In a podcast from the archive, Dave Mashburn reminds us how high performing athletes achieve remarkable success.

The ranks of amateurs are filled with individuals who develop a promising new technique, practice it for a few weeks, find it doesn’t pay off during the competition, and then go back to the drawing board to make modifications. They do this over and over again and go nowhere.

High-performing professionals discovered what performance science and sports science have now made clear.

To be truly successful, you must construct a plan and stick to it.

And then, just execute.

Forget about everything else that you can’t control. Just keep executing. And don’t go for detours.

Dave tells the inspiring story of Katrin Tanja Davidsdóttir who competed in CrossFit’s world championship from Iceland.

The first year she didn’t place in the competition but felt like she had a good plan and was making incremental progress.

She stuck with her plan, executed better than her competitors, and four years later became CrossFit’s “Fittest Woman on Earth.”

Many recruiters and hiring managers fall into the amateur performance trap—constantly tweaking but never really gaining measurable progress.

High-performing recruiters create a great plan, and then, like Katrin, out-execute everyone else.

Over the last five years, how many jobs have you had?
 
According to a global recruitment study, 90% of the working population had three or fewer jobs during the last 5 years.
 
More specifically:
 
47% of individuals have stayed in the same job
43% of individuals had 2 – 3 jobs
10% of individuals had more than 3 jobs
 
When evaluating an experienced agent recruiting prospect, always ask yourself:
 
When was the last time this person changed companies?
 
This is important information because a prospect’s chances of making a change are much higher if they have:

1. Demonstrated a willingness to change positions (had at least 1 job change        in their recent work history).
2. Been in their current role for more than 2 years. 

If both of these conditions are met, your probability of making a hire is much better.
 
As a bonus, you’ll also increase your chances of retaining the newly hired agent for the next few years because additional position changes become less probable.

Many Recruiting Insight readers are owners of single-office brokerages, leaders of real estate teams, or managers of offices that need to grow.

If you’re in one of these positions, I think you’ll find Sarah Zdeb’s story both inspiring and insightful.

Sarah is the founder and CEO of JPAR Carolina Living.  

She started her franchise from scratch and grew it into a multi-office company with more than 100 agents.

And this year, she is on track to grow by a net 50 agents again.

This kind of growth is what most real estate entrepreneurs have in mind when they start a brokerage, and today Sarah is going to share some of her secrets on how she made this happen.

Also, near the end of our discussion, she describes an innovative process she’s developed to consistently generate experienced agent recruiting referrals.  

It’s something you can quickly add to your recruiting process and start generating referrals.

Let’s jump in—we have a lot cover today!

Watch Now

In a recent podcast, author Toby Goodman revealed a small change in language he uses to get more referrals for his podcast.
 
He used to ask: Do you know anyone who would be a good fit for our podcast?
 
He now asks: Who do you know who would be a good fit for our podcast?
 
The difference in the words is small, but the second question garners a much better response.
 
Toby explains why:
 
“Do you know anyone”… is opened-end and quite overwhelming.
 
It likely will produce the respectful response: “Well, I’m not sure, I’ll think about it.”
 
“Who do you know who”…will likely move your guest into searching their mind for just one person who might be a fit for you.
 
You’ve given them a specific and more doable task to accomplish that will result in immediate positive feedback (i.e. they’ll be thought of as a connector).
 
When you’re trying to change the behavior of another person, the expert communicators know that how and what they say matters.

Brain expert Dr. Shane Creado identifies the most common causes of mediocre performance in today’s workforce.

It’s what I call behavioral ADHD, and it happens because we have so many things going on.

We have work e-mail, personal e-mail, text messages, social media, and dozens of other distractions competing for our time and attention.

How do we naturally prioritize these things?

We tend to avoid the things that are more complicated and require more effort.

And we get really excited about the things that provide instant gratification.

By default, we’ll typically procrastinate the things that really need to get done because they are not appealing to us.

In essence, the brain will naturally follow the path of least resistance.

How do you overcome behavioral ADHD?

Dr. Creado consults with some of the highest performers in the world, and offers this simple prescription:

1.  Daily investing in your brain health—nutrition, exercise, sleep, meditation/prayer.

2.  Find or develop a system for eliminating distractions.

Because recruiting is complicated, requires more attention, and depends upon sustained effort, those suffering from behavioral ADHD will fail miserably.

Take Dr. Creado’s medicine and give yourself a chance to win.

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn explains the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

With extrinsic motivation, an individual’s primary goals are things such as status, wealth, and physical attractiveness.

These are elusive, never-ending goals typically associated with instant gratification, stress-avoidance, pleasure, comfort, and passive entertainment.

Research demonstrates that this motivation leads to depression, narcissism, and anxiety.

With intrinsic motivation, an individual’s primary drive is engaging in an activity for the sake of the activity, for its greater purpose, and how it serves others.

It has a bias for principal-based actions, learning, and contribution.  Intrinsically motivated individuals tend to perform their work with dedication and commitment.

Research demonstrates that this motivation must be constantly cultivated in order to be maintained.

With such a stark difference between the two types of motivation, it’s an important topic to cover during both interviews and follow-up.

Hiring a bunch of extrinsically motivated agents can lead to short-term success, but it comes with a price.

Once you gain permission to follow-up with the recruiting prospect, your follow-up communication must be perceived as helpful.
 
How do you help a person who is not working for you?
 
One way is to educate them on how to solve their problems.
 
Most individuals welcome assistance from someone who understands their challenges and provides information on helping them find solutions.
 
If you did a good job of defining your ideal prospect, you’ll likely discover your prospects have a common set of problems.
 
For example, your ideal recruiting prospect working for a competitor might have problems such as not having enough leads, trouble getting listing appointments, struggling with time management, or responding to the changing market conditions.
 
Make your own list. Try to find at least 10 problems your ideal prospects have in common.
 
Next, write a drip email for each of the problems and queue them for sending in your CRM.
 
Reference the emails (and the issues they address) in follow-up conversations, phone calls, and text messages.
 
To your recruiting prospects, it always appears you’re working on their problems.
 
Who wouldn’t welcome that kind of follow-up?

After 10 straight weeks of helpful content, the Recruiting Insight Podcast crew took a much-deserved break this week for the 4th of July holiday.

It’s a great time for you to take a breather too and get caught up on some of the podcasts you may have missed over the past few weeks.

Whether you’re the leader of a large brokerage trying to optimize your recruiting model, a first-level manager looking for better ways to prospect, a full-time recruiter wondering how to meet your quota, or a team leader trying to escape the “danger zone,” some of the best leaders and practitioners in real estate share their secrets during the Recruiting Insight interviews.

Pick an episode you missed, and we’ll back next with more new content..

Watch Now

Sometimes research seems to be contradictory.

A recruiting study conducted by Madgex found that 86% of individuals plan to stay in their current job for six months or more.

And yet, the same study revealed that almost 90% of workers are open to new opportunities whilst being employed.

What does this tell us?

It reminds us that recruiting inertia is real, but your recruiting prospects are always looking for something a little better.

This hope for something better is nearly universal, and it’s the weak spot in the defenses of every recruiting prospect.

As a recruiter and hiring manager, you should frequently remind yourself of this paradox.

Before making a cold call to a new prospect, writing a following-up email to someone who doesn’t seem very interested, or performing some other unpleasant tasks in the recruiting process, say to yourself:

I know I’m going to feel some resistance, but 90% of my recruiting prospects are open to new opportunities.

This mindset will help you overcome the recruiting inertia that often holds you back.

As we head into the holiday weekend, I wanted to pass on a story I’ve often shared with my coaching clients.

Years ago, there were four football players who were involved in a boating accident in Florida.

The boat capsized in treacherous seas, and only one of the four men survived.

The survivor later reported that two of his teammates gave up hope and quit fighting to survive within a few hours of the boat capsizing. The third teammate eventually took his life jacket off and tried to swim to shore.

The individual who survived did so by remaining steadfast and clinging to the capsized boat.

In hindsight, the men who died made some really poor choices.

Why did they behave this way?

According to researchers, when humans experience a high level of fear and stress, their central nervous system switches over to a high alert system that causes us to stop thinking rationally, and either fight, run, or give up.

It’s important to recognize this may be happening to some of your agents as the accumulated stress of the market changes weighs on them.

Be on the lookout for those on your team who are most vulnerable.

Hope is the antidote for those who are struggling to see a bright future.

And hope is often kindled by someone who offers a kind word and shows empathy in the struggle.

A reader recently asked: 

When I follow-up with my recruiting prospects, I feel like I’m annoying them. How can I be persistent without being a pest?

We become annoying to others when our overtures are unexpected and/or unhelpful.

The first problem is easy to solve, the second issue is more challenging.

When you’re near the end of the interview, ask for permission to contact the prospect after the interview.

Try something like this:

Not sure about you, but I feel like we’ve had a great conversation today.

[pause and wait for them to agree with you]

Would it be OK if I occasionally followed-up with you to cover some of the issues we didn’t get to today?

[most people say yes]

Do you prefer text messaging or email?

What email is best for you?

Asking permission to follow-up changes the way recruiting prospects view your follow-up information—it’s now expected and has a better chance of being appreciated.

There has been much debate over the years on the best way to structure the real estate recruiting function in a brokerage.
 
Some leaders believe it’s best to have first-level managers heavily involved in the recruiting process. 

After all, wouldn’t a recruiting prospect want to connect with the manager with whom they’ll be working?
 
Others believe a centralized approach is more effective.  

Doesn’t it make sense that results would be better if a recruiting team was exclusively focused on the difficult task of recruiting?
 
We won’t settle the debate today, but we will give you a peek into one of best run centralized recruiting organizations in the country.
 
Jeremy Lambert and his recruiting team at Your Castle Real Estate recruit over 300 agents per year, and he’ll share what he’s learned from leading a centralized recruiting group over the last decade.
 
If you ever thought of centralizing your recruiting function, you won’t want to miss today’s episode.

Watch Now

Everyone loves a quick recruiting hit.

You make a call, find someone who is on the verge of leaving their current brokerage, and you welcome them into your arms.

There are two problems with this strategy—it rarely happens, and you often regret hiring the agent who you onboarded under these circumstances.

It’s better to hire slowly.

For new agents, connecting with someone deeper in the pipeline allows you to evaluate their performance before you make a hiring decision.

Do they follow-through on their commitments? Are they progressing through licensing school at a reasonable pace? Do they respond to your offers for help and support? Are they grateful?

The answers are clues to the likelihood of their success.

For experienced agents, high potential individuals usually don’t make hasty decisions about their careers. They’re constantly asking:

What’s holding me back? How do I capture more opportunities? What changes do I need to make in the next year to reach my goals? Who is performing better than me, and what can I learn from them?

Answers to these questions don’t come quickly. They emerge over time from the individuals whom they respect and trust.

The best recruiters and hiring managers know this is the most effect hiring cadence.

In response, they build large pipelines of high-quality prospects who are at various stages of plodding towards thoughtful change.

They hire slow, and they hire better.

In recruiting, the second impression is usually more important than the first impression—especially with new agent prospects.

The first impression happens when a candidate interacts with your brand and participates in your application process.

The second impression typically happens when the recruiter or hiring manager first connects with the candidate via phone or text message.

The best second impressions should be characterized by surprise and awe.

Here are some surprise/awe statements an impressed recruiting prospects might make:

Surprise:

Wow, I’m surprised you got back to me so quickly.

I have the characteristics of the most successful real estate agents? Tell me more…

I had no idea that many of today’s high-producing agents got into real estate during the last downturn? Why is that?

Awe:

I had no idea the top real estate agents made so much money—that’s remarkable!

You’ll personally coach me on how to make the transition to owning a real estate business?

Agents on your team close 5 times what the average agent closes in our market? How do you do this?

If your prospects are responding with these types of statements and questions, you’re building some much-needed momentum for the rest of the recruiting process.

If they’re not responding in this way, your value proposition may need some retooling.

If you’re feeling uneasy about the market and wondering if it makes sense to continue recruiting, you should read Joe Rand’s article published in Inman earlier this week.
 
No, I’m serious. If you haven’t read this article yet, stop what you’re doing now and invest a few minutes to gain some much-needed perspective to what’s really happening in most real estate companies.
 
Joe’s point is simple: The negative news you’re reading is really based on a very small subset of companies.
 
More specifically, layoffs have been announced in 18 companies that have one or more of these three characteristics:

1. They’re publicly traded real estate companies with cratering stock valuations.
2. They’re mortgage and title companies heavily dependent on refinance business.
3. They’re real estate start-ups with unproven business models.

If you’re not in this group, the hustle to find, engage and hire the talented agents continues. Joe puts it this way:
 
Yes, the housing market is cooling, but “cooling” is not the same as “cold….” There’s a lot of meat on this bone.
 
No, we won’t match the record-setting years in 2020 and 2021.
 
But the volume of real estate sold in 2022 will probably be higher than in 2019, or 2018, or 2017, or probably any other year going back to the Big Bang. That’s a pretty good year!
 
And to capture these opportunities, you’ll need agents who can pivot, learn quickly, and find new ways to meet the needs of their clients.
 
You can either train, coach, and mentor your existing agents to make these adjustments or you can hire new ones who are better able to adapt.
 
Most organizations continue to do both.
 
This we do know—those paralyzed by fear will be left behind.