If you are considering hiring an assistant, decide whether you want a licensed or an unlicensed person. Both can handle administrative duties, pay bills, answer phones, update your database, etc. Licensed assistants can do more real estate related transactions including facilitate closings, show listings, and compile CMAs.
Shelly Smee, a Realtor in Vancouver, shares her thoughts on her assistant, “Nanci, our unlicensed assistant, is the communication conduit between the public, our clients and the Realtors on our team. We were very lucky to find a good fit with her previous management experience in sales. She has excellent interpersonal skills and is able to multi-task. David & I bonus the team each time we meet a target. Having a vested interest in the success of our sales is only part of it though. We are very lucky to have someone who is as committed to our success as we are.”
Nabbing the Right Assistant
What should I look for in an assistant? A people-person who can handle administrative duties and has some know-how in the real estate industry is ideal. Aim for someone whose skills balance your weaknesses. A computer wizard is handy for a Realtor who doesn’t like technology.
Where do you find an assistant? Ask everyone you meet if they know of any potential candidates. Ask your dry cleaner, your neighbour, and your child’s teacher. Consider those you work with. Try employment agencies, ads in the paper, and local bulletin boards.
Family Members as Assistants
Sometimes family members make great assistants. Ramona Ostrander, the assistant to Sherry Skibo of Re/Max Realty Services Inc. in Brampton, Ontario, for the past sixteen years explains, “The benefits include knowing the individual to the degree where you are able to reflect the brand they bring to their business and knowing how they will respond to any given situation. The downside includes the inevitable 'taking for granted' that can happen between family members and difficulty keeping business, business.”
Other Issues With Having an Assistant
Many Realtors say their clients get better service when they have an assistant as the clients are always able to reach someone. Other Realtors say their clients get annoyed when they are passed off to someone else on the Realtor's team. Lisa Godlinski explains her take on this issue, “I believe if you explain the team's processes and systems, most clients are happy with this. If they want the team leader, they get them. But day to day they get me. My personal situation offers many years of experience which can be helpful, although I'm careful not to step over the limitations set for myself since I am unlicensed. At least I can explain things initially and have one of the team confirm the info I give them. We are very consistent with follow-up and explaining my role and the team's in all correspondence and on the web page.”
What about the complaint that one Realtor working solo cannot compete with the gross revenues of a team of people working toward the credit of one agent? Ramona Ostrander points out when asked about assistants getting none of the accolades and the lead Realtor getting the kudos, “Although assistants bring a set of skills to the table, these tasks ultimately are still under the agent's scope of responsibility and require the proper management. Typically assistants are behind-the-scenes for one of two reasons; they are preparing themselves to be in the limelight of the industry or they actually thrive in the back-office of the business and satisfy their personal goals and sense of achievement through their efforts in supporting the limelight person.”
Virtual Assistant
Another popular option these days is the virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is essentially an online assistant as opposed to a flesh and blood person at your office. Timothy Salisbury, a Broker with Royal LePage Niagara Real Estate Centre Inc., a Brokerage in St. Catharines, Ontario, explains the benefits of having a virtual assistant.
"They are self-employed entrepreneurs themselves. Most of them, and the one I use, have the qualifications to help me out. There is still a lot of time and effort that goes into it but the training curve is a lot less. They are home-based so I don’t need to provide office space, give my VA printers and fax machines, or worry about deductions, health benefits, CPP, and all that stuff. VAs are accessible and work similar shifts to what we do. My listings change on a daily basis and if I send her something on Saturday morning, it gets done. With a traditional employee who works Monday to Friday or Monday to Wednesday, you might have to wait three or four days to get those things done. You pay VAs for what they work – that’s how I have it set up anyway. The nice thing about it is that if she only bills me ten hours for the month of October and that’s all she worked, that’s all I pay for. I don’t pay her a salary for 40 hours a week."
As for the downsides of a virtual assistant, Salisbury jokes that no one getting his coffee in the morning is the main drawback. "But seriously, there are some things that can’t be done. For example, my VA, Elayne Whitfield-Parr of Executive Assistance Business Solutions Inc., is three hours from me. So if I need something done locally, that makes it a little difficult. But I have other systems in place and as long as you have that, there aren’t many negative points about a VA.”
With the help of his virtual assistant, Salisbury is able to focus his attention where it is needed. "What I do best is negotiate and sell houses, so the more things that I can get someone to do at a dollar-per-hour cost lower than I’m at is definitely a benefit to me. Even if it is networking personally instead of spending five hours doing paperwork, my clients get a little extra attention and things run more smoothly."
Toby Welch - Toby is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in magazine articles, online writing, e-books, and manuscript editing.
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