Industry expert Carol Johnson shares valuable recruiting and retention insights for today's management professionals.
Third in a series of Q&A articles focusing on current tough-market challenges.
By Julie Escobar
Our current economy and market shifts present challenges as well as opportunities to brokers and managers across North America. As part of our ProspectsPLUS! series of conversations with industry experts, I sat down with recruiting expert Carol Johnson of RecruitingPipeline.com to discuss how top managers can develop the right mindset, systems and strategies to build better businesses.
I have long admired Carol's clearheaded, straightforward approach to recruiting innovation and always look forward to learning from her. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:
Q: You always have a good measure of what the market "temperature" is telling us at any given time. What do you feel about all of the tough-market talk that appears to be rocking some of our management friends more than others?
A: I believe much of what we are seeing is fear of the unknown. This really can be an exceptional time for people who have the right strategies for success. It is an opportunity to clean house, make necessary budget cuts, fully understand where your business is (and where it isn't), and effectively capture the market share lost by companies unable to survive a "change in the economic weather."
I recommend managers be proactive in their decision-making, hiring and retention policies. There's truly never been a better time to make the changes you need to streamline your business, nor a better reason to grasp the inner workings of your organization.
Q: What do you see as a disturbing trend among top brass in companies across our nation?
A: I see a lot of knee-jerk reactions to what people believe is a bad market. Brokers quit providing the services that both their customer base and their agents need and want. They become the virtual "deer in the headlights" waiting for change to happen and will do anything to avoid making a tough decision. What many don't realize is that the decision to do nothing is, in itself, a decision. No decision can be a very poor one when action is urgently needed. Forward momentum is a must for anyone who wants to thrive in today's marketplace.
Q: What would you tell brokers and owners who find themselves locked in that very trap?
A: I would tell them that NOW is the time to get a hold of your numbers, your systems and your business. Explore what is and isn't working for your organization. Some good questions to ask yourself are:
1. What ads or direct mail pieces are bringing recruits in the door?
2. Which managers are most effective, and why?
3. How long has it been since my database was purged and updated? (You may be wasting thousands of dollars on marketing that isn't reaching your targets. Using out-of-date lists and call sheets is like pouring water through a sieve.)
4. What is my average recruited dollar volume?
5. Can I measure the results from each marketing campaign?
6. Do I know how my leads convert?
You would be surprised at how many managers do not have a grasp on the answers to these questions-questions that are truly a foundation for building a smart business and recruiting plan for the coming year.
Q: Can you explain what you mean by recruited volume?
A: I'm asking how many dollars you recruited, not how many bodies you plunked into chairs. For example, in many companies, managers have a monthly recruiting goal of, say, two agents per month. The manager from the North office may be the rock star of recruiting-consistently bringing in four or more agents per month. On the other hand, the South office only brings in one agent a month. Who is the best recruiter? If you count bodies, the North office wins. But the results that go to the bottom line change when recruited sales production is tabulated.
What if the North office recruits brand-new, freshly licensed agents who have a long learning curve and a high history of fallout? Who is the winner if the South office recruits fewer bodies, but they are all high-profile, heavily experienced superstars with huge client bases, consistent production and longevity? What is more important to you: body count or recruited dollar volume? Savvy, successful business owners or managers understand that the keys to the kingdom lie in per-agent productivity. I don't think the theory that the biggest army wins can be supported in today's economy or litigious environment.
Q: Makes sense! It's always a good idea to know what your bottom-line goal is, so you can measure results! Let's talk a little about prospecting. How do you think that has changed, or what do you think brokers can do differently in a changing market?
A: Again, I go back to the need to ask yourself the right questions and really be committed to finding meaningful answers. How many agents are on your hot list? How hot are they, really? How many agents need to be called or contacted this week? What is your follow-up system? What is your sign-up ratio from prospect to recruit? Where are your most successful recruits coming from? What is the difference between web-based leads and targeted geographic leads?
The shifting economy requires brokers to be very targeted and systematic in their business efforts. Cost-effective contact management and career event coordination is essential. I've always been a big fan of doing your homework. If you know the answers to the questions above, you can develop a plan to realize your goals. If you don't, you can be wasting time and money and never really be able to put your finger on the pulse of your results.
Q: We've talked in the past about online strategies gone awry. Can you share some of that with our readers?
A: I recommend that companies as a whole-and certainly individual agents and recruiters-rethink their online strategies. We've discussed this at length in our monthly Teleclasses and during our think tank sessions at the Recruiting Network Conference. You would be amazed at how many corporate websites still have contact info for agents and managers who are long gone. That's like handing leads to your competitors. But more common are large sites that don't have management or agent photos, bios or contact information. Sometimes you will even see captions like "camera shy," "out showing property" or some other excuse for being unprepared. This tells recruiters that the company is fair game, because it simply doesn't comprehend what it takes to recruit and sell in this market. If you have a site like that, change it today!
Everyone in the business should know that 90% of consumers today start looking and deciding on who they will work with online. Forget the fact that your competitors may be making the same mistakes you are. Take a look at the realities of the market from a fresh perspective. Let's pretend that, instead of a real estate company, you are managing a grocery store. Imagine rows of empty shelves where there should be bread, canned goods, dairy and produce. Would you allow your vendors' stock people to leave your shelves empty? Would people come back if they didn't find what they were looking for the first time?
Your website is your "store" where people can shop 24/7. Imagine what both agents and consumers expect to find when they visit your store. Make it interesting, add links, and sell both your company and the community. Give your agents and managers a personality. If some agents aren't prepared to do business online, list them as "offline agents," and link them to the relocation department to handle the referrals. Don't tolerate a single empty space in your store. Set standards for your associates, and let them know what you expect from the professionals working at your organization:
1. Have a professional photo taken, with an appropriate background and apparel. (Consider the photos you see of the agent on the ski slopes marketing to prospects in South Florida!) Professionalism counts!
2. Fill out a brief biography with pertinent business and personal information. Make sure the bio focuses on customer benefits rather than industry terms such as GRI, CRB, E-Pro, etc.
3. Include current contact information, including phone, web address, email, etc.
If your store is empty, not only will you put off a host of consumers looking to buy or sell a house in your market, but you also run the risk of turning away mega-agents who are looking to move to an organization that embodies standards, professionalism and results.
Q: How do you know which agents are serious about staying in the business and which ones need to move on?
A: Now is the time to make attitude adjustments and weed out your nonproductive agents. It's a crime to watch people starve in your successful office. Tell everyone in your office that they must have a budget and a marketing and business plan-not only for survival, but also to take existing market share from those who entered the industry for all the wrong reasons.
Set measurable standards within your firm or office. Concentrate on business-generating activities that get results, and be fair and consistent when holding people accountable. Raise the bar for criteria and expectations. Don't allow the poison of bad-market speak, office politics and/or apathy to drag your productive agents down. Good agents succeed in every market.
Q: What do you advise brokers, agents and recruiters to include in their budgets and marketing and business plans?
A: Everyone needs to know what they are selling and who is buying it. Sometimes that gets lost as both agents and management make their own way through the market maze. Every company should set graphic and editorial standards. Make sure your associates are truthful, consistent and well within professional boundaries. Don't try to "sell yourselves" to be something you're not. In other words, don't advertise your office as the #1 Real Estate Company in Texas if you have one office, two agents and zero market share.
Dig in, and task your associates to market themselves as the best at what THEY do. Maybe they aren't #1 in the state, but they are in a certain subdivision, market segment or property type. They might specialize in helping new buyers, seniors or people who speak another language or have expertise in selling homes with spas. Tell them to find their niche, and claim it!
While searching the internet in the hopes of adopting a dog, I found an agent in Tucson who markets to dog lovers and artists. She advertises to dog lovers by appearing on pet websites and visiting dog parks, pet supermarkets and groomers. To indulge her other interest, she attends art shows in her farm area.
Trey Zipper, a RE/MAX agent in Ft. Myers, Florida, has a master's degree from Harvard. He only sells waterfront properties in a defined market area and shows multi-million-dollar mansions from his yacht! If someone wants to see a mega-mansion across the street from the water, he refers them to another agent.
Take a page from the book Good to Great, and simply be the best in the world at one thing. Recruit people-with passion and purpose-and you will succeed beyond measure.
Q: What should brokers do to compete in the future? How can they identify new trends and methods?
A: Agents are always ahead of the market. Study what successful agents are doing in your market and at retreats and conferences. Get your agents and managers involved in your own problem-solving think tanks. Determine what the public needs now or what they will need in the next five years. How can you help people save their homes from foreclosure, remain in them until they can no longer care for themselves or afford their first home? What can agents and brokers do to make a difference in today's market? What are we missing that will help us get ahead faster when things turn around?
In the early 90s, Peter Hunt from Hunt Realty paid a young computer whiz to create a voice mail system from scratch. Such systems were not available off the shelf at that time. Peter presented his ideas on how to use it for recruiting at one of my first conferences. I loved how it would save agents time and eliminate the bad handwritten messages that the low producers took during floor time. The naysayers said that agents wouldn't want "voice mail jail." There were a lot of agents who took a while to come around, but now there are many who would never think about joining an office without this option. The same thing happened when MLS books went out of print, smoking was banned from offices, and computers and agent websites became commonplace. Some saw opportunity, others fought unwanted change.
Today's innovators are buying domain names in the names of top agents. Others are buying names of towns (if any are left), subdivisions and property addresses. As an agent, I sold the several properties in my farm four to six times each. What if I owned all of those domain names now? Would it be worth the investment in the future? It would if I was selling high-end waterfront properties or upscale dog-friendly condos. Agents will come and go, so find the ones who plan to stay for the duration, and brainstorm what real estate will look like when we show homes by boat and computer. Take the challenge, capture valuable information, and put yourself in the real estate company of the future.
Baby boomers are reaching 50 at lightning speed. Yet few real estate professionals have created a viable exit strategy for their book of business. What happens when they retire? How much valuable data will be lost forever in the transition? Capture, at the very least, the transaction information for every listing and sale that comes through your office. Encourage your agents to systematically grow their businesses and keep close tabs on their BusinessBASETM, or sphere of influence. With smart recordkeeping, consistent marketing and savvy skills, those agents will have true saleable assets, as opposed to those who spend 30+ years in the business and walk away with nothing to sell.
Q: Thanks for your great insight! Do you have any parting words to share with our mutual clients across the nation?
A: Our market is going through tremendous changes, and we all need to do the same. To stay on top of your game, you need to:
· Be forward in your thinking.
· Be diligent about keeping records and databases clean and protected.
· Tap into recruiting, marketing and sales information from other fields.
• Find a mentor to challenge both your thinking and your results. Our members learn a tremendous amount from each other by participating in our yearly conference think tanks and monthly Teleclasses. Why? Because we are not afraid to share information across company and franchise lines. We identify problems and seek solutions that give members an advantage.
This seems so easy, but it takes innovative people to recognize innovative ideas. What if the fabled emperor was wearing clothes, but his ancient advisors failed to recognize the technology used to create invisible microfibers that could ward off cannonballs? Worse, what if the salesman failed to relate the strategic benefits of the new concept? History would have been changed. The moral of this story is: You can create new results when you make it a habit to look for solutions any place you can find them. Improve yourself, your company, your market and the industry. Find ways to constantly improve your methods and your product.
Now go be brave! Check and double-check your systems. Hold your company and your agents to a higher standard. Boldly seek the market share lost by competition that has succumbed to industry changes. And use smart, forward thinking in your approach to building the best possible team and organization.
Thank you, Carol, for sharing your intuitive experience with all of us. I know you join me in wishing everyone great prosperity in the coming year.
JULIE ESCOBAR: Julie is Director of Corporate and Convention Marketing for ProspectsPLUS! and has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the real estate industry. This published author, poet and mother of three continuously provides fresh ideas, products and tools for the talented ProspectsPLUS! sales and training team and its incredible network of valued clients. Call 800.287.5710 today to find out how a ProspectsPLUS! Account Executive can teach your sales team to skyrocket production with a free, results-achieving Master Marketing MeetingTM! You're also invited to learn from our tips, techniques and proven marketing tools at www.prospectsplus.com.
CAROL JOHNSON: Carol is President of The Recruiting Network and publisher of The Recruiting Pipeline website, the real estate industry's leading source for strategic recruiting resources. She is the author of The Recruiting Revolution in Real Estate and a leading authority on recruiting systems, products and services. Her 2008 conference is planned for April 16-18 in Scottsdale, AZ. Call 800.562.6593, visit , or email Carol@recruitingpipeline.com for more information.
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