From 6 Deals to 600: John Rota's Team Scaling Blueprint

RPP Ep. 131 John Rota

[00:00:00] Okay, we'll start in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Reside Platform podcast. I'm your host, Suneet Agarwal, and today I'm super stoked to sit down with a very smart and successful team leader, John Rhoda. John, how's it going, dude? Good man. I just want to give you a quick shout out here. So John's team, uh, what's the name of your city again? John? Edmonton, the number one team in transactions and by proxy volume, although no one's tracking it. Um, and what I love about you John, is you're definitely a numbers guy, but you also know sales and like lead gen and you're really innovative when that helps keep your team above the curve. So I'm excited to talk to you. Um, tell me how long you had a real estate team for.[00:01:00] Yeah. And how long had you been an agent? Prior? Okay, so about two years. Same. And what was going through your head when you said, I'm gonna start a team? Yeah. Yeah. What was the [00:02:00] journey about learning all that hard stuff early on? Yeah, I mean, like my first place where I got a lot of information was the Facebook group Lab code agents. And that place, like me being a member and lab coach, Tristan really was my first mentor and got me introduced into coaching and self-development and lead gen. Did, did you have a place like that that had a big influence on you when you were, when you were coming up?[00:03:00] Figure it out. Sure. You guys doing a lot of Google ads now, which is good. Like you don't have to pay anybody. Those, those, uh, those big cuts. It'll be relevant. It'll be relevant even with the A-I-E-E-A-I-E-O, [00:04:00] it'll still be relevant. Like go listen guys, I just did an episode. I was telling John about it before we got on air. Me and my boy ka sla, who did a big a EO test. Check it out. Check it out. Um, but so I wanna learn more about Google ads because a lot of people talk about 'em, and I feel like a lot of people don't really do much with 'em. So who runs your ads? Oh, great. Much lower quality.[00:05:00] So you let Sierra and YPO run your PPC right now? Yeah. How about seller side? Good. Good, good, good. Do what? You, but you're running Google traffic to your USP for sellers lots. And how's that going for you? Uh. Hell [00:06:00] yeah. Good. Um, now didn't you adopt, or lemme rephrase that for people who might be listening for the first time, didn't you, like, how are you routing your buyer leads to make sure they're getting worked right. Okay.[00:07:00] Okay, so number one, my first question is how do you qualify for leads on your team? Yeah. Okay. Wow. Okay. [00:08:00] And of how many agents on the team right now? 48. Good number. Um. How many are qualified for leads in September? Recording. Okay, so over half just about? Yeah. Okay. Are the agents eligible on the seller side also taking buyer leads? Dude, good for [00:09:00] them. Right? Like, you got enough listing leads. You don't need any buyer leads this month. Cool. Yeah. Right. So that's a good question. What if a lead comes in as a buyer lead and needs to sell even if they're lower, uh, lower level. Oh, good shit. And the, so the squad leader serves as kind of a mentor too, huh?[00:10:00] Yeah. Yeah. That's so good that you're implementing that in your squad. That framework that John gave us all it's fucking money. 'cause it works. Huh? Oh good. I was gonna [00:11:00] ask that next. Sure. Dude, that's really cool. I love that you're implementing it. Just textbooks, just like we say, bro, that's so good. You're really coachable and it works. Look, you guys, John, how, how many houses are you gonna sell this year? Yeah. So beating last year by 10%, right? 10 more than 10%. Right. Good, good. So you guys, John is implementing these frameworks that we've been talking about for years. Is working for him. [00:12:00] So that's really good shit to share. Um, so as you like, grow and do this accountability, like how do you make sure you're bringing on the right people? Well, is great by the way. Yeah. Hell yeah. Yes. How's it feel?[00:13:00] Good. Yeah. And I think that's a good move to put her with Holly, who's also a sales manager. Funny story, I coached Holly for about a year or two once upon a time. So, um, so good. I'm, and Kylie is a, so where, where'd you find her?[00:14:00] Sure. Oh, did she? Yeah. Well also like the recruiting for the modeling agencies is a grind. Like, are you kidding me? Like, that's straight grinding. So good for her. Um, oh, oh yeah, dude. So true. [00:15:00] Right. Um, so what does training look like when you're bringing on these people? Like how do you get everybody up and up to speed to get going? Boot and reside. Okay. Okay.[00:16:00] Yes. Yeah. How soon till they can get on the phone after the first week. Yeah. I like that. And dude, wait, once again, you're leveraging the tools that you, that you have, you do it in conjunction with Mia's training. So smart. Yeah. Everything start, you just started with Mia. Is Kylie helping you plan all that? Or you have another admin that coordinates all that? Yeah, dude. Good job, Kylie. If she's listening to this, maybe you should tell her should that she should shout out to her and we're gonna get her on one of these episodes too. Good. Um, so then they go through, they get the, they get on the phone the [00:17:00] first week. What do you do? Give them like a big old pile of old shitty leads, or what do you do? Just the big pond, right? How and, and just outta curiosity, how many is that? I think 50 a day. Easy, right? You the follow boss. Dialers not hard.[00:18:00] Eligible for money time. So how, how do they not last? Yeah. Who has that conversation? Kylie. Good. Does it ever feel kind of crazy when we talk about bringing people, you bring on a bunch of people and then like one out of a bunch actually makes the calls. You're all, damn. That was a lot of energy. Such a misconception. Yes. Well, no one thinks about that when they get the real estate license. They think about white beamers and two martini lunches, bro. Right. Like, and easy money and fancy [00:19:00] shoes. Um, so you definitely like. Are a structured, operate operational guy. What kind, like, what's your like personal habits or routines that help you stay focused and growing? Oh, really? Didn't he just have a kid? How old a kid. 16 months. So has that slowed you down? Well, you got a supportive lady. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. They actually went up because you just had a kid. Yeah. So, [00:20:00] so then what's your vibe? You, are you an earlier riser? So, uh, up by eight. Do you go to the office every day? Sit there by 10. Okay. Just boom. You're just on it. Water out the door? Yeah. Oh, dude. What are you doing? Late night? Hanging out a follow-up boss looking to leaves. Dude, how do I know that's what you're doing? It's not like I've been there forever. Yeah, I mean, dude, it's all about finding your rhythm on when your most effective time [00:21:00] is. Like I used to be a night out now. I really love my sleep and I love waking up super early. But you know, I, I'm older than you too, right? So like, I'm like trying to, um, go to bed early. Yeah, you are. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, what's a common mistake you see that other team, team leaders make that you think holds them back? Dude, well said. I know it's so confusing.[00:22:00] Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Good job, man.[00:23:00] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you want to grow, you have to be leading growth. You can't expect it to grow without somebody putting a charge at it. Straight fact. Right. Um, so for everyone listening out there. Team leaders who wanna sell big numbers like you off Google ads and have systems, what advice do you have for 'em?[00:24:00] Yes. Yes. Okay. Good to know. So that's like your breaking point when you need to hire somebody. Yes.[00:25:00] Totally paying for our business, paying for ego. Everybody's who's in this game has done it. People that have been successful in this have done it. I've, I I had to do it. Or I mean, first couple years, right? Like that's just part of it. Also something to be said, and I'm sure you've heard, uh, Nick McLean talk about it, is like, if we are a team leader, we are an agent on the team, and the same split that the agents actually go back to the team. Right? Well, what do you think about that? Hell no.[00:26:00] Yeah. Yeah. Since you got your books, first set of books done with Reside about True right. Yeah. And I think that's good piece of advice for everyone listening. Like take it from John, like you do contribute. And it's something a lot of people never think of, right? So if somebody wants to send you a referral in Edmonton, uh, you're the only person I would send a referral to up, up there, that's for sure. How do they do it? How do they follow you on [00:27:00] social media? How do they learn more about you, John? Okay. Guys, I hope you got something out of this. John, thank you so much. That was awesome, dude. We're gonna have a do it again and let Kylie know that I want to get her on too. Um, but dude, thank you so much everyone listening. I hope you got something out of it. If you did, click like share and subscribe and we'll see you in the next episode of the Reside Platform podcast. See you next time.

[00:28:00] How you doing? Alberta. Mm-hmm. April, 2017, I started the whole team thing. Uh, January, 2015. So not too long. Two and a years. Yeah. The first year was a push. It was, I only did six deals my first year and I wasn't really full-time in real estate, so [00:29:00] had a bit of a push, so about a year and a bit before a full-time realtor. I kind just fell into it. Uh, a friend of mine on the rugby team was also a realtor and he had a bad falling out with the team he was at, and he seen I was doing good and that, you know, I had a couple extra leads he could help out with and he's like, oh, I'll just, why don't you just start a team like you can do it. And then I go, okay, sure, sounds good. And I just kind of fell into it and gave him some leads here and there. Didn't realize that he needed accountability and training and mentoring and constant touch points until, uh, while a couple years later I figured all the rest of that stuff out. But yeah, kind of just fell into it. Expensive, really expensive. Yeah, I was in there. Yeah.[00:30:00] Yeah, I was in lab coats. I also followed. Chap really early. Like John Chap Black, I followed his stuff really early. Uh, 'cause I was searching for Team Lead and if you search that, he pops up. Right? So I was searching for that and I was, I was following Tom Ferry's stuff. I had already come through the Bini stuff, so I had like a bunch of ideas of stuff to do as an individual agent. But it was the, I guess the accountability and the training and then like where to get extra leads from. I was drumming up enough. Business to sustain my own business, but not to, uh, put enough food in front of somebody so they could eat too. Right. So had to figure that out for them. Um, but that was the expensive part. Buying leads from here or there, everywhere. I didn't even know, like back then you were buying lead lists and I didn't know that it was non-exclusive lead lists. I didn't know there was a difference. I didn't know what to [00:31:00] ask. So I of. Yeah, we do a lot of Google ads. Um, pretty much everything online that we drum through Google in Canada, so we don't have any or anything like that that you guys have. Yeah, yeah. But we don't have that, so we're, we're pretty much all Google ads and a bit of SEO stuff that comes through as it's for the time that's still here and then, uh, and relevant. But yeah, that's pretty much all drum up online.[00:32:00] Honestly, I've, I've tried running our own, our own buyer ads in the past, but when you get these companies like Sierra and stuff like that, my lo there is like specialized in this stuff and do a good enough job getting us a low enough cost per lead. Like right now we're hovering around like the low $8 per lead on the buyer side. So, and it's pretty much on average, like sometimes we'll go into, we never cross in the seven, but sometimes we'll go into like low eight to low nine. Dollars per lead. So when I was doing it, it was more, and we were on Facebook and stuff like that, which is a lower quality of lead. So I kind of just focused strictly Google and um, I just let those cats handle it. Now it's like staying in my lane and the real, the real juices in the conversion, right? Like the getting a lead is one thing, but actually working the lead is totally different. And that's what Yeah, I them for the buyer side, yeah. I [00:33:00] let them run. Sellers that we do in-house because we have a unique value proposition. So they don't have built out for that. Right. They don't have anything built out for that, like with Sierra and YPO for our value prop. So anyway, we're pretty good at what we're running there. We spend a lot of time. Yeah, lots. Yeah. Really good. I mean, a lot of our business is like, I think we're about 50 50 buyers and sellers. I mean maybe like maybe a 55, 45, you know, buyer's a little bit heavier with some of our newer agents, but we're doing a lot of sellers that are not like repeat referral, just like new online lead traffic. So. I took something [00:34:00] I learned from Chris Snow, the money time system he developed, and I kind of. It chunked it up a little bit harder and put a little bit more onto it for my agents. So, you know, before, like Chris is a little bit more like you pick your slots and when you wanna work in this and that. I pre prescribe a schedule at the beginning of the month if my agents are qualified for leads that month based on their activity the month before. Uh, and then I require them to be in office. For call sessions, calling buyer leads three times a day. Uh, so we'll have three different agents on money, time one, and then we have a second buyer upon money time two. So at any given moment, we have two agents all day long calling through our newest leads in the last seven days. Uh, and then, and then obviously, and then the last 30 days after they get through that list. Uh, follow up Boss Scoring System. So anybody uses Follow Up Boss, they'll know that has a scoring system in the back [00:35:00] end. Uh, we worked our team up from when we first introduced that threshold from 4,000 to 6,000, now 8,000 to be qualifying and I take out the appointments. So I'd say 8,000 no appointments. 'cause that that field is usually used and it's, uh, yeah, usually used. And I don't really, uh, see a good value pushing agents on it. It doesn't, doesn't help me at all. So I push on other things that help me convert leads and I just take those out. So 8,000 points in the month. Between times that we make the schedule, you are eligible for leads, then you get to opt into your leads that you want. You can either have a full rotation that month or a half rotation that month, depending on how busy you're feeling in the month. Uh, 48. Currently on leads. This last month on, on buyer leads, this month that we made the [00:36:00] schedule, I think there was about 24 or 25. Yeah. Yeah. And then we have seller leads is a separate category for us. So we have, the way I've structured my team is like through levels. We have five levels of agents on our team. Uh, you are only eligible for level, uh, by level three you start being eligible for seller leads. So you're not eligible for level one or two agents. So we have nine agents eligible on the seller side. We have 24 25 agents eligible on the buyer side right now. If they want, they get the option at the beginning of the month when we make our schedule. If they wanna opt in or opt out, or half rotation. I think about a third of them opted out this month and a third of them took half rotation and the last third, yeah. Most of those listing leads are buyer leads. Right? They're still, yeah. So. The [00:37:00] agent who gets it worked at lower level. Yeah. But on my team, I have squads, so I have internal, like formal leaders and squad leaders. So, uh, I manage a group of five to seven squad leaders, and those squad leaders all manage a group of five to seven agents in their squad. So if you're taking a listing lead and you're level one or two agents and there's a seller, you're likely gonna bring your squad leader with you, who's either a level four or level five agent to line that listing. So they can still work it, but they're, they're handheld through it. Yeah, they're like a direct report. They're a mentor, they're accountability coach. Uh, we do the, um, accountability work groups. We do them on a biweekly schedule and they're the ones who host it. So I used to do them when I was a smaller team, and then when we got bigger, they kind of fell by the wayside. 'cause we had like me doing two sets of accountability. It was just too much. So then when we scaled to [00:38:00] this, uh, squad leader model, the five to seven is that perfect number for the accountability groups. So we brought it back, and now they host their own meetings with their own squads every second week on Tuesday morning. And I, I do it still, but I do it with, I call it the Nomads Squad. That's my squad. So anybody who's not a squad leader. Yeah, all the squad nons squad leaders or people who are not on squads, they just aren't on for whatever reason. Um, and they get to, they get to opt in at a quarterly basis. So we have our quarterly go to the board meetings after the. Yeah, so after the go to the board, the people who are not involved in a squad, but are still on the team, I give them the option if they want to be involved in our quarterly section of accountability. And some people will say, I'm not, I'm gonna be on vacation this quarter or where I can't commit. And then they just, [00:39:00] they'll catch next quarter. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, right now we're on 5 48, uh, ends. We did 5 68 last year, so we're pacing ahead. My goal was 700. Not sure we'll hit quite that, but we should get into like the six and a quarter easily. Oh, is there ever a right answer for that? That's like crystal ball every time. Like our sales [00:40:00] manager, Kylie, does like majority of our outbound. Yeah, so she, we've tried so many things, like she'll meet with them and then she'll introduce them to me so I meet with them so that I can. You know, cast my opinion on somebody in the 30 minute meeting that if they're gonna make it in real estate or not, which ultimately didn't really translate to anything. 'cause people who I thought weren't gonna be good were good and vice versa. So now I've kind of just, uh, remove, I was challenged to take myself off of something and fully leave it to somebody and I fully have left her with the decision making of who we bring on. Don't bring on so. Uh, it feels good that she's doing it. Like I've invested a ton into her professional development. Obviously, like a real estate sales manager is not a position you can put out in Indeed and get people who are qualified and who know what they're doing or whatever have experienced. So, you know, coaching with, uh, Holly Chris on the Golfie team for over a year, one-on-one with her, [00:41:00] uh, being involved in numbers design coaching for the last almost two years now, she's come to a bunch of chap conferences. Years of experience to get to the point where she's at now, where, you know, I'm fairly confident that she can bring on the right people and make the right decisions. I put out ads on Indeed, and she took a shot. There was one we, we had interviewed like a group of people, uh, that we had made a shortlist for, and there was a auto dealer, uh, auto sales manager, a car dealership sales manager that we were gonna go with this guy. And then on the last, like it was the last day of interviews and her. We were done interviews and we're gonna go with this guy. And then her resume came in last second. And I'm very much like, I feel it. I just see something, I feel it. I just kind of go with it. So I shut it down. I was like, we were gonna decide by Friday. I told the [00:42:00] guy, Hey, I'll let you know, uh, next week. And then I called her in. I'm like, Hey, do you wanna come in today? Uh, or tomorrow morning, sorry for interview. And I, she came in and then we debated and debated and debated and I said, oh, we're gonna go with her. And, uh, yeah. I think, but the one thing that caught my eye on her thing is that she had a background in recruiting for model agencies. Yeah. To have caught my eye. She had recruiting on the one word, recruiting on there and I like, and the emotions that I'm sure she had to deal with with models. Surely she could have me realtor emotions. Um, well, right now it's a. [00:43:00] Thing that we're doing over six weeks. Uh, but a lot of it is in the first like two weeks and we're matching our training and pacing alongside, uh, Mia's, um, bootcamp. So we usually do, yeah. Yeah. So the Reside bootcamp that Mia hosts, um, we do 10 onboarding dates a year. That's it. Uh, and we push people to those dates and then we start them in line with the bootcamp starting. And then we teach 'em what we need. And she does a lot of the bootcamp stuff. We have our, our, um. Our marketing person sits in for a day, does marketing stuff with them. You know, I'll go in there and do some higher level stuff and some accountability and some, you know, encouragement and some, this is some real world. What's gonna happen, what you can expect. It's not selling sunset stuff. Kylie does a lot of like the, uh, systems and follow up boss and all that kind of initiatives. And then we have a large amount of like recorded content that they have to get through over the [00:44:00] next six weeks that, well, not large, I guess, decent amount of recorded content. After the first week. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Everything starts. No, they jump right into the big fish with us. So it's Where are all of our leads that haven't been converted or have whatever oldest leads or anybody who's over 30 days in your [00:45:00] system? Yeah, any After 30 days in our system, they get dropped into big fish. And then there's, I don't know, 60,000 or something accounts in there, and they have at it, you know, I, I prescribe them a set amount of dials they have to make in a day in the first week, and then 50 in the first week a day. Yep. Yeah, you're doing some, they're doing a lot of, like, they're doing some videos and such and stuff too, like they're still learning some stuff. Uh, and then after that we ramp up to a hundred a day in the next four weeks at least. And then by the end of the month if they've lasted, uh, so it should be like week four for their onboarding. They should be eligible for lead flow that following month. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, they just don't make the calls and then we can just tell 'em right there. Like, it's, if you're not willing to hit the phones or get on the phone and be out, put [00:46:00] yourself out there. Even in that capacity, it's really not gonna be able to, something we'll gonna be able to work with here. Right. Um, me or Kylie and most, most of the time, Kylie, but yeah, me or Kylie. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't understand it like it, it's just such a misconception in our industry, like what it's gonna be like when they get in and they're just terrified of being on the phones. Mm-hmm. Yeah.[00:47:00] Personal habits and routines. That's probably my, I mean, if you're looking about like outside of working, I guess I'd probably be the weakest in that because I just work. I did, uh, 16 months, no wife's going back, wife's not gonna go back to work. So the way I look at it is like if you lose an income, you have to replace an income. So we have to make the same. We still, our bills don't get smaller if she's not gonna go back to work and. Exactly. So that is my role right now. No, I'm, I'm a night owl, usually up by eight every day. No, no, I'm, I'm up by eight. I'm [00:48:00] in there by eight 30 probably. Yeah. Yeah, I'm usually, and I'm usually sleep by two, literally. Yeah. Like doing systems and all this kind of stuff, like anything that fills in the like all. Yeah, I do. I do better. I do better work done. The thing with that timeframe is no one bothers you. No one calls you. You just get stuff. You get locked in and no one's calling. The phone's not blasting, and it's just, it's the most effective work hours, honestly, sometimes.

[00:49:00] Yeah, I'm still pretty young for this team leader game for sure. I feel like team leaders make the same mistake that agents do when they're getting in the industry. Like they think that like, oh, I'm just gonna sign up agents and I'm just gonna collect commission checks off them. They make the exact same mistake and there's, the team is such a loosely used term like now, especially with the downline brokerages. The downlines call themselves teams. Yeah. So it's like so, so, so confusing and like, you know, I, I met with an agent last week just by, by Fluke, and we were talking, she had just left a team at a, at one brokerage and went to exp and she told me she's joining an EXP team. And I said, well, what team is it? And she told me the team. And like, that's not a team though. That's a downline. Like if. There's a differentiator and she doesn't understand because she's a new agent and she just got hustled for 15 grand from her last team lead. So [00:50:00] she, she is, it's just like she's totally disconnected with what she's doing and what, because there's so much misinformation around the team thing. But I think where they make mistakes is they think that it's them first and not agent first. I think team leaders, I think it's like team leader first, ultimately don't succeed. I think they had to be able to, like people first, put their people first and be willing to sacrifice and, you know, help their people when they need it. Like, I'll, like, if there's like a, I've been known and I will do it if I have the time, if I'm, if it's available, like if someone throws in the group chat like, Hey, I was outta town right now. Someone, one of my bars wanna see a house right now. Is anybody around? Like, I will go take up a showing right. A lot of people, a lot of team leads are just like, pay me the checks. I'll be outta town all the time. Right. I think you can operate, I, I've never seen a business that is like this type of business where you're brick and mortar. You have people that you can just be gone all the time or plugged, like, unplugged all the time. [00:51:00] Right. And have a successful operation. So yeah. I think it's just to forecast your, the levels, uh, that you're gonna hit as best you can in advance. 'cause when you, when you're small and you start starting, you're starting a team, your cost can be very, like, lean. Once you get over a certain agent account, a certain deal production, all of a sudden you need extra admin, extra systems, all this extra stuff. And if you're not actively recruiting that, that extra expenses come off your bottom line. So just 'cause you get a bit bigger doesn't mean you're more profitable. Right? So like if, like I found, I found that hit me [00:52:00] almost every 15 agents I've found. Yeah, I was at 15 agents. I had one assistant, me and a part-time admin, like part-time assistant helping out. Uh, after that, when we got to like 18, 19, we're like, we need another full-time person here. But the money we were bringing in off the additional couple agents wasn't covering what we were spending on the additional systems or the additional leads or the additional staff. And I didn't realize that like for me to get to 19, I really have to be at 26 agents. To keep us humming. So I think it's just to, if you're going to be recruiting, you wanna be building, you also have to forecast your profitability. Um, and making sure that you're not just taking away from your bottom line and dumping in like all your own personal deals. 'cause all the team leaders, when you start a team, you're still in production. I still sell, um, but I don't want my deals to supplement or else what's the point, not making [00:53:00] more. I did that. I did that for a couple of years, probably. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I think I actually, I actually like that. I think that we should all be on the same splits. I have no special deals. Nobody on my team has a special deal with our team, including myself. So our, I'm a level five agent on our team. Now I contribute 'cause I would use those resources, I use the admin more than anybody. I contribute to that. And ultimately the profit that's left in the company at the end of the day is still our profit, my profit. So I can take it out later. But at face value, [00:54:00] I do contribute. And I think it's only been about 18 months. That we've been paying ourselves the same as the agents, right? Yeah. Yeah. Some, somewhere around there. Now we're paying ourselves the same as the agents, and that's, uh, that's good that, that's filled a lot better. Well, our team name is Move Team, so it's MUVE team. Uh, we're the only one, so each people will find us easily on Facebook or Instagram or whatever. Uh, you can reach us to us on socials. My name, obviously John Rodas, J-O-H-N-R-O-T-A. [00:55:00] Uh, I'm not the only one. So make sure you look for the bald guy with a beard. That one's me.