Brokers and managers are adapting rapidly to our current business environment and are employing many new ways to communicate with their agents. For one particular group of those agents—those who are newly licensed—a higher level of guidance is typically needed in order to get and keep them productive. While that may be daunting while everyone in your office is looking for special directions, here are four ways that you can manage and inspire your new agents while working remotely:
1. Maintain consistent virtual sales/training meetings. This should go without saying, but it is especially important now to keep training and inspiring your new agents through virtual meetings at least once per week. Two or more times per week would actually be better. Have each new agent review what activities they did in the past week and what new business resulted from them. Then have each agent set activity goals for the next week. Also, make sure that you review at least one tool that your company offers to help them generate new business. The whole point is for you to motivate them! Lead your new agents now to motivate them, teach them tools that are immediately necessary and keep them accountable as they establish themselves in real estate.
2. Hold a contest. Design a competition among your new agents to reward remote business activity. Ideas include holding a virtual open house; doing a virtual home tour; conducting a virtual listing presentation; hosting a webinar for prospective clients; posting relevant stories or videos to social media; updating their social media profiles; sending a promotional email to their database; placing ads on social media; or simply calling ‘X’ number of FSBOs, expireds or prospective clients. Vary the points awarded for each activity based upon what you are trying to encourage. Also, if your company has multiple offices, a great approach is to set up a friendly competition between the offices’ new agent teams, with both individual agent awards and office team awards. These contests are especially effective at motivating activity, especially when the resulting sales increase your agents’ income.
3. Celebrate successes. Be sure to recognize your new agents’ successes. Take every opportunity that you have to personally acknowledge when an agent secures a new listing, makes a sale, hosts an open house or completes a new level of training. Call the agent personally, send a text or email, or post a public kudo on your company Facebook page. Give them something that they can re-post to their sphere, too, so that people they know can congratulate them on their success!
4. Schedule one-on-one time. Apart from any group meetings, don’t neglect regular one-on-one time with each of your new agents. Set up recurring weekly appointments with each of your new agents to review their activity, review their pipeline of prospective business, practice their scripts, and discuss or virtually demonstrate a program or tool that they should use to propel new business. Before each meeting, have them complete a simple standardized report of the information that you will regularly review—calls made, appointments held, current pipeline, etc. This will ensure that your time with them is efficient and will consistently reinforce the things that they should be doing to grow their business.
These unique times in real estate are an unexpected opportunity for new agents to succeed because the status quo has been disrupted. Established agents may be less open to change or less agile at using new methods, so the time may be right for newer agents to gain a foothold. Use the suggestions above to encourage them to jump in, stay busy and promote their virtual real estate abilities to generate current activity, and new agents will quickly create a name for themselves.
For a free copy of my exclusive “Weekly & Monthly Action Plan Worksheet” for new agents, click here.
Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 20 years of experience in real estate, Johnson offers coaching, consulting and keynotes, and is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour and the Official Real Estate Coach for McKissock Learning and Real Estate Express. She is also an RISMedia 2020 Real Estate Newsmaker as an industry Influencer. Sign up for a free 30-minute coaching strategy session or visit www.sherrijohnson.com for more information.
