As I talk to managers in real estate companies across the country, there’s a common theme emerging.

Many of you are tired.

Over the last eight weeks, you’ve worked long hours, given much, and put your heart and soul into sustaining those who depend on you.

As you face another week, you might be asking yourself: How am I going to do this?

Seth Godin recently shared some advice that may help jump start you today.

There’s rarely a straight line from here to better.

The slog won’t last forever. And winning streaks aren’t endless either.

As we move through time, we’re often presented with opportunities that are carefully disguised as problems.

And every day we’re forced to make a choice.

The default might be to hold back, but it’s not the only option.

The other option is to report for duty, keep fighting, and don’t give up.

Why? You’re needed.

These problems that have been thrust upon you are your opportunities to be a leader.

Changing your mindset is something you control.

Earlier this week, Tom Ferry recorded an outstanding coaching video for agents who are struggling to restart their businesses.

He outlines a creative way of segmenting the crisis: Before COVID (BC)—During COVID (DC)—After COVID (AC)

Most productive agents had a BC strategy and worked their plan before the crisis materialized.

Some agents quickly developed a DC strategy and built meaningful connections with clients during this difficult time.

The next step is to start to develop an AC strategy.

Much has changed, there are still many uncertainties, and no one knows how or when the transition back to a new normal will happen.

But this we do know—those who are putting thought and energy into an AC strategy will be far ahead when the transition starts to gain momentum.

It’s not hard to see how this framework could be applied to recruiting.

Take a few minutes to find and review your BC recruiting plan for 2020.

Take inventory of your recruiting activities over the last 4 -6 weeks.

Then based on what you’ve learned, start developing your AC recruiting plan.

Laying out the plans and ideas in one place will help you see what’s changed, what’s remained the same, and what needs to be done next.

AC recruiting success will be captured by those who develop a plan now.

Ninja Selling instructor Don Tennessen recently pointed out:

Agents are spending more time in their inboxes right now than ever before.

Why? Because they’re in front of their computers at home and doing everything virtually.

Your chances of capturing the attention of an experienced agent prospect is much better now than during normal circumstances.

What should you be offering these prospects?

Try inviting them to your online sales meeting, an online training session, or a special event you’re hosting.

In addition to being helpful, it’s a great way for an outsider to experience your culture and see how you’re supporting your agents.

Some prospects may express concern about being “digitally seen” in the meeting by the other participants.

No worries. Just tell them to enter a nondescript name (ex. something like rt6347) and no one will know they’re there.

A well-known, high performing competitor would probably never attend one of your physical sales meetings, but they might pop into a virtual one.

Player Murray and Lizzie Gonzales manage a high-performing real estate office in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Like many of you, the lockdowns and business restrictions have forced them to quickly migrate to the virtual world.

Feeling their close-knit culture was being strained by this new reality, they came up with a great idea.

On each Friday afternoon, they give up their normal manager roles and become “Porch Fairies.”

A Porch Fairy is someone who quietly drops off a thoughtful gift on the porch of an unsuspecting agent with a note that reads:

You’ve been visited by the BHHS North Hills Office Porch Fairies. Just wanted to let you know we’re thinking about you and we miss you!

The first 20 agents received these gifts with much gratitude and soon social media was blowing up with pictures and comments about the Porch Fairy visits.

The initiative created so much chatter after the first week, a message was sent out to all the agents the following Monday.

I’ve heard from social medial that some of you were visited by the Porch Fairy’s last week.  

If you haven’t been visited yet, you will be in the upcoming weeks. You won’t know when and that’s part of the fun!  We miss you all and can’t wait until we can be with each of you again.

These are the types of connections that help agents temporarily escape the virtual world and refresh the feelings they have towards you and the culture of the office.

If you want to retain your agents, remember that feelings of warmth and gratitude can’t be duplicated by a competitor.

Over the past few years, the competition for talented individuals has been intense as reflected in the low unemployment rate.

Anyone who was smart, motivated, and industrious had lots of employment options.

The competition for talent was most evident in online job boards, career sites, and search engines.

In the job-search industry, competitiveness is commonly measured by the Linkup 10,000 index.

Like a stock market index, this index moves up and down based on the total number of job openings for the 10,000 global employers with the most job openings in the U.S. on any given day.

Overall, the index is down 16.1% in the last 30 days.

New job openings plummeted 20% and jobs removed skyrocketed 23% since mid-March.

Jobs removed jumped to 1.7 million, about 300,000 jobs higher than the trailing 12-month average.

What’s this mean for the real estate industry?

In the next few months (and maybe longer), there will be much less competition for talented individuals.

Many more people will be open to hearing what a real estate career could mean for their future.

Many agents are stuck right now, and if they remain in this state, they probably won’t survive.

Do a quick inventory: Which of your agents are struggling to demonstrate any productive movement since the crisis started?

If you want to retain some of the agents from this group, you’ll need to quickly diagnose what’s causing them to lock-up.

Use the following framework to start asking some open-ended questions.

Strategy. How have you revised your business plan in light of the current circumstances? What are some of the creative solutions you’ve found to the new problems you face? What actions should you being taking to build trust with your clients during these difficult times?

Mindset. How would you describe your attitude since the crisis started? How are you making decisions on where to place your focus? What have you done to make yourself more mentally tough and less fearful?

Execution. How has your work routine changed in the last month? What are you doing to limit distractions while working at home? How are you measuring progress and holding yourself accountable?

The agents who are struggling will typically not have good answers to these questions.

When you help them find the answers, you’re teaching them to overcome obstacles and build resilience.

This will pay dividends for years to come.

As the lockdowns, quarantines, and business restrictions linger on, many agents are starting to wonder how they’re going to survive.

The leaders who have the answers to this question will earn the privilege of retaining their best agents and recruiting high performers from other companies.

How do you help someone survive?

There is much written on this topic. Start learning as much as you can from researchers who study survivors.

As you build your knowledge, a collective framework will emerge from various sources. Here are some of the commonalities I’ve noticed:

Develop a Plan. As we learned last week, people who are experiencing a high level of fear and stress often make poor decisions. Developing and adhering to a plan will help limit poor choices.

Have Flexible Expectations. Unmet expectations will crush motivation and a person’s will to survive. It’s helpful to outline multiple scenarios (ex. a plan for the crisis lasting one month, six months, or one year) so you can quickly pivot to a new plan when expectations are not met.

Ask for Help. Your chances of survival increase when you’re surrounded by others who are smart, talented, and resilient. If you don’t have trusted advisors to lean on, ask for help.

Never Give Up. In the boating accident referenced last week, the man who survived clung to the capsized boat many hours and never gave up. He stayed focused on his survival because he had a reason to live. During the struggle, he constantly repeated to himself: My mother will not attend my funeral.

Helping agents survive has suddenly become the number one job of every real estate leader, and there is much work to do.

Over the last week, I’ve had the opportunity to speak (via Zoom) to hundreds of hiring managers about transitioning from promotional recruiting methodologies to attraction-based strategies.

As hiring managers start to apply these strategies, they’re sharing stories of their successes. Here is an example from Cayla, a hiring manager on the East Coast:

Our call last Thursday taught me a new skill: Third Party Liking.

After that, the entire conversation shifted…

Mustering the courage to change strategies and try something new is hard.

But once you have a little success or see others making progress, it does become easier.

There are many agents who are struggling right now, and they need the help of capable companies and strong leaders to survive.

In order to put yourself in a position to help, you must disarm their natural defenses and let them see the real you.

If you haven’t tried this yet, review the previous posts on attraction (1, 2, 3) and then step out.

Getting the coronavirus can wreak havoc on your body and puts those around you at risk too.

In a blog post from the archive, Dave Mashburn points out that worry and negative emotion can have the same effect on you and your team.

Scientists at the forefront of research on happiness and positive functioning have discovered that negative emotion always undermines positive emotion when it’s left unchecked.

As a leader, it’s your job to counteract the negative emotion and keep it from taking root in your office.

How?

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, you must teach yourself and others to occupy their minds with directed thoughts, defined goals, and meaningful work.

Without this focus, the brain defaults to a state of worry.

In order to escape such psychic entropy, we must pursue activities that give positive feedback, demand concentration, require skill development, and strengthen our sense of purpose and achievement.

As soon as the mind is ready to relax, zap! The potential problems that were waiting in the wings take over.

Helping your agents refocus on building (or rebuilding) their businesses is the best thing you can be doing right now.

It inoculates them and your office from the negativity and worry that destroys.

Our company has worked with hundreds of real estate managers over the last decade.

I’ve noticed that some managers run their offices as if they’re owners (even though most do not have equity) while others just have jobs.

It’s important to place your bet on the owner-types during a crisis—they’re the ones who have the resilience, grit, and stamina to survive.

How do you tell one type from the other?

According to business coach Todd Herman, you listen to what they’re saying about the crisis.

Todd completed a detailed survey with many of his CEO clients soon after the coronavirus crisis materialized.

Based on the survey results, he benchmarked the characteristics of CEOs who were the most strategy-focused and likely to survive (in his opinion).

These CEOs were…

– 9 times more likely to be talking about shifting product/service offerings.

– 4 times more likely to have already made changes to their teams.

– 4 times more likely to have already spoken to other CEO’s about plans for growth, sustainability or opportunities.

– using the words action or opportunity (or derivatives of these words) 6 times more frequently

– using the word buy 8 times more than the other groups. (context was around possibly buying other businesses, buying more advertising/marketing, buying more talent/hiring.)

Are these the things you and your managers are talking about right now?

If not, it’s time to switch gears and start moving forward.