5 Best Practices for Keeping Agents Engaged at Your Brokerage

How do you retain top talent? You create a brokerage that people want to work at and stay with. There are best practices that apply to all businesses, but here are 5 ways particularly for brokerages to keep your agents engaged.

#1: Keep the Office Atmosphere Light

Literally and figuratively, one of the best ways to attract and retain the best agents is to create an office atmosphere that people want to work in. That begins with creating an inviting office space, replete with comfy furniture and places to have fun.

Then you want to lay on the perks, which can include fun events that help team building without feeling like it. Culture has a big influence on younger workers and is a strong incentive.

#2: Real Time Off

Vacation time is not good enough if you want to retain really talented agents. There’s this new idea traditionally reserved for academics and researchers blossoming in the financial services industry – the idea of offering sabbaticals.

At a college, professors are granted a year off to write a book or do research. This new idea gives employees at the firm a one month sabbatical for every 5 years that they work there, to do with the time whatever they wish. That one, attracts top talent and then two, keeps them there at least for 5 years and often longer.

#3: Give Your Agents the Best Technology

In CRE, the agents with the best technology for lead generation, customer retention management, and marketing wins the day. Unless your brokerage is investing in the best tech tools for your agents, they would make much more money working for someone else with better technology.

#4: Don’t Focus Only on Millennials

Millennials are all the hype nowadays but when recruiting talented agents, do not limit yourself to one type of agent. Different agents bring different skills and variety to the office. There is a lot to be gained from the wisdom of Boomer agents working in your office just as there is a lot to be gained by hiring millennials.

Make sure that the culture and technology match the level and experience of all of your agents. Brokers are good at making pitches. When pitching your firm to a millennial, it will require a different approach (and different perks sometimes) to attract them than pitching to an experienced Gen Xer.

#5: Show Concrete Ways You Support Your Agents

New agents need support from their brokerage. Some brokers have a hands-off approach and some agents thrive in that environment. However in today’s market, the internet makes standing out in the industry very difficult. Agents need the brokerage’s help for professional branding, marketing, and website building.

When pitching your brokerage, showing off your company’s brand and your individual agents as well will give you a competitive edge when recruiting top talent. Instituting a mentorship program is one way to both help your agents get started while also helping to create a positive work culture.