REALTOR® Magazine Online: 6 Ways to Set Your Company Apart

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Hiring Personnel
Recruitment Planning

Assessing Personnel Needs

Advanced-Beyond Job Descriptions: Job Matching for Real Estate Sales

Recruitment Planning

Advanced: What Top Performers Want from You

Recruiting Salespeople

Advanced: Tips for Recruiting the Seasoned Professional

Recruiting Support Personnel

Advanced: The Family and Medical Leave Act

The Interviewing Process

Advanced: Behavioral Interviewing

Tips for Selecting a Psychological Test

Structuring Compensation

Advanced: Compensation Tips for Management Personnel

6 Ways to Set Your Company Apart

Want to stand out from the crowd? Here's how.

Offer health insurance.Only 26 percent of real estate brokerage companies offer this benefit to their independent contractors, and even fewer offer it to salaried licensees or administrative staff, according to the 2004 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Real Estate Firms.Even better, contribute a share of the premium. (The REALTOR® VIP Program includes insurance carriers with programs designed for the real estate industry.)

Develop a reputation of listening to associates' suggestions and responding to their complaints. —Stewart Wade, CRB, Wade Ltd., REALTORS®, Kailua, Hawaii, in Real Estate Business, May/June 1999

Provide errors and omissions insurance. More than 40 percent of residential real estate firms still don't offer this benefit to their independent contractor sales force, according to the 2004 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Real Estate Firms.

Keep a tech specialist on retainer. Most salespeople recognize the value of technology, but some remain intimidated. Teaching skills aids productivity and builds loyalty. At the same time, providing top-notch technology support is a great way to attract the techno-savvy top performer. —Wayne Short, CRS, RE/MAX Realty Professionals, Wichita, Kan.

Run a well-organized, well-stocked office so that salespeople can find the materials and support they need easily. And don't nickel and dime them to death for every service you offer.

Offer a salary to beginning salespeople. Giving them a guaranteed income for the first year will be a big attraction. —Ike Broaddus, Century 21 New Millennium, Alexandria, Va.

Recruiting Tips From a Pro

Steve Friedman, president of Recruiting Services Inc. in West Bethesda, Md., consults with real estate companies and helps them to get a vision of what they need to change to improve profits work on long-term basis.

Q: What are the challenges of facing real estate companies in terms of recruiting?

Friedman: One of the biggest problems is that managers have forgotten that recruiting is one of their priorities. They look at recruiting in terms of whom they have in their office right now and don't realize that most aren't in the demographic of the clients that they're going to be working with. If you look at most companies, the population of the people in the office doesn't mirror the marketplace of those buying houses.

Q: What can a company do to position itself as a desirable company to work for and to attract top salespeople?

Friedman: They have to have vivid Internet strategies, really understand technology, and be prepared to offer technology support in the field. Give new salespeople a laptop, an electronic listing presentation to use on that laptop, and a Web page.

Advanced: What Top Performers Want from You >

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