Brokerage owners, I want you to think about the last agent you lost. I know it’s tough — I’ve been there. Losing an agent feels like a gut punch, like getting kicked by a donkey. It hurts.

When you think about that last agent who left, I want you to answer a tougher question: why did they leave? What caused them to go to another firm?

Sometimes they get led down a garden path and think the grass is greener. But often, and this is hard to admit because our emotions get in the way, the real reason they leave is because we didn’t have a close enough relationship with them.

And I’ll tell you something: Friends don’t leave friends.

That’s the reality.

You need a closer bond with your agents individually. And then you need to help them grow transactionally. Start with the relationship, then move to helping them grow their transaction count.

The only reason people leave is because they’ve been promised a path to more transactions. It’s rarely about the commission plan. Sure, that can sp...