Between 2008 and 2012, the real estate industry went through the worst stretch most of us will ever see. Values collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of agents left the business. Brokerages that looked unbeatable in 2006 were gone by 2010. And yet some firms grew. My friend and longtime business colleague Steve Murray and his team […]
Author: Mark D. Johnson
Mark D. Johnson, MBA, is Managing Partner of Recruiting Insight and the former CEO of the nation's 35th largest brokerage firm, which he grew roughly fivefold to $8 billion in annual sales. A real estate broker since 2000 and a California licensed broker, he is adjunct faculty at Chapman University and South Orange County Community College District, and author or co-author of six California real estate textbooks and the book Up In Your Business. He coaches broker-owners, managers and recruiters on recruiting, retention and leadership.
How to Interview for Capacity, Not Charisma
The best talker in your interview room isn’t always the best agent for your brokerage. Charisma wins interviews. Capacity wins careers. Most managers know this. Then a confident candidate walks in, the conversation flows, and the decision is made in the first ten minutes. Here’s how to slow that down with the Core Capacities Index. […]
Sponsor, Don’t Hire: Why One Word Changes How You Select Agents
Most brokerages don’t hire real estate agents. They sponsor them. That one word should change how you select the people who carry your name. When you hire, you buy someone’s time. You set the schedule, assign the work and supervise the output. When you sponsor, you put your license, your brand and your reputation behind […]
How to Select the Right Real Estate Agents Before You Sponsor Them
Most retention problems start as selection problems. Here is a practical system for choosing real estate agents who fit your brokerage, produce, and stay.
The Clock Came First. The Compass Matters More.
Direction Beats Speed Every Time It was 6:31 in the morning, and my feed had already handed me six productivity systems. Pomodoro. The 3/3/3 Method. The Eisenhower Matrix. Eat the Frog. The Seinfeld Strategy. Time blocking. One graphic promised eight hours of work in four. Another had been shared more than thirteen hundred times. Then […]
Everything Is Borrowed. Only Time Is Yours.
Inspired by Seneca’s first letter to his friend Lucilius, written almost two thousand years ago. Seneca was one of the richest men in Rome. Villas. Vineyards. A fortune most senators could only dream about. He tutored the young Nero and then served as one of the emperor’s closest advisors. Power, access, reputation. He had all […]
Humility in the Dark, Conviction in the Light
Two Olympic golds. One silver. One standard. Freestyle skier Eileen Gu captured elite performance psychology in eleven words: “I train like I’ve never won, and I compete like I’ve never lost.” It sounds great on a motivational poster. But look closely at what it actually asks of you on an ordinary Tuesday morning. Gu’s equation […]
They’re Asking for a Faster Horse
Dollars Is Seventh on Our Own List. It’s the Only One They Ask About. Every leader in real estate knows how the recruiting conversation starts. An agent sits down, glances at the numbers, and asks the question you can set your watch by: “What’s your split?” And if we aren’t careful, we answer it. We […]
Why the Best Leaders Let People Flounder
Inspired by bestselling author and journalist Charles Duhigg’s research on how the best students and teachers excel. With the new school year starting, parents and kids are adjusting to new routines and fresh classrooms. But the research on how people actually master new skills is not just for students. As some of you know, besides […]
Four Blueprints for Turning Vision into Reality
Listening to my bachelor’s degree students pitch their business dreams this past week brought a jolt of energy into the room. Their drive is infectious. They see clear problems to solve, markets to capture, and lives they want to build. Sitting there listening, I kept coming back to a single question: What actually turns a […]