Rob Ellerman

In the early 2000s, Rob Ellerman, already an established REALTOR, began building his real estate team.

His first four hires? Still on the team today.

My slogan is, Train them so everybody wants them, and treat them so theyll never leave,' Ellerman explains. Our retention rate is probably the best in our city.

Probably the best understates things. As a group of 110 professionals, The Rob Ellerman Teamaffiliated with ReeceNichols Real Estate, based in the Kansas City metrohas little to no turnover. According to Ellerman, his culture is made to retain. The Rob Ellerman Teams structure and support, for example, allows for the growth of teams within the team, as well as access to comprehensive, in-house training, so agents have the knowledge and skills to succeed.

Its working. In 2018, The Rob Ellerman Team garnered $338 million in sales volume and 1,119 transactions, and is consistently one of the countrys leading real estate teams.

Members of The Rob Ellerman Team

Suzanne De Vita: Rob, how did you establish your real estate team? Rob Ellerman: I started in real estate right out of college in 1996, and worked by myself for 7-8 years. I saw things falling through the cracks, so I hired a buyers agent. Shes still with me today, which is something Im pretty proud ofIve got my first four hires still with me. My slogan is, Train them so everybody wants them, and treat them so theyll never leave. Weve got about 110 people total, including staff. We have an office manager, who is our transaction coordinator; we have a director of Marketing, and she oversees two others in marketing; and we have a lead coordinator and a trainer, and a director of Expansion. We have offices in Lees Summit, On the Plaza, North of the River, Overland Park and Leawood, Kan.; in Springfield, Mo.; and in Pensacola, Fla., and Des Moines, Iowa.

SD: How do you determine who fits with the group? What criteria do you look for? RE: Culture is a big thing for us, and reputation. We dont want to take on part-time agents; we want full-time agents that can go through our 13-day training process. Im proud that we have great people on our team. Our retention rate is probably the best in our citywe just dont have people leave that often. Im happy to take care of my agents. Weve done things for agents that a lot of team leaders do not in order to help them be successful or get through bumps in life. Everything I do is agent- and client-focused. If I can break-even on Zillow, for instance, and give all my agents a bunch of business, its worth it for me.

SD: How did you develop your training? RE: Every year, I look at my business and ask, Where am I weakest? For a long time, I could always point to something that I was in charge of, because I was in charge of everything! I knew I needed a trainer. I had a process, but it wasnt nearly as elaborate as what my trainers come up with. The hard thing about training a team is you spend an enormous amount of time trying to teach them everything thats involved in real estatefrom contracts to dotloop and e-signature, to opening a lockbox, to sales training. To start a team on your own, it takes hours and hours of one-on-one time, which can lead to flat or lower sales for that persons business. On our team, we bring people in and send them to our trainer. Our team leads can focus on their business while we train.

SD: You have teams within your team. How does that work? RE: I allow the agents to form their own groups underneath the team, so instead of having an agent grow out of the team, I let them start their own. My agents run their business under our umbrella, so they can list, sell, get a builder and a development, etc.they can do it all.

SD: What are your goals for 2020? RE: Its hard to say We want to do $370 million next year and for me to break that down over 110 agents, so were looking at growth and expansion. I look at profitability of each area. My goal for next year is to have our expansion offices do super well. In Des Moines, were going to be building homes with our builder, Summit Homes, and I expect that to be very successful. In the Kansas City metro area, we still have a shortage of home inventory, and I dont see that changing a whole lot next year. Our new-construction developments are going to help with that shortage.

SD: Having led a team for 20 yearswhat did you wish you knew when you started? RE: I would have started off differently. Instead of the first buyers agent, I would have gotten a paperwork assistant to handle the transaction coordinator piece of things. I would also know how to leverage my time better, so I could step out of selling quicker and grow the team, versus trying to keep going on the sales side.

Suzanne De Vita is RISMedias online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.

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