Instead of recruiting to create their Dream Team, they just recruit to fill a role. Unsurprisingly, this often leads to them bringing the wrong people on board. And it’s something they eventually regret. To avoid this, you need to have a defined plan in place when it comes to recruiting. Also, it’s crucial to establish what your dream team looks like before you even start your search. I’m going to share four steps that will help you do just that. And if you follow these steps, you’ll recruit better people – people who will work well as part of the team inside your real estate business.

Every few months, that phone undergoes a major upgrade. Apple or Google will unveil a new version of their software and the phone will basically reboot and update its operations. The end result is a phone that runs better. That’s the approach I want you to take when it comes to how you think about your real estate business. I want you to upgrade your mindset – start treating your business like it’s the best one out there. You need to act as if you’re number one.

If you do that, you’re more inclined to attract high-quality recruits. That’s because perception plays a huge role in your recruiting process. And if you act as if you’re number one, your candidates will view you as number one. Your real estate business will become a more attractive place to them because of this perception. It all starts with your approach to your own business. Upgrade your mindset and start viewing your business as though it’s already in the position that you want it to be in. One of the initial steps we take leaders through inside our mentoring program at the commencement is a review of current systems and how they talk about them with potential recruits.

When building your recruiting process, it’s important to remember that you’re not going to change your business overnight. Establishing your dream team doesn’t mean you’ll immediately get flooded with the perfect candidates. This is a long-term process that you have to commit to. And by that, I mean you need to dedicate yourself to creating this process for the entire year. That’s the key to building a business that’s going to succeed over a long period of time.

If your plans don’t have a long-term focus, they’re simply not sustainable. This is a very involved process that you’re building into your business. That means it’s not something you occasionally check in on just once or twice a month. Truth be told, I believe you need to dedicate about five hours of your time per week to recruiting. Anything less than that, and you’re not giving this process the attention it needs. Ultimately, it will mean that you’ll take a short-term approach to recruit. And this is what leads to poor recruitment.

How often do you find yourself in the following situation?

You see a prospect – someone you can tell is a really good performer. You even think to yourself that you’d love to have people like that in your real estate business. So, you get in contact with the person and establish your interest in them. But you don’t do anything about it after that. All of a sudden, you get a phone call about this person you’ve had your eye on, or even from that person themselves. And unfortunately, you discover that they’ve signed on to the other real estate business down the road. This happens all the time in this industry. That’s because the best prospects are always looking for the next big thing.

Just look at the sporting landscape today. The best players are much happier to move around than they used to be. In fact, it’s really rare to have a player who sticks with the same club for their entire career. The same thing happens in real estate. The best people are more than happy to play the field and will always keep an eye out for better offers. Your job is to build a culture that’s so good, your best people don’t want to leave. In other words, you have to think about retention. Think of your relationships with your people as though they’re marriages. You need to put time and effort into making the marriage work if it’s going to go the distance.

When you stop doing that, your people’s eyes will start wandering… And they may get tempted away by a better offer.

I’ve spoken before about Sir Alex Ferguson and his clarity in communication. The goal here is that you need to have complete clarity in terms of your message and how you fit into your marketplace. For example, let’s say that you’re going to talk to a prospect today. You have all of your questions lined up and you fire away. Eventually, you’re going to come to a point in the conversation where the prospect asks a question. After all, they want to find out more about you and whether you’re a good fit for them.

If you can’t answer that question with crystal clear clarity, you ruin your chances. And if you’re stumbling over your answers, it’s probably game over with that candidate. You’re creating the perception that you don’t really know what you’re doing, or where you fit into the marketplace. You need to get clear on what you offer in your business. You need to be able to talk about all of your systems and your goals in a way that makes sense to your prospects.

There are a few key points to take away from this article. The first is, building your dream team is as much about your mindset as it is about your prospects. If you don’t see your real estate business as the best place in town, your prospects will mirror that mindset. That means they’ll always have the idea that the grass will be greener somewhere else. The second is, recruiting is a long-term thing. This applies both to create your recruitment process and how you work with your people. That’s why you need to dedicate yourself to both if you’re going to find and retain the best people, aka your Dream Team.