Coldwell Banker REALTORS® Kathy and Michael Rain (the
Rain Team), were in over their heads, trying to keep
their business afloat, while they personally monitored
office help and administrative tasks. This is the unique
story of a productive team who was ready to take the
plunge into the talent pool long before the right VAs
actually surfaced.
Dear Michael,
Today, our business is
one-hundred-percent virtual —which is the
most important factor in keeping it moving
forward.
From the time I first
took your telecourses, I knew I wanted to
get into using virtual assistants; it made
sense to me whether or not I had an in-house
staff, I believed in it. I first heard your
name mentioned sometime in the late ‘90s, so
I attended one of your presentations in
Santa Fe. However, it wasn’t until 2005, at
the NAR Convention in San Francisco, that I
actually signed up for your online telecourses.
At that point it was very clear to me that
everything I wanted to do in our business
was totally geared in this direction.
Curiously, I had contacted the REVA network
two to three years before then, but never
got a response. Perhaps because the network
was new, it suffered technical communication
problems at the outset. I was more than
ready to take the plunge into the virtual
world even then. Sometimes things just seem
to happen; to evolve in ways that only bring
us closer to our goals. We just don’t know
it at the time.
I’ve been in real
estate since 1989. I spent my first five
years in the business selling real estate
franchises. I was traveling constantly, but
it gave me a completely different view of
real estate. It became clear to me that the
people having the most fun in real estate
were the agents, because they could do
things their own way and be as creative as
they wanted to. That’s what I liked about
the business.
My husband and I had
each been in sales for twenty-five years at
that time. He was a national sales manager
for a guitar company. I told him he really
needed to go into real estate, simply
because he loves to talk —to everyone.
He started in real
estate in 1991. I quit my (corporate) job
and joined him in 1995. I really needed to
jump start our business because I was giving
up everything as I had known it —the
corporate job, the paycheck, the expense
account, the benefits. That job was worth at
least ten escrows!
I took the CRS200 class
(“How to Run Your Business as a Business”)
which showed me the path to a successful
real estate practice. This was exactly the
type of work I had been doing with brokers
to increase their business.
In 1996 I hired our
first on-site office assistant. She was
trying to finish college and was very
part-time. All I did was give her
information to enter into the computer. She
didn’t even know why or what it was. She was
with us for a year, getting systems into
place before she moved away.
It also became very
obvious to me that my husband was the people
person in our joint endeavor and I was the
detailed one. So we hired our first
full-time assistant. After about a year, she
moved out of the area and we hired assistant
# 3 who was licensed and could take a buyer
out if we weren’t around. The third
assistant lasted less than a year and moved
out of state.
Yes, I hired another
one. She was a raging alcoholic and worked
for us about six weeks. You know where I’m
going with this, right? Following the
firing, I did all the work myself for a
year-and-a-half. I was up ‘till way past
midnight most nights; exhausted and
frustrated. I felt like I was on the edge of
a cliff . I just needed someone to give me a
push and down I’d go, hoping for a safe
landing!
Finally, we hired our
last assistant, who was with us for five
years. For two years during this 5 year
period we had 2 additional in-house
assistants for a total of 3 on staff. We
then paired back to the original assistant.
This seemed to be working nicely. She
handled lead management, transaction
coordinations, listing coordinations,
literally…everything. She also had a license
and one day announced that she “wanted a
piece of the cash cow”! Somewhere along the
way, she assumed that she was a business
owner or agent. Someone would call in and
she would claim it as her lead. This
situation was getting very dicey.
Because my husband and
I were doing more traveling due to being
licensed in both California and Hawaii, and
because our assistant maintained a presence
and kept our services running in the office,
we didn’t let her go. She became more
aggressive, unprofessional and verbally
abusive to us to the point where I finally
fired her this year. It was like a divorce.
Spouses put up with abusive situations, and
then one day they snap and it’s totally over
in one cataclysmic event!
After I heard you speak
in 2005, I met with Vicki and simply blurted
out, “I want a virtual assistant!” I had
taken the plunge. I was ready for a virtual
assistant long before I had one! And that’s
how I connected with Lisa, the wonder woman
of virtual assistance.
At first I had Lisa on
board for two things —to revamp a new
website and to take over the office duties
of our in-house assistant when she went on
vacation. So Lisa filled in the spaces that
my in-house assistant couldn’t for over a
year. On January 11th of this year after I
fired our 5-year assistant, I called Lisa to
help us go virtual.
I still needed a
transaction listing coordinator. Lisa
worked with me to find one —Cindi, from
Washington State. Lisa continues to handle
anything that has to do with my contact
management data base, drip email campaigns,
email postcards, website development and
more. If I want to do a special project I’ll
call Lisa, who might say, “that’s not what I
do, but I’ll find somebody who does.”
Usually, I would know and want to know how
to do every thing in an office. Now there is
such relief in knowing that we have a
specialist in their specific area to bounce
things off of. I threw away money buying
business programs that weren’t used; mostly
because I didn’t know how to implement them
and never found that person who could do
this for me. When I talk to Lisa about new
programs, she encourages me to explore my
ideas with her first and not rush out and
buy a new program. She is such a total
resource.
I am a hands-on person,
literally. I want to touch and feel things,
which is different than having to control.
What I want to do is quality control. I told
my VAs that I wanted to speak to them on the
phone. I didn’t need to see them, but I did
want that contact. I wasn’t sure if
“virtual” meant that you couldn’t or
shouldn’t actually talk vs. email in
communicating, or that they’d prefer that
you didn’t! I have eagerly embarked on my
new adventure. I was so excited by the
prospect of having specially skilled and
knowledgeable people working for us, that I
couldn’t sleep. My mind was on fast forward
with new ideas to share with Lisa. This was
happy excitement not dreadful anxiety.
This is what team is
about, no one person knows how to do
everything. What we now have is the best of
the best in virtual assistance, plying their
expertise.
Success, in my opinion,
is the result of trusting that the people
around you are competent to work their
specialties. The ability to implement in
order to grow your business is what
separates successful people from
non-successful people.
I’m the kind of person
who needs to be excited all the time. Why
wake up if you don’t have anything exciting
to do. My best attribute is stirring things
up. I’m a motivator. I don’t need to do
everything myself. Now I’m free to be as
creative as I want to be and I know everyday
that no matter what I’m busy doing, I have
three VAs working their specialty for our
business..
For me, business and
working are truly fun. Staying at home is a
novelty. Now that I have some free time, the
thought of creating a workout program for
myself, beckons. But, then again, so does
checking out real estate investments in
other states...
Sincerely,
Kathy Rain
Kathy’s story is echoed
again and again by agents and business owners
who have never regretted taking the plunge into
the virtual world —and who cannot conceive of
going back to the way they did business before.
Congratulations to the Rain Team!
Remember, even if your story isn't chosen you
still win because you get to see how other top
performers do it. Besides, you can always try
again!
