over-involved manager?

[Night Owl]

Hi,

I'm a fairly new agent, I have been with my company since April. I was wondering how much managers get involved with your 'life' and if mine is within the norm for the business.

I am feeling like I have to report every aspect of my life to her for her approval. She has said she expects to see me in the cubicle every day, I put my foot down and said no, I was using the out of the office time to prospect. I am there for the weekly sales meeting, and for floor duty. I host 2-3 open houses each month. I am also an interior decorator, working towards getting my ASP designation, and she knew that when she hired me, and said it would be great for all the people I meet. But now it is like she wants me in the cubicle at all times. Countlessly during training we were told "no one in the office is going to buy a house from you, get out there!" Which is what I am trying to do! I have an office already in my business and prefer to make phone calls there since it is more private and away from the bullpen chit-chat and noise. I have access to all the office equipment I need to do business, and do not see a need to spend time sitting in the office there other than for floor time.

I have missed one sales meeting since I started there, immediately got a 'where are you?' e-mail...I told her I was sick, she wanted to know what I had. Some of that is personal, you know?

She seems to expect me to be her shadow, and when I am not there, she is freaking out on me. She wants a report of every floor call I get, and is usually a bit critical about how I handle them.

I am working on a large listing right now, but that doesn't seem to impress her...she is after me to go after this one woman I met at an open house, who I did not think was a good prospect, and who has ignored my e-mails. Manager said I should call her up to 10 times. Is this really correct? That smells like restraining order time to me!

Do managers in general want bodies around the office so it looks 'busy', or is mine out of line here?

There are 60+ agents in the office, very few of them are there everyday, and there are still some I have never seen in all these months, and I don't get the feeling they report every detail of their life to her. I realize I am new, but I am an adult, I have run a business for years, and I know that sitting in the office all day is not the road to success. She once asked me to bring her back lunch, and once to make some copies for her. I really feel that is crossing the line. There are secretaries there, and I am not a gopher. I did not get her lunch, I said I was leaving for the day, and I didn't make the copies as I didn't know how to use that particular machine the way she wanted them done! She told me I can 'take one day off a month'. Gee thanks!

I am an independent contractor. The day you start telling me how much time to spend in a cubicle or to pick up lunch is the day you sign my paycheck which I presume will be arriving every two weeks like clockwork!!

[Greg]

Before you get ink on that new listing you might want to find an office where you will feel more comfortable. Once you get a listing inventory it gets harder to leave and it sounds like you will be leaving sooner than later.

[jamesww]

I agree with Greg. You need to remind the manager that you are an independent contractor and that you beleive they are going overboard. This is the only way that you can have a positive relationship. If you are unwilling to do this then jump ship now before you are tied to an office because of business you have procurred.

[Dallas Broker]

wow! and you wonder how she stays in business. I take the do what you want approach as long as you are producing, which all my agents are. You need to start spending your extra time interviewing with other brokerages, preferably smaller ones that have a good presense in your area and provide leads. You will be suprised at how quickly your life and routine will change. I don't require any of my agents to do anything nor do I ride them 24/7. I only ask them keep me updated on lead status. Some of the larger brokerages are known as agent factories, they have a very high turnover rate and take 30-50% of your income and provide little in return besides a migrane.

[FSBOScripts.com]

I would meet with her, and explain how you work. If she has a problem with it, then you should look for another office. Keep in mind though, she probably knows how many agents quit in the first year or two of being in business, and she might think she is doing you a favor by keeping on top of you. It appears you don't work like that, so you should explain that to her, or find another office. My first broker was not that bad, but he talked to me a lot, and I appreciated it. The only reason I left him was to work a new home community for a year.

[RE Consulting Services]

We have a couple different issues happening here:

As a manager, you do want to keep an eye on your new sales people to ensure their success. Lots of new agents flounder at first and having them in the office allows you to help them when they need it. For instance, if you were one of my agents, I would like to be around while you were making phone calls so I could see how you were handling it and then make suggestions occasionally to help you get better responses. In fact, I've even sat with my new agents while they made calls and even made calls with them myself and helped them write out scripts and more. It's all part of training...

Your manager on the over hand seems to be waaay over the top and more interested in control then training. Bottom line: if you aren't comfortable now and already having issues... get out! Find an office with a manager that will assist YOU in making the most sales possible. A manager's job is to guide, to train, and to help make you a success. If they stres you out and make you feel uncomfortable, it's not a good fit and will NOT get any better later.

Make sure you do so before your listing is signed because chances are they will not let you take your new listing to your new office. They'll just assign it to another agent and all that hard work will have been for nothing.

Hope that helps...

-Angela