Event planning is about more than space and catering. Let Liane Dutton guide you through developing an effective call to action and measurable outcomes to ensure recruiting success.
April is Teams Month here at Inman. Adding nuance on top of our weekly Teams Beat email newsletter, we’ll serve up top insights from the best team leaders across the country as we dig deeper into what it takes to build a team, scale it, and even leave one.
As the event producer for a top real estate brokerage for half a decade, and as a seasoned event marketing professional for 20 years, I can attest that planning recruiting events can feel like a hustle.
Teams and brokerages have an incredible pool of talented agents who are curious, but sometimes reluctant to take a recruiting call for that next partnership opportunity. As natural networking creatures, the right kind of face-to-face interactions play a magical role in providing an environment for discovery and alignment between you and your recruiting pool.
Events, training sessions, workshops, masterminds and social gatherings are proven places for you to truly show the culture of your brokerage and provide a clear picture of the value you can bring to their business.
Agent recruiting is the backbone of growth for your team and brokerage, but it can be challenging, costly, and requires time and effort. In order to attract the ideal agent to your team or brokerage, here are a few ways to attract and retain the best of the best to your team using the right events strategy.
Know who you’re after
Before you begin investing in recruiting event efforts, you should know what you’re looking for from your ideal candidate. Identify the agent profile that will best fit your team using DISC or MBTI, and take the time to study their strengths for the culture-adds to your team. Take your time to understand the profile of your targets, and how they can best benefit from your brokerage and team efforts.
Take the opportunity to select and directly meet with your ideal candidates carefully. Use one-on-one events to learn everything you can about them via a coffee meeting or other no-frill but meaningful interactions where you can ask questions about what motivates them, their values and goals and why they are in this business.
Most importantly, it also provides an opportunity for you to showcase how you can provide value in a new partnership.
Be consistently present
Less and more is more. Focus on intimate, frequent and consistent presence as you grow your audience so you host targeted interactions with the quality of agents who you already know fit your desired profile.
Consistent monthly masterminds, quarterly meetups and workshops, and yearly major events have a proven 150 percent ROI in this specific cadence for my corporate and team efforts in the last decade, from tech to cyber to real estate.
Lean on content and work on your messaging. Top agents want to learn. Sure, everyone loves a free cocktail, but if you can provide valuable content that showcases your knowledge and culture, you will get some great results.
Leverage industry and local events that match your audience’s interests
One of my main accomplishments and return on investment has been from engaging active participants at local industry conferences and events. Align your interests, match with your audience’s interests and use that for maximum exposure.
Speak and endow at these events when the opportunity is available. Be present at local events whenever possible, whether they are real estate-related or not.
Remember, you are dealing with a unique group of people. If you really want to tap into the unicorns who fit your culture and desired profile, you will need to showcase that, too. Tell them who you are by being who you are and supporting the organizations that align with your belief systems.
Don’t ditch virtual (yet)
Before COVID, when we weren’t yet sick of Zoom, webinars were a thing that event marketers drove incredible ROI from. Well, thanks to COVID, we all now do Zooms day in and day out, and magically, the tools we use have gotten so much better.
Excite your audience with virtual masterminds and social channels, keep them engaged between in-person gatherings and use Zoom as an opportunity to answer their questions. Use audience collection tools through virtual polls and Slack groups, and keep your digital presence alive.
Wrapping up: Consider scale and measure
The key part of any recruiting event effort is: What is the ultimate call to action? The most successful post-event follow-ups I have implemented include, but are not limited to:
- a fillable form with a hook to a learning experience (use a QR code)
- an invite to another event (also use a QR code)
- an introduction to your brand with a meeting invite (I use Calendly, personally).
Remember, events are fun but costly. You need to stay on top of planning and execution. They are an incredible cornerstone for your business and for getting attention, but you need to be nimble and use your resources to stay within budget.
Liane Dutton is an events marketing architect who helps brands and teams develop strategies to grow their teams and businesses. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
