How to Identify & Hire the BEST New Candidates

Posted on August 15, 2022August 16, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

How to Identify & Hire the BEST New REAL ESTATE Recruiting Candidates

15 Aug

From Personal Experience…

By Real Estate Recruiting Coach Judy LaDeur

There has never been a better time to hire new-to-the-industry agents. The great news is that the new agents WANT support, training, and a broker who cares and is there to support them. This describes many of the real estate offices out there, so let’s make hiring the “new ones” a priority.

What should you look for? Is there a way to know who will succeed? What does the right new agent look like? Here are some great guidelines to follow:

Be honest about the position: I think we owe it to them to be honest about the career they are about to embark on and their ability to work in a commissioned sales job. They trust us only to hire them if they can make it, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Tell them upfront. “If I think that you can make it in the real estate business, I will hire you today. If I don’t hire you today, you should reconsider your decision to go into real estate. I am telling you that because ours is an industry where anyone with a license can find a job somewhere. But getting hired is not an indication that you will make any money. In fact, 90% of the people in this business earn a poverty-level income. But again, if I think you’ll make it, I will hire you. And if I do hire you, I will do everything possible to ensure your success. Does that sound fair?” I always had their attention when I told them that, and they knew that I was serious.
I would tell them the good stuff, as well as the challenges — and build some humor into it. Tell them that very successful real estate agent make well over $100,000.00 per year, and they can earn that after a few years. I told them that they could set their hours, because they were the boss. They could sleep late or leave early. I then explained that they could have any insurance policy they wanted and any retirement plan that they wanted as well. They could take unlimited vacations without asking anyone’s permission. I would then smile and say, “How does it sound so far?” Of course, they would say great. I would then continue with, “Of course, even though very successful agents earn over $100,000.00 per year, 90% of all agents earn under $30,000 per year. You can come and go as you please, but if you are not working, you are not earning any money. You should be prepared to work an average of 60 hours per week for the first year, and maybe every year! You can select an insurance and retirement policy because you pay for it. You can take vacations any time you want, but someone needs to cover your business, and if you are not working, you are losing money. Are you still excited?” You would be amazed how many people do not know what it means to be an independent contractor. I was looking for an agent who understood the risks and still wanted “in.” I went on to explain that there are two types of jobs worldwide. High risk / high-income jobs, and high security /low-income jobs. The higher the risk, the greater the income potential. In the stock market, as well as the job market. That’s why banks pay very little interest on a savings account. There is no risk, and therefore, the return is low. But your money is very safe. That’s why you make more if you are willing to take a risk. I would then find out why they wanted to give up the security of a “real job”, and go into real estate. I looked for desire, motivation, confidence, passion, drive, and tenacity. I asked lots of questions, and I paid attention to how I felt as they talked. I looked at their past successes and failures. How did they handle problems? How hard were they willing to work? Did I believe they could make it? If so, we continued.
There are lots of other things that will increase their odds of making it. A professional image, financial security, a strong sphere of influence, good eye contact, good people skills, and a need to make money. The more pluses they have, the greater their chance of success will be.

Create your own checklist. On the left, list those things you should be looking for in the interview, and then make notes after each item. The answer should be pretty clear by the end of the interview. By the way, I always told them up front that if they decided to go forward with a career in real estate and I decided to hire them, they would need to sign up for their real estate class that day. As a result, most of the good candidates signed up that day and got started with their careers.

Ready to kick up your recruiting and position yourself to attract the agents you want sooner rather than later? Join top brokers from around the nation who are members of www.TheProfitableRecruiter.com. You’ll get all the tools you need each month to position yourself as the broker to join when agents are ready to make a move. Fine-tuning your skills this summer? All pro members get access to over SEVEN 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 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!

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.

Six Powerful Ways to Follow Up With Recruits

Posted on March 28, 2022March 29, 2022 by The Profitable Recruiter

28 Mar

It’s the #1 Key to Bringing On the Agents You Want

By Real Estate Recruiting Coach Judy LaDeur

How many agents have you talked to in the past 12 months who were not ready to join, but gave you permission to stay in touch? One of the easiest ways to recruit more agents each year is to follow up with those who say “no” initially. The decision to change offices is a tough one.

There are a lot of agents currently reevaluating their brokerages — especially when many feel their company has not supported them enough through these turbulent times.

I get it – you’re wearing a lot of hats right now, but there is an opportunity to not only build your team but help real estate professionals who may just need that extra support and attention to make a move that will help them thrive, even during these times. Brokers who have been consistently following up with agents say that up to 50% of their hires each year were the results of these efforts.

Here are six powerful ways you can follow up directly and indirectly:

1. Call. One of the least favorite things for brokers to do, but one of the most effective. Some of the best people to call are those agents who have had transactions within the last 30-60 days. If they’ve had positive experiences, call those agents and congratulate them on their professionalism and give them kudos for a job well done. Let them know if they are ever interested in exploring other options – you’d love to sit down and meet.

2. Send a Lumpy Letter. These are perfect for capturing attention, showing that you are not only interested but a creative and even fun broker that’s willing to be outside the box. It gets them thinking — and talking! Sometimes it’s even good for recruiting more agents than one for that very reason! Learn more here.

3. Use weekly e-newsletters. These are terrific, especially for emotional agents. When they are non-invasive or pushy – but instead motivational, give great tips, and a spotlight you as a leader and a broker who is in the know in the marketplace — recruiting prospects respond very well. John from New York had this to say, “I am surprised at how hungry the industry is for local news and statistics. The number of agents who come up to me at broker open house events and association functions to comment on the Monday Morning Wake Up Call newsletters. This opens the door for a ‘getting to know each other’ conversation.”

4. Be present in your market. This is no time to be a stealth broker. Even in areas not yet opened up — there is a lot you can do to ensure that you and your company are presenting yourself as present and listening and providing agents with the tools and training they need to grow and adapt. Show them that you are more than a name on a door. Show them that you are someone who’s willing to be part of their solutions.

5. Make an invitation. Got an agent you’d really like to sit down with? Let them know. Send them an invitation for a quick Zoom call, or a cup of coffee at their favorite spot. Let them know, no pressure, no sales pitch. You just would like to get to know them a little better and you appreciate what they are bringing to your market.

6. Offer training. Right now agents are often in 24/7 mode with learning curves — especially regarding technology. Offer ongoing training with great speakers, powerful topics, and terrific takeaways. Let them know it’s the kind of training that sets the perfect pace for the rest of the year and will help them kick off a fantastic fall season. Make it easy and non-threatening for them to register, and extend the offer as a by-invitation-only event.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to FOLLOW up with agents. Why? People want to feel seen, heard, and recognized. They want to feel valued and appreciated for their commitment to stay in this game. Pick up the phone and call the agents on your hit list this week. You might be surprised to see how many are willing to meet with you. Make recruiting a priority now.

If you’re ready to dial up your recruiting and position yourself to attract the agents you want sooner rather than later, join top brokers from around the nation who are members of www.TheProfitableRecruiter.com.

You’ll get all the tools you need each month to position yourself as the broker to join when agents are ready to make a move. Fine-tuning your skills this season? All pro members get access to over SEVEN 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.

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.

#1 Question Brokers Ask

Posted on May 28, 2021May 29, 2021 by The Profitable Recruiter

real-estate-recruiting-marketing-strategy

28 May

What Kind of Marketing Do I Use?

By Judy LaDeur

The #1 question that Brokers ask is what type of marketing is most effective to market themselves, their tools, and their firm. There are actually two types of marketing and both are essential to long-term success. The two types of marketing are educational and positioning.

Educational marketing is the type of marketing that educates the agents about who you are, what you offer, why they should consider your firm when they are moving. This type of marketing is very important. The goal is to create curiosity and desire to know more about your company and the opportunities that you offer. You might talk about your training and the results. Anyone who wants to increase their business would be curious or desire to know more, which is how you would then secure interviews. Or you could send out a sample of your marketing pieces, showing agents the quality of your marketing materials as well as the results of some of your agents who are consistent with their marketing. The job an effective “educational” campaign is that the candidate should be 50% sold on your firm when they meet with you, as a result of this type of marketing and education.

What if the potential recruit is perfectly happy and has no desire to move? Are they going to read what you send out? Maybe not. So, how do you get this person’s attention? That’s where the other type of marketing comes in, which is called positioning.

This is marketing that is designed to keep you positioned with the agents that you want to recruit in the future. It needs to be non-threatening. In fact, you should not ask them to meet with you or try to recruit them in your positioning pieces at all. They are simply designed to build the relationship and maintain “top-of-mind” awareness at all times. They are motivational or inspirational in nature.

Agents look forward to hearing from you when you send “feel good” marketing pieces, which is why we created The Profitable Recruiter weekly eNewsletters. They are messages that everyone can connect with or relate to. PLUS, when your recruits, as well as your agents, send those marketing pieces to THEIR clients, friends, and family, YOU are helping them stay positioned with their database for additional business. It does not get better than that!

As you roll out your marketing campaign, include both educational and positioning pieces and apply the Rule of Seven, which is an old marketing adage.

It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message, it will take at least seven times before they take action. Now the number seven isn’t cast in stone, but it’s a good rule of thumb!

Hit the second half of the year STRONG! We’re here to help!

Want to learn how to master these skills and build an extraordinary team? 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 45% 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!