Many of you are familiar with Brian Buffini’s classic elevator pitch:

If you were going to buy or sell a house, or had a friend or family member who was going to buy or sell a house, do you have an agent you would refer them to?

Most people say no and then you reply:

I’d like to be that person. Here’s my card.

The agent then puts the new contact into their database and starts marketing to them, providing them things of value, and building a relationship.

The same approach can be used to build a recruiting database.

If you connect with a competitive agent during a meeting or at a networking event, try closing the conversation with a similar question:

I know you’re probably happy with [their current company]. But if you someday got to the place where you needed to change offices, do you have a place in mind?

I’d like to be that place. Do you mind if we stay in contact?

If you’re adding a couple of these agents to your recruiting database each week, you’ll build the necessary foundation to produce a consistent flow of experienced agent recruiting leads.

The best recruiting is done in bite-size pieces over time recognizing that what you plant today will lead to a harvest at some point in the future.