How to attract quality real estate agents to your team

Real estate team leaders all want to attract the best talent possible. History tells us that the easiest way to do that is to provide more leads, better commission splits and less required meetings.

Is it really that simple?

These are hot topics, but seasoned real estate agents are looking deeper into the company infrastructure and leadership to decide if it is the place to move their business.

There are four leadership traits that will attract strong real estate professionals for long-term partnerships.

Create standards

For years we have been trapped in a sales model of the more the merrier. More agents, more leads, more sales. We can all agree that more sales are never a bad thing, but hiring more agents could be a negative when it comes to attracting quality talent.

Team leaders who create standards for their agents are, actually, creating a brand within the industry. They develop thoughts around their company or team that agents will gravitate toward. Some even set the bar for success in their market.

How do you create standards for a real estate company?

• Identify and market your core values to potential candidates.
• Target your ideal agent and developing agent.
• Decline opportunities that are not in line with your growth.

Be resilient

If you want the best agents, you have to be cool, calm and collected. You have to be resilient to the ups and downs of the business. You have to take your hits and keep moving forward. Show your strengths.

Being resilient in real estate is established by actions. Anyone can call themselves resilient, but not everyone can show it.

How do you prove resiliency to an agent candidate?

• Be transparent. Providing real and accurate information that brings both parties to a decision.
• Speak from a place of current action. What is your business like right now? Share the accolades of the past few years, but focus on the current state of affairs.
• Connect on a human level. Give a full disclosure of how you got to the point of hiring agents like the candidate in front of you. Share a little of your story in real estate.

Adapt to change easily

Real estate is moving at lightning pace. Every aspect of the business seems to be evolving in one way or another. From the market trends to the technology, nothing stays the same for very long.

The ability to pivot, adjust, implement and roll with the punches are all strong leadership traits that will attract high-level talent. Showing that you can evolve with new ideas that shape the future of the real estate industry will prove attractive.

The strategy of being able to make changes in the business without a lot of stress or concussion play into just a few steps.

• Be proactive in your implementation. Don’t avoid challenges.
• Communicate about new ideas, trends and practices that will grow the business.
• Ask your agents how the company can get better.

Execute the vision

Where is the company headed? How long do you project it will take to get there? Who are the key players in that vision? What is the plan of action?

Being able to describe your vision is a vital leadership skill that will attract talent. It shows that you are working with the agents. You, as the leader, have a vested interest in growing the business. You are not a manager, but a CEO-minded leader.

• Keep your focus. You should spend ample time in determining your vision. Stay with it.
• Communicate clearly about the measurable actions required to fulfill your vision.
• Be quick to decide. Given the standards you have for the company and the vision, you can decipher an opportunity and make a strong, quick decision.

Anyone can bring agents into a team year after year and raise the gross commissions. It takes a real leader to attract, nurture and keep high-producing agents over a long period of time.

The promise of money has become the entry point into delivering what agents really want: leadership.

Kevin Hoover is a Realtor with eXp Realty – Myrtle Beach. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.