Today’s Ask the Expert column features Adam Lerman, senior vice president of Coaching and Accountability at Engel & Völkers.
Q: What are your best tips for creating an effective recruiting referral program?
A: Wouldn’t it be nice to have an entire team to support your recruiting efforts, which, in turn, would help grow your business and support profit margins? Well, you do!
A great way to supplement your agents’ income is to reward them for finding quality prospects. It’s also an effective way to positively build up your existing culture, as people are more likely to refer people who share a similar work ethic and who they naturally get along with. By having existing agents be part of the recruiting process, you further validate their importance to your brokerage, allow them to help build and shape the company in more ways than individual production, offer additional financial incentives, and value and strengthen a collaborative culture where people enjoy working with one another.
There are many ways to create an effective agent recruiting referral program. You can incentivize your referring agent in the following ways:
Immediate gratification: If an existing agent introduces the broker to a productive agent that the broker brings on, the referring agent will receive a finder’s bonus immediately (have the bonus numbers hinge on the new agent’s production; for example, based on the last 12 months at their current company or whatever you deem pertinent).
Production bonus: Once the referred agent closes their first deal with your company, the referring agent receives a percentage of the company dollar that was closed. It’s suggested to establish this for a certain time period.
Retention bonus: This monetary incentive would be paid to the referring agent based on the referred agent’s work anniversary. Collecting this bonus adds one more reason your referring agent would want to stay with your brokerage.
Whether it’s one of the above or a strategic blend of a few, having a referral program is a fantastic addition to your overall unique value proposition.
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