In The Compass Came First, post I ended with a question: can you write the one sentence that tells you which way is north? Then the harder one: could your agents write it for you?
Here is a way to find out. At your next sales meeting, hand out index cards with one question: Where is this company going in the next three years? Keep it anonymous. Collect them.
Read them that night. If your office is like most, you’ll get “bigger,” “more agents,” “not sure,” and a couple of good guesses. You might even get one that asks about a rumor you’ve never heard.
That’s not a failed test. It’s the most useful data you’ll collect all year. Most leaders have a direction. It lives in their head and in a business plan nobody has opened since January.
Direction is the first D for a reason
In the Eight D’s, Direction comes first. Agents can live with a split that isn’t the best in town. They struggle to stay somewhere they can’t describe. When a recruiter across the street asks, “Where’s your company headed?” and your agent shrugs, that recruiting call is already half won.
So what if they can’t write it?
Here’s the good news. That isn’t an agent problem. It’s a communication problem, and communication problems are fixable.
Write it yourself first. Use one sentence in plain words. Something like: “We will be the brokerage where a new agent gets to 12 deals by year two.” That’s not a mission statement. It’s a direction.
Say it until you’re sick of it. Leaders get tired of their own message long before the team actually hears it. Open every sales meeting with it and put it on the wall.
Connect decisions to it out loud. For example: “We’re adding a transaction coordinator because it gets newer agents to 12 deals faster.” Every decision you tie to the sentence makes it more real.
Let your best people push back on it. Give the draft to your top five agents and ask what’s missing. People defend what they helped build.
Ask each agent to write their own. Then show them where their direction overlaps with the company’s. That overlap is your retention strategy.
Try This
- Run the index card test at your next meeting. Keep it anonymous so you get honest answers.
- Write your own sentence before you read the cards. Otherwise the cards will write it for you.
- Rerun the test in 90 days. The gap between the two rounds is your scorecard.
Question
If a recruiter asked your best agent tomorrow where your company is going, what would they say?
Resources
Start With Why by Simon Sinek.
Direction first. Then win the day.
Faciamus.
