There’s a nightmare scenario that keeps most real estate agencies awake at night. It’s the fear your top performer (the one that’s pulling in 30% of your revenue) will one day walk out the door and leave your business.
This is applicable to any industry, not just real estate. When there’s one person pulling in a good amount of your revenue, you’re at risk.
You run the numbers at a possible reality without your top performer, and your chest tightens. Losing them would be a disaster, or so you think. This happened to be and my worst nightmare actually saved my business.
Let me explain.
A few years ago, we poached a star real estate agent from a competitor who had big numbers and an even bigger reputation in our local area (the Adelaide Hills).
Revenue soon followed and things looked good, but behind the scenes, something felt off. It wasn’t necessarily toxic yet, but they had an outsized influence on our team, and not for the right reasons. This individual eventually left to start their own agency.
As a leader, it stung. My first response was disappointment, as I’d invested a lot of time and energy into them. Disappointment soon turned into panic about how we’d fill the revenue gap.
At this point, I was already in the process of transitioning from salesperson to CEO, and the last thing I wanted was to regress.
Our business wasn’t going to become what I knew it could with me focused on sales, instead of leading/mentoring.
But, something unexpected happened.
The second he walked away, my team stepped up. Losing the star performer didn’t create a gap. It created space for a real team to emerge.
My personal sales dropped by 25% (which was good) and I was able to step back from selling and be more involved in coaching and leading. As a result, we got better outcomes.
When problems came up, I didn’t try to quickly solve them straight away. I created space for the team to work through it to find a solution. We all levelled up as a result.
We de-risked our revenue and became a tighter knit team, making room for more than one high-performer.
It was a powerful leadership lesson.
When the wrong person leaves, the right people can grow but only if you create a system that can support their expansion.
The entire experience forced me to stop relying on ‘stars’, including myself, to stop being the bottleneck. The systems and structures you implement need to be honoured, especially in times of stress. If you don’t follow them as a leader, your team won’t either. Think of these scenarios as a way to stress-test your operating systems.
Get clear on who you are and how you do things. Culture + systems is your competitive edge. It’s how you scale an agency without getting in the way or losing touch as a leader.