Recruit the Successful Real Estate Pros of Tomorrow

Transcription

1 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 1 Copyright 2018, Bernice L. Ross, RealEstateCoach.com I. In today s session you will learn how to: Create a customized ideal recruit list based upon proven factors that predict agent success and your Office Production Profile. Implement proven best practices for prospecting, lead generation, and lead conversion. Conduct a successful recruiting interview including key questions to ask plus how to overcome the most common objections. II. The Recruiting Self-Inventory: Are you feeding your pipeline? In the two weeks Did you work from a written list of people you want to recruit? How many recruiting calls did you make? How many recruiting interviews did you hold? How many agents did you meet with face-to-face at open houses, at the board, or other events? How many thank you notes did you send? What targeted new agent ads did you run on the social media? How many pre-licensing students did you contact? What recruiting ads did you run? What targeted new agent ads did you run on the social media? How many co-op agents did you congratulate? How many of your agents recommended someone you could recruit into your office? What volunteer or charitable work did you do? III. 21 Marketing Strategies: Which will you choose? 1. Advertising in local papers. 2. Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, or other service club meetings. 3. Comment on (not just like) their social media posts. 4. Handwritten notes acknowledging a success the agent had. 5. Host a booth at a job fair for people transitioning into new careers. 6. In-office recruiting incentive program. 7. Invite the agent to an education or social event at your office. 8. Lists of out-of-state agents seeking their salesperson license (they may have just relocated.) 9. Local real estate schools. 10. MLS or Board of REALTOR functions. 11. New member orientation at the Board of REALTORS. 12. Newspaper press releases. 13. Promote new and experienced agents in your office in local papers. 14. Property caravans.

2 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com Referrals from your agents for your breakfast club. 16. Send a thank you note to cooperating agents on company listings and sales. 17. Social contacts look for mutual friends and interests. 18. Sponsor a local holiday food drive or charitable fundraiser. 19. Sponsor a licensing or a CE class at your local Board of REALTORS. 20. Volunteer in local charitable events. 21. Weekend or broker open houses. IV. The number one reason agents leave My broker doesn t have enough time for me. According to Bonnie Mays, Owner-Broker at United Real Estate, Lexington, KY, the top three things agents want from their broker: o My manager has my back. o Provides the technology and contract expertise I need to operate my business successfully. o Creates a business family. V. Profiles of Real Estate Success: Interpreting the DISC Four primary behavioral styles from Target Training International (TTI) 1. Dominance D: High drive, get it done, doesn t build relationships or worry about breaking rules. 2. Influencing I: People person, likes to talk, without the D factor has trouble taking action. (Most top producers score high on the D-I factors.) 3. Steadiness S: Dependable, habits, systems, overprepares, slow to trust or change. 4. Compliance C: Detailed-oriented, follows rules to the letter, and prefers numbers and technology to being face-to-face with people. The number one factor that predicts sales success with an accuracy rate of 72 percent is a high score on the Utilitarian factor on the TTI version of the DISC. Support staff profiles o Above 50 th percentile on S and C factors. o ISC best for staff who work with clients. o SC s are perfectionists and best for very detailed work. Three other key factors 1. Learning mindset. 2. Emotional resilience. 3. Dependability. VI. Eight-year study: The 18 top real estate success traits Rank order your priorities; your best hires will have at least 14 of these traits: 1. Can tolerate stress and rejection 2. Dedicated to a full-time career in real estate

3 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 3 3. Effective communication skills 4. Energetic and motivated 5. Ethical and honest 6. Gets along well with others 7. Good contacts 8. Good listener 9. Has a customer service orientation 10. Is active in the community and charity events 11. Learning mindset 12. Lives in or near the marketing area 13. Positive attitude 14. Professional image 15. Self-starter 16. Sets goals and achieves them 17. Technologically and social media literate 18. Well-organized VII. Recruit to fill the gaps: The office production profile Look for patterns and opportunities; Is there a $300 - $400 niche nearby? Can you recruit agents who prospect in the higher price ranges? Is there a language niche your office isn t serving? Focus on profitability, not revenue. The sweet spot for this brokerage: $3-4 million in annual production. VIII. Use your strengths to create your Unique Recruiting Position (URP) by using a SWOT analysis SWOT: Recruit to your strengths o What are your 3-5 greatest strengths as a broker and as a brokerage? o What do your past clients, agents, and/or sphere of influence see as your greatest strengths? o What does the public and your competition perceive as being your greatest strengths? o What tools, services, and cultural factors differentiate you from your competitors?

4 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 4 SWOT your competitors o Track what your competitors offer. o Whenever possible, obtain copies of your competitors Policies and Procedures manuals. o Look for positive points of differentiation in your offerings and how those points benefit your agents. o Identify what your competitors offer that you could adopt as an upgrade for your company. IX. Recruit by showing them how you can help them grow their business Always look for a way to be six months ahead of the competition. Review the 18 suggestions of how you can differentiate yourself from the competition and choose the top three that you feel best fit the recruit you re interviewing. Create a chart that helps agents answer, Which brokerage will help you to grow your business the most? Closing interview question: Who will help your business grow more? X. Recruiting opportunities: When to pounce Company is sold or merged into another company. Change in office management. Perceived financial problems of the company. Change to or from a national franchise. Personal conflict with another associate (watch for arbitrations between two agents from the same company). Personal conflict with the manager. Success Tip: Always be in conversation with other agents, even those who will never leave their current brokerage. There s always one agent who will tell you everything that is happening in their office. Fafie Moore, ERA Brokers Consolidated, Las Vegas XI. Best careers for finding new recruits Real estate affiliated (Mortgage, Title, Appraisers) Recent additions to other real estate firms

5 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 5 Commissioned sales people Insurance Agents Stock brokers Computer/Tech salespeople Small business owners/managers Former military Former athletes Teachers and students Fund raisers XII. Your real estate agent job description checklist: Applies consistent clear-cut systems and processes Business owner mindset Collaborative works well with others Customer-service focused Continuous learning mindset Effective face-to-face communication skills Emotionally resilient, optimistic, handles conflict well Engages in dollar productive activities 40 hours per week Enthusiastic Excellent negotiation skills Good contacts, community oriented Has adequate financial reserves Has excellent contract knowledge Has written goals and written business plan High utilitarian (practical, commons sense, bottom-line orientation) Professional demeanor Stays up to date with technology and regularly uses social media tools Trustworthy, dependable Understands their job is to generate leads, convert leads, and close transactions Uses technology to enhance and create face-to-face interactions with leads and clients XIII. Best practices for conducting successful recruiting interviews Have all candidates complete a job application. Conduct more than one interview anyone can bring their A game once. Review their public social media posts. Avoid sitting behind a desk. Ask how and why questions that provide more detailed answers. XIV. General interview guidelines

6 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 6 Make the person feel welcome and at ease. Listen more than you talk. Avoid interrupting and criticizing have a curiosity mindset. Take notes this shows that you re attentive and care about what the agent says. Keep focused on your questions. Your goal is to get to know the agent both personally and professionally. If the agent provides an evasive answer, repeat the question. If the agent feels comfortable, provide a quick tour of the office and introduce the agent to your staff and agents. Always maintain a positive attitude. If it becomes clear the agent isn t a fit for your office, wrap up the interview after a few minutes and thank the agent for coming in. XV. Interview Questions Avoid Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) violations o Avoid asking about any of the following: criminal record, disabilities, financial affairs, gender, marital or family status, national origin, race or color, or religion. o Examples: o Are you a U.S. citizen? Are you authorized to work in the U.S.? o Do you plan to or do you already have children? Are you available to work nights and weekends? The ten key questions to ask new agents 1. Do you have enough income to support yourself for at least six months with no commissions? 2. Do you plan to work full-time? 3. Are you willing to cold call and door knock if that s what it takes to succeed? 4. Are you a people person who is comfortable striking up conversations with strangers? 5. Are you comfortable with an unpredictable environment where your schedule often requires working nights and weekends? 6. Do you prefer to communicate face-to-face, not just by texting or on social media? 7. Are you a bottom-line person who focuses on how different strategies and technology help you get better results in your business? 8. Do you enjoy learning as a way to improve yourself including keeping up with technology changes? 9. Are you actively involved with your community, your place of worship, charity, or other activities that help others? 10. What are your income expectations for your first year in business? Experienced agent questions about agent s strengths o Which aspects of the real estate business do you enjoy the most? o Which parts of the business are the hardest for you? o Do you specialize in any specific area, price range, or type of client?

7 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 7 o o Tell me about your production for the last year number of transactions, volume, etc. If you could delegate any part of your business, what would it be? Always ask these five SWOT questions o What do you like about your current office? o How is your firm investing in your success? o What s missing from your perspective? o What three tools does your company provide that you feel you can t do business without? o If you were going to recommend that an agent join a brokerage other than your own, what about that company would cause you to recommend them? Additional interview questions that uncover the agent s expertise o If I were to refer listing lead to you, how would you market it? o One of our agents had a problem in a transaction (describe a difficult challenge you or another agent have faced). How would you have handled it? o One of your listings is about to expire. What will you do to make sure your clients relist with you? o When you have conflicting demands on your time, how do you resolve them? Use layering questions to dig deeper and look for red flags o Would you elaborate on that please? o That s interesting could you please tell me more? o That s an interesting observation I d like to hear more about your opinion on that. o Look for red flag warning signs. If your gut says something is off, pay attention to it chances are the agent is not a good hire. XVI. Overcoming the compensation objection The most important question to ask on compensation: Are you more concerned about your commission split or how much you actually take home at the end of the day? Success tip from Sarah Kosasky: Commission splits become irrelevant when we show agents how they can do 3-10 more deals a year by being associated with our firm. Hard truths: o Most percent agents are actually on a percent split. o If you tell them that they will be angry. o Instead, convert your services and products into cash value and let the agent arrive at the conclusion about how much they re paying. o If you re a full service brokerage, in most cases your agents are on a percent higher split than they think they are. XVII. Go for the close! The ideal number of items to pitch (offer) is three. Make an offer of service.

8 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 8 o o o Lay the groundwork during the earlier parts of the interview by writing down what the agent mentions as being most important. Reference what is important to them as you make your offer. Provide a solution or benefit to the issues or problems they raise. Offer to assist them with obtaining that benefit. Offer #1: Close on a pain point or major goal o You mentioned earlier that you would like to take more listings. Here s a copy of our 16-point Premium Marketing Plan that helps our agents convert almost every listing appointment they go on. The main reason this converts so well is that we use the best artificial intelligence CMA tool currently available that allows you to add in appraisals, Zestimates, old and new comps, plus also predicting future value. Would like to see how it works? (WeissAnalytics.com) Offer #2: Offer tools their current office doesn t offer What she has currently: Jane, like your current office, we use digital signatures Offer an upgrade or new tech: but we have also just implemented a brand new artificial intelligence technology called a lead conversion chatbot. Our new chatbot allows our agents to never miss a lead because it s available Benefit and close: Would you like to see how it works to help you convert more leads? o Offer #3: Production Profile Agent goal: You mentioned that you would like to increase your production so you can start putting more money aside for your two girls to attend college. Offer: Would you be interested in doing a 1:1 coaching session with me one day next week where I will show you Benefit: a simple way to increase your production without having to work harder? XVIII. Use the production profile to show them how to focus on their top 50 percent Use Excel to sort alphabetically or by small to large number. Pricing focus: SFR listings priced $530,000 to $650,000 and condos $210,000-$295,000. Primary business source: past clients. Primary age group: Primary client type: single or divorced female.

9 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com 9 Predominant industry/career: technology Listing or buyer focus: listing Oak Hill and Playa two best subdivisions. International clients were 20% of her business. Agent Production Profile Three key takeaways from today Recruit to the D-I profile coupled with high utilitarian, emotional resilience, learning mindset, and dependability. Do a SWOT Analysis to identify your growth opportunities and create your Unique Recruiting Proposition based upon that analysis. Create a Premium Marketing Plan that your agents can use and that shows potential recruits how you can help them grow their businesses. Powerful Resources from Today s Session to Differentiate Your Services from the Competition 1. CentriQ ( provides the user manuals for each home s appliances by simply snapping a picture of the serial number, reminds users of regularly scheduled maintenance, notifies users when there are recalls, provides information on where to find parts for repairs, etc. There is a Free version or it s $5.00 per listing per year to private label it for your clients. 2. DownPaymentResource.com: Aggregates local, state, and federal down payment assistance programs. The average user in assistance (requires good credit.)

10 Bernice Ross, CEO & President, BrokerageUp! & RealEstateCoach.com Immobel.com and Real-Buzz.com allow you to translate your listings into 18 different languages and chat in real time on Facebook with clients in their native language about your listings. 4. IMRE.ca: Convert leads instantaneously 24-7 with your own private virtual real estate assistant (the new chatbot technology). View the video at to learn more. 5. NARRPR.com and HomeDisclosure.com for free detailed reports for each of your listings. 6. ReferralExchange.com: Refer business anywhere in the U.S. and make sure you get your commission (over 250,000 referrals made to date). 7. TLCEngine.com evaluates not only mortgage, insurance, taxes, but also the actual lifestyle costs associated with living in a property to provide the true cost of homeownership of a given property. It includes utilities, projected maintenance, commute times, plus 100 other factors. 8. WeissAnalytics.com: The most comprehensive Artificial Intelligence based CMA in the industry that allows you to add past appraisal data, your own comps, plus Zillow Zestimates while also integrating all available comparable sales for the last ten years or more. Their heat maps show where the market is trending as far back as 2001.