If I Were To Start a CRE Brokerage Company… Part 2: Recruiting

Let me reiterate, I am not starting a commercial real estate brokerage company. I love what I do – owning (what I believe is) the best commercial real estate coaching company in the world, and am surrounded by great people.

I am asked frequently, “Why don’t you start your own brokerage firm?” The better question would be “If you were to start a commercial real estate brokerage company, how would you do it?”

In my last blog I outlined the 6 criteria I would require of my team, a list compiled after coaching thousands of clients, and consulting scores of CRE firms over the past 9 years.

As I noted in my last blog, I would ensure everyone who works at my firm would do these 6 things:

1. Complete a personality/ natural behavior assessment
2. Invest in themselves with a personal commercial real estate coach
3. Keep track of their weekly metrics
4. Update their pipeline semi-monthly
5. Create a business plan, including a marketing budget
6. Commit to a code of ethics and principles

Now, let’s focus on recruiting top producers and rain makers. After assessing thousands of commercial real estate brokers and agents, we understand there are 4 general personality traits (or tendencies) in top performers.

First, top performers tend to be highly assertive. Note, this is not “aggressive”. They are goal oriented and focused on growth. Second, top performers tend to be situationally social – they aren’t necessarily extreme extroverts, but they certainly aren’t wall flowers either. Third, top producers tend to be less calm, and more impatient (probably no surprise here). Finally, top producers tend to be more independent, and less structured. They are big pictured and not necessarily attentive to the details.

Now, regarding our support team of administrators, researchers, and marketing gurus – I would look for different traits. In these cases, we need tendencies that will offset the producers’ tendencies. Thus, I need a team that is detail-oriented, structured, calm, and understands the process.

How do I find these people? First, (just like when looking for new business opportunities) it starts with a targeted recruiting campaign. You must first understand what the ideal team member looks like, and ensure the company has a compelling value proposition to attract them.

Then, you need to ask the right interview questions to correctly screen and filter your candidates. In my next blog, I will outline some critical interview questions I would ask to ensure I am building the right team for my CRE brokerage firm.

If you would like to schedule a free strategy session on how you can grow your personal commercial real estate practice, please visit us at massimoCRE.coach!