If you're a brokerage owner or team leader, what's the number one reason someone would join your firm?

Often, when I talk to brokerage leaders, they say it’s all about commissions—that’s the driving factor.

But that’s not true. We need to move away from that outdated thinking.

What really drives agents to join a company or team is the potential to close more transactions.

It’s about transaction count, not commissions.

So, how do you build a company or team that focuses on generating leads and helping agents develop leads on their own? Your goal should be to increase each agent’s transaction count, making them one of the highest-performing in your market area.

Here’s an interesting statistic that might surprise you: 50% of all agents in America closed one deal or less last year.

Even if those agents are getting a high commission on that one deal, it’s not enough to support their families. They’re struggling and barely staying in...

How many agents have contacted you—called, texted, emailed—in the last 30 days to say they want to work for you? If that number is four or five, or even more, congratulations! You're in a position where you're attracting agents to your company. That’s a rare position to be in, and not many offices can say the same.

But if you're not attracting a lot of people, the question becomes: why not? There could be many reasons, but the number one thing we need to focus on is building a company that is attractive.

It sounds simple, but it's not. There are many factors involved. Agent productivity, the training and education you offer, and how your company appears from the outside all matter.

Do you have a great culture?
Are your agents engaged in the community?
Is your company active on social media?
Do you have a YouTube channel?
Do you have a great office environment?

Being a visible leader in the MLS and the market helps too. Your agents should be out there, talking...

Want to know the number one mistake new brokerage owners and team leaders make?

Focusing on recruiting new agents.

When we enter this industry, we often have an ego, thinking we can coach and train people to be super successful. We have a passion for training and coaching, which leads us to believe we should direct that passion towards new agents.

But here's the problem:

There's an 87% attrition rate in our industry.

This means almost nine out of ten new agents you recruit will fail. You might think you can change that, but this number has been consistent over the last 30 years. It doesn't matter how good a coach or trainer you are, how good your brand, systems, CRM, website, or lead generation are. It's about what the new agents implement. No matter how good we are as mentors, some of them just won't take action.

All that being said, we were all new agents once. But those of us watching this today are part of a very small minority—the 10% who made it. And within that group,...

Hey guys, as a team leader or brokerage owner, there's one key metric that defines your success:

Per agent productivity.

This metric encompasses every aspect of your role as a brokerage leader. It includes your recruiting plan, retention plan, marketing, branding, technology, training, coaching, mentoring, staffing, and location.

Essentially, everything you do at your brokerage is reflected in what your agents produce on a per-agent basis.

When I come to you and say, "Let's open up the hood of your company," we'll look at the average agent production over the last 12 months. What does it look like? If your average agent is closing six deals, seven deals, eight deals, three deals—whatever the number is—you'll have a starting point.

Our goal is to raise that number over time. The higher we push that number, the more likely you are to attract more agents to your business.

The number one way to attract agents is by demonstrating that your system drives higher sales than your...

When recruiting agents, you'll hear "no" 90% of the time, if not more.

Many brokerage owners and team leaders stop recruiting because they dislike hearing "no." We may not be accustomed to it, especially if we've been successful in lead generation. This rejection can make you think recruiting isn't for you, leading you to wait for agents to come to you, which is not effective.

Your brokerage will fail if you don't actively recruit.

To start getting yeses and change your mindset about recruiting, understand that recruiting isn't about getting a yes today. It's about opening doors and creating relationships. The worst recruiters aim to close immediately, treating all agents the same—new agents and experienced agents alike. This is a mistake.

Recruiting a new agent is relatively easy, but recruiting an experienced agent doing $10-20 million in transactions is like recruiting a professional athlete. It starts with relationship building and opening doors.

How do we open doors?

We...