Learn how to motivate real estate agents with the tactics and methods that the most successful coaches and leaders in the real estate industry implement.
On today’s episode of The Brian Icenhower Podcast, you will learn how to motivate real estate agents by tapping into their big “why.”
I’ll be talking about the Finish Line Conversation and what exactly that means, and how to use it to save your agents from quitting when business is slow.
VIDEO: How to Motivate Real Estate Agents
How to motivate real estate agents
Learning how to motivate real estate agents is tough. It’s tough because if we look at results, we can see that it’s not easy to succeed as a real estate agent. Many agents don’t make it through their first year, and that’s been a consistent stat for over 30 years. And if we look to 5 years out, we can see that 87% of agents don’t make it past this milestone.
Agents don’t feel like they’re making enough money to continue in the industry. They get demoralized and their motivation wanes, and they stop doing the activities they need to in order to generate new business.
It’s difficult to get agents to consistently do the activities they need to succeed.
Leaders of teams of brokerage should be focused on their agents’ success, but instead, they are often too busy “managing” the team and putting out fires all day.
At ICC, we coach that every agent should be dedicating an hour or two per day toward lead generation. It’s not that hard. It really isn’t. The part that is hard is to motivate agents to do this consistently.
Good leaders know how to tap into their agents’ motivations.
There are endless things in life that we don’t “like” to do in life, but that must be done, to get the results we want.
Good leaders know how to tap into their agents’ motivations.
Brian Icenhower
The Finish Line Conversation: how to motivate real estate agents
This is a topic that we regularly discuss in coaching conversations with our clients to help them tap into their motivation.
Use a Needs Analysis
You can use a Needs Analysis to dig really deep and tap into the big “why” an agent wants to get to where they want to go. (Examples of “why”: financial freedom, buying a vacation home, college tuition for their kids, etc.)
As a leader, you need to tap into the various “why”s. You can do that through a Needs Analysis with your agents.
Leadership = coaching
Understand that leadership is coaching, and coaching is leadership.
The ability to coach up people is crucial as an aspect of a good leader. Otherwise, you are just a manager, maintaining the status quo.
What is the Finish Line?
The Finish Line Conversation is the pathway to getting your agents focused on growth. You must remind people, especially when times are tough, of their big “why.” Their big “why” in this current season of their life is their “finish line.”
Having the Finish Line Conversation is crucial if you are leading and coaching your agents. It motivates them to push on. This is how to motivate real estate agents.
You will see this especially necessary when business is slow. Whether it be seasonality or a downturn in the market, when business slows down, agents lose motivation and need you (as their leader) to refocus them on their finish line.
There are a lot of factors that will slow business for periods of time. During these times, most agents will shut down. They’ll circle the wagons, cancel their marketing efforts, and find any way to save money.
Agents forget about their Finish Line and their big “why” during these times.
How to motivate real estate agents out of a Scarcity Mindset
Agents also justify their reasons for cutting back when business is slow. “My marketing plan isn’t working” or “I don’t need an admin, I can do the work myself and save money.” Those types of excuses are ways that they convince themselves that they are making wise business decisions.
This is why your agents need you. This is your value to them! You have the wisdom and the training and the “coach” status, and you can grab them and shake them a bit.
You are here, as a leader, to keep your people focused on their Finish Line and not make reactionary decisions that will stunt their growth.
Your agents will gravitate toward a Scarcity Mindset during hard times. You need to bring them back into an Abundance Mindset. Coach them on it and keep them focused ahead on growth.
You are here, as a leader, to keep your people focused on their Finish Line and not make reactionary decisions that will stunt their growth.
Brian Icenhower
Good leaders must know how to motivate real estate agents
One of the best ways to build a relationship with your agents is to tap into their emotions.
Once you discover their “why” and have that Finish Line Conversation with your agents, you need to then work with them on defining the steps on how that Finish Line can be reached.
You keep them accountable for those steps that will help them reach that big Finish Line goal.
And, when times get tough, you refocus them and remind them of that Finish Line Conversation to motivate them to keep pushing forward.
“Here’s what we are working towards. Here is your Finish Line. What do we need to do to get you back on track for what you want to accomplish? Remember your Finish Line? How would it make you feel to get to that Finish Line? How will it improve your life?”
Dig deep into the emotion of it all. Have a personal, heartfelt conversation with your agents. This is how you get them to break through. This is how you motivate them to keep on keeping on.
Remind your agents of what they will lose if they quit. They need to understand the gravity of quitting on their goals and dreams. Paint that Finish Line and make it clear to them, and remind them of what they wanted at the start.
How to motivate real estate agents: understand them
Understand your agents. Make a Needs Analysis part of your on-boarding process for every agent on your team or at your brokerage. You should meet with every agent to learn their big “why” and have this Finish Line Conversation.
And then, you should meet with every agent regularly to remind them of their Finish Line and check in with them to make sure they are still pushing forward and doing the activities they need to in order to reach their Finish Line.
By maintaining this kind of communication and relationship with every single one of your agents, you will be able to keep your team or brokerage focused on success on a higher level.
Increasing your leadership skills will help you:
- Learn how to motivate real estate agents
- Build loyalty at your organization
- Increase retention at your organization
- Succeed on a personal level, and see your people succeed as well
- Feel good about your career
Be the person in your agents’ lives who cares about and helps them. (This is likely why you are in the position you are in to begin with – you care about people!) And nothing will make you feel better than helping your agents achieve their goals.
