Imagine you have a good idea that you want other people to support.

What do you do? You try to sell them on it.

I’ve explored a lot of different ideas, and this is the best one.

It’s supported by a mountain of evidence and others who have embraced similar ideas have profited immensely, and did I mention it’s incredibly easy to implement?

In their bestselling book, The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath describe how most people react to this approach.

If you pitch the virtues of a solution, you are, in essence, a salesperson for that idea.

And how do people respond to sales pitches?

With skepticism. They quibble, challenge, and question.

What’s the alternative to a sales approach?

According to the Heath brothers, it’s dramatizing the problem to the place where the person you’re trying to convince “trips over the truth.”

It’s only after a problem becomes vivid in the mind of audience members that their minds turn to solutions. That’s what sparks sudden insights.

The best recruiters don’t focus on selling solutions.

They help their prospects experience the pain of their problems to the point they ask you to turn on the lights.

There are many similarities between the real estate agent’s sales process and the recruiting process.

A successful agent’s tasks are typically built on the foundational pillars of lead generation and lead conversion.

Recruiters and hiring managers who hope to be successful will build their businesses on the same footing.

Recruiting Lead Generation. Develop a list of the possible lead sources. For example, referrals, inbound inquiries, networking, recruitment marketing, events, etc.

How many leads can you depend on from each source? What activities can be done to increase volume? What lead sources produce the best quality?

Recruiting Lead Conversion. When a lead is captured, develop a consistent process for engaging the new prospect. Your process should be measurable and optimized over time.

How much time passes before you engage a new lead? Do you use screening calls? What are the criteria for moving forward in the recruiting process? How many convert at each stage of the process?

The most successful agents treat their business like a business.

The same is true for recruiters.

Years ago, Kevin Kelly from Wired magazine wrote the classic 1000 True Fans essay.

His point: Most entrepreneurs find success by building something a few people are really excited about buying.

According to Kevin, these super fans are the engine for expansion.

While the support of a thousand true fans is a good base, for every single true fan you might have two or three additional regular fans.

Think of concentric circles with true fans at the center and a wider circle of regular fans around them.

Hiring managers should adopt this paradigm for recruiting.

Focus your time and effort building a business system that a small number of agents (10 – 20) are super excited about using.

As this core group demonstrates success, concentric circles of new fans will develop who are a lot like those in the core group.

By nature, those who migrate into this core group will be similar to those already there.

It’s the organic way to build a culture of like-minded individuals.

Once up and running, your primary job is to fuel the central fire being enjoyed by your super fans.

In a post from the archive, researchers documented a direct health benefit from starting and managing a microbusiness (a business with less than five employees).

By examining data from more than 3,000 counties in the United States, the researchers documented the number of microbusinesses per 10,000 residents in each county.

Then they compared CDC health data to the same study groups.

Their findings revealed a strong correlation between the health and well-being of citizens in those counties that had high percentages of microbusinesses.

More specifically, compared to national averages, mortality rates were up to 55% lower, obesity rates were up to 63% lower, and diabetes rates were up to 55% lower in those counties that had high numbers of microbusinesses.

Why should you care?

Part of your job as a hiring manager is to sell the dream of owning a real estate business to talented individuals who could easily make a substantial amount of income in another job.

If you’re only talking to people who have limited options, you’re not aiming high enough.

A second part of your job is to retain and motivate the most talented agents to stick it out until they reach their potential.

Going back to a traditional job after hitting some obstacles is not what healthy and successful people do.

Let your agents know you’re not just pulling for them to be successful in their jobs, but prosperous in all areas of their lives.

Agents are attracted to managers who help them see the bigger picture.

I recently heard a news story about some grocery stores in the Netherlands abandoning their self-checkout stations to bring back in-person clerks.

Why? Because they learned many of their customers missed chatting with a real person when buying their groceries.

These customers were not looking for deep conversations or meaningful friendships.

They wanted 5-minute conversations with a cheerful person who would recognize them if they were a regular.

There is something human and meaningful about this type of exchange.

And it’s something every recruiter and hiring manager should be using to build their recruiting database.

When you first connect with a recruiting prospect, try making a friend in the first five minutes by showing interest, asking questions, and listening.

Many people just want to be heard and receive some thoughtful attention. It’s a gift you can give almost anyone.

Making dozens of 5-minute friendships will add meaning to your life and the lives of others.

And it’s a great way to earn permission for future contact.

Not all experienced agent recruiting prospects are the same.

If an agent is early stage in their career and doing a modest amount of business, it’s much easier for that person to disengage from their current broker and plug into your team.

If and agent’s business is more mature and their production is more substantial, it will be more difficult for them to uproot their business and make a change.

It also takes longer, and the recruiting process usually involves a lot of fits and starts.

For your high-performing recruiting prospects, it makes sense to spend a little extra time and build a simple recruiting plan for each one. Your plan should include the following components:

Problem/Pain: What unique pain is this agent experiencing with their current broker? What unique problems are they not getting solved in their personal life because of what’s happening in their business?

Your Potential Solution: What are you going to specifically do to help them solve their unique problems? How are you going to help them reach their specific goals (business goals and life goals)?

Financial Model: When a high producer makes a change, the financial component plays significantly into their decision. Does your prospect consider your financial offer compelling?

Influencers: High performers are usually entrenched in a community, and they don’t make changes in a vacuum. Who else could sway your prospect’s decision? How do you get that person on your side?

Next Step: Hiring a high performer takes time and consistent steps towards the end goal. To keep yourself from becoming discouraged, focus on accomplishing the next best step. Write it down and put it on your task list.

I’ve helped hiring managers build dozens of these plans. It looks like a lot of work, but each plan takes about 10 – 15 minutes to complete.

Don’t do this with everyone in your recruiting database–just the high performers who would be the most difficult to dislodge.

The visibility of your employer brand is becoming increasingly important.

Consider these sourcing metrics derived from a recent LinkedIn employment study:

75% of job seekers consider an employee’s brand before applying for a job.

52% of candidates first seek out the company’s sites and social media to learn more about an employer before applying.

76% of recruiting prospects want details on what makes a company an attractive place to work.

#1 obstacle candidates experience when searching for a job is not knowing what it’s like to work at an organization.

In essence, your recruiting prospects want to feel familiar with you and your company before engaging.

How do you build familiarity?

Some companies use a concept called “brand bragging.”

These are short, simple messages that highlight your company brand and what it’s like to work there

(Here are some Instagram examples from a company who does a good job brand bragging.)

The best messages are concise, visual, and show up in places your prospects frequent online.

It’s easy to get depressed as a recruiter or hiring manager. Recruiting involves a lot of proactive work with little short-term positive feedback.

According to Eric Barker, this is the soil where the weeds of unhelpful thoughts sprout and eventually choke out your effectiveness.

How do you keep your mind free of unhelpful thoughts?

Look for the common patterns of how they get started.

According to Eric, here are a few of the most common pitfalls to avoid.

Black and White Thinking: 100% good and 100% evil only exist in superhero movies. And when it comes to your mood, you’ll be a lot happier if you realize there are heaping piles of nuance to most things.

Unrealistic Expectations: Cynicism is bad, but a little skepticism is essential. Consistently unrealistic expectations are a great way to make sure that everything in life sucks.

Selective Attention: If your brain is always looking for the negative, trust me, you’re going to find it. The same facts can often be viewed from a different perspective. And different feelings will follow.

Disqualifying the Positive: Sometimes we go into problem-solving mode and focus only on what is broken. But if you stay in this frame all the time it will lead to depression. Plenty of good things happen and you need to appreciate them.

Predicting the Future: “This will never work” or “They’re going to think I’m stupid.” You don’t know the future. So don’t act like you do.

Recruiting is a mind game. Make sure yours is clear of clutter and ready to compete.

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn reminds us that the best leaders are always searching for the hidden problems holding back their progress.

As a clinical psychologist, I’ve found the “presenting problem” often turns out to be an external symptom of a deeper underlying problem.

And humans are incredibly stubborn, short-sighted, committed to their biases and unable to assess their own blind spots.

Because of this blindness we need the input of others.

We need fresh eyes.

We need experts who know how to see through the symptoms and locate the core roadblocks.

But even great input from a trusted source will not illuminate problems unless it’s combined with an important character trait that great leaders possess.

In order to flourish, a leader must be humble enough to actively search for what they might be missing.

Humble leaders ask questions…lots of them.

They always want to know: What’s going on out there? What could I be missing?

Also, humble leaders don’t experience a mistake or a failure as an insult to their ego because they are free to self-examine and improve.

Input from others and humility—it’s a powerful combination for escaping the ruts that hold you back.

You’ve probably noticed how fundraisers communicate their goals and keep you updated on the progress of a campaign.

It could be one of those poster-sized thermometers you’d see at a school fundraiser, or something more digital like you’d see on a GoFundMe page.

Fundraisers have learned something basic about human nature:

If you communicate your goals, others will feel compelled to help you reach them.

The same principle can be used to recruit.

When you’re meeting an agent in your company or another potential referral source, let them know about your recruiting goal.

My goal is to add five talented experienced agents to our team this year. Is there anyone you’ve connected with recently who I should be talking with about joining our office?

This request is even more powerful if you ask right after you helped them solve a problem or make progress towards one of their goals.

At this point, the need for reciprocity kicks in and suddenly you have someone assisting you in reaching your objective.

In a recent blog, Seth Godin explains the Goldilocks equilibrium.

It’s the belief that when a service is offered, a few people will like it really hot, a few people will like it really cold, but most people will like right in the middle.

Naturally, you’d want to craft your offering to meet the needs of the middle.

But what if your assumptions about the middle are wrong? According to Seth, they usually are:

Seeking the Goldilocks equilibrium is a trap.

While it might diminish criticism, it maximizes apathy.

While it might increase your appeal to a hypothetical middle-of-the-road consumer, it might be that there aren’t many of these.

For many services, the middle is hollowed out.

What you’re left with are the people who want a lot more or want a lot less of whatever it is you’re able to adjust.

This is exactly what is happening in the real estate recruiting marketplace.

Some brokerages serve agents by offering them a high-service/high fee model.

Some brokerages serve agents by offering them a low-service/low-fee model.

But many brokerages are still attempting to serve a diminishing number of agents in the middle by offering them a Goldilocks alternative.

It may be time to pivot.

NPR’s Hidden Brain host Shankar Vedantam explored the fear that people experience when starting a conversation with a stranger.

[Many people assume] striking up a conversation would be less pleasant than sitting in solitude.

This is an odd assumption because humans are one of the most social species on the planet and get a lot of happiness and satisfaction from making connections with others.

So, why the resistance? It boils down to a belief we have about strangers.

According to Vedantam, this belief was documented in a recent experiment involving commuters.

Volunteers were assigned to one of three conditions–engage with the people around them, sit in solitude, or act as they normally would on their commute.

The volunteers predicted they would be the least happy if they had to engage with other people on the train.

They also estimated that fewer than 50% of the people around them would be willing to engage in a conversation if they tried.

The experiment produced a surprising result.

The study group that proactively engaged in conversations not only reported having the most pleasant commutes, but they also found that almost 100% of the people they engaged were willing to have a reciprocal conversation.

Just like the commuters found out, much of the recruiting process is governed by false assumptions and fear.

Step out and engage. The first step is the hardest.

Without exception, the most important leading indicator for recruiting success is the face-to-face appointment with a viable recruiting prospect.

If you meet with enough recruiting prospects, it will lead to hires.

But that’s not the only reason to focus your efforts on the face-to-face appointment.

It’s also the best way to collect real time data about what’s going on in your marketplace and how prospects are perceiving your solutions.

Instead of looking at the recruiting appointment as an opportunity to persuade, view it as an opportunity to become a data collection expert.

What data should you be trying to collect?

Problem Data. Ask open-ended questions about the problems the prospect is experiencing. What holds you back from being more successful? What’s tripping you up? What has stopped working for you in the last year?

Solution Data. Then ask questions about what IS working for them. What have you been excited about with your work lately? What changes have you made that seem to be paying off? What do you see others doing that you wish you could do better?

After each meeting, spend a few minutes jotting down the top three problems and the top three solutions the prospect mentioned.

Document these answers over several meetings and look for patterns.

Once you see the patterns, reverse engineer solutions that are likely to solve the problems of the broader set of recruiting prospects in your pipeline.

In a post from the archive, author Daniel Coyle reminds us that talented recruiting prospects don’t just materialize out of thin air.

They all have life experiences and employment histories that made them who they are.

Astute hiring managers look for patterns in these histories so they can better recognize the hidden talent in their future prospects.

Daniel found one of these patterns and shared it with his readers.

One pattern of successful athletes happens when they’re 13 or so, when they develop a sense of ownership of their training.

They begin to go farther, reaching beyond the program, deciding for themselves what their workouts will be, augmenting and customizing and addressing their weaknesses on their own.

Daniel goes on to demonstrate how this athletic pattern connects to high performance in entrepreneurial positions in the workplace.

Some questions about early ownership are worth working into your interviews and follow-up dialogs.

It’s so hard to determine who will be successful in the real estate role. This pattern is another clue to recognize your next high performer.

Over the last 20 years, my kids and I have spent a lot of time exploring the alpine lakes in Washington State.

Most of these lakes are fed by the winter snow that slowly melts during the summer months.

The healthiest lakes have a robust stream feeding one end of the lake and another stream letting water out other end.

As fishermen, we look for lakes with these characteristics because the constant flow of fresh water brings in the oxygen and nutrients needed to support a vibrant ecosystem with lots of trout.

The same principle applies when you’re attempting to build and sustain a healthy recruiting system.

Hiring managers often make the mistake of letting their recruiting databases become stagnant.

They attempt to work the same list of prospects hoping circumstances will change and hires will materialize.

While it’s important to nurture viable recruiting prospects over time, there is no substitute for capturing a consistent flow of new recruiting leads.

The new possibilities bring energy and hope to your recruiting ecosystem.

Your prospects will sense new energy, and your mindset will become more hopeful.

It becomes a much better place to fish for new hires.