by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet^®)
REALTOR® Magazine - August, 2005

When you run a real estate business and want to fill it with great sales talent, you don’t have time to answer every interested job applicant’s inquiry or to interview every potential sales associate who walks through the door. You want to be sure that the people you do interview are serious applicants and are already reasonably screened to ensure a good fit with your company. How do you do that while still saving yourself time in the process? It’s easier than you think.

You can automate the recruiting process so that technology is doing the heavy lifting for you in getting the word out about the value of your company and what you have to offer sales associates. At the same time, you can set up systems so that any potential applicants are screened ahead of time so that you only need to talk to those who are already assured of a good fit with your company. Here are the steps to take to make this happen.

Set Up a Recruiting Web Site

Finding good talent is just as important as the clients they service. So it doesn’t take that much of a stretch of the imagination to know that you should approach the hiring process just as you would any other marketing campaign. That starts with a completely separate Web site geared specifically toward recruiting and hiring sales associates. Any effective Web site has a clear target audience and messages that support the target audience. That’s why I think it’s so important for you to separate your business Web site, which is intended to market your company to consumers and provide community information and listings, from a recruiting Web site geared toward other real estate professionals that spells out your value proposition and what you can offer them in terms of their career.

Your recruiting Web site should have the all standard sections that identify you and your company, including an About Us page, a mission or vision page, sales associates page, and information about what distinguishes your company from your competitors. Also make sure your recruiting Web site:

• Has a unique URL - The URL can tie into your main business Web site but should be a free-standing URL and site. For example, if your company is called DenverRealEstate.com, you can name your recruiting Web site DenverRealEstateCareers.com or DenverRealEstateJobs.com.
   
• Maintains consistency with the main business site - The masthead of the recruiting site should identify your company and incorporate design elements of your main Web site. This is not only important to maintain and promote your brand identity but also to provide continuity of message.
   
• Conveys the purpose of the Web site - The purpose of your recruiting Web site is to attract new licensees who are looking to start their careers in real estate and experienced sales associates who are currently working for other real estate companies. You can attract both types of recruits to your site as long as you have distinct channels (or sections) that address both these target markets.

Define Your Target Markets

New licensees and experienced sales associates don’t care how big your company is. To them, it doesn’t matter if you’re a boutique firm or a part of a large national franchise. What they care about is, “What’s in it for them?” Many real estate companies make the same mistake on recruiting Web sites that they do on their main business Web sites: taking about themselves and not addressing the needs and desires of potential recruits.

But keep in mind that the needs and desires are different for new licensees and seasoned practitioners. That’s why it’s important for you to offer two different channels of your recruiting Web site that speak to the different needs of each of your target audience.

For experienced practitioners:

• Establish the criteria you’re looking for in experienced sales associates - Create a cache for joining your company by indicating that you don’t accept everyone. In fact, you’re looking for people who meet certain criteria, which can include a minimum sales volume, minimum number of transactions per year, and the type of people who would fit in well within your company culture. To take it one step farther, you can ask them to fill out a online career assessment form (for a discussion of online forms, read the March 2005 Ask Mr. Internet ) that will help them define what they want to get out of their careers and help your company determine if they are the right fit. You can use the form to ask about the sales associates’ strengths and weaknesses (be sure to use open-ended questions).
  
  Based on my experience, you probably don’t want to attract the top performers in your market because they will cost you the most; you should instead try to attract mid-level sales associates who are working full-time and have the potential to excel. Once they fill out the form and submit it to you, your company will have an opportunity to get back to them with an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses in sales and start a dialogue with these potential sales job applicants.
   
• Offer free courses and seminars - Experienced salespeople want to know how you can help them to grow and increase their success. By highlighting educational training and support services offered by your company, you are speaking to how your company will benefit their continuing success and help them reach new levels of success. To get in front of potential recruits, you should offer free courses or seminars that you or someone else from your company can conduct on topics such as sales and marketing, how breaking legislative issues will impact the way they do business in your local market, or how to more effectively use the Internet.
   
• Provide vision for a successful career - It’s important to speak to an experienced sales associate’s hopes and dreams. Provide vision for what a successful sales career should be and tell them how you will help them achieve that. Many real estate professionals think that a real estate career is a roller coaster ride, with ups and downs of sales cycles, but that is a career that owns you. A truly rewarding career is one that not only helps you to achieve sales success but also provides you time to spend with your family and other interests in life. An effective recruiter would speak to how they can achieve this balance.
   
• Be accessible - Throughout your recruiting Web site, provide e-mail links or other ways that a potential recruit can send in inquiries or contact your office.

One of the key things that you would do differently for the new licensees’ section of your recruiting Web site is to have a different type of online form for them to fill out. The form would not focus on their sales experience as much as on their personality. One of the tools you can use to capture a new licensee’s potential for sales success is the Real Estate Simulator. It’s a very sophisticated online screening software that measures a person’s personality, intelligence, and sales proficiency. It was developed by Canadian-based Upward Motion Inc. and is a very innovative, quick, and affordable way to evaluate your current sales ability and identify areas for improvement. The simulator has been tested to show that it can predict a sales associate’s likely production level. I actually took the test myself, and I was blown away. It nailed my personality, and the sales proficiency part of the assessment rated me high in all areas except for closing. I’m not a hard closer, and the simulator nailed it right on the head.

(To read more about how this simulator works, read the February 2003 Ask Mr. Internet column.)

How to Save Time Using This System

Once potential job candidates fill out the online assessments on your recruiting Web site, establish a set of criteria for who passes and can get to the next round, i.e., an in-person interview. The key to saving time and automating this recruiting process is to filter the potential applications as much as possible before you get involved in the process. Designate someone in your office or get a virtual assistant to handle all of the inquiries and assessment forms that come in from the recruiting Web site. Train the person to keep the communication going between your company and the potential hire (by providing the results of their assessment, encouraging them to attend training and seminar courses offered by your company, etc.) and to recognize the stage at which the potential hire is ready to come into the office to meet with you, a broker, or a recruiting manager. In essence, the Web site and the triage system you’ve established becomes a filter for the serious job candidates, which save you a great deal of time in recruiting and hiring.

One Final Thought

It’s not enough to just create a recruiting Web site and think that your job is done. You need to then launch a marketing campaign to let potential hires know that the site exists and drive traffic to the site. For experienced sales associates, you should already have a list of potential salespeople in your market who are likely to fit your criteria. What you should do then is create a marketing campaign—a combination of mail and telemarketing—to drive people to the site. What do you emphasize that would make experienced sales associates want to go on the site? The fact that you offer valuable information for them in the form of free training courses and the online career assessment forms. For new licensees, use newspaper ads, industry ads, and also provide a link on your business Web site to send them over to the recruiting site.

Recruiting highly qualified salespeople (experienced or new) that complement your corporate culture is one of the most important jobs you have. Essentially however, recruiting is a marketing process that is your "pipeline" to further growth, market share and competitive positioning. And like any marketing process, it is best served by a system that automatically screens out all but the best prospects, while freeing you up to do what you do best --run your company.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He's dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You'll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Web site at http://www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the August 2005 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and Ask Mr. Internet!™ is a trademark of RUSSER Communications.