What Do “Love Languages” Have to Do With Agent Retention?

Posted on February 12, 2023February 13, 2023 by The Profitable Recruiter

12 Feb

Much More Than You Realize

By Judy LaDeur

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought this post was perfect!

Most Brokers and Recruiters right now are focused on recruiting those agents in other companies who are not happy about their production and fearful about what market change means for them. But what about your own agents? Are they happy? Are they getting what they want and need from you as their broker? It’s not just about money; other factors determine why an agent leaves. The #1 reason that most agents leave a company is that they don’t feel appreciated or valued as an agent. This is the time of the year to focus on retention, ensuring that your agents do not leave. There is a tool that I find very valuable as a Broker and Coach. It’s the 5 Love Languages Test.

I know. You are asking, why do you need to know their love language? The Love Language tells you HOW they want to be appreciated. This is equally important in any relationship. Not all people show or receive appreciation in the same way. By understanding how to best show your agents that you care, you will have better retention and a stronger sense of community within your office.

The 5 Love Languages are:

Words of Affirmation
Acts of Service
Receiving Gifts
Quality Time
Physical Touch

By communicating authentic appreciation in the language of appreciation most valued to each person, you are more likely to communicate appreciation for that person on your team or in your life.

I was asked to facilitate a leadership retreat once. When I asked what the goal was, the Broker said that the team was not working together and he was getting resistance. By noon on the first day, I could easily see that there was a disconnect between him and his team. I had each person take the 5 Love Languages Test. Here’s what we discovered: The Broker’s love language was gifts, so he was constantly giving his leadership team expensive gifts to show that he appreciated them. However, none of the managers had gifts as their love language. In fact, it was rated at #5, or least significant, on all of their reports. Every member of his team scored Words of Affirmation or Quality Time as what they needed or wanted from him. This Broker was very rarely available for one on one time, so they were feeling unappreciated and frustrated. He was amazed that all the gifts that he was giving them did not mean anything to them. They were given in a spirit of sincerity since it’s his language. If they were doing their job, he did not understand why they needed one on one time or affirmation that they were doing a great job.

I see this quite often in real estate. Many Brokers tell me that the person is being paid to do a job and that they don’t understand why they need to tell them that they are doing their job well. However, if they are not doing their job well, they need to be told. Many Brokers think that if an agent is making a lot of money, they are happy. This is not necessarily true. Studies show that everyone wants to feel appreciated and told or shown that they are doing a great job.

I had a broker in Texas tell me that she and her husband went to a course on the 5 Love Languages. Her language was words of affirmation. It was essential to her that he tell her that he loved her, which he rarely did. His love language was acts of service, which helped her to understand why he was constantly doing things for her. Once she understood his love language, their relationship improved. When he came in and said, “Honey, I planted all those flower bulbs for you and trimmed the bushes, she would hug him and say, “I love you too!”

As a recap, the way YOU want to be appreciated is usually how you show appreciation to others, but if that is not THEIR Love Language, then your efforts to show that you care might go unnoticed.

Another important tool to understand those you work with is the DISC test. It’s a powerful assessment tool in the recruitment of new associates, as well as existing associates.

Knowing a person’s love language shows how that person wants to be shown appreciation, while the DISC tells you what they want and how they will respond when they are unhappy.

When you know both how to communicate appreciation in ways meaningful to each team member effectively and what your agents want, powerful results can follow — improving your team’s sense of feeling truly valued and increasing the level of success throughout the organization.

Why not take the test today? You can give it to your team, as well as those critical people in your life. For a free copy of the test, go to: http://www.5lovelanguages.com and click the button that says, Learn Your Love Language.

As a reminder, it’s far easier to keep a good agent than it is to recruit a good agent!

Want to continue to learn how to be master recruiting skills and be the broker to join in your market? Bookmark our blog, and join The Profitable Recruiter today. We have a full spectrum of membership benefits with all the tools, strategies and solutions you need to position yourself to win this year and every year. Our goal is for you to become the “turn-to” broker in your area for every agent.

Join today and take advantage of our special offer of 50% off with the promo code 50OFF any membership. That’s 50% off everything you need to be in the right place at the right time when the agents you want are ready to make a move – including SEVEN HOURS of recruiting audio training which covers:

interview skills
objection handling
phone calls
recruiting strategies
handling stalls
recruiting to specific personality types
and so much more…

What are you waiting for? Join today and save 35% — and add up to 10 managers to your account at no additional cost.

Step-By-Step Recruiting

Posted on January 13, 2023January 14, 2023 by The Profitable Recruiter

13 Jan

Set Your Goals and Do the Math

By Judy LaDeur

I’m often asked by brokers, “Where do I start?” It’s a common question for recruiters. When you’re looking at your goal – it can seem overwhelming if you don’t have a plan. I like to tell them that a good goal, to begin with, is to conduct three experienced agent interviews per week. From that, you should average at least two hires per month. This will give you at least 24 experienced agents per year. If each is producing two million in gross closings that would give you an annual increase in market share of $48 million and a net gain of $98 million over your competitors!

So how do you get to that? Start by putting these 12 steps in place!

Find your targets: Set up your target ‘hit lists’. Your list will depend on the size of your marketplace. I always recommend that you have at least 100 agents on your hit list, but the more agents that you have, the better. Full-time recruiters should have 250-350 agents on their hit list. Your hit list will have 3 categories of agents. A, B, and C categories. The A list is your active pipeline. At all times, your active pipeline should have at least 10 agents in it. The active pipeline has two types of agents. Those that you have interviewed, but not yet hired and those who have agreed to come in for an interview and the date for the interview is set. This means that you will always be talking to at least 10 agents about joining your team. The B-list agents are those that you have a relationship with. You are Facebook friends, you talk to them every 2-3 months, you invite them to social events, etc. Your C-list agents are those agents that you are marketing to but don’t really have a relationship with yet. Your A-list and your B-list agents are the ones that you will focus on and spend the most on. I always recommend that Brokers use a program such as Broker Metrics to determine who you want on your hit list, but if you don’t have Broker Metrics, you can use your MLS as a guide to determine who you want on your list. Many brokers pull lists by production level or dollar volume. Some pull by time in the industry. There are some strategies and success rates in targeting those second-year agents that have been in 12-36 months and might be ready to move. Another great strategy shared by one of our members is to target the rising and falling stars in your market. Just as it is crucial for agents to put together their marketing lists for their SOI and farm, it’s just as critical that you have a list to market to as a recruiter.
Digitally position yourself weekly. Use your Monday Morning eNewsletters as a way to position yourself in a motivational, positive message with great tips and tools each week to the agents in your market. This goes to your both your entire list recruiting prospects, as well as your current team members. Encourage your agents, and your recruits to use the same strategy with their prospecting lists so that they are positioned as well with a Monday Morning message. Log in at the end of each month, copy the eNewsletters for the month into your email platform and schedule them to go out every Monday morning.
Monthly position yourself with letters and lumpy letters. Agents love Lumpy Letters and they really create a buzz. Every month we put two or three Lumpy Letters in your system. You can also scroll through the archives to see past letters. These are perfect for the A-list agents, as well as certain B-list agents. Most Brokers send 25-50 lumpy mail items per month. At the start of every month, order the suggested mailing insert (small gift or fun item) – we usually include an easy ordering link or offer a suggestion where you can buy the item. Then copy and paste your favorite Lumpy Letter onto a card or onto your letterhead and sign them. Then stuff them into padded envelopes, labels, and mail. They capture the attention of the top agents, create a great talking point, and get you noticed. Next, pick your favorite seasonal letter and send those to your B and C list agents each month.
Follow up: Give each targeted agent a follow-up phone call just to touch base. Your goal is to talk to at least three agents per day and schedule a minimum of three interviews with experienced agents per week. When the agent has indicated that they are happy where they are, call them every 2-3 months just to check in on them. Has anything changed? Are they ready to meet? If the agent is on your A-list, follow up weekly or as needed based on that agent’s situation.
Connect again: The following month, send out another letter, note, or package to your list to promote your systems and your organization. Everyone doesn’t have to get the same thing either! Be creative! Personalize them! You can always look into the archive section of your platform to see past month’s tools.
Follow up again: Hit the phones again just as in step three and make it a habit to consistently send and call each and every month. Use your CRM to track who you call each month, and when you should contact that agent again.
Promote: After each hire, send out a “Just Hired” postcard to your entire hit list. This sends out the message that agents are joining your team. Also, post your new recruits to your Facebook page, and include announcements in your eNewsletters.
Promote again: Send flyers out that promote your company, the success of your agents and your commitment to the community. You’ll be planting those seeds for agents to WANT to learn more about you!
Review your skills. Pick at least one lesson from the 7+ hours of audio training to master each month. Log in and watch a webinar on-demand as well and learn what other brokers are doing to recruit at record levels.
Review your value propositions. Use those to show how your organization is different. What are the 12 compelling reasons for an agent to join your team? Are those 12 reasons compelling enough for others to take notice and join? What are the results of your 12 compelling reasons to join? This is how you build value in joining your team.
Use social media: Facebook has really changed the way that brokers build relationships and stay in touch. You should send a Facebook request to everyone on your hit list, as well as your existing agents. Each day, please apply the 30-20-10-5 rule on Facebook. Spend a max of 30 minutes on Facebook in the morning, like 20 things that potential recruits say, make 10 comments, and send 5 personal messages inviting the agent to get together to discuss their business. Set up your hit list into a group on Facebook.
Stay true to the 3-7-27 rule. Your engagement on Facebook, as well as calls and texting, is designed to build their trust as soon as possible. It is based on the Rule of Marketing: 3-7-27. It takes 3 direct contacts for them to remember who YOU are. It takes 7 direct contacts for them to connect you to your company. It takes 27 direct contacts for them to trust you, to like you, and to feel as though they can approach you when they are ready. BUT it also requires the messages to be positive and inspiring, which causes them to like you before they meet you. Direct contact is a call with a response, a text with a response, a social connection with a response, etc. Any time they respond in any way, you are building a relationship and trust.

Agents are deciding now how they will move forward during these challenging times — and what brokerages best suit those needs. If you position yourself now as the broker with the tools, resources, support, and environment for success – it will be your name at the top of their list of choices. If you need help, let us know.

For more great ideas on giving your agents the best resources possible, while attracting awesome new agents, join The Profitable Recruiter. Take advantage of our special offer! Make any Profitable Recruiter Pro Membership part of your business plan, and take 50% off with the promo code 50OFF — PLUS, have the ability to add up to 10 managers or admins to your account at no extra cost! That’s 50% off everything you need to be in the right place at the right time when the agents you want are ready to make a move – including SEVEN HOURS of recruiting audio training, more than 30 webinars on-demand, scripts, letters, social media tools and more! What are you waiting for? Register today!

Do Recruiting Incentives Work?

Posted on January 7, 2023January 8, 2023 by The Profitable Recruiter

07 Jan

Yes, But…

By Real Estate Coach Judy LaDeur

The simple answer is “yes”, BUT some incentives work better than others, and it all depends on the behavior pattern of the agent.

Most brokers use money, or financial incentives to motivate their agents to help them recruit. The problem with that is that most real estate agents are emotional decision makers, who are motivated more by what you do for them than what you offer to them in the way of money.

Let’s look at what agents do on a daily basis. If they like their loan officer, they refer them to everyone. Why? Because they are paid to refer business to them? No. It’s because they want everyone to have a positive experience when they are buying a home. Many real estate companies have their own in house lenders, and ask agents to refer the business to them. Some even have financial incentives. Does an agent use their loan officers just because they can get paid, if they have a loan officer that they feel can do a better job for their clients? No. They also refer attorneys, inspectors, etc. For an emotional agent, when you offer to pay them to secure their support, it does not feel good to them. Some say that they even feel guilty about getting paid. There are real estate organizations who offer incentives to recruit, but when I ask them how well it works, they admit that most agents do not care if you are paying them to recruit. You might be asking yourself why I said that recruiting incentives work at this point. As you recall, I said yes, but…

Let’s look at what works and for which type of agent. If you have a driver personality, or an analytical/logical personality, that person is motivated by money. They actually prefer money over other types of incentives. This allows them to spend it the way they want. Statistically, 10% of agents are drivers and 5% are analytical, so 15% of agents will be motivated by the money. However 85% are not!

How do you motivate the 85%? What do they want? Recognition! When they are happy in their work environment, and they truly feel that it’s the best place to work, they will invite others to join. When they give you a referral, they are just looking to be recognized in a personal way that shows you care. When an agent gives you the name of an agent who might be a good member of your team, send a thank you note to their home that says, “Thanks so much for helping us build our team of associates with agents just like you! I really appreciate it.” After the agent comes in to the office for an interview, give the referring agent an update. If the agent joins your team, do something special for that agent. When I say “special for that agent”, I am referring to something that tells them that you know what is important to them and that you care. If the agent is a driver, they probably would like a financial reward, so that’s’ fine. But chances are they are emotional, so think about what they like. Maybe it’s a day at the spa, or a certificate for dinner at a nice restaurant, or a really nice bottle of wine. Perhaps you have box seats to a sporting event and you know that agent enjoys sports. Whatever you give them, put it in a card and say “Thanks so much for recommendation of (Agent Name). They are a great addition to the team and I could not have done it without your help!” There’s no need to announce that you are offering incentives. Make a habit of asking who they would recommend, and follow up. Once you have recruited them, present them with the note and gift. You will be amazed at how quickly they give you another referral. Why? Because they enjoy working with you, and they appreciate the recognition.

Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics said, “Every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ If you can do that, you’ll be a success not only in business but in life as well.” She was known for the way she made people feel. What will you do to show your agents how much you appreciate them when they refer an agent to you?

Want to learn more about building your dream team in less time and with less headaches? Join The Profitable Recruiter and gain access to 7 hours of training via downloadable links including interview skills, scripts, objection handlers, and more. PLUS, you’ll have access to entire libraries of recruiting letters and notes, emails, social media content, training webinars for recruiting and retention, and opportunities to network with the best of the best. Join today and take advantage of our special 50% off with the promo code 50OFF.

Are YOU Closing Three Times?

Posted on July 5, 2022July 6, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

05 Jul

How to Get Better at Closing

By Judy LaDeur

When I ask Brokers what they need most, they almost always say that they need to become better closers. When I ask why they think they need to get better at the close, the obvious answer is that if they are better closers, they will sign up more agents. To an extent, that’s true. Everyone needs to be a good closer to be at the top of their game, but what is a good closer?

A good closer is someone who does these five things:

They set it up properly. From the time the interview starts, they are closing them to join “if it’s determined that they are a good fit.”
They ask the right questions to know what it’s going to take. If you know what it’s going to take, you will present the right tools and solutions.
When you present the right tools and solutions in a way that shows and proves value, the agent wants to join.
A good closer also knows HOW to close the agent. Amiable agents need assurances and security. Expressive agents need to “feel good” about the decision. Logical agents need to KNOW that it’s a good solid business decision.
And of course, you must ask them to join! Not just one time, but several times.

You may have heard about the Northwestern University Study that says that 78% of the time, you must close three times to get the sale, but most do not know what that really means.

Do you just keep asking them to join the same way? No! If you ask someone to join your team at the interview (that’s one), and they say “no, or sounds good BUT…”, just smile and say that’s fine, but if you were going to join today, what would it take? (That’s two). Listen to what they say, feed it back, (so if I hear what you are saying, if you were going to join today, we would need to…” Then question it. “Tell me why that is important. Tell me more about that, please. Why-what-how questions will help you to get more details from them.

When you have enough info, isolate the objection and offer to solve it. “Is that the only objection? If I could overcome that today, would you be willing to move forward?” (That’s three.) At this point, you need a “yes”. In the absence of a yes, you are dealing with a stall, and you can’t overcome a stall. Start the process over again and ask, “What else is holding you back?” However, if the person said, “Yes if you can overcome that, I would be willing to join…”, then simply overcome the objection and close again.

Remember the saying, Close often, and then close again. Just like you do with buyers and sellers if you saw the sale take place that day, work hard to put it together!

Remember there are seven and a half audio HOURS of dialogues, strategies, closes, objection handlers, etc. in your Profitable Recruiter System. Top brokers tell me they tap these resources at least twice a month to continuously fine-tune their recruiting skills. It’s no secret that’s why their recruiting numbers are so high! Be sure to listen to my signature handshake close (yes, that’s me in the picture above at a recruiting retreat). It works like a CHARM.

Want to learn more about hiring the best agents for your team, and keeping your team happy and productive? Join The Profitable Recruiter and gain access to 7 hours of training via downloadable links including interview skills, scripts, objection handlers, and more. PLUS, you’ll have access to entire libraries of recruiting letters and notes, emails, social media content, training webinars for recruiting and retention, and opportunities to network with the best of the best. Join today and take advantage of our special 50% off with the promo code 50OFF for any 6-month or annual membership.

Not sure if this is the right thing for your company? Watch this video on demand to learn why brokers of every company size are making it their turn to way to stay positioned for recruiting success in today’s market — and putting the fun back into their recruiting. We’re taking the guesswork out of recruiting for brokers — and they are loving it. We can do the same for you! Questions? Email us today.

Summertime Recruiting and Retention

Posted on June 7, 2022June 8, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

07 Jun

How to Stay Strong in the Heat

By Real Estate Coach and Speaker Judy LaDeur

Let’s think about summer for a moment. Most people are REALLY excited to see warm weather arrive, especially those of us in the north. This spring was a great market for most agents, which means that they will have lots of closings in June.

Lots of closings = lots of money. Lots of money to most agents in the summertime = “Play, party, vacation, BBQ, beach, and boating.” That is perfectly fine because they have earned it and they deserve it.

Let’s fast forward to mid-August: Vacations are over, kids are back in school, and they are back to work. However, their pipeline is now empty! When an agent’s inventory of listings and sales is low, it is easier for them to make a move! That’s why they call September “Recruiting season”.

From the viewpoint of recruiting: It is critical to build and maintain relationships throughout the summer via social media, emails, letters, notes, calls, or personal interaction. Don’t wait until September. I have discovered that summer is the time to passively stay in touch, and July is the time to start making those calls and booking your interviews. It’s an easy time for agents to meet with you. Offer to help them develop a last quarter strategy to have their best year ever!

From the viewpoint of retention: If it’s recruiting season, it means that the competition will be “gunning for your agents” too! If your agents return from vacation and their production is low, they will also be vulnerable to the advances from your competition. Make plans NOW to implement a training/coaching program for the end of August. It’s also a great time to review their goals and business plans. Are your agents on track to hit their goals? Are they marketing to their base of business this summer? Make training and support very intentional each year at the end of summer break.

Another great way to stay passively in touch with your recruits and your agents is The Profitable Recruiter. We provide a weekly series of motivational and inspirational emails designed to create connections with both your recruits and current team members. All you have to do is copy and paste it into your email system and schedule to send every Monday morning.

In addition to the weekly emails, the recruiting platform will be loaded with scripts, lumpy letters, seasonal letters, notes, social media content, and various other recruiting tools each month. We also have over forty webinars on demand, seven and a half hours of intense recruiting training, and articles with some of the top brokers in the country and industry experts sharing their tips for success on our blog. Each month we feature one broker who will share their best ideas to recruit the agents you want. We also feature a top producing agent each month who will share their tips for increasing the production of your agents. Check it out at www.TheProfitableRecruiter.com

Proving Value in Today’s World of Disrupters

Posted on June 1, 2022June 1, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

01 Jun

by Real Estate Coach Judy LaDeur

Today, more than ever, Brokers and Agents need to prove the value of their services. For Brokers, it’s about having the tools and technology to recruit and retain the best agents. For agents, it’s about having the tools and technology that the consumer wants. Both are the responsibility of the Broker, and Brokers who fail to respond to the needs of the agents, as well as the consumer, will find it increasingly difficult to attract or retain the best agents.

One of my favorite sayings is: In the absence of value, money becomes the substitute. There has never been a time when that is truer than it is today. For clarification, I am not saying that all Brokers who offer a low fee structure lack value. They could definitely have agent tools and support. However, what we have seen is that a Broker who lacks tools, support, and services will typically have a compensation schedule with a very high split or low fees.

The majority of companies out there have a very competitive compensation and fee structure, based on the services that they provide. The challenge today is: How do you communicate the value of what you offer in services and tools in a way where money is not the deciding factor? It’s a fact that the Brokerages with the most services and support will cost more because it takes money and support staff to deliver those tools and systems. If it were just about money, every agent would be with the company in town that would pay them the most or charge them the least. Ask any Broker who has that type of set up and they will tell you, much to their surprise, that the money does not have much of an impact. In fact, one of my coaching clients has an office in their market that offers 100% commissions to the agents and does not charge them anything! Yes, that’s a little crazy but there are other reasons for wanting the best agents on your team. That Broker is not recruiting agents from my client. Why? Because the agents see the value in what is offered at their current office. In today’s agent world, the value of what you offer is equally important for recruiting as it is in retention, but let’s talk about recruiting.

Once you have identified what the agent wants, the second step is to present the solutions that need and want. Here is where Brokers need to spend some time. Everyone has all the basic stuff that agents want and need. What do you have that others don’t and most importantly, what are the results that your agents are experiencing as a result of that support? For example, everyone has training of some sort, but perhaps yours is more personalized. Maybe you have coaches who work with your agents. What are the results that agents have with your style of training? Everyone has marketing, but perhaps you have a marketing director, or an automatic drip marketing campaign. If so, what are the results of the agents who consistently market with your system? Value is created when you can offer proof, in the way of results, when you are presenting those solutions. We created a set of templates for each of you to use in your presentation. They are in your toolbox on the Profitable Recruiter Site. They are easily customized, but the best part is that each has a place for an agent testimonial about that tool or service. If you have not downloaded these tools, please do so today. People remember more of what they see than what they hear PLUS visuals have a greater impact. The best agents recognize value and are willing to pay for it. The same is true for cars or kitchen cabinets. There is a buyer for everything, and there is an agent for every company. Who are the best agents for your company? Those who want and see the value of what you offer.

Continue to learn how to master recruiting skills and be the broker to join in your market. Bookmark our blog, and join The Profitable Recruiter today. We have a full spectrum of membership benefits with all the tools, strategies, and solutions you need to position yourself to win this year and every year. Our goal is for you to become the “turn-to” broker in your area for every agent.

Join today and take advantage of our special offer of 50% off with the promo code 50OFF any membership. That’s 50% off everything you need to be in the right place at the right time when the agents you want are ready to make a move – including SEVEN HOURS of recruiting audio training! What are you waiting for? When you join – you and up to 10 managers can access your account! Try it for a month and see what it can do for you.

The Top Five Must-Do Strategies for Brokers to Implement in Today’s Market

Posted on May 9, 2022May 11, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

09 May

What You Do Now Will Affect the Rest of Your Year

By Real Estate Recruiting Expert and Coach Judy LaDeur

Our market continues to change at a crazy clip and smart brokers and managers are turning to serious systems and tools to keep up. To help make the most of your recruiting efforts, energy, and marketing dollars, I’ve put together five top strategies for a successful rest of the year that are generating tremendous results for brokers.

Take Out the Guesswork. Be sure to have a SPECIFIC, laid-out, retention program to keep the agents that you already have. Agents need to know that they are appreciated and wanted. In changing and competitive times, agents who feel under-appreciated begin to look to your competition for acknowledgment. For those of you who are members, make sure those Monday Morning messages are going out to your current team, not just your recruits, and follow the weekly retention action plan that corresponds to your message.

Be the Resource. Provide powerful ongoing training, coaching and mentoring to keep your agents productive, ahead of the trends, and confident in their skills and tools. Productive agents are happy agents and companies who continue to provide resources for success will grow exponentially over their competitors. Not to mention, like attracts like. If your agents are happy, productive, and knocking it out of the park in your market, they’ll catch the attention of other area agents who will be curious as to how your company can help them do the same.

Support them. Provide marketing support for two very important reasons. It increases your agents’ business and more importantly ensures that the marketing ACTUALLY gets done. Many agents cut their marketing budgets, which resulted in less business for the agent – but also for the company. When agents sell homes, companies make money so whatever you can do as a broker to support their business, is always a winning strategy.

Turn Up the Heat. While many of your competitors go into holiday “sleep mode” — it’s your turn to dial things up. Implement a strong recruiting campaign that consists of marketing, calls, social media, advertising, and interviews weekly! Now is the perfect time to keep your ears to the ground and your eyes open for trends in your market that you can leverage. A competitor that pulls back on resources. A change in management at another company. A top producer who isn’t being recognized. Use these trends to your advantage and RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT!

Know your numbers! What I mean by that is—know your value propositions. What is the VALUE of being with your company? How many referrals do you generate per agent? What percentage of their business is generated by something you’re providing? I am always amazed how few brokers know what percentage of an agent’s business is as a result of something that the company does to support them…and that is the key to recruiting and retention!

Hope you’ve found these tips helpful.

Want to continue to learn how to be the master recruiting skills and be the broker to join in your market? Bookmark our blog, and join The Profitable Recruiter today. We have a full spectrum of membership benefits with all the tools, strategies, and solutions you need to position yourself to win this year and every year. Our goal is for you to become the “turn-to” broker in your area for every agent.

Join today and take advantage of our special offer of 50% off with the promo code 50FF for any pro membership. That’s 50% off everything you need to be in the right place at the right time when the agents you want are ready to make a move – including SEVEN HOURS of recruiting audio training which covers:

interview skills
objection handling
phone calls
recruiting strategies
handling stalls
recruiting to specific personality types
and so much more…

What are you waiting for? Join today and save 50% — and add up to 10 managers on your account at no additional cost.

Be Prepared to STOP Losing Market Share

Posted on November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 by The Profitable Recruiter

20 Nov

Meeting Change Head On

By Real Estate Recruiting Coach and Speaker Judy LaDeur

If this year has taught us anything – it’s that change is inevitable — and your ability to respond to it makes all the difference in terms of how you lead, who follows, and how your organization will grow in the year ahead.

As we head into 2022 – it’s time to ask yourself – are you PREPARED to continuously adapt to change? If not, you’ll lose market share to those who are.

One thing that we are certain of is that thousands of agents are getting ready to retire. Many of the baby boomer agents are planning their exit strategy today.

Bottom line? As a broker, if just 10 of your agents leave over the next few years, averaging $5 million in business each, you lose 50 million dollars in business and market share. Many of those agents looking to retire are selling far more than $5 million in real estate. The impact to you, the broker, and your organization is that when you lose market share it makes it tougher for everyone in the office to compete. There is a solution. Implement a program that allows your agents to partner up with another agent in your office one to two years before they retire, forming a team. That’s the first step towards a retiring agent being able to sell their business.

Putting this in place is a win-win for everyone. The retiring agent gets to sell their business and you retain the market share. Agents are selling their businesses for $100,000 or more. It’s a great retention tool and it’s a great recruiting tool. If we study the past one thing we know for sure is that the next time the market tightens up or it gets tough to sell real estate, we will see a huge number of agents say, “I’m done!”

A NAR survey indicated that 87% of all agents surveyed, plan to walk away from their real estate business without even trying to sell it! That’s why we put a system together to teach agents everything they need to sell or acquire a thriving real estate business, including sample letters, sample contracts, guidelines, success strategies, behavior profiles, database management insights.

Brokers, create some time and space for this kind of training in your organization. It’s both a great recruiting tool and a way for you to provide this timely topic for your team so that they are not just working IN their businesses – but working ON their businesses.

Perfect for agents who are retiring or relocating, agents who want to develop a business that they can sell in the future, agents who want to acquire a business to increase their income, as well as EVERY broker! Brokers no longer need to lose the market share of retiring and relocating agents.

Contact me today to talk about providing this kind of training to your team virtually!

Want to continue to learn how to be the turn-to broker in your market? Bookmark our blog, and join The Profitable Recruiter today. We have a full spectrum of membership benefits with all the tools, strategies and solutions you need to position yourself to win this year and every year. Our goal is for you to become the “turn-to” broker in your area for every agent.

Join today and take advantage of our special offer of 50% off with the promo code 50OFF any pro membership. That’s 50% off everything you need to be in the right place at the right time when the agents you want are ready to make a move – including SEVEN HOURS of recruiting audio training! What are you waiting for? When you join – you and up to 10 managers can access your account! Try it for a month and see what it can do for you.

Recruiting Experienced Agents?

Posted on October 24, 2021October 24, 2021 by The Profitable Recruiter

24 Oct

What You Need to Know

By Real Estate Recruiting Coach Judy LaDeur

First thing’s first. Ask yourself – “Do I have what experienced agents are looking for? How do I compare to my competition?”

Let’s take a look at some key deciding points for experienced agents:

Experienced Agent Hot Button List:

Technology and Tech Support
Advanced Training and Coaching
Comparative Commission Structure
Marketing Support
Quality Support Staff
Personal Assistants or Systems That Help Remove Detail Work From Agent Agendas
Agent Promotion
A Professional Image and Office Environment
Calls Off Their Own Signs

How many of these components do you have in place? What about your competition? If you don’t know what your competition has to offer – how do you know if you’re the best?

TIP: With experienced agents, your odds soar if you properly target them. So here is a PROVEN process for SUCCESS:

RECRUITING EXPERIENCED AGENT PROCESS:

Find your target: Set up your target ‘hit list’ of 50-100 agents that you will stay in touch with each month using a drip marketing campaign.
Connect: Send a letter designed to educate them about your company and to create desire and curiosity on their part to know more about you and your company. Or you can send a note or letter that compliments them.
Follow up: Give each targeted agent a follow up phone call just to touch base. Your goal is to talk to at least three agents per day and schedule a minimum of three interviews with experienced agents per week.
Connect again: The following month, send out another letter, note, or package to your list to promote your systems and your organization. Everyone doesn’t have to get the same thing either! Be creative! Personalize them!
Follow up again: Hit the phones again just as in step three and make it a habit to consistently send and call each and every month.
Promote: After each hire, send out a “Just Hired” postcard to your entire hit list.
Promote again: Send flyers out that promote your company, the success of your agents and your commitment to the community. You’ll be planting those seeds for agents to WANT to learn more about you!
Set Your Goals and Do the Math!

A great goal to start is to conduct three experienced agent interviews per week. From that, you should average at least two hires per month. This will give you 24 experienced agents. If each is producing two million in gross closings that would give you an annual increase in market share of $48 million and a net gain of $98 million over your competitors!

We’re not saying it will be easy – but it will be worth it! Take your time. Put systems in place. Be persistent and consistent in your efforts. If you don’t have a system in place, we can help! Become a member of The Profitable Recruiter today, and put the power of done-for-you content and tools that make recruiting experienced and new agents easier, less time-consuming, and even fun.

Register today and use the promo code 50OFF to save 50% on any 6-month or annual membership. Got questions? Email us! We’d love to help!

Recruiting Season Skill Building

Posted on July 13, 2021July 14, 2021 by The Profitable Recruiter

13 Jul

Fine Tune Those Interview Skills

By Real Estate Recruiting Coach Judy LaDeur

If you’re consistently staying in touch with your recruiting process, now is the time to turn up the heat on your recruiting skills by practicing. While it might not feel natural at first – I challenge you to stick as close to the interview process as possible.

Here is an overview of the interview process:

The set up: This is the time to tell them the goals and agenda for the meeting. Set up the interview by sharing your goals and agenda. Let them know that your job is to give them the information that they need that day to make the best decision for their real estate career, and to better have a feel of whether your company is the right choice for them. You should know if the agent is an emotional decision maker or a logical decision maker within the first 5-10 minutes. You need to mirror your candidate for optimal results. Maintain a businesslike manner for logical agents and a friendly, warm manner for emotional agents.

The questions: The questions are the foundation of your interview. If a broker/recruiter cannot master this component, their presentation will be weak, or even worse, they will find themselves “buying agents through making deals” if they cannot hire on value. Surface questions will not give you what you want to know. They just skim the surface. You must really dig deep and find out what is happening in their professional life, what they have now, how do they feel about what they have, and what do they want. Why, When and Why are how most of your questions should start. You can also say, “Tell me more about that” or “when you say (comment), what do you mean?”

The goal of asking questions for the new or struggling agent:

Do you want them? Will they make it? What are their past accomplishments? Sales experience? What is their behavior style? What have they been doing to build their career up until now? Number of people in their database? Number of calls they make daily? Farming? FSBO? Expireds? What are they willing to do to have a successful career? Number of hours they plan to work to achieve goals?

The goal of asking questions for the experienced agent interview:

What do they like where they are? What do they dislike? What is the point of difference between your company and their company? What are their long term goals? Can they achieve them at their current company? What are their expectations of you as their broker? What are they doing to generate business now? What tools would best support them to take their career to the next level?

At the end of the questions, you should know which systems you will present and what it’s going to take to hire them. If you don’t know these things, then you either need to ask more questions or better questions.

The prospect that can be most challenging at this stage is the driver. If you are interviewing the driver, keep the questions moving fast, and be very direct. Otherwise, they will start asking you questions and you will lose control of the interview. If you lose control of the interview in the questioning process with a driver, it’s because it’s moving too slow or they are frustrated with the interview and you are not staying on task. This can be a very tough position for any manager or recruiter, but when you find yourself in that position, first realize how you got there and next, regain control as fast as possible. You can listen to the CD’s if you need additional support with regard to asking questions.

Please remember that the purpose of asking questions is to identify the right systems to present to the agent. They usually only need about 5 systems to meet their needs.

The Presentation:

The area that I would like for you each of you to really practice and develop is the 3-step presentation process and the ROI or value close. Failing to present each system in a way that shows value, is the #1 reason that the agent will not join. With regard to presentation skills, please remember that you don’t need to present everything about your company, but you should have visuals and info on everything that is unique about your company and be ready for each interview. What sets you apart and gives you a point of difference? Not only for experienced agents, but for new as well. It can be on a laptop, folders, whatever, as long as it is easy for you to use and it is going to demonstrate what makes your office unique and the results that can occur when they join your team.

This is your 3-step presentation process.

Recap what they said in the questioning process.
Present the tool or system using a visual.
Present the results using results from agents at your office or survey results from an organization such as NAR.

Each tool gets presented the same way with the three-step process. Then after the presentation, please go back and ask them to give you their opinion as to how many more transactions they can have with each tool. Please remember that they need you to give them results, in order for them to calculate value.

You can then close on the value of joining, which means that you do not have to worry about fees. When you follow the process above, you will see that they can give you the value as perceived and believed by them. It will definitely make recruiting easier.

The RECAP = your ROI

The ROI = your Value Proposition

If you are not using the 3-step process above, and sharing results with your recruit, you will not be able to value close them. After presenting each of your systems, you will recap, which is when you build value.

Dialog to start the recap:

“Let’s review what we have discovered. There were 5 different areas of your real estate career that YOU felt could use some improvement. You said that you definitely need:

More leads
More marketing support
Personalized coaching and broker support
Better tools to compete for listings
More market presence or a strong name in the community.

Is there anything that I missed? Let’s look at each tool/ system and determine what the value is to your career.

With regard to Leads: You said… As you recall, our agents receive an average of (number of leads) per year, with most converting 25% of those leads within 6 months. If we gave you the same number of leads each year, how many could you convert?

REPEAT THIS PROCESS FOR EACH TOOL OR SYSTEM WHICH WAS DISCUSSED.

Total all the opportunities and use this dialog:

“If we total up all the opportunities that you believe you could have with our office, the number is (number) additional sales and or listings sold. If we multiply that number by the average commission received, which is $(dollar amount), it looks like you could have an additional $(dollar amount) in income with our company. How does that sound?

More importantly, these are opportunities that do not exist at your current company, so currently, you do not have the opportunity to earn this money at your current firm. You will need to join our team to have these opportunities. When you came in today, I told you that my goal was to give you the information that you needed to make the best decision for your real estate career TODAY. Based on what you are looking at, does it look like a good time to join (your company)? I agree, so let’s take a look at the various compensation plans and determine which one is best for you!

This is called: Closing on VALUE. When you get their commitment, before talking about compensation plans, it’s a lot easier to hire them.

THE CLOSE: You must ask them to join. I like the handshake close. Those who have tried it have found it works great. There are a few people who are shy about trying it. This summer is a great time to master the official Judy LaDeur Hand Shake close.

Stalls and Objections: If you need help handling stalls and objections, please refer to the audio downloads in your Profitable Recruiter Membership platform.. I have all the solutions recorded. Here’s what others have found: When you follow the interview process, as described above, you will have fewer stalls and objections. Have a great recruiting season!

Want to learn more about hiring the best agents for your team, and keeping your team happy and productive? Join The Profitable Recruiter and gain access to 7 hours of training via downloadable links including interview skills, scripts, objection handlers, and more. PLUS, you’ll have access to entire libraries of recruiting letters and notes, emails, social media content, training webinars for recruiting and retention, and opportunities to network with the best of the best. Join today and take advantage of our special 50% off with the promo code 50OFF any membership.

Not sure if this is the right thing for your company? Contact us to learn why brokers of every company size are making it their turn to way to stay positioned for recruiting success in today’s market — and putting the fun back into their recruiting. We’re taking the guesswork out of recruiting for brokers — and they are loving it. We can do the same for you! Questions? Email us today.