A look at the changing role of a Sales Manager with Jeff Polashuk, Managing Director of Sales at Compass Florida.
Managing Director of Sales, Compass Florida
A graduate of the College of Charleston, Jeff's has a successful track record with sales teams at tech companies.
Jeff started his career at Cornerstone On Demand, where he was a Regional Sales manager for a a team of Sales Account executives responsible for deploying an Integrated Talent Management software with enterprise accounts.
In 2014, Jeff jumped over to Zillow and was involved with enterprise sales working with major real estate brokerage companies all over the US.
His Zillow outreach led him to Compass, where in 2017, he became a Sales Manager in 2017. Recognized for his fresh approach to the sales leadership role, he was promoted to Managing Director of Sales for Florida for Compass.
Beth Butler (00:00:01):
This is Beth Butler. And thank you for listening to, from the ground up where we chat with people in and around the real estate industry. I have been in the real estate business for 35 years, and much of my experience has been about building the business from the ground up. And I'm pleased to share some of the people who I've met along the way, and who have help me build in this podcast. Today on from the ground up podcast, I'm happy to welcome my good friend and co-worker Jeff Polashuk, who's here today to talk about modern day sales management. Hi Jeff.
Jeff Polashuk (00:00:49):
Hey Beth, how's it going?
Beth Butler (00:00:51):
It's going really well. I'm happy you could take the time to be here with us today.
Jeff Polashuk (00:00:55):
I am happy to be here on this cold 55 degree day here in Miami.
Beth Butler (00:01:00):
It's actually really nice. I think it's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining. It's a little cold and breezy, but it's a nice excuse to wear a sweater and Uggs. So I'm not going to complain about it. It's a gorgeous day. We'll take it. Thanks, Jeff. So just to go back so that everybody knows a little bit about how you and I met you joined Compass in what year now?
Jeff Polashuk (00:01:23):
I want to say fall of 2017.
Beth Butler (00:01:29):
Fall of 2017. Wow. Jeff was actually the premier Zillow account manager for Compass and he came into the office and we met and started to chat a little bit about Zillow. I really liked him. We stayed in touch. We stayed friends and he was literally in Miami. One time he called says, let's go to lunch. We were sitting across from each other at lunch. And I was, he said, so what's going on at compass? I looked at him. I said, Oh, well, we're looking for a sales manager. And in that moment, literally, I thought, Jeff, what about you? You did seem the perfect person.
Jeff Polashuk (00:02:07):
I just knew it was a place that that made sense to grow. And truly when it came to Compass, I really believed from my time and experience at Zillow, that from the brokerage perspective, if there was a brokerage, they could figure out the technology component to real estate. It would be the perfect marriage, of essentially tech and real estate to make it happen. And with my role at Zillow and with prior experience at a technology startup called cornerstone on demand in LA, I really thought that it was, it was a perfect fit and a great opportunity for me to help our agents to grow throughout the state.
Beth Butler (00:02:45):
So I know you graduated from college of Charleston. I hear about that all the time. That was something about you. And from there you went, I didn't, you do some work in real estate while you were in Charleston.
Jeff Polashuk (00:02:55):
Yeah. so while I was in Charleston, I actually interned for a company called century 21 beach side on Iowa palms and in Charleston, South Carolina area. And it was kind of at that point in time, I knew that that real estate would be an important and critical part of my career. And and truly my, my why because I, I love real estate and I love kind of the way it gives agents the ability to build businesses and also obviously consumers, their ability to find their place.
Beth Butler (00:03:30):
And then from, from college of Charleston, you went to cornerstone out in LA. So tell everybody a little bit about cornerstone.
Jeff Polashuk (00:03:36):
Yeah. So cornerstone on demand was on one of the first HR software companies of its kind cornerstone focused essentially on learning management, performance management and later applicant tracking. So out of college, I went to cornerstone in LA. I actually found them by going to the Los Angeles business journal and looking at fastest growing companies in LA. And I essentially called them every day for a month or so until they, they wanted to meet. And my first role at that company was to essentially cold call fortune 500 companies and introduce them to our top sales folks in our company, cornerstone, who in turn would sell them that learning management platform or applicant tracking platform that we had in play. So that was my first role there. I later six months after starting with them I went on to essentially be the team leader for our, what we call it, the corporate account development team, who would cold call LinkedIn message, do whatever it took to get meetings with top executives at these fortune 500 companies and connect them with our top sales folks.
Jeff Polashuk (00:04:54):
And then from there I transitioned to actually becoming one of the youngest enterprise sales reps that they had in the company. You know, working with companies from, you know, Patagonia to value click et cetera kind of in the, in those markets where we're truly, I would say, you know, companies valued talent right at this time. And it was right after kind of the recession. It was, I think 2010, 2011 timeframe and companies were really trying to scale up from a training and development. So this learning management platform performance management was a really important thing to essentially create good work environments and accountability.
Beth Butler (00:05:41):
Okay. So then how did you get to Zillow?
Jeff Polashuk (00:05:44):
So from cornerstone I got to Zillow because a really good friend of mine was already working at Zillow and said there was this great job in New York where essentially what what I would be doing is traveling around the country meeting with top realtors, going into different real estate offices, you know, going on events with Tom ferry all these fun things. And you know, when I heard about the job opportunity, it really gave me the ability to kind of go back to the internship experience, which I love in real estate and utilize the technology component of cornerstone and put it together to, to help agents grow their business. So that was, that was how I got in contact with them.
Beth Butler (00:06:33):
So then fast forward, we're back at that lunch. And I'm thinking the fact that you had this cold calling experience, that you had some technology background, which had a company like compass in real estate today, I think is important. And then your experience at Zillow, really, you were helping some of the largest teams all over the country Institute that lead platform of Zillow and helping them manage your business. It was more of a consultative role, wasn't it?
Jeff Polashuk (00:06:59):
Yeah, it was definitely more consultative. I mean, I was, I was definitely selling, but I think the Tom Barry partnership that Zillow had at the time gave me the ability to, to really learn the ins and outs of what teams needed to be successful on Zillow Louise. And remember, I mean, 2014 timeframe, I mean, you know, teams were building their whole infrastructure around Zillow leads around realtor.com leads, you know, around BoomTown websites. So it was kind of the start of this technology approach to residential real estate and teams. And it was a lot of consulting because it was, it was a completely new way of doing business. And really it was changing kind of the, the, the old school way of doing real estate to kind of a, a new school way of building business, getting in front of leads and really working your sales pipeline for online leads. Like, you know, like, like a true tech company when it came to following up on Zillow. Zillows
Beth Butler (00:08:04):
Right. And we've talked about that. I mean, what a shift it's been for new people in the business, right? That, that come in and either join a team because they're buying leads that, that they can follow up on, or they invest in themselves and are buying leads themselves to build their own business. So it, it has become, you know, in these last five, six years, it has kind of shifted and really gone mainstream now, but I always felt like that was really good, solid experience for re-looking at what the sales manager position is. So as we kind of circle back to the, to the core of, of what we're going to talk about today, it's just the D the changing role of a sales manager. Right? So to go back just a little bit, and we know when I got into sales management, well, you know, that was a long time ago, but really what they had in those days, they had selling managers, right.
Beth Butler (00:09:00):
Player coaches. So you had to, I used to say, I spent 80% of my time making 20% of my money. And 20% of my time making 80% of my money, it was very hard to be both a salesperson and be recruiting, running an office, trying to do a sales meeting and trying to do all the sales management role and create, have a real estate business at the same time. And that was really what originally, how, you know, back in the day with sales manager looked like, right. They were the person that was probably one of the better producers in an office that was also started to manage. And it did kind of work where you brought in new people, you taught them. It sort of, as I think about it now did function a lot. Like the team model functions now where the sales manager was more of a team leader, but they were out there generating the business before, but you'd take new people out with you on listing appointments.
Beth Butler (00:09:54):
You take them out with you when you were working with a buyer, and it was a great way of coaching and training people along to be able to get them into the business, you know, fast forward to today. You know, it seems to be that it's now gone from being the Jack of all trades. And even when it was just a hundred percent of a sales manager, that they still did a lot of things, right. You recruited, you trained, you did sales meetings, you coached, you ran a staff in the office, you were sort of the master of your domain inside your office, but you kind of pioneered that role into something very different. So I'd love for you to go into how you've approached the role when you were a sales manager, how you approach it and how it's evolved quite differently.
Jeff Polashuk (00:10:41):
Yeah. So I'll, I'll, I'll just go back to kind of our, our lunch meeting at mid-market and summer of 2017. And you said, you know, you said to me directly, you know, would you be interested in the role? And I said, I don't know, I don't have the experience for the role, right. I mean, I have great experience Zillow, but I don't know that I necessarily have the experience that you need to lead this role. And you said, we, the compass in a nutshell already has a lot of the best agents in the country. They don't necessarily need help with, you know, with the contract questions or with a listing appointment, you know, listing appointment question, right. Like really what it came down to was they need to need me to fill the top of their funnel and the most important thing from a sales manager role that you kind of identified for what we could be doing for the future of sales management was really focusing on helping them to build their funnel so that they had more backs to get one business.
Jeff Polashuk (00:11:46):
So kind of the approach that I've taken from, from my sales management role, and what I share with, with the sales I work with throughout Florida is we need to ensure that we're getting our agents enough at bats, so that they're successful, right? Because most of the folks that are experienced in the business you know, they, they know how to get it from a to Z. It's really keeping, keeping a close eye on the pipeline and helping them to develop a bigger pipeline. So they get more business. So I'm kind of pausing there. I mean, that's kind of been where, where I try to provide the most value from day one is how do we help you to get more at bats? So you can build your team, you know, build a better business and ensure that you're constantly, you know, truly working new business you know, in a true sales cycle capacity. So on that, that was kind of my goal from the beginning in terms of building it to that. Did that answer for the benchmark question of
Beth Butler (00:12:48):
I think so. So I think it's just starting again from your, with your background between Zillow and cornerstone, this approach of treating sales agents real estate sales agents. To me, it's like a lot more consistent with other sales organizations, right? That's the sales manager function is more in that, right. It's how do I add value by adding business? Like, I love that you call it top of funnel. So top of the funnel need to add more top of the funnel opportunities, but I think also it's the structure that you put in place with regard to business planning, meeting accountability, and tracking it. Right. So I think everybody can stand up in a sales meeting, right. And say, Oh, here's the Zillow rep. And he's going to tell you how to build bleeds, but that's not what it is a compass at all. That's not really what you have done at all. So let's get into the weeds a little bit here and just talk about how, what, what that means and what your like, day to day what the day-to-day approach is about building the top of the funnel and holding them accountable and how that isn't just, Hey, here's the Zillow guy go buy leads.
Jeff Polashuk (00:13:53):
Yeah, exactly. Right. It's not, it's not pawning it off to two different companies, right. To focus on it. I think in 2021, right. It's really the, the sales manager's job in the organization to ensure that each agent that manager's working with has the ability to grow their business and the way that makes the most sense for them. So really what we do in a nutshell is and again, you, you hope to set this up at, but but basically we go ahead and we set up monthly business plan meetings with our agents, right. The goal from there is that we have accountability every single month on what's going on with our business, right. What we can do to help grow their business ensure that they're utilizing the technology necessary to build their platform. And if they're ready really focusing on building a team for them, right.
Jeff Polashuk (00:14:46):
If they think that they're the, in the point of their business, where they're ready to build that team helping to put that team infrastructure in place and really looking at it in terms of what it looks like and, and how we can make it sustainable for them to, you know, play to whatever their strengths are. Right. and I guess the example is, you know, if you're looking at a successful agent, right. But, you know, they love being out showing property, right. They love negotiating contracts. You know, they really like just being out there being the Rainmaker. You know, when we're looking at their business on a monthly basis, it's how do we remove obstacles for you so that we can ensure that you're out there doing what you're good at most of the time that you're doing most of the time that you're working and really the thought process by doing that is that the more that we can kind of take off their plate or help them to streamline their processes in terms of ways that they can grow their business, the more successful they're going to be.
Jeff Polashuk (00:15:46):
And in the end that the happier they're going to be with the business that they're building. So really it comes down to setting up those monthly accountability meetings where we're working off of a, of a business plan. The business plan that I like to kind of focus on, I like to call it essentially a souped up one, three, five, right? Like, what's your big goal, right? What are the three you know, main buckets that you're going to do to get there. And then what are the five things of those three buckets that we can put in place to help drive success? So those that's kind of in the business plan that we've worked off of in a nutshell to keep it high level enough, to keep them excited, but also granular enough where, you know, they have a thought of where they want to go throughout the year.
Beth Butler (00:16:33):
And do you incorporate other people in the organization to some of these meetings, right? So sometimes is there a marketing person there, or once you kind of identified what the, you know, how to maximize, I know you also look at things like helping them with team structure at, just talk through some of the, I guess you want to call them ancillary or supplemental people, or aside from assigning the one, three, five, which I think is a great framework to work from, I think you also go a step further and also incorporate other people into the meetings or into the followup plan to make sure that things happen. So just talk a little bit about some of the other supplemental services or supplemental issues that you discuss in these meetings.
Jeff Polashuk (00:17:18):
So I think for first and foremost, right, it's, it's ensuring that they're in lock step if possible with the marketing team. Right. So if they're trying to get their social media more dialed in you know, ensuring that we have the marketing person in that business plan meeting, so we can put together a strategy you know, around the marketing, right. That can be everything from, you know, cause here in Florida where we've been the beneficiary of leads coming from a lot of other markets you know, ensuring that our agents are in front of other referral agents and other States and or in front of their clients that, that have multiple residences. So, you know, so really sitting at the time with the marketing to figure out, you know, what we need to focus on, right. Is it mailing high net worth zip codes in Manhattan, right.
Jeff Polashuk (00:18:14):
For people that are coming down to South Florida is it building a referral relationship with the top agent in Aspen that has clients that are also looking in Florida you know, w or was it really figuring out like a digital strategy, right. When it comes to online lead generation? So those are the things that we kind of look at with the marketing department in the business plan meetings that we have, and, and we can kind of build on from there. The other factors that we always take into play at least here at compass is we work really closely with our agent experience team who really understands the full functionality of the product extremely well, right? So what compass tools can be bring to the table to ensure that, you know, our agents are taking advantage of them to, to build their businesses even more you know, obviously marketing center is, is one that gives our agents the ability to move super quickly to get marketing collateral out.
Jeff Polashuk (00:19:15):
And then we obviously acquired the Contactually CRM, right? So working through with the new compass CRM if you're a single agent to work on your past client sphere of influence follow-up is it has been a really important, you know, thing that we've been taking into account since the pandemic started. Right. I think when the pandemic started, there was this really big call for our agents to go back to basics, right? Reach out to your past clients, reach out to your friends and family, see how they're doing, you know, checking consistently and, you know, and let them know that you're a resource for them on the real estate side. So you know, again, answering the question kind of in a, in a long-winded way, but, you know, bringing in our marketing team. So the approach is catered for what they're trying to build, right?
Jeff Polashuk (00:20:05):
Whether it's a new farm area, a new referral network you know, online lead generation or building out your social media, you know, making sure that all of our teams are rowing missing direction to help the agents develop that. And then obviously from a product side you know, we have lots of great tools here at compass. Working with our agent experience managers, to ensure our agents are implementing the tools that are good for them to to, to move their business along to. And I'd say kind of the last thing that, that I try to really focus on for South Florida and our managers try to focus on for South Florida is building that referral network for agents in other markets, right? Is it, you know, I always try to let them know that, you know, you need at least five great agents that you work closely with in New York and LA and San Francisco and Texas and Aspen, et cetera. Because building those networks really makes for, for a holistic approach to real estate and makes our agents even more of the advisors when it comes to the national real estate outlook.
Beth Butler (00:21:10):
So Jeff, with that, I mean, going back to when you were, when you were actually sales, managing, and now we didn't, I should have said it at the top of the podcast. Now you are the managing director of sales. So you actually are a leader of sales leaders. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute, but going back to when you were a sales manager, can you, can you think of a success story that you'd like to share about how the business planning meetings have changed the way an agent did business, how they generated success, how you measured, that you have any examples you want to share
Jeff Polashuk (00:21:42):
In our, in one of our offices in Miami, we had two great agents that were essentially working for themselves, right? Independent contractors. They, they, one had, you know, they were both really sole practitioners of real estate, right? So we're looking at their production one day and what they're putting out. And w w we knew that they were getting, both of them, both came to me and said, listen, we're working way too many hours in the day. You know, what do you think we should think about doing to, to make this work? And basically the thought was the two should part, right. If they have a really good relationship and one is great at one thing, the other is great at the other, right? Why not put the group together so that they can partner double down on online lead generation, hire the right assistant and really in turn that it gave them the ability to get more onto the listing side handle their buyers in a better way and go from there.
Jeff Polashuk (00:22:43):
So I guess the lesson of that is you know, if you're an agent listening to this podcast and you're, you're a sole agent, and you really feel like you're just spinning your wheels in the growth, isn't happening, the way that you, you want it to I mean, really assessing the situation, right. Do you have the ability to truly grow your own team? Is that your personality, or would you rather find a great person that compliments you well, or you can set up a long-term partnership. So that was an example of you two agents that on their own were know, probably doing about 12 million a year each. I think this year they'll do about 55, 60 million together. So I'm really, you know, helping to put together the right partnerships so people can move obstacles out of the way and help to build a better life for themselves.
Jeff Polashuk (00:23:33):
I think that was a good one. And then there was another one in our office who literally came to compass as a sole agent. He now has a team of about 10 folks on the team as an assistant, right. Showing the agent you know, essentially someone who's helping to make the phone calls to get new listing appointments and has really built an entire platform around processes that he's put in place to, you know, get a fully flushed out brand, a fully flushed out online lead generation system works very well with our marketing has built a great referral network across the country. And really we looked at his business day one and put these things in place. And, and in close to three years, I mean, production has essentially I would say six X from coming on board.
Jeff Polashuk (00:24:31):
So, I mean, you, you know, I would say those are two of the many, many stories that we have, but I guess the thought process behind both is, is if you are an agent looking to grow your business, right, and you're not getting there fast enough, right. Or you're not, you know, enjoying what you're doing, the way that you should take some time. Right. Sit down with your manager, no matter who it is. And talk about partnership opportunities, right. Talk about what it would look like to build the team of your dreams and know that it's, it's completely possible. And this new world that we live in, right with them, the ability to recruit, utilizing, you know, like different, you know, indeed.com, right? Different websites like that. You can get in front of staff really, really quickly. And with the amount of agents that are looking to get into the business there is a great way to really find some phenomenal talent and build out, you know, a team that could work for you.
Beth Butler (00:25:31):
Yeah. And it works. I think the other important part that you didn't talk about is the accountability piece. I think the monthly meetings, right. Leaving, leaving the end of the meeting with, with the clear understanding of what needs to occur between between now and the next meeting, to be able to accomplish the goals that they set out for themselves is, is very useful. Right. So when they know I, and I was doing these alongside you for a while, right? So when somebody knows that they're going to have to come in and meet with their sales manager and have answers on the homework that they should have done in the last 30 days, they're much more likely to have done it until the point it comes after a period of time, that that accountability actually turns into a habit of new, of the way that they approach their business or a new process, or it just becomes ingrained in the day to day way that they approach what they do.
Beth Butler (00:26:26):
So it's not only, you know, it's, it's the training that you bring, the tools that you offer, the marketing plan, they set the goals, the one, three, five, you pull it all together and then tie it up with an accountability ribbon, if you want to, if you want to put it way. So that with the consistency of knowing that every month they're going to meet, you're going to track, you're going to look at their business. You're going to make sure that they're accomplishing things really has proven to be over the period of time that you've been here, a successful formula to really advance these agents, these good agents into being even better agents. Would you agree? Yes.
Jeff Polashuk (00:27:07):
Yeah, yeah. I w I would agree. Or your, you definitely explained it better than I can I just go out there and do it, but I think that I, I totally agree. I think, I think the other piece too, right, is, is in this time period, right. Where everyone's going a million miles a minute, everyone needs an accountability person and someone that they can talk to that can help them to kind of see what obstacles are in their way. Right. because we're moving so quick, right. It we're, we're, we're not in the office the way that we once were. So these types of formats where we're having these conversations, we're advancing the business is, is more important than ever. And I guess one last plug that I think has been helpful for, for me is there's this great author named Michael Addington who wrote the book 12 week, year 12 week years, in my opinion, the best business planning guide for sales folks, because the way that it's set up is you're only looking at it basically, you know, 12, 12 weeks at a time, right?
Jeff Polashuk (00:28:12):
So three months at a time, because in the world that we're living in and the way that salespeople typically are, right, they're looking for to hit their goals quickly and in a way that gets them excited. Right? So kind of breaking down the goals that we all have on a quarterly basis for the agents to get to. And for everyone to get to, I think is, has been extremely helpful, right? Through a pandemic when the goals are changing essentially every month based on, you know, CDC, the economy and, and rules that are going in place across, you know, across the world. So I think that, you know, if you're listening to this podcast, I would pick up the book the 12 week year and, and just kind of take a look at it for, for ways you can restructure yourself. It's, it's an easy way to, you know, to help with accountability and ensure that you're going after the goals that are important to you. And they're most top of mind for you today.
Beth Butler (00:29:13):
And and I guess the last thing that I'll add is, you know, going back and thinking of all the years, I did sales management. And I used to, you know, even when we were in the office and it still happens at home, I mean, it kills me that remotely, it still happens, right. You deal with the door, right? So somebody you'd find that your day from the minute you got in the office and you sat down, or you walked to the office, you're dealing with, whoever's coming up to you, right. So you're dealing with the door, whoever's the door you got to answer, you got to talk to you, you've got to get their question. And especially in a large busy office, you just seem that you spend your whole day dealing with the door and never really maybe reaching out to the people that you should have talked to in the day, or gotten, you know, had been able to meet with the people that you needed to meet with.
Beth Butler (00:29:59):
And I think when it comes to retention, which is very important, right, we spend a lot of time and energy and effort bringing new teams into any sales organization, right. And retention is important, especially in real estate. And what happens is sometimes the people that are at your door all the time, or calling you all the time are not necessarily the most efficient way to use your time. As a manager, you're not touching everybody so months can go by. And I, and I can remember, you know, before we started this monthly cadence of meetings, you know, you do that, you'd sit there, you'd go through your, you'd look at your roster. People at one point, you think, wow, you know, I haven't seen so-and-so in months. I wonder what's become of them. And then somebody comes to your door. And the next thing you know, that person has gone off and joined another brokerage. So I think the, not only does it help the agent it, right. It helps everybody do better business, be accountable, more efficient use of resources like technology, marketing team. But I think it also is a big part of retention because it creates that connection. That's so necessary between a sales manager and their sales agents.
Jeff Polashuk (00:31:12):
Yeah. I totally agree. And I think that, you know, you know, the way it goes and I think everyone listening knows the way it goes. Right. the person that's yelling the most typically is getting the most attention, right? So the folks that are more relaxed are going with the flow and more quiet eventually that becomes disengaged. So, so if you're not in front of that group consistently and this is if you're a team leader, by the way, too or whatever you're doing, right. Even if it's a client of yours, right. Maybe it's not your client that is, you know, is in your face the most, maybe it's your kind of more relaxed one, right? Maybe that's the one that's going to go find something else and work with another agent. Right. because they're not getting as much time. So I think, you know, regardless of what the relationship is you know, figuring out a cadence and a monthly check-in or bi-weekly check-in or whatever it is that works for your business it needs to be set up with what the people that are important to your company and that are important to your vision.
Jeff Polashuk (00:32:14):
And, you know, with, with us, that's, that's our agents, right? Those are our principal agents that we need to be in front of, on a regular basis and, and something else, just so you know that we're, we're adding for 20, 21 is, is more meetings with entire teams, right? So, so once a quarter now, not just meeting with, with the principal agent, but also the entire team, right. To bring them up to date on what's new at the and new, you know, essentially tools that we're rolling out and even storm through goal planning for entire teams together. So that everyone's feeling as if they're having a really good experience and that they're growing by, you know, by, by being with the company.
Beth Butler (00:32:55):
Good. I remember when we first started talking about doing these weekly meetings on the, and I don't even remember the national sales calls, which, where it's all the sales managers from all over the country at that time, which I think that's really just New York, Florida, and maybe LA had just had just launched. And the pushback that was given about doing these one-on-ones, you know, from, from the managers, especially from the more experienced managers who were like, I meet with all my agents, I don't need to have structure. I don't need to have accountability. I mean, it was huge. And I look back on it now and I just kind of shake my head, but it was one of the things really that I felt like your open-mindedness to this process was so important because things do need to be shaken up this relationship or what a sales manager does and their relationship with their sales agent can get really stale over time.
Beth Butler (00:33:50):
And that deal with the door can really be the, not only the least efficient way of dealing with your associates, but it can also be the least effective way of dealing with it. So I thank you for your openness to jump on board and kind of grasp this new way of moving forward. So I guess with that, moving now more towards your current position, which I said a few minutes ago is as managing director of sales, which means you have all the sales leaders in the state now laddering up to you, you're hiring them, you're training them because a lot of times somebody that's out there that may be an existing managers, not likely to be necessarily so on board with a lot of things that we're doing. So you've, you've hired a lot of different people. So what characteristics do you look for in a good sales leader? What do you think it takes? What do you think is important?
Jeff Polashuk (00:34:42):
I think from a sales leadership perspective, the important characteristics first off is you, you have to love real estate agents. Like you have to genuinely, you know, love helping them build their business and be excited for, for the success that they're having. And to be there for them to watch that success point, because it's really hard to fake it for a long period of time, especially with, you know, with monthly meetings on the calendar. Right. and the way that the sales manager works with the agents here at compass. So I think first it's a, it's a love for, for real estate agents and helping them grow their business. The second that, that comes after that is a work ethic, right? Like, I mean, this is not what we're trying to run, what we do down here, like a true sales organization.
Jeff Polashuk (00:35:37):
Right. you know, like a technology company, right. So, so you need to have the work ethic to essentially put in the time, right? The, be there for the agents when they call respond in a timely manner. At the end of the day, our agents are our customers, right. So we, we need someone that can come with that customer service mindset, but that also has the work ethic to be there when they need it. And I would say the third thing is I would go with the third, most important one is, you know, and this is kind of a weird attribute, but you need to be extremely likable as well. Right. I mean, when you're dealing with a lot of agents and you're having, you know, fairly difficult conversations, day in, day out you know, the personality that, that you have needs to be one where the agent is going to want to collaborate with you and is going to want to, to truly work with you.
Jeff Polashuk (00:36:36):
It's hard to pinpoint what a likable characteristic looks like, but, you know, but think of the folks that you've met over the years, that you just want to talk to them all day. Right. Because they're, they're interesting, you know, they're good listeners. They're excited to hear what you're saying. I mean, that's really the third one that I think is, is important and, you know, and not so easy to find because you know, it's you know, these, these types of jobs take a lot of time, a lot of effort, and you really have to have that customer service, likable mindset going at all times with a good work ethic. So those are the three that I, that, that I look on or look for right off the bat. Any that you would add, Beth, I'm going to turn it back on you.
Beth Butler (00:37:20):
You can't be, you can't be high ego minded, right? This isn't, this isn't an I, or a me job. It's a you and a, your job. So it really is servant leadership. And we had a great podcast with Matt Rocco, who I work with at the Emirate ocean. And he is, you know, one of the country's leading experts on servant leadership. And this is really a servant leadership role, right? You are serving these agents. It can't be about you, right. You, it's not, you're a sales manager and you are in a management position, but you're not their boss. So it, you, you can't be super authoritarian. You can't be, you know, very strict. It really has to be, you have to have a little bit of that. How do I finesse? How do I get to where I need to go without basically saying, you know, because I said so, or it's my way or the highway it's it's a little bit more, I think you need to be a little bit sharper about thinking on your feet, working through solutions creatively and getting people to do what's good for themselves. Whether, without them really recognizing that they're doing it, if that makes any sense to you. Right. So it can't just be because I said so, or I'm the boss and that's, it's really not that kind of management position. It's really, how can I help you get to where you need to be and understanding that they'll tell you, but they're not necessarily going to do what you tell them to do. So you gotta, you gotta know how to finesse your way around that situation without just kind of huffing and puffing and blowing the house down.
Jeff Polashuk (00:38:54):
Yeah. Yeah. And I would, you, you put this eloquently a few years ago, it's even your nose have to sound like yeses, right. Because you know, it's successful agents that are running their own businesses and don't want to hear no. Right. They want to hear the solution that they're going to get to. That's going to be best for them and their client for the future. Right. So if it's a no, it's not really a no it's, it's listen. I don't think this is the best route to go because X, Y, and Z, and here are a few different solutions that I think could get you and even better resolved. Right. So it's, it's, it's again, not huffing and puffing the house. It's always coming from a place of, of yes. And if it does happen to be a no making it feel as if it's a yes.
Jeff Polashuk (00:39:47):
Because they feel that you genuinely care and you want to bring the value across, but again, you, but that's what I said in the characteristics. It's really hard to fake genuinely caring. Like you either genuinely care or you don't. And I think that's why, you know, when I look at sales leaders kind of bringing it back full circle, like that's the first, first thing that, that I look at, right. They have to love real estate agents and genuinely care about, you know, what they're helping them to build. And then if you have that characteristic whether it's sales management, whether it's, you know, what seems in transactions, whether it's broker you know, you're, you're, you'd definitely be successful in this, you know, in this arena.
Beth Butler (00:40:32):
So Jeff, with your sales management teams, what kind of metrics or benchmarking do you use to gauge success?
Jeff Polashuk (00:40:39):
We looked at a few different avenues, right? The, the first we're really starting to look at year over year growth of agents' businesses, right? Like, are the business plan meetings, helping the agents to grow their business. Right. and sometimes maybe, maybe they're cutting back team members. Right. Maybe it's different, but we're looking for year over year growth for them personally, and year-over-year profit for them on take home. So, so those are some of the things that we look at initially to see essentially what kind of success we're driving for agents. And that helps us to figure out what we need to focus on for the new year. You know, if, if they've plateaued, right. I mean, that's where maybe a partnership could make sense. Adding an admin can help you know, maybe trying to shift price points you know, maybe going away from online leads and kind of shifting to the listing side you know, to get a little bit more control mapping your calendar.
Jeff Polashuk (00:41:36):
There's, there's all sorts of things that we can figure out based on your over year growth. So, so that's an important tracking metric for us. The other one, which is, it is interesting that we look at as well is believe it or not as compass tool adoption you know, adoption of tools is important to us is important for us to see if the products that we're taking to market are helping our agents grow their business. Right. And if our agents are really engaged in the tools that we're utilizing there's probably a good chance that they're feeling the value of the company, right? So, so looking at that toward adoption is an important one in addition to the year over year growth. And then you know, from a sales management perspective, I really keep a close eye on sales meeting attendance, right?
Jeff Polashuk (00:42:28):
We know that people are are busy in the day. Agents are showing property, but if our sales managers are packing out their sales meetings with a great attendance that shows us that our agents are really engaged and are getting value out of what the company is putting out there. So those are a few that I, that I look at from a tracking perspective. I'd say the other ones that are important are listings taken, right? In any given day, we want to know how many listings our agents have, right. And what we can do to ensure that they keep that high value of listings in this low inventory market, whoever controls the inventory is the winner. So we're really, really keeping a close eye on the listings that we have. And there was things that we're getting to ensure that we're doing the proper training and putting out the proper approach to help our agents get more you know, get more listings, which in turn drives more revenue for them.
Jeff Polashuk (00:43:23):
So those are, those are a few of the things that, that we look at from a tracking perspective that are, that are really, really important. The other, I guess the last one that I would add is, you know, how many buyers are agents working with, right. You know, w when you go into that business plan meeting, and you hear about the same buyer that you heard about last month that's a bad sign that the funnel isn't filled with with, with enough people in the pipeline. So you know, from the buy-side perspective you know, really having our managers keep a close eye on how many buyers are in the pipe is, is important, especially in this short inventory world where you know, we're, we're, the buyers are a tad, less loyal you know, based on, you know, the multiple offer situations and other factors that are really outside of our agent's control.
Beth Butler (00:44:17):
I think that's good. So I guess with some of that and those metrics, if you can just talk a little bit about how you coach your managers. I know you coach on sales meetings, can you talk through just coming to some of the things you coach, your sales managers on doing sales, meeting time, blocking things that you think is important that they need to learn? What do you go over with them and what do you stress with them on your one-on-ones with them?
Jeff Polashuk (00:44:40):
I would say first and foremost for, for sales meetings, right. Agents like collaboration and meetings, like, you know, agents like to talk and hear from each other and share their wins. So really in our sales meetings, trying to figure out a way that it's not just a, you know, an exciting PowerPoint, right. But more interaction, more
Beth Butler (00:45:04):
[Inaudible]
Jeff Polashuk (00:45:05):
Exactly. So, yeah, we don't want it to be a slightly above average power plant because there is no such thing as an exciting PowerPoint anymore. But but, but what I think getting the right speakers that can lead to a good discussion is, is first and foremost. Now I'm not going to lie that the zoom world, the video call world has been challenging for this because it's tougher to have more interaction over zoom when you have a really large groups. So you know, so, so the other thing that we're kind of coaching towards for sales managers now that we're in this new digital world is getting kind of tingly masterminds set up in each and every office so that your team leaders and you know, and, and agents have the ability to share in an open forum best practices, what they're hearing, what's working, et cetera, right.
Jeff Polashuk (00:46:00):
Because we know real estate can be a lonely business sometimes. So, you know, setting up with our sales managers, the ability to you know, to kind of get those open discussions and open dialogues with agents in a more digital world is something that we've been focusing on a lot this year. Other things that I'm coaching on in, and I think people can take this in, in any role that they're in is starting the day off doing something you really like, right. Or doing something you love, right? Like we all know how dreadful a day can be. If you start off with the conversation you're not excited for, or a task that you don't like doing, right. So kind of coaching on our management team around starting the day off, where you're going to bring your highest and best impact, that's going to make the biggest splash on our agents to help them grow their business.
Jeff Polashuk (00:46:54):
We've been implementing that a little bit more this year. Our sales leaders seem to be liking it and it helps them to get the day off feeling more on the offensive. So that's something that we're coaching towards too. You know, time blocking time blocking is tough. I mean, I, I wish I had a secret ingredient for that. I think it's, it's just doing what, what you need to do when you need to do it, but Beth, I mean, what advice do you have? And again, I'll flip it back to you on the time-blocking piece of some things you could add and time blocking has saved
Beth Butler (00:47:30):
My life. I've said this on the podcast before people have heard that I, I, there's just no way that I could get done what I get done in a week, month, days, period of time, without having some structure to my day. And, and it's been very important to me to do that. And I think for me, and that kind of came from the, you know, do what you like. First thing in the morning, I think it's also do what makes you feel like you've accomplished more. So making sure that that time block does, like, it's simple things, right. I literally block it out of my calendar so nobody can go put time on or take that time away from me. So, you know, from eight o'clock in the morning until nine 30, I do not take any appointments or calls, right. That is my time blocking time.
Beth Butler (00:48:16):
That's for me to do what I need to get done in a day to get organized, to prepare, to send out agendas, you know, to me, to get my head screwed on straight at the beginning of the day. And that's the most important. And I like that. It's not because I love doing organization, but I just feel so much better about my day when I feel like at nine 30, when I'm sitting down to my first now zoom meeting, right. That I have literally gotten a good, solid chunk of the things that I felt were important to do in that day done. And that makes me feel good about progressing throughout the day, as opposed to thinking I'm always just running to catch up. Right? So a lot of this is just time blocking is a lot about not only disciplining yourself to do things in certain times, but it's also about working with your own mind set to make sure that you're still performing at a high level throughout the day, because you're not feeling like you're, you know, chasing the white rabbit throughout the day, because you haven't been able to get done what you got done and I'm doing this person's agenda.
Beth Butler (00:49:20):
And I'm all I'm doing is doing meetings. And I've got no time in between other time-blocking tip that I just did is instead of making 30 minute meetings, I make 25 minute meetings instead of making our meetings, I make 50 minute meetings. And again, that gives me that time in between all of these different meetings, especially when we're sitting in front of a zoom camera all day long and in a meeting all day long, there's just no time to, to do anything in between meetings. And that includes things like, you know, having a bio-break and having something to eat. So just little tricks like that, but it's disciplined and you have to really think about it. So this idea I'm going to get up and I'm going to run my day, or I'm going to let my day run me. And especially in real estate, real estate agent, real estate sales manager, it doesn't matter.
Beth Butler (00:50:08):
It's all the same. Your day can run you because you're dealing with so many people in a day. You know, if you're selling, you're dealing with all your buyers and sellers and other brokers, and, but they could only see it at this time only show during certain periods of day only do your business meetings. If you're a sales manager, certain days of the week or certain times of the day. So you don't feel like you didn't get done what you need to get do in a day. So I think it's just really 10 minutes of thought of how you set up your calendar on a weekly basis. People make it so much harder than it is because then they start, Oh, well, I'll take it off for this day or that day. That's where the discipline comes in. Then you really gotta be disciplined to stick to your own time-blocking and you'll feel so much better.
Beth Butler (00:50:51):
You'll be so much more productive. And you'll, you'll be able to see much more positive results in your metrics because you've been able to prioritize what you need to get done or what you needed to do to make sure that you were advancing on the things that you wanted to advance on, whatever that is. Doesn't matter. You know, I want more personal time. I wanna make sure I work out every morning. I want to make sure that, you know, I have lunch with my kids every day. Now that we're all at home, it doesn't have to be, I need to make a million dollars next year. It can be something very simple or something very complex, but you're not going to get there in this business. If you let your, your time run you as opposed to you run your time.
Jeff Polashuk (00:51:33):
Yeah. And that's, that's really helpful, Beth. I think, you know, the, the one bit of feedback I can add to that on the time block and as well is, you know, for the next week, everyone on this call after you listen to this podcast, you know, have a piece of paper and a pen out throughout your day and look at every call you took that wasn't necessary, right? Look at every interaction or every email or everything that you got roped into that you're like, you know what, I shouldn't have spent 20 minutes there today. And you know, we're having our sales managers evaluate that you know, over the first couple of weeks so that we can try to get the, the last important right. Or the non-essential stuff off the plate. So our group of managers who focus more on churchly helping the agents grow their business because that's, that's a warrior for.
Jeff Polashuk (00:52:25):
And if you're an agent, I think, you know, it's looking at those things too, right? I mean, you know, what are a few additions? What are a few calls that you were on throughout the day that you didn't need, right? Or what was an interaction you know, with you know, maybe a mortgage person or whoever, right. Where you gave them 30 minutes to talk to you about something. You're like, you know what, I didn't eat that. Right. And looking at those types of things and thinking, you know, what's essential and what's not is going to help you to get more control of your day. And I guarantee you, everyone listening could probably cut out about seven hours a week of of unnecessary distraction.
Beth Butler (00:53:04):
Oh, sure. Oh, for sure. For sure. And I think, again, it's not that you can't have those things in a day. Like, I think everybody appreciates that there's that call like, I'd really like to talk to so-and-so, but I think it's a priority then. Right. So just practical obligation. So if I, if I know, if, if I would love to just shoot the breeze with you, which we do often, right. We have plenty of times we shoot the breeze, but we shoot the breeze. We don't shoot the breeze within certain hours in the day. So I know that if you're calling me at a two o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, this is a work-related, but we shoot the breeze, you know, before 8:00 AM or after 7:00 PM. So I think it's, it's also that idea that yes, you don't have to have, you know, be all work a hundred percent of the time, even with the people you work with, but you just have to prioritize those few hours that you have during the day to make sure that you get that you, that you advance on your agenda for whatever that day is and not let them be as distraction.
Beth Butler (00:54:02):
So maybe it's not that you don't take the call. It's just you texts and say, I'll give you a call back later and you call them at your next break. Or when you, you know, at the end of the day, whether it's five o'clock or seven o'clock or it's at lunch or whatever. So it's just moving around things during the day to make sure that, that, that you have a good time and enjoy what you're joined with the same time. You, you are moving forward on what you need to get done and accomplishing things every day, every week, every month, every year. Yup. For sure. Do you get agent feedback on your management team? I mean, it's a little touchy and sensitive, so I know you do. So tell us a little bit about how you go about doing that and then how you incorporate that back in without that, you know, well, Jeff, by the way, so-and-so called me yesterday and they really didn't like their business, meaning they did yesterday. They thought it was a waste of time or whatever. So you D without creating animosity or having your sales managers feel undermined, can you talk a little bit about that? Because it's something I think you do excellent.
Jeff Polashuk (00:55:05):
It comes back to basically having good relationships with the agents. Right. So, you know, when I'm speaking with them, you know, when I'm checking in to see how they've been doing over the last, you know, six months, right. You know, just asking for feedback, right. You know, how's the company, you know, treating you, right. How have the business plans been, you know, are you feeling a lot of value out of what we're giving? Right. And, and it's not about pointing out saying, you know, how is X manager doing? Like, it, it's really kind of figuring out if the business process is working for them and if they're getting value out of it. And, and if the agent doesn't sound excited to share the feedback, or if I get the quick yeah. It's okay. You know, then I know it's not, it's not getting them to where, you know, they want to necessarily be.
Jeff Polashuk (00:55:58):
And what I do from there, I kind of want, if I get what sounds, you know, look warm, you know, it's okay. Feedback on how things are going. I, you know, in my weekly one-on-ones with my sales managers, I essentially just, you know, go down the roster list you know, and, and ask them how you know, how it's going with X, Y, Z agent. Right. So then I can get, take on it too. Right. Or sometimes I'll be direct and say, Hey, I talked to X, Y, and Z. I'm not necessarily sure that what, you know, what we're putting down, they're picking up. And it's, it's really just getting a feel from, from that perspective to see what we can do and then really doing a hands-on approach. So if the feedback is not great, it's what can we do so that this agent feels as if we're truly helping them build their business.
Jeff Polashuk (00:56:50):
So, you know, maybe it's going back to what we talked about a few minutes ago, right. Maybe it's looping them in with marketing, right. Maybe it's helping them to do a more structured business plan, you know, maybe it's looping them in, on product so that they can learn a little bit more about things they could be putting into their business. And even sometimes maybe it's, it's recommending an outside coach, you know they can maybe help them to get to the breakthrough as well. So I guess when it comes to the feedback, I mean, I just try to take it, you know, pretty matter of factly and, and always take it from a place that goes back to helping the agent to grow their business. Because at the end of the day, if our agents are growing their business that's, what's most important because that's, you know, that that's what the success looks like.
Jeff Polashuk (00:57:37):
So, you know, I never, I mean, I think you can tell Beth her, you know, I mean, you've known me for over three and a half years. I've never yelled at anyone. You know, I've never gotten really angry at people where I say, you should do this, or you should do that. Right. It's always, you know, kind of guiding people so that they put it into place on their terms. And I do the same thing for a management team. If it's feedback as well, like you'll never see me put it in an email, like it's only as a conversation so that we can work to get to a better result. Because I truly believe that nothing good happens over emails that are over, you know, five sentences long.
Beth Butler (00:58:20):
Well, yeah. And plus I think, especially when it's, when it's challenging news, I mean, the least that you can, you know, the least that you can do to be able to provide the proper feedback is have the benefit of a conversation. You know, if you can't meet in person or you can't set up a video call, which is the next best thing, at least have a phone conversation, because the email back and forth tends to, I don't know, after a while, take a really bizarre turn. And, and it's kinda like I've, I watch exchanges and I I'm literally saved to the computer, pick up the phone and make a phone call because it's just in 30 seconds, you can resolve something that's taken days over email, not necessarily, I mean, email is great for certain things, but especially when you're trying to provide feedback, it's not necessarily the way to do it and actually expect things to change.
Beth Butler (00:59:11):
Right. If you know, I was I guess, and that's the other last thing that I'll talk about, you know, when is it time to replace a sales manager? We, we, we we've had cross that bridge once or twice. I've had to do it more times than that. And, you know, I think that one of the more recent life lessons I've had about this is I probably tended over time to hold on to people a little bit longer than I should have, just because, you know, you work with somebody if time vested in them, you liked them as a person. You want to keep working with them to see if you can't get them to where they need to be. And I probably have held on a little bit longer than I should, but you know, you, can't certainly can't fire somebody by an email. So, so what is it time to make a change?
Jeff Polashuk (00:59:58):
I think it's time to make a change in, in in a sales leader role. I think there's a few key indicators, right. First is, is recruiting, right? If for a career is not picking up to a good amount. I think that's a, that's a telltale sign, right? Because that means that agents inside of the office aren't recommending the company. So, so I think that's the first thing I look at the second is, you know, is, is really the culture, right? Is the culture and exciting culture where the agents are happy to be here and they're excited about what they're building. Right. and are they collaborative in the process right at the answer is, is no. You know, then it's hard to say that the office is, you know, it's, it's doing what they need to go do to get to the next level.
Jeff Polashuk (01:00:48):
So I, I think that's kind of the second thing that I would get. So I think it's recruiting, I think it's culture. And then third is just, you know, if there's, if there's, if you're not hearing good feedback, right. If, if agents are not saying this person helped me grow my business, X, Y, and Z, or this person is there for me and is in my corner and it's, you know, and it's removing obstacles, so I can keep doing a great job if you're not getting that kind of feedback somewhat consistently. You know, then, then it's when you need to really look at your org and figure out is, is this what we're going to do to get to the, to the next level as a company? So those are a few of the, a few of the signs. And then, I mean, you know, I, I look a little bit less of numbers in the office than I probably should, because I've really believed that, that the numbers of the office, or if you have great agents in place you know, do happen, right. You know, at least in our org, we have a lot of, a lot of the top performing agents in the state, right? So they're, they're going to put up pretty consistently you know, but, but if the recruiting is down, the morale is not there and they're not helping these agents to feel as if they're improving. That's when you got to kind of look deep inside and figure out if this is the right leader for your org going forward, and then don't
Beth Butler (01:02:20):
Send him an email and
Jeff Polashuk (01:02:22):
Then don't send him an email that's for sure.
Beth Butler (01:02:25):
Yeah. I think that, you know, it's important just to kind of close this loop on sales management before we get into the popular lightning round with you, is that I have always felt that the sales manager is really the most important role in a real estate organization. And primarily because it's a sales manager, right. That is there every day, creating that culture, making sure business happens. He is he or she is that person that defines the company to, to your customers, the agents every single day. And they're an unsung hero of many organizations. And I love what you've been able to do to elevate that role, to make it more of a business manager and make it, and you said it over and over and over again. And I think it's just important to reiterate, you know, for every sales manager out there, if he pulled your agent and said, am I helping you do more business? Am I helping you grow your business? If that answer is an overwhelmingly, yes. There's probably something that you should be doing that you're not doing. And you said it a dozen times in the conversation. And I thank you for that because it really is the most important thing. It's not that I liked them. They're a good person. I enjoy their company. All of that's fine and well, but fundamentally our job is to see that they do more business. And thank you for bringing that home.
Jeff Polashuk (01:03:49):
Yeah. Thank you. And I'll just add one more thing. There's so many amazing sales leaders across the country. But when folks come to Columbus, what I've heard time and time again is, is why they make the move or, you know, or even when people leave in company to go somewhere else, right. Why are you making the move? It's because they're stuck, right. They're not growing their business. Right. you know, the amount of times where I've had, you know, top agents move over and say, what's it like, I love my manager. Like I he's been a great friend or she's been a great friend of mine for the last 15 years. Right. But we're not growing the way that we need to. I mean, that's the tune that comes up time and time again. So I guess that's the reason why I really hit home on that comment is because if, if you're not growing, you're dying.
Jeff Polashuk (01:04:40):
Right. And, and that's the feedback that when people are moving companies, you know, it's, it's never, you know, I hated my manager. It's, it's, I just, wasn't getting to the level that I needed to get to. And I believe that this will help me get to that next level. So, so that's the way you know, agents are assessing it. So really our team or our sales management, if we're not helping them grow they will eventually leave. Right. And on the way out the door, they'll say, I love you, Jeff, but I'm not growing the way that I need to. And, you know, and that's why I'm so obsessed with that concept of, of helping them get there. Because if we're not providing that additional ability to hold them accountable, to help them grow you know, someone else will put in that time and that effort to get them there.
Beth Butler (01:05:33):
Well, thank you. I think that's a great place to wrap that up. Are you ready for the lightning round? I am ready. Where were you born? Baltimore, Maryland. What's your academic background?
Jeff Polashuk (01:05:46):
I was a corporate communication major from college of Charleston and South Carolina and South Carolina. And was a public school graduate of Owens mills high in Baltimore, Maryland.
Beth Butler (01:05:58):
What was your first job like in life? Not in, not, not after college, but in life.
Jeff Polashuk (01:06:03):
I was a bus boy at a deli
Beth Butler (01:06:08):
In Baltimore,
Jeff Polashuk (01:06:09):
In Baltimore. And then at age at age, I think 14 whatever the legal working age was. I was, that's when I got my first job.
Beth Butler (01:06:21):
Who do you consider your best mentor?
Jeff Polashuk (01:06:24):
That's a really tough one. So I would definitely put you in that category. So Beth Butler Shem was playing.
Beth Butler (01:06:30):
I'm not fishing here. I get disqualified. You, you got to go to somebody else.
Jeff Polashuk (01:06:35):
Okay. so I would go with my first manager at cornerstone. His name is Paul Broughton. He, you know, it was a JD MBA from UCLA. You know, he just had such a unique ability to be very matter of fact and the way that he presented things in this kind of chill tone, but really always hit his points home. So Paul is a mentor of mine. And then I have, you know, I'd say three others at Zillow on a guy named Andrew Wilde who was the head of industry relations for Zillow still works there close mentor of mine. And then Nick Taylor, who, I think you had that on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, who just came over via modus is as a close mentor of mine. And then the last one her name's Sarah and the support she is now I guess the head of sales role at Google was my manager at Zillow. As well for awhile, she was super organized and really whipped my butt it to being better with my time. And, you know, it really was just good at holding me accountable and bring the best out of me. So those were few of them. Sorry that wasn't very lightning.
Beth Butler (01:07:58):
No, that's okay. You have a lot of them. It's great. And you shared why, which I like, where do you live and what do you like best about your home?
Jeff Polashuk (01:08:05):
So I live in in reach and downtown, I guess, in Brickell in Miami. What I like best about my home is that my wife is very happy here. So it makes life great. And from a home perspective we have, you know, great sunset views and, you know, and two lap pools. So I can go in the pool where no one can bother me. It's from laps.
Beth Butler (01:08:34):
That's great. What's your favorite vacation spot?
Jeff Polashuk (01:08:36):
My favorite vacation spot.
Beth Butler (01:08:40):
What is your morning routine?
Jeff Polashuk (01:08:43):
I wake up at about 6:00 AM. Have an espresso of banana go to the gym. Typically done by the gym by seven 30. Try to call a few friends, family use sometimes. We're both before eight 15 in the morning. They just tend to, you know, brain dump all of my thoughts for the day. So I can start clear at my desk by eight 30, eight 45.
Beth Butler (01:09:16):
Okay. Do you have any aspirational goals?
Jeff Polashuk (01:09:19):
I would say my aspirational goal is just to continue to be viewed as someone that does right by others. Because I truly believe that if you do the right thing and you have a great attitude, everything else falls into place. So, you know, just like many of us in this world still waiting for my call from the mothership. But if, I think if I just keep being, you know, a good person, a hard worker and doing right by others everything will work itself out
Beth Butler (01:09:48):
Somehow. It does. What are you reading, watching, or listening to?
Jeff Polashuk (01:09:53):
I been listening to a lot of grateful dead
Beth Butler (01:09:59):
And you are a big deadhead that is worth sharing. Right.
Jeff Polashuk (01:10:03):
And yeah, I think it helps keep me chill. I mean, I'm not really that chill. So I think the more that I can, you know, listen to chill music, the better it is. I am watching, I mean, this is us. Like I still watch, this is us. There's a new episode on tonight. Which which I'm super excited about. I'm reading. And November of last year I bought the subscription to Harvard business review, like the app on my phone. It's extremely affordable things like a hundred bucks for a year. So everyday I try to read one or two articles from the Harvard business review just to keep myself sharp with people that are way smarter than me.
Beth Butler (01:10:49):
I like that. And last question, where can people connect with you if somebody is out there listening and they, maybe they want to be a sales manager at compass Florida, or they just want to know you better, how what's the best way to reach you?
Jeff Polashuk (01:11:01):
Yeah, I think the best way to reach me is just personally, now J policia, P O L a S H E K at g-mail dot com. Well, thank you, Jeff.
Beth Butler (01:11:14):
I, I appreciate your taking the time to talk about your role at compass and this developing story of what contemporary sales management is all about. Yep. Well, thank you so much for having me and have a, have a beautiful afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
Jason.
Beth Butler (01:11:34):
This episode of from the ground up was sponsored by feather, the nest, the crowd funding source for all of your real estate needs. Why register for silverware? When you can start your way to owning or renting your own home, please sign up for your nest at www dot feather, the nest.com a special thanks to my extraordinary producer, Sohail Fez Luton, who has made this podcast part
Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
[Inaudible].