In this week's Real Estate: Real Success Podcast, Chiyoko Kakino has an in-depth conversation with Katelyn Fulton from Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage about recruiting. She shares some of her strategies on how she attracts agents to her brokerage, what’s important in the recruitment process, and even some of the things that she tried that didn’t work. Listen to gain some valuable insight that will help take your recruitment to the next level!
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
In this week's Real Estate: Real Success Podcast, Chiyoko Kakino has an in-depth conversation with Katelyn Fulton from Century 21 Percy Fulton Ltd., Brokerage about recruiting. She shares some of her strategies on how she attracts agents to her brokerage, what’s important in the recruitment process, and even some of the things that she tried that didn’t work. Listen to gain some valuable insight that will help take your recruitment to the next level!
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
Welcome to the Real Estate. Real success podcast, what we talked about key business successes and Lessons Learned along the way in the hopes of inspiring brokerage owners. And managers to find new ways to grow their business. In this episode. We are going to talk about what it takes to track a agents to brokerages. What's important in the recruiting process and how you can build on some of the old school recruiting tactics, making them contemporary and relevant. For today's market. I'm super lucky to be joined by Caitlin Fulton. She is one of the managing broker from Century 21, Percy Fulton, headquartered out of Toronto. Ontario Caitlin. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Awesome. So Caitlin, just to give our listeners a little bit about your broker just history, your family has been part of the Century. 21 Branford. Very very long time. Actually. I think you're one of the first Century 21 franchises here in Canada. And it was back in 1977. I think when your grandfather originally joined Century 21 converting his brokerage to the Century, 21 Grande and then in 1988 your father took over the business and then five years ago you and your sisters, join the family business. So if you don't mind I want to start off and quickly talk about the pros and cons of working in the family business. And then I want to move on to talk about the successes your scene from a recruiting standpoint. Does that sound good? Absolutely, excellent. So we all want to know what it's like to work with your fathers and your sisters in the business. I watch the full. Sisters in you and your sisters on social media and you make it look so much fun working together. What's it really like, to be honest? It is a lot of fun and I think what a lot of people see their on Instagram and Facebook and all that. It is a lot of fun. We get along really? Well, I think what we have is extremely rare. It's hard to have siblings that get along with three that got along. And then you've got my father who is a very well-respected person in the industry and he's been in the business for a long time. So he's been through a lot. Been through two recessions. You've been running really successful business. So I'm really lucky to have his mentorship and really have his guidance through all of this. But yeah, it is quite a bit of fun and we're all very different. So if you get to know us, you'll get to know our personalities are all different, but we all have very similar work ethics, very similar goals, and visions of the company. But yeah, it's been fun. So far, you know, what's funny? Because I have a sister too and I hope her sometimes be on time and her business but you know, I think the hardest part for me would be to not take things. So personally right at the end of the day, it's business and even though you're still connected as you say, you're connected to your sisters. I'm super connected with my sister, and it would be hard not to take things personally. So it's almost kind of removing yourself from that and just no business is business. What is some advice that you would get someone if they want to start a brokerage with a family member? Good question. So I'll be straight up. Our dad, did not want us coming in the business at all. It was, it took a lot. He wanted us to wait until we hit a certain age. You sent us out there into the workforce bill, went to University, got different jobs, and eventually, I was the first one that started it and kind of banged on his door. And he thought we were a little crazy and I had to send resumes to our dad and really had to put ourselves out there and apply for the position and even though he he Crazy, but if you know my father, he's a very strategic person as well. Everything is done with a purpose and so he had it all planned and what we did getting into the business because she hired a third party to help us out because like you said, sometimes you don't want to mix family business too much. So to make sure that we were actually prepared to get into the industry and what we are about to embark on, we hired a third-party, his name is Wayne Einhorn. He's been with us for a long time and a year before we even got into the industry. We actually met with Wayne every two weeks. So I work in healthcare for many years and every two weeks after working a hospital, would go meet with Wayne and learn about really what a brokerage is like and what we can expect to do and kind of we even like when is far as having like interviews with him. So I'm after a year of meeting with him. We each individual at a sit-down with Wayne and he got to know us and our personalities and really figured out where we would fit in the business and then he gave our dad. The go ahead and was like, yes, these girls are ready. Like I don't know what you're thinking. They're capable of. You've got some good talent here. So we had to hire the outside person. So I think it was a really great plans. If you are getting into the family business, I would recommend hiring an outside person to really teach your kids or whoever the succession plan is, and speaking. Another thing that my sisters and I did on top of that, which I think really helps with conflict. Like you said, it can be really easy to fight with your sister's baby, a session, a business environment. So I my sisters were both in HR and Carly actually made us to some personality tests and we got to do this full test and we met at Starbucks Monday and went through our results and we figured out we we deal with conflict a lot differently. So I shut down a lot. I like to be quiet. Carly likes to talk it out. And so whenever it comes to conflict, we really have to respect the different approaches that we deal with it. And I would highly recommend even drink personality test that way for When you work with to really go through how each person handles different situations. I think that's, you know, great advice. As you know, it's not just, you not just answering a family business and going. Okay, let's cross our fingers will work but you're really putting a plan in place to make sure that you function as well as as a team, you know, in the business and also respecting, you know, each other as as family members. And I think it's really cute. That your dad. Would you threw the, you know, the interview process, you know, we having to send probably to follow up email after the interview saying, you know, you're clear. Thank you so much for your time today. You know what? I think my strengths will really work to help your brokerage to grow. Hope to see you at dinner tonight. Alright, so let's talk about now. The positive impact you and your sisters have had on the business. So since you three got involved, you know, I know it's been kind of five years but in the past 4 years, You've had a net agent increase of two hundred agents. Is that correct? Yeah. Wow, it's so now you have two agents. So that is an 85% increase from 4 years ago. So you almost doubled your agent count. Congratulations. You and your sister are just like you do knocking it out of the park. What do you think has been some of the key ingredients to your gross? So I'll be completely honest if they're too. So I'm in the Toronto, real estate board. So we have over 60,000 real estate agents in our own area. So I do have quite a bit of an advantage by having a bigger pool at agents to choose from. So I will say that definitely helps but like I mentioned Wayne has really helped out as well. So we so need with him to this day every couple weeks. We talk about strategy. We talked about recruiting goals, we go over our vision. And again, it's very strategic thing. So we talked with the gold How we're going to get there. So, really helping somebody to really keep me accountable and making sure that we are on top of our goals and all that. That really helps and I think another big key thing has really been. My dad kind of bushes out there to go meet with the other broker, owner Managers from all the other Century 21 in our area. So we've made a really good effort to travel to like Barry to go to Peterborough Oakville me really going out there to meet all of these people have a lot more experience than us and learn from them as well. So we're getting that outside experience plus were able to share ideas with them too. So I really just think that Century 21 family and general is really helped us out along the way as well. We don't I remember when you did that actually cuz I remember seeing pictures of you traveling everywhere to the kind of learn best practices. And now you're here with me, you know, sharing your best practices with everyone else. So I think that's just a great that you're right. That is the best thing about Century 21, right? As the collaborative culture that we have to support each other and really grow together. So let's talk about what attracts your broker. What do you think that is what we've been around for a long time. We've been around for 45 years now and we have a really good reputation up there in the public, very professionally, family-run company, and I think that a lot of people even before they get into real estate as a career, chances are pretty high. They heard of our family as well. And now you just having the 3rd Generation with my sisters and I now we got an even bigger range. So we've got the old school ways of doing real estate, but now we also have the new school way. So we can kind of really attract a wide range of Agents, both young or old. We're about 25 different cultures here. So we're able to attract a lot of different types of Agents, but I definitely think our reputation up there really does help as well. Yeah, you know, I think the great things that your broker just doing it, particularly is that you and your sister have brought this fresh, you know, contemporary energy to The Brokerage, but making sure that you maintain the Legacy that has really. As you stay has built up and I provided you respect in the community over the last 45 years. So that's awesome. So, tell me what are you doing to recruit agents her business? Like, how are you getting those leave? So there's a lot and I think we'll talk like a lot about fails and all that stuff, but there's a lot of different ways. So I do a lot of both online and offline ways. In terms of offline. We do get a lot of Eden referrals and got some really big part of our business and I can say that that might be a little bit. We're going to school way of doing things is Already are bringing in a lot of Agents. Networking events is huge for us. So pre covid. We were going to a lot of time training events with outside coaches and all that, and really putting ourselves out there and meeting Agents from all over the place. And then, of course, I'm doing a lot of online stuff lately. So social media email campaigns. There's some students Facebook groups. I can talk about and then job boards is a huge one for me as well. So those are the main ones that I do focus on one conference and I remember you and your sister. I think you sent everyone that you met a bomb bomb video, right? And so you have been superb at networking. You really think the second-year you did like personalized cards, and you really find that way to networking tunneling at work at the moment, but kind of leave that lasting impression. Exactly. Yeah. It's a huge thing. Just meeting people in person. So we really do miss all of that stuff too. And really being able to connect with people after The events as well. Awesome. So what is working best for you? You talked about offline online? What is working best for you? Okay, so we did the number so I took on the last 74 agents that we hired in the last year-and-a-half, and so 36% come from local job boards. 32% of those people came from agent referrals, 10% came from social media. So Instagram Facebook, 80% of those people came from just our own teams bringing in agents as well. And then the other things are Word of Mouth by Collins a sphere of influence and then creates and website. So there's a whole wide range of them but the job boards in referrals and social media are definitely the biggest ones for us. All right. So let's talk about them. Because, you know, even though you know, it's online. It is something that's been around for a while. So, what are you doing to contribute to success in that particular area? So I was like to have like a passive way of finding business, our story finding recruits and new agent. So the job boards have really been a sting and they didn't work for me a lot in the beginning of you were getting a few people here and there so I really have to play around a lot with a job boards on the mainland and I do use is indeed. So I'm sure a lot of people out there have indeed but this is been the biggest success for me and I've played around and played around with the description. But I've found that the biggest thing is the tagline. The headlines of the first thing that the agency, and I've really had to play around with Jeff. First thing just to grab the attention to even get them to click on our job posting. So that is probably been my biggest secret is the tagline for sure. And so I also think if you're going to be doing job post it's important to not change it. So there was a point where I found out what tagline was getting the most people and then I would try something new the next week, but then I realized So once I found out that special tagline, I think it's really important to just copy and paste, and keep doing it. And so, that's pretty much what I've been focused on for the past, two years, for two years. And like I said, 36% of the agents that have hired of come from that platform now, so with the rebot that and then because I've seen so much success from that. There's also I don't know, there's a lot of the job board in Ontario. So the students take it's called pass it. So it's actually I'm a program where the students actually practice multiple choice questions, prepare them for the exam, and I don't know if I the other provinces have it, but it now, just started another job board for brokerages to start promoting on his well. So once the students done their schooling, a good chunk of the students have signed up for that program. So now they can now go to Cub Scout and so they cannot click on that and be connected with brokerages in the area. So I just joined out a couple weeks ago and I'm seeing some success on that too. So I think so for those Do for the listeners out there? If you are on, indeed are any of the local job boards, the most important thing is have a catchy headline that grabs attention. Right? One of the first things you learn in in marketing and advertising and then stay consistent. And of course, as he say, you want to come to change it up and cuz you think it gets boring, but it's only getting boring to yourself stuck in here for you to the person that's reading it. Exactly. So you also talked about getting agent referrals. A lot of your agents are referring other agents, your brokerage. Obviously, that means our agents are extremely happy with your brokerage. So what are you doing to make your agents successful and make them feel supported? So, I would say probably about 90%, of the agents that we do. Hire our brand new fresh out of school. Just from interviewing, quite a few of them. I find out the number one thing that any new agent is looking for a sport. And so, we are very well known for the support systems that we give. And I know there's a lot of Brokers out there that say, that, they offer support. For us, like Century, 21, Percy Fulton what that means for us is our training programs. For example, we have a very strategic way of doing our training. We don't believe in classroom training. We don't do Group Training. All that. Of course, we offer some sections on it. But the real train that we do with our agents is all one on one. So, when it comes to our agents, we want them to meet with us as managers one-on-one. So we can kind of get to know them, we get to know their business. I'm hiring agent that are between the ages of 20 till, like, 6 years old for doesn't make sense for me to throw them into a classroom and expect that they're all going to pull the same information away. So we'll throw those were things once a week, but when it comes to their sole business, we do prefer for them to sit down with us when they have a buyer client seller client. We want them to even meet with us before they even step foot in front of that fire seller client so we can really prepare for them and let them know what's going to happen when they open the door and meet that new client for the first time. And what are the biggest training programs. We call the systems for success and it's a very systematic. It's raining. So I could check list form. So I can you agents going to a listing presentation. For example, I have knock on door. Next step, say thank you so much for having me and looking forward to meeting with you at 3. Go to the kitchen table. Ask them, these questions, then do a Taurus. We have a very somatic way. It's raining already Jen's and that way when they're brand new. They know nothing about the industry. They still a little bit more supportive prepared. And so we have a really good success rate on that training in terms of services. We are considered a full-service brokerage as well. And that's very important to us for the agents and what it means as a full-service for us is we have, for example, of full team of admin stuff here. And what are men's Stafford doing is their broker loading? Our agents offers for them, which is a very scary thing for a brand new agents. Not only, are they getting a client when that client likes the property. They're almost too scared to write an offer and messed it up. So we've got these extra services to make sure that they feel confident comfortable. Offers a broker, loading things for them or in there for sale signs or photography. So, we're very much, supporting them in every part and then a good person of that hard as we're not getting credit cards or anything to make this kind of business between our agents, very much like, business partners. So will pay a lot of things up front for them. They'll pay us back. So that way, again, new agents may feel a little bit more prepared and ready to go on the technology. We've got is amazing and I'm sure we'll touch on that a little bit, but the technology is so good. That I'm able to really, how do I get out of box package? For any agent about their website, they're Ciara. And they've got a full platform. So if they're just graduated from school, they don't have to worry about all this stuff for like who's my photographer? Who's going to do that? Do that, do that. So we really do have a full package. Court system for any new agent that's joining us and our agents, feel that, and I think that's kind of what brings in a lot of each of referrals. Because I know they're being supported as well. So they're comfortable referring their friends and family to work with us as well. Well, as you say Kaitlyn, you know, you got this this complete package and you do really great job at letting your agents know that you have the complete package. You're always promoting, you know, you're the biggest investors for the Century 21 Grande and all of its rules and resources. So I think that, you know, it's a part of it is for them understanding that it's there for them and then engaging them in those different tools and resources. So I got to get that pops to my dad who he's done all this it cuz it is a very traditional way of running a brokerage. And thankfully, we've kind of kept going, so very grateful for my father, for having as well. Toiled machine that keeps the agent staying with us. When I think that that's the Magic in today's conversation, right? Is is keeping some of the old school ways of running a brokerage, but bring in some fresh, new ideas and some energy has been speaking of this. I know you specifically. And your sisters are always trying new things. So what are you doing now, or what will you be doing? In the future. That's different from what you've done in the past that gas, so I'll talk a little bit late, but I started five years ago. We were being pushed to hire a lot of experienced agent. So if you've been recruiting, you know, that hire an experienced agent is a lot different than hiring a brand new agent. So I was doing the old school way. Those cold calling text messaging was doing a lot of that stuff and then I realized that we really do attractive as always been the brand new agent. So clear nights with one of the things that we have done in the past and it's not something that I always enjoy doing, but I was very successful at it, but it was also a hit or miss that sometimes I would get 10. 15 people. Sometimes I would get one person showing up to tonight and I was a cool. This is a waste of time. I can just do this for one person. I would hire one person for every crooning. I did. So it was working. So I have to keep at it. Keep that going. And what changed in Ontario. So, before I used to do a lot of careers. Are people that were thinking about getting into real estate and then I would try to encourage them to show them the process and we only have to do three courses at one point to get license. So I was very quick turnaround and then they changed it to Five Horses. So that was about maybe a year long. So for me to meet for someone do a clarinet it could take a year year-and-a-half, a person to even remember who I was a year ago. So then I switched the focus of career night to be for students at work early in the program. So that way they were, he decided they're going into real estate. It's a little bit of a shorter time frame from them to come to clear night and get their license. So we switch that. But again, it was such an unpredictable audience that I just wasn't sure if it was working too much for me. So this year what we've been working on it. I'm just going to be pretty filming the career night. So a butthole presentation is going to be on YouTube and we're going to do some landing pages and now direct people to the watch this 30-minute video on how to get into real estate. And then we're going to set them up on the seat. You want to engage the campaign's, the recruiting campaigns for new agents. In that way. There's a little bit of a drip campaign afterwards for them to stay in touch and then hopefully, we'll get some meetings with them done. So that's kind of what I buy in my next work of things for career Nate. I love that. It's like you're it's like now people can experience career Night On Demand, you know, we have some challenges with, you know, everything that's going on about, you know, in person cuz it's anyhow, I think that's a really great way of building on something that has been successful, you know, over the years and just putting a new Twist on it. So let's talk about now your specialty, which is social media. How are you using social media to recruit new agents that I was loving, people call me like this like Specialties my class feel like there's so many other people out there that are so much better but it is something that I really do enjoy doing and I think people can see that I enjoy using social media. I'm just a share our business and stuff. But the two things I've been finding the most except for on social media, is Instagram and Facebook and more particular the Facebook student groups. So, the one on Instagram, which I've actually been experimenting better in the last couple of months, is with Instagram reels, and if anyone doesn't know what real says, it's just like a 15 second to one minute video. Usually, it's me, dancing acquainting, my finger and different points, which I don't like doing, but I'll do like random facts on how to get. West are just eating some chips out for agents out there. So just having a just kind of watching us just giving free advice almost on how to find business and I'll throw in two bits of like the c21 technology and all of that in the last few months have gotten way more people. Now, private messaging us booking appointments. And so I'm getting more ice now that we've been doing Instagram reels, I think we said about 10% of Egypt's came from social media. So I actually interviewed 21 agents just from Instagram this year and seven of them joined. So I'm going to say that it is working. So we've got the Instagram and then the other one is, there is an actual Humber College. That's the Ontario Real Estate School for students, but it's called Humber College, real estate student. So I actually joined this group, you're not allowed to recruit in this group. So there are a lot of rules. So, what I've been doing on this side is? I've mostly just been passive. So I'm just like watching. And if I see someone comment about An exam or asking for experienced agents to answer a few questions. I've seen a few people say, hey, I'm looking for a brokerage and Scarborough and like, I'll chime in when I need to and some building relationships that way, but I'm finding that engaging in these, Facebook groups are really helping out a lot. And I'm even taking some of our partner like others to Century 21. Real, take them on it too. So it has been a really good platform. There's over 10,000 students on that right now. So it's a pretty big audience and I can just kind of hide and call me when you did. Well, it's funny that you say that you don't like, you know, dancing to music and poison your fingers, but you know what? Caitlyn puts a smile on my face. Like it makes me have a good morning. When I see you in the morning. Since you're 3 hours ahead of me. I always encourage people to try it to, like get the weird thing and you don't have to dance, but if you're just going to be like, for me, I don't want to always be talking and that was my way of getting out of my comfort zone. On Instagram when you don't have to necessarily talk, you just have to point your finger and figure out how to put text next to it. And then I'm starting to build up a little bit more confident so I can actually speak on the camera and just have music in the background clothes are really working and I guess I'm on the topic of Rio's to hashtags is really important when it comes to the real. So if you do have a local school board, so I got ours is number. So I'll follow the Humber real estate hashtag, or I'll take the school as well. Not also gets more attention just from those videos. So there's a lot of students kind of watching the social media and there's a lot of brokerage is that are doing a lot of stuff for the students and that's kind of why I changed the target audience as well on Instagram. So, I used to have like, just listed just sold. And so it was kind of a mix of consumer audience ever, buying and selling real estate. And then I also had a student audience. So now it's just purely agent, audience of people, hurt or Instagram. You'll see now, it's mostly just for agents. And I'm not posting just listed just sold because that's not my audience for Instagram anymore. Well, that's great. And I think that you mentioned that, I think you said 10% of your lead basically are coming through your social media efforts. Is that is that younger agents or is it all over the board? Or what? Does that look like? Yeah. I was younger but I've even hired like a twenty-one-year-old lately. So I'm I'm getting a lot more of the younger audience on that one and then went with the job boards and all that. That's where I'm getting like the older agents as well. Great,. Now, we've talked a little bit about you giving some tips on, you know, what to do with local job boards. We talked about, you know, what you're doing to keep your agent's. Happy that they're referring agent. What, how you're building on crew night and what you're doing on social media. Let's talk about now. Once you get that lead, you know, what what age is not quite ready to make that change. How do you stay? Remind with them, like, how to keep that relationship going. So when they do, want to make a change of the think of you. So I have learned not to chase anyone anymore. So I see really bummed out when I'd hired agent. They weren't ready to leave or they didn't want to join us. I'm so I'll ask him what he does, but I don't just like, always follow up with the people necessarily cuz I want people to join us at really, want to be part of it in the first place and see the value that were offering them. But if I really did like you didn't join us or something like that. Usually, I'm adding them on Instagram or LinkedIn and just like meeting me like a couple likes shares comments on some other post and just maintaining that relationship there. And then as of recently, I started adding a lot of the experience and new agents to the c21 recruit campaign when I was looking into I was like, wow, this is a really good tool that follows up with them. I think it's every month or something. I got an email about some sort of technology and they're pretty powerful campaign. So I put a bunch of people on that and it's a mix of people that I've met with and didn't join. Or I even have some targeted agents in the community that I'm interested in. So I'll just put them on a passive campaign just to be reminded of us once in a while and I'll tell you I did like I had the most success from this versus the ones I used to do back in the past and its save me a lot of time but in four emails actually did get one interview from experienced agent and I also had two conversations and it's been a 46% open rate. So I'm hoping that those campaigns will keep going and hopefully I can get some more success from that platform as well. Great. And these are these are the ones that we've built in the c21 engage your CRM platform that have those different recruiting campaigns, right? Yeah, it's awesome. So let's talk now about the recruiting process, you know, it's one thing to get the appointment which obviously you're getting appointments. But now you have to make that great impression. So what are you doing too? Well, Henschel recruits, it's one thing to get the appointment, but it's the other things you actually do really well in the presentation. I think that's actually the harder part of the recruiting process is the actual presentation or the interview with that person. So I'll tell you when I first heard it interviewing. I was terrible. I was so I'm so bad at interviews and I still remember my first interview when I was working with Wayne, we used to do this thing, called a gap analysis, where you would bring the agent and you would ask him a few questions on what they were missing from their other brokerage and then you just kind of analysis of Batman. I need to go home and then you figure out what you could fill the gaps. And so, my first interview was 10 minutes, interview ever even traumatized even know what, she still thinks of me because it was really bad. And I start interviewing a lot of experienced agents and I could not recruit at all. Like I got the interviews, but the presentation I killed. And so, then she asked me to my dad knows that you need to change your commission split. It's the commission split. I can't decide if this is too much and then my dad safely was like we're not changing the commission's but you just need to spell it. But yeah, you're right. So I took the other approach where I really kind of figured out. How do you have a better present? He should. It wasn't the commission. It was me. I was just really bad at selling the value that we had, and I would say it's me about a year to really perfect this. So I had a lot of interviews with people and it was more like, practice more than anything. But once I figured out how to communicate R-value, I had a much higher success rate song from hiring ten agents in 1 year to 50 the next year. So I really did it very well and I really wish that I learned this. When I was learning about recruiting, to be honest, I wish more presentations had presentation of the recruit, but I kind of split mine into six pieces and all he talked about all of them as well. Absolutely. I absolutely want to hear about this. I don't feel like your typical like PowerPoint presentation. I still like to keep it as a conversation but it's the same six pieces of the interview that I do. So the first step is rapport-building and research so the very beginning of the interview. Usually what I like to do as I like to ask them about themselves where they live. What do you do for a living? Are you planning on going full-time, part-time and I just kind of get to know like why they got into real estate. The other question, I ask them which is the most important. Question is, how are you interviewing other brokerages? And this is a, this is more for me than anything. I want to know what my competition is up to. And the best way to find out what your competitors are up to is to ask the people that are interviewing them. So I always have a piece of paper out during this part and I'm saying, okay. Who did you meet with? What did you think about them? Was there anything missing from this brokerage? I'll even straight up. Ask him what the commission structure is and I'm writing that down cuz I want to know what my competitors are up to and I have an Excel. That's full of my competitors commission rates and what they're offering. And so, once I get to know the competition, and then I go into what, what are you looking for? And this is what's really going to steer my conversation because if they're not interested in technology and they just want to know commission, split conversation might be a little bit different, but if they're interested in support and training, I'm going to go really in-depth into our training and support like I was a little bit earlier technology of this person's not interested in technology. I'm probably not going to talk to you much about Technologies. So I'm really asking them what they're interested in and that's really going to guide where I take that conversation with them. So it's really like a research kind of report buildings part part 2. This is why I talked about us. So I talked about the family where offices are located, what type of Agents I typically. Look for a talk about my dad, my sister. So it's really just a brief overview of us and I'm not going into Awards. I'm not saying over number one in Toronto or anything like that because they don't really care. So it's really just a brief overview of who we are as a little family. And then, at 3, I talked about the training. So I really go in-depth with the training. So talk about the one-on-one. And what's important about these things is to talk about what's in it for them,. They want to know why, why do you do training this way? Why do you do it like that? Why are you training that? So, I talked about our one-on-one training, I talk about our office meeting but talk about The Breakfast Club that we do every week. So I really go into depth about that. And then the worst part of it is the service at. So I'm glad I go into the full service of our brokerage. I talk about our admin team and what they're doing downstairs to help you as an agent, build your business. I'm talking about the photography team, the videography the signs, and I really give him an overview of the different services that they're going to get. Can I go into technology? And this is the really important thing to know. I'm not just on the phone with somebody on my interviews about an hour and a half. With these people talk quick phone call to be like, hey that get a website. You going to see if you ever see my interview. It's either in person or on Zoom. I have a note 20 tabs. Just opened at the top and I'm going through every single part of the technology. So I usually start with my Hub 21, and I talked about how you get up 21 and then I go through each tab. So I'll go through my engage and I show them, see if she wanted Gage, and I show them the to do list. I show them the calendars. I go into the each campaign. I showed them the life at, like, what is it? The newsletter. And then I talked about the post fail campaigns. The first time home buyer campaigns and show them all the night. Open them up and show them each email. So they really got a good vibe of what it is and I talked about the presentation Center. So it's better to say Hey you get CMAs made for you. I actually haven't opened seller. Ostentation I scroll through it. I have a buyer presentation. I scroll through that. I even showed them how easy it is to use and then the buyer to wear one as well. Then I'll skip over to the marketing Center and I showed them an email. Like that was emailed to me saying, congratulations on your listing. Here is all your marketing materials and I'll click on each thing to show them how easy it is to open. And then I show them the other side of the parking center like going to your website and I don't just show them the website. I'm going into the property search and saying hey we're connected to i x o n. E listing click on looks as if it's your listing even if it's another brokerage is listing. This is how you can use it in your business. You can copy and paste the link. Put it on your Facebook page and every listing looks as if it's yours or your neighborhood news as well and why those are important. I'm so I'm really didn't think he was 20 when I showed them. I open it and I showed them it looks like Netflix for real estate agents. So it's not just me telling them about it. I think it's very important for them. Shoe. See it and click it and feel it and see what it's going to do. And then it's almost like a training session. It's almost like I'm doing their own boarding in my recruit meeting. And I think that's really important is to really do that because it is a very impressive this dumb and they need to be at. So once I'm done that technology and the last thing I do is commission. So that's the final thing. And even before I start talking about these things. I never talk about commission up front that something that we teach our salespeople. You don't go into a listing presentation, answer, what your commission, split is on the phone, you go to the presentation and then you talk about the cost of it after. So I'm very strategic. I'm very open and I tell them exactly how the presentations going to go. And then that way I'm leaving the conversation and then we going to all that stuff. So it is a 16th. So I'll tell you again. First stop is report and research, second part is about us. Third is training for the services five technology. And then the six is commission. And, you know what? I like what you said is that, you know, it's almost like a training session is going almost like an arm boarding. So it's they get to actually experience really the tools that going to help them build their business. And so, I love, I love that strategy. So that's just a great opportunity, but they see some excitement and some motivation in your boys. They feel like okay, I can do that. It's like about the tools. I'm ready and like I feel supported before they even join us, so you have to be excited and you can know your value and soccer expensive brokerage. You can sell it a little bit better if, you know, and like what you're selling. We talked about, you know, generating the leave then we talked just now about how to wow them during the recruiting presentation. Do you actually end up what you meet with all these dangerous? Do you end up partying every single agent that you meet with no numbers? And I do one and three usually one in three will join us. So, I even broke it down a little bit. So if you wanted to hire 70 agent, I do about 210 appointments to get, so it's about 4, I always make a call to do about for interview. So we cannot will keep me on track for a pool, LOL. What are you looking for when you decide on? Yes, this is the perfect person to join my brokerage. What are you looking for? For me, it's I love brand new. So I love brand new agents. I think we have a really good system for brand new agent. They come with a little bit of a different mindset. So any new agents that sees value and wants to work with us as well? And see that, I want that type of person. So I don't want an agent that's only going to call me and ask me what my commission structure is because that they're already, don't see the value. They don't care what I have to offer. I just care about how much the split is. So I want some of that sees the value in what we're doing for them. So I know that when, you know, we talked about, you're always in a vacant, you're always trying something different. You're always kind of fine-tuning your recruitment process. So, but I'm sure not everything has always gone as planned. I want to know some of the things that you tried but you fail that. Yeah, that's definitely tried quite a few. I'll talk a little bit about both. So let's say AJ. What I used to do was I used to practice on a list of people that have done zero deals. So I think this is a great way to get into cold, cuz it kind of took that pressure off me to go after that talk for you sir. So I only print out a list of every agent. That's done, zero deals, and that's why I was practicing my cold calling scripts on them. I would practice my appointments on them. And that's really where I got comfortable with the recruiting process. So although I don't really do that anymore. It really did help me. Perfect, what I'm doing now, and so that was one of them. Those guys doing calls, text video, emails. I've done cards. There's been a whole bunch of stuff for experienced agents that I've done. And I've hired a few of them as well, but it just wasn't there a type of agent that I was going after. So eventually after the close calls, I switched over to new agents again since that's what my father was always believing. It was the new agents and I kind of sat down. I was at will, how do I find a new experience agents? You can see that like, they're everywhere, you go to their website, you know, who the agents are for the new agent there in school, so you don't really know. So, I went to the school to go recruit agents and I thought that was the smartest way was to go, go to the school, find the students at haven't quite finished and because I was just a student as well. I knew in the lunch break was, and I knew when all the breaks were for each class. So, I would drag my sister's out with me and we used to put flyers in the car, still invite them to Career night. And then the best day was when we stood out in the parking lot with flyers and we were interviewing students in the parking lot and Aria sauce and they were like you cannot be doing this. Like there's no soliciting signs everywhere. I don't know. We always went with the better to ask for forgiveness than permission type of things. So we actually end up having to stop because I called our dad took, all their dad was like, you need to tell your daughter is not come here anymore and being my dad. He was like, well, why not? Like he's going to kick ass right out, but then, I took it a step further. I was like, okay. Well, if I can't be at the school, how else do I get in front of them? And there's a Starbucks. There's only one Starbucks down the street where all the students went to lunch on their break. So right after it was actually First Century, 21 conference. There was a woman doing a recruiting presentation on this. $2,000 idea. Like the whole point was to With another agent and you would give them an idea of how to find business. So, I printed up a sign that said, areia student have a $5,000 coffee on me, put it on my likes to lie. I just had coffee and would sit. And then the Starbucks people didn't like that either. And they're like, what are you doing? I'm like, well not. So I'm just have a sign. I'm not like pulling people out, but I got kicked out of that. And that's not what I do. A lot of my recruiting online now. So you're not banned from every single and you know, one of the best things that you just said to is that you really know what you're going for your going for that new agent and your audience. Like, you're very targeted to who your audience is and what they need, you know, and I think you and you talked about this in our conversation, but you know, make sure you what's in it for them. Right? Just make sure you show it. What did it for them? And I think you've done a really, really great job. So what are some tips? As we start to wrap up this conversation that you can give brokerages. That wanted to attract more agents to their business. Where should I start? So I would say, step one is, like you said, you need to know what agent you're attractive. Because they're two different things. If you want to try to read new agents and you need to figure out how to get in front of them. So through like those Facebook groups them if there's anything that the school offers for you to be in front of the students, then you need to do that. If you're doing experienced agents, then different type of recruiting. It's a little bit more of a long-term game, more of a relationship Builder. So you do have to put yourself out there with those agents would be prepared that it's going to take a lot longer than hiring a new agent and that may require some cold calling like the tribute more traditional ways with the experienced guys. Also, you need to know your competition. I think that's a very important is to know what's out there. What is, what's the guy down the street, offering the agents that you're not or what are you offering up their not? So you really do need to know what they are? And the easiest way for me was to do that in the interview process with any agents that I'm meeting. And then perfect your presentation. That's the biggest one. Perfect, the presentation practice it. Again, I was practicing on calling agents that have done zero deals as practicing on all of these people in a different environments as well and then try everything. So like it, like I showed you, I've tried a lot and not everything work. For me, but I wanted to say some of the things that I failed because there may be some small towns out there. Some people watching at these things may work for, but I would say, try everything. And then at the end of the year, what I typically do, as I will go line-by-line, I'll figure out where I got each individual agent. And then that next year, I know exactly where to focus my attention. So keep track of it. All is well, will, you know, when I like kind of what you've been saying to this whole thing is kind of understanding, you know, how comfortable you are doing things right? And then to find ways to take the pressure off of yourself, you know, in order to get more comfortable and whatever you're doing. And then you know, with that practice comes confidence, right? And then you can kind of take that next step but you know, I love it that you're making, you know, calls. So, you know agent with no transaction since I would take the pressure off of you until you get comfortable doing it, then. Let's call some productive agents. So now from our last question is that, you know, this doesn't have to be your time with in the real estate industry. But just any time in your career or really your life, is what you think has been the biggest challenge I've ever faced that ended up being a blessing in disguise. I will say I just may be cliche but covid covid-19 face in recruiting because it was a very awkward time. Like we had all these campaigns that up and I'm like, we can't just go recruiting people because they're very insensitive time and taking from other Brokers. If it was an experience. I just wasn't the time to be recruiting. So it kind of put hold you back a little bit, but that it helped me, quickly adapt the online, recruiting portion, as well. And because Humber College, that's the stuff again, the college with the students go, if he came online as well, and with everybody working from home and people losing jobs. A lot of people are getting their real estate license. A lot of its online. So now I'm able to actually connect with the students online. There's a lot more people to choose from and I'm actually able to do my interviews online out. So soon, was not a thing for me to be doing interviews before the pandemic came in with zoom. It's actually help me do a lot more interviews. People are working from home, so I can do interviews. Now, during the day. So if it's a part-time agent, want to do an interview at 6 p.m. Anymore. So if anything pandemic was kind of a blessing in some ways for recruiting, Great work. Caitlan. You've been absolutely amazing. If someone want to get ahold of you. What is the best way to for them to do that? It's in the best ways on social media platforms. Butts on Instagram. You can find a Scentsy to 1 / C. Fulton or if you want to follow my sisters and I follow us on Instagram at Fulton sisters as well. Great Caitlin. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule, to be with us. And again, congratulations your father who taught you so well and you and your sisters for really taking the business to the next level. So we really appreciate your time. You're either listening to this podcast live or you listening to this recording on Apple podcast Spotify or Google podcast, or you went to Century 21. Franchise. See a website. I sent you 21 is one of the largest residential real estate companies in the world. We have presents and 86 countries and here in Canada. We are 11000 +. Strong. We are looking to align ourselves with like-minded individuals who share the same vision of what the future broke or just look like if you're interested in any growth opportunities, please feel free to reach out to me or my colleague. Gary is a leper. You can get our contact information from Century 21, franchise. CA, or you can connect with me, on LinkedIn or Facebook and we can set up a check. So anyway, thank you again for being with us.