3 Steps to Inspire Agent Loyalty at Your Brokerage

Summer has come to a close--and so has busy season. Before you settle in for a long season of paying out commissions for all those closed deals, finishing up file reviews, and double-checking for compliance, let's take a few minutes to look at something just as important: agent retention.

This is the perfect time of year to set your brokerage up for stellar performance next year; everyone is on a post-busy-season high, and overall, morale is good. By focusing on retention and reward strategies, you'll be able to boost loyalty among your agents and staff!

And these three easy steps will help you get it done.

1. Figure out who needs attention—and work with them.

If an agent is struggling, they may not directly ask for help. It'll come down to you to be proactive (and subtle) about it!

Be proactive: With the information you can get out of your back office system, identifying the agents who did—and didn't—do well in the busy summer season is a breeze. You'll be able to see who needs a little push before it ever becomes a problem!

Be subtle: No one likes being pulled into the principal's office. Instead of calling them into your office without a heads-up, find a time to sit down with them in a more relaxed environment.

2. Reward your top performers.

Everyone loves being rewarded for doing a good job—especially your agents. You can use the reports in brokerWOLF to identify both what you're looking for in a top performer, and who your top performers are.

But how do you actually reward them?

One common approach is to set up a points-based loyalty system. For example, in 2011, RE/MAX rolled out a rewards program that encourages referrals and sales by giving agents points—which can then be spent on a catalog of goodies.

If you don't want to set up a completely new rewards program, some services like Air Miles will also let you create subsidiary programs to reward agents with points they can use in other places, too.

A word of advice: Just be sure to ask your agents what they'd be interested in before implementing any rewards programs. Nothing's worse than introducing a super-exciting program that no one ever uses.

3. Offer tech that helps everyone.

When they pick a brokerage to work for, one of the top things agents look for is transaction and administrative support. So even if that isn't why your agents picked your brokerage, it can be instrumental in boosting loyalty and retention!

Tech tip: Retain your top-performing agents with things like transaction management, which:

• Gives them MLS integration, secure eSignatures, eForms, and so much more in one handy tool
• Gives you a way to see which deals are closing so you can plan for file review and commission payments
• Integrates with back office software to reduce pesky duplicate data entry for your admin staff

Win-win-win.

To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.