Should you become part of a team or get a partner? Not if you are going to substitute being on the team for developing sales and listing skills.

I love teams, but only if I am making a contribution. The most exciting team I have been on was as a member of a 23-man crew on a B-36 bomber in the United States Air Force. I was the tail gunner. Not because I said so, but because I was trained to be one. I made a contribution to the team.

Watching a squadron of B-36 Bombers flying in formation on a beautiful day at 42,000 feet in peacetime is heady stuff for a 19-year-old. It's great to be on a team at times like that.

Then one day our crew was sent to "survival" school in Reno, Nevada, where we were taught and practiced survival skills in case we were shot down behind enemy lines.

That's when I learned that there will be times in life when the team cannot help me. Only my skills can.

When I was alone in the mountains for five days with three days supply of food it was up to me to set the traps, catch the fish, read my compass, and operate my radio.

My team couldn't help me. Only my skills could.

It's like when you are alone in the car with a hesitant couple and they can't decide which house to buy or whether to buy now or wait, or you are at a kitchen table and the seller is banging away at your commission and you can't defend it.

Your team can't help you. Only your skills can.

Team or no team, you will find that your income depends on you, and you alone at crunch time.

Focus on developing your skills. Make a list of the three skills you need to develop, and then practice them until you become unconsciously competent. Then develop three more.

Ask your broker for the three skills he or she recommends that you practice first.

Rightly implemented selling skills will put more commissions in your pocket and make you a contributing partner or team member. I guarantee it.

Published: July 25, 2005

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David Fletcher directs the condominium conversion team for Keller Williams Realty in Orlando, Fl and provides downloadable sales and listing training solutions for real estate agents and broker/owners through Agents Boot Camp, Inc., a company he founded to provide affordable training systems newly licensed real estate agents. He has been involved with more than $3 billion in Florida residential sales, chaired the Florida Homebuilders Associaton's Sales and Marketing Council, and been a featured speaker at NAR's national convention. You may see his training products at www.agentsbootcamp.com or contact him directly at 888.222.1935.