A massive shift of workers from offices to home offices is partially responsible for the hot real estate market. While high demand coupled with a housing shortage has led customers to engage in bidding wars. In addition, the Mortgage Bankers Association expects home prices to decrease in the next year, which could drive more potential buyers into the market.
To get the edge on your competition in the market, you need to know how to recruit real estate agents whose personalities are right for your business.
We make it easy for you to have a growing and connected client base with all the marketing tools you need, synced to the tools you’re already using.
How to recruit real estate agents
Employing talented real estate agents greatly improves your chances of success. Professional agents benefit clients because they know the local market and can do more to connect buyers to their ideal home than buyers can just by surfing listings. Agents can also bring a knowledgeable and objective perspective to the process.
While there’s no set method on how to recruit real estate agents, there are some common practices you can use to make your agency stand out as a desirable employer to top talent.
What to consider when attracting real estate agents
Your idea of a top real estate agent may differ from that of your competitors, but the best agents usually have some of the same habits. In general, the best real estate agents are always:
- Building their network
- Managing client relationships
- Working hard to close sales
When you’re recruiting real estate agents for your agency, you probably already have an inkling of which in your area are the most successful.
7 real estate agent recruitment ideas
Here are some recruitment ideas you can consider to build your business and leverage your agents’ successes.
1. Solidify your brand
One of the main reasons agents choose to work with a company versus branching out on their own is branding. Having a strong brand with solid recognition saves them from having to work hard to build trust with potential clients. If you’re just starting, it might be hard to compete with more established brands for top talent.
Use proven marketing strategies to promote your firm to buyers and potential employees alike. Show potential agents that you’re active on social media and up on new marketing trends like Facebook Live tours. Use social media marketing for real estate to share your brand personality with potential agents.
For example, Moose is a real estate agent and influencer who has built a steady following through Instagram and TV appearances. He leverages his own social media presence to find customers and make sales. His Instagram feed showcases his personality alongside routine real estate postings.
Write blog posts and create video content to share your expertise and establish yourself as the go-to company for local real estate information. Potential buyers can learn from your experience, and potential agents will know that your company will support them in their marketing and customer relationship duties.
2. Help your agents build their personal brands
Real estate is a business of personality. Even when agents are employed by a big brand or a boutique firm, they can make better sales by branding themselves.
Part of how to recruit real estate agents involves showing new employees that you can help them build and manage their own personal brand. Share your branding plan with potential agents, touting how you help your agents market themselves. In the interview process, share your successes and reassure them that you will help them brand themselves.
3. Network
As a business owner, you should always be recruiting even when you don’t need to. If you wait until you have vacancies, you could end up scrambling for new agents, which can cloud your judgment.
When you’re out and about at industry events, talk to people, and save contact information for talented agents. This way, when you do find yourself with a vacancy to fill, you already have people in mind who can come in and start performing right away.
4. Manage your email list
When you’re networking, ask individual agents if they want to be added to your email list. Create a separate list segment of potential agents and create targeted content to curate your email marketing for real estate.
While your messages to potential buyers may aim to improve their home buying experience, your messages to agents should be different. Figure out what appeals to each reader and use email marketing to communicate your corporate culture, educate new agents, and connect them to one another. You can also look through email bouncebacks to see who has recently changed jobs.
5. Stand out with paid ads
You are likely running real estate ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms to attract new home buyers. However, you can also use them to recruit. Job boards are often saturated with agents and employers. Targeted Facebook ads help you cut through the clutter.
If you already have a Facebook Business account, you can use it to post job ads. Create a sponsored ad and target it to people based on their interests. Include language that builds your reputation as a supportive employer.
Vyral Marketing created a YouTube video that walks you through the basics of creating a lead generation ad on Facebook, specifically geared toward recruiting.
6. Talk to your current agents
Interview your current agents to find out why they decided to work with you. There may be aspects of your culture you hadn’t considered that are appealing to employees. Talk to your employees about what they expected out of your company and how it met or failed to meet expectations.
This way, you can build a recruitment strategy based on your culture, and you can improve your business for your current agents.
7. Be a leader
As it is with most businesses, top real estate agents can thrive when they’re paired with the right mentor. Pairing new agents with more senior members of your team allows everyone to learn from each other. Your top agents will teach new agents strategies for improving their success, while your new agents can introduce seasoned professionals to newer marketing tactics they might not be using.
A strong mentorship program makes your agency attractive to new real estate agents. If you want to promote it, open up the program to people who don’t work for you by hosting special mentoring and networking events. This introduces your brand to agents in the area and also gives them a chance to learn about your culture through your current employees.
Taking the first step
Even if you’re not actively recruiting real estate agents, you should be building your brand and improving your reputation. Strong brand awareness makes you an attractive employer because your agents can leverage it to attract their customers. It’s important to also consider real estate agents who go through burnout.
To get started, optimize your online presence through your real estate website, social media, content, and real estate email list. Focus on branding parts of your business that would appeal to buyers and new agents alike. Segment your mailing list to create content and ads specifically for recruiting.
Once you’ve got your branding down, you can focus on recruiting top talent.
