Turnover is a fact of life in real estate. Sooner or later, everyone leaves the business. But when your agents are lured away from your company by a competitor, that’s another story.

The agent poachers are out there – prowling open houses, Board functions, con-ed classes, and license schools. 

Short of isolating your agents, what can be done to guard and protect against recruiting predators? Here are 5 sure-fire answers.

Put out the WELCOME BACK mat.

It hurts when someone leaves you for a competitor, but it helps to know that they will rarely make more money. In most cases, leaving for a better split doesn’t increase income.

Know your numbers. One of my clients followed every agent who left for a better split, and 76% made less money!

Knowing this makes it easier and more sincere to say, “The door is always open for your return.” But you have to mean it. And show it. 

Sometimes they are too embarrassed to take the first step back. Sometimes they don’t even know they are welcome back.

What did the Biblical father do when the Prodigal Son returned? He didn’t skimp. He “rejoiced” and celebrated with a feast.

“We hate to see you go but certainly wish you the best. Personally, I hope you become one of the few exceptions to the rule, and that you actually do end up making more money. But, if it turns out not to be the case, or if you miss what we have here, I want you to know the door is always open for your return, and we would gladly welcome you back.”
 

Compliment co-brokes.

Write a sincere thank you note to each co-broke agent who sells one of your company listings, or who provided a listing for one of your agents to sell.

Dear (CO-BROKE NAME)
Thank you for helping us sell 123 Happy Hollow and getting the Wocjiekowski family moved. My agent, Shirley, told me how impressed she was with your ______. We look forward to working with you again.
Sincere best wishes,
YOUR NAME

If you were to write one thank you note a day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year, taking two weeks vacation and weekends off, you would write 250 a year, and 1000 every four years.

What is the effect of 1000 sincere acts of gratitude? In the short term, you will feel great. In the long term, you will organically attract the type of people you want, create a reservoir of goodwill, enjoy smoother closings, and foster a cooperative environment.

Get your new agents producing quicker.

Floyd Wickman teaches us that “listings are the name of the game,” and the key to quicker production in new people is to “make them strong at the basics first.” That means getting them working on listings right away. Day one.

Begin by making a list of everyone they know, and then call them. And send them something every month. See them live and face to face at least once a year. Teach new agents to ask, “Who do you know that’s thinking of selling?” 

And then, direct new people to call on expired listings and For Sale By Owners. Find out early if they have the willingness, desire, and instincts. As Lee Iacocca said in his biography, “There are two things you can’t tell about a person from a job interview: fire in the belly and street smarts.”

Give them an open house, and have them invite ALL of the neighbors in advance.

Have them canvas around recent listings and sales.

In other words, get new people talking to people. That is the #1 basic in selling. This is how to make people “independent of you, rather than dependent on you,” so that the good ones stay with you longer.
 

Get your veteran low producers back into production.

For new agents, the solution to quick production is to train them. For veteran agents who need to produce, but aren’t producing, the solution is to coach them up. By the way, I hope you noticed the qualifier in that sentence – for veteran agents who need to produce. I don’t believe there is anything that can be done to help or motivate low producers who do not need to produce. As long as they are not hurting your image, your authority, or your overall company morale, it’s okay to have them produce at their own pace.)

Coaching up a veteran agent is a matter of “inspecting what you expect.” You start by making sure they have a goal. Together, convert that goal into the activity they need to do. And then regularly track, monitor, and analyze their activity and results with them.

Take a look at the Weekly Report we use in the Floyd Wickman Program. Have your veterans bring their numbers to you once a week. Sit down with them (as a group!) and go over their progress. Numbers take all the guesswork out of it for both of you.
 

Turn your company right side up.

Too many organizations have a lopsided top half of production – a handful of big producers wagging the dog. Management is so busy placating and giving them special treatment, that they sometimes don’t see how precarious a position that puts them in.

What would happen to most offices if the top dozen agents left or stopped producing? Devastation. When one of them sneezes, you catch pneumonia!

The solution to turning your company right side up is to quickly and dramatically increase the number of agents in the top half of production, not by poaching them away from your competition, but by growing them organically from within. As Floyd says, “Build from the bottom.”

In other words, repeat #3 and #4 above. Get your new agents producing quicker, and get your veteran low-producers back into production.

New in the Master Sales Society Vault this month is a 50-minute audio from Floyd and "Rapid Fire Recruiting". Subscribe to listen.

The Floyd Wickman Team blog by Mike Pallin