Recruitment obstacles

Not every recruiting effort goes smoothly, and there’s not always a clear path to picking up the best and brightest agents. Fox has retained every agent in the offices he’s managed. He admits that finding an audience for his company’s recruitment efforts can be difficult.

“It’s hard to get meetings, but once we do, I think we have a pretty solid success rate,” he says. “They see all that we’re doing for them in the marketplace to promote their brand and us.”

Perhaps surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges for Arenson with bringing new agents on board is getting past the company name. Younger agents often do not associate Coldwell Banker with the top-notch technology and innovative techniques that the company offers. Instead, they are drawn to newer and flashier companies.

“We offer so much more than other brokerages in so many ways in terms of having the cutting-edge technology, the largest and best management staff and other staff, greater tools and more training,” Arenson says. “But there’s a perception that we’re the old-world, traditional Coldwell Banker. Fighting that perception might be our biggest challenge, because our reality is extraordinary.”

In Kouf’s experience, convincing a promising agent to make a change and switch to his company often proves the greatest hurdle. Agents fear disrupting their business and the possibility of losing clients.

“It’s really tough for an agent to get past that,” Kouf says. “There has to be something really compelling for them to make a change. There are still a lot of agents out there who say they’re happy even if they’re not because they’re afraid of change. We think what we put together for our potential recruits is compelling, and that’s why we’ve had so much success.”