The current Bay State real estate market sometimes resembles something out of a zombie flick – relentless hordes of buyers shuffling from open house to open house, moaning for listings, while their agents scamper desperately to find something to satisfy their appetite. For brokers, however, it’s a different sort of hunt. In this market, being able to recruit strong listing agents is more important than ever.

With the market in recovery, more agents are returning to the industry. The Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ membership roster has increased to 19,773 from a low of 18,526 in 2012, when the market was at its nadir, an increase of 6.7 percent (though still well below the peak of the mid-2000s real estate boom, when the association counted more than 23,000 Realtors in the Bay State). But recruiting top talent means separating the gold from the straw.

The key for all of the brokers to whom Banker & Tradesman spoke is to play to their brokerage’s strengths. For Coldwell Banker, by far the largest brokerage in New England, making the case for their deep bench is pretty easy, said Pat Villani, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New England.

“We have phenomenal tools,” said Villani. “Our competitors are charging their agents for pretty much everything that they do, down to how much ink they use to print things. We have our own printing company near our Waltham headquarters where the agents can say, ‘I want this professionally printed.’”

Even when agents elect to do their own independent marketing, they still benefit from their association with Coldwell, said Villani. Coldwell agents get the same ad rates for print as the parent company and, when glitches occur, a phone call from headquarters can set things right quickly.

Perhaps more importantly, Coldwell’s resources mean that for her top producers, nothing is impossible, Villani said. She had one highly productive but old-school agent who wasn’t up to speed technologically. “She said to me, ‘Pat, I don’t know how to do this. I can’t do this.’ I said, ‘That’s okay. You’re a phenomenal listing broker, you’re a phenomenal selling broker. We’ll handle the rest.’ And I brought in every department head and said, ‘Okay, you take care of this for her, you do this for her, you do that for her. Because she sells millions in property for me,’” said Villani. “That’s how we really compete.”  

Thinking Long-Term

The recruiting broker must also address blind spots. For a brokerage like Chestnut Hill-based Hammond Residential Real Estate, which sells many high-end properties in Boston and is near suburbs, ensuring a strong agent mix across the price spectrum in the brokerage’s coverage area is important, said Davis Rowley, senior vice president of branch operations for Hammond.

“The reality is, if you only focused on the high end, I think you’d be out of business in a very short period of time,” said Rowley. “I don’t necessarily focus on, say, what percentage of the market they’ve listed in a given segment. I’m more focused on, are they motivated? Will they be able to take advantage of the tools we offer to help them grow their business?”

When approaching experienced agents, it’s also important to think long-term, said Rowley. Even when an agent is unhappy with their current situation, they may hesitate to make a change. “There’s a lot of experienced agents out there who could give you a list of reasons to leave [the brokerage they’re with],” he said. “But they worry that if they do their business will drop off a cliff. I look at them as long-term hires. I keep in touch, I check in regularly, and when their brokerage does make a boo-boo, they call me, and say, ‘Okay, I’m ready, what do we need to do?’”

Of course, it’s not enough to simply finding agents who can list. You’ve also got to find agents who can fit into your brokerage’s culture, said Ralph Grassia, regional vice president for the South Coast and Cape Cod at Norwell-based Jack Conway, Realtor. The independent, family-owned brokerage is “a very team-oriented company, and the people we talk to, we do selectively. Obviously, some of the agents at smaller companies get excited because they look at it as a next step. We have a lot more we can offer” in terms of local brand recognition, relocation leads and marketing resources, Grassia said.

But more importantly, Conway emphasizes an all-hands-on-deck esprit de corps, where agents are expected to help each other out rather than cut-throat compete with each other, he said. In the long run, identifying the agents who will thrive in their environment is an investment in the future of the brokerage – because although he’s had a few agents leave over the years, “they’re not gone long. They come back. We don’t only recruit – we retain.”

Because at the end of the day, every broker needs to remember, as Pat Villani said, “We can all be replaced. The agents can’t be.” 

Email: csullivan@thewarrengroup.com