Three Key Evaluations When Hiring A Buyer’s Agent

Champion Lead Agents don’t have unlimited hours to evaluate Buyer’s Agent candidates. An effective, simple system must be developed to separate the wheat from the chaff in candidates. It’s also a lot more complex and difficult to bring them in for a few days for a trial run like you might with an Administrative Assistant you are considering hiring. You can see how an Administrative Assistant will perform in a few days. It will take you weeks to see results from a Buyer’s Agent.

Since my belief is that Buyer’s Agents must engage in prospecting and lead follow-up consistently, the profit for the team is contained in the segments of business that are created by the Buyer’s Agents from working with your inventory of homes. It’s from the ad calls, sign calls, open houses, and call capture return calls. It’s also contained in their prospecting for referrals from their sphere, current clients, and past clients. Any Buyer’s Agent can convert the leads that are handed to them on a silver platter by the Lead Agent. The real question that must be answered is what they will do in these other areas?

How much will the Buyer’s Agent prospect and do lead follow-up?

One of the critical evaluations that must be considered of any salesperson before hiring is how much they will prospect. Numerous studies have created a direct link between prospecting and sales. The most reliable determining factor of sales performance is consistency of prospecting and lead follow-up activities. If you accidentally hire Buyer’s Agents or have Buyer’s Agents on your team now who won’t engage in regular prospecting and lead follow-up over the phone, their sales performance will be (I didn’t say might be; I said will be) in the bottom quarter of Buyer’s Agents . . . guaranteed!

Let me share with you the three questions I ask myself before I hire any salesperson.

How much will they sell?
How soon will they do it?
At what cost to me and the company?

How much will they sell?

We need to be able to determine, in advance, what the sales volume will likely be before the hire. How many units will this person probably sell each month? What’s the likelihood that they will be able to increase those sales by at least 20% year after year? What price point will they most likely gravitate to because of current comfort level? What’s the gross commission income will they probably bring into the company? What is the company’s profit based on that gross commission income?

How soon will they do it?

For every salesperson, there is a period of time to gain acclimation to the team. There are systems, strategies, marketplace, inventory, sales process, and leads to become a revenue producing member of the team. A factor that must be considered is how quickly they will make sales. Will they make sales in the next thirty days? Is it more likely that it will take longer than that? Are you turning over any hot, high quality new leads to them? If you are, your expectation for a sale should be high.

I see team leaders patiently waiting for sixty, ninety, even 120 days for the first sale to happen. I don’t mean closing, I mean sale under contract. Even a brand new Agent should make a sale in the first forty-five days . . . maximum. If you think it will take a Buyer’s Agent that you are considering hiring a lot longer that that, you will have to pause in hiring them. The risk that you will be taking to bring them in is much higher the longer you think the time line will be to them contributing regular sales to the team.

At what cost to me and the company?

This last question is probably the most subjective of each of the evaluations. It has to do with determining the actual cost to you and the company. How much time do you feel you personally will need to invest to train, coach, and monitor them? What is your hourly value per hour? Multiply those two numbers together. How much administrative time will be invested to teach them the systems they must follow? How much time will you need to track, analyze, and evaluate their numbers and sales ratios? How much frustration will you feel when they don’t “get it” as quickly as you want, and they blow leads and good opportunities? How much will that affect you and what you need to do? How much will it affect you when they give poor customer service to your clients, and the clients aren’t happy with you or your team? I guarantee this will happen to you at some point in time.

Honestly, looking at the cost isn’t pretty, but as a business owner, it’s necessary. My best advice is to double whatever you come up with. Double the amount of time you expect to invest personally to train them. Double the amount of leads you feel they will need and ultimately blow to make a few sales. Double the amount of energy, emotion, and frustration you are expecting to expend.

Being able to look at the true cost ahead of time with regard to how much, how soon, and at what cost will save you mounds of headaches in the future.

Dirk Zeller is a sought out speaker, celebrated author and CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. The Real Estate community has embraced and praised his six best-selling books; Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Real Estate Team, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, Successful Time Management for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print.

Real Estate Champions is a premier coaching company. Training covers a wide spectrum from new agents, to seasoned, as well as those interested in real estate marketing or real estate investing.

You can get more information at Realtor’s Ultimate Business Planning Kit, Real Estate Team Building