Let’s face it – recruiting can be exhausting. You spend hours connecting and interviewing top talent. Ultimately, you want people to stay and grow within your real estate business, but sometimes they don’t. One way to stop the revolving door is to invest your time and energy in hiring intrapreneurs. When you tap into this group, you’ll earn their loyalty and get your business off the talent treadmill.
Talent attraction and retention is a primary focus for PLACE Head of People Holly Priestner, who shares key points for finding and retaining intrapreneurs below.
What is an intrapreneur?
An intrapreneur is an individual who operates within an organization but exhibits entrepreneurial characteristics. They go beyond understanding their roles; they comprehend how a business functions. With access to company resources, they are highly motivated to use their sales and leadership skills to take on or develop projects that influence their line of work or the company’s operations. While keen to take on some risks and test theories, their position is usually less risky than an entrepreneur’s.
Characteristics of an intrapreneur
How do you know if a potential real estate agent has an intrapreneurial mindset? In short, they think like you — a business owner.
When interviewing, here are some key characteristics to look out for:
- Self-motivated rather than direction-seeking
- Take initiative instead of waiting for permission
- Strong communication skills
- Innovative with creative ideas
- Eager to collaborate
- Doers who are empowered to seek out proactive solutions
- May already know how to recruit, hire, and coach talent to create a team within your own
- Focused on business profitability and achieving income goals
- Frequently use words like growth and opportunity
How to interact with an intrapreneur
Intrapreneurs are attracted to businesses where they can see a clear path to career progression and success. Speak to them as business partners from your first conversation. Using matter-of-fact business terms is far more effective than trying a hard sell on your team. Pay attention to the words and phrases they use and repeat. Someone who only focuses on splits and commissions won’t likely fit the business-minded intrapreneur mold.
When it comes to earning potential, explain their profits will be directly tied to yours, simply as partners who happen to have different roles. Show them you have a proven path to real estate success with a team that is not just productive but profitable. Highlight the tangible value you bring them, like tools, technology, operations, marketing, support, and coaching.
Become a career destination
Intrapreneurs want to see how you’ll fast-track their income goals this year, next year, and beyond. Show them your organizational charts:
- Where you started
- Where you are now
- Where you’ll be in 20 years
Then, ask them to identify which of your business units they’d like to grow and help them see how.
Make it about them
Intrapreneurs view themselves as more than a means to achieve someone else’s real estate business goals. They can develop a business unit within your team while leveraging the systems and processes you already have in place. Talk about what you can do for them, not just about what they can do for you. Their future vision should align with yours for your relationship to grow long-term.
Listen to their choice of words and focus conversations on:
- Their goals
- Charting a path for their success
- Their passions and dreams
- Their motivations
- Projects they’re committed to
You’ll find that this is particularly true for emerging talent. Millennials, who now make up most of the workforce, want to work for an organization whose mission aligns with theirs. They’re attracted to a real estate career for the flexible schedule, opportunities for self-starters, and ability to set income goals. Show them how your organization can help them build a bigger life in and out of work.
Develop successful intrapreneurs
Retaining top real estate agents is one of your roles as a business leader. Tell intrapreneurs how you’ll invest in them, their goals, and innovative ideas. You should be charting a path that leads to their achievement. Do this by investing in developing an intrapreneurial culture by providing:
- Weekly coaching on growth goals and their production
- Quarterly conversations about their contributions to the team
- Yearly formal growth planning and review
From the beginning, working with them to create a formal growth plan is essential. Hold them accountable for following their plan. But remind them that they’re building something that goes beyond their personal goals.
Want to scale your real estate business with a PLACE Partnership?
Do you want to scale your real estate business and create a company culture that embraces intrapreneurship? A partnership with PLACE can help you fine-tune your organizational structure for success. Fill out this form to tell us more about your business. Then, take a few minutes to watch our partners discuss their success with PLACE here.
