WorkPuzzle

Employment Brand: Does Anyone Really Want to Work For You?

Earlier this week, I referenced an article written by John Sumser.  John is a recruiting guru from whom I've learned a lot over the last several years.  While John's blog is on my Google Reader, I often skip over his articles because I really have to be in a position to concentrate to digest his articles.

Every once in awhile, I dive into a month or two worth of his articles for a couple of hours and try to figure out what he’s saying.  Typically, I walk away with something that changes my way of thinking.

I did this over the weekend, and the same held true.  John recently wrote an article on employment brands that is quite insightful.  I'll publish it here, and then spend the next couple of WorkPuzzles discussing its implications for the real estate industry.

"Employment Branding is the craft of being so completely organized that you are ready with the right message for the right person when she comes along.

A brand is a relationship.

Brands only matter to the people who care about them.  Mention the brand name outside of the circle of people who have the relationship and you will receive shoulder shrugs.  Mention it inside the circle and you can spark a conversation full of passion and opinion.

The only brands that matter are the ones that people care about.

The theory and development of branding has been reserved, historically, for companies that could afford large broadcast media campaigns.  The best examples of brand marketing are consumer product companies, from automobiles to popular music to varieties of American Cheese.  The term brand is used to cover a wide range of circumstances from name recognition to deep affinity.

Contemporary talk about 'personal branding' generally refers to the act of managing the fifteen minutes of fame that social media bestows.  Peppers and Rogers, the authors of popular books on database and relationship marketing, move the concept to tightly grouped members of a database.

It is useful to think about branding as an early stage technology.  Purely a 20th Century invention, branding, like many first generation technologies, began in organizations that could afford clumsy and inefficient approaches because of their sheer size.  For the past 70 years, branding has been a game of extensive spending to attract large numbers of people to a single product or company.

Today, however, the tools needed to build very clear, very small niche oriented brands are readily available.  Like much of marketing, the tools are now available from the desktop.  This 'downward evolution' of marketing creates both expanded opportunity and expanded responsibility at the department and operating unit level."

Notice what he says in that last paragraph:  "…the tools needed to build very clear, very small niche oriented brands are readily available."  This is great news for those who recruit for a living.

Do you see yourself (you personally) as having a brand?  Does your office (not your company as a whole) have a brand?  What do the candidates that you're trying to recruit think about your office's brand?  Do they wish they could be part of a team like the one you manage, or do they shrug their shoulders?

These are all important questions if you’re going to be successful at recruiting.  It's funny how much easier recruiting gets if you start attracting... 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Why Pry? Improving Productivity

In the last two blogs (1,2), I discussed the vital importance that attention and interest play in improving productivity.  I built a case that interest and attention are the most important ingredients for increasing productivity in those you manage.  Furthermore, I emphasized that prying into the lives of your agents is the only way to know what motivates them deeply.  Chances are, if they have fallen into a slump, they've probably forgotten their primary motivation for doing what they do.

In addition, I mentioned a study in last week's editions that has spurred some questions from readers.  The number one question I've received is, "What is the Hawthorne Study?"
 
The answer to this question should motivate you to set aside ample time to adequately address a very important human need...  The study took place at a Western Electric factory outside of Chicago, between 1924 and 1932.  Although the study wasn't originally designed to research productivity, it in fact did illuminate a great deal on the subject.

In essence, what the researchers found after carefully measuring peoples' performance, was that the measuring, in and of itself, improves productivity.  Researchers concluded that the workers worked harder because they knew that they were being individually monitored -- They hypothesized that being treated as special (as evidenced by working in a separate room), and having an attentive and interested supervisor, were the real reasons for the productivity increase.  The above is called to this day: "The Hawthorne Effect."
 
Most of you know, we at Tidemark write about measurement, metrics, and accountability exhaustively.  Attention to these things has been proven to increase performance dramatically.

So, what about agent production?  How can you apply the Hawthorne Effect to your agents?

1. Set up meetings, alone, with each of your agents.  Make sure that they hear you tell your assistant to not be interrupted during your meeting.
2. Coach them by deliberately prying about their life, their goals, their families, their dreams...
3. Coach by setting goals, measuring progress, and holding agents accountable.
4. Follow up!  You must track and follow up to show you care.

The above...... research shows, in and of itself...... will increase motivation.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

The Most Brilliant Ingredients For Productivity

Earlier this week, I shared the importance of learning what motivates your agents.  While writing, it became clear to me that many managers are very uncomfortable doing this.  Many feel that asking about an agent's personal life is out of bounds, inappropriate, or at least irrelevant.  Nothing could be further from the truth...

Over the past six years of consulting in this industry, it is with great confidence that I can tell you that the best managers in the business are curious about the lives of their agents.  They take great pride in knowing the names of their agents' dogs.  Previously, I pointed out why this knowledge of an agent's personal life is important for motivation and goal setting.  So, in this and the next blog, I'll help you stragglers get over your fear of getting too personal with your agents, by helping you see that making the next coaching session a very personal one could improve this year's productivity significantly.

First, some research:  The Hawthorne Studies (Western Electric Company, 1929-1932) has helped us understand the connection between workplace relationships, morale, and productivity.  It was found, without question, that interest and attention increases commitment and productivity.

INTEREST AND ATTENTION!  Brilliant!

After 25 years in Clinical Psychology, I can say, without any hesitation, that interest and attention from parents to children would solve 75% of all mental illness across the country.

And, so too, a high percentage of problems with productivity could be likewise addressed with interest and attention.  So, put away or delegate the busy work, and get on with the important task of attending to your agents.

In the next edition, I'll help those who may not know how to pry...do it well! 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

How to Motivate Your Agents

I spent the better part of this afternoon reviewing articles about how to motivate sales people and real estate agents, and was surprised to find nothing of real value.  The problem is, the articles that I read focus on a one-model-fits-all mentality, when we all know that people respond differently to various modes of motivation.

For example:  The reason I clean the kitchen is different from the reason my wife cleans the kitchen -- She cleans it because she likes a very clean kitchen.  I clean it to have a happy wife.  And, I have to admit...I occasionally lose track of my motivation.  When this happens, I don't clean the kitchen until I am reminded of my real motivation.

Here's another example of motivation:  I have a client who just set a goal of doubling his net worth.  He has already led a successful life and has accomplished numerous goals, and simply needed a new one.  He really doesn't value money that much.  Rather, he is simply using the goal as the "flag on the hill" to help him create, plan, network and execute the next chapter in his life.

There is no substitute for one-on-one coaching to help agents explore, confirm, or for the first time, assess their own motivation for selling homes.  What is it that they want for their family... their future...this next year?  Will they do what it will take to get there?  How can they keep their primary goal front and center?  Knowing why they are sitting in so many open houses, besides just saying that they have a job, is what will keep them doing the work that will keep them in business.

Your responsibility is to spend time with them.  Get to know them.  Pry into their lives.  Most people will invite you to.  If you haven't noticed, people love talking about themselves... especially when you can help them stay focused on what counts.

For those of you who are uncomfortable prying...In the next edition, I'll share the two most important ingredients to productivity that will surely change your mind...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Why Metrics Matter...

I realize that my last entry was fairly, well... adamant to say the least.  As you probably already know, we write and speak on the importance of metrics frequently (as I emphatically did earlier this week).  Everything that we do and ask you to do hinges on this principle.

We are certainly not alone.  For example, Tom Malone said, “If you don’t keep score, you are only practicing.”  Emery Powell noted that, “A strategy without metrics is just a wish.  And metrics that are not aligned with strategic objectives are a waste of time.”  Finally, some unknown but very wise manager once said, “Be careful what you measure—you might just get it.” 

By measuring something, you are stating to your employees, managers, stakeholders, and industry analysts that an activity is important.

Steven A. Melnyk, of the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University, sums up as succinctly as I have seen, why metrics are so important:

“Metrics are important because of the functions that they provide, namely:
 
Control: Metrics enable superiors to control and evaluate the performance of the people working under them.  They also enable employees to control their own performance.

Reporting: This is the most commonly identified function of metrics.  We use metrics to report performance to ourselves, our superiors, and external agencies.
 
Communication: This is a critical but over-looked function of a metric.  We use metrics to tell people both internally and externally what constitutes value and what the key success factors are.  As pointed out previously, people don’t understand value, but they understand metrics.  As a result, value as implemented at the firm should influence the type of metrics developed.
 
Opportunities for Improvement: Metrics identify gaps (between performance and the expectation).  Intervention takes place when we have to close undesired gaps.  The size of then gap, the nature of the gap (whether it is positive or negative) and the importance of the activity determine the need for management to resolve these gaps.
 
Expectations: Metrics frame expectations both internally (with our personnel) and externally (with our customers).  Metrics help form what the customer expects."

Melnyk also discusses various categories of metrics.  For our purposes, let's take a look at predictive metrics.

“Predictive (also referred to as a process metric) is one that we can use to help predict our chances of achieving a certain objective or goal.  In many systems, the bulk of metrics are outcome-oriented, rather than predictive.  As a result, the measure system gives the managers little information on which they can predict their chances of meeting their objectives.  However, firms such as Texas Instruments are now turning their attention to the development of predictive metrics.  They recognize that such measures are far more useful to the users.”

It is the predictive metric that provides us the opportunity to track our clients' outcome metrics, such as number of candidates, number of interviews, and total hires over time, and then quickly convert these to provide a forecast of what you can expect to achieve with your recruitment efforts.

What else can we all measure collectively?  How can we measure it?  What behaviors should we track?  How can you use metrics with your agents?  What should they be measuring and tracking?  What happens if they don't measure?

Because …

“A strategy without metrics is just a wish.” 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Have You Experienced TED? Great Ideas in 18 Minutes or Less

Where do you go to get great ideas?  I like to read...and I tend to best assimilate knowledge this way.  I know not everyone has this capacity or interest—some of you are more visual and auditory.  If you’re in this latter group of learners, you might want to spend some time on TED.

TED (an abbreviation for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit organization that began in 1984 with the purpose of spreading great ideas.  For years, they’ve hosted annual conferences, and in 2007 they launched a video-enabled website that has become quite popular.

The premise of TED is to challenge the finest thought leaders in the world to give the best talk of their life…in 18 minutes or less.  The speeches are traditionally given at one of two live conferences held each year (one in Long Beach, CA and one in Oxford).  Although, it appears that TED has recently started adding more conferences as their popularity has grown.

Here is a speech that you may want to digest if you’re a recruiter or a hiring manager who wants to become better at engaging the most talented individuals:

 

In this talk, author and consultant, Simon Sinek explains how great leaders have inspired great causes—both throughout history and even in modern day life. They do so by reversing the normal order of discovery, focusing first and most passionately on the question “Why?”  Most people focus their effort on the questions “What?” and “How?” and never get to the most important question.

This oversight is very common in real estate recruiting, and it’s one of the main reasons that so few candidates are inspired to action after an interview.  I don’t want to say any more at the risk of stealing Simon’s thunder, but let me assure you if you can master this technique and apply it to your candidate interactions, your effectiveness will skyrocket.  Enjoy!

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement—Part 4

Hopefully, over the last week you’ve had an opportunity to join the discussion (read part 1,2,3) we’ve been having regarding how the real estate industry has the opportunity to exploit the weaknesses of traditional employers to hire talented new agents for the future.

Last week, I made the following observation:

Many young people are willing to exchange a high income (or the potential at earning a high income) for job opportunities that offer flexibility, mental/social engagement, adventure, and a little bit of security.

Since the ability of real estate companies to offer high-income opportunities has been significantly reduced, it only makes sense to become proficient at focusing on the second half of this statement.

To help us understand this topic, I’d like to revisit the research compiled by Tony Schwarz in his recent book, The Way We’re Working Isn't Working.  Schwarz does a great job of identifying three arenas where managers and owners can improve the engagement those on their team will experience.

1.  Physical.  If you’re a leader or manager, creating a new way of working begins with recognizing that physical renewal serves performance.  You need to model physical renewal in your own behavior (discussed previously).  At the same time, organizations must create policies, practices, and services that support and encourage people to eat right, work out regularly, renew intermittently, and get enough sleep.

For example, what if a part of your recruiting message just focused on commuting?  Commuting can take a significant physical toll on peoples' productivity, draining their energy during the early-morning hours when they might otherwise be effective.  This is an annoyance to thousands of people and something that you can easily solve by allowing off-hour commuting and work from home opportunities.  As you know, this is not a big stretch for a real estate company.  There are many more ideas like this, but it’s up to you to find, highlight, and live them out in your organization.

2.  Emotional.  Every organization has a distinct emotional climate, and typically it’s set from the top.  A leader is effectively the “chief energy officer.”  The core responsibility of great leaders is to mobilize, focus, inspire, and regularly renew the energy of those they lead.

Leaders who default to negative emotions to motivate others may get the short-term performance they’re seeking, but the costs over time are high.  It is better to act like a doctor and propose to first “do no harm.”  This means avoid devaluing emotions such a anger, intimidation, disparagement, and shame.

The antidote to negative emotion is showing recognition and appreciation for the real accomplishments of those on the team.  It also helps to handle conflict correctly—keeping in mind the value of the other person.  A balance must be maintained between honesty (you need to improve) and appreciation (you’re doing great in some areas).

As you might imagine, it is difficult to promote a healthy emotional environment in your recruiting message because it has to be felt and experienced to know it’s there.  But, that doesn’t mean it’s not important.  If your team operates in a negative emotional environment, you’ll be swimming upstream on everything else you’re doing to attract high quality individuals.

3.  Mental.  As human beings, our attention is under siege.  There is an inverse relationship between the increasing volume of information available to us and our ability to prioritize and make sense of it.

Take email for example.  How many emails do you get a day that don’t contribute to something meaningful you’re trying to accomplish?  And, how often do you respond to the little “ding” letting you know that an email or text message has arrived?  Each of those events is an interruption to your focused attention.

Here’s something you may not know:  Most corporate environments promote distraction and fragmented thinking.  This “status quo” is a major source of irritation and dissatisfaction among many people who work in traditional jobs.  Is it possible for you to create a work environment where distractions are limited?

There are some small things that you can do on your team to change this dynamic.  For example, clarify what timeframe people are expected to respond to email, ban email during meetings, encourage firm start and stop times for meetings, and encourage intermittent rest and renewal during the day.

If you can create a work environment where agents are allowed (and even expected) to work uninterrupted with focused attention on high-return tasks, you’ll be offering something that is valued by many talented people.  And, it’s something that can be easily promoted in a recruiting message.

I know that much of what I’ve discussed above would require some cultural changes to your organizations.  Changing ourselves in hard enough, and changing a company’s culture is even more difficult!  With that said, I encourage you to not shy away from the difficult things.  The challenges that the real estate industry faces are significant.  Some drastic retooling may be needed to continue to compete.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement—Part 3

Last week (1,2), I suggested that you will need to become proficient at competing for new talented agents in the months and years ahead.  Your competitors are not so much other real estate companies, rather, they are other traditional companies who have a difficult time offering work environments that employees find engaging. This is a major competitive advantage that very few real estate companies use to their advantage.

As we discuss this topic, the elephant in the room that I know many of you are thinking about is traditional pay and benefits — Most “normal” companies offer this nicety, while most real estate companies do not.  Granted, 78% of the global workforce is dissatisfied or disengaged in their jobs, but at least they are getting a paycheck!

For years, real estate companies have chided people for this behavior.  In fact, I can think of numerous discussions with owners and managers where candidates were mocked (typically behind their backs) for not having the “guts” to step out of their comfort zone and assume the risks of full commission work in the real estate industry. 

This bravado attracts some when the risk to reward ratio is in balance, but as the “reward” part of equation has started to diminish and become significantly less probable, the “make it big in real estate” engine that drives recruiting success has stalled.  The traditional real estate compensation paradigm is on life support and the prognosis for future success is not good.  It has obviously been strained because of economic circumstances in the last couple of years, but there is also a generational component that is adding to its demise.

Here’s the generational component that most real estate companies are missing:

Many young people are willing to exchange a high income (or the potential at earning a high income) for job opportunities that offer flexibility, mental/social engagement, adventure, and a little bit of security. 

Let me share a story that illustrates how this reality is playing itself out in industry today.  A few weeks ago, I met with the general manager of a large auto dealer on the east coast.  During the discussion, I asked him how their recruiting process has changed in the last couple of years.  To my surprise, here’s what he said:

"We used to have a lot of success with offering people a way to make $200K per year if they were willing to work 80 to 90 hour weeks.  We have a sales formula that reliably produces this level of income if a person has a reasonable amount of sales talent and is willing to put in this level of effort.

Problem is…no one wants to do the work anymore!  I can’t get young people to engage this value proposition.  They’ll often say, 'How about you give me a way to earn $40K a year, and I’ll put in 30 hours per week.  I only need $40K because my girlfriend earns about that much and that’s enough money.  I don’t want to give up my personal activities and flexibility for more money.' "

This general manager went on to confirm that this happens so frequently that he has given up trying to hire the $200K producers.  Instead, he hires more of the $40K producers (which he probably earns better margins on).  He has learned to embrace the generational trend, rather than putting energy into trying to recruit the increasingly few people who match his previous hiring framework.

This is not an isolated case.  I’ve seen this trend mentioned and documented in numerous research studies and articles I’ve read over the last five years.  Many projected that difficult economic times would reverse this trend, but it hasn’t happened.

So, how can you make changes to the way you hire in order to align yourself with this generational trend?  Here are some ideas.

1. Highlight flexibility in your hiring value proposition.  It’s not uncommon to see real estate companies highlight flexible hours and work conditions in recruitment ads, but it is usually alongside phrases such as “Unlimited Earning Potential!” and “Be Your Own Boss!”  If candidates are skeptical about any portion of the recruiting message, they discount it all.  It is more effective to construct ads that convey nothing but flexibility.  If you need to say something more, talk about how highly efficient and competent individuals thrive in a flexible work environment.
2. Replace the “all or nothing” compensation framework with something that offers a small amount of security.  I know that I’m treading on sacred ground by mentioning this, but it is worth putting some thought into this idea.  The auto dealer example demonstrates this principle:  Many very talented people will exchange money (i.e. work for much less than they can get working for other employers) for flexibility.  But, when you also ask them to take all the risk in the employment arrangement (full commission), it becomes too much.  I believe it is worth investigating a modified employment model where a modest commitment (such as $2,500) is made to a talented prospective agent with the expectation of receiving a return on that investment.
3. Learn how to truly offer engagement and adventure as an organization.  This is where things get really exciting because most traditional companies and teams are not adept at addressing this issue.  I’ll elaborate on this topic and wrap up this series in my next discussion.  

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Reading and Leading

Over the past several articles, Ben has written some excellent content regarding vital components to the present state of hiring in real estate.  I am interrupting his series on engagement at work momentarily to share an article that has impacted me.  It's an article detailing the importance of reading for those in positions of leadership.  This article, by Michael Hyatt, resonated with me enough to include it in its entirety below.  I hope you are moved to more deliberate reading in the same way I was.  Enjoy...

"Widely considered to be one of America’s greatest business philosophers, Jim Rohn, the late Dallas businessman and dynamic public speaker, is well known for his commitment to lifelong personal development.  During his talks on the subject, he is fond of pointing out that every house that costs over $500,000 (adjusted for inflation) has a room in it called a library.

'Why do you suppose that is?' Rohn challenges his audience. 'Doesn’t that make you curious?  How come every house over $500,000 has got a library? Does that tell you something?  Does that educate you at all?'

There is no doubt that Rohn is right; successful people do read more.  Leaders, in particular, seem to read more than almost anyone else.  After all, curiosity is often cited as a common characteristic of great leaders.  Lincoln was famous for reading both the Bible and Shakespeare; Franklin Roosevelt loved Kipling. 'Every great leader I’ve ever met has been a great reader,' says Rohn.

For most of us, books were where it all began.

Usually a person finds they were infected with a love of books at an early age, usually by a fellow carrier of the disease, more often than not a parent or teacher.  That wonderful ability of a great book to transport our minds to new and unexplored places can have a tremendous impact on us.  For the truly fortunate, a love of reading can easily lead to a love of learning—a gift that will well serve both leaders and those who simply aspire to leadership.

Too often, however, leaders allow themselves to get out of the reading habit. When it comes to learning, the brain can be likened to a muscle, and so like a muscle, it has to be regularly exercised.  As we get older it will be increasingly important for us to continue exercising our brains, and there is nothing that compares to reading for keeping the brain in top shape.  Additionally, as we progress through the leadership ranks within our organizations, we will need the increased knowledge and skills that only reading can provide.

The challenge to continue to grow and learn is one that each person must accept for themselves.  Personal development is just that—personal.  What works for one person may not work for someone else, and success may mean continually trying different strategies.  But regardless of how we learn, reading will still be the primary method, and books will still be the primary tool.  The key is to get yourself back to the books and you may find that you need some help getting back into the habit.

Here are three strategies:

1. Read more than one book at a time.  If everything we should be reading had the same plot and pace as an episode of The Bourne Trilogy then learning about search engine optimization or social marketing would make reading to learn an easier sell.  To truly grow we will need to learn to dive into subjects that can often be as dry as a west Texas summer, and we will need to learn to stay with them until the very end. 

Continue with the goal of reading so many chapters or 'x' number of pages in mind, but if you find your mind wandering before reaching your reading goal for the night, try dropping one book and picking up another.  Continue reading to your goal, but allow your mind more choice in the subject of the moment.  If you find the new material interesting, keep working through it, but if not drop that book too and either go back to your original book or try out a third title.

2. Try reading in more than one place.  On a similar theme to reading more than one book at a time, have books set aside to read when you are at different locations.  A book stored in your briefcase, backpack, or carrying case can insure you are always able to take advantage of down time in your schedule.  A doctor who is running late can add a chapter to your reservoir of knowledge. 

Similarly, a book stashed in your desk at work can be a great way to recharge your batteries.  Consider reading for ten or fifteen minutes at least once during your work day.  You may find that not only do you reach your goal of using reading to learn, you are also more excited about the work you were doing prior to your brain break.

3. Make use of the latest technologies.  By now everyone is aware of the benefits of using an e-Book reader similar to Amazon’s Kindle or Apple’s iPad. These technologies make carrying a number of books with you at all times much more convenient, and anything that makes reading easier is always a good idea. 

Books on tape were a wonderful invention, allowing what Zig Ziglar called Automobile University.  Today books can be recorded as MP3 files, greatly reducing the size of the files and allowing you to keep a number of audio books on your iPod at any one time.  Your phone can be another great place to keep an audio book, and you can be sure you will usually have it, and so them, with you most of the time.

No matter what, don’t stop.  Using these or other strategies to increase the number of books you read each year will help you grow both as a person and as a leader.  Think of the value you could bring your organization if you could speak another language.  Think of how much more valuable you will be in the marketplace if you bring a deep understanding of accounting and finance to the work you perform.

Reading can be the key to all knowledge, and having the discipline to regularly read a number of books on a wide range of subjects can be the key to success."

 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement

Quick disclaimer on this discussion—I’m going to address some issues that are unique to the real estate industry today.  (This is the arena where the majority of our clients reside.)  Those of you who read and subscribe to WorkPuzzle who are outside the real estate industry may have to cut through a little jargon and real estate framework to grab the concepts today.  But, I encourage you to hang in there, the core ideas do apply to all industries.

Convincing someone to become a real estate agent is a tough sale in today’s environment.  The value proposition for years has been that almost anyone can earn a substantial amount of money by selling real estate.  Granted, realty rarely met the hope of that value proposition (even during good times, 80% of new real estate agents left the career field within one year of starting), but there was always a small group of new agents who were successful.

And some of them were wildly successful.  These are the people whom real estate companies commonly tout during recruitment marketing and presentations.  As a result, a consistent influx of new agents would consistently engage real estate companies with the hope of making it big.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but this way of recruiting is dead.  I regularly talk with real estate owners in all parts of the country, and I hear the same thing:  Very few people are attracted to the real estate industry in today’s economic environment.  Why?  The traditional real estate value proposition for new agents is no longer resonating with people.  Big new agent successes are increasingly rare and the media is relentless at painting a dreary real estate industry landscape.

Many companies have resigned themselves to this reality and have changed their primary focus to recruiting experienced agents away from their competitors.  While this is not a new idea, the intensity of this practice has increased.  And, with many more companies focusing on this strategy, a new realty is quickly becoming established.  In essence, real estate companies (particularly in large metropolitan areas) are now competing for their share of a very limited pool of candidates (productive agents).  In many companies, this type of recruiting has become their exclusive focus, and they’ve given up completely on new agent recruiting.

As you can imagine, this strategy has some limitations... The first limitation is that the pool is constantly getting smaller.  There has been a significant amount of attrition over the last three to four years because the easy money dried up.  (Many of these individuals probably should have never been real estate agents in the first place.)  The second limitation is that the remaining productive agents in the industry now have the upper hand with regard to negotiations.  These agents know they can negotiate better deals if they’re willing to change companies.  Of course, this drives margins down for the companies who are doing the hiring.

So to summarize, new agents are difficult to recruit because the traditional real estate value proposition no longer makes sense.  Experienced agents (who are working for a competitor) are also becoming increasingly difficult to recruit because the pool of potentials is limited.  And even if a company is able to have success in that arena, the profitability of that success is diminished.

Do you feel like jumping off a bridge about now?  Well don’t…at least not quite yet.  The challenges are significant, but they’re not insurmountable.  And, by working to find a viable solution, the real estate industry will start to fix one of its most limiting deficiencies—a workforce that is generally unproductive (as measured on a transaction/agent basis). 

How do we get there?  I believe the following things need to be considered:

1.  Cutting off new agent recruiting is a mistake.

The real estate companies who figure out how to recruit young, talented individuals into their companies will soon out-perform those who only focus only on experienced agent recruiting.  No matter how you look at the scenario, it is difficult to get the demographics to predict a different outcome.  Focusing on experienced agent recruiting only results in more and more work with a diminishing return.

2.   The traditional “get rich selling real estate” message is dead.

The housing bubble produced all sorts of odd behavior in our society.  Not the least of which was the notion that someone with limited resources, education, and competencies could generate large sums of money by standing around taking housing orders.  Yes, that happened in some places and to some individuals, but it’s probably not going to happen again.  Betting on things "returning to normal" in this regard is really a bet that things will return to abnormal.

3.  The real estate industry needs a new recruiting message.

Seriously ask yourself this question:  Why would someone with good resources, education, and competencies want work in your company or office, knowing that they have limited (not necessarily poor) income potential?  Your recruiting message needs to answer this question.  But, before you answer this question in your recruiting message, your company or office needs to live up to this reality.

So, here's the WorkPuzzle manifesto:  Create a unique and compelling work environment where individuals working on the team find engagement in their day-to-day tasks. 

In our next two discussions, we'll cover how to create an environment like this, and then how to tell your story to the candidates who will become the future of your company. 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.