Feeling Overstretched as a Team Leader? Here’s What to Do

by Steve Shull

Last week, I was talking to a coaching client—a team leader—who is fortunate enough to be very busy right now.

That’s great. She’s happy about that. What she’s not so happy about is having no time, working every weekend, and feeling like she’s burning out.

I hear that and see big red flags 🚩🚩🚩…so I probe deeper. 

I find out that some of her clients only want HER—not anyone else from her team—to show their property. It’s a high-end market with demanding clients, and she feels she has no choice but to cater to their wishes.

So on the weekends, when she doesn’t want to work, she’s working…and moaning about it.

Now, this is a person who has done a great job of taking my coaching on many things. A year ago, she raised her listing fee to 3% in a market where all her competition is at 2.5% or 2%. She now gets that rate 99% of the time, no matter the price of the property.

But commission isn’t the only standard that matters—ESPECIALLY on a team.

By allowing clients to insist on her presence at showings, she was putting a CEILING on her own business—not to mention making her life miserable.

I say this all the time…

You can’t do everything.

You know this—it’s why you decided to build a team!

And anytime you put yourself in a position where ONLY YOU can do something, you’re cutting off your own legs.

I know, it’s hard to set these boundaries, especially when a client is pushing back on them. You’re afraid that if you hold firm, they’ll walk away.

Maybe they will. But guess what? 

That’s the difference between good business and bad business.

It all goes back to the Proof of Life framework: 

1️⃣ Is there a deal here? → Is this person serious about buying or selling now?

2️⃣ Is there a deal here with me? → Do they intend to work with me, or are they just doing their due diligence?

…and the one we’re concerned with here…

3️⃣ Do I want this deal? → Are they willing to work according to my standards in terms of commission, process, communication, and any other conditions or boundaries that matter to me?

Good business will respect your standards. Bad business will criticize and violate them.

And—as you’ve just seen—accepting bad business will seriously LIMIT your team’s ability to grow.

This is why we always say that HOW you do business is much more important than HOW MUCH business you do.

And when it comes to leading a team, one of the most important aspects of how you do business is that every person on your team must be replaceable—including YOU.

Again and again, I watch team leaders step in whenever there’s a shortage of manpower on the weekend, or a tough client to deal with, or a negotiation that’s falling apart.

You think you have no choice, but you do…

TRAIN your team to handle those situations and INSIST that your clients trust your team the way they trust you. Set your standards and uphold them.

Yes, there will always be some things that only you can do…but you should be making that category smaller and smaller all the time.

In fact, your ultimate goal should be to replace yourself—to train your team so well that there isn’t a SINGLE thing they truly can’t do without you.

THAT’S a sustainable business. That’s a business that can grow and one day be sold.

If you feel like you don’t have enough time, like you’re stretched, like you can’t get to everything…you’re trying to do too much.

The only solution is to take things off your plate—and to set the standards with your team members AND your clients that allow you to do so.

You’ll know you’ve succeeded at the highest level when there’s nothing left on your plate.

PS - If you want to start taking team training seriously, send your team to Game Plan 2025, in person or online. 

We’ll be focusing on 3 things I KNOW you want your team to learn: 1) how to charge a full fee on both the listing AND buy side, 2) how to raise your price point, and 3) how to increase your overall productivity. 

Want to buy 5 or more tickets? Email [email protected] for special pricing.