469. HIGHLIGHT: Hiring, Remote Work, and the Truth About Who You Promote

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What's in this episode:
On this highlight episode, Michael and Courtney Weaver revisit one of the most tactical conversations on hiring and leadership from the show. Halie Gillespie, an office manager and sales performance coach for one of the fastest growing agencies in the country, breaks down exactly how to evaluate a producer who wants to be promoted, why a defined growth plan matters more than a title, and what separates a true team leader from a top salesperson.

[00:00] Why the right hire means you don't have to micromanage
[01:00] The one rule for asking for a raise or promotion
[02:00] Why defining what growth actually means comes first
[03:00] The two halves of the team leader role
[04:00] How knowing what drives your team changes your coaching
[05:00] Building trust before you ask for accountability
[06:00] The six month plan every new team leader should build
[07:00] Balancing personal production while leading a team
[08:00] Why agents need a plan before they hit the dialer
[09:00] What separates a true leader from a top producer
[10:00] Why growth should be earned before it's given
[11:00] The hiring trait Michael and Courtney look for first
[12:00] Why 100% remote work is attracting stronger talent
[13:00] The mindset shift leaders need to make remote work work
[14:00] What happens when you let your team build the systems
[15:00] Why top talent wants ownership, not just a paycheck

Watch Halie's full episode, 439. The #1 Mistake Agents Make When Promoting Sales Managers: WATCH NOW

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

You hire the right people, you don't have to micromanage the shit out of them. If you hire the right people and you give them the runway for success, yeah, just give them the guardrails. They're successful. On today's highlight episode, we are featuring Haley Gillespie. She is an office manager, sales performance coach for one of the top growing agencies in the country. And she breaks down exactly why remote and flux in today's environment is an absolute must. Why and how maybe you should or shouldn't be promoting within and maybe not just per uh putting your top producer in the seat. And lastly, what top talent is looking for in today's marketplace? With that being said, let's start the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

One thing I was taught early on in my career by one of uh my mentors when I was a lot younger, when I was like 16, um she told me, Don't ever come to me and ask me for a raise until you have a plan. You need to present a plan to me, you need to present what you're looking for, what it's gonna entail, what the dollar amount is, exactly what you're looking for. That is how you ask for growth. So my first thing that I would ask a producer is what is growth to you? Right? Because growth to me could look completely different. And I could present something to you, and you could say, that's not at all what I wanted. Right? So that should be the first thing is what's growth to you? Once you figure that out, come up with a full plan. A full plan. If you want to be a team leader, fantastic. What do you want out of a team leader? What parts of being a team leader is important to you? What are things that maybe you don't want to do as a sales sales agent anymore that you do want to do as a team leader? I think that that is definitely the first step.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

So good. Okay, so we go in, we have a plan, we are clearly defined on what growth looks like.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

This is a the that was a uh badass answer, by the way. That was a mic drop. That was really, really good. Um and I it's still good. I'm emphasizing it right now. Like, if any of you right now are interested in a promotion, always go to your leader with a defined plan. That is incredible.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah, and defined what growth looks like. I think that's huge because is it growth in title? Is it growth in pay? Is it growth in responsibility? What is that? What are you even talking about? Different location? What are we even talking about here? Okay, so what should I expect? I go in, I have this plan. What responsibilities shift for me? What did what shifted for you when you went from just a sales agent to all of a sudden now you're responsible for other people's performance? What did your day-to-day, what did that shift look like in your actual responsibilities?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah, I mean, so there's I think two parts of the team leader position, and then there's the producer that you still have to do too. So your role is split into team leader and producer. In the team leader position, there's the analytics portion, right? You need to stay on top of not only your numbers, but your team's numbers and everyone on the team's individual numbers. Now, what does that mean, right? What does numbers mean? Because we could just say you need to know everybody's numbers, and I could say, well, this person's producing 12 items this week and they're doing great. That's not gonna help, right? You need to know what quotes they're doing, you need to know their close ratio, you need to know where they are item-wise, what they're trending for. If they're trending low, how can I help this person? And then the on the other side of that team leader position is you need to be able to manage people, you need to be able to communicate to people, you need the trust of your team to be able to communicate back. Because Courtney, let's say I'm your manager, right? Or I'm your team leader. If I don't know you at all and I don't know what drives Courtney, I can't help you genuinely. You know, so if I'm talking to one of my team, one of the people on my team, and I know she's a single mom, she's got two kids. I know that all she wants more than anything is to be able to buy a house and get out of renting. That is going to be what I drive her all month long. I'm not gonna constantly be like, well, you're five items short. You really need to get those five items. How are we gonna get those five items? Because that's just pressure. That's not going to help anybody. So I think the main thing that is, you know, a responsibility that you now have to take on going from a sales agent to a team leader is are you genuinely prepared to help people? Are you genuinely prepared to learn about the people on your team and learn what motivates and drives them?

SPEAKER_02 4:53

So, how do you foster that? How do you get to know, like how do you continue to build that bond and know these people?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Well, I think you have to number one, earn the respect of your team, right? Because unless you have shown them everything I'm preaching to you, I can do myself. I would never expect something from you that I'm not willing to do. So you have to earn that respect first. Once you then have that respect, I think these one something I implemented is weekly one-on-ones with the team. Um, before I even started any of that, maybe I'm a little extra, but I sat down with each of them. I did a full questionnaire where there's no judgment, there's no right answer. I want to learn about you. I want to learn the things that motivate you, the things that demotivate you, the things that you're here for. Why are you here? Why do you want to do this? And then I put together a six-month plan with each of them. I review that six-month plan with each of them. And then I ask them, is this something that would work for you? Is this where you want to see yourself in six months? And then on those weekly one-on-ones, we go, I give them the floor first. What do you have for me? What can I help with? How can I help you get better? And then we go into our plan. Okay, this week, this is what we're working on. This is what we're gonna focus on.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Okay, so you do that at the beginning and you do it at six months. Do you have it like set on your calendar when you're doing this with everyone?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Absolutely. And they're invited to my Outlook appointment, so they are well aware it's coming up too.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Okay, I love that. Okay, so you covered the analytics, the manager. Let's cover personal production too, because that's still an ask of you when you're in this seat. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Um, well, when it comes to a team lead position, right? Because now I'm not as responsible for that production, but when it is a team lead prediction production and you're kind of splitting that role half in half, number one, I think the most important thing is you need to be able to time block. You need to be able to have that organization because without that, the day can easily get away from you, especially when you're being pulled in different directions. Then you also have to have, and maybe I'm just a planner, but you also have to have a plan with that, right? You can't just go into it and be like, I'm just gonna hit the dialer for three hours and hope for the best, right? You have to have a plan, like, I'm gonna call, I'm gonna be on the dialer for an hour. I'm gonna call every single person, you know, anything from new to a five-day old lead. I'm also gonna text every single one of them as soon as I get voicemail. I'm gonna leave a voicemail for all those people with something that's gonna encourage them to call back. And I'm going to leave my direct number so that they call me. Then I'm gonna work other options. I'm gonna work referrals, I'm gonna work COIs, something that has a higher close rate. And then I'm going to work book of business, right? I'm gonna work someone who already trusts us and already knows us and already has their business with us, and we have a higher rate of closing other lines in the household.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

All right, so I'm hearing a few things right now, and I just want to reiterate this to every agent right now that's listening to this and considering promoting somebody in your business. There's certain characteristics that Haley is dropping right now without saying it. Number one, she is self-sufficient. Number two, she's extremely organized. She said, I'm a planner. Number three, she genuinely wants to get to know her teammates and motivate them in the way that they're going to be motivated by. Not what's in it for Haley, not what's in it for the office, what's in it for them. So just because somebody is your top producer does not mean they are going to carry the characteristics it takes to become a good team lead or coach. Like, I'm just want to pinpoint some of these characteristics, and these are not all of the ones I've heard, but these are all very critical to this role, in my opinion, and experience that you have not just blatantly said, but that you are demonstrating and saying. So thank you. So um, out of curiosity, as so you went from coaching 10 people, or I'm sorry, from two to ten. Do you recall at what like stage of that growth that you turned into more of that like true performance coach and manager and less about production? Do you remember that? Like less about personal production.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Nope. And I'm saying it kind of as simply as that, because that was as you were just saying, like, if you're thinking about promoting someone in your agency, I think this is the huge takeaway. Is if someone does come to you and they say that they want growth and they want um more responsibility, they want a different title, whatever the case may be, you should never just give it to them, right? You should ask them to prove themselves, right? Here is a timeline in six months. This is what I want to see accomplished. If that happens, then absolutely I can we can start kind of considering that conversation, promoting you to team leader, whatever the case may be. I took on this responsibility long before I was promoted to this position, long before. And I never asked for more than that. It was given to me because it was proven.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Hey, let's take a quick break and talk about something that actually matters in your agency. Carriers are expecting more out of you. Your commissions are getting cut. You're asking your team to do things that they've never been trained to do and they're underperforming. Now, that's because you don't have a process and you don't have a framework for success. Good news is Weaver Sales Academy just turned eight years old this month. I'm so excited, and we are having a summer sizzle sell right now to where you can save $1,200 right now by signing up and getting started with Weaver Sales Academy. The average agency sees a 40% lift in production by day 90 of working with us. We're able to get brand new hires up and selling on average in about a week's time frame. So let's go ahead, team up, partner up, click the link below, take advantage of that twelve hundred dollar savings, and let's start working together and actually start crushing goals this summer going into Q3 and Q4 so that you do not have to worry about panicking in Q4 during the holiday season because you took action right now. Click the link below, let's get started. Other than that, let's get back to the show. One characteristic that we had in our ad is that we're looking for self-starters because it's a remote position, and I'll get to that here in just a second, because that's another benefit that I think a lot of people are looking for in our experience. But you hire the right people, you don't have to micromanage the shit out of them. If you hire the right people and you give them kind of the runway for success, yeah, just give them the guardrails, they're successful. That's just how and that's how we that's really where we've taken our approach with individuals that we're hiring within either of our organizations right now, is we're we want to pay more for better talent so that we don't have to manage all the time and hold accountable. And it no, like we free up our time by hiring great people because great people help businesses become great, period. And so this leads me into the next benefit or what talent really wants and how you can attract top talent is not only paying them more, but giving them the opportunity if they're the right person to either have a flux schedule or a hundred percent remote schedule. We've ran a hundred percent remote business since 2022 with Weaver Cells Academy with agency coach. We're gonna be a hundred percent remote business, and it's amazing the talent that we can find in running a remote type of business and letting them just do their thing and run their thing and have the management processes in place. But that is one thing, and why I believe that we did attract such great talent, and we have in every single interview, is that we are either offering, and I hear this across the board from agents, is they went to more of a flex schedule to where maybe a couple days are in person, couple days are remote, maybe the first 90 days are in person, and then it's remote after that if you've proven yourself. But some type of remote or flex opportunity is attracting really great talent, and talent wants that because talent likes work. I mean, a lot of talent, not everyone, but they like working from home, they like working in their own comfort. They just I it I don't I don't know how to explain it, but it is something that just during COVID blew up and half the population fell in love with it, half didn't.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

It doesn't work for everyone, but I think it goes back to the mindset of as the leader, you're less concerned that uh how it's getting done, and you're more concerned that it's getting done. It's getting done and it's just following the the guardrails that you have. Like, I'm not going to tell you how to do everything step by step because even and this is in all of our organizations, the people that we have hired are incredible people to where they show up and we have built this foundation, and they're like, Have you thought about this? And they're coming with solutions, they're coming, they're building out project management systems, and they're building out funnels, and they're looking at value ladders, and it's just things that you're like, this is why I'm like, I have to have these people. Like, if not, yes, we're going to only go as far as I can take us or you can take us or we can take us.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

So I know that processes and systems are a hot topic. All of your peers talk about processes and systems, and processes and systems are great. Here's the question I would pose to you what if the talent you hired actually helped you develop the processes and systems because they're better at it than you are. Yes, there is a moment of silence there because that can happen. It happens, it's unbelievable. Um, at least that in our experience, because I th I I don't know about you, but I used to think that I had to know everything, and and everyone had to follow the process step by step by step by step. And over the last few years of really growing these these businesses, it's been amazing to attract the right talent that actually comes in and it looks at the process we have, and they're like, Did you know we could probably make that better? And we're like, please tell us how. Show us how believe show me, show me the way.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

I I love that you're bringing that up because you do, you kind of get too close to it that you're like, Oh, I I'm not even looking at it from this perspective. So having that that person or that team come in and just really try to poke holes in the world. And then they own it.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Yeah, that's the thing. Like talent, they want to own it, they want to be a part of it, they want to be a part of the growth. At least if you're at least that's the type of individuals we're trying to bring on.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

So wait, hold on. I have something else to say, and this is this is for all my leaders out there, because you just brought this point up and you said I I felt like I had to know everything. And I think a lot of times when you go into these interviews, you come at it almost from this authoritative spot of okay, this is the position at hand, this is how we're gonna do it, this is what I'm gonna offer you. I have found, and this has taken a long time, but the more vulnerable and honest I am about these things are my skill sets, these things are not my skill sets. I am looking for somebody, somebody with complimentary or skill sets that I don't have. And I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers. I feel like the when I start doing that in an interview and I'm really honest about, you know, these are my strengths, this is what I'm really good at. I will continue to do these things, but this is really the kind of per person or people that we're looking for. I it's almost like they bloom. They're like a flower, and they're like, oh, yeah, I crush it in that category, or I'm not great at that. And again, I'm just trying to get to is this gonna be a fit or is this not gonna be a fit? So another thing that I just want to make sure and remind like, we don't have to have all the answers.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

We're literally trying to build the best, the most fun, the most enjoyable work environment that we can have. And that's gonna look different on everyone. So I would say take all of these things and really try to poke holes in not only your interview process, your job posting, your current talent, but your future talent. Like again, do the magic wand. If you were to wave a wand in a year from now, what does your agency look like? Who do you need? Like, who is on the team that's helping you build this? Because you will not build this by yourself. Great people build great businesses, and that's what you're trying to find. So look around and see do I have the system in place that actually builds great people in a great business?

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Absolutely.