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EAMake Your Company #1 In The MarketplaceBy Judy LaDeurChange is the only constant in real estate.Associates are often changing firms for a varietyof reasons. For Brokers, knowing how to recruitthe best agents, and how to know when they are ready tomake a move, Can make a dramatic difference in theirprofitability.Most real estate office managers and Brokers stillinsist on spending the bulk of their valuable time onproblem-solving and production issues. For the past 25years as a recruiter, coach and consultant to the realestate industry, the one thing that has never changedis this. If you focus on recruiting, you’ll have fewerproblems, more profits, and it will he easier to recruitand retain the agents you want. So why don’t Brokersmake recruiting the #1 priority? The ones that do havedramatically increased their market presence and profitsover the past several years.What I have found working as a consultant withcompanies around the country is that the owner/managerswho improve profitability in quantum leaps actuallyfocus most of their attention, time arid energies on therecruitment and retention of experienced associates. Forevery production problem you work on you increaseyour market share by one transaction, but for everyassociate you recruit away from your competition, youreduce his or her market share and increase yours by theamount of that associates annual production.Most brokers know that they should be putting moreeffort into the recruiting process, but the frustrationfactor deters them pursuing it. Many brokers take therejection that often occurs with recruiting personally,so they would rather not deal with it. But, considerthis: recruit one $2 million producer and you increaseyour bottom line by $2 million; at the same time youreduce your competitors market share by $2 millionand enjoy a net gain of $4 million dollars increasedmarket presence. Recruit ten $2 million producers overthe course of a given year, and you can increase yourmarket position by $40 million.Any company that can become $40 million dollarsstronger in the marketplace during the course of a singleyear is likely to generate more associate excitement andenthusiasm, more signs, more calls, more listings, andmore opportunities to increase business and, of course,more profits for its broker/owner. In addition, manyproblems associated with low producers will disappearbecause low producers will make up less and less ofyour associate base.Techniques to Stay on Track and to Keep YourName Out FrontYou can’t make an associate leave that is happy withtheir present Broker, but you can make him or her thinkof your company when he or she is ready to move on.In fact, the #1 Rule for recruiting experienced agents isthis: It is not what you do that makes an agent leave. Itis what their company or Broker does or does not do thatmakes them leave. It is what you do between now andthen that makes them pick up the phone and call you.Recruiting is a contact sport, and contact in any formis the key to your success. Staying active in your localRealtor board and your community helps to build generalawareness of your company’s name, and let’s the agentsknow you. Plus, you can use specific strategies to rewardassociates who do business with you and make it morefun for them.To do this, you need to set up a system to trackevery associate who co-ops with your company on atransaction. I realize this is a lot of work, but the pay offsare great. Once this system is in place, within 24 hours ofsigning the contract. Call up the co-op associate to thankthem for their business. One to three days later, send aThank-You note to the associates office. Follow up bydelivering personally or by courier, a thank-you gift withyour companies name on it. The gift can be as simple asa tin of popcorn or chocolates, but it should be sent to theoffice so other associates can see it. Of course, this sendsthe subliminal message that doing business with yourcompany is fun. Just prior to closing, mail another letterto the associate’s office thanking him or her for bringingthe transaction to a successful conclusion. Everyone whoco-ops with your office should be on this system. Onlyafter the closing should you show preferential treatmentto the associate you want to recruit. At that time, senda letter to the associate’s home letting him or her knowthat they are the type of associate that they would like tohave on your team.Successfully recruiting experienced or new associatestakes time and effort. With recruiting systems in place,you can focus your attention on your current associateswhile recruiting the best people for your company.Who Should You Recruit?Are you spending most or your time trying to recruitTop Producers? Why? Most top producers are happy16 ExecutiveAgent Magazine