Building a business takes bravery and guts. No-one knows that more than Brad Jackson. Working in inner Brisbane in RE/MAX Toowong, Brad took 29 brilliant agents, retained them, and built a profitable sales division the likes of which has rarely been seen.
Brad has his own particular style. While at Toowong, he did not list and sell property against his team. He had a supportstyle approach to management and he focused on recruiting and listing people, not property. He says, “One of the things I think was a real turning point in my career was when I accepted I was really in the salesperson business. I wasn’t in the real estate business. Now okay, that might be a bit quirky; people might want to debate that with me but that is a major shift. We provide the environment, the salespeople go and do the business.”
Brad says that his staff “knew I cared, and I think when they know you’re on their team, you can be tough but you can be fair. I think when they know you’re on their team they’ll follow you because of what you’ve done for them; they’ll follow you because of what you represent. Staff want an energised leader as opposed to a lacklustre boss.”
A key prong in Brad’s tactics was developing his SGR or “Serious Gutsy Recruiting’ strategy. He explains, “If you want to build a substantial real estate business, you need to get serious and gutsy about recruiting.”
Brad believes that recruiting is a contact sport. He says, “In the old days, when I learned real estate they used to talk about ‘Prospect, list, sell’. Then good people like Lee (Woodward of Real Estate Academy) came along and showed us that it was, ‘You don’t prospect to get listings, you prospect to get leads. You put them into a database, you build a relationship with them. When they’re ready, you’re positioned to get the business’. It’s the same with recruiting. You can’t cram recruiting; it’s a process. You can’t rush it. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the marketplace, nothing will make a salesperson leave the opposition. The reality is something has to stuff up where they are. And when they become unhappy, you need to have positioned yourself as second choice, so they’re going to pick up the phone and call you."
Some may argue that Brad is a poacher – but to that he replies, “I respect their views, they’re not mine. I think we go fishing where the fish are. I think, if I’m a bricklayer and I hear that someone needs bricks laid, I’m going to approach. I think even in my selling days as a salesperson when I listed and sold, if I found out someone wanted to sell a house, be that by referral, via enquiry or going on the property, I would have let them know I’m available.” It’s part of the job.
Inspired by the likes of internationally renowned real estate recruiting coach, Judy LaDeur and other industry leaders, Brad’s SGR goes something like this.
Develop a hit list
Brad says the first thing to do is scour the local paper and realestate.com.au and, “Work out who you are going to approach. I don’t think you can discriminate there. I think you’ve got to put a plan in place to talk to everyone.”
Make the recruiting calls
Brad says you have to be gutsy about making calls. “You need to make that appointment in your diary with yourself. The more you do, the more you’ll get better at it. You’ll get the same objections. You’ve got to make some recruiting calls.”
Create some marketing pieces
If you are targeting an agent, Brad suggests that once you are on that agent’s radar, stay in touch by, “sending something that highlights what you’re doing at your office and demonstrates value. The best is sending them something that you’ve uncovered through your interview with them, that really rings their bells. And you know, getting that out regularly is important.” Brad believes that email doesn’t cut through so don’t rely on it.
The interview and presentations
The next step is to arrange a meeting. Brad believes that the first meeting is an opportunity to get to know the potential recruit better. He explains, “It’s about them, and this is where so many businesses muck up.” At that meeting, he’d go through his preamble asking questions like, ‘What do you know about Jackson Real Estate? How long have you been in real estate? What industry is your partner in?’.
As the discussion continues, Brad’s questions would become progressively gutsier. Brad says he’d ask questions like, ‘What sort of numbers are you doing? How many sales did you make last year? What commission split are you on?’. And after that, he’d start with one of his golden nuggets questions: ‘I know you said you’re happy where you are and I respect that, and I only want to be second choice; but hypothetically, if something happened next week and you were looking for a new office, what would say, be, the top three things you’d be looking for in that new office?’.
Brad says, at this point he would get out his pen and pad and start writing down the prospect’s top three things. He would then ask if there was anything else. “If the potential recruit mentioned something a couple of times I’d circle it, because I wanted to find the person’s pain. Because my plan was once I found their pain, I wanted to make it unbearable for them over the next few months.”
He adds, “So once I’ve found out those things, they’re the only things I want to talk about because that’s where the pain is, that’s what you’re looking for. If I’m trying to recruit someone on board, it’s not just what I’ve got; it’s what I’ve got that they want or need or want better, that they are missing out on now. That’s how you’ll get their attention, because when we get to that part of the presentation where I’m going to start talking about the systems that we offer and the things that we do, I’m going to reference it back to those things they gave me.”
SGR worked wonders for Brad Jackson. Now more than ever, recruiting and retaining outstanding agents is critical for long term success. Maybe it’s time to try some SGR in your office.