Real Estate Fundamentals - Recruiting Market Share

You first need a plan; you need scripts, you need information on your competition and most importantly, you need to execute and hold managers accountable for their efforts. I don’t like using the trendy MBA buzzwords, but in the new “paradigm” you need to have a “value proposition” for both consumers and agents. In order to do this, you need three things. Leadership (that’s you), a consumer-centric web platform to generate leads and listings, and you need agent tools and training to increase per-agent productivity to produce results you can measure. I have yet to meet a broker that has a recruiting plan or budget. It seems counter intuitive when recruiting brings bottom-line results faster than any other brokerage activity.

No matter which market I travel to, I hear the same things from brokers. I don’t recruit because I don’t want to pay agents 80% commission splits. I don’t recruit because I don’t want to pay for agent marketing. I don’t recruit because I don’t have time (or programs) to train the agents. These are the end-result answers from brokerages on the brink of extinction. To get to this point, a broker has had several missteps. Most often, they produce within their own office, have not kept up with technology and simply do not have a sound business plan. Most go month-to-month budgeting on the previous month’s closings.

I believe, like most successful business managers do, that if you are not growing, you are dying. Brokers need to be leaders of their companies, not employees within them (which is just a job, by the way). You need to have the knowledge and drive to earn the respect of your agents. If you are going to be successful, you cannot be a producer within your own office. Mentors do not compete for business with their “students.” A leader also needs to create an environment where agents can be successful. In addition to leadership, the most important thing a broker needs to create is a comprehensive web platform. That’s our business today, our front door. How many walk-ins are you getting to your office?

Your website accomplishes three very vital tasks if done correctly. First, it allows consumers to search for free information anonymously, building loyalty, until they are ready to contact an agent for assistance. Second, it tracks all marketing efforts; email, phone calls, web ads, etc. In other words it enables you to measure your marketing efforts and spend accordingly and efficiently. Third, it becomes your best recruiting tool. Agents from other companies will see your site and consumers will tell agents about your site. And, if you incorporate the back-end CRM and marketing products for agents to use to grow their business, you have a “value proposition.”

With these three components in place, you can then create a recruiting plan, confidently. So when you reach a potential recruit, you have more to offer than their current broker. You can show them how to grow their business with tools and systems you are providing, justifying reasonable splits.

Now, for the actual recruiting plan. You have to forget every bad taste you have about recruiting. Forget the hang-ups, the “I am happy where I am,” the “sure I’ll talk but I want 80%.”

Just like an agent you want to recruit, you must become competent. Competence breeds confidence. Confidence fosters consistency. And, consistency leads to closings! These, as I developed them are the four C ’s of sales. This process begins with the value proposition described above. Once your platform is in place you need to write and rehearse scripts for setting appointments and delivering your message. Thereafter, you have to have all of the pieces in place knowing you will be successful; offer letters, transition plans, etc. Finally, you can create a list of target agents in your market to call, email, and drip-market to.

Sounds like hard work and it is. But many of the components are done only once. There are only the same five or six objections from agents, so your scripting just takes some practice. Your target list, once created, will add or delete a few agents per week.

Creating your value proposition is the most difficult. You need to believe in the future of our business. you need to understand how technology has changed our industry and affected the behavior of the consumer we serve. You need to have the leadership skills to communicate your vision to agents.

I, for one, utilize the four C’s of sales. You will notice I didn’t talk about profits or ROI. Just like in any sales process, the profits shouldn’t create the activities, the activities create the profits. Get competent, get confident, get consistent and closings will bring the results.