Recruiting in a Changing Market

An interview with Carol Royse, a broker with Keller Williams Realty East Valley,

Tempe, Arizona

By John Voket

What are some of the methods you use to find new or top-quality, experienced agents?

My team is comprised of two listing specialists and seven buyer agents as well as five full-time administrative professionals. We are always looking at agents we do transactions with, and if we are impressed, we try to set up a meeting with them to see if they fit with our team, mission statement and values.

Brian Buffini has taught us that we can take a new or experienced agent and quickly show them how to turn his or her entire sphere of influence into clients using the Buffini system. This gets them developing business much more quickly. We try to help agents take better advantage of their databases by incorporating scripts and dialogs into their conversations so that they immediately begin orienting contacts to generate referrals for them. I also show experienced recruits that 54 percent of our business comes from our database?those are powerful numbers for recruits.

What training programs do you have in place?

We are currently preparing to become a 100 Days to Greatness? training team, and we plan to make this training a requirement for being part of our team. Since the late 1990s, we’ve been requiring that all recruits go to the Turning Point RetreatTM, as well. Brian also holds a live conference call once a month and we receive a CD of that call. I hold monthly professional development workshops using the CD and follow-up questions, sent by Buffini & Company, to make the conference call a teaching experience for the whole team.

How are you meeting the changing needs of today’s agents in the current marketplace?

We’re in a transitioning market that is shifting from a strong sellers? market into a buyers? market. When we were in a brisk sellers? market, we still did a lot of business with existing clients because we were so proficient at working Brian’s system. Our past clients had experience with our team and our high level of service. By consistently staying in touch with them, it was a natural progression for them to call on us when it was time for them to sell or buy real estate.

Another important aspect of Brian’s training is increasing your average sales price. I am pleased to say that I have increased my average sales price by $200,000 in the last two years. Our team members have increased their average sales price up over $100,000.

What does your team do to successfully recruit by referral?

We put the word out to all our partner title and mortgage companies, repeatedly telling them we’re looking for talented people. We have not had any team members leave the team in the last two years, and those that have left the team have gone on to develop their own teams and grow their businesses. We encourage growth this way, and the Buffini training makes high levels of production much easier. We now have those agents who have left our team referring recruits to us that they encounter in their businesses. We retain our team members because they are getting great training and making money. As long as their needs are being met, they have no reason or desire to leave the team

Real Estate Hot Topics

Profit Center: Real Estate Tips, Training & Events

RISMedia Solutions

RISMedia on the Go

Today's Featured Listing