When you step into the role of recruiter for your team or office, you have to shift gears. You likely came from production, where you were a top agent and a confident salesperson. Talking to buyers and sellers felt natural.
But then you put on the recruiter hat, and suddenly making that first call to a potential recruit feels daunting—like the phone weighs a thousand pounds. It feels awkward and uncomfortable. Why is that?
It’s because you don’t have the skillset yet. Confidence comes from competence, and competence comes from learning and practice. The good news is you can develop those skills by getting coached and learning from others who’ve been where you are. We’ll share some tips and tools to help with that in a moment, but first, let me give you something to think about.
If you’re serious about growing your team or office, you need to commit at least one hour a day to recruiting. Without that, your business is at risk.
Here’s where...
I've heard this so many times over the years: "My market's different, Jim." When it comes to recruiting, people say, "We're in a tiny market, a rural market, a niche market, or a very cliquey market. People here don’t make moves like they do in big cities. Recruiting doesn’t work here."
Let me tell you something: I come from a small town with a population of 25,000. I’ve worked in big cities, small towns, medium-sized cities, and even cliquey ones. Here’s the reality: the numbers behind recruiting aren’t something I’m making up. These are national statistics.
The average agent in America moves every five years.
Look at your entire database of agents in your market and think about this: every single one of them will likely move in the next five years.
Statistically, some will move sooner, some later, but overall, they’re going to move.
The question is: where are they going to go?
Think about your own career. Did you stay at one company...
What's the number one motivator for someone to move from Company A to Company B? It's not the commission plan, so get that out of your head.
The answer is this: the reason I'm going to move from Company A to Company B is because I believe Company B can help me close more transactions.
Transaction count is the number one motivator for all agents. Yet, when I talk to most brokers and ask them to list the top five reasons someone should join their firm, the first things they often mention are: "We've got a great culture here. It's a family organization really connected to the community. People just trust each other. We've got a great staff."
These are all fantastic qualities, but let me tell you what that is: soft value.
Soft values are what keep agents at your company. People love to work at places with great culture, a charitable spirit, an open-door policy, and strong support staff.
But soft value isn't what moves an agent from Company A to Company B.
What moves agents is one thing:...
Here’s a question: Of the three types of real estate companies I’m about to describe, which do you think is the most dangerous to own in terms of survival?
Which one is the most dangerous?
For brokerage owners watching this, the answer is the mid-size company.
Here’s why: mid-size companies lack the economies of scale that smaller or larger companies enjoy.
Have you ever lost an agent? I have.
If you're a broker owner or a team leader, you probably have too. At some point, an agent decides to leave, and it feels terrible—like getting punched in the face. It's emotional, and you might wonder: Why did that happen? Was it my failure, or is it just part of the industry?
Here's the hard truth: it often is a failure on our part.
Specifically, it's a failure to understand where that agent was in their career. And that failure stems from a lack of communication with the agent.
Retention—that's what we're talking about here. Keeping agents starts with building relationships. And relationships come from spending time with your agents.
Time leads to relationships, and relationships lead to retention. So, the first step is spending more time with your agent team.
Now, you might say, “Jim, I’ve got a 200-agent office. There’s no way I can spend more time with all of them.” But it’s not about hours of...
If I sat down with you right now as a brokerage owner or team leader and asked you, "What's next for you after real estate?"—what would your response be?
Think about it. You might say, "I want to be on a beach somewhere," or "I want a cabin in Colorado," or maybe even "I want to live in Alaska." Whatever your dreams are, it likely takes you into an aspirational, dream-like state.
Now, here's the reality: 70 to 80% of brokers in your market, if given the right circumstances and opportunity, would choose to exit.
Why?
Because 70 to 80% of them are losing money. Many would be far better off selling their firm to you, transitioning their agents to your company, and then working for you. This would allow them to earn a consistent income, start saving for retirement, and ultimately achieve their dreams of escape.
What stops them from pulling the trigger?
One word: ego.
But what if there were a way to move past that ego barrier and help them feel comfortable making the decision?...
Let’s do a quick quiz for team leaders and brokerage owners to test how well you know your agents. This is essential for agent retention. While recruiting is critical, retaining your agents is just as important—if not more so. Retention is all about re-recruiting your agents consistently: every week, every month, every year.
Here’s the key: friends don’t leave, and friends refer friends. Your agents—your customers—need to see you as more than just their leader. They need to see you as a friend. And that kind of relationship only happens when you invest time in them and approach your interactions relationally, not transactionally.
Many brokerage owners and team leaders make the mistake of thinking transactionally. They view agents as numbers in a model—hiring 10 new agents a month and watching eight leave. It’s a churn-and-burn approach that feels like a meat grinder.
That’s not how you build a strong company.
A successful...
If I were to walk into your office right now and put my hands up in the air, asking, “What do I feel? What’s the energy in the room?”—you might think that sounds a bit new agey, especially when it comes to running a real estate company or team. But it’s true.
You can feel the energy in a room.
Let me give you an example. How many of us have been to a concert? You can feel the energy, right? A better example is a sporting event—you can feel the waves of energy when a point is made or lost. The energy is palpable.
Now, who sets the tone for that energy? It’s the players on the field, the musicians—the people performing. They create the energy in the room.
As a leader, whether you're a broker or team leader, you are the one setting the energy in your office. You create the weather. And how do you do that? It’s through your positivity, your enthusiasm, how you carry yourself, and how you walk into the building.
If you walk in with...
If you're coaching agents as part of your real estate brokerage or team, which we all do, one of the best methods I’ve learned is the 1-3-1 Method.
When someone brings you a problem, start by asking:
First, let's clarify the problem: What’s the one main issue we’re dealing with here?
Not 55 different things—just the one big issue we need to solve.
Then, ask: What do you think are three viable solutions for solving this?
If they can’t come up with three, help them brainstorm.
Finally, have them choose: Which do you think is the most viable option for actually getting this resolved?
Encourage them to go out, try it, and see how it works.
As a leader, whether you're a team leader or a brokerage owner, make a note in your CRM to follow up with that agent in a day or two. Check if the resolution actually solved the problem. Sometimes they'll come back and tell you, but if they don’t, reach out and ask, "Did that solve the issue?"
By using the 1-3-1...
If I were to sit down with you today and talk about why an agent should join your firm, what would be the top five reasons?
I do this all the time—teaching live classes and coaching brokerage owners and team leaders. This is a conversation I love to have. Often, I'll hear things like, "We're a family-oriented organization, we have a great culture, we do a lot of social events, we're really engaged with the community, and we're hyper-local. Staff is great, we have an open-door policy."
Those are all great things… But these are centered around what I call “soft value.”
Soft value is what keeps agents at your company. It’s important for retention—and trust me, you want to retain agents.
But if you’re going to move agents from one company to another, you need a different conversation, one focused on “hard value.”
Hard value moves agents, soft value keeps them.
So, what's hard value? It’s anything that helps me close more...
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