Do you have an assistant? How long have they been with you? Unless you’ve been lucky, and have been able to retain an assistant for a long time, you’re unfortunately familiar with losing one, and then having to train another. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, and looming in the back of your mind is that dread of having to do it all over again some day.

When you lost your last assistant, what happened? Did your business come to a screeching halt, as you were now the one having to do all the detail that your assistant did? Was that assistant with you for a fairly long time? Did you find that you had become unfamiliar with some of the tasks that they were doing. Did you now have some details falling through the cracks? If you answered yes to these questions, it was more than likely because the tasks performed by your assistant were in his/her head, and on lists that you can now not find.

Now, after you get back into the swing, and you find another assistant, you have to train someone new all over again, from scratch, and you are losing money because you can’t be out doing what you do best – listing and selling.

This could have all been avoided! All you had to do was use your Agent Office/Agent 2000, or Top Producer software, the way it was designed to be used. If you had been, instead of having to train the new assistant about how to help you run your business, and the myriad of details associated with it, you could simply train them on how to use the software, or better yet, have someone else train them.

If you had all the details set up in the software, in the “Activity Plans”, your new assistant would simply “Launch” the “New Listing” plan, and everything they needed to do would be posted out to the scheduler/calendar, on the day it had to be done, with details about how to do it. If your plans are set up correctly, they can be a live “Operations Manual”. Within each task, there is a “Note” field. If the task is to “Erect a yard sign”, in the notes you might say, “Make sure that the sign is visible from the street in both directions. If the back yard faces another street, erect a sign in the back yard as well.” While setting up these plans is easy, it’s also time consuming. But, it is a one-time effort, with long lasting rewards.

Most agents never “get around to it” because it takes time to set up the plans, and they don’t make the time to get it done. But those that do, reduce their stress levels tremendously, because after they use them for a while, and refine them, they know that nothing is going to fall through the cracks. They know that if their assistant wins the lottery, or more likely, decides that “this business isn’t that hard”, and goes out on their own, that training a new assistant this time will take very little of their time.

And we are getting to the point where more and more assistants are out there that already know how to use Agent 2000/Agent Office or Top Producer. If you find one of them, don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Pay them what they're worth.

When setting up your activity plans, always keep in mind that the goal is to have a plan for - everything. One of the most difficult things about losing an assistant is that they have created systems that they are comfortable with, but that you do not know how to use. Or that much of what they do is “in their head”, so the new assistant has to recreate everything from scratch, and suck up your valuable time while they do it. Your old assistant knew who to call for what, when the ads are due, what to do when a listing’s price is reduced, and on and on. All of these things must be in the plans, so when the assistant leaves, all the details of their job stays with you, readily available in the software.

Some specifics about setting up plans. Do not use the ones that came with the software. Delete them. They are generic, and take more time to customize to your way of doing things, than creating your own from scratch. Remember, you are already using “Activity Plans”. It’s just that right now, they are on a checklist inside the file jacket of the transaction, and in your, or your assistant’s head. The job at hand is simply to key those tasks into the software.

What plans should you have? Remember the goal – Nothing in anyone’s head! So have a plan for everything. When you take a listing, there are dozens of things that have to be done in the first week or two. “Erect a Yard Sign”, “Enter into MLS“, etc. These tasks would all be put into a plan you might call “New Listing-From List Date”. Why “From List Date”? What I mean here is that most tasks to be performed with a new listing can be “posted on the calendar” forward from the date that you took the listing. Such as the sign – that would be maybe 1 day forward from the listing date. But not all of them can go forward from the listing date.

Are all your listings for the same number of days? Of course not. So you also need another plan that will be “launched” from the expiration date. For example, you like to send a letter out to the seller 30 days before it expires. You can’t put that task in the “From List Date” plan, because you would have to adjust the number of days from the listing date each time. So you have another plan, let’s say “New Listing-From Expiration Date”. This plan is launched on the date that the listing expires. In that plan you would have a task, say “30 Day Letter”, and that task would be assigned -30 days. In other words, it would be put on your calendar 30 days PRIOR to the listings expiration date.

So what other plans would you have? “Price Reduction”, “Your Buyer From Contract Date”, “Your Buyer from Closing Date”, “Your Seller from Contract Date”, “Your Seller from Closing Date”, “Your Buyer AND Seller from Contract Date”, “Your Buyer AND Seller from Closing Date”, “FSBO Follow-UP”, “Expired Follow-Up”, “Hot Buyer Follow-Up”, “Medium Buyer Follow-Up”, “Cold Buyer Follow-Up”, “Pre-Listing Package Follow-Up”, “Seller Prospect Follow-Up”, “Lost Listing Follow-Up”, “Lost Buyer Follow-Up”, (I know, you never lose buyers or sellers), “Open House Follow-Up” (I know, you don’t do open houses), “Past Client – Local”, “Past Client – Out of Area”.

I know one agent that has well over 100 plans, because he has gotten so specific with each one. Most are variations. It’s not necessary to have that many, but it does make it easier and better. You can copy your listing plan and change a few of the tasks in the new one that are specific to Condo’s, and maybe another for Townhomes. That way, aside from having tasks to deal with Associations, you can also be more specific with the form letters that are sent out from each plan. Another variation might be a plan that deals specifically with a non-owner occupied home. These are refinements that can be added over time.

After training agents and assistants for years on how to set up these plans, I’ve seen time and again that most never make the time to do it. Schedule two days in which you and your assistant sit down, and brainstorm, and create your plans. It’s always fun to watch how excited people get when they realize what’s happening. When they realize that their business is becoming organized! Most agents have wanted to do something like this for years. When they are in the middle of actually accomplishing it, it’s an exciting feeling.

By the way, there are many other benefits to using activity plans. One is that when you retire, and want to sell your business, it is FAR more valuable as a turnkey operation. Another is that you are able to produce reports for the buyers and sellers, and yourself, as the information is being put into their transaction anyway. It just becomes a matter of printing them out. Yet another is the ability of everyone on your team having access to exactly what is going on with each and every transaction, at any given time.

Be aware that in the beginning, until you get used to using the Activity Plans, and get fast using the program, that there will be times when you feel like it is more cumbersome to use the plans, than it was to do it shooting from the hip, or using a paper checklist. When you feel like that, just remember what it’s like to have to train a new assistant, from scratch!

Published: June 19, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Gary Hall, RECS, GRI is the owner of RE-ACT, Real Estate Automation, Consultation, and Training. Gary obtained his real estate license in 1987, and was a successful RE/MAX agent, as well as having been a new construction sales manager, a mortgage loan originator, and a real estate trainer/consultant to offices and individuals since 1995. He also teaches MCE, RECS Designation, and other classes. His most popular training program is "Get up to Tech-Speed.", a two-day, hands-on customization of Online Agent Software in your office, and includes File Folder Organization, Back-up and E-mail training as well. Visit his Web site at www.GaryHall.Net, or e-mail Gary at RealtyTimes@GaryHall.Net.