Without a doubt – the market change this year has been dramatic! But a manager’s top priorities for running any successful office have not changed. They’ve always consisted of two crucial activities: recruiting and retention . . . Period!
Most managers were successful by default over the past few years. But really, how are you doing in recruiting these days? It takes commitment and effort to be successful in this industry. Do you have a plan for 2009 OR are you still flying by the seat of your pants?
Ask yourself this very important question: “Do my 2008 recruiting numbers reflect where I want to be at this time of year?” If I were a betting person I would say the vast majority of all brokers are way off target. Only 10% of all brokers have a small portion of their recruiting processes in place; the other 90% simply do not have established systems to ensure their recruiting or retention success. They merely get by without any preparation, planning or participation in their processes and they struggle every single day. Flying by the seat of your pants will not help you survive this turbulent market and neither will touting you have technology, training and support.
Recruiting activities should be the number one priority on your calendar every day. If you lack a defined plan with stated goals, then there is very little room for success in terms of recruiting or retention. Oh and by the way, putting out fires is not a retention strategy. Your retention strategy is a whole other discussion.
Listen, while you know you need to embrace and implement new technologies and streamline your processes, first you need to get down to basics. Social networking, blogging and all that stuff may help, but if you don’t know where you are going then you need a plan to get there. Here are seven basics to help you plan recruiting activities for a successful 2009.
- State and post realistic goals in your daily view!
- Know your targets! Who do you want to hire? New agents or experienced? What percentage of each?
- Have a complete recruiting solution available to help you manage your day-to-day activities. Just any old CRM tool will not be as efficient or effective. You need programs that have a proven track record in helping brokers with prospecting and lead management activities – just like your agents do!.
- Use some form of assessment whether through good interviewing skills or through an assessment tool that helps you identify a person’s capabilities and needs. Of course a great one I would recommend can be found at www.RealEstateSimulator.com.
- Know what you expect from anyone you hire – new or experienced – and be prepared to communicate that message. And know what the breakeven cost is for your organization.
- Develop a strategic stay-in-touch component to your recruiting and retention strategy. Just don’t dump e-cards and e-mails on everyone and think this will help you. Remember – it’s still a relationship business.
- Allocate a minimum 20% of your working time to recruiting alone; any less and you are not being effective. You must keep your pipeline full and moving forward at all times. INK in your recruiting activities first and stick to them. Mornings are always the best time for recruiting.
Ok now that you have a basic plan in place, what else can you do to help yourself be a winner in 2009?
· Always be re-recruiting your agents. Remind them why your company is the one they should be affiliated with to help them in their career. If you don’t, someone else will tell them why they should come to them and most likely recruit them away from you. And let me tell you in the spirit on the new book Twilight – there are bloodsuckers everywhere and they do not mind sucking the lifeblood out of your organization.
· Follow up on co-op transactions. See if you can help the other agents have a successful transaction or at least thank them for their participation. Plus give them something of value to help them in the future such as an outline on “How to have a successful closing” or “How to have a great open house” or what about “How to find buyers in a down market.” Always build value whether the agent is yours or not; they just might possibly be one day.
· Referrals – agents work off referrals why shouldn’t you? Help your agents layer their income by paying them a finders fees for people who they would like to see affiliated with your company. Agent referrals can be a good source of leads for you and should be you number one source.
Getting back to the basics is nothing new. Real Estate is a sales profession and you as a manager should be selling your company to attract more talent. You are the ambassador and you should be spreading the good word about why a real estate career with your organization is a viable career option. If you are unable to communicate this basic message then why are you in charge of recruiting?
This is a great time of year to take stock and re-evaluate your goals, priorities, and achievements. It is the perfect time to tweak those goals and set the tone for the beginning of 2009. If you don’t know where to start or need to make changes in your processes you are welcome to reach out to me and I will discuss with you some options that may just be the small tweaks you need to survive in 2009. AlignMark, Inc. has been helping companies for more than thirty years and we will even talk to you for FREE, no strings attached!
And by the way “Cheers to the survivors in 2009”. We look forward to seeing you at the top!
Maria can be reached at 919-372-9092 or mMull@alignMark.com
