We live in a world driven by data: you can use facial recognition to open your phone, fingerprints to make payments, and numerous apps track what you do, where you go and what you buy. Top performing companies are using this valuable data to track our lifestyles, buying habits, and much more with the intent of positioning their products in front of you. How are you using today’s technology to grow your real estate business?
In this first of a series of three articles, I sat down with Judy LaDeur of Judy Ladeur International to weigh in on some important trends and topics we are all facing today regarding the importance of knowing your recruiting target. LaDeur was named one of the top 25 most influential women in real estate in a TRENDS report conducted by Swanepoel and is a highly sought after speaker, coach, trainer and consultant to the real estate industry.
How important is personalization with recruiting?
It’s really important. Research shows that 80 percent of real estate agents are emotional decision makers, which means that they need to trust you and like you. The relationship is really important, and you can’t build a relationship with generic marketing materials. But personalization means more than just personalized marketing materials — it’s also personalization on social media platforms, your conversations and interactions, everything. Agents are bombarded with recruiting attempts every day, in fact, many recruiting efforts just bounce off the recruit without any impact at all. If you want to get their attention, don’t make them feel like just another number, but let them know that you are genuinely interested in them and their business and your efforts will pay off.
What are your thoughts on production? Does it matter when recruiting?
Absolutely! As a Broker you need to know what a potential recruit’s production is to determine if they are a good fit for your firm. It’s one of the basic tools that I always recommend that broker’s invest in if they are committed to recruiting. Production information tells you: Has their business dropped in the past year? Gone up? What about their office? What’s their production and how does it compare to your firm? Can you help them increase their income with your tools? It’s always great to know when the agents on your hit list secure a new listing or close a transaction. It’s a great reason to reach out to them and an easy way to give recognition to agents that you want on your team.
How important is it to be tapped into social media?
In today’s world, it’s really important! Social media is the fastest way to build relationships with those emotional agents. Social media is a great way to get those contacts in and it’s also a great way for them to get to know you on a personal level, even before they meet you. You too can learn much about an agent by visiting their social medial sights and following them. All the social media platforms are important, and you should know which platform each of the agents you are talking to uses. Brokers who are tapped into social media say they will sign up an additional 6-8 agents per year just by staying connected.
Tell us the importance of tracking all your conversations?
The rule of marketing is 3-7-27. It takes 3 contacts or interactions for the potential recruit to remember who you are. It takes 7 interactions for them to remember you and connect your name with the company that you work for. It takes 27 interactions/contacts or to build and gain their trust. That is a lot of conversations before you set up a meaningful recruiting appointment. Tracking your conversations, setting up reminders and having the communications tools to reach out in many ways such as email, texting, video and voice are critical to recruiting success.
What recruiting tools do you recommend to your clients?
It’s great to coach so many quality leaders on how they can recruit more effectively. The one product that has always been a constant is Brokermetrics® . But when I found out that Realty Connection® and Terradatum teamed up to create OnTask Recruiter, the CRM powered by Brokermetrics® , I knew it was a game changer. Not only do you have the production metrics in front of you, but it also gives you alerts when your top prospects take a listing or have a closing. It tracks your own agents’ production and transaction activity for retention. Creating notes is simple. It tracks communications like emails, texts, video emails, and automations and gives access to the agents’ social media accounts. It is really the only all-in-one recruiting CRM that is out there and what I have been recommending to many of my clients.
In summary, to be a successful recruiter: Know your agents. Be authentic. Create a relationship. Use the right tools.
You can learn more from Judy LaDeur here. To learn about how OnTask Recruiter can help you recruit more effectively, please visit www.ontaskrecruiter.com.
