According to researchers at the University of Calgary, there are six factors individuals typically consider when changing jobs/companies.
 
Position Characteristics
 
Recruiter Characteristics
 
Perception of the Recruiting Process
 
Perceived Alternatives
 
Hiring Expectancy
 
Perception of Fit
 
Perception of Fit is the most important issue propelling an individual towards a career change.
 
Any idea which factor researchers found to be least significant?
 
You guessed it — Perceived Alternatives.
 
While candidates will naturally consider other alternatives (commonly what a competitor is offering), it’s the least important issue for getting them to make a change.
 
During the interview and follow-up conversations, don’t make the mistake of focusing too much time and energy on what your competitors are offering.
 
You’ll not only appear to be on the defense, but you’ll also be ignoring or minimizing the factors that really do make a difference in the candidate’s decision.
 
When recruiting, it’s important to accentuate your positives.

Over the last few years, we’ve highlighted the differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
 
Because successful agents tend to have a growth mindset, it is helpful to assess for it during the interview and other parts of the recruiting process.
 
How can you detect if a person has a growth mindset?
 
In a podcast from the archive, Dave Mashburn explains how to recognize it during conversations with your prospects.
 
In the fixed mindset, individuals are resistant to learning not because they believe they know everything, but because they believe they’re supposed to know everything.
 
This underlying belief manifests itself in how a person responds to being measured.
 
Individuals with a growth mindset want to be measured so that they can witness their progress and the measurements help them grow even more.
 
Those with a fixed mindset feel more vulnerable when being measured because they fear it could expose weakness and make them look like a failure.
 
It’s not that people with a growth mindset don’t experience failure—they just see failure as an opportunity to learn new things, to be challenged, and to experience curiosity.
 
This is an important topic to cover during interviews and follow-up conversations with your prospects.
 
If you find someone who likes being measured, you’ve likely found someone who will push through the inherent failures of growing a real estate business and experience long-term success.

In a short video, performance coach Todd Herman recently provided some advice every recruiter and hiring manager needs to hear.
 
In business, many people seek out the activities that they like to do, or they feel fit their strengths.
 
By doing this, they put themselves into a little bucket and say, “I’m only meant to do certain types of things.”
 
While there’s some value in focusing on your strengths, the business environment is too messy to operate entirely from this perspective.
 
Many people who have achieved phenomenal results in their lives do many things they don’t enjoy.
 
They embrace all the minutiae and consistently do the boring things that need to be done in order to be successful.
 
For most recruiters and hiring managers, recruiting is a complex, end-to-end process containing a bunch of the individual tasks you’re not going to enjoy.
 
Those who push through those tasks not only find success, but also find more satisfaction in the parts of the recruiting process they do enjoy.
 
Recruiting is about winning.
 
It’s not finding fulfillment in every step of the process on the way to that victory.

When you’re able to get your recruiting prospects to express their dissatisfaction with their current work situation, you’re earning the right to be heard later in the recruiting process.
 
However, the transition to the solutions stage must be handled delicately.
 
Once you’ve asked lots of open-ended questions (and additional clarifying questions) about a prospect’s dissatisfaction, try using a transition like this,
 
During our discussion, I’ve heard you bring up some work-life balance concerns–especially your worries about caring for your aging parents in the next few years.  Are you concerned your current job does not provide enough flexibility to make this work for you?
 
or
 
It seems like paying for your daughter’s college education is one of your major goals, and you’re not making enough money to reach that goal with your current broker.  Did I hear that right?
 
Once the candidate confirms you’ve adequately uncovered their specific point (or points) of pain, they’ll be more open to hearing your solution.
 
Perhaps working as an agent on my team could help you solve this problem.
 
Decades ago, Stephen Covey taught us that effective communicators always seek first to understand and then to be understood.
 
This is a good time to apply that advice.

Some years back, the Gallup Organization developed a set of 12 questions to assess the professional health of an employee.
 
In my opinion, five of these questions relate specifically to real estate managers who have a desire to retain their most productive agents.
 
1. Do you have the materials, equipment, and support to do your work right?
 
2. In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
 
3. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
 
4. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
 
5. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
 
If an agent enthusiastically answers Yes! to these questions and can cite examples, your chances of retaining them is much higher.
 
Anything less than an enthusiastic yes is a red flag.
 
These questions can also give you some insight into what other offices/organizations are vulnerable from a recruiting perspective.
 
First, do the hard work of being a great manager for the benefit of your existing agents.
 
Then, keep your ear to the ground to learn which of your competitors is struggling the most on this front.
 
The best hires are those agents who are getting a manager upgrade when they come to work for you.

Even though new technologies have permeated every corner of the real estate industry, most recruiting prospects still want a face-to-face connection with a hiring manager before being hired.
 
Most hires are contingent on an interview, and the interview makes or breaks the deal.
 
Because it’s such an important part of the hiring process, I’ve written dozens of articles and blogs on this topic over the past several years.   (Want to read them?  Go to Recruiting Insight and search “interview.”)
 
Most of you will not have the time to review all this information, so I’ll restate two of the most important things that need to happen during an interview.
 
Foster Attachment: I feel a connection to you and the others I’ve met on the team. 
 
This “feeling” is the fuel that powers the remainder of the hiring process.
 
Build Perception of Fit: I could see myself working here. 
 
To dislodge individuals from other organizations, they must come to believe they’re a better fit on your team.
 
When a recruiting prospect experiences these two feelings, the rest of the recruiting process flows easily.
 
It’s well-known that most big decisions are first made emotionally, then backed up with rational thought.
 
Hiring is no different.

There are about 160 million individuals in the U.S. workforce.
 
Of the 160 million, about two million are real estate agents (1.25%).
 
Among the 2 million agents, the average agent completes about 6 transactions per year, and less than 50,000 agents are high performers (i.e., complete 25 or more transactions per year).
 
It’s safe to say that not everyone is cut out to be a real estate agent.
 
Among the existing agent population, your chance of hiring a high performer is about 1 in 40.
 
Among the broader workforce, your chance of hiring a high performer is about 1 in 3000.
 
I’ve often heard real estate hiring managers boast that hiring new agents is like shooting fish in a barrel.
 
Most anyone can shoot a fish in a barrel–the hard part is getting the right fish in the barrel.
 
The real estate industry is full of low performing agents because many of the wrong people were coaxed into the barrel (they are usually the easiest ones to attract).
 
If you truly want to build a high performing team, it makes sense to spend the upfront time, resources, and effort to source and pursue the recruiting prospects who have the highest chance of success—either from inside the industry or from outside.

It takes a lot of mental energy to do proactive work, and your mind is always looking for an escape.

Since recruiting is mostly proactive work, it’s particularly susceptible to distraction.

According to author Nir Eyal, one way to avoid this trap is to bring in some help from your network.

Forethought is the antidote to impulsivity: you can use a ‘pre-commitment’ to a particular course of action to exert a powerful influence on your future behavior.

If you pre-commit, you make a choice in advance, and pledge to stick to it – and then you don’t need to depend so much on the whims of self-control or willpower in the moment.

Consider a simple example: once you buy a plane ticket for a friend’s wedding, it’s rare that you back out.

Research in health psychology has similarly shown the benefits of these kinds of pacts – such as committing to visit the gym with a friend….

Notice the two parts to Nir’s formula: a pre-commitment and an external force to keep you accountable to that commitment.

For recruiting, setting goals and time-blocks in your schedule is not enough.

Most people need some kind of external accountability, as well.

It’s a great day to recruit, and thanks for joining us as we kick-off our fall season of the Recruiting Insight Podcast.

When the storm clouds start gathering on the horizon, it’s helpful to connect with some seasoned executives who have led real estate organizations through difficult times.

This week, we’ll be strategizing with Rich Davidson, the founder and CEO of Cairn Real Estate Holdings.

Cairn is a nationwide real estate investment firm focused on building a network of industry leading companies and professionals.   

They currently operate in more than 70 locations, have more than 4000 agents, and completed over 30,000 transactions last year.  And honestly, they’re just getting started.

Prior to starting Cairn, Rick was the Global CEO of Century 21 for seven years.  In this role, he was responsible for the health and wellbeing of a network that spanned 80 countries with 8000 offices and 125,000 sales professionals.  

At the same time, he served as the chairman of Easterseals—the largest health service charity in America which cares for 1.6M individuals each year.

As you might have guessed, none of these achievements happen without inspiring all types of individuals to get behind a vision and work towards something much bigger than one person could possibly achieve.

Is this not the essence of recruiting?  I think it is, so let’s jump in and see what we can today learn from Rick’s achievements.

🍿Watch Now   or   🎧Listen Later:  Apple Podcasts  |   Spotify

According to researchers, tactics for reducing stress may be the most important thing you can offer those on your team.

More than ever before, employees report feeling tired, discouraged, burned-out, distracted, and depressed—i.e., they’re experiencing stress.

And there is a direct connection between high levels of stress and lower levels of productivity, engagement, and loyalty.

So how do you lower stress for your agents?

While traditional benefits programs contribute to a person’s wellbeing, some of the most impactful contributors to reducing stress were less obvious.

Here are the top five factors shown to reduce stress:

Thoughtful recognition of their contributions
Competitive compensation
Reasonable workload
Sufficient time to address personal needs
Flexible work arrangements

In essence, agents who are experiencing these benefits feel more supported.

And when individuals feel more supported (especially during uncertain times), the researchers found a strong correlation to them also feeling more successful, valued, appreciated, engaged, productive and respected.

If you’re a real estate broker whose business model is built on providing a high level of support, it’s your time to shine.

As we head into Labor Day weekend, I wanted to reshare one of my favorite Seth Godin posts.

He calls it the Avocado Principle:

If you wait until you really want an avocado, the market won’t have any ripe ones. You need to buy them in advance.

If you eat an avocado that’s not quite ripe, you won’t enjoy it. AND, you won’t have a chance to enjoy it tomorrow, when it would have been perfect if you had only waited.
 
If you live your life based on instant gratification and little planning, you’ll either never have a good avocado or you’ll pay more than you should to someone else who planned ahead.

Buy more avocados than you think you need, because the hassles are always greater than the cost, so you might as well invest.

And since you have so many, share them when they’re ripe. What goes around comes around.

Think of recruiting in these terms. The advantage goes to those who plan ahead and build a bench of talented individuals.

They alone will enjoy the fruits of hiring high performers.

For most real estate professionals, working a sales funnel is second nature.
 
But when asked to define and work a recruiting funnel, things get a little cloudy.
 
Why? Because many recruiters and hiring managers see the recruiting process as short and transactional.
 
Of course, there is a transactional phase, but the most effective recruiting work is proactive, patient, and responsive to the timeline of the prospect.
 
The real estate recruiting funnel typically has these components:
 
Attracting: all the activities that cause prospects to apply and/or agree to be contacted.
 
Engaging: all the activities that cause prospects to feel understood; including initial interviews/face-to-face meetings.
 
Nurturing: all the activities that inform and educate prospects of the unique benefits of your opportunity as it relates to their circumstances.
 
Hiring: all the activities that cause hiring transactions to close.
 
Onboarding: all the activities that cause the first 90 days of the new hires’ experiences to exceed their expectations.
 
This framework helps us remember there’s a natural pace and process that honors talented prospects—it makes them feel valued and respected.
 
If you’re not getting the number of high-quality hires you desire, work back through each step of the recruiting funnel.
 
Where’s the breakdown?

When building a value proposition for recruiting, most hiring managers start too wide.

They make a list of everything they’re able to offer and jury-rig it into a marketing message that resembles a Swiss-army knife.

It has a lot of basic functionality, but it doesn’t do any one thing really well.

By contrast, the best value propositions are concise and focus on the few things you do better than anyone else.

To build your value proposition, make a list of all the possible features and benefits you offer.

Then ask yourself these two questions:

1. What feature/benefit do I possess that jumps off the page as being significantly better than any of my competitors?
 
2. If nothing jumps off the page, what feature/benefit am I willing to invest in to make it significantly better than my competitors?

The best recruiting value propositions are simple, specific and compelling.

Anything less gets lost in the noise.

Last week, I published a call script for screening new-to-real-estate prospects.
 
The script demonstrated how to quickly set an interview with a qualified recruiting prospect.
 
But what happens when the prospect is not qualified?
 
If you’re being selective and focused on hiring talented agents, at least 80% of recruiting prospects are not going to meet your standards.
 
Here are some ways to wrap-up a call with an unqualified prospect.
 
Just say no. If you’re certain an individual does not have the capacity to be a high-performing agent, it’s appropriate to let them know during the call.
 
Based on what we’ve discussed, I don’t think this position is a good fit for you. Thanks for taking to the time to apply.
 
Force self-activation. If you have even a small amount of positive hope for the person, give them an assignment to complete.
 
I appreciate you taking the time to apply and spending some time on the phone with me today. I’m going to send you an email with the real estate licensing requirements. Once you get signed-up for classes, give me a call back and we’ll discuss next steps.
 
Both of these techniques will move the unqualified prospects off your list and allow you to focus on those who have the most potential.

When you’re trying to convince a recruiting prospect to see things from your perspective, you may think presenting as much evidence as possible will strengthen your case.
 
But, according to London Business School professor Niro Sivanathan, you’d be wrong.
 
For humans, receiving too much information interferes with our ability to process it.
 
Our minds deal with this by quickly sorting the input received into two types: diagnostic and non-diagnostic.
 
Diagnostic information is information of relevance to the evaluation being made.
 
Non-diagnostic is information that is irrelevant or inconsequential to that evaluation.
 
When both categories of information are mixed, dilution occurs.
 
It’s better to deliver a short, concentrated argument relating to the specific needs and interests of your recruiting prospect.
 
If you have 30 minutes to spend with a recruiting prospect, spend the first 20 minutes or more asking questions and learning about their specific needs.
 
Then spend the remainder of the time making just one point relating to the topic most important to your prospect.
 
As Dr. Sivanathan suggests,
 
Stick to your strongest point and resist the temptation of trying to best others with brute force.