A successful company relies heavily on the competence and effectiveness of its people. As an owner or manager hiring the right people falls squarely on your shoulders. Unfortunately for most, sifting through resumes, scheduling interviews and working to find the perfect recruit can be costly and time consuming.
In order to maximize your time and identify top prospects without hours and hours of research, you must add an actionable recruiting plan to your overall business plan. This ensures that you clearly articulate the points of differentiation that your agents have at their fingertips as a result of working with your brokerage.
Begin to formulate your strategic approach by incorporating three new habits into your daily routine. Each are designed to adjust your mindset so that new recruiting practices take shape and resolutions become permanent behaviors that feed long-term business success.
1. Commit the Time
At least one to two hours every day needs to be devoted to your talent attraction activities with much of this time dedicated to making contact (actually speaking) with the agent prospects on your list. Call it your “Power Hour” and eliminate distractions.
Hard work and commitment always trump talent and practice makes perfect. Some of the most successful companies and managers in our network report spending 60% of their time focused on talent attraction activities.
2. Never Stop Prospecting
The old saying stays true: don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. You may need as many as 100 agent prospects in your recruitment pipeline to make one hire!
Check the MLS “hot sheet” daily, ask your agents for referrals, always call the co-op agent, utilize social networking sites such as LinkedIn and then get face-to-face by leaving the office and networking whenever you can. Be a true “ambassador” for your company and get out and meet the people.
3. Do the Follow Up & Stay in Touch
It can take some time to develop the right relationship with the agents in your pipeline, and for them to trust that joining you and your company is the right choice for their careers.
This means that building value and staying in touch over time are critical to long term success. Don’t give up. The best follow-up is personal, involves a series of emails, phone calls and other touches, such as a subscription to the BHG Magazine, real estate business tips or simply a birthday wish. Map out a stay in touch plan that you can follow consistently with every prospect you meet.
How can you incorporate these tips in to your recruiting plan?
Allison is the Talent Attraction Coach at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
