Always Hire Better Than Yourself

Unstoppable Team Advice from Top Broker Steve AllcornAllcorn 2014 Photo

by Julie Escobar

One of the things we’ve found brokers want most is to tap into what their colleagues around the country – and even the worlds – are doing to build their businesses with more productivity, profitability and less stress!  A big thank you to those brokers who are willing to share their experiences, and secrets of success.  This week, we connected with the unstoppable Steve Allcorn, who was kind enough to inspire us with a view from his point of view!

Here’s what we learned…

Q:  Thanks so much Steve for sharing with us.  First, can you tell our readers a little about yourself to start? 

A:  Sure.  I started in the real estate business in 1989 and have always been with RE/MAX. I Purchased a RE/MAX Franchise in 1992, and opened a RE/MAX office in Flower Mound. I built that office to 40 agents, then sold to Mark Wolfe in 2000, and stayed on as an agent. In 2005, I moved into management, and became company’s General Manager. At that time we had 5 offices, and 250 agents. By 2008, we grew to 300 agents and 6 offices. The market crashed and we dropped back to 250 agents before hitting bottom, and starting to rebound. Currently we have 7 offices, and 310 agents.

Q:  Wow!  That’s powerful.  What does it take to manage a group of recruiters and brokers?

A:  Always hire better than yourself. I motivate my team, and make them accountable, but give them plenty of leeway to do what they each do best. Each of my managers has a different style. Collectively, we have an unstoppable team. Once an agent has joined, we rarely lose them.

Q:  How do you measure a SUCCESSFUL year?

A: When most of the agents that have joined came from our agents referring them.

Q:  What are the biggest challenges with regard to recruiting, and how are you addressing those challenges?

A:  Staying on point. Doing the power hour consistently, day in, and day out is grueling, but necessary. We have found that doing a 1-2 month hard hitting recruiting effort/campaign, followed by a month off, keeps us from getting burned out. Don’t get me wrong, we are still recruiting during the month off, but the 2 months on is much more aggressive. We create goals, share them with each other in a group setting, discuss how realistic our goals are, and how we are going to accomplish them. We report the outcome daily or weekly to the group. When you have to be accountable for your actions to your peers, you tend to perform at a higher level.

Q:  Awesome strategy.  Steve, what is your one or two best tips for today’s recruiters?

A:  Research and learn as much about your recruit as you can before you contact them. Realtors like to talk about themselves, so when you know more about their business than they do, it blows them away. Also, help them recognize the things they don’t have or don’t like in their current situation. Never directly slam. The pain has to be discovered by them, not pointed out by you. I do this by sharing things we provide for our agents, that so happens to be things that they don’t have provided to them by their current broker.

Q:  What is your top priority?

A:  Honesty, consistency, and integrity. We have an outstanding reputation in our area, and have to maintain that, at all costs. If we do it right, the money will take care of itself.

Q:  If readers want to connect with you – what’s the best site to do that? 

A:  Sure!  Readers can find me online at www.facebook.com/rmdfw, or www.facebook.com/steveallcornrealestate.

Thank you so much Steve for all your wise words.  It’s a constantly changing market out there, and always terrific to learn from our industry’s leaders what they are doing to stay relevant, ready, and positioned to WIN in their markets.

Want to learn more about becoming and STAYING a PROFITABLE broker?  Bookmark our blog here, and join us to tap into a full spectrum of membership benefits with all the tools, strategies and solutions you need to become the turn-to broker in your area for top agents.  Learn more…