Build A Business Talent Never Wants To Leave
I’m so excited I was asked to sit on a panel at our annual Keller Williams Family Reunion convention. It’s quite an honor to be selected to talk on a topic that is so near and dear to my heart, “Build a Business Talent Never Wants To Leave.” As I was preparing, I realized much of what I have to share may help some of you as you consider building a team, growing a team, or changing teams that you are partnering with.
So, here are the answers to the questions I’ll be asked. I hope you find this helpful! By no means do I claim to be an expert or know it all. I only know that I’ve been learning by failing forward for about 16 years … building and running a real estate business is not an easy task, and it sure doesn’t happen overnight!
Here is your sneak peek a whole week in advance…
“Build a Business Talent Never Wants To Leave.”
My name is Juile Huck and I’m the “President of People and Culture” for the Ed Huck Team, Keller Williams Citywide. I’ve been with Keller Williams for 16 years. My Husband Ed and I have built a successful real estate business In the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, where we help about 300 families per year for about $100 million in real estate volume, ranking us in the top 1% of all Keller Williams agents worldwide.
How do you determine talent when looking for agent partners?
We look for Generous, Results Driven, Team Players with a Positive Attitude, Growth Mindset dedicated to upholding the Highest Integrity.
How do you create opportunities for the talented agent partners on your team that matches their goals?
When we talk to agents about partnering, we always sit down together for a motivational interview. (We were taught this in the Keller Williams Career Visioning class) This helps us to understand what is truly important to them in the 4 most important areas of their life. It’s amazing how everyone is different. Some of our agents want to sell over 50 homes per year while others would like to sell 20 but at a higher price point… they could have goals to fund a retirement or college, or take care of a growing family or use real estate sales as a means to start another business! That’s the beauty of this all…
How do you align their goals with your goals?
Our team structure offers a tremendous amount of leverage and support from a well-known and respected reputation, personalized marketing, a highly talented and experienced admin team, an inside sales department, bi-weekly training, and one-on-one coaching… So, It's important that our partnership is a win-win for both the agent partner and our team. We have minimum standards and cultural standards that everyone agrees upon as well as agreeing that this is their primary career (We do not have part-time agents on our team).
What is an example of when you successfully matched your team member’s career aspirations with opportunities available within your business?
We hired a young and super-ambitious woman to create and run our Business Development / Inside Sales Department... She loved her job in inside sales (she loves making endless calls) AND she loves investing. We created a hybrid role for her so that she can still run the department but also helped her to get her real estate license so that she could expand her investments, create an investment club for our network, and help others through opportunities to speak at KW events and KW Kids Can events. It’s been awesome to watch her grow and flourish!
How do you balance the need for attracting new talent with retaining and nurturing existing high-performing team members?
As we grew we realized we needed a specific role on our team to appreciate our current agents and attract the right new partners… Hence my title is, “President of People and Culture”. Our culture is what makes us special and what makes Ed and I love what we do every day. We invested in a 6000 sq ft office space that is just beautiful. It's open, bright, and has collaborative areas to train, coach, and meet with clients. We also meet two times a week with all of our agent partners and team members to learn grow and appreciate each other. We have one-on-one weekly coaching sessions to help all of our agent partners grow toward their goals. And of course, we have fun events like an annual awards gala, a summer concert series, and various community service events. Over half of our 13 agents have been with us between 5-10 years. It truly is a special group but that doesn’t just happen. It takes effort.
How has the focus on your team members' success translated into the success you have in your business?
When you are focused on helping and serving others- in my opinion, that’s success.
How have you failed forward in the hiring and retention process?
How much time do you have? … Until about 7 years ago Ed and I were not clear on why we wanted to grow our business and who it was we wanted to partner with. Once we took the time to get crystal clear on our purpose and our core values - everything changed. We started attracting amazing team members.
We also realized that if we partnered with someone who was not a fit, we needed to part ways as fast as possible. This was a hard lesson to learn and did not happen overnight. I’m very proud of how far we’ve come. Hire slow, fire fast.
How do you stop your ego from standing in the way of hiring great talent?
Understanding that you are not the only person who understands this business. That new ideas are what you want, and sometimes your way is not the only way to think about things. Learning to open our minds and open our hearts to the organic growth of our business has been an amazing journey. Typically not going as we plan!
Keller Williams provides many leverage resources that help all agents find the right partners to help them grow their businesses. How have you used the tools from Career Visioning, 30/60/90, and Success Through others to assist in your team’s growth?
We committed early on to attend every training session KW had to offer. It changed our lives. I’ve taken Career Visioning over 5 times and have learned something new every single time. I’ve also learned how to create a successful agent onboarding process and coaching program. Learning is one thing, and implementing the career visioning hiring process from start to finish is another. It took practice and years of interviews to truly understand how to hire at a high level. And I’m still making mistakes and learning every day!
In the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell discusses the Law of the Lid. What are you doing to continually raise your LID to ensure you are not holding back your team?
We believe 100% in the fact that “Your business grows to the extent that you do.” If we stop growing, our team and our business will stop growing. We commit ourselves to daily personal and professional growth outside of our comfort zones. Leadership is constantly learning about leadership and sharing what you’ve learned with others!
We also have to humble ourselves and open our minds and hearts to new opportunities and ideas.
How do you recognize and honor the contributions of your team members? What kind of impact does this have on retention and loyalty to your business?
Staying in purposeful, intentional relationships with everyone on our team.
Having conversations in the office, being present, cheering when we hear someone had a win…
Creating a consistent culture of gratitude and affirmation.
Bi-Weekly “Shout Outs” to team members at meetings for performance and culture.
Amazing awards ceremonies with lots of bling!
What stands out to you as the most crucial insight you’ve gained regarding the strategies for retaining talented partners and helping your team find new opportunities?
When you truly know and understand each other and seek to serve and contribute to each relationship you have both on a personal level and professional level, there will be fruit! It starts with knowing who to partner with so that this can happen at the highest level possible.
