SOP: Hiring and Managing Real Estate Assistants

Purpose

To ensure that agents at Bramlett Partners hire and manage assistants in a way that increases productivity, preserves focus, and supports long-term business growth. This SOP eliminates ineffective hiring patterns—especially part-time assistants—and sets standards for high-impact support.

Definition: Part-Time Assistant

A part-time assistant is anyone who:

• Is compensated for fewer than 40 hours per week
• Is paid on a contingency basis (e.g., per closing or commission)
• Does not receive a consistent, full-time paycheck

This includes contractors, task-based hires, or informal arrangements. These individuals are not reliably available, and their unpredictability directly undermines the assistant role.

Policy

1. Part-Time Assistants Are Not Supported
   • We do not hang licenses, create tech accounts, or provide operational support for part-time assistants.
   • We do not onboard or train part-time hires.
   • This includes assistants with outside jobs, inconsistent schedules, or conditional pay arrangements.
2. Immediate Family Exception
   • Immediate family members are the only exception. (Spouse/partner, kids, parents, etc…)

Strategic Milestones for Hiring

• Begin Strategizing:
  • When approaching 20 closed transactions per year or $10M in annual volume.
  • Use this phase to define the role, create a budget, and explore training resources.
• Hire:
  • When consistently closing 30 transactions per year or hitting $15M in volume.
  • At this point, lack of support leads to missed opportunities and burnout.

Best Practices

1. Start with Contract Services

Before hiring a full-time assistant, you should already be using:

• Listing Coordination and Transaction Coordination on every deal
• Showing Assistants for buyer coverage
• Open House Agents (free agents seeking floor time and leads)

This builds leverage without long-term cost. It also prepares you for full-time support by forcing clarity on your repeatable tasks.

2. Hire Full-Time

• Assistants must be full-time. Avoid easing into the role with part-time help—it consistently fails.
• Compensation must be hourly or salaried. Pay should not depend on closings. That creates misalignment and defers responsibility.

3. Budget for 12 Months

• Hiring a full-time assistant is a monetary and time investment.
• Expect 3 months to train, 6 months to gain value, and 12 months to reach full leverage.
• If you cannot budget for a full year of pay, you are not ready to hire.

4. Prioritize Coverage Over Collaboration

• An assistant’s job is to absorb chaos.
• You are not hiring a co-pilot. You are hiring a filter and a gatekeeper.
• Do not confuse help with leverage. Leverage happens when you are interrupted less, not when someone is simply around.

5. Hire for Availability, Not Just Skill

• The most valuable time for your assistant to work is when you are off—evenings and weekends.
• Assistants should not work a 9 to 5. You already do that.
• Their job is to give you your time back, especially during family time, appointments, or downtime.

6. Create Documentation

• Clearly define the assistant’s role, responsibilities, and expected outcomes.
• Document their working hours, and ensure those hours accommodate your business schedule, including evenings and weekends.
• Set expectations from day one to prevent drift or misalignment.

7. Establish SOPs and Outcome Ownership

• Don’t delegate tasks. Delegate outcomes.
• Use SOPs to eliminate ambiguity and make performance review easy.
• Hold regular check-ins to address friction, clarify priorities, and reinforce accountability.

8. Use Internal Hiring Resources

• Use proven templates and internal hiring workflows. Don’t freelance the hiring process.
• Leverage leadership support for candidate vetting and interviews.
• Bad hires are worse than no hires. They destroy focus, cost time, and require cleanup.