Staff appraisals are a crucial part of evaluating and managing the performance of your staff. After all, your staff are the face of your agency. Most of them have face-to-face contact with your clients and will make the difference between a sale and no sale.
How seriously you take staff appraisals will depend on you as an agency owner. But as the owner, does anyone appraise you? At the helm of the business, how do you know if you’re performing well? How do you know if you’re fulfilling your responsibilities and keeping staff engaged, the sales coming in and clients happy?
You might want to consider empowering your staff with the means to appraise you. You could invite your team to complete an appraisal form that asks them to rate your management abilities. This a great way to gain transparent insight into how you’re performing as a boss, and where you could improve.
Or, you might consider a 360-degree evaluation which is a more in-depth approach. Asking your team to review their fellow employees (and you) may uncover some weak links in your agency and identify new opportunities too.
Here are some KPIs you might consider using in your appraisal:
Staff satisfaction
Maintaining a high level of staff engagement and satisfaction is a crucial element to running a successful real estate agency. Without energy and motivation in the workplace, your team may develop a robotic mentality. This could create trouble for your agency, as your most valuable resource becomes stale.
Asking your staff about how engaged they feel is critical to your future success. If you’re staff are happy and engaged, they will be less likely to desert you for a competitor. They are also more likely to be fired up to better service your clients. And happy clients means more word-of-mouth and more clients!
Time management
When you’re the boss, you’ll be interrupted constantly throughout the day. Sit down and plan your day each morning, allowing extra time for interruptions so you’re not left overwhelmed. This allows you to be productive, while giving staff the attention they need.
Just because the phone rings, or a new email appears, it doesn’t mean you have to drop what you’re doing and deal with it there and then. It can probably wait until you have time to think and respond clearly. Set some time aside each day to return calls and emails – pop a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door if you must. You’ll be able to focus your full attention to the task at hand and give a better response than a ‘rush hour’ reaction.
Don’t be afraid to delegate. Sometimes it’s easier to do things yourself, but when you’re running an agency, it’s physically (and mentally) impossible to do it all.
Ask your staff to appraise you on how you delegate. Do you trust your team with important tasks? Do you empower them with responsibility to map out their own path to success?
Meeting goals and objectives
Prioritisation plays a huge part in achieving your agency’s goals and objectives. Rather than feeling overwhelmed with how many things you need to achieve in any one day, make lists and start categorising how important each task is.
Ask your team to appraise your ability to meet goals and objectives. Do you stress and make your team stressed too? Or do you instil a sense of order and purpose?
Agency performance vs budget
It’s imperative to have goals and objectives in place for every aspect of your agency in order to operate at a competitive level, but keeping a keen eye on the budget is just as important. Tightly managing your agency’s budget will prevent you from falling behind, and instead keep you on course to financial freedom.
Asking your team to appraise your ability to manage the agency’s budget and overall financial sustainability is important. Are you setting clear expectations on performance delivery and targets? Are you being transparent with what numbers are required to take the agency to the next level of growth? Are you asking your team for ideas on streamlining processes and increasing efficiency? Do they feel important in the roadmap to success?
As an agency owner, it’s vital that someone other than yourself assesses your performance. When your performance is so closely tied to your agency’s performance, it’s best to know where you stand. No-one is perfect, but we’re all responsible for striving to be the best we can be. Setting a good example for your team will only serve to motivate and inspire them.
For more tips on running a successful team, you might want to browse through our blog. It’s filled with advice based on first-hand experience and insight. Or, just contact us on 1800 003 569.
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