As with any business owner, you must hire well for your business to succeed. The growth of your brokerage depends on the number and productivity of your agents. Continually recruiting agents—new or seasoned—who are enthusiastic go-getters adds excitement to the entire office and motivates current agents to do better. Having the right recruiting tools and systems ensures that your pipeline of potential agents remains full and you won’t be scrambling to replace production if, in fact, an agent leaves you.
Business Plan And The NumbersDoing a formal business plan every year isn’t always the first thing on a busy brokers long list of To-do’s. Yet at Weichert, we emphasize the importance of this tool with all our affiliates. Your business plan should include a recruiting plan that should be a constant point of reference for you, not something you do and forget about. You should keep it current with an updated assessment of the brokerage’s needs in terms of agent count. Just adding 10 new recruits a year can substantially increase your gross sales income. Adding 20 a year is even better. Think about your own plan. Do you have a realistic growth goal for your business? Do you know how many recruits you will need to reach your income goals this year? Knowing your financial goals and how that translates to additional sales and feet on the pavement is critically important in determining the minimum number of agent recruits you need to bring in for your desired profitability goal. Weichert affiliates are taught efficient ways to conduct productive recruiting activities, roll up and review the numbers each week to determine if they are on track to reach their yearly goals and can adjust their strategies if not on target. Here’s a few tactics you can try to improve your pipeline of potential agent recruits. Participate In School & Community Recruiting Events You know that recruits can easily be found at real estate schools or college campuses, especially one that has a real estate program. Be part of recruiting events at these locations. Request to put a recruiting flyer on a bulletin board with a business card pocket to help gain interest in between recruiting events. Check it regularly to keep the pocket constantly filled with cards. Track who responds and from where to gauge the best locations and strategies. Have Attractive Marketing & Training Materials Use updated and well-designed marketing materials as recruiting tools. Professionalism is key. Be prepared to show your stuff to potential recruits with modern materials that describe your company culture, your success, the value you offer, and other important information that agents new to your brokerage want to learn. Inexperienced agents will be particularly interested in how you are going to train them to get up to speed and productive. Highlight strongly all the formal training and mentoring programs you have in your brokerage to keep them competitive. Really give them a sense that you will be fully vested in their success. Promote Online Let your online presence do some talking for you. Use your website to attract recruits with a career section that tells them why they’d love to work with you! Include information on company culture, photos of agents working and having fun and descriptions of all the great tools, training, sales successes and support every agent receives as part of your brokerage team. Social media works well to search for and solicit potential recruits, especially those more seasoned, who already have active real estate social media profiles. Use Brand As A Power Tool Sometimes having the right brand can be a powerful recruiting magnet. No matter how successful your independent brokerage is now, being part of a nationally recognized brand can open doors that accelerate business growth and more easily attracts recruits. Not to mention it often allows you to offer your agents much more than you could on your own. Host Regular Career Events One of the most effective activities can be holding regular recruiting events at your office. Promote through email, phone calls and social media. Make sure you have a dynamic presentation, be prepared with takeaway materials, show off your awesome office space and brokerage personality. By the time you’re done, they won’t want to work anywhere else! Yes, effective recruiting is a big investment, but it is the single most important thing you can do for your brokerage. How do you find time to create the materials and training programs you need and where do you start? That’s where being able to plug into an existing, proven system can help. Companies that affiliate with Weichert, for example, are coached in best practices for recruiting, including effective ways to conduct regular recruiting outreach, hold career events and how to roll up and review the numbers each week to determine if they are on track to reach their yearly goals so they can adjust their strategies as needed. Weichert also provides affiliates with the presentation tools and marketing resources to make that dynamic recruiting presentation and professional impression. Plus, we offer training to get new agents up to speed and working in no time. All that plus national brand recognition which amplifies the attractiveness of your brokerage. All you have to do is implement. How easy is that! Good systems, smart tactics and regular ongoing activity will keep your recruiting pipeline filled with agents eager to be part of your team. If a recruiting system like Weichert offers is something you’d like your brokerage to plug into, contact us for more information at 877-746-2067 or view weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/truth-your-agents-will-leave-you-someday-how-strong-is-your-recruiting-plan/
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Think back to the real estate brokers you worked for when starting your career. What drew you to work there in the first place and what prompted you to stay or move on? Did you feel your input mattered or that no one cared what you had to say? Was there a real team dynamic or was it everyone for themselves?
As a broker, now is your opportunity to build the company culture you want. Whether you worked in real estate your entire life or started out in another industry, there are key attributes that make any business worth working for, including yours. Trust And Honesty Believability is important to success. Honesty and trust go hand-in-hand. Trust your agents enough to let them do their job of selling homes and provide the training and support for them to do so. Even as broker you aren’t expected to know everything but know how to get the answers. So, the next time an agent asks you a question you can’t answer, commit to researching it and getting back to them as soon as possible. And then make sure you really follow up. Use the calendar app in your phone or email to set a quick reminder for yourself. When agents see that their queries are important to you, it makes them feel valued and deepens your relationships. Respect Trust and honesty lead to respect. But it’s a two-way street. You must respect the agents that you brought on to earn their respect in return. This includes the young, inexperienced ones who may test your patience at times. Always be polite, actively listen and talk with your agents as equals. These agents, who you took the time to recruit, may provide you with a novel way of doing something that can set your brokerage over the top, which can only be learned through mutual respect. Recognition Recognize the talents and accomplishments of the team of agents you recruited. Did an agent close a particularly hard transaction or a new agent complete their first transaction by themselves? Announce it. Did they close a personal record-breaking deal? Give them a shout out. Let everyone know of their achievements. Recognition isn’t all about highest grossing or most transactions in a year. It’s also about general accomplishments and teamwork to help all agents—new and experienced—feel valued. Agents who know their contributions are valued strive harder to succeed. Support If your brokerage goes above and beyond to provide the right tools and techniques for your agents to succeed and properly trains them in the use of these tools, then word will spread that your agent support is exceptional. In turn, these support tools make your brokerage the go-to destination for recruits, saving you time and effort in both real estate agent recruiting and retention. Putting It Together Re-evaluate your brokerage to make sure you are creating a dynamic and positive culture that values your team as a whole, as well as individuality. Model by example and your agents will do the same. Build a solid team of agents with the right tools, techniques and attitude and you will stay competitive in your market. While it’s up to you to build a culture of trust and respect, there are easier ways to provide everything else than trying to keep up alone. Affiliating with a National brand, such as Weichert, who already has the tools and systems in place makes it easy for you to plug in and run. You get a wide array of agent training opportunities right out of the gate, for example, including sales coaching, weekly and monthly seminars, general industry trainings, online courses, technology training and more. Plus, leverage awards and recognition programs, sales tools and techniques and technology platforms. With all of these things readily available to you, you have more time to focus on your brokerage-building strategy. If you want to learn more about how Weichert can help your brokerage dynamics, contact us today: weichertfranchise.com or 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/the-right-ingredients-for-an-attractive-brokerage/ Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K Smith, author of The Wisdom of Teams, observes, “There is virtually no environment in which teams—if done right—can’t have a measurable impact on the performance of an organization.” This statement is true for your brokerage, too. Building and keeping a team of agents who share your brokerage mission is the starting place for building a culture of support and fostering a common drive for success. Your ability to communicate and lead is critical to motivating the team and getting positive results that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.
Recruit Right the First Time As you know, creating a solid team of both veteran and new agents is crucial to your brokerage. Skills, ethics and motivation are always important factors to consider, but you also need to determine if each agent has a vision and drive similar to yours. All it takes is one bad personality to ruin an otherwise good team of agents and lower your credibility. Take the time to recruit the right agents and you will have no regrets. Be a Leader Building a real estate agent team means you’re in charge; so be a leader. Believe in your agents and your purpose. You should know the strengths of all your agents to determine how you could best to use them to elevate the brokerage. Then encourage them to take on certain roles based on their strengths. This will help reinforce teamwork, while still allowing them to be independent. For instance, perhaps one of your agents is skilled in contract writing and agrees to teach a few classes a year for your agents or help new agents write their first contracts. Or maybe younger agents can provide older agents some social media tips and tricks to make them more comfortable using that medium. Mentor wisely, as being a leader means allowing everyone to grow personally and professionally, while encouraging them to care about each other’s well-being. Consistently Strengthen Your Brand While your agent team may continually change, there are a few things that should remain constant: all agents should align with your basic brokerage values, all should have clear goals and a path for success, and all should follow a level of consistency in how they represent your brokerage as a brand. Building a brand is especially important for the independent broker who does not have a recognized national brand to leverage. Let each agent know how to present your brand in the sales process and on listing appointments so that your competitive advantages are really highlighted. Consistency here will create local awareness and a strong brand for you and your agents to stand behind. Katzenbach and Smith believe that leaders must communicate the “purpose, meaning and performance implications of visions”. By sharing and articulating your goals to your team and asking for their help and participation, your agents will feel invested and empowered to achieve them. They will want the plan to succeed as much as you do. Benefit From a Culture of Sharing It’s a natural inclination for a team to want to win. Agents in the brokerage must share an eagerness to ask questions, try new approaches, learn from results and take responsibility for making change happen. They should be able to do this in a safe environment, where mistakes are not overly criticized, but treated as coaching opportunities, and new thinking is considered an asset. If your agents succeed and feel like they are an integral part of the growth and success of the organization, you’ll have happier agents, strengthen your bottom line and drive a positive perception of your brand in the office, which projects itself into the market. Who doesn’t want to work with a happy, successful office? Create a Shared Purpose. Celebrate Successes. Do more with your current agents and hire new agents with your vision in mind. Everyone has a strength. Use those strengths for the betterment of the brokerage, while fostering an agent environment of communication and teamwork. Have actionable goals for agents to work toward as a team, such as a certain number of listings and a certain amount of open house traffic each month, so everyone gets a chance to contribute. Keep the individual in mind, too, to reward key players who go above-and-beyond to help other agents. For instance, those who bring in the most listings in a given month or close the most transactions. Continually lead in new ways that bring out the best from all agents. Together, agents can help each other overcome obstacles to growth while learning along the way. Build team of positive-thinking individual agents and by motivating each other, you’ll watch as they gain prosperity and happiness, while your brokerage triumphs in productivity. Team Dynamics Can Be Tough To Get Right You know how to run your business, but everyone can use a little help sometimes. Having a resource that provides you with the systems and the coaching to help grow your business can make it easier and help you reach your goals faster. As a Weichert Affiliate, our mission is to see you succeed and our service teams are always there to help, so you never feel like you have to go it alone. That’s the power of We. That’s the power of Weichert. If you think your brokerage could benefit from becoming a Weichert franchise, call 877-746-8807 to learn more or go to weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/fostering-collaborative-spirit-in-your-brokerage/ 4/10/2018 Franchise Success Spotlight: Weichert® Affiliate Steve Wilke – Weichert, Realtors® – Triumph GroupRead NowAs Weichert® Affiliate Steve Wilke stands out in front of the construction site where he will build the new 5,000 square foot home of Weichert, Realtors® – Triumph Group, he can’t help but reflect on how far his brokerage has come in such a short time.
“I’ve been a broker since 2002, but my most significant growth has happened only since 2016. That was the year I became a Weichert broker. Prior to that we didn’t even have an office; my agents and I worked out of our homes.” While Steve may seem like an overnight success story, his real estate career actually began when he was just a boy knocking around Dublin, Ohio. “I used to cut grass for a guy whose son was a big real estate success locally. He drove a fancy car and he always wore a suit and gave off an aura of success. I kind of liked that. When I started as an agent, he’s who I went to work for.” Dublin, Ohio is really a Columbus suburb, so relocation into this major city and surrounding areas is a big business driver. When Weichert found Steve in 2016, he was a broker running a team of about 20 agents out of his home, doing a fair amount of relocation work. Like many independent brokers, he was also still the top producer in his agency. “I wasn’t really trying to get listings, but they came to me due to the reputation I’d established over the years. Generally, these listings were from my sphere of influence.” But in 2012, one of their largest relocation clients left them. JP Morgan Chase, a major banking client with national relocation needs informed Steve that they could only offer Columbus relocation work to brokerages with a national presence. Almost overnight, Steve lost a major source of business and began to consider what being part of a respected national real estate brand would mean for his credibility in the marketplace. Steve had heard from Weichert in the past, but when they called again in early 2016, Steve was ready to listen. Through prior contacts with Weichert and personal observation, Steve already knew Weichert was the only real estate franchise he would consider affiliating with. In a few short months Steve was ready to sign, but only one small problem remained. Weichert requires affiliates to have an actual office address. So for the first time, Steve rented office space in a local building and moved himself and his team in. Finding His Way With Weichert Steve’s agent team welcomed the change to Weichert. The Weichert “Fast Track” training program and its methodology around the automated DOORS listing presentation really sealed the deal. In Steve’s words “As a broker for almost 15 years I thought ‘what are these guys going to teach me that I don’t already know?’, but the bottom line is that you don’t know what you don’t know. I learned a ton.” In short order, Steve got back the relocation work from Chase. Then he added relocation work for companies like Disney, Pepsico, Lowes, Black & Decker, Dupont, Scotts Lawn, etc., all referrals to his brokerage through Weichert Workforce Mobility, a national source of referrals for Weichert brokers who are operating in relocation markets. Getting Results In the almost 2 years Steve has been with Weichert, Steve grew his agent team from 20 to 52 agents following the Weichert strategies for recruitment and training. Steve attributes the growth primarily to the increased credibility that being part of the Weichert brand has brought him. His brokerage is the place to be and attracting and keeping agents has become much easier. But even more amazing is Steve’s top line growth. In his first year, sales rose a respectable 18%. Then as his team became experts in delivering the Weichert sales methodology, the Weichert Lead Network driving more business opportunities, and the DOORS listing presentation driving even more listings and closings, sales in his second year are up over 500%. And so, Steve finds himself looking at the grounds that will hold the beautiful new home of Weichert, Realtors® – Triumph Group, an office he is building from scratch. “I could rent, but I’m in this for the long haul. Having my own place from which to run the business is really a dream come true for me.” See what Steve has to say about Weichert’s strategies for recruiting agents. For more information on how Weichert helps put brokerages on the path to growth, call our team today at 877-567-3350 or visit our website weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/franchise-success-spotlight-weichert-affiliate-steve-wilke-weichert-realtors-triumph-group/ Running a real estate brokerage is a rewarding business. You can do things your way from choosing a name and a location, training and mentoring a team, and driving your marketing. You know you’ll never forget the excitement you felt when your sign was hung outside your brokerage for the first time. You made the transition from motivated sales associate to independent business owner and with that, comes a necessary shift in your thinking, and your actions.
The Salesperson Within Most of the independent brokers we talk to were excellent sales associates. It’s why they made the move to being a broker. But a few years in, too many of them are still actively selling their own listings on a day to day basis. If this describes you, you have to know that you’re limiting your brokerage growth by continuing to actively sell. Before you hung your sign, the inner manager in you should have begun to change your focus from selling, to the process of managing. This means recruiting both experienced and promising new agents, and figuring out how to make them successful. Sure, it’s hard to break away from selling homes. After all, your sales prowess paid your bills all these years, but now it’s time to use your expertise to help other agents succeed and increase your bottom line. Salaried or contracted specialized administrative employees can help ease your work load and move you away from directly working with buyers and sellers to focusing on increasing agent transactions. The Case for Letting Go Many brokers mistakenly believe that they can’t stop selling or they won’t have the revenue to continue their operations or sustain their own income level. Inevitably this feeling is really due to another issue: you don’t believe your staff is able to do it as successfully as you. While this may even be true, if you want your brokerage to continue to succeed and grow, you need to invest in addressing that issue, not out meeting sellers to get listings. Train your agents to sell like you do, recruit new agents, and resist the temptation to slide back to old ways. Do that and everyone will reap the benefits and financial reward. In fact, non-selling brokers typically earn more than those that continue to sell after opening their own brokerage. National Association of Realtors member profile for 2015 showed that managing brokers who solely took charge of their brokerage earned a median annual salary of $102,200 as opposed to $86,400 for brokers who also were in the field listing homes and/or working with buyers. Handle Business Details Think back to when you were working for another brokerage as a salesperson. How do you think everything ran so smoothly? Through the broker’s hard work on the various day-to-day activities of running the brokerage as a business. Or maybe it didn’t run smoothly, because the broker was too focused on their own selling or not invested in developing their agents. Similarly, your mindset should only be on overseeing business details, such as continuing to foster your business and your brand to help agents get a leg up on the competition and your brokerage keep its integrity and sorecuieputation, among a slew of other operational tasks. If you are overwhelmed with the sheer number of tasks involved in managing your own brokerage and need a roadmap, you can consider an affiliation with a national real estate brand like Weichert. Our affiliates have the advantage of a blueprint for running a successful real estate brokerage, complemented with many broker tools to help handle business operations, marketing, recruiting and training that points you to the activities you should be working on for success. Build A Better Life When your entire brokerage is run seamlessly as a business, you are making a better life, not just for you and your family, but for all your agents. A successful brokerage means you can confidently take the family on vacation, knowing that the systems and people you’ve put in place will handle affairs while you are away. Weichert has helped hundreds of brokers build the business of their dreams, contact us today at 877-567-3350 or online at http://weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/build-business-let-agents-sell-listings/ Online retail giant Amazon is searching for another location outside of the Northwest to build a $5 billion facility and hire up to 50,000 employees. While many would be hired from the direct vicinity, others would come from nearby regions or even out of state, making a move necessary for a percentage of employees. Could you capitalize on this influx of home buyers or renters if your town or city was chosen?
Relocation Clients Matter Of course, other companies don’t just start up in a new state, but transfer employees from an office in one location to an existing office in another state, sometimes due to mergers and acquisitions. The most recent movement trend research from the Worldwide Employee Relocation Council indicates that 49 percent of transferees were relocating for the first time due to a promotion or lateral move. First-time relocation clients require extra help navigating the ropes from selling their current home in one city to purchasing or renting a new home in the perfect location in another city. Create A Specialty In Relocation As a broker, you should be looking at all revenue sales streams for your brokerage. Making relocation a specialty taps into this lucrative market where few tread, providing you with valuable and consistent leads any time of year. Relocating buyers and renters want someone who knows the area well and can educate them on all the local amenities, services, schools, eateries and entertainment with an over-all knowledge of what makes the area tick. The challenge of course, is understanding how that business works and then getting the relationships with the corporate entities that do most of the relo in your area. These relationships are often under contract to other national real estate companies and it can be difficult for independent brokers to make inroads into this market. That’s where an affiliation with a large national real estate brand can be particularly helpful Weichert Workforce Mobility for instance, is Weichert’s national relocation company, responsible for managing relo services for companies large and small around the world. These opportunities feed our qualified local Weichert brokers in markets all over the country, providing yet another lead funnel in addition to Weichert Lead Network. Serving relocation clients requires some special knowledge and training. These clients require a reliable and stable brokerage they can trust with what, for many, is a daunting move. As a broker you must provide agents or teams who are interested in this section of the market with training to gain relocation designations or recruit those already relocation designated that have valuable experience in this field. Be The Go-To Relocation Brokerage Depending on your location, you can position your brokerage as the relocation authority and create messaging in your marketing materials—from advertising to social media—with that in mind. Work with various moving companies, house cleaners and other services to provide clients a streamlined transfer experience to reduce the high stress of making a big move. This way your brokerage is always the area go-to for organizations or referral agents with client relocation needs. This is a labor-intensive process and an additional expense at first, but will pay off in time. The Inside Track To Relocation The easiest way to get up and running is to join forces with a company that’s already in the business. Weichert Affiliates, for example, have the opportunity to qualify for leads through Weichert Workforce Mobility, a leader in the relocation business. If this is something you are interested in for your brokerage, maybe it’s time to take a look at a Weichert franchise. Call 877-533-9007 or go to weichertfranchise.com to learn more. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/tapping-relocation-market/ LinkedIn’s mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” As a broker, isn’t that essentially what you want, too? To ensure that your brokerage and your agents are more productive and continue to be successful? For your brokerage to thrive, quality recruiting is an essential element of growth. You know that acquiring talented agents who are hungry for sales form the lifeblood of your brokerage.
Think of the agent search as lead acquisition. Do you want to make Facebook friends or gain business leads? With its more educated and wealthier demographic compared to other social networks, LinkedIn is a viable social media platform for lead generation, so it makes sense to use it to search for quality real estate agents as well—new or seasoned. Plus, its smaller and more focused social platform is a prime place to showcase your brokerage and its needs. Use Free Features Your LinkedIn profile speaks volumes about your professionalism and business model and is what most agent candidates will review to vet brokerage prospects. Make your headline stand out from the crowd, as that’s the first thing members see right under your name. Take the time to review your profile to ensure your message is correctly portrayed. Directly messaging certain first- and second-degree connections is one way to interact with potential agents and make them take notice of what you have to offer, but there are additional options. With a basic LinkedIn membership, there are a few ways you can recruit at no cost: through posts and articles. These recruiting features use general targeting and may take some time to get results. Play To Your Uniqueness LinkedIn supports two kinds of content: Posts and articles. You can think of them as short form and long form content, respectively, and they each have a place in your LinkedIn marketing plan. You want to create post items on a more regular basis that highlight the uniqueness of your brokerage—specialized trainings, online resources, sales mentors, prime location—and describe why it’s such a great place to work as opposed to your competition. Quotes from other agents, photos of employees, or the maybe the fact that you bring on veterans that became successful agents are some suggestions. You can also syndicate links to other content from Realtor.com or other real estate sites that you know that may be of interest. This is called “curated” content and can sometimes be easier for the busy broker or their associate to accomplish vs. writing original content. Articles are different than posts and should be used to highlight areas of interest to agents seeking a first or new brokerage, such as “10 things every real estate broker should provide to its agents” or “what to expect as a new real estate agent”. Content should resonate with sales associates looking to make a change or just starting out. If articles rank high, recruits will be at your door. Take Advantage of Targeted Data You can up the ante and get more recruits by capitalizing on LinkedIn’s vast member information data—pulled from over 500 million members—and use it to specifically target interested candidates. Better results and less work for you, but a paid premium membership is required to unlock the features of both job posts and career pages. As these talent acquisitions are so focused, the price paid now should increase brokerage growth quicker and with better-qualified agents than previous methods. Post A Job Unlike other job boards, posting a job on LinkedIn is highly directed to your needs. Skills, qualifications, education and more are used to get your job in front of candidates that fit your specifications. This feature boasts of real-time analytics, so you can see how your job posts are performing, as well as easy candidate review and contact methods. Add A Career Page The LinkedIn paid Career feature boosts your visibility and functions like your very own website within the LinkedIn platform. You can showcase lots about the everyday work environment, interesting trainings or speakers, fun office facts or agent quotes, office layout and much more in words, images and videos. You can post more than one job opening—agents, office manager, marketing specialist—without paying for each job post. To easily assess your recruiting goals and determine how the Careers page is working, use the handy analytics tool provided. Recruit on Multiple Channels Don’t forget that LinkedIn compliments your current recruiting efforts, it won’t replace them. One of the major focus points of the Weichert team in coaching new Affiliates is, of course, Recruitment, and our process emphasizes a multi-channel approach that creates the right exposure and buzz around your brokerage in your local market. Our process gets great results but it’s not by doing one thing, it’s doing many. From having the materials to help attract recruiting candidates to the training to get them up and running quickly to be successful, having a system in place is critical to recruiting success and growth. The team at Weichert understands better than most that recruiting and retaining the best people is what will make you truly successful. If finding a successful recruiting plan is something you’re interested in for your brokerage, call today at 877-533-9007 and see how the Weichert tools and processes can give you an edge. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/use-linkedin-recruit-quality-real-estate-agents/ While they haven’t yet isolated the gene for real estate success, Weichert affiliate Brandon Long may be the perfect test subject. Brandon inherited his mother’s love for the real estate industry and more than a little of her drive for success as well. “I grew up in a real estate family,” mused Brandon, on a typical busy day that took him between two of the four offices of Weichert, Realtors® – The Griffin Company, in northwest Arkansas. “My mother started a brokerage back in 1974 when I was just 4 years old. In those days, you could just get a license and open a storefront. She’s been at it ever since and is still the largest independent broker in her market.” When he was in his late twenties, Brandon took the plunge and got his real estate license, too. After a few years as an agent, Brandon knew that owning his own brokerage was where he wanted to be. Brandon and his good friend Carter Clark, started an independent brokerage focused on the residential market in and around the Northwest corner of Arkansas in 2003. “Our market is in an area with some of the largest corporate headquarters in the county. Walmart and Tyson Foods are based here and every vendor that sells to them has a presence in the local area,” notes Brandon. “We are in a beautiful corner of the state and many of those employees decide they want to settle out here.” While achieving some growth from 2003 to 2007, the housing crash propelled Brandon and Carter to consider some of the challenges they were facing as an independent brokerage in a highly competitive market. “Recruiting and training agents was a big challenge for us,” says Brandon, “We had nothing formal and weren’t sure how to develop it.” By late 2007 it was getting harder and harder for them to see a way forward. They decided to consider a franchise relationship. Due Diligence In researching possible franchise affiliations, Brandon and Carter looked at literally every real estate company out there. “It came down to Weichert and one other company,” says Brandon, “We chose Weichert because they were the only company that really cared about how we would make a profit.” In late 2007 they signed on with Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. In their first couple of years, which was in the midst of the housing crash, the brokerage grew from 20 to about 70 agents. Their success did not go unnoticed by other local brokers and they were presentedwith an opportunity to merge with another large brokerage in the area. The Weichert corporate team assisted with due diligence throughout the merger and Weichert, Realtors® – The Griffin Company was born. With the help of Weichert and through other acquisitions over the subsequent years, the brokerage grew steadily. In January of 2018, their company will open its fourth office in Fort Smith, adding another 35 agents to the roster. The Weichert® System Today As a franchisee for a decade, Weichert, Realtors® – The Griffin Company continues to derive great value from the relationship with Weichert. Some of their favorite benefits include the Weichert Listing Presentation system aka “DOORS”, which has become an indispensable part of the agent selling process. The sales team uses it on almost every listing presentation. In addition to creating a powerful and accurate presentation, DOORS is facilitated by online tools provided by Weichert which make creation of the material easy. “If I go up against another broker with our Doors presentation vs. whatever they bring, I’ll win the listing 95% of the time,” says Brandon. For Brandon, another great benefit of the Weichert affiliation has been the coaching and training–for Brokers. “I’m always learning something from Weichert Training. I never miss the “Saw Sessions” and I’ve gone three times to the Weichert Management Academy.” The endless opportunities for coaching and learning through Weichert continue to allow the company to stay ahead of changes, technology and opportunities in the industry. But according to Brandon, no discussion of the Weichert System would be complete without mentioning the Weichert Lead Network. “We develop a huge amount of opportunities through the Weichert Lead Network. In 2017 we anticipate that 90-100 closings will happen through these leads.” Brandon points out that the National Association of REALTORS® says on average it takes 48 hours for agents to respond to leads and 50% get no response at all. According to Brandon, “With the Weichert lead acquisition and technology systems, the leads are pre-screened and transferred to a live agent on my team within 3-5 minutes of receiving a call or online form. This makes an enormous difference in our ability to be first in our market.” The Results In 2007, Brandon’s brokerage was looking at the most depressed housing market in a lifetime. After instituting the Weichert System, he was able to more than triple his agent team in just under two years. His success attracted opportunities. After a merger, and several acquisitions later, Weichert, Realtors® – The Griffin Company has increased its agent count by almost tenfold since it affiliated, has 4 offices in northwest AR, and business is booming. Brandon sums it up this way, “We couldn’t have survived without Weichert and we continue to succeed because of their active commitment to our success.” Visit Brandon and the team at http://www.weichertgriffin.com/ For more information on franchise opportunities with Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com/ Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/franchise-success-spotlight-weichert-affiliate-brandon-long/ In any brokerage, there are team members who embrace, new ideas, new tools, new strategies with enthusiasm and energy. You know who they are: the people you go to when you want to bounce a new idea off someone or discuss a change you want to make. They will take the time to listen and give you good, constructive feedback. They are the people who support what you are trying to accomplish and get in the boat with you so you can all reach the end goal together. These are “the willing” and the people you can build a successful business around.
Then there are the “unwilling”. Those who react adversely to anything requiring a change to the status quo or the way they like to do things. These are the people who always want to follow a different path than the one you are forging and create distractions within your office and among “the willing”. As a broker you need to ask yourself: How much time and energy am I spending trying to convince, cajole, motivate, and oversee the implementation of my business strategies with those who are less than flexible and unwilling to change the way they do things? The Willing Will Enhance Your Agency Culture As a broker, you’re running at light speed, trying to give all aspects of your business the attention it needs. We understand this, we’ve been there. Managing change is one of the central activities you have and is essential to your continued growth as a brokerage. The problem is that it’s easy to get caught up spending too much time trying to convince the naysayers in your organization to follow the systems and plans you set forth. Negative people are like an anchor, draining your enthusiasm as well as your time. Instead, filter these people out from your agent team over time and seek to surround yourself with positive, energetic people who share your goals and vision. Here’s a few things to consider:
Attracting the Willing To Your Agency Remember, positivity attracts positivity. Your ability to focus on The Willing and celebrate their success will create a positive, supportive culture inside your agency. This in turn will become the word on the street for you, which will help you attract other like-minded agents. Who doesn’t want to be on the cool team? It is also incumbent on you to sustain that positivity by feeding it. Walk the walk. Talk the talk. Provide the enthusiasm and energy for your team to feed on. One of things we focus on in the Weichert® System is training and coaching offices on the importance of building and maintaining this positive culture to attract and retain new agents. Your ability to understand these behaviors and implement them in your brokerage will go a long way toward building the kind of willing team and workplace that gets results. For more information on how you can partner with Weichert Franchise, visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/focus-willing-let-go-rest/ Is your real estate agency growing? Chances are, you’re focused on issues related to commissions, marketing/advertising, agent training and inventory, all of which affect your ability to recruit and keep good real estate agents. But one thing brokers often forget to invest in is the culture within their brokerage and how it affects both agent retention, real estate agent recruiting and productivity.
What keeps agents with an organization? Money is often named as a key motivator for retention. However, at the end of the day, it comes down to much more than that. Feeling like they are part of something bigger than themselves, creating a positive environment that is both supportive and respectful and fostering a management team that is engaged and interested in the growth and success of its agents—just to name a few. Money will work for a little while, but to retain people long-term, it’s important to pay attention to the culture you are creating for your office. When agents are motivated and happy, it extends to the experience their clients have, too. And that’s good for business. What Makes For Great Brokerage Culture? Workplace culture is essentially the personality of your business: the environment, attitude, expectations, and ethics that you want to foster to achieve your business goals. While successful brokerages vary on the details, they all have one thing in common: a supportive and positive company culture. And the more unique you make it, the harder it will be to find it somewhere else. In a positive company culture, creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and teamwork are encouraged. And while all brokers aren’t Tony Robbins, you don’t have to be in order to make your business a place good agents want to be. When we coach our Weichert® franchise brokers, these are some of the things we help them focus on:
Your business benefits from the passion, productivity, and loyalty that results from the consistent application of these principles. Creating a positive, fun and productive workplace doesn’t just happen by chance. There are many things a broker can do to foster a great environment that will create the kind of buzz that brings agents to your door. If you have a vision for your success that includes listening, learning, and working differently than your competitors, you just might be next Weichert Franchise success story. Contact our team to learn more, visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com.\ Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/yes-culture-matter-starts/ |
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