Recruiting Reality

Agent Recruitment

Recruiting Reality
by Allen  Tappe



Recruiting is the lifeblood of any real estate organization. While retention and training are critical compliments, effective recruiting provides the energy essential to any successful effort. In Reality, recruiting represents the selling challenge all managers/brokers face.

Disciplines must be mastered in order for successful recruiting to be experienced. To begin with, you must accept the recruiting challenge as your daily priority. I have heard managers discuss the importance of checking contracts, searching for the latest technology, planning effective sales meetings (although much more creative time needs to be spent in this area by most managers), and any number of other noble and even necessary pursuits.

However, if and when these efforts become an excuse for not prospecting, you can know that you are moving into a slow death mode. The best way for you to impress your agents is to model effective prospecting for them. Let them see you in a headset and focused on making the contacts you need to make.

Beyond making daily contacts, you have to be clear about your recruiting philosophy. Personally, I have never believed that good agents can be recruited. In fact, I don't believe a person needs to change offices unless and until it becomes necessary for them. As a result, I sought to become the person they would choose when the move would become necessary.

I wanted to earn that place in their lives. So, my calls were not really recruiting calls. I called as a resource to them. I sent them books and personal thoughts designed to help them sell more real estate. I wanted them to get a taste of what it would be like to work in a culture where they would receive that kind of personal and professional support. Of course, you best not promise anything you are not prepared to deliver. My recruiting callwould go something like this …

"Hi Susie, this is Allen Tappe with ABC Real Estate…. I know you are busy so let me get quickly to the reason for my call. In the process of growing this company, I asked our top people whom in the industry they would like to see become a part of our team and you were most often at the top of their list. As a result, I am making this call. How many recruiting calls do you usually get in a day? … Well, you can take a deep breath because this is not another one of those calls. In fact, I don't believe people like you are recruitable. How long have you been with your present broker?…

See, I simply want to earn the right to be the person you choose when it becomes necessary to make a move. How would you like for me to apply for the job?…

Well, I will try to encourage you every way that I can. I hope to become a resource to you whether you ever become a part of my team or not. So, thank you for your time and I look forward to growing with you into the future."

I would then follow up the initial call with regular contacts designed to simply do what I said I would do. I would contact them with a particular thought for the day. I would contact them with information concerning any meetings or material that I thought might be interesting to them. Sometimes, I would invite them to attend a meeting we were hosting or attending. I would also send them books and articles with a note reminding them that I was simply trying to earn my place in their lives.

Beyond targeting experienced agents, your business must be built upon growing new agents. To begin with, I would highly encourage you to develop a sales training program that will be distinctive to you, or at least one that can be perceived that way. Keep your standards high! Look for people who know what it means to accomplish something.

Let them know from the beginning that they are entering one of the most exciting and yet one of the most challenging fields in the world. It can be the highest paying for those who are willing to discipline themselves to pay the price. Set them straight from the very beginning. Don't let their "independent contractorness" keep you from calling them to structure and accountability.

The best way to find the people you want is to inspire your present team to identify those people for you. Their referral is your best source.  Of course, you can have the classic career nights and you can work closely with the local real estate school.  

I personally spent time making contact with colleges and universities. I sold our opportunity as being much like a "post graduate" sales training program. Very few managers recruit at colleges because of what I believe is a poor professional self-image. If you don't believe you can provide professional growth opportunity for graduates, then you will never be able to sell it. Young people today are looking for opportunity. They are not looking for the kind of dead end and insecure careers that many of their parents have known.

Finally, I believe the way you recruit defines your company. I really believe it is that important. If you do not prospect for new agents every day, you are making a statement that your sales team will follow. They need to respect you as a selling professional. Of course, you need to continue selling them every day. Your agents are your customers! They need to hear from you and sense your presence every day.

However, if you are not supporting them by keeping the company awake and alive with new talent then you are simply not going to impress anyone. Here are some good questions for you to ask yourself:

"Why should anyone come to work for me?"

"What distinctive difference can I make?"

"What statement do I want to make?"

"How much time do I spend prospecting every day?"

"How strong is my presentation?"

"Is my target list clear?"

"What kind of distinctive training will I provide new agents?"

"How am I enlisting the support of my present team?"

"Do I believe in what I am selling?"

"What changes do I need to make?"

Hopefully, you have picked up an idea or two from the things I have suggested. Recruiting is not easy. Very few manager/brokers are really effectively building their companies. For the most part, they are happening to them.

Build your company on purpose. Your goal should be to find the people you believe will best represent who you are and what you believe.  Look for them. They are out there. The Reality is that you must really have a passion for recruiting or you will never be very good at it. Good luck!


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Copyright© 2002, Allen Tappe. All right reserved. For information contact Frog Pond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email susie@frogpond.com.