Dan Plowman Team Systems Blog

Are Teams “The Future Of Real Estate”?

DPTS — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:04:21 +0000

I wanted to write a piece on the future of real estate – about where this business will be in a decade. What innovations will there be? Will there be a major shake-up? Will the excessive access to information by the public make Realtors go the way of travel agents?

The irony is that I interviewed Dan and Michael Plowman of the Dan Plowman Team recently and was surprised that they have trademarked the slogan, “The Future of Real Estate.” The Plowmans are actively engaged in training others in real estate across Canada about how to set up, manage and thrive from teams. They were my go-to people for this interview.

Dan Plowman started in real estate sales more than 22 years ago; Michael Plowman has been with the team for eight years. It turned out to be a three-way interview as Dan and Mike responded. Their comments to my questions follow:

Dan: At first when the concept of having an assistant started, maybe 12 years ago, more or less, a lot of top producers did it to support their egos. They did not know exactly what was the role of the assistants, what were their tasks and worse, they did not know how to leverage their position. I was guilty of that and if something went wrong, I blamed the assistant. I did not take responsibility if something went wrong. I should have understood that it was my fault for not having systems in place. Blaming an assistant is a typical knee-jerk reaction by a boss and is wrong, usually because of a lack of having systems.

Back then, few understood that the assistant was there to provide value, both to the leader, the public and of course, to themselves. They did not understand that the assistant could be leveraged into providing three or four times the effort that one person could do. That is just the power of compounding.

Read the rest of this interview with Dan & Michael Plowman at REMOnline!

The Importance Of Teamwork

DPTS — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:57:21 +0000

One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts, but team work dynamites. – Jin Kwon

Businesses of today are largely concerned about their profits. They are taking every possible step to increase their turnover. The most important aspect that has a very substantial and positive impact on any business is teamwork. Effective teamwork is very significant for a company to use employee potential to the fullest. Teamwork is not only used in the corporate world to achieve targets on time, but also in the world of sports. If a team works towards a goal collectively, no one can stop it from reaching its goal. Due to the importance of teamwork in business, employers prefer to hire employees who are good team players.

Requirements for Being a Good Team Member

For becoming a good and effective team player in your company, you are required to have a particular set of skills and capabilities. You most importantly should have a good listening skill. This surely proves to be useful in listening to ideas, views, suggestions and conceptions of other employees or subordinates. You should be able to discuss the ideas and strategies suggested by your colleagues.

You should encourage the participation of every member in the team for a collective effort to achieve a goal. You also need to be able to share knowledge and understanding among the team members. A not to be missed skill is to give respect to others. If you want to be a good team player, you should learn to respect people and their ideas. These are just a few essentials that are required for becoming a good team member. Now let us understand why is teamwork important.

Why is Teamwork Important in Business?

Achieving Goals
It is a widely understood concept, that united we stand and divided we fall. Same is the case of a team in a business. Collective team activities are very important if the company or a process wants to reach its goal. There are some tasks that cannot be done individually, but can be easily accomplished by working in a team.

Increasing Individual Learning
In simple terms, a team is a group of people who have come together for achieving a common objective. Therefore, in a group of people, there are many intelligent minds and brains working. When team members work together as a team, they can learn the skills and capabilities of each other and advance their knowledge. This certainly can be beneficial in your professional as well as personal life.

Resolving Conflicts
There are many types of conflicts that may arise in the company, which may in turn have an adverse effect on the collective output. In order to resolve business conflicts; the knowledge, understanding and expertise can be used efficiently for determining solutions to the problems. This significantly helps the business to grow.

Good Communication
Communication is an inevitably important factor in teamwork. When employees work in a team, they are able to pass on their ideas clearly. This rules out the possibilities of miscommunication due to complex hierarchy in the company. And due to ideas and concepts passed clearly, there is no scope for misunderstanding.

Generating New Business Improvement Ideas
If a manager encourages team members to participate in collective decision making, he will be able to reach a good strategy by considering views and suggestions from all members. The business can also think of incorporating ideas suggested by the team members. Employee participation in the management is a very effective tool in meliorating business strategies.

I hope this explanation might have been helpful for people wondering, why is teamwork important. Those in the team leadership should conduct team building activities for letting employees know each other better, and work in a team effectively.

By Stephen Rampur
Last Updated: 10/12/2011

As seen on Buzzle.com

Simple Ways To Improve Teamwork

DPTS — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:55:19 +0000

Teamwork is often misunderstood as the coming together of a group of people working under a particular department. We aren’t wrong, but here we just look at the smaller picture. All the employees in an organization are one single team. Of course, this one team is made up of smaller teams put together but we need to focus more on the bigger picture, right?! Teamwork is essential because it gives you better results and these are achieved faster due to planned and effective working. The importance of teamwork must be explained to all the employees during the training itself. Teamwork if planned properly, can give the best possible results. The employees must be trained to work as a team and not as an individual. For some simple ways to improve teamwork in an organization, let’s read the tips mentioned below.

Ways to Improve Teamwork

Enhance Communication
Communication is what bridges gaps between people in different teams and is one of the key factors to improve teamwork. Most problems arise at a workplace due to lack of good communication skills. It helps to build inter-personal relationships among the team members. Good understanding among team members yields better results for the company. No team can be called a team if there isn’t proper flow of thought and ideas amongst its members.

Team Discussions
If you want to know how to improve teamwork, the easiest way is this. You need to fix a time every week where everyone would get together and discuss what happened in the days that passed. Here people can talk about the good that happened and the bad too and how it can be improved. Suggestions can be taken to make the team function more properly and more effectively. Like it is said, there is always room for improvement and this room can be filled little by little every meeting.

Set Combined Goals
The goals need to be set keeping in mind the bigger picture. The goal should be looked at as a combined goal and not that of self. Growth of the organization should be given top priority for the sole reason that in the progress of the team, lies the progress of the employees. There should be one goal or target for the entire team every one month and this should be divided further into the respective teams. Symbiotic living is necessary if symbiotic processes are needed for output.

Team Building Activities
One of the best ways to improve teamwork is to hold team building activities. There are professionals who specialize in conducting these activities and these can be called during office hours to counsel the employees. The employees get a break from the everyday routine and also get to learn something new. Seminars are another option where team building games can help improve teamwork in the workplace.

Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech is very important if you are looking at improving the teamwork in your organization. Every employee has the right to say what he/she thinks is right or wrong and why. There should be regular voting for certain decisions where everyone gets a say and equality is maintained. The freedom of sharing thoughts and views gives the teams a sort of confidence as well. With freedom of speech also comes unity in the form of support of common views.

Now that you know these simple ways to improve teamwork, you can start applying these in your organization soon. These won’t only get you good results, you’ll get them faster too. Teamwork is achieved with continuous effort and now that you know the easy ways to improving teamwork, we hope you implement these as soon as possible in your organization and witness some positive change.

By Neha Joshi, as seen on Buzzle.

Team Communication

DPTS — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:52:24 +0000

What is a team without coordination… and how can team members coordinate without a team leader? A team leader is a person who leads the team while giving each and every team member the right to be a leader in themselves. He not only possesses good leadership and guidance skills, but is also a good communicator. In the words of James Humes, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.” If the team has an effective leader who can communicate the goals and objectives of the team with the goals and objectives of the individual members through effective two way communication, then there is nothing that can stop the team from succeeding in achieving its goals. So what are some effective strategies for fostering good team communication? The next section discusses all this and more…

Effective Team Communication Strategies

So, what are some effective strategies that you can adopt in your team in order to achieve your set goals? When working as a team, remember that you are dealing with different individuals with different styles of working and understanding. What may seem right to one team member may seem to be inappropriate to another team member. Another point to be noted is that to work together as a ‘team’ it is important to meet deadlines and work with complete focus and coordination because each and every task is related to the overall goal achievement. Communication comes into play when each and every member must be conveyed their task, their point of contact and the deadline to finish their individual task so that they can be united for the complete functioning of the team. Many a time, lack of communication, or rather the ‘assumption’ that things have been communicated and perceived in the right manner when they actually are not, can create a lot of chaos and unnecessary delays in the team. For this, implementing certain team communication strategies is a must. These are discussed as under.

Use Reliable Channels of Communication
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Communication is a two way process. Only passing the information is not enough, you need to make sure that the information you have passed is also understood in the same way as you intended. The human mind can perceive the same thing in different ways. So keep the language simple leaving no room for misinterpretations and use appropriate channels to communicate the information and receive relevant feedback. An example for the same would be this. To communicate change in strategies or deadline dates, you can send out a notice on the internal network files which are easily accessed by everyone in your team. You can also hold a meeting for the same to make sure that everyone is aware of the changes and has understood the changes that need to be brought in the team working strategy. It is important to hold face to face meeting with the team members at least twice a week to make sure that everything necessary has been communicated and understood.

A Team has No ‘I’, It Has Only ‘We’
“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” ~ Vincent Lombardi
Yes, it is the combination of individual efforts of each and every team member that contributes to the overall success of the team in all. Therefore, it is always important to communicate in terms of ‘we’ and not ‘I’. This is because the way you communicate also influences the minds of the team members. Addressing concerns and important notices as a ‘team’ and not as a group of individuals is an approach that should always be followed to remind team members that no one is differently valued than others and that everyone is ‘equally’ a part of the success of the team.

Welcome Feedback and Suggestions
“Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.” ~ Vincent Lombardi
Each and every person in the team is undoubtedly good at his or her work and that is the reason why they are there, right? Many times, in the monotony of following the leader and doing what is asked to be done, mentally stales the individual spark that can actually contribute to a remarkable idea that can add on to the success of the team. Which is why, another effective team communication strategy would be to give each and every team member a chance to voice their feedback and suggestions at any point of time. For this purpose, feedback forms and suggestion boxes should be introduced and someone should be appointed to analyze them periodically.

Everyone Gets to Participate
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” ~ Stephen Covey
… and a successful team is the one that can tap all these differences and unite them together to achieve a similar objective. For this, active and equal participation of each and every team member is a must. The fact that each and every person has a different perception can create problems at times, but it can also be a plus point. Total participation can lead to identification of a certain approach by one team member which wasn’t identifiable by others. Not only does this approach pave way for new advances, it also brings in a sense of belonging and importance among the team members, which definitely helps in improved unity, coordination and effective team work.

Appreciate Openly but Criticize Alone
Communicating with the team members in terms of appreciation or criticism should also be done in the right manner. Always remember the key rule, ‘appreciate openly, but criticize when alone‘. Remember, every individual has other aspects of life that he or she is dealing with, which could intentionally or unintentionally, affect their performance on the professional front. Therefore, when it comes to appreciation, praise the contribution of the team member (also acknowledging the contribution of each and every team member) out in the open. Although, when it comes to criticism, make sure that instead of blaming the ‘one person’ out in the open, hold an individual meeting and try to understand the underlying causes. Be a good listener and offer help if possible. Because the contribution of each and every team member counts, make sure that frequent meetings or informal outings are held so that the team members are opened and comfortable enough to share their goals, both professional and personal. This helps in stronger bonding and better understanding, both of which are important for stronger team building.

Before I conclude this write up on effective team communication strategies, I would like to remind you all again that though a team is one, it comprises various different individuals with different emotions, understandings, and goals. Therefore, whenever you communicate within your team, make sure that you keep the information as simple, polite, and to the point. Everyone in the team should be clear of their responsibilities and duties, thereby abiding by what is expected of them. It is the responsibility of the team leader to channelize each and every individual effort towards the goal achievement and organizational success. So, make sure that you apply the team communication strategies and techniques to keep the communication simple, effective, and efficient. All the best!

By Shalu Bhatti

As seen on Buzzle.com

Last Updated: 9/27/2011

Why Build A Real Estate Team?

DPTS — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:21:19 +0000

By: Andy Herrington as seen in REM Online

Why would someone want to build a real estate team? I am a big believer in the “why”. Without this understanding, nothing is ever really accomplished. Without knowing why we are doing something, we can never know if we are successful or not.

Team building is hard work (like anything else business related). Building a team is an entrepreneurial endeavour. You are building a small business. Like any small business it takes time, effort and money to get it moving and growing. Without the right motivations behind your actions, it’s destined to fail.

The first thing you need to decide is why you want a team. Is it a status symbol? Is it to create immense profit or to provide a better way of life for you?

One of the most common mistakes when agents first start a team is they focus on the selfish reasons – “the results”, instead of the grand picture of what a quality team provides to everyone. A team cannot function solely for an individual. The reasons why to build a team include:

* time and financial freedom (for everyone on the team, not just the team leader)

* providing better service to clients

* the satisfaction of teaching

* raising the reputation of the industry as a whole

The more the team leader focuses on others (clients and team members), the better the chances are of the team becoming successful. The direct result over time is that the team leader will also reap huge rewards from the team environment. Let’s look at these benefits closer.

A team provides a platform that creates an easier way to do things. It should provide sources of leads, as well as help doing the non-dollar productive activities so the licensed team members can spend more time doing what they are best at, buying and selling homes. This means that one of the very first benefits to team members is time freedom. They need to spend less time per transaction, and therefore they can spend their time on either making more sales or living their life outside real estate.

The team leader begins to reap benefits from each member. As the members do more business, the team earns more money and the leader now can focus on turning a profit. As the team grows and is successful, eventually the leader can also start to back away from active duty in the business and focus on building the business. This allows the leader to work more regular hours and avoid late nights.

Soon the leader can stop selling real estate and solely run the team (if they so choose) and have immense time freedom as well as financial freedom. When the business is running completely smoothly, the leader may even hire someone to run the office and step away completely, just collecting profits and having complete time freedom for whatever they want.

* Read the rest of this article at REM Online, and join us at our Team Summit to hear Andy Herrington and Robin Sharma live!

Perception

DPTS — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:01:52 +0000

Something to think about…

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately, 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:
*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*Do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.
How many other things are we missing?

Social Media

DPTS — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:48:19 +0000

Social Media In The Canadian Marketplace:

From business to politics to health care, social media plays an important role in Canada’s economy. In the March 2010 Leger Marketing survey, close to 90% of private executives stated that their business makes use of social media. Only 10% of the respondents claimed social media was a time consumer and they would prefer not to use it. Based on this survey, Canada has indeed utilized & embraced the innovations of social media, giving it a bright future in the Canadian marketplace.

Promotional Tools:

Twitter and Facebook lead the pack in the social media arena. Business owners grasp the impact of these tools for promoting their products and services. They are most popular within banking and financial sectors as a crucial manner in which to interact with the public, promoting their brand and company. Of the business owners surveyed, 28% acknowledge that it is their top business leaders who are driving their social media strategies within their organizations.

Broaden Your Horizons:

The survey’s outcome signifies the rapid growth of social media as it evolves in the enterprise segment of Canadian business. More and more companies are recognizing the fact that social media can help their business grow exponentially. The relative ease of advertising using the world wide platform of social media can create brand recognition in markets not previously accessible.

Lead The Way:

The internet continues to grow in leaps and bounds, with the convenience of buying and selling online becoming commonplace for the average consumer. Develop and implement a social media plan that’s right for your business. With nearly 50% of those who use these tools to promote their brand believing they don’t have the resources required to monitor their social media, a company like Armed Systems can provide the necessary support for a successful social media campaign. The power of these simple marketing tools can be harnessed by properly setting up your target market and making your brand visible to consumers.

A Gathering Of Eagles

DPTS — Tue, 17 May 2011 01:26:38 +0000

2011 REAL Trends Gathering of Eagles

Invitation-only Event Brings Together Top Brokers and Real Estate Leaders Nationwide

DENVER, COLO (May 4-6, 2011) – Michael Plowman, Team Leader for the Dan Plowman Team, recently attended the exclusive 2011 REAL Trends Gathering of Eagles conference. The conference is held annually and this year’s event attracted over 200 principals and CEOs from the nation’s 500 largest residential real estate brokerage firms plus senior management of the nation’s largest real estate franchise organizations. Held at The Westin Denver Downtown, this year’s conference had “A Time to Focus” as its theme. Michael was also given the distinct honour of speaking on the panel about The Future Of Real Estate Teams, along with two other North American top team leaders.

CEO’s Sheryl Chinowth, Christopher Masiello and Lon Welsh led the Billionaires meeting discussing how they managed significant growth in the tough markets of 2007-2010. Charlie Young, CEO of ERA Franchise Systems and Dan Duffy, CEO of United Country Real Estate shared their views of the challenges faced by national brands. Keynote speaker Mitch Joel engaged the audience of over 200 leaders on how social media will change their businesses and how leaders can take advantage of the reach of such tools. Panels on business models, additional core service opportunities in insurance, property management and lead generation all targeted how brokerage firms have enormous opportunities left. Leaders of Realtor.com, Core Logic and RPR discussed the future of content.

Three of the nation’s top sales team leaders concluded the program laying out Sales Teams 2.0, where young smart sales leaders are building real businesses using the latest in internet lead generation and management systems. Nicolai Kolding and Steve Murray of REAL Trends concluded with remarks about the market ahead.

What some had to say:

“If you attend only one conference this year, this is the one.” – Lyle Martin, CEO/Co-Founder, Assist-2-Sell

“Steve Murray is gifted at inviting thought-provoking speakers and getting them to open up and share insightful comments.” – Eric Thompson, President, The Group Real Estate

“Always great to network with local entrepreneurs and industry leaders. I always walk away enriched and a bit smarter. Thank you.” – Lou Gonzalez, SVP, Operations, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services.

“While there are new challenges that appear each year, among the largest issues facing leaders throughout the real estate industry is where to keep the focus. This year’s conference was focused on understanding more of the basics of the business than in years’ past; business models, new incremental revenue opportunities and the reality that housing consumers need professional assistance more than ever. Leaders need to stay focused on how to reach out and touch more customers with more assistance. The 2011 Gathering of Eagles will go down as the year that housing started to turn the corner and those in attendance were able to see where to focus their efforts to take advantage of the market,” said Steve Murray, editor of REAL Trends.

For additional information regarding REAL Trends, Inc. visit www.realtrends.com.

The Power Of Coaching

DPTS — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:32:51 +0000

Coaches are recognized leaders in their field, people who have made the mistakes and found the path to success in their chosen arena. They are the ones we want to learn from, to have their wisdom and experience passed on to us, and to benefit from the lessons they have learned along the way. A coach will help you develop your own skill set, based on a proven plan for success, helping you to attain your own goals and dreams in the process. Often, we can find ourselves stuck in a rut, repeating the same actions while hoping for a different result. We know where we want to go with our plans, but we simply don’t don’t know how to get there. Finding those who have achieved what we want for ourselves, and learning the steps they took to get there, can be the difference we need for our own successes. A coach can offer us the support and encouragement needed to take that leap of faith, and find the courage within to step outside of our comfort zone and follow a new path…one that will lead us to the results we’ve been seeking!

At Dan Plowman Team Systems, it is our commitment to help you build the team and business of your dreams. We are the only real estate coaching company that is devoted solely to building and maintaining profitable real estate teams. Our coaching program is completely customized to meet your needs in your business right now. We do an initial assessment to find out more about you and your business and then we develop a customized plan to get your business booming. You’ll learn in depth the systems behind the #1 Team for units sold (2008) on Canada’s largest real estate board! We are bringing our Team Leader Workshop to Calgary this June, and we look forward to helping you drive your dreams!

Team Leader Workshops

DPTS — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:48:50 +0000

Learn the most common team building mistakes and how you can avoid them. We have streamlined our powerpacked seminars into a single day where you can immediately learn hands-on how to implement the techniques we introduce.

Throughout the year, Dan Plowman Team Systems offers team building seminars and leadership workshops all over North America. We have had sold out events in Ottawa and Mississauga so far this year, and are looking forward to the successes of those who attended. Stay tuned to our website and Facebook page for upcoming events, & learn how to drive your dreams!