There are only 3 parts to successful residential real estate sales. What do you think they are?
1. Prospecting or generating leads.
2. Listing saleable properties.
3. Selling buyers.
Any company that hires new agents, has a responsibly to get them productive as quickly as possible. A lot of studies have been conducted which prove the faster an agent has their first transaction, the more likely it is they will succeed in the real estate business. These guidelines have allowed companies all across America to see instant production from their newly licensed associates, up to four transactions in their first 30 days!
As we enter the Holiday Season, we also enter a great season for recruiting. It's important to remember that as you recruit from your competition, you competition is recruiting from you.
For the past ten years, I've been presenting my agent training program based on what I did as one of the top agents in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. After recently completing that program, Texas agent Rob Walker with RE/MAX wrote me this e-mail:
"The things I learned in class enabled me to retrieve 2 more listings and write 2 contracts for a total of $801,000 in sellable inventory with an approximate net of $24,030 in compensation. Not bad for one day of work….The system works that you teach and is especially great for new agents."
After 10 years as a full time recruiter, and 20 years in the training industry, I have interviewed thousands of potential real estate agents. Each time I sat before a potential candidate, I had all the same thoughts that you do. I looked for all the "things" you do. I guess that is why I am constantly being asked by brokers and managers throughout the country, "What should I look for? Is there a way to know who will succeed? What does the right new agent look like?"
As we arm today's real estate professional with the best tools and greatest systems available to ensure success, let's not forget that the most powerful arrow in their quiver is a winning exit strategy. We have a responsibility as Broker/Owners and Managers to educate and structure their business not only for success today, but to enable them to have a business worth selling when they are ready to leave the business. Additionally, we have the opportunity to maintain our market share by helping them transition into retirement.
Knowing how to prioritize your time so that you help the buyers who need you the most is a skill that you can learn. The biggest frustration for all of us in our first six months in sales is not having a system to determine who the "serious" buyers are. Invariably, we are all going to the school of Hard Knocks to learn what nobody told us in the beginning. Not any more.
Whoever started that phrase should be hunted down and shot! It probably was based on the common occurrence of buyers swearing to an agent that they'll only buy a new house and ending up buying a pre-owned one, or MUST have 4 bedrooms and buying a 3 bedroom home instead – from a different agent. Although it might feel good to attribute the lost sale to the fact that "all buyers are liars,"
What better way to show you care than to provide them with the opportunity to face the cold and flu season "armed" for success!
Many real estate managers spend the bulk of their valuable time on problem-solving and production issues. In my work, as a consultant with companies around the country, owner/managers who focus most of their attention, time and energies on recruitment and retention, will dramatically increase their market share as well as their profits, especially when their focus is on the recruitment of experienced agents.
The secret to having a powerful presentation when you get face-to-face with the experienced agent is to pretend you are working with a buyer! Let’s first review how we work with buyers.
Interested in getting a good fee as a listing agent? Then it's time to polish your presentation skills. Americans have proven that we're willing to pay for service – when we receive it. Just look at the success of Nordstrom and Wal-Mart, two extreme opposites on the service scales. What do we associate with Nordstrom? Going-the-extra-mile, leave-you-with-a-smile service. And with Wal-Mart? The lowest prices --- if you're willing to do most of the work yourself! Which position are you in as an agent?
Real estate always sells, regardless of the market's upturns and downswings. The agents who hang in there and learn from every situation continue to prosper and become ever more valuable to their clients. Knowing how to advise truly motivated sellers when the market is sliding down, instead of booming and breaking all records, is a skill to acquire. Otherwise, you'll become a dropout statistic and not a career Realtor.®
You are six months into the year. Are you on track for your recruiting goals? When you get to the end of this year, will you have the same number of associates that you started with? More or maybe less? What is the caliber of the agents you are recruiting? Will your market share for this year be greater than last year?
On September 11, 2001 our country was paralyzed by one of the most tragic events in history. Most brokers felt awkward calling agents. “What should I say?”, hey asked. “How can I ask them to make a move when we are on the brink of war? Why would they move when the economy is so unstable? How long should I wait before calling again?” Perhaps if you think of recruiting as a logical process, those questions seem valid. However, very little about recruiting agents is logical, and almost nothing about recruiting real estate agents makes any sense if you think about it for too long.
Is there a right and a wrong way to manage a recruitment interview? What questions should you, as a recruiter, ask a new agent or an experienced agent? How do you maintain control of the interview? How do you determine each candidate’s problem-solving ability? What personal questions are permissible today? What magnets will attract agents to your company?
It is my opinion that these are the top 10 things today’s agents are looking for in a firm. My opinion is supported by many top producers and I have personally seen that when a company responds to the needs of the agents by implementing the systems that they need, it just gets easier to recruit.
Remember the cartoons about the genie who asked the hero what the magic word was? Of course, "Open Sesame!" caused the doors to open effortlessly. Did you know that this same principle works in your own life? These magic words are known as affirmations. If you think you don't believe in all that "mumbo-jumbo," I'll prove that you have been using affirmations all your life!
The one task everyone seems to hate about recruiting is making those darn calls! When I ask brokers why they hate making the calls the number one reason they give is that they hate the rejection. Along with the rejection, most say that they just can’t find the time.
Most of us have our own style of recruiting and we tend to conduct the same interview with all of our candidates. But did you know that there are two distinct types of personalities and four different behavior patterns? Each makes their decision based on different criteria and looks for different things. The two basic personality’s types are: Emotional decision makers, and Logical decision makers.