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The Agent Service Manager – Get The Assistant You Deserve

A primary tenant of our company culture and staffing strategy is to create an environment where everyone is free to do what they do best.  Every team member in our offices has a defined role on their team and are given the tools and the latitude to do their jobs. We have a number of hiring tools to assist us in identifying ‘right-fit’ team members.  One way to ensure that our agents are free to do what they do best is to support them with a staff person we call the Agent Service Manager (ASM).

The Agent Service Manager’s sole responsibility is to support the daily business activities of the agents assigned to him or her.  The ASM is often the primary point of contact between the agent and the brokerage. Consequently, this key team member must embody the best of what ROOST Real Estate Co. and Lucky Town Real Estate Co. aspire to be.  

The ASM manages all of the agent services the brokerage provides and provides ongoing technical and training support as needed.  The ASM may be licensed or unlicensed but we feel an unlicensed person is best so that it is clear that he or she is a supporting role and not in competition with the agents.  The ASM plays a critical role in the successful day to day functioning of the brokerage.

The ASM in many respects functions as a personal business assistant to the agents assigned to them.  This means, within reason, of course, the ASM is expected to do whatever it takes to assist the agent in facilitating the completion of a transaction and getting paid.  This may mean scanning and emailing documents, getting signatures, pulling files, making copies, scheduling a random appointment, or in many cases just being there to listen when the agents are ‘in the weeds’.  

Job Description / Agent Service Manager (ASM)  

  • Ensure that our agents are getting the greatest benefit from the tools we provide.
  • Onboarding new agents and implementing The Quick Start Game Plan™.
  • Assist with client appreciation parties, agent training sessions, meetings, and any other brokerage associated events.
  • Coordinate monthly Item of Value mailings each month.  
  • Coordinate special projects such as screening new vendors, and managing new equipment and software installs.
  • Process files, make bank deposits and write commission checks to agents.
  • Manage the brokerage trust account to state standards.
  • Invoice agents monthly for errors and omissions insurance, MLS, board fees, and miscellaneous expenses.
  • Maintain Dotloop and paper-copy listing files to Division of Real Estate standards.
  • Maintain personnel files and records for agents, brokers and branch offices.
  • Maintain brand standards by encouraging each agent to complete Listing and/or Buyer checklists for each file.
  • Schedule showings, duplicate listings in secondary MLS systems if applicable, and complete random tasks as requested.

It is important to highlight what we do not want to task the ASM with.  The ASM is not the company bookkeeper or the office receptionist.  They are not a salesperson, but they may interact with customers and clients during the performance of their duties.  Overall office sales volume and agent count will determine the ultimate task list for any staff member, but as a rule, if the task does not directly benefit at least one agent, the task should be performed by someone else.

The ASM needs to be proficient with Microsoft Office, be able to navigate the web, maintain electronic files, use all of the tools we provide our agents, and become familiar with the deposit and check writing functions of QuickBooks Online.  We recommend the ASM candidate take a Kolbe A (www.Kolbe.com) assessment and complete an office task ‘test’ prior to extending an offer.  He or she must be available in the office during normal business hours.

ASM Support For Working by Referral

We offer Referral Maker CRM (Client Relationship Manager) to our agents.  This desktop and mobile platform is offered by Buffini and Company our training and coaching partners.  Referral Maker allows agents to track their referral creating activities, relationships, and transactions.  Referral Maker for Teams allows the broker or sales manager to manage leads, and reward referral producing activities for all agents in the office.  

The ASM assists new agents with importing their database of relationships to their Referral Maker account, directing agents to experts at Buffini and Company when questions arise, and accessing each agent’s database each month in order to create the monthly Item of Value (IOA) mailings.

A key tenant of ‘working by referral’ is the personalized Buffini and Company designed monthly Item of Value mailings.  We mail up to 100 Items of Value each month to our agents’ very best clients – at no cost to the agent.  This jump-start to the Working by Referral business model is one of the most valuable services we provide. The ASM must insure this monthly task is executed without fail.

ASM ‘Backstage’ Support

A real estate professional focused on building relationships, generating leads, and closing transactions doesn’t always have time for all of the ‘backstage’ activities that make the ‘on stage’ work possible.  That is why we offer each agent a complete productivity package designed to allow our agents more time with their clients and customers.

Each agent is set up with an account at Centralized Showing Services or Showingtime Showing Service to eliminate the need to personally set up showings on their listings.  Each of these services provides a mobile app allowing each agent to quickly and easily tailor the service to the needs of each seller.  These services and others like them, automatically ask the showing agents for feedback and that feedback can be shared directly with the seller in real-time.

Each agent is set up with a Dotloop account.  Dotloop allows agents to create contracts and listing packages electronically on their desktop computers or mobile devices.  It provides a secure platform for obtaining signatures electronically and ensuring that contract packages are complete for compliance purposes.

Each agent is set up with a personal 8X8 Phone Number.  Our offices are equipped with an 8X8 state-of-the-art cloud-based auto-attendant and voicemail system.  The 8X8 system allows each office to tailor their answering and communication services to the needs of their specific clients and market.  Through either a desktop computer or mobile app, agents direct their incoming calls to ring through to their desk, home office, cell phone, a fellow team member, or to voicemail, at select times of the day.  Agents can be notified about voicemail messages via email as well.  

Conclusion

Each of the above services requires periodic upgrading and additional training from time to time.  The Agent Service Manager is responsible for implementing not only upgrades to existing services as needed, but also bringing new agent services online as opportunities arise.  The ASM is ultimately responsible for making sure the office ‘works’ – meaning the office has dependable wireless internet access, fully functioning office machines and backup plans, and that the overall office is clean and maintained.

Care To Learn More About Our Company?

  • Try the new Market Maker Advantage Scorecard.  Score yourself on the eight mindsets that are either growing or slowing your business right now.  www.MarketMakerScorecard.com.  

If you’re ready to make the leap and live the good life, email me directly at Chris@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com with ‘Let’s Start’ in the subject line.