Do you get your new agents to work in their first week in the business? Or, do you wait until they’ve had ‘training’? Dona��t fall into the three trapsA�I discussed in theA�previous blogA�when youa��re directing your new agenta��s activities. (Yes, I used the word ‘directing’.A� You’re not micro-managing. You’re teaching them the business).

Do You Have a Process for your New Agent Start-Up?

Imagine your new agent coming into your office on day one. What happens then? What happens on day two? What happens in week two? Do you have a seamless, complete, focused process to assure they start generating business fast? Or, are you just relying on that trainng program to ‘fix ’em?

Take a look at theA�timeline I developed. I call this process the New Agent’s DevelopmentA�System. You can see that the agent is directed to focused activities every day, to assure he/she gets the right business habits. By the way, this timeline is excepted from my coaching companion to Up and Running in 30 Days, the Managers’ Coaching Companion to Up and Running in 30 Days.

In Your Start-Up Program

Use the same priorities of business activities as your business start-up plan (you do have one, don’t you?), so your agent a�?gets the picture and prioritiesa�� of success from day one. (Sadly, though, less than five percent of all new agents surveyed said they started with a start-up plan! I wonder how they knew what to do each day, and how to allocate their time in any specific manner….).A�

  • Here’s what you should include:
  • Meaningful sales activities to complete prior to starting your training program, not just a�?get ready to get readya�� activities (Ia��ve seen too many of these a�?checklistsa�� that have busy work activities only, like a�?organize your filesa��).
  • Resources available in the office to back up the activities in the plan. For example, if an activity is to write a purchase and sale agreement, there needs to be a resource book in the office (or on your Intranet)A�with a a�?how to fill in the blanksa�� section, so you dona��t have to start training until your training program starts
  • The basis for coaching from the first day in the business, if you want it to assure the agent stays on track
  • Affiliate (mortgage, title, inspectors, etc.) participation, from those who want to form relationships with your agentsa��to teach them the basics of the technical aspects of real estate

A�Align Your Preliminary Program, Your Start-Up Plan, and Your Training

A�Your job as a manager/trainer is to createa��or choosea��a preliminary plan, a business start-up plan, and a training program that all present the agenta��s job description in the same manner with the same priorities. Your responsibility is to provide your new agents with clear roadmaps on how to succeed every day.

Too many times, the preliminary activity plan has no relationship to the agenta��s business plan, and no relationship to what the agent is taught in training school. Thata��s just confusing, and stops the agent from getting into production fast.A�

Having all three programs aligned assures you have to hire less new agents to meet your recruiting goals and youa��ll have more success that you can promote to recruit. Finally, more real dollars will flow to your bottom linea��and theirs!A�