Today is the era of the super agent, and to get to the land of super production, the super agent has to have a staff of one or more assistants. But in using assistants to maximize their time, these agents inadvertantly waste the time of other agents.

Dallas agent Nora Ling Lane has been a top-producing agent with Henry S. Miller Realtors for sixteen years. With a yearly volume of $15 million and above, she ranks in the top 5% of agents in the entire country. And she does it all without assistants. Why? They frustrate her.

She is sick of dealing with assistants instead of with the principal agent. Lane says that she wants to get the deal done, and running a gauntlet of assistants who don't know each other's responsibilities or where they are in a transaction is starting to frustrate the "beejezus" out of her.

"These assistants are starting to serve more as gatekeepers than dealmakers," complains Lane. "They may save the agent time, but they cost me time. I don’t have time to learn their job descriptions. That's not my job. I also believe that they often are not doing as good a job as they can for their sellers, when their focus is more on quantity."

Another frustration for Lane is agents who have assistants who specialize in certain areas. One agent, says Lane, has a "showing" agent that meets Realtors and their clients at the listings, a "contract facilitating" agent who specializes in ferrying the contract back and forth, but is not authorized to negotiate it, and a "closing" agent who accompanies the seller to closing. Again the assistants serve only the principal agent. Other agents who deal with the principal suffer nothing but inconvenience, she maintains. There are three new names to learn, and the selling agent finds s/he has to learn each of the assistants job duties as well, lest s/he mistakenly call the wrong assistant for the wrong task! Furthermore, when the assistant for the right task isn't available, none of the other assistants will help. "It's Betty's job, they say," Lane sing-songs.

More frustrating is the distance assistants put between the principal agent and his or her own listings, points out Lane. Tasks that should be simple are rendered complex. Lane recalls the confusion she had to endure when she called an agent who had a listing to inquire about a showing. The MLS information stated plainly that the listing agent was to be present at all showings. But when she called, she was told that there was a key in the lockbox by one of the assistants and to just "go on over." When she arrived with her buyer in tow, there was no key and no lockbox. She had to call the principal agent who expressed surprise that there wasn't a key at the house. A second assistant was dispatched to meet her and her buyer with a key. Apparently the agent had forgotten what was in the MLS guideline all along - agent to meet. Time elapsed - 30 wasted minutes.

Another pet peeve she has is trying to get in touch with these assistants who apparently have their days rigorously scheduled. "It annoys me to call an assistant whose voice mail has a message that says s/he will be returning calls between the hours of 11:00 and noon, and 4:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon," gripes Lane. "If you are the customer of one of these agents, and it is 1:30, you aren't going to get a call back. When I call with a question, my buyer and I want an answer right now."

Lane worries that in all the self-promotion that goes on with super agents, that consumers have little idea that when they call to list a home, that the super agent will take little time with them. The seller who has questions is also passed along to assistants, just like the selling agents and buyers.

"I don't do a lot of PR," says Lane. "but I do a great job for those I work with and most of my business comes from personal referrals. I am "hands on" every part of the transaction to better serve my customers. My customers are very important to me and their time is very valuable. They don’t need to call 5 different people to get answers. They know they can call me for every detail of the transaction. That leaves no error for confusion on "who said what".

Lane's final point - "Can you think of a single industry in the world where a customer would rather talk to an assistant than the principal? When you hire an attorney do you want to talk to the paralegal? When you hire a CPA do you want to talk over your investment strategies with an intern? Real estate is the only business where having assistants is promoted as a virtue."

Lane realizes she is bucking a trend. The last assisted agent that Lane worked with has 72 transactions for the year to date and 7 assistants. But Lane says she has done the same volume by herself.

"I'd rather do less volume and give great customer service."

But at least some other assisted agents are starting to get the point. One agent with whom she is working on a contract, politely called her and told her that she would be handling the transaction instead of her assistants and gave Lane her cell phone number.

Lane appreciates it. "I think agents who have assistants are fine, but just keep in mind that the other agent's time is valuable, too.

"If you are going to use assistants, make sure everybody is up to speed on all aspects of the transaction.

Empower your assistants to get answers even if it is out of their job description. Make sure someone is available and authorized to negotiate at all times. And above all, show respect for the other agent and their buyer's time. "