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Teams have been a growing entity in real estate for decades now. But recent years have seen an explosion in the concept, with teams growing to become, in some cases, like pseudo brokerages spanning vast distances and with hundreds of members.

This explosion in popularity has also changed the concept, and during a Thursday morning session of Inman Connect a pair of industry leaders outlined what they’ve seen an done to push the team idea into new territory. Here’s the gist:

Accountability

Jena Turner, a Texas-based team leader with Found Realty, started building up her team during the pandemic and said that she has learned to focus not on fun, but on accountability.

“I try not to say, ‘come work here, it’s fun,’” she explained. “And as soon as I started recruiting for accountability, the culture started taking care of itself.”

So what does that look like specifically?

Turner said she expects agents to get two referrals per transaction, so that the business continues growing over time. There are training and performance requirements. And Turner even has cameras in her office, which she uses to check in on her team.

“When I’m here I just log in and yell at them,” she joked.

Outsourcing

Craig Goodliffe serves as the CEO of Cyberbacker, a company that enables real estate companies to outsource tasks to workers in the Philippines. During Thursday’s panel, he explained that for basic tasks users might pay $800 per month. But the company can also connect American firms to college educated and experienced business professionals who have higher-level skill sets but also cost vastly less than an equivalent worker might charge in the U.S. 

This process is changing what teams can do and what the financial equation looks like for them.

Reviews

Both Turner and Goodliffe also said that online reviews have changed the real estate landscape and are now king for successful agents and teams.

“It takes 50 five-star reviews to undo one negative,” Goodliffe said. “When you start looking at that, that becomes a big undertaking.”

Turner agreed, and said that reviews play into the culture of accountability at her brokerage.

“We make sure that they’re getting reviews for every transactions,” Turner said of her agents.

Email Jim Dalrymple II