Ways to Recruit Real Estate Agents
Rick Geha has been recruiting real estate agents for over 40 years. He’s learned how to build a team full of A-players through consistent recruiting efforts, strong culture, and prioritizing retention. Rick looks for team members who are hungry, humble, smart, and coachable. He shared how he’s been able to successfully recruit over 5,000 employees across 40 years in the latest WSS Webinar.
Recruiting Agents in Real Estate Requires Consistency and Persistence
Rick believes you must spend time each day on your recruiting strategies. You won’t find your dream candidates without putting in consistent time and effort. Build recruitment strategies into your daily or weekly routines. The more you practice, the better you’ll become at these strategies.
It’s also important to not be afraid of failing. When your early attempts at recruiting fail, it’s important to not get discouraged. You can’t let the fear of being rejected keep you from reaching out to potential team members. It’s all about the long game. While the majority of your time spent recruiting likely won’t lead to a direct-hire, regular recruiting activities will set you up to attract the right candidates at the right time.
Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe
Rick explained how he finally got a full team of people with a positive attitude. In the past, he’d had problems eliminating complaining from his team culture. He successfully changed the team culture by changing his own attitude. He noticed that when he had a positive attitude and avoided negativity and complaining, his team started to reflect that attitude, as well.
Rick realized you’ve got to create the vibe you want on your team.
If you’re not sure how to create the right vibe, first you need to figure out your core values. Then you have to really live by them. Post the values around your workspace and talk about them often. This will ensure you’re attracting the right people.
Where to Recruit Real Estate Agents
One of Rick’s strategies for recruiting is to go where the agents are. He occasionally visits an open house and leaves behind a card. He also offers to speak or help at training or educational events for new agents. He participates in conferences and other real estate events. By doing this, Rick has built tons of connections with people in the real estate industry. While not every connection turns into a future teammate, occasionally someone will be on the lookout for a new opportunity, and if they’re a good fit, Rick is ready to offer them a position.
Find the People Who Want What You Have
You’ll never be able to convince someone to join your team if they’re looking for something you don’t have. You’ll also get burnt out on recruiting efforts if you try to recruit those people because it’ll feel like you’re making no progress.
Instead, you should be advertising the benefits of being a part of your team and look for the type of people who are specifically looking for those benefits. When you connect with the people who are a good fit for what you have, you’ll be amazed at how much easier recruiting becomes.
Recruiting New Real Estate Agents Using Enrollment vs. Manipulation
Recruiting new real estate agents should never be about manipulation. Manipulation is getting people to do what you want them to do for your reasons, while enrollment is getting people to do something you want them to do for their reasons. Don’t try to recruit through manipulation.
To avoid manipulation, it’s important to be honest in your recruitment process. It won’t benefit your team to hire someone who wasn’t fully aware of what they were signing up for. When you focus on enrollment, both you and your new hires will feel that the partnership is mutually beneficial and mutually goal-oriented.
Power of Retention
A high retention rate is what makes recruiting valuable in the end. If you can successfully recruit amazing real estate agents, you’ll benefit from the partnerships, even more, when they stick around and thrive on your team. Keeping your top-quality agents for the long-term is just as important as finding new agents. Retention requires skill, prioritization, and care. You have to put regular effort into making sure your team members feel valued.
Prioritize Relationship-Building
Rick Geha prioritizes retention through relationship building. He checks social media to keep up with his team members’ lives. He sends birthday cards. He even makes a special effort to build relationships with team members’ families. People rarely leave behind relationships like this, which is why Rick was able to keep his team members around for so long.
If someone does ever leave Rick’s team, he makes sure to wish them the best and tell them that they are always welcome back. Don’t burn a bridge with a valuable former team member because you never know when they might be interested in returning to your team.
For more help growing your real estate team through recruiting and retention, schedule a free consultation with a Workman Success Systems business analyst. Visit workmansuccess.com for more resources on team building and real estate.
