Today’s RealTrending features Khrista Jarvis, founder of the Khrista Jarvis team of Coldwell Banker Realty in California. Her team is ranked nationally as the No. 5 medium-sized team by volume in the 2021 RealTrends The Thousand. The 2022 rankings will be released this summer. Khrista’s 11-person team is small but mighty. She discusses lessons learned building her team and offers advice for agents and team leaders on hiring, firing and growing a business.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Steve Murray and Tracey Velt. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: A lot of team leaders struggle with the different phases of building a team, and what I’ve found is there are some pivotal moments that help to scale growth. You’ve kept your team purposefully to about 10-11 people. Tell me what some of those pivotal moments are that really helped you scale your growth, whether that is in team members or transactions or sales volume and all of that.
Khrista: I think one of the first things was just, it’s really scary hiring an assistant. I was concerned I wouldn’t have enough for the assistant to do, and thought, ‘How am I going to train this person?’ What if the market slowed? But, I would encourage people to stick through it. Even though you might think it’s scary and you can’t afford it, it allows you to do more of the things that a salesperson and team leader would be good at.
I’ve been through a lot of different agents in the cycles and trying to find the right person is difficult. And that part is really challenging, trying to find people that are in your same culture and have the same work ethic, that want to work the same way. Be intentional about who you hire and find someone who has a similar work ethic and fits into your culture.
RealTrending features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.
