Five Questions With: Jim Abbott

JIM ABBOTT is the broker/manager of the Westerly office for Randall, Realtors, and also serves as the company’s director of agent development. / COURTESY RANDALL, REALTORS
JIM ABBOTT is the broker/manager of the Westerly office for Randall, Realtors, and also serves as the company’s director of agent development. / COURTESY RANDALL, REALTORS

Jim Abbott is the broker/manager of the Westerly office for Randall, Realtors, and also serves as the company’s director of agent development. Randall, which covers both Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut, has 170 agents in Rhode Island.

PBN: Since the residential market has picked up, do you have more of an uptick in interest?

ABBOTT: We do, in the last year, have an influx of interest in to real estate as a profession. That is very typical. As the market increases, so does the consumer’s perception that real estate is a potential avenue as a career option. It allows us to be a little more selective in our agent choices. There are some things we look for. It’s very expensive to train an agent. It takes a long time for an agent to come up to speed and start recognizing real income.

PBN: What are some of the qualities you look for in agents?

ABBOTT: Certainly, some kind of sales experience in the past is helpful. The product that the Realtor is selling is very rarely the house. The product the Realtor is selling is themselves. You’ve got to go out there and sell yourself. Why would you list with me? Why would you buy with me? Why would you sell with me? What is most important is people skills. It’s an emotional process. People need help and guidance. Having the people skills to have a conversation, speak articulately, look someone in the eye and be honest – those are the skills that will set you apart.

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PBN: Why do you have to be recruiting at all? Is the activity increasing to the point where you need more agents representing the company?

ABBOTT: We’re always looking to expand new Realtors. Recruiting isn’t an activity you do, it’s a culture that a company has. You either have the mindset that we are always recruiting for talent, or it is an activity that we are reminded we sometimes have to do. It’s critical that you have a plan for recruiting.

PBN: In terms of 2017, what are the applicants looking for that may be different than in years past?

ABBOTT: Not really. What it is, is you have to have two plans for recruitment. You have to have a recruiting plan for new agents and you have to have a separate recruiting plan for experienced agents. Those two categories aren’t looking for the same thing in a brokerage. A new agent will talk about quality of life, and flexibility of work, and the ability to utilize technology to accomplish tasks. A more experienced agent might be looking for administrative assistance, data entry assistance.

PBN: Do you use any recruitment incentives at Randall, Realtors?

ABBOTT: The best recruiters any brokerage has are its agents. There has to be some incentive for those agents to want to recruit another agent, beyond the “we’re better as a whole.” We’ve offered some very good incentives to our agents, to help us recruit other agents. One of them is a lifetime incentive, as long as both of those agents are employed here, the recruiting agent will always get a [percentage of the sale], on the house side, of that recruited agent.

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