In a post from the archive, John Sullivan points out some of the benefits of having your recruiting prospects meet with your CEO.

CEOs are great salespeople. It’s hard to ascend to the role of CEO without being able to sell a vision. When effectively briefed about a prospect’s job acceptance criteria, most CEOs can close the deal.

It creates the feeling of a partnership. I recommend that the CEO use a phrase like ‘I need your help,’ when conversing with prospects. The goal is to build the feeling that new talent will directly affect the future of the company for many years.

There’s a high probability of execution. The prospect knows that any promises that are made have a high probability of coming true because they are backed by the power, resources, and integrity of the CEO.

It guarantees future access. The fact that the CEO will meet with a prospect now will leave the impression that they will have continued access after they are hired.

It gives a prospect bragging rights. Talking directly to the CEO is something notable that the prospect can tell their friends about even if they don’t get hired.

If you’re not doing so already, put your CEO to work!

This may be best way he or she can contribute to helping you reach your recruiting goals.

John Foley, co-founder of Peloton, once said,

Risk is the tariff paid to leave the shores of predictable misery.

Like many entrepreneurs, Foley risked everything to start and grow his company, but his starting point was unique.

Finding himself stuck in a dead-end job in his early forties, he had some similarities to those you’re frequently trying to recruit.

Most talented people who get into real estate come from other industries where they have established jobs, but they’re miserable.

If a person is miserable, why would they stay in an unfulfilling job and suffer knowing nothing will change?

Risk.

Risk of losing. Risk of failing. Risk of being embarrassed if things don’t work out.

As a hiring manager, it’s important to understand risk and learn how successful individuals keep risks from inhibiting the accomplishment of their goals.

To start discovering this important insight, ask your most successful agents how they managed risk when they got started.

Then, look for patterns among the answers these agents provide.

If you’re a hiring manager, try thinking of your real estate office as a business community or micro trade group.

From this perspective, individuals (agents) join the community because they have an interest in a certain topic (earning money in the real estate industry), or they need a particular problem solved (what I’m currently doing is not working for me).

They stay involved in a community for a number of different reasons.

Rich Millington wrote an outstanding article concerning the two most important considerations when building a business community.

Who are you targeting? The biggest mistake you can make is targeting too many people too soon. [A better way] to launch, grow (or revamp) any new community is to find the tiniest slither of your audience with unique needs which you can satisfy better than any other community can.

What unique needs and desires are you satisfying? You have to satisfy the unique needs and desires of your audience better than anywhere else. If you do this right, you shouldn’t be competing with anyone…you’re the only game in town.

The article is a bit long, but worth reading.

As you read it, replace the word “community” with “office” or “team”, and you’ll be surprised how applicable it is to real estate recruiting.

Getting these questions answered correctly (for you and your office) positions your recruiting process for deliberate and strategic growth.

If you don’t get them answered, you’ll always feel like you’re trying to justify your existence.

Employees are quitting their jobs at an unprecedented rate.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 2.7% of workers are leaving their jobs each month.

This is the highest rate of job defection in more than two decades, and if it continues, more that 30% of employees will leave their current employers to try something new in the next 12 months.

The appetite for change by employees indicates many professionals are feeling confident about jumping ship for better prospects, despite elevated unemployment rates.

Others seem to be driven more by dissatisfaction.

Many people are spurning a return to business as usual, preferring the flexibility of remote work or reluctant to be in an office before the virus is vanquished.

How long will the shuffle be going on?

According to Steve Cadigan, a talent consultant who led human resources at LinkedIn during its early years, it could be a while.

It’s going to take time for people to think through, ‘How do I unattach where I’m at and reattach to something new?’ We’re going to see a massive shift in the next few years.

How will the employment shuffle affect real estate?

New Agents: It’s important to be at the employment table when societal change is happening. Real Estate is a great option for some very talented individuals who will change careers in the months ahead.

Experienced Agents: Some of what happens in the job market at large will be mirrored in the real estate industry because agents are experiencing many of the same feelings. Retention efforts are more important then ever, and your competitors are vulnerable.

Your revenue may be more connected to recruiting than you think.

Last week, the CEO of a large, high-performing real estate company gave me a peek at a metric he calls “newly recruited GCI.”

In his company, 25% of revenue came from agents who joined their firm in the last 12 months.

His comment after seeing these numbers:

It’s a given that recruiting is important for any real estate company, but I was  surprised to learn we’re this dependent on it for our short-term success.

What was even more surprising?

About 50% of the newly recruited GCI came from new-to-real-estate agents. The remaining portion came from experienced agent recruits.

The new agents really helped us with listings. Each of them seems to have one or two close family members or friends who let them list their properties. It doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up.

Try calculating this metric for your office or team over the previous 12 months.

If it’s higher than you think, this metric will help you stay committed to recruiting.

Can you stay in business if your revenue dropped 25%?

If it’s lower than you think, you may have found your next lever for growth.

Would it be possible to recruit your company to a 25% increase in revenue?

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn poses the question:

How many of your agents are truly following you as a leader?  

Individuals arrive in management positions in various ways, but true leadership credibility must be earned.

If you feel like you’re having trouble earning your spot, here are some simple things you can do to start gaining a following.

Find a mentor. If you want to become a leader, it’s imperative that you learn from a leader. Find someone who’s hitting it out of the park.

Even the most talented young athletes who are recruited from across the country require consistent practice, direction, and motivation. 

Almost anyone can implement these simple ideas and attract a following.

It won’t make you a great leader, but it will get you started down the right path.

When connecting with an experienced agent prospect, you’ll often hear the objection:

I’m not interested in making a change—I’m happy where I’m at.

If you’re really focused on pursuing this particular agent, there are several ways to handle this common objection (we’ve covered some of these in previous Insights).

But what if this prospect is just a cold contact?

Is it productive to attempt to unseat them from their “happy” state?

Some hiring managers pivot at this point and attempt to turn the reluctant prospect into a referral source.

I’m not surprised you’re happy. Based on your production metrics, you seem to be doing really well.

But I was wondering if there is anyone else in your group who is not doing as well as you are and doesn’t seem to be a good fit in your group?

Faced with the choice of leaving empty-handed or getting a referral, it makes sense to ask for the referral.

Most experienced agent hires come from referrals—it pays to get creative on how you obtain them.

In 2020, Toyota sold more cars than any other manufacturer.

And yet Toyota only manufactures one “low cost” model (Yaris), and it will soon be discontinued.

Why? Because not very many people buy cheap cars.

The same is true for luxury cars. There’s a small percentage of people who are willing to pay for the extra performance and status a luxury car provides.

Toyota’s most popular car (Corolla) sells for $21,000. Not too cheap, not too expensive, it’s just a good value.

Most agents choose their brokerages on the same basis.

There are a few individuals who will seek out the lowest cost option, but most will try to find the best value.

Craft your recruiting message to highlight the unique value you provide your most successful agents, and then charge a reasonable price for it.

In the long run, backing down on price will not help you sell more. It just puts you in the group of cheap options that few people use.

As the U.S. troop levels are being reduced under the guidance of a new administration, do military leaders stop recruiting?

Not at all. Depending on job market conditions, they may even increase their recruiting goals.

Why? Because military leaders have learned they must be constantly filling the top of the funnel to staff their future missions.

During these times, they do increase their hiring standards and focus on sourcing for new competencies, but they don’t stop recruiting.

You may want to take a page from the military’s playbook—especially if you’re leading a large organization.

As millions of individuals filter back into the workforce, there will be opportunities to hire the talented individuals who will be the real estate industry’s next high performers.

To take advantage of this opportunity, you must also raise your hiring standards and churn out the agents who are not meeting minimum standards.

This is hard work.

But it’s always done by those who know that without great talent their future will be in jeopardy.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% last week.

While this seems like good news, it doesn’t quite tell the whole story of what’s really happening in the labor market.

In simple terms, the unemployment rate is a measure of people who want to work but can’t find jobs.

Since employers are hiring aggressively in nearly every employment sector, the unemployment rate should continue to improve quickly.

But the underlying labor force participation rate tells a different story.

Before the pandemic (February 2020), 63.3% of the population was working.

During the lowest point during the pandemic, the participation rate fell to 60%.

It has bounced back, but only to 61.3%. This means that 4.2 million workers are still on the sidelines.

I covered the reasons individuals are reluctant to come back to work in a previous Insight (fear, childcare, government assistance), but all these reasons are temporary.

These workers will come back to work, but it won’t happen all at once.

And when they do come back, many will not return to the jobs they left.

There is a big shuffle going on as everyone tries to find their spot in the new employment marketplace.

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn reminds us that pursuing your passions (or telling others they should pursue their passions) is misguided.

A great deal of the obsession around the concept of passion has to do with America’s obsession with being happy.

What level of discomfort are you willing to endure to reach your goals?

Focusing less on passion and more on purpose will help increase the quality of your hires and the satisfaction of those who work on your team.

Whether a person is changing companies (experienced agents) or changing careers (new agents), risk is that scary monster keeping many individuals from moving forward.

One way to tame the “risk monster” is to facilitate an open discussion concerning strategies for handling risk. Here is a short list of the most common approaches:

Risk Avoidance. Some individuals play it safe and avoid as much risk as possible. While this may seem like a good idea, it limits potential for success.

Challenge your recruiting prospect: Is your objective in making this decision to avoid risk?

Risk Mitigation. A savvy investor takes risks but protects against catastrophic loss by using a stop loss. The same principle should apply to career decisions.

Coach your recruiting prospect: It’s foolish to risk everything when making this career decision, let me help you think through some ways to limit your risk.

Risk Transfer. In our personal lives, we buy insurance to transfer risk to someone else in the event of a mishap. As the broker, demonstrate how you’re shouldering some of the risk of this decision.

Assure your recruiting prospect: You’re not in this alone. I’m putting myself and my resources at risk as you make this decision.

Having these risk strategies in the back of your mind will help you stay cognizant of what weighs on the mind of every candidate.

When you’re in a dialog with an experienced recruiting prospect, it’s appropriate to ask:

Did you make more money last year than you did the year before?

Are you on track to make more money this year than you did last year?

Is your life more sane now than it has been in the last couple of years?

If you get a ‘yes’ to all three questions, your chances of recruiting such an individual are low.

But according to NAR’s recent member survey, your chances of getting a ‘yes’ to all three questions is pretty low.

In 2020 (compared to 2019), agents had:

Less Production– $2.1M (down from $2.3M)
Less Transactions—10 (down from 12)
Less Income–$43K (down from $49K)

This decrease happened in spite of a record number of homes (5.64M) being sold in 2020.

Since sales were going up and income was going down, the competition for this business was intense and that makes for highly stressed agents.

If your value proposition helps agents increase their income and lower their stress, your message should resonate with a large population of agents.

And these questions will help you get the conversation on this topic started.

As a hiring manager, you must walk a delicate line.

On one hand, tangible recruiting results are produced when you persuade someone to make a change.

But pushing for a change often causes you to sound salesy and meet resistance.

How do you reconcile the two positions?

In their outstanding book Real Influence, Mark Goulston and John Ullmen provide some insight for overcoming this dilemma.

In interviews with more than a hundred high-performing influencers, the authors noticed a pattern:

Great influencers learn to communicate great outcomes.

When people paint a picture of a great outcome, they’re not trying to persuade people to do something important. They’re trying to positively influence them to get them to a better place.

Helping someone get to a better place requires you know something about their current situation and where they hope to be in the future.

Effective listeners make this the objective of their conversations.

With this information in hand, the positive influencer becomes an artist sketching out a hopeful future for a recruiting prospect who needs their help.

In a post from the archive, Jim Rohn reminds us that successful leaders make reading books one of their signature habits.

Successful people do read more. Leaders, in particular, seem to read more than almost anyone else.

Every great leader I’ve ever met has been a great reader.

If you’re not a natural reader, here are some quick tips to help you jumpstart the habit.

Read more than one book at a time. It’s ok to have several books going at the same time. If you lose interest in one—pick up another one. Just don’t stop reading.

Read in more than one place. Have books set aside to read when you are at different locations. Books stored in your briefcase, desk, nightstand, and car make reading easier when you have a few extra minutes.

Read on your phone. If you’re reading on a Kindle, download the app on your phone so you can keep reading valuable material when you have a few minutes of downtime.

Read while you’re driving. Every time you’re in the car is an opportunity to “read” an audio book. The alternative is letting the media pollute your mind with negativity.

Read with a goal in mind. Reading a certain number of books each year is a worthy accomplishment. Share your goal with friends so you have some social pressure to follow-through (it also makes you a more interesting conversationalist).

Are you ready to recommit yourself to reading? If so, what are you going to read this summer?