Good Idea/Bad Idea: Recruiting Real Estate Agents

Recruiting real estate agents: while very necessary, also very difficult. Whether you’ve been in the business for quite a few years now, or only a few months, you have definitely caught on to just how difficult this task can be. Brokers have pondered over the best methods on how to recruit real estate agents to their brokerages for decades now. Over the years a few tactics have definitely proven to get impressive results while others have completely failed. 

As millennials are taking over the workforce, and technology advances past what we ever thought possible, the industry as a whole has changed. What else has changed? The recruitment methods that are most effective. It is important to embrace these changes instead of resisting them.

Good Ideas Of Recruiting Real Estate Agents

Which, if implemented correctly, will allow you to stay on top of the latest industry trends. As well as be prepared for the ones to come. We have also listed for you the…not so good ideas of agent recruiting. These are practices to be very cautious if using. They have the power to do damage to your agent recruitment campaign, as well as your brokerage. 

Utilizing Social Media To Recruit Real Estate Agents

Where is best to advertise for recruiting real estate agents? Social media, of course. Social media has become a major influencer in all aspects of our everyday lives, including work. Due to social media, the real estate industry has completely changed. You are now able to do lead generation, advertising, customer relations building, and client services all over free platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. With that being said, there is no reason that you should not have an up to date, professional, and interactive page on every major social media platform. 

Agents Are Looking At Your Social Media Pages In-depth

If an agent is interested in joining your brokerage (or received any recruiting material from you) the first thing they will do is look up your brokerage on social media. If you don’t want to lose agents from the very beginning, you will need social media pages that are sure to impress. The content and overall appearance of your pages should be held to a high standard. They will most likely be judged. Not only by all of your agents, and potential agents but by your clients and potential clients. They will all draw conclusions about your brokerage from those pages. Meaning that keeping them have the power to substantially help or hurt your brokerage depending on how you manage them. 

Use Social Media To Employ Purposeful Agent Recruitment Tactics

Not just brokerage and agent promotion. For example, your agents can join real estate focused Facebook groups and post recruitment material in them. Or, If your brokerage has a great mentoring program you can use your page to ask questions. Such as

• Are you looking for one on one mentorship?
• Bring up topics of continued education opportunities in the field of real estate
• Engage your members by asking them to “Comment below for more information.”

A post that is worded like this is interactive which is good for your page. It gets you the emails of some potential agents and promotes something unique about your brokerage. Therefore, making it an agent recruitment tactic that is fast, easy, and very effective.

If you are using a real estate agent recruiting CRM like Brokerkit that has landing pages for capturing candidates as recruiting leads, then you should also consider adding links from your social media profiles to your landing page. 

Recruiting Real Estate Agents Face to Face

Talk to potential agents face to face, or have agents associated with your brokerage talk to them face to face. It is of high importance. It allows them to feel more comfortable and confident with your brokerage, thus making them more apt to join it. Give potential agents the opportunity to experience your brokerage’s culture first hand. It makes them feel welcome and valued at your brokerage. If you’re contemplating where is best to advertise for recruiting real estate agents, don’t rule out in-person options. You can introduce prospects to your brokerage and team by hosting a happy hour for your current agents, and potential agents.

Create A Relaxed, Stress-free Environment Where:

• People can talk
• Potential agents can ask questions
• Allow them to truly see what the connection, and atmosphere is like at your brokerage

You could also hold educational sessions. Allow potential agents to be able to come and hear some of the expertise you and your agents hold. A lunch and learn is a good example of a face to face interaction opportunity. Regardless of the creative event you come up with, you and your agents should be promoting them on all social media platforms. Get the word out!

The More, The Merrier

The more you promote the event, the more people will show up. After all, isn’t that the whole point? Publishing posts about these events on social media keeps your posts up to date on the activities of your brokerage. This also shows potential agents, that may be scrolling through, that you have a supportive brokerage culture. That you value in-person interaction between all current and potential agents.

Promote The Uniqueness Of Your Brokerage

When determining your approach on how to recruit real estate agents to your brokerage, promoting is what sets your brokerage apart from the rest. Hence why it should be at the forefront of your plan. What makes you different? Why should an agent leave their brokerage and join yours? Are you dedicated to ensuring all your agents have access to the latest technological advancements in the field? Or perhaps you provide the ability to use transaction coordinators for all your agents’ transactions. Do you offer opportunities for your agents to attend educational seminars in your area? Whatever it may be at your brokerage that you can capitalize on- find it and use it. 

Agents Want To Know That They Will Be Supported

They want to know that you provide opportunities to improve as agents. Agents want to know that they can continuously increase the revenue they bring in. Identifying this objective that agents have, and then determining how your brokerage can help potential agents reach this objective should be at the center of your recruitment campaign. Using this method when recruiting real estate agents and in real estate agent recruiting ads, spotlights your brokerage’s strengths, and immediately answers the question that all agents considering your brokerage will have: “Why you?”

Step Up Your Email Templates 

Maybe it’s a little old fashioned. But using email and email templates for agent recruitment is a well-tested method. Email templates should definitely be a component of your agent recruitment plan, but not be the entirety. They still need a decent amount of attention to make them effective. Follow these three tips in order to amp up your email templates, and increase your response rate.

Be Personal

Address the agent you are attempting to recruit in your real estate agent recruiting ads. This will be tedious and possibly a little time-consuming. Obviously it depends on how exactly you use email to recruit, but it is worth it. It is also a good idea to include one or two personal facts about an agent to show you did your homework on them. This fact can simply be mentioning where they currently work, or that they had a great sales record last year. Including the agent’s name, and a personal fact will make them feel more valued. More so than if they would be receiving a mass spam email containing your recruitment materials. Leading to a higher response rate, and potentially a higher recruitment rate. 

Focus On The Subject Line

The subject line can make or break your real estate agent recruiting ads. Real estate agents get tons of emails every day. They have very little time to sift through every single one of them. Therefore, you need a subject line that will catch their attention. Make them feel as if they need to read it. Pique someone’s curiosity with a creative subject line, or focus on utility and right off the bat state why they should join your brokerage. Remember, you are very limited in characters though, so make every one of them count. 

Ask Them To Have A Personal Conversation With You

Making the ask to talk in person or over the phone is an essential component of any recruiting email. You are much more likely to actually recruit a person if you are able to have an in-person conversation with them. They will be able to get a sense of you, your business, your brokerage’s culture, and more. Thus allowing them to get a much better idea of your brokerage, and how joining it could benefit them, than a concise email can provide. 

Stay Up To Date On Technological Advancements 

It is not necessary for your agents to have access to every new platform or piece of technology that is created for the industry. However, you don’t want your brokerage to operate on archaic technology. This will only frustrate your agents, clients, and any potential agent who is considering joining your brokerage.

Archaic Technology Will Send Millennial Agents Running For The Hills

Along with any other experienced or successful agents. Most of the technology that has been created for the real estate industry makes doing the job of a real estate agent much more efficient and it is a great tool for how to recruit real estate agents. Give your agents access to a decent variety of this technology. It will only allow them to be better agents, generating more revenue for themselves and your brokerage. 

Technology Can Be Used As An Incentive For Agents To Join

It also is a recruitment tactic all on its own. Brokerkit offers a free demo for its agent recruitment software. With Brokerkit’s technology, you are able to

• Go through calls
• Texts
• Make appointments
• Update notes
• Research candidates, and so much more, right from your phone

It acts as your one-stop agent recruiting stop, and it is all right on your phone for easy access. This technology makes growing your team easier than ever before.

Not So Good Ideas When Recruiting Real Estate Agents

Only Using Paid Advertising To Recruit Real Estate Agents

When recruiting agents, you can choose between organic and paid advertising promotions for your brokerage. Most agent recruitment plans have a mixture of both, relying more heavily on one more than the other. Paid advertising is pretty simple and straightforward. It consists of any agent recruitment material that you paid to have promoted.

This Can Be:

• Ads on Facebook
• Ads on Google
• Sponsoring a booth at a local event

Paid advertising is fast and directly connects you with your intended audience. Making it a great tool to utilize when recruiting real estate agents. Paid advertising will not help build, and establish your reputation though. Your reputation and the perception of your company is everything. It is very important that more than just paid advertisements are incorporated into your agent recruitment campaign. In contrast to paid advertising, organic advertising consists of using techniques that naturally promote a positive message for your brokerage.

For Example, Using Social Media To Promote:

• Blog posts your agents write
• Hosting a webinar for potential agents to attend
• Hosting an event where agents are able to talk face to face

These agent recruiting strategies are necessary to implement for your recruitment campaign. They are more cost-effective than paid advertising, as well as more effective in many cases. Wondering where is best to advertise for recruiting real estate agents? It depends! Implement a strategy that is diverse and casts a wide net.

Hire A Lone Wolf Agent 

While it may seem tempting at the time, hiring a lone wolf agent will end up eventually hurting your business. Most brokerages have a team player atmosphere to them and you definitely don’t want to lose that. That atmosphere is what a majority of agents are looking for when they decide they want to join a brokerage. They want to be around people who are willing to support them and help each other to be successful. Hiring a lone wolf, when recruiting real estate agents, will disrupt that culture. It has the potential to make future hiring difficult depending on the size and agent interaction opportunities in your brokerage. 

Holding Off On Brokerage Updates 

Making updates to your brokerage should always be a high priority of yours. This is referring to updates in all aspects of your business. If multiple agents are requesting a change in brokerage policy or practices that should be heavily considered. When technology is released, be on top of it, and determine if paying for it is worth it for your agents. Updating your brokerage and making it a better place to work and succeed will always be the most effective way to recruit real estate agents.

Agents talk, and your reputation among them is of high importance when attempting to recruit them. So don’t let your brokerage live in the ’80s even if you may love it that way. It’s time to ask yourself, what is your real estate recruiting missing? You want real estate agents to join your brokerage for years to come and allow it to survive? You must change with the times.