Believe it or not, we are in the dog days of summer. That means that the kids are back in school and we are winding down to the holiday season.
So as we begin to get closer to a new year, it is a time where many business professionals look back at the past year and begin to evaluate if it is time to make a career change. This is particularly the case for real estate agents. Each New Year is a time for accounting and taxes, a time for reflection on the past year and a time for planning strategies for the upcoming year. It is also the perfect opportunity for brokers to kick off their recruiting efforts.
This time of year is when agents begin to look closely at all of their income and expenditures. What they see is not always what they had planned for a year earlier. This is the time that they are likely to rethink their strategies and look for new opportunities.
Hence, this is your opportunity recruit quality talent. From experience, from now until the end of tax season is the best time of year to recruit new agents. There are several things that an agent is searching for in a new broker. Each agent will have different wants and needs.
The main thing you need to focus on in your advertising efforts is what you have to offer that differentiates you from other local brokers. Put your best foot forward and tell the agents the benefits of joining your firm.
Here are a few things that agents are usually looking for before they make a move to a new brokerage. You may not be able to offer the best of everything, but you should emphasize the best of what you have to offer.
- High Splits– Do you offer high commission splits? This is probably the most important thing an agent considers when looking for a new brokerage.
- Low Desk Fees– With sales volumes down, desk fees are now a significant expense. Some agents can pay desk fees of $1,000 or more a month. If you offer a plan with low desk fees, you will attract attention.
- Leads– If your firm generates a large number of leads, let your prospective new agents know that you are looking for new agents to follow-up on all of the leads.
- Benefits– As we all know, real estate agents are independent contractors. As such, things such as 401K plans and health insurance can be difficult to obtain. Offering a group health plan or 401K plan is a huge advantage.
- Marketing Assistance– Marketing is a significant expense for agents. With the current state of the real estate market, some agents are finding it difficult to pay for marketing expenditures. Offering free marketing or some assistance with marketing costs can be very attractive.
- Training, Technology, and Support– Your brokerage is only as good as your agents. Technology, training, and support can make an average agent a top producer. Offering these programs betters not only your prospective agents but also your firm as a whole.
Tips and Best Practices
I have been involved in real estate marketing for many years now. I have seen very successful recruiting campaigns and others that were not successful. To make the point, I recently spoke to one broker who was able to hire five new agents in only one week using email, and another brokerage has signed up over forty agents this year using our eCampaignPro recruiting solutions. When sending a successful email campaign, your subject line needs to be strong, your message must be enticing, and there must be a clear call to action. However, it is not just about sending a good email campaign once. Success in email marketing comes from consistency. In fact, you should always think of your emails as campaigns. Campaigns are never just one email that you send one time and expect to have tons of agents knocking at your door. Successful campaigns are a series of messages that are designed to build off each other over time. Remember, prospects may not be interested or ready to act when you send your message. That is why sending follow-up campaigns, phone calls, social media retargeting advertisements and interviews are just as important in measuring the overall success of your efforts. Here are some specific things you should consider before you hit send to make sure your emails have maximum impact:
- Spam Testing– You should always test your message to ensure that it is not going to the SPAM folder. Personally, I always check my message with at least Microsoft Outlook. Many firms use Outlook, and it analyzes the subject line and content of the email as well. If you message goes to the SPAM folder, you need to revise it.
- Spam Testing– Testing various subject lines for the best open rates is also an excellent idea. Some subject lines will perform better than others. Try sending the same email to a few different zip codes in the same geographical area to see which subject line works the best.
- Timing– Statistically, the best time to send your email is Tuesday through Thursday during regular business hours. Avoid sending emails during the holidays but weekends are perfect for reaching real estate agents because most real estate agents work weekends.
- Follow-Up– Use the eCampaignPro "segmentation" and “Campaigns Ready For Follow-Up” feature to create a list of prospects who opened or clicked a link in your prior email campaigns. Tracking opens and links is one of eCampaignPro's most powerful features. Then, send a follow-up to just those who showed initial interest. Your response rate will be much higher than the original email campaign.
- Landing Pages– Landing pages are a great way to pre-qualify leads. Landing pages allow you to expand on your offering in more detail and provide a sign-up form to give potential prospects an easy way to get more information about you and your brokerage confidentially.
- Retargeting – The most common remarketing tactic is targeting relevant Google or Facebook ads at people who have visited your landing page but did not convert. A second tactic we use is to upload a custom audience off of your previous campaign data. For instance, an agent who opened your email campaign will start to see your ad appear on their timelines when they visit Facebook, giving them more opportunities to contact you.
Hopefully, I have given you some useful tips regarding recruiting new real estate agents using eCampaignPro. If you need more information about eCampaignPro recruiting solutions or email marketing in general, I am personally here to help you. You can email me or just call me direct me at 1-888-362-4547 Ext. 121 to find out more about eCampaignPro’s real estate recruiting solutions.