A new report from Reagan Consulting pointed out a "troubling" trend in the broker industry: lack of recruiting enough agents and brokers to grow their business.
Their research found that independent agents/brokers posted a 56 percent success rate in producer hiring in the past five years. Especially troubling, the firm noted, 55 percent to 60 percent of firms are "under-hiring," meaning they are not hiring enough new brokers to achieve their growth objectives or allow them to successfully perpetuate their business. Worsening things more, the firm said, is the fact that "free agents," who move from agency to agency, "were by far the largest category of producer hires," accounting for 55 percent of new hires over the past five years.
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But there may be hope in turning things around.
In its research, Reagan came up with six critical success factors for recruiting and developing brokers.
1. Defining hiring needs. It's common for agents/brokers to be in the dark about how many producer hires their business requires.
2. Determining whom to hire. Agents/brokers are often opportunistic recruiters, pursuing available individuals rather than being intentional about the producer profile that best fits their firm.
3. Building the candidate pool. Lacking a strategy to increase the pool of producer candidates, agents/brokers are limiting their options and capacity for hiring.
4. Elevating the ability to select winners. Many firms don't have an established process to evaluate candidates, yielding mixed results in evaluating talent and selling the opportunity.
5. Maximizing success for those hired. Most producers "sink or swim" on their own. While agents/brokers have options to assist newly hired producers, many firms are deficient in an intentional approach to training and development.
6. Owning and leading the strategy. Those that establish a strategy and plan, and appoint a key executive to "own" the strategy tend to be the most successful.
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