Agent Recruitment
Make Your Company #1 In The Marketplaceby Judy LaDeur
Change is the only constant in real estate. Associates are often changing firms for a variety of reasons. For Brokers, knowing how to recruit the best agents, and how to know when they are ready to make a move, can make a dramatic difference in their profitability.
Most real estate office managers and Brokers still insist on spending the bulk of their valuable time on problem-solving and production issues. For the past 25 years as a recruiter, coach and consultant to the real estate industry, the one thing that has never changed is this. If you focus on recruiting, you’ll have fewer problems, more profits, and it will he easier to recruit and retain the agents you want. So why don’t Brokers make recruiting the #1 priority? The ones that do have dramatically increased their market presence and profits over the past several years.
What I have found working as a consultant with companies around the country is that the owner/managers who improve profitability in quantum leaps actually focus most of their attention, time arid energies on the recruitment and retention of experienced associates. For every production problem you work on you increase your market share by one transaction, but for every associate you recruit away from your competition, you reduce his or her market share and increase yours by the amount of that associates annual production.
Most brokers know that they should be putting more effort into the recruiting process, but the frustration factor deters them pursuing it. Many brokers take the rejection that often occurs with recruiting personally, so they would rather not deal with it. But, consider this: recruit one $2 million producer and you increase your bottom line by $2 million; at the same time you reduce your competitors market share by $2 million and enjoy a net gain of $4 million dollars increased market presence. Recruit ten $2 million producers over the course of a given year, and you can increase your market position by $40 million.
Any company that can become $40 million dollars stronger in the marketplace during the course of a single year is likely to generate more associate excitement and enthusiasm, more signs, more calls, more listings, and more opportunities to increase business and, of course, more profits for its broker/owner. In addition, many problems associated with low producers will disappear because low producers will make up less and less of your associate base.
Techniques to Stay on Track and to Keep Your Name Out Front
You can’t make an associate leave that is happy with their present Broker, but you can make him or her think of your company when he or she is ready to move on. In fact, the #1 Rule for recruiting experienced agents is this: It is not what you do that makes an agent leave. It is what their company or Broker does or does not do that makes them leave. It is what you do between now and then that makes them pick up the phone and call you. Recruiting is a contact sport, and contact in any form is the key to your success. Staying active in your local Realtor board and your community helps to build general awareness of your company’s name, and let’s the agents know you. Plus, you can use specific strategies to reward associates who do business with you and make it more fun for them.
To do this, you need to set up a system to track every associate who co-ops with your company on a transaction. I realize this is a lot of work, but the pay offs are great. Once this system is in place, within 24 hours of signing the contract. Call up the co-op associate to thank them for their business. One to three days later, send a Thank-You note to the associates office. Follow up by delivering personally or by courier, a thank-you gift with your companies name on it. The gift can be as simple as a tin of popcorn or chocolates, but it should be sent to the office so other associates can see it. Of course, this sends the subliminal message that doing business with your company is fun. Just prior to closing, mail another letter to the associate’s office thanking him or her for bringing the transaction to a successful conclusion. Everyone who co-ops with your office should be on this system. Only after the closing should you show preferential treatment to the associate you want to recruit. At that time, send a letter to the associate’s home letting him or her know that they are the type of associate that they would like to have on your team.
Successfully recruiting experienced or new associates takes time and effort. With recruiting systems in place, you can focus your attention on your current associates while recruiting the best people for your company.
Who Should You Recruit?
Are you spending most or your time trying to recruit Top Producers? Why? Most top producers are happy where they are. After all, they are the ones making the money. That does not mean that they won’t move, they just don’t move very often.
Many brokers make the mistake of wanting only the best associates or associates in offices which have a higher market share than theirs.
Top producers are never the easiest to recruit, and brokers have to give so much to get them that you end up losing profits. Focus on associates whose offices are below yours in market share, because these are the ones that are going to be most willing to come to you. Increase your agent base, and in time you will increase your market share. By doing this, the best ones will eventually want to come to you. Look to hire someone whose needs you know you can fulfill, whether it be through your marketing support systems, or perhaps because your offer weekly coaching sessions to increase their business.
To attract experienced associates, you need to establish a relationship with those individuals. Here are several suggestions that small and large companies find useful in building rapport and bring the associates in to your office.
I. Letter Campaign
Recruiting associates is just like farming. You target whom you want, then get your name out. Build a list of 50 to I00 associates you would like to target. You should have first year rookies, average producers as well as some of the top producers on your list. Then develop a series of 10 personalized letters, each focusing on one unique aspect of your company. Topics such as market share, administrative support, marketing support and technology are great topics I suggest sending one out every month and following up with a phone call. I also suggest sending out postcards that promote who you just hired. They should say, Another Associate Joins XYZ Realty. Recruitment letters should be educational and should never blast the competition.
2. Target Fliers
Target flyers are just like large postcards. They get a simple, but effective message delivered quickly. I use a lot of quotes, and tie the quote into a message that is directed to the agent that I am trying to recruit.
3. Piggyback System
Many associates are hired away _when one experienced associate leaves an office. I have found that when this happens the office itself becomes vulnerable to recruitment raids for 10 days after an agent leaves. Think about it. This Logic is along the same lines as when a For Sale” sign goes up in a neighborhood. It offers an excellent opportunity to call other homeowners to see if they want to sell. So, when one associate leaves an office, it opens up the door for others in that office After all, those associates may get in the mindset of ‘The grass is always greener on the other side.’
4. Cold Calling
After sending a Letter, always follow up with a phone call. Here is one idea: First, ask if they received your letter. For this example, we’ll assume the letter was about your companies marketing dept. Ask them if they do a lot of marketing, and if their company has a marketing department. Then go into the benefits of a marketing department. You need to be able to show that by joining your company they could increase their income, or work more efficiently.
In general, you must contact the agents that you want to recruit one time every 30 days in some manner. Phone calls, letters, open houses, co-ops, board functions, or anything else that keeps you in contact with the ones you want.
-----------------
Copyright© 2002, Judy LaDeur. All right reserved. For information contact Frog Pond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email susie@frogpond.com.
Business & Financial