that she first realized the potential of real estate as a wealth-building tool—her capital gains from the sale of the condo allowed her to reinvest in a more substantial property. Smith’s fascination with real estate deepened during the process of buying and selling properties. What she discovered was that with real estate, she could make more money fixing up a property than she had earned in a year of employment. This revelation set the stage for her eventual transition into full-time real estate.

Building wealth through strategic investment

One of the most powerful takeaways from Smith’s journey is her focus on investing in real estate as a means of achieving wealth and freedom. After her initial renovation successes, she began to shift her mindset. She understood that owning multi-family properties could help cover expenses by renting out units, creating passive income and giving her the ability to reinvest that revenue into additional properties. Smith’s savvy approach to real estate investment led her to acquire residential rentals, commercial buildings and mixed-use properties across five states.

Leverage, she explains, is another critical aspect of building wealth. By using other people’s money — through mortgages and other financing options — she was able to grow her wealth exponentially without risking her own hard-earned savings.

She notes that leverage also requires discipline and patience. The journey to wealth is not instantaneous. It involves delaying gratification and making strategic decisions in the earlier stages of wealth accumulation to ensure long-term rewards.

Advisory plays an essential role in this process, as well. Smith credits much of her success to the coaches, advisors and mentors who have helped her navigate her career and investments. She encourages women to surround oneself with a strong network of experts. This guidance is key to sustaining growth and achieving long-term goals.

Empowering women in real estate

Smith’s success is not just a testament to her strategic mind; it’s also a reflection of her unwavering belief in the power of women supporting women. She shares invaluable advice for women looking to grow their wealth and invest in real estate:

• Stop saying you’re not good at math: Smith emphasizes how often women underestimate their ability to manage money. The truth is, men rarely say this about themselves, so why should women? Financial literacy and confidence are essential for success in real estate.
• Increase your social capital: Building strong relationships is key in any career, and real estate is no different. Networking and getting into the right rooms can help women elevate their careers and investments.
• Celebrate other women’s success: The world needs fewer jealous competitors and more women lifting each other up. When you celebrate the success of others, you pave the way for your own achievements.
• Minimize the gender divide by talking about money: Women often shy away from discussing financial matters, but Smith encourages open conversations about wealth and investment strategies. The more we talk about money, the more we can empower ourselves to take control of our financial futures.

Smith also points to the critical need for companies of all sizes to reduce bias in evaluation and hiring practices, as well as for venture capitalists and funding sources to invest in women entrepreneurs at the same level as their male counterparts. She believes the next generation of women will be the ones to break through these barriers, ushering in a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

Looking to the future

Smith’s vision for the future of women in real estate is bright. She sees the growing number of women homeowners and female leaders in the industry as positive signs of progress. As women continue to break into leadership roles and build wealth through real estate, the industry will become more inclusive, offering financial opportunities to women of all backgrounds.

By embracing real estate as a means of building wealth, women can secure their financial futures, make their own choices and open doors to a world of opportunity. As more women like Smith continue to rise and pave the way, the landscape of real estate — and of wealth itself — will be forever transformed.

In Smith’s own words, “The shift is happening. It’s going to be magic.”

Melanie C. Klein, M.A., is an empowerment and mindset coach.