More and more lately, agents have been asking me if I believe having a personal assistant is a necessary or beneficial part of success in the real estate industry today.

My answer? "Absolutely!"

But more than just having an assistant, it's critical to know how to employ him or her properly. If you plan it effectively, you can free yourself up to make deals and your assistant will make your life much easier and more efficient. Here are tips on how to locate, manage and get the most from your personal assistant.

What Makes A Good Assistant?

A good real estate assistant has the skills and mind set of an executive secretary. He or she will be someone who can manage you-do a lot of your paperwork, set your appointments, execute all the small details and follow-through duties that would otherwise zap your valuable time and energy and take you away from what you do best. Simply put, what you must look for in an assistant is someone who possesses the antithesis of your own salesmanship mentality.

Where Can I Find Good Assistants?

If you're not sure where to find a personal assistant, a good place to start is with a "temp" agency like ManPower or Kelley Services. Tell them you're looking for a high-quality executive secretary. Often times, they'll let you work with one of their temps for 30-60 days. If it works out, you can hire that person.

How Much Is This Going To Cost?

A major bone of contention and debate on the issue of personal assistants is payment. Many agents with whom I have spoken complain that their assistant simply isn't cutting it. I ask those agents one very loaded question: "How much are you paying him or her?" Without fail, the agents whose assistants are floundering pay them somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 to $7 per hour. Ask yourself a question. If you were making that little money, how dedicated would you be to your job and your employer? I dare say - not very dedicated at all.

Pay your assistant more than you feel comfortable paying, and I can almost guarantee you'll get more out of them than you expect. Like anything else, you get what you pay for. Additionally, it has been my experience that executive secretaries do not work well on a commission mentality. Pay them a fixed salary, perhaps with a small bonus attached.

How Much Training Does An Assistant Need?

When you hire your personal assistant, make sure you spend some time at the very outset training him or her on the duties you hired them to carry out. When you show up in the morning, they should give you a schedule and a brief synopsis of the day's calls, appointments and so on. Teach them how to do the things you want them to take off your plate—don't just expect them to learn on the fly. That is a dangerous scenario and one that is destined for failure.

Have on-going, regular meetings with your assistant. Set up a system and have them report back to you on how the system is going and any problems or challenges they may encounter. As with any working relationship, communication is a key factor in the success of your personal assistant.

Your Assistant is Not Your Personal Valet

By all means, never ask your assistant to do anything unrelated to your real estate objectives. If you ask him or her to run personal errands for you, such as picking up your dry cleaning or dropping your kids off at school, it’s is a recipe for disaster. Such requests will make your assistant feel resentful and disrespected, and it's not difficult to see why. Remember, this person is delivering professional assistance to you, and you should always reciprocate by treating them in a professional manner.

Published: March 21, 2003

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Co-founder of Hobbs/Herder Advertising and Hobbs/Herder Training, Greg Herder is recognized as the real estate industry's foremost authority on residential real estate marketing and agent productivity training. Herder is also a licensed Certified Residential Broker (CRB) and owner of MegaAgent Realty, and co-owner of JDG investments, a real estate investment company. Herder is a featured columnist on real estate marketing and training issues for Realty Times, Real Estate Executive Magazine, Savvy Executive Profiles, and, as well as a contributor to a variety of other industry publications, including Realtor® Magazine and Real Estate Business Magazine. He also authored the innovative how-to book “Satisfaction Guaranteed - 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back," which ushered this unique concept into the world of real estate service. Greg has conducted over 1500 one, two or three day seminars over the past 17 years for the real estate industry and is a professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA). He graduated cum laude from California State University with a BA in psychology and is currently working on getting his PhD in Organization Behavior.