The Floyd Wickman Team blog by Mike Pallin

When I was nine years old I joined the Cub Scouts, and my mother served as Den Mother to eight boys. One Saturday we joined the four other dens in our Cub Pack for a trip to the Coast Guard Academy. The highlight of the trip was a tour of an honest-to-God, World War II aircraft carrier.

We entered the ship at dock level, and took the aircraft elevator to the carrier's deck, 80 feet above the water line. No fences or guard rails. As the elevator reached the deck, forty boys scattered and raced to the edges, with my mother looking on in panic and horror.

That same look can be found on the faces of many of today's real estate managers. When the average office had 8 people, sales management was more or less scientific. There was enough time to recruit, train, direct, motivate and upgrade. With enough time left over for regular sales meetings, Tuesday morning caravan, monthly sales rallies, troubleshooting, deal salvage, hand-holding, coaching, mentoring, field training and to produce an occasional listing or a sale.

How things have changed. The average manager today is responsible to 80 people or more. No meetings, no tours, no sales rallies, no floor time, no desks, no phones, no offices.

This explosive growth has created a modern dilemma for real estate managers. How does one person manage ten times more people?

Hundreds of our clients have used Floyd's People Analyzer to discover the cure for fixing low morale, production, image or influence. (Thousands of companies globally are using this tool daily via the EOS system created by Floyd's son, Gino.) For today's manager who needs to grow beyond babysitting transactions, The People Analyzer, applied with Floyd's #1 management principle, provide quick and easy guidelines for managing any number of independent contractors.

First, the #1 principle. "Devote individual and personal attention to the agents in the top half of production. Devote group time to the new, low and non-producers in the bottom half of production." Too many managers get this idea backwards and, as a result, end up trying to coax production out of the bottom half, while neglecting the top half.

If you're thinking, wait a minute. I am responsible to 80 agents. How do I devote personal attention to 40 of them? There's not enough time in the day to do that. The answer is simple. If you manage 80 agents, the top 12 to16 do half or more of your production. They are your top half. Today's manager also needs to go deeper than the numbers, into the source of morale, production, image and influence. That's where Floyd's People Analyzer is the perfect management guide.

Take your roster of agents and add three columns: Attitude, Effort and Production. 

Rate each person on the roster with either a plus (+) or a minus (-) in each category. 

This is a binary rating system, either plus or minus, 1 or 0, yes or no. Potential doesn't count, just gut feeling reality. Does the individual's attitude contribute or detract? Are they making the effort or slacking off? Are they above average or below average producers?

Some managers add a fourth column to rate either Use of Company Tools & Systems, or  Lives by Company Core Values. Or the fourth column can be used to add an action step to take based on their rating. For instance, any individual you rate with three minuses (- in attitude, - in effort and – in production) needs some management intervention. Examples might include fire them; rehire them; give them a short term ultimatum; change their status to referral agent; or put them on a team with limited responsibilities, such as being just a showing agent for a producer. When you "feel" like there might be a problem with morale, production, image or your influence – The People Analyzer can show you who is the source of the problem.

Every person you rate with three plusses (+ in attitude, + in effort, + in production) deserves your personal and individual attention. Everyone else gets group attention.

Individual and personal attention is as simple as praising, rewarding, recognizing and expressing gratitude. Good management is always personal.

Two factors make group attention easier than ever: technology and outside training.

Group texts, vidmail, webinars, social media and web-based teaching tools like screencastomatic allow you as a manager to cover large groups in the shortest possible time. 

Outside training should always include accountability, skill building and teamwork. That's why the Floyd Wickman Program has worked for so many companies for so long. Give us your bottom half and let us help you discover and develop next year's top half, while you devote personal time to your current top half.