In this week’s episode of the Real Trending podcast, host Tracey Velt is joined by Danielle Dowell, leader of The DoWell Group at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Chicago. During the conversation, the duo discuss traditional real estate team structures, offer unique resources for new team members and cover future trends in the real estate industry.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. To start the episode, Dowell dives into her early career as a new real estate agent in Chicago.
Dowell: My journey started 17 years ago when I moved to Chicago. I knew one person and that was it. I was in the hospitality industry before then, and I wanted something where whatever effort I put in, I could get out. And I knew from my days of being in sports and hospitality that I had that hustler mentality.
Velt: So, you have a team now, and you structure it differently than a traditional team. Tell me a little bit about your structure and your team.
Dowell: When someone wants to work with us, I want to hear about their journey. I want to know what they’re missing or needing. For some people, it can be anything from admin support, leads, mentorship, etc. I want to dive in and find out what that person needs. I strongly believe it’s like a 50/50 thing. Every person on my team has resources tailored differently to meet their needs.
Velt: So, you called your team the DoWell Group and I wanted to talk to you about the support that you offer. Tell me about how you identified what they needed.
Dowell: Over time, I realized we’ve always had a robust back-end system. And we need to ensure the paperwork can cover everyone. Also, a lot of agents are amazing at sales but not amazing at paperwork, nor do they want to do it. When you have the right people doing that, agents can solely focus on selling. When I bring agents on, I also help them with marketing. That’s what I love, but I think we offer a little bit of everything to every agent.
Velt: There are some agents who may not be happy with their teams, or they want to build their own team. What advice would you give them?
Dowell: If you’re going start a team, you need to understand how you want to run it. Then you must be dedicated to running your team. If I’m going to bring somebody on, they deserve to be mentored and given opportunities. I want that for them because I would want someone to treat myself like I would treat them.
To close the conversation, Dowell shares her thoughts on future trends in the real estate industry, with a particular emphasis on team building.
Dowell: I think the trends are really pointing toward having teams at this point. That’s one of reasons why we’ve started to grow. I think it’s an opportunity, market share-wise, but also you have to turn from being an agent to a business owner to strive and continue to grow. You can only do so much, even if you have an assistant. I actually think, for the consumer, it’s a great thing.
