Speaker 1 (00:00):
Timing is such an important part of so many success stories, including the leadership story that you'll hear today. If you're wondering, is now the right time to start my team? Am I in the right place? Do I have the right situation? Do I have the right mindset? You'll really appreciate the stories that you'll hear in this conversation. This is episode seven of our eight episode series Taking You Inside the Lawton team. They're a top 10 team in the United States, and one of the ways that they'll continue growing in the years ahead is through their top agents who are now building teams inside their teams. You get a direct look at how that works because you're meeting today in this conversation and in episode eight and next episode, a top agent who's doing just that. This is Tony.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I didn't feel like I was in the position yet to be that leader that other agents needed.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
You'll hear how he got into the real estate industry with the Lawton team, how he grew into a leadership role, but then took a step back before starting his own team inside the team. How did he make those decisions? Why is his team now a great place for agents new to the industry to start building? What is he doing with them, including his accountability calls? What are some tech tools that he relies on all of the time and what's something you can automate but he chooses not to? You'll get all that and more in this conversation with Tony. Tony, thank you so much for making time for this today. Appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, appreciate you,

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Ethan. Yeah, and I love this dive of going inside the Lawton team, and I love that you've built a team inside the team, so we're definitely going to be getting into that. But where I want to start, where I want to start is where we always start these conversations, which is a must have characteristic of a high performing team. When I say that language, what comes to mind for you?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I think the first thing that comes to mind is collaboration. I think it's super important to have people around you that you can collaborate with. I just kind of go to, when I first started the business, I was a single agent and I thought I was doing everything correctly, reading books and watching some podcasts. When I joined the Lawton team, they were very big on team meetings, team collaboration, and I always wondered like, wow, does everyone do this? We're all independent agents, so we just be kind of taking care of ourselves, but quickly learn that when you collaborate and mastermind with other like-minded individuals, you just get better as an agent yourself. So I would say collaboration probably for me is number one.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Cool. And for you, that's one off as well as I heard some kind of cultural components, some cadence. We do these meetings, we mastermind together, but I assume it's also too one off like, Hey, I'm facing this situation. I see two ways to go. Am I missing anything? And if so, what way would you go? Kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Oh yeah. I mean every day there's something that comes up. I think the most recent thing is the NAR situation, and on Facebook and some of the social platforms, you see agents that are probably individual agents, just throwing comments out there, how am I going to handle this? What am I going to do? And with us as a team, the first thing we did was we started collaborating. We started talking about it, talking about different scenarios. Of course, from the top down, George was right on top of the email when it first came out, he sent an email to us kind of breaking it down, Hey, we're working on things. We were communicating back and forth as well with just some ideas and thoughts about the situation. So yeah, it's an everyday thing, and I just bring that up because that's the most recent thing going on around real estate, and we're all already on top of it.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Not that we've got the answers, I don't think anyone has the answers yet, but we're all talking about different scenarios, how to approach things moving forward. We're talking about all the what ifs. Right. And I know that when I read that email, when it first came out from NAR, I first had a few ideas and I'm like, well, let me see what George thinks. Let me see what Jason thinks. And started texting those guys and just getting their perspectives on things as well is super helpful to just open up the mind and really open up the way you look at things.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, really good example. And we probably will double back into that. Sure. It's something that you're talking about with some of your own team members, but I'd love to start with your path into real estate. If I got it correct, you kind of came in more on the coaching and training side of things and then became an agent yourself?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
No, so I came in, so I was experienced, I was in the business for about 14 years, but I was on the rental and property management side. I had done some sales here and there and came and interviewed with Lot and team wanted to get into sales full time, and I think George and them saw that I had a little bit of experience. I was, I'm pretty good at talking with people. And so I joined the team as a base agent. There was maybe six of us on the team, so we were much smaller back then. This was 2015, and over the next year or so, I kind of dabbled into some different areas with George, some of the things he was trying to do with the team, I was a selling a listing agent. I was chasing expireds and fizbos, just trying all new things where you may have heard about the training.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
And that side of it is as he started to expand the team, he had asked me to be a regional team lead, start a team within the team. And so that's where that started. The coaching and leadership side did that for a little while and I wanted to go back really to more of an agent myself, and so that's what I did. I went back to being an agent myself. As the team grew and I grow, as I grew as an agent, I found myself kind of wanting to get back into that again. So I actually started mentoring one agent. George said, Hey, we've got a mentoring opportunity. Do you want to mentor this agent? So I went ahead and mentored the agent and she took off really well, did really well, and then she went and started her own thing and I said, man, I think I'm missing something here. I think I missed an opportunity. So that's when I started thinking about starting my own team within the team, and it had just become a possibility within the Lawton team. Not that I don't think, it was never a possibility, but we really hadn't talked about it. And a couple of agents had started, got an assistant or got another agent kind of working with them, and I said, I'm going to do that. Let's give that a shot. So that's where I'm at. Cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
What was it about for better and for worse? Well, first of all, it's cool that you're in an organization large enough and dynamic enough that you could take a step in a direction, take a step back to where you were and take a step in a new direction, all in the context of a culture and a community that you obviously are very comfortable collaborating with and growing with. But that regional team lead, what was that about for you at that point in your career that it didn't click as well as you maybe expected? Yeah,

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, good question. Something I learned from George, you always say yes and you figure it out later. And so when he asked me to be a regional team, I said, yeah, of course I'll do it. And as we started bringing agents in, I started realizing I still had a lot of growing myself. I still wanted to accomplish some things, and I didn't feel like I was in the position yet to be that leader that other agents needed. So again, George is a great guy, just went to him very honestly and said, Hey, I don't think I'm the right fit for this, but I'll definitely carry it out for however long needed. So it was a pretty quick transition. He found someone else who's still with the team now. And then I transitioned back to being an agent. Like I said, I wanted to just kind of accomplish some more things as an individual agent.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
And then that's when I did the mentoring. That was a little bit more my speed at the time, and I was also pretty heavy in production. I was really ramping up very heavy in production. So being a team lead and stepping back, it just wasn't the right timing for me. So mentoring was having an agent really follow me, shadow me teaching it was a female at the time, teaching her all the ins and outs of the business as I was doing my business. And so that I think was what I needed to really get me to the level that I'm at now, which a sub-team lead.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, that's cool. Is there a mentoring program still active inside the larger team?

Speaker 2 (09:13):
So quite honestly, I don't dig too much into the larger teams, but I know that those team leads are fantastic, and I know that they're constantly guiding those agents. They're doing one-on-ones mentoring in the sense of they are definitely with them the whole way and growing their business further than that, whether or not they're teaching them to grow their own teams. I don't know if that's the setting where it's at, but within the Lawton team, there's always that open conversation and communication. If you feel like you're ready for your own team, maybe you want to start building your own team, then you can do that as well.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah. What are a couple things, again, based on your own experience, I'm thinking now about an agent who thinks that they might want to bring a buyer's agent and maybe an assistant alongside them and start the foundations of a team team. What's different about leading? I'm asking a little bit for the obvious, but I'm also asking you to lay it out in a way that's really clear for people to understand from your own experience. What's different about taking those steps versus continuing on as an agent yourself?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, I think the first thing you have to realize is that you are now responsible for someone else, right? You're committing your time to someone else, and financially you're going to also see the difference there. And I think also looking back, I wasn't there either financially, I wasn't ready to say, Hey, I'm going to have a little bit of a split of my commission to have an agent join my team and give them some of my leads and coach them and guide them. So I think you've got to be ready. You've got to have that mindset of working for them a little bit more than just working for you. When you're an individual agent, you're all about you as an agent. How do I build my business? How do I communicate with my clients? How do I nurture those relationships? And so if you're building your days and your weeks, you're looking at you as an individual, but taking someone on as either an assistant or an agent on your team, you have to step back and go, okay, I know what my week's going to be like, but how can I work my week around also helping this agent work their week and start growing their business?

Speaker 2 (11:42):
So you just got to have that mindset.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah. How about what types of agents have you brought into your team? Well, I guess give us a state of your group inside the Lawton team. How many agents do you have staff of your own? Just give us a sketch there and then we'll get into what type of agent is right to work with you.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Right. Yeah. So I don't have staff, but the Lawton team has got the support there for us. So Lawton's got the listing coordinators, transaction coordinators, office personnel. So that's one of the huge benefits of growing the team within the team is that I can take advantage of those abilities or resources. As far as agent goes, for me, it's very much a feel. I've definitely sat down, interviewed with every agent that's joined my team. I've got six full-time active agents on the team, coincidentally four out of the six of them are brand new agents. I seem to really connect well with new agents. I think it's my systems, my processes I've got in place to help them grow as right out of real estate school, brand new to the business, where do I get going? So when I think of an avatar, it really kind of fits the new agents, but I've got a couple of agents that have been in the business a little while as well that just needed a little bit more mentorship, a little more. One-on-one with an experienced agent, and they're great agents. I love having 'em on the team as well.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
I feel like you, this opportunity for both of those types of people you spoke to or spoke about, that level of access and direct communication in one-on-one time isn't available in a lot of other formats. An agent who needs or wants that probably should be looking to join a team.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, I would think so. To be completely honest, I've only pretty much been on a lot and team other than when I was an individual agent and in that property management field, it was a little bit different. But I have plenty of friends that are at other companies and oftentimes I find them asking me questions like, Hey, what's it? And I talk about the support, I talk about the resources, and they're like, man, I just don't have that over here. So in my mind, and maybe it's just in my mind, but I feel like a team is going to give you that access of one-on-one mentorship, really just that collaboration that I think may be missing in some of the other companies brokerages. I know they've got a lot of good trainings. I know they've got, I've heard of other type of mentorship possibilities, but I've never really heard of anything that compares to ours. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
So you mentioned systems and processes. Yeah. Is this natural to you? Is this something you picked up in your time in the Army National Guard, or, because I feel like that is one of the things that holds back and or unlocks success for agents and team leaders alike is being more attuned to being systematic and to being process oriented, to documenting the things that are working so that you can start playing with things that might work better. All that starts with having some defined systems and processes. How did that come together for you? Is that something you just brought into the industry yourself?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, I think some of it from being in the Army National Guard, going through basic training and having to wake up at the same time every morning you're doing PT and you're being told what you're doing over and over and over and you kind of get into that rhythm. When I came back, it didn't get out of me. I was waking up at 4:00 AM and going to the gym and starting my workday. But I will definitely give a lot of credit to, again, joining the team, coming and joining the Lawton team. They already had systems and processes in place. I feel like part of the collaboration, we all work together on what systems are working best. The move from our old CRM to follow-up boss, I was one of the first teams that was in Follow-up boss, kind of testing it out because I enjoy that.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
I enjoy trying new things and figuring out how it's going to work best for agents overall. So I definitely think it's in me a bit having kind of the regimen. My mornings are the same, but it definitely also came from the team, them already having certain things in place. I think we just complimented each other and it's just instilled in me, and I think it's important to have something like that, especially in this business when you're an independent agent and your days are what you make them. I found that if I didn't have something planned out for the day, I could find myself not really putting a lot of effort in my work. So I think probably combination of both being in me and also the team kind of instilling it.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, I feel like your personality type to hear you say, if I didn't have my day planned out, terrifies me. For people that are less structured than you, as you've brought some new agents on, you said four of the six I think are new to the industry, that is a dramatic change from the day to day, which is you're responsible for your own mission and outcome. Now the team kind of mitigates some of that and helps with it, but it's a lot different than life outside of this industry or generally speaking life outside of entrepreneurship. Do you find yourself actively kind coaching to set themselves up for success?

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah. Yeah, I definitely do. And I use the team as the outline, and I use the agents that have already come on the team that have grown, not just within my group, but Lawton team in general. I use my own story when I meet new agents, Hey, this is what I did when I first started. This is how I structured my day. And as far as coaching them, when I hire a new agent on, I sit down with them and I try to figure out what their strengths and their weaknesses are, and I try to help grow their strengths and maybe help improve their weaknesses. So that new agent, it's definitely a transition, but if you communicate it to them well and kind of give them a heads up on what to expect and hold them accountable, that's another thing. If you hold them accountable, they kind of get into that groove. Not everyone makes it in our business. I don't like talking about the negative side of the business, but not everyone makes it in entrepreneurship and working for yourself. And you can kind of get that feel early on just based on their commitment level and what they're putting into the initial onboarding of both lot and team and my team. So I feel like I get a pretty good gauge within the first couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Accountability. I could see you holding people accountable to the things that they commit to with you as you're kind of guiding what the next quarter or what the next year looks like. I can also see you having some level holding them accountable to the standards that you've set as this is how we do it within this group. Is it those things? Is it both? Is it more than that?

Speaker 2 (19:24):
No. Yeah, I think you nailed it, right? It is both. I've got certain standards for my team expectations and then just overall, Hey, this is the outline of the business. This is what an agent does on a regular basis. We've gone over goals. These are your goals. These are the commitments you've made. So I'm going to do a biweekly accountability call with the agents and just find out where they're at. I don't ask why a lot. I ask what got in the way? What kept you from accomplishing that task and what are we going to do this next two weeks to accomplish it? And I've found that that's the best way, at least for my agents, is they take that responsibility by saying, yes, I made that commitment. I know those are my goals. I didn't quite do that these last couple of weeks, so I'm going to dive in a little deeper these next two weeks. And that's how I feel is the best way to hold 'em accountable for me.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
And so your expectations or standards are probably set in the initial conversations about whether or not this is the right career for you, whether or not this is the right place to launch that career. So you're setting that stuff up early. Share maybe a couple of things that are like when we get alerted that there's a new leader, a new opportunity, this is how we do things, or how dialed in is your procedural manual, I guess?

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah. So a lot of it definitely comes from the top down because of the lot and team structure and our lead flow and lead sources. But speed to lead number one. We hear that all the time that I drill that into the agents for sure in the beginning, that you've got to be available to make that call within the first five minutes, right? Because more than likely someone else is calling them as well or they're clicking something else and maybe again, someone might be calling them. So speed to lead is definitely super important. And then follow up, we have cadences on Follow-up, and I've done other coaching programs. I've got a two week cadence where it's call, text, call, text, email. So I outlined them for them. I give them the structure and say, this is what you follow. And after a month of doing that, we're going to look back and see what results you've gotten.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
And if we have to tweak it, we'll tweak it. But again, just coming from the top down, I learned it from the Lawton team. And then of course some of the other coaching that I do, I just tweak what I've found works best for me, and I try and pass that on to the agents and then we tweak it based on what works best for them. Not some agents are great in text messaging, so maybe they take that cadence more than phone calls. Emails are kind of getting antiquated. People aren't really reading their emails or they're going to junk, so maybe they're not doing as much of that, but you've got to pick up the wait somewhere. But again, that goes back to those biweekly calls and meetings that I have with the agents. We look at the numbers, how many leads did you get? What was your follow up sequence? How often did you follow up and what got in the way? So that's what we look

Speaker 1 (22:46):
At. Yeah. What does get in the way, I mean, I'm not asking you to name names, but in general what gets in the way?

Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's typically because the way you

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Describe, it's so straightforward. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (22:57):
It's typically one or two things. When an agent gets a lead that's hot. When an agent gets a buyer or a seller that they're working, especially in the beginning, it takes up a lot of time because they're overthinking, they're really thinking into the transaction. So getting them back in the mindset of making phone calls or following up with leads when they've got someone that they're actively working with that gets in the way right there. The other thing is themselves, they psych themselves out. Making phone calls can be scary. You don't want to say the wrong thing. And so it's make it the next day or I'll send a text message and I'll follow up again, and then something a showing gets in the way or something shiny somewhere else gets in the way. But usually they get busy with a client themselves and they spend all their time just analyzing the transaction, analyzing, making sure they're doing the right job for their client, and they're forgetting that they've got to nurture these other leads, or it's just, again, getting in their own

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Way. Yeah, I am grossly oversimplifying it, but a lot of it feels a little bit like reactivity versus proactivity. It's easy. And then also this idea of you are committed from everything I've heard by talking with your fellow members of the lot and team, definitely a commitment to customer experience, I guess broadly speaking. And so I can see why someone might tend that way and maybe over attend that way versus we got to blend in some proactive behavior as well of reaching out to other folks. Tech you rely on, you're built on the Lawton Tech stack for you as kind of a system and process oriented person, what tech have you found really helpful over the past 5, 6, 7 years for yourself and for your team members? And what are some things you feel like there may, there's no tech solution here, it's just about person to person.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, so I'm going to go into follow up boss. I'm going to go into A CRM. I think that's super important. Having A CRM. My previous property management, we didn't have a CRM, and so I don't know how agents can follow up consistently without having a system that reminds them and it keeps them in check. So I would say the biggest thing for my business is the CRM and with Follow-up Boss, the way that it can segment your daily activities, the way we've set it up on the team, we've got to set up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You start at one and you go all the way through five. That's what your daily activity looks like. So it's really foolproof. You don't have to sit down and look at a big pool of leads and go, where do I start? We've set it up to where I start at one and I work through it. AI has been really helpful as well. I've been using chat GPT like crazy on some of the follow-up campaigns that I set on clients, nurture campaigns, even just text replies. There's sometimes where I'm like, I don't want to word this wrong, so I ask chat GPT, and it kind of helps, gives me that idea, and then I make it my own. Do we do that's outside? I think you asked of tech or that can't be done with tech? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
What's the wonderful human side of the business that you're not going to leverage out to a machine?

Speaker 2 (26:41):
For me, I think it's just communicating the process where we're at in the transaction. I know that we can set up automated emails for next steps, and I certainly have things like that set up, but for me, it's more person to person. And if I can't have that conversation in person, I'm sending a video text and it's very personal. Hey Ethan, this is Tony again. Just wanted to send you what's going on the next step. And I've found that my clients really appreciate that because you hear the tone, you understand the importance of that next step that you can't understand through an email or a text. So something that I think I'll always do, I feel like that's a huge value to the clients so that they really understand what is going on, what's next.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, really good. And it also positions you as the guide. It positions you as the expert. It's your face, your voice, your personality. I especially appreciate your commitment to doing it yourself. And so you have a system that reminds you that I need to be doing these things, but you're still doing those because it's such a uniquely human to human moment that you want to create for the benefit of the relationship.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
And it's not something that you can really precan, right? I mean you can, but then it becomes somewhat of an impersonal video message, Hey, here's what the next thing is, as opposed to, Hey, and here's the next thing. So it's a direct message. I'm recording it right now. I'm not in a sports coat with a nice background. I'm sitting in my chair in the office, or I'm at home or wherever I'm at, and it's just genuine directly to you that I want you to know that I'm along the ride with you and I'm giving you a heads up. So what's next? And that you never really, I don't want my clients to really ask me a lot of questions. I want them to know what's coming up next.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
The other, I don't mean to dwell on this, but I love this topic in general. The other unique thing is when you set it up canned and the same thing goes to everybody at about the same time, that's going to be right on about 75% of the time because 75% making that number up, it could be 65, it could be 85, but in most cases it's going to fit. But there's some that are like, this is actually a really terrible circumstance and I'm just helping this person get through this thing. And so the tone's going to be off if I send you the canned one that's appropriate for all situations, when in fact this entire transaction is triggered by the loss of someone very close to you. It's just a different thing or nuances and subtleties. It's a chance for you also to reflect everything about that client and their unique situation, a way that makes them feel seen and heard uniquely.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, it makes me think a quick story. I've got a first time home buyer and super cool kid. We've had a good relationship, but he's a little reserved, hasn't shown a ton of excitement. But we got his appraisal back the other day and I sent him a video. I said, Hey, got your appraisal back. We made the offer at this, and guess what, man, it came in 5,000 above congrats, and I was really excited for you. We're on to closing. He responded to me and he is like, I am so excited to close and get into my new house. And I was like, this is from you. I hadn't seen that side of him yet, but it was because it was in the moment. It was personal. I was excited for him. It got him excited. And again, I don't think a canned message that, Hey, your appraisal's up, we're moving to the next, I don't think that would've been the right fit for him.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Yeah, well, in that 5K number, that very specific number is part of that whole thing. This is for me, it's about me. It's bespoke, and there's no faking that, at least not yet. And I personally hope it's very personal editorial comment. I hope never because that's the joy in so much of this work. So what's next for your team and for you? Are you looking to, whether this is by the end of the calendar year in 2025 or whatever, are you looking to double agent count? Are you looking to take off some of your hats and maybe bring on a staff member or two of your own so that you can focus more on doing some of these other things and supporting these new agents that you're bringing on? What's your ambition for the next 12, 18, 24 months?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yeah, yeah. No, good question. And I've been putting some thought into that. I'm not sure. On the staff side, I've had some thoughts of bringing on some staff to take some of the activities that I do, some of the tedious things, the emails, and not all my emails, but some of the easy email replies, some of the planning for meetings, planning for coaching calls, things that I think I could bring someone on to kind of get me prepared so that I'm not spending so much time on those things. But I think bigger picture, I love being in production. I'm in production as well, but I definitely see myself stepping back, maybe bringing an agent that has definitely shown that they can lead to help lead the team with me. Maybe breaking up as I bring more agents on, breaking up some of those agents and having that person lead those agents and maybe allowing me to maybe step back a little bit more out of production so I can focus more on the agents.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I love coaching the agents. I love answering their questions. I love asking them, what do you think the solution is working through those things with them? And as I grow, my time gets a little tighter and tighter. So I think I see bringing some staff on to take care of some of those items that aren't the highest and best use of my time that someone can do for me so that I can still be more present for the agents. And then also, I don't want to ever get out of production. I think I might just step back my production focus on only a certain type of clientele or maybe my sphere, maybe my past clients, and be able to help the agents kind of grow their business that way as well and be a little bit more available for them.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
That's awesome. Well, I wish you success on that journey. I really appreciate you sharing your story here with me, and of course to all of your colleagues who have welcomed us inside the law and team. It's been a pleasure, and I always end these conversations with a fun pair of questions and somebody you can answer one or the other. Some people also like to answer both. That's fine too. Yeah. What is your very favorite team to root for, or what is the best team you've ever been a member of besides the Lawton

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Team? So you took it there. You took it there. Let's see. Favorite team to root for the Yankees. Okay. Right. I'm from New York, and even though a lot of haters out there, I'm always a Yankees fan. So when you know you're doing things right, that's right. You don't

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Have any haters. You're not there yet.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
It's tough being on the top, right? Yeah. But I'm also, I've been in Arizona most of my life, so I'm a Cardinals fan, as bad as the team has been over the last few years, but I've been here more than half my life, so I've dedicated my care to that team. So yeah, Yankees and Cardinals. Cool.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
I think the Yankees are in town right now.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
They are. In fact, I'm going to a game tomorrow. Cool. Well, enjoy. It

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Is great to spend this time with you. I appreciate you and again, wish you continued success.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks

Speaker 3 (34:19):
For checking out this episode of Team Os. For email exclusive insights every week, sign up@realestateteamos.com.