Building an Agency Alumni Club

Hey everybody, Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute, coming to you yet again from Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando, Florida. This week, what I want to talk about is a challenge that many of you are facing, which is finding, attracting, and keeping great talent. So for most agencies today, the number one challenge for growth isn't finding new clients. It's having the bodies to serve those clients, and I have an idea for you. I want you to start an Alumni Club. I want you to reach out to all of the people who have passed through your shop over the years that you still have a good relationship with and you still have fond memories of them being in the agency. So obviously I'm not talking about the ones that you don't want to ever darken your door again, but there are a lot of people who have probably left you for good reasons. They wanted to stay home with a family, their spouse or partner got a job somewhere else in another part of the country, they went corporate side for a while, whatever it may be. But they still have good memories of the agency, and you have good memories of them being in the agency. So what I want you to do is, I want you to reach out to them and I want you to reconnect. I want you to do that both individually and as a group. So individually, I want you to find out what's going on with them, how they're doing, maybe grab breakfast or lunch or a drink. But also as a group, I want you to start emailing them, or some agencies have created a Facebook group specifically for their alumni, just to keep them informed about what's happening in the agency, what kind of people they're looking for. These guys are a great referral source for employees, and in some cases, they may be ready to come back. And there is no better employee than a boomerang employee. They left because they thought the grass was greener somewhere else, but when they come back, they really appreciate what you do to create culture and atmosphere and a great working environment. And they talk about it a lot inside your shop, and that is a great way for your current employees to hear how good they have it without you having to say it. So this week's assignment, assignment if you will, is for you to start this alumni club, reach out to those folks, reconnect and start thinking about them as part of your extended network as you're looking for great employees for the future. Alright, I'll talk to you next week.