The ideal models look like this:

Your goal is to work less and make more money. The following plan describes Level 1 through Level 7 teams. Level 7 is the most desirable because it lets you step back, make sure your company is running smoothly, and grow your income year after year without worrying about the day-to-day workload.

Level 1

At this level the team consists of you. You are somewhat successful but not fully productive, meaning that you are not consistently producing two transactions or more every month. One month you might close a couple of deals, while next month you might not have any. Your goal at this level is to ramp up to full production as quickly as possible. With the FoneLeads system this will take 30-45 days after launching the program.

Level 2

You’ve reached full production. The workload is consistent and the paperwork is building up. Your first hire should be an administrative assistant. This frees you from the paperwork and back-end functions so you can concentrate on making money. Make your first hire a good one and you’ll be able to more than triple your production without increasing your hours.

Level 3

At this point you’re generating multiple referrals every month, and the leads from your lead-generation system are pouring in. It’s time to hire a buyer’s specialist to follow up on the leads generated from FoneLeads and turn them into transactions. This will free up even more of your time for listings and referrals. Plus, since you’re providing the leads, you’re entitled to a percentage of every deal he or she does. They’ll also bring in deals from their own efforts.

The split can be done in a number of ways, but you can expect to take 50-60 percent of every deal that originates with you and 30-40 percent of every deal that the buyers specialist generates from their own efforts. This works for your buyers specialist, too, because he or she doesn’t have to spend any time generating leads and yet still makes money on the leads you provide.

Level 4

Your team is now in full production. Your buyers specialist is doing several transactions a month, and it’s now time to hire a marketing specialist. This person should have a marketing background. He or she will make sure you’re marketing professionally. Your marketing specialist will actively track the effectiveness of various advertising media and report the results to you to maximize your marketing dollars.

Level 5

At this level you’ll need of one or two more buyers specialists and a transaction coordinator. The transaction coordinator will take care of all paperwork for you and your team, increasing the effectiveness of everyone’s valuable time.

You should also hire one or two additional buyers specialists to work with all the buyer leads that come into the system. Now you have 2-4 buyers specialists, each doing 3-5 transactions, for a total of 6-20 transactions per month, not including your own.

Level 6

Business is skyrocketing. You take on more of a CEO role in your business. Your next hire is a listing specialist. This person should have many years of real estate experience and be responsible only for taking listings. This person needs to be extremely dynamic and have a proven track record.

Now your listings are being taken care of, your buyers leads are taken care of, you have someone doing the paperwork for the transactions, and you have a marketing specialist managing your marketing and advertising efforts. Your primary objective is managing your company, driving business, and making sure everything is running smoothly.

Level 7

This is where every realtor would like to be. At this level you hire a CEO to drive sales and make sure that your business is running like a well-oiled machine. The day-to-day work is now the responsibility of your CEO. It’s time for you to either retire or create another avenue for passive income.