Inman

To master recruiting, Kris Lindahl says educate — and collect data

Kris Lindahl and Anthony Lamacchia at Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021

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Kris Lindahl, CEO of team-owned brokerage Kris Lindahl Real Estate in Minnesota, recruited 107 agents in one month this summer and regularly recruits more than 70 agents monthly by educating them on the business.

To do that, Lindahl, who spends heavily on radio, TV, social media and billboard ads, started out by realizing that people loved his brokerage’s “Be Generous” mission.

“Step no. 1 in any sort of messaging is you have to first figure out, brainstorm, what people are saying about your brand,” he told attendees at Inman Connect Las Vegas Tuesday, where he appeared virtually.

“What’s important to them? Everyone really loved our ‘Be Generous’ mission. That’s the thing that stood out to every single person in our community.”

So instead of talking about his sales numbers — his brokerage will bring in about a billion and a half dollars in sales volume this year — or about being “No. 1,” he focused on human connection, especially after the past pandemic year.

“They want to be connected to someone,” he said of agents. “You have to talk to them like human beings.”

His brokerage created educational materials and a scholarship program to help would-be agents get their licenses, particularly those who had lost a job during the pandemic or been furloughed.

“We started … educating them on what a career in real estate would look like for them,” he said.

That brought agents in who then started referring their friends and family, according to Lindahl.

“They’re like ‘This is an energizing place to be. They’re doing something really different,'” he said. “So it starts to build momentum.”

Because helping an agent get licensed and trained takes thousands of dollars, Lindahl doesn’t accept just anyone in his program. His brokerage assessed everyone who completed the program and everyone that didn’t, looking at their personalities.

“You have to know what types of personalities are showing up and what their activities are and why,” he said.

“And if you have a detailed profile assessment system that’s very granular you’ll start to see similarities show up.”

“We know the profiles that work for our model. Over the past year and a half we have learned that,” he said.

Email Andrea V. Brambila.

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