Ever feel like you need a boost in the motivation department? Recruiting in real estate during the summer can make a person feel depressed, leaving endless messages for people that are otherwise occupied, most likely with some fun diversions. Emails are answered with an auto-response that the agent is out of the office on vacation until next week. Meetings are postponed or cancelled. It all just adds up to a loss of motivation.

As a recruiter, how do you keep your motivation intact? 

• Stay positive! There are no instant results in recruiting; your success today is based on the contacts you made 3-4 months ago (sometimes 3-4 years!) and tomorrow's success is based on what you do today. Stop looking for a quick fix, or instant gratification, and keep going.
• Continue to leave messages, continue your emails, and continue sending direct mail. Refocus your efforts to the prospects you can reach, and that you can meet with. Every single agent in your area does not go on vacation in July and August.
• Many new licensees are licensed in the summer, when they have more time available to devote to a new career in real estate. Many experienced agents are contemplating their move now, so they can execute their new business plan in the fall. Hiring does slow in the summer, but it does not stop.
• Finally, lower your expectations. You will burn out if you expect to maintain the highest level of motivation throughout an entire year. Plan your own vacation during this time, schedule yourself for some R&R and let go for a few days.

Put down the self help books, turn off the pod casts and take a break. You will come back refreshed and with an internal motivation you can't buy in stores or subscribe to in a feed reader.  

Most people that are responsible for recruiting in the real estate industry have encountered the following scenario...

"I know joining your company would benefit my business, but..." You can all probably fill in the rest. They know your company would offer them something of value. You have explained every detail in what your company offers, the training, the support, the coaching, business planning, marketing and the office environment they will be joining. They know their business would benefit by making a change in how or where they do business, but something is holding them back.

It is hard to make a choice, because the prospect feels that there is no turning back once the choice has been made. They will inform their manager or broker they have decided to move their license. Their current manager or broker will offer them something to stay. The new company will be elated at the decision to join their company, while the old manager will be upset someone chose to leave. Every choice seems to have an "upside" and a "downside".

It seems that for many people, the "best choice" is always harder to choose than the "easiest choice." Changing companies does take effort. Our company has a transition plan to help you in all the details that need to get done, but in the end, each agent that chooses to join us needs to put forth some effort as well. It hasn't deterred many, but I know there are others "out there" that have chosen to stay where they are, not because they are happy, but because it's easier.

Their past clients know right where to find them, so they don't need to call each one, or mail an announcement, or update their blog. Life is easier. They don't have to get new business cards printed; the old ones are still in the same pocket they have been in for years. Their business is down, but they can just make do on less than what they made last year.  At least they won't have the expense of changing companies, and maybe their broker will give them a couple of extra leads if they choose to stay.   

The best choices always seem to be the hardest choice to make. What is best for you, your career in real estate, and your business, is not always the easiest choice. Sure, you can stay where you are and keep life the way it is right now, but is that the best you can do for your business?

Is it a good idea to hold a Gift Card drawing at a Broker's Open House, for the sole purpose of recruiting? Has this been working in areas that it is standard practice? Locally, I know this is being done as a part of a tour, to generate traffic at multiple broker open houses, but would it work as a recruiting tool?

Here, brokers and branch manager's attend broker's open houses for the purpose of collecting names for their prospect lists, and just tend to speak with the hosting agents. I like the idea of the drawing, but if you knew that recruiting is the only reason (besides the chance of winning) you are placing your business card in the basket, would it hold you back? Would you be more or less likely to give me your card if you knew that recruiting, not previewing the listing was the reason you were doing it?

My thoughts are:

•a)      I most likely have their names in my recruiting database anyway

•b)      If it's done for recruiting purposes, agents may not enter.

•c)      It may generate buzz for the company but...

•a.      Would it be good buzz?

•b.      Or bad buzz?

•c.       Make the company seem desperate or creative?

•d)     Would better results be received if we just hosted a lunch instead?

I would really love to hear from an agent's perspective, if this would be effective. Has anyone put their card in for a drawing and decided to change companies after they were contacted?

You can probably tell I've been in "reporting" mode the last few weeks, mostly by my lack of interaction on Active Rain. I have recorded every source of every recruit company wide, in addition to how many meetings took place prior to the signing of the contract and every bit of mail ever sent to each prospect. Spreadsheets with hundreds of columns have been created and yet the only conclusion is... no two prospects are the same.

Some have signed after receiving one single letter; others have been included on every "drip campaign" over the past 3 years. Of the 50+ experienced agents recruited by our company this year, some met with us only once, some met with us more than 5 times before committing their career in real estate to us.

It is a good exercise to do on an annual basis, or even every 6 months. It helps you focus your recruiting efforts on the tasks that are effective, and learn what isn't working about your current recruiting plan, and make adjustments if necessary. The key is to make the necessary adjustments, once you are aware that they are needed. Collect all the data you want or need to collect, look it over for patterns and use it to recruit more effectively, but don't expect the results to predict the future, and don't expect them to tell you anything you don't already know.

Every prospect is different, and needs to be treated that way.

There are many topics I could follow at any given point in time , being that I am 1) a mom, 2) a wife 3) a real estate recruiter 4) a pet owner 5) a home owner 6) a school board member 7) a concerned citizen 8) a music lover 9) an avid reader 10)  active online

This list is just a few of the traits that define my interests. My personality is such that I want to know more about every topic that interests or affects me. I can go through my "subscribed list", and find a vast array of information I have subscribed to, on just about any topic imaginable. So now that you know my Top Ten interests, how would you get your information included on my "subscribed list" or anyone else's for that matter?

How would you go about putting your information in front of me, enough to make me want to subscribe? Would you post on topics that interest you, and hope that I (or someone else) would find them? Would you intone your posts toward yourself in hopes of luring in those you *hope* to get business from? Is your newest post one that I will have to bookmark, and hope to have time to read later, or will I have to click all the way through it right now? Time is short these days, so I don't have a lot of time to try and wade through advertisements and self promotion pieces. Out of habit, I typically just go straight to my "subscribed list" and see what those friendly faces have to say, and if there is time, I will stray out into the bigger world of Active Rain.

Will just setting up your profile with no picture work? Is just one blog post enough?  Does it take multiple encounters, or would I find your material so compelling on the first read that I would have to sign up immediately? I have a Google Reader for the depressing news type information; I don't want that clogging up my "Rain". I love to encounter posts that inspire me to bigger and better interactions. I love to learn new things, see new ways of using technology, look at pictures, be inspired by humanity instead of depressed by it, and always love a good laugh!

Those are the topics I most want to know about, so off I go, I'm going to wander around Active Rain a bit to see what you offer and if what you have posted recently interests me, I just might add a few more people to my "subscribed" list.

All recruiters make and take phone calls. Most of the time, these phone calls are considered "conversations". If you speaking to a prospect for the sake of recruiting that person to your company, it is considered a "recruiting conversation." Are we all on the same page? Good, moving along...

If you engage the prospect in a conversation about your company, this is still considered a "recruiting conversation." You can discuss all topics regarding that person's interest in your company, their situation with their current company, their personal reasons for making a move (or not). I think we can all agree on this as well. Go ahead, ask questions, engage the prospect in conversation about their career in real estate, where they want it to go, how much effort they are willing to put forth for their own success. This is after all a conversation, meaning there is a "give" and "take" involved.

Recruiting conversations are NOT the time to gossip about their neighbors, friends or relatives. I understand that recruiting requires building a relationship with a prospect, I am not saying you should not engage the prospect on a personal level. I think it is wonderful that a prospect would be open to carrying the conversation further, but as a recruiter, you need to keep control of the conversations you have with your prospects.

Do not allow them to engage you in gossip, as that will bring you closer to recruiting an agent, but will instead drive you further from your goal of recruiting them. I am also saying that gossip is unprofessional, especially if it is regarding one of your current agents, to a prospect... As for me, if a prospect goes a "little" off the topic of the purpose of my call, I may wander a little, but I won't stoop to gossip level. Gossip can hurt your reputation, and make you lose credibility in the same circles you are trying to recruit in.

If you want to be a successful recruiter in the real estate industry, treat all of the agents in your market area with respect, and maintain your professional reputation during all conversations. You never know if the person you are trying to recruit, may know (and actually like) the person you are spilling the beans to :)

I twittered this article from RealtyTimes this morning, and thought I would take a quick look at one of our local Gloria Nilson GMAC Real Estate offices to see how the article's statistics held up at random. I chose an office that I thought had a pretty good mix of full time agents; one that I knew would represent our local area well.

The article not only holds true in my sample, it is nearly exact. The office I chose has approximately 50 agents. I was hoping to see about 25% (approximately 15 people) in the "20-35" age range, 50% (or about 25 people) in the "36-50" age range, and the other 25% in the "50+" range. This would have shown that things aren't as bad as the article portrays. I did not contact the agents and ask their ages, but I do know enough about most of them to be able to "guesstimate" their ages and fit them into one of these 3 categories.

What I found instead was the 50% was in the "50+" range, more like 10% in the "20-35" range, and 40% were in the "36-50" range. All end up within 1-2% of the results within the article.

The article cites some remedies for an "upcoming" shortage of talent in the industry, companies can offer "long-term career development", "availability and access to mentors" and "make it clear your company meets their core values-flexibility, balance, respect, and accessibility."  Correct me if I am wrong, but most companies in our area are already using these methods to attract our current agents. If a Generation Y prospect is considering a career in real estate, every company in our area would be interested in meeting with them. Agents are independent contractors, so if a company doesn't meet their needs now, how have they been attracting agents in the other age groups? 

Now is the time to think about what else your company can do to attract the talent you will need in the future, but it is also the time to figure out what you can do to recruit Generation Y'ers to the real estate industry now.

Beginning January 1^st, 2008 Health Insurance will be available to all children in New Jersey, up to an income of 350% above the poverty level (or $72,275 for a family of four). The official press release about the program is here. Families that choose to participate would "buy-in" at $137 per month, per child, up to a maximum of $411 per month (the maximum for 12 months calculates to $4932 per year). The program is called New Jersey FamilyCare.

According to the article, there are 275,000 uninsured children in this state, including some whose parents have coverage, but cannot afford to cover their children through their employers. 50,000- 60,000 previously ineligible children will now qualify for this program. With the cost of family coverage being in the $15,000 to $18,000 range if purchased independently, this will be a huge relief to some families.

Many real estate agents are not able to obtain insurance for their children, since many smaller brokers don't offer any insurance, and the costs are prohibitive to purchasing them independently. I have spoken with agents that have put their career in real estate on hold for medical coverage, or have to work another job just for benefits.

I am not familiar with the program, it will be run by Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and I haven't seen coverage details, but if one child gets life saving medical treatment out of this new plan, it will be worth it. My concern is, why does a recent study indicate only 15,000 will enroll? Another question is, will the coverage enrollment be accessible enough to those that need it or will there be an enrollment process that causes a backlog? How will the families in need of this coverage find out about it?

There are still questions to be answered, and January 1^st is right around the corner, but the first steps have at least been taken. If you know a family that may qualify, let them know about the program.

For a brief exercise, just type "recruiting advice" into Google.com, or better yet, type it into goodsearch.com

Google offers Results 1 - 10 of about 1,840,000 for recruiting advice. (0.31 seconds) 

Goodsearch offers Results 1 - 10 of about 2991651 for recruiting advice 

That's a lot of advice. Everyone has an opinion about how you should be recruiting real estate agents to your office or company. There are industry specific real estate recruiting "how to's" which are just for broker/ owners or branch managers, as well as "how to" recruit for any industry.

The best advice I have ever received, was "just recruit". Don't get caught up in the "you should..." advice. These are just opinions, or what has worked for other people. They are not a "quick fix" to get people to join your office. They are not "mandatory" practices, even the "best practices" are what have worked successfully for someone else.

The more you try to follow what someone else has done, the more you lose focus on the task at hand. Pick up the phone, arrange for a meeting, and "just recruit".

I value all types of training, on-line, classroom instruction, and personal self help. My favorite type is peer education, learning from those that are in the same profession I am in, and know the situations I find myself in.

Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out with our Agent Round-table event. I was merely helping out the event organizers, but had to take notice of the overwhelming response after the sessions were over. The event was not only a success, but agents were all excited just to have had the opportunity to attend.

The session started off with a panel, consisting of 4 of our top performers in our company. It was facilitated by one of our Branch Managers, and the panel responded to questions regarding how they were out performing the market in their areas. Then the attendees broke out into 9 round tables, each with a table leader considered an expert at their topic. (The table leaders were agents who were recommended by their managers to host each topic). There were 4 different sessions, affording the agents 4 opportunities to sit at a table of peers, discussing topics relevant to their business.

The most meaningful comments were the ones to other agents who didn't attend, "they really missed out". The table leaders were inspired, the attending agents were inspired, and the management team was inspired. All were people that had chosen a career in real estate, and chose to improve their knowledge. Training and education are important, and when you can obtain training from those that are already successful in your profession, grab the opportunity.

Of course, how does this tie into recruiting? Two prospects were turned into hires.  After the event was mentioned to prospects, their new branch managers received their paperwork just in time for our newest recruits to participate.