The 600 Pound Gorilla

All leaders want high performers, but sometimes we should be careful what we wish for. That high performer could be a 600 Pound Gorilla. You don’t want one of these!

High fee production is a must-have ingredient for all real estate salespeople, but it is not the only must-have ingredient.

Salespeople must also demonstrate:

• A dedication to real estate training and to building skill
• Team spirit and not ‘lone wolf’ behaviour
• Support of the real estate agency leadership
• A willingness to prospect when necessary
• An understanding that the leads belong to the company and not the individual

No doubt you can think of more, but if you have a person who writes the figures, but who contributes little else to the company, who is demanding, and who terrorises the other team members, you have a decision to make:

• Tolerate the 600 Pound Gorilla’s bad behaviour; or
• Fire the Gorilla and build a real team – one where cooperation is the norm

Don’t Tolerate Bad Behaviour

As scary as this might be, you must understand that the 600 Pound Gorilla is holding your company back and keeping good team members down. No amount of fee production is worth tolerating this selfish behaviour.

I saw my friend, Graham Lester from Maggie Dixon Real Estate in Whangarei New Zealand build a team of six team-spirited winners who now write the figures that twelve people (which included a few Gorillas) used to write.

Sure, we want high performance, but if this is the only attractive feature, cut off the supply of bananas to your 600 Pound Gorilla. (By the way, I know that bananas aren’t natural gorilla food, but I like the analogy. Sorry).

Handing Over Control

Did you build a business only to hand control over to somebody else? Keep a Gorilla and that is what you are doing. And you’re handing control over to a person who may be charismatic, but fundamentally is not very nice.

It takes character to dismiss somebody who writes the figures, but who is lousy in attitude and team cooperation. But it has to be done if you ever expect to build a team of high achievers, and not a group of individuals with one high achiever who holds everybody else down.