I Must Be Crazy ... or ... NEEDED: Buyer's Agent; Unmotivated People Need Not Apply!

Teams are formed and teams fall apart, and often real estate teams shift in terms of their personnel. In 2006, I was starting on the upslope of what I felt was going to be a dramatic rise in my team's production. At the time, I had two part time buyer's agents, and an admin assistant. I was generating a ton of buyer leads, so I felt it was time to bring on some full time help.

I hired two full time buyers agents, and my business disintegrated.

Not all of it was because of the hiring of those agents. I had some other issues to deal with, but I will say that none of the issues involved the market (that's what a lot of people will instinctively think as they read this). The bad hires were probably the worst thing in the mix. I spent a lot of time training and working out my systems, a lot of money on new tools and lead generation, and together, in several months, they produced THREE closings. Total. Three.

Now, a year and a half after I consolidated my team down to an admin assistant and one part time buyer's agent, I am back to the point of generating a ton of buyer leads. I've been referring them out to agents in my office, but they aren't getting converted, because I don't have the time to train every referral agent in the methods for my lead followup (the leads aren't quite your average lead, but they are easier to follow up, once you understand the concepts involved).

I'm tired of always referring. It's time to bring a buyer's agent on board... AGAIN.

After reading the first part of the blog, you can probably understand why I am really reluctant to do this. I already have decided that I am going to grow SLOWLY in terms of staff. I'm going to hire only as needed, not just because I see someone who MIGHT be good.

I am trying to figure out if I should hire from within my office, if the talent emerges, or look at agents outside the office. Agents already at our company understand our culture, and I know how they have been trained (I'm in charge of training, so I know who goes to what classes and how they're doing). Outside agents can bring a lot to the table as well. There might be some great talent just waiting for me to find them.

What advice do you have for hiring buyers agents? Did you have problems like I did, or huge successes? Perhaps I want to hear that I'm not the only one out there! *GRIN*