Recruiting real
estate agents online - by Dan Wood:
I was in a discussion with a broker manager who was dead set
on only hiring “seasoned agents”. As we walked the halls of his office I asked
how many were are being occupied by “newer” agents. He thought about it and was
shocked by the truth. The newer agents took up over 60% of the office space(!)
That’s a big chunk of monthly expense being covered by something you don't want.
Something to think about.
It’s a funny debate with the “only seasoned vets” vs. “mixed
offices” recruiting strategy. I’d say a healthy office has a mix of both. You
need the next generation in your ranks because they will be your future leaders
and by that time they are so vested with your office it’s hard to leave. So
think of it as future positioning.
No matter what camp you are in I’m sure you would like to
connect with more agents to recruit. So how do we do that?
Many of you have tried Google pay-per-click but
it gets tricky in large cities like Toronto, Ottawa & Calgary… the problem
is it’s too big of a geographical area to target. Why target the east side of
your city when your brokerage is located on the west? Most agents are going to
pick a firm that’s either in the area they want to work… or one that is
relatively easy to get to from home.
You can actually target extremely targeted campaigns on a
small budget. Say $50-$100 (or less) a month! “But Danny I tried Google Adwords
and it didn't work.”
Did you know you can actually use google to target just a radius
around your office(s)? You don't need to target by city… but rather you would
target just the neighbourhoods around your office. This is done by targeting
the postal code(s). For smaller cities like Oakville & Mississauga you just
need to tighten up the keywords. For example:
In google when setting up the campaign and doing the
targeting part you simply click “advanced search” and type in your postal code
instead of the city name. When you click it you'll see on the map what part of
town you are targeting. During that part you can add other nearby postal codes
or simply do a 1-to-2 kilometre radius around your location. Now you’re spend
your money wisely :-)
Say a person is searching “real estate job” down the street
from your office. I’d think you would like the opportunity to drive them to a squeeze
page on your brokerage site about getting into the business. Or a office open
house invitation. Or to do a tour of the office & come out to the next
sales meeting! Well guess what. You can do exactly that! This is an example of
targeting new agents because that’s the type of thing they search. They also search
terms like “real estate school”, “getting into real estate” & “phase 3
OREA” (in Ontario)… these are all terms being searched by people you should
connect with. The question is are you one of the google results when they do?
If not head on over to Eventbrite.ca and make a
free landing page. Make a “getting into real estate phase 3 grads info seminar”
and use this as a squeeze page. It’s free and easy. Plus it looks more like a
event and not some poorly designed page on your brokerage site.
Use that as your landing page and match it up with the
proper search terms and postal code targeting. Simple!
I find most articles & seminars are geared towards
agents and not the broker of record. So I'm standing up and serving YOU the
broker managers. Please share this article with your leadership and follow me
as our next article we'll cover recruiting agents already in the business. We'll
use a combination of free YouTube
videos & targeted Facebook
ads! www.danwood.ca
