If Not….Why Not?

I just attended my 4th Inman Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco. It was very enlightening, informative and intense. If you missed it, you missed some great information. If you are serious about your business and staying on top of the wave, it is important to be where the innovators and industry leaders are sharing ideas and solutions. You still have time to get in the game before the end of year by attending the Inman conference in NYC this fall. Go to www.inman.com for more details. These events are vitally important for Brokers, Managers, IT, Marketing and Recruiting personnel. Reading the industry updates is ok, but being there in person is remarkable.

I understand that the Connects conferences are focused on and dedicated to the advancing technologies of our industry and they did an amazing job however, there is always one very important component missing at these events…the topic of RECRUITING. In my world, recruiting, retention and production of agents are key to survival and profitability in any market. It is especially critical in a recovering market. Without agents you have no one to blog, no listings to syndicate, no clients to use your fancy map search, no agents to expand on the viral advantages of the abundant social networking venues and no closings!

Recruiting has always been one of the most challenging aspects of the Brokers survival and based on what I have seen in our industry, it is also the most misunderstood and misguided practice. There is a great deal of responsibility placed on any consultant who claims they can help a broker recruit. This makes it hard for brokers to find brave souls who will share their skill set to assist them in this process. It is also why there is very little information available compared to the mass quantities of training materials and seminars for agents.

In my opinion, Inman Connect is a perfect venue to discuss and promote recruiting and how technology can make that happen. Brad Inman has created the perfect environment by bringing vendors into their presentation partnership. The only thing missing in these vendors’ conversations and presentation is how a broker can use their application to recruit, retain and raise the production of their agents. Within every application there is a recruiting opportunity. Sometimes it is hard to find and the vendors need some assistance to define; in one or two sentences, how their specific application/widget applies to recruiting.

I can find the recruiting opportunity in every application and/or widget I see. It is a game for me because I do it for my own brokerage investments. I walk around the Vendor Expo and ask the vendors how their applications will help me recruit, retain and make my agents more productive….. then wait for the silence….then wait for them to launch into describing their product to me as if they didn’t even hear me ask the question. They are on autopilot describing the features of their products.

The problems are 99% of all vendors have never recruited an agent and 80% have never been within 50 ft of managing a real estate transaction. They don’t know enough about our industry to truly advise us on the use of their application in our daily world of recruiting, retention and production.

The first mistake most vendors make is they fail to find out WHO they are talking to. There is a distinctly different conversation and opportunity available when sharing with a Broker or anyone in a decision making position in a brokerage vs an agent. I have been on both sides of this as an Owner Operator and as a technology vendor. When I had a decision maker at my vendor booth, the first question I asked was:

“If I can show you how my solution can help you recruit, retain and make your agents more productive, would you be interested in a private demonstration? Where and when can we meet?”

After I spew these words their interest level raises because they know how vital recruiting, retention and production are.

Brokers/managers, your skill set and the skill set of your staff is what will attract agents to your company. This includes your technology skill set. Ask yourself two questions about every technology solution you have invested time and/or money in or are considering investing in.

“Does This Technology Help Us Recruit, Retain and Coach Agents to higher production? If So, How?”

“Is Our Collaborative Skill Set Strong Enough For Us To Be Able To Coach Our Agents To Use This Technology Successfully?”

If the answer to either of these questions is NO…. then don’t buy or promote it!!!!!!!

That said, every technology has a recruiting and retention value built in. Some are easy to relay but others take some imagination and the broker’s willingness to share in the risk in the investment of the technology. Let’s face it, agents want to invest but are skeptical or don’t have the funds right now and Brokers want their agents to be productive no matter the means. So, I present to you this scenario…..

As a Broker/Manager, choose a few technologies you know will enhance the production of your agents, secure a corporate contract with the vendors (have the agents pay the discounted rate to the vendors directly) then offer your agents a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual refund of the dollars the productive agents spend on those technologies based on their successful integration of the technologies and production goals.

There are many ways to make technology a recruiting, retention and production tool and these goals should be at the forefront of every buying/promotion decision you make.

If you are a Technology Vendor keep this in mind. As I perused the vendor booths at Connect (and just about every conference I attend) not one vendor shared how their solution can help brokers recruit, retain and coach agents to success. If you can’t address at least one of these topics with your technology, in my opinion, it has less value to the broker. It is imperative that vendors understand their product as it relates to the recruiting and retention value proposition.

Brokers/Owners, work with your technology providers to come up with marketing ideas for your recruiting efforts. Always ask “What’s in it for the Agent?” Once you decide to invest in and promote a technology, develop strategic technology coaching sessions for your agents. Not just point and click, real strategies that are shared at conferences and taught by industry technology leaders. With your agents on board and successfully utilizing technology, they will be more productive and help you recruit.

This doesn’t mean that you have to become a tech engineer. What it does mean is that you will want to truly understand the big picture technology trends and how they apply to our industry and your agents’ production. Things to research are Blogging, Social Networking, Mapping, Syndicating, Electronic Farming, SEO, Website Strategies, email applications, mobi/text apps etc. Pick the solutions that your company feels it can support and assist the agents with. There are so few leaders in our industry who have the time to devote to learning these applications and yet it is the best use of their time. Make a commitment to review and implement one solution a month based on your IT dept recommendations. In 3 months you will be way ahead of a majority of leaders.

Use the new technology trends to recruit and give your agents an advantage in this changing market. Be your agent’s Technology Strategy Coach and you will outshine your competition. Just make sure what you support and invest in can accomplish your growth and the increase the production of your agents. Growth and production is a win-win for both Owners and Agents.