A few months ago, we finished up a home renovation that required some bedrooms to be shuffled around in our home.
 
As a side benefit, it turned into catalyst for my wife to clean out her closet and reevaluate her clothing strategy.
 
I’m noticing my clothes and shoes fall into two categories—the things I love and the things I like.
 
I tend to wear the things I love most of the time and I rarely wear the things I like.
 
From now on, I’m only going to buy clothes and shoes I love.
 
Surprisingly, she has stuck to this commitment.  
 
She sends a lot more stuff back to Amazon, and I’ve seen her come back from several shopping trips empty-handed saying: I just didn’t find anything I really loved today. 
 
I would encourage you to approach new agent hiring in the same manner.
 
NAR just reported that 2021 saw the greatest one-year increase in individuals entering the real estate market, and the NAR membership is also at an all-time high.
 
As the volume of available agents increases, you must be more selective.
 
After each agent interview, ask yourself: 
 
Is this an agent who has a high chance of quickly growing into a top 10% producer in our office?
 
Is this an agent who truly has the characteristics needed to succeed (large organic SOI, money saved to launch their business, demonstrated grit and resilience, etc.)?
 
Is this an agent who I’m going to love working with in the future?
 
If you’re not able to answer ‘yes’ to all three of these questions, pass on this hire and wait for ones you love.

In one of my favorite posts from the archive, Dave Mashburn explains why your recruiting prospects often irrationally resist making a change.
 
The only time that we are comfortable with first steps and change is when we are young. 
 
We don’t mind falling a few times before learning to stand and walk. 
 
But as people get older, they resist change and become more attached to security and familiarity, even if we are bored or unhappy with the familiar. 
 
This doesn’t mean a person will never make changes, but it does mean that the changes being considered will usually be met with internal (and sometime irrational) defenses.
 
The defense follows a predictable pattern: self-activation leads to anxiety, and anxiety leads to defense. 
 
To make a change, a person must self-activate (‘I’ve been stuck at $2M in production for the last three years and need to try something different.’).
 
At the moment self-activation happens, your prospect will begin to experience anxiety.
 
And to fight off the anxiety, they’ll manufacture defenses.  
 
This means they’ll come up with a multitude of reasons they should no longer consider moving in the direction they were previously excited about considering. 
 
This is why the recruiting process is often filled with many fits and starts.
 
Hiring managers who are willing to be patient will eventually win-over some of the most defensive prospects.
 
But it takes time and gentle persistence.

If you’re frequently asking for recruiting referrals from your agents and other network contacts, you may find that some of your referral sources can’t think of anyone on the spot.
 
Your simple request:
 
Do you know anyone I should be talking to about joining your team?
 
May be met with a blank stare or a brush-off comment.
 
I can’t think of anyone but if someone comes to mind, I’ll let you know.
 
It may not be that they don’t want to help you, but many people get a little brain paralysis when they’re asked to pull information like this out of the air.
 
To initiate some additional thoughts, you may want to take the extra step of showing your referral contact a copy of your recruiting warm list.
 
I get it—it’s hard to think of agents on the fly. Do you happen to know anyone on this list? These are some of the agents I’m trying to connect with.
 
Seeing some names on a list sometimes jogs the memory of a referral source and it keeps the conversation going.
 
*Note: Today’s title is a line from the classic movie The Princess Bride. I would not recommend using Fezzik’s methodology with your referral sources!

Earlier this month, I suggested that you start looking at your office as a “business community” where agents go to get their professional needs met.
 
The value of your community depends upon how successfully you’re meeting the needs of those you hope to serve.
 
Since we all like big successes, it’s tempting to create a smorgasbord of services meeting the needs of as many agents as possible.
 
For most real estate offices, this is a mistake.
 
Why? Because the more choices you offer, the less performance you can deliver for each choice.
 
A better strategy is to get really good at something very specific.
 
For example, what if your office or team excelled at helping part-time agents transition to full-time?
 
And not just any part-time agent, but those who had been working 12 -24 months as an agent, had greater than 4 transactions their first year, and were willing to commit to a selling system.
 
The old business saying is true—the riches are in the niches.
 
Go create your niche.

In a post from the archive, Eric Barker explains why conscientiousness is so connected to success.
 
Conscientiousness is the fundamental character trait most closely tied to self-control and it tracks with nearly every type of success across your lifespan.
 
It makes you more money. Measured concurrently, emotionally stable and conscientious participants reported higher incomes and job satisfaction.
 
It gives you a better marriage. Our findings suggest that conscientiousness is the trait most broadly associated with marital satisfaction in long-wed couples.
 
It makes you healthier. Individuals who scored in the top 10% on conscientiousness were approximately 40% less likely to have metabolic deficiencies.
 
It helps you live longer. Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured in childhood, also turned out to be the best personality predictor of long life when measured in adulthood.
 
It makes you a better worker. Conscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success because it is strongly correlated to grit and curiosity.
 
If conscientiousness is such a powerful character trait, you should be on the lookout for it during your recruiting conversations and interviews.   
 
How do you recognize it? Here is a good definition:
 
Conscientiousness is the trait that denotes being thorough, careful, or vigilant; it implies a desire to do a task well.

It is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, and systematic, also including such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, self-organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for achievement. Conscientious individuals are generally hard working and reliable.
 
Doesn’t that sound like the description of the perfect agent? And the perfect manager?

In conjunction with Real Trends, I recently published a primer on how to build new recruiting habits.
 
The primer covers the topic in more detail than we normally address in Recruiting Insight.
 
As a quick overview, there are five important components for building new habits:
 
A Payoff: the clear and compelling payoff for making a change
 
Triggers: habits are activated by small events or stimuli
 
Micro-habits: change is more doable when it’s done in short and specific steps
 
Effective practice: to gain proficiency, each step must be practiced and measured
 
Plan for failure: failure and missteps are an inevitable part of building new habits–building a plan for reengaging when it happens keeps the overall mission moving
 
If you’re interested in learning more, shoot over to Real Trends and take a look.

When you’re in a recruiting dialog with a talented agent, it’s hard not to get too excited about the possibility of this agent joining your team.
 
While it’s important to let the prospect know you’re interested, when the individual senses you want it more than they do, something odd happens.
 
The prospect pulls back and puts up some barriers.
 
Why? It’s just what humans do when they feel they’re being pushed into a decision.
 
To avoid getting yourself into this situation, view your response along the interest spectrum.
 
At one end of the spectrum: You’re a disinterested third-party. (I don’t really care if you come to work here.)
 
At the other end of the spectrum: I REALLY want you to work here. (I’m focusing a lot of attention on your decision.)
 
The best hiring managers operate in the center of this spectrum. (Yes, I care, but if it is the right decision for you and me, it will happen.)
 
When you find yourself in this situation, ask yourself: Where am I along the interest spectrum?

I recently had a conversation with a client about the frustration she feels when a productive agent leaves her organization.
 
I never seem to get the honest answer on why they chose to leave. 
 
It’s always something like: “It’s not you, it’s me. I just need to make a change.”   And off they go.
 
This dialog reminds me of an article written in Forbes a few years ago by a consultant who did research on this topic.
 
Despite what your exiting employees tell you their reason for leaving, here are reasons they report during anonymous interviews.
 
    More than 40% don’t respect the person they report to.
    More than 50% say they have different values than their employer.
    More than 60% don’t feel their career goals are aligned with the plans their       employers have for them.
    More than 70% don’t feel appreciated or valued by their employer.
 
This may seem like a harsh report card, but it’s probably what most agents are experiencing when the thought of changing brokers sprouts in their minds.
 
It’s a mistake to focus on surface issues (splits, leads, tools, technology, etc.) at the end of the process. 
 
Successful leaders go upstream and address core issues.
 
They make sure agents are challenged, engaged, valued, and rewarded (emotionally, intellectually & financially)
 
Miss any of these critical areas, and it’s only a matter of time until they’ll start thinking of making a move.

First-level managers in the real estate industry have a difficult job.

They’re tasked with a wide swath of responsibilities, and they are often required to react to the urgent needs of their agents.
 
Proactive tasks (like recruiting) frequently get pushed to the bottom of the list and left undone.
 
It’s no secret that a constant focus on the urgent burns out managers and kills real estate offices.
 
So, how do you stay focused on the proactive tasks leading to long-term sanity and success?
 
Some people benefit from visual reminders to get them focused on the right priorities.
 
Let’s suppose you’ve made a commitment to dedicate 3 hours/week to proactive recruiting tasks (making calls, sending emails, conducting interviews, following-up on previous meetings, etc.)
 
To visualize the 3 hours, take 6 sticky notes and label them one through six and stick them on your desk.
 
Every time you complete 30-minutes of proactive recruiting work, remove one of the sticky notes.
 
When those uncompleted proactive tasks take on a physical form, it helps remind you of your commitments and what needs to be done to accomplish your goals.
 
This is a quick, low-cost accountability trick that works for some managers. Try it and see if it works for you.

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn reminds us that the most counterintuitive principle of interviewing is the discipline and art of listening well.
 
Listen more, talk less. This is the secret sauce needed to win a person over to you and your company.
 
Where do we get the impression that people will be impressed by us and decide to change their lives because of what we say, or how much we know? 
 
Know this: Only the most desperate candidates will be impressed by what you have to say, and the best candidates will probably be repelled.
 
So, what do candidates need? They need to be understood.
 
Everyone likes to be understood, but it is never more important than when a person is considering a massive life change, like the decision to become a realtor, or to change companies (or even buying a house for that matter).
 
You may begin to think that I am suggesting that we not “sell” our office or ourselves at all. I’m not. 
 
I am simply saying that you must first thoroughly understand the candidate’s story before you earn the right to speak into their lives. 
 
In other words, stop promoting and create an environment where attraction can sprout and grow.

The average male marathon runner finishes their race in 4 hours and 22 minutes, and the average female finishes in 4 hours and 47 minutes.

But some odd data emerges when researchers chart the finishing times of millions of runners over several decades.

A lot more people finish the race at 3:59 than 4:01.    

Why? When runners are close to an arbitrary goal, they push themselves at the end of the race to finish a few seconds earlier.

The same pattern exists at 3:30, 4:30, 5:00, etc. And to a lesser extent, the pattern shows up in 10-minutes increments, as well.

It’s no secret that many of us are motived by setting small goals and deadlines to help us stay on track.

But surprisingly, these goals can be arbitrary and still produce a motivational affect.

This is a great recruiting hack if you’re trying to find the motivation to uptick your performance.

You could participate in a self-talk conversation like this:

My goal is to initiate 10 proactive recruiting outreaches per day, but could I get a dozen if I pushed a little harder?

If I can get a dozen, could I hit 15 at least once a week?

Before long, you may talk yourself into being a high-performing recruiter.

If you’re trying to start new recruiting habits this year, you’re sure to encounter resistance from your old routine, negative thoughts, distractions, and every other force in the universe plotting against you establishing these new habits.
 
To overcome this resistance, author James Clear recommends tricking yourself into getting started on a new habit.
 
The principle is that any activity can be distilled into a habit that is partially doable within two minutes.
 
Want to read more? Don’t commit to reading one book every week – instead, make a habit of reading two pages per night.
 
The two-minute rule is a way to build easily achievable habits, and those can lead you on to greater things.
 
Once you’ve read two pages, you’ll likely continue. The rule recognizes that simply getting started is the first and most important step toward doing something.
 
Many recruiting activities can be easily broken down into 2-minute tasks.
 
For example, you may want to start a recruiting time block by sending just one email to an agent or network contact asking for a referral. That’s easy, right?
 
Overcoming the initial start-up inertia makes it more likely you’ll keep going and tackle the more difficult tasks like making an uncomfortable call to a prospect or crafting a detailed follow-up message to someone in your pipeline.
 
Recruiting success happens when you complete a high number of focused, proactive tasks. 
 
But those tasks will never get done unless you get started.