What To Say Now: Episode 25
 Recruitment isn't a 4 Letter Word

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Happy Grasshopper for Brokers and Recruiting: https://happygrasshopper.com/brokers
Upcoming Webinar: https://happygrasshopper.com/webinar

Dan Stewart (00:13): All right. All right. All right. Hi everybody. It's me, Dan Stewart, founder of Happy Grasshopper, and it's time for Episode Number 25. Ah, Episode 25, I can hardly believe we've been at this project, what to say now, for 25 weeks. I'm so stoked about that, and I'm sincerely grateful for each of you who tune in every week and those of you who participate by asking questions in our Facebook group.

Dan Stewart (00:41): Now, couple of things guys, what month is it? It's November. November is my very most favorite month of the whole year, because it's a month that reminds us to express gratitude. Now I'll tell you, I try to live with gratitude in my heart every single day, and yet Thanksgiving is still by far my favorite holiday. I absolutely love Thanksgiving because it's a chance to take those people who've made an impact in my life and make sure to express my sincere gratitude to them. I'll start by doing that today with you for viewing this content. I genuinely appreciate it.

Dan Stewart (01:20): So the topic today is recruitment. Let's think about that, recruitment. Maybe right now you're a solo sales professional. Maybe you're a single agent, and you're thinking, "Why do I need to learn about recruitment?" Or maybe you're running a team and you think, "Oh, I just need a couple of people. Why do I need to learn about recruitment?" Or maybe you're a managing broker of a large regional brokerage. Or maybe you're the managing partner of an international brokerage.

Dan Stewart (01:49): It doesn't matter which level you're at. The content that I'm going to share with you today is going to be extraordinarily helpful, whether you're looking to add people to your team, to your brokerage, to your business, or whether you're simply looking to recruit your next referral, recruit your next client. That's the topic that we're going to break down today.

Dan Stewart (02:10): This is an extraordinarily important thing for you to not just think about, but to really wrap your arms around and understand completely. There's some complexity here. So I've done my best to break it down into small bite size chunks that you can quickly learn, memorize and adapt for use in your own business.

Dan Stewart (02:32): Let's talk about what we're going to cover. I'm going to deliver for you a framework that I know for certain works because I've deployed it myself in my own businesses. Then at Happy Grasshopper, of course, we've deployed it for over a thousand recruiting professionals. Think about that. We have huge amounts of data that show our content and our approach is what works when it comes to recruitment. So whether you choose to work with Happy Grasshopper or you just want to tackle this on your own, this is the secret sauce. This is what you need to know. This is the thing that's going to save you from making those countless cold calls hoping that someone is ready to switch brokerages and put you on the right, correct path to a predictable growth model where you know for sure you'll be able to attract and retain the right people for your business over time.

Dan Stewart (03:28): As I say this, I see we got a bunch of people here today. I want to shout out to my buddy DJ, he's here. Brian's here. Let's see who else is here. I see that there are people attending live, but I can't see all of your names right now, part of what we deal with here with going live via Zoom on Facebook.

Dan Stewart (03:46): So let's tackle our framework. Let's tackle our framework by setting the stage appropriately. If you really think about what recruitment is, it's the sales process that you engage with every single prospect, every single day. Recruitment is selling. It's just selling something that's a little bit different.

Dan Stewart (04:11): So recruitment is really the process of exiting where you are, mentally, emotionally, physically, and deciding to be somewhere new. I'll give you an example.

Dan Stewart (04:23): I am the proud owner of a 2015 Subaru. I love my Subaru. I have no interest in selling my Subaru. It starts every day. It runs fine, and let's face it, since COVID I don't do a whole heck of a lot of driving anyway. And yet, if I get a call from someone asking me to pick them up at the airport, if I get invited out to dinner with some people I want to impress, all of a sudden I'm receiving this signal from the universe that my car might not be as nice as I think it is. It might be time to upgrade the car.

Dan Stewart (04:58): Of course, if you sell real estate you probably feel that pressure yourself. That's probably an example you can relate to.

Dan Stewart (05:04): So let's imagine that moment for you where now you're susceptible to the idea of purchasing a new car. Well guess what your brain is doing? You're noticing new cars all over. Ooh, maybe that's the one. Maybe that's the one. Maybe that's the one. It's entering your brain, and all of a sudden those marketing messages from the auto manufacturers and the dealerships that a week ago you were ignoring, now all of a sudden you're paying attention to. They're catching your attention because at that moment in time, you've become susceptible to the idea of enrolling yourself in owning a new vehicle.

Dan Stewart (05:43): So let's be clear about this. If your strategy for recruitment is to call people at random and hope that they're ready to buy that new car, you're not going to make nearly as much impact as if you're focusing your personal time and attention with those who've already enrolled themselves. They already have the interest in obtaining that new car, that new brokerage, that new, whatever it might be.

Dan Stewart (06:09): So I see Maya's asking about the shirt and where she can get one. Maya come on now, you know where you can get this shirt. You just have to ask. We'll make that happen.

Dan Stewart (06:18): So let's go a little further with this framework. So we've established so far that recruitment is really the process of exit and engagement, and I've used the example of a car. You're fine with your car until you're not, and then you're susceptible.

Dan Stewart (06:32): Now what happens the moment after you've purchased this car? You're no longer susceptible. There's a period of time where it doesn't matter how good the marketing is. It doesn't matter how many times somebody calls you. You're no longer in the market for that other vehicle or that other brokerage.

Dan Stewart (06:50): So there's that period of time where if you've recruited someone, that's where you really want to deepen that relationship. You want to make sure that they're there to stay. You want to help them find success in the new vehicle that is your brokerage.

Dan Stewart (07:04): So now that we've covered some of the high-level steps, we're going to knock out four steps in a framework for you. Each of these is critical to your success in attracting and retaining the right people for your mission.

Dan Stewart (07:17): So the first thing you must do is know your role. That may sound simple, it may sound really simple to know your role. And yet in a lot of the conversations I have with brokerages, they seem to miss the point. You are not the hero of the story. You are the guide to the hero of the story.

Dan Stewart (07:40): There's an author named Donald Miller who's become quite famous for a book he wrote called StoryBrand and he teaches this principle in a great way. It's so easy to access. But essentially there's a template of storytelling that we see over and over and over throughout our lives. It's called the hero's journey. So you have a hero, someone who wants something they don't yet have. They want access to this new magical world. They want to be part of it, and they can't get there until the right person shows up in their life as a guide.

Dan Stewart (08:16): I'll give you an example. In Harry Potter the guide is Hagrid Harry is a wizard. He's got this magical gift. He can't access the magical world until Hagrid shows up and tells him you're a wizard, Harry.

Dan Stewart (08:30): You've got the Banks family in Mary Poppins. They're not happy. Mr. Banks is struggling. The kids are running crazy. There's all this disorder and angst. They want this new magical world. They can't get there until the guide, Mary Poppins, shows up and shows them the way.

Dan Stewart (08:47): In star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up and gives Luke access to this new, wonderful world, and that's your role. You need to show up as the guide. You need to help the protagonist, this person you're trying to recruit, understand how collaborating with you can help them achieve this greater vision that they imagine for themselves.

Dan Stewart (09:10): So if in your current recruitment process everything is all about you, if you're talking about your accomplishments and your achievements, it's not nearly as audible as if you're asking them about their own and then showing them how you can help them get there. So that's the first part of the framework is to know your role.

Dan Stewart (09:29): The second part is to know your first moves. Let's think about this. The dating scenario makes sense. Do you walk right up to someone and get down on your knee and propose? No, you date them first, of course you do.

Dan Stewart (09:48): This is the same process, and yet how many of your inboxes are stuffed with recruitment offers right now? How many of you have a broker who's calling and asking you to change your life entirely without really even having an understanding of where you're trying to go?

Dan Stewart (10:04): We see that every single day in real estate recruitment. So I prefer to recommend that your first moves, and if you've watched any of my series called the Martial Art of Achievement, this is the ABCs. We need to attack by combination.

Dan Stewart (10:22): When you first build a relationship with someone new, you have to have some first moves that you know quite clearly. So I recommend using a tool like a BrokerMetrics from Terradatum, using a tool like the broker tools from ShowingTime. This gives you highlights into the performance of agents in your market. It gives you a great topic of conversation that you can lead with, them, and their performance.

Dan Stewart (10:53): So hey Maya, it looks like you had a fantastic month last month. Looks like your quarter was great, or maybe you see their performance is dipping and you can say, hey Maya, I noticed that it's been a little slow for you lately. Historically, you've been one of the stronger agents. Just thought I'd reach out and see if everything's okay. You're making it about them. You're starting a conversation with them about them. These are things that make that first initial conversation go much more smoothly. So always have some interesting things to talk about at the top of your mind just ready to go.

Dan Stewart (11:34): So far we've covered two things, know your role and know your first moves. The next step is to fully understand that once you've got the conversation started, you need to keep it going without pitching, pitching, pitching.

Dan Stewart (11:48): The first thing you've got to do once you have that conversation started is deepen the relationship. That's number three, deepen the relationship. So rather than saying, oh great, now that we've had a conversation for two minutes, you should really join XYZ, you go a little deeper. You build some trust. You establish rapport. You create reasons to keep in touch over time. Otherwise, you're dependent upon them being ready at the moment you're having the conversation rather than making sure that they come to you when they're actually ready to make the change. Key difference, and absolutely critical for your long-term success.

Dan Stewart (12:31): Now we've covered three things here that are really important. Know your role, know your first moves, and deepen the relationship. Those are three very important things.

Dan Stewart (12:42): Number four is the hardest of them all. Number four is consistency. It's keeping it up over time.

Dan Stewart (12:52): If you take a shower today, that's great. That does not last very long. You work out today, that's great. It doesn't keep you fit for life.

Dan Stewart (13:03): If you're really going to build a sustainable enterprise where the best and the brightest people want to come and be part of your vision and your mission, well you've got to have consistency in the way that you reach out to them. So for that, I of course would recommend my company Happy Grasshopper, and of course, I'd recommend that you follow our methodology, whether or not you use us.

Dan Stewart (13:25): If you are watching this and you'd like our help with that, just go to happygrasshopper.com/brokers or engage here in this post and one of us will reach out and we'll schedule a call. My preference is to go deep with you. I want to have that one-to-one conversation where we're really figuring out what you're trying to achieve.

Dan Stewart (13:44): I have many clients who have said things like, "You know what? We only want to add ten agents this year and gosh, wouldn't it be amazing if we could do that?" And I say, "Okay, that's interesting." I'll talk to another client and they'll say, "Well we're adding about 200 agents per month right now. We'd like to get to 500."

Dan Stewart (14:07): They both have the same goal. They both want to add agents, and yet the strategy that's going to help each of those people achieve those goals could be totally different. The steps of this framework will of course be the same. The scale at which they're deployed would be totally different.

Dan Stewart (14:24): I hope you've enjoyed this session. I hope you've learned a thing or two. Any questions or comments, I'm always happy to answer them.

Dan Stewart (14:31): Please do come to our website, happygrasshopper.com/brokers. You can click a link there to book a call with me or one of our experts and we will walk you through exactly what has to happen to go from where you are to where you'd like to be.

Dan Stewart (14:46): Thanks everybody for staying tuned. A couple other points here today. We've got a webinar tomorrow with lab coat agents. It's going to be awesome. I'm debuting Marshal Art of Achievement for a larger audience, really looking forward to that.

Dan Stewart (15:00): Then on Thursday, I'm hosting a webinar for Happy Grasshopper, where we're going to go really, really deep on recruitment. We're going to take each of these topics that I mentioned today and we're going to pull them apart with messaging, with strategies, with tips, tactics, techniques, and with results that real people are experiencing from around the industry.

Dan Stewart (15:21): So to tune into that, just go to happygrasshopper.com/webinar, and you can register for that right now. So again, thanks everybody for your time and attention. Go make it a great day. Bye now.

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