Hey, brokerage owners & team leaders. Quick question:

What's the number one reason why somebody will join your firm as opposed to all the other firms in the marketplace?

If your first inclination is to say, "It's because we have the best commission plan," you've already lost.

If your whole strategy is based on what you're offering in terms of commissions to agents, you're going to lose because somebody is going to come in right behind you and offer an even lower commission split.

So commission-split warfare is a straight path to going absolutely broke.

This business is not about what agents really want.

If you look at the marketplace landscape in your market right now, I guarantee you the number one offices are not the cheapest offices.

You know who the number one offices are?

It's those offices that are showing agents a path to a higher transaction count (and this is the biggest thing you should focus on).

They're giving them a way to increase the number of transactions they'...

Brokerages owners, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before, but I want to give you a different spin on it.

When I’m talking to agents, I give them what I call my “4-1-1-1 Strategy.”

For them, that means:

1. Lead generate for one hour a day
2. Set one appointment a day
3. Go on one appointment a day
4. Add one new person to their sphere of influence each day

If agents do that consistently, they’ll see transformation in their business within 30 days.

But what if I told you, as a brokerage owner, that you could apply your own version of the 4-1-1-1 Strategy to create transformation for yourself?

Here’s what I’ve found: the most successful recruiters in the country—the ones consistently bringing on experienced agents month after month—operate just like top-producing agents.

Most of their recruits—70%, 80%, sometimes even 90%—come as referrals from people already in their office. They’ve built such strong relationships that their agents become evangelists, out there singing their ...

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 thi...

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 one-on-one time. Even five or ten minutes can...