Learn how real estate brokers recruit top agents to increase the credibility of their firms by establishing different performance based leadership roles & positions to help attract them.
As a real estate leader, you’ve probably felt the pressure that comes with busy seasons. Spring and summer are often overwhelming—transactions pile up, closings consume your focus, and the idea of growth feels impossible. Many brokers and team leaders fall into this cycle: during peak months they shy away from recruiting, and during slower seasons they desperately wish they had recruited more agents.
So, how do the best real estate brokers break this cycle? How do they consistently attract—and keep—top-producing agents?
The answer lies in one crucial shift: stop being just a leader of people, and start becoming a leader of leaders.
VIDEO: How Real Estate Brokers Recruit Top Agents
The Real Challenge in Leadership
Leadership isn’t just about accountability or solving problems. Those skills are common. The true rarity in this industry is the leader who can motivate—the one who paints a clear picture of what an agent’s finish line could look like.
Think about it: agents don’t leave brokerages or coaches because of paperwork or training issues. They leave when they stop believing that success is possible with their current leader. That’s a leadership failure. The best brokers are the ones who remind agents daily of where they’re headed, what’s possible, and how others have achieved it.
That’s why events like our Icenhower Coaching & Training (ICT) Summits are so powerful. Agents see real-life examples of high achievers who’ve reached their goals. It’s tangible. It’s motivating. And as a leader, you need to create that same sense of belief every day inside your brokerage.
Why Brokers Stop Recruiting
Too many brokers fall into the “I’m too busy” trap. During high seasons, they claim they can’t take on more agents or more transactions. But when winter rolls around, they’re scrambling for growth.
This isn’t just an “agent rollercoaster”—it happens at the leadership level too. The problem isn’t the market. The problem is the mindset.
Recruiting and growth don’t wait for slow seasons. If you stop recruiting when you’re busy, you’ll always find yourself playing catch-up when business slows down.
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Team Coaching Program
The Team Real Estate Coaching Program is for smaller teams looking for internal structure, leverage and leadership.
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Brokerage / Corporate Coaching Program
With the Brokerage / Corporate Real Estate Coaching Program, ICT will help firms set up the most effective and efficient systems for recruiting, agent onboarding, commission & fee structures, agent engagement & retention systems, recruiting, administrative work-flows, transaction management, staff hiring, agent onboarding, productivity training & accountability, financials & budgeting, marketing and much more!
The Secret: Recruit to Leadership Roles
If you want to know how real estate brokers recruit top agents, here’s the strategy: offer leadership opportunities.
Top agents don’t just want a place to hang their license. They want influence, responsibility, and a chance to lead. Smaller brokerages and teams often struggle to attract top producers because they lack leadership roles to offer.
But here’s the key insight: you don’t wait to get big to create these roles. You create leadership roles so you can get big.
Examples of Leadership Roles That Attract Top Agents
At ICT, we coach brokers and team leaders to think creatively about leadership opportunities. Here are some roles that can both attract and retain top talent:
Productivity Coach – compensated through the first few transactions of the agents they coach.
Sales Manager – paid a percentage override on the production they manage.
Mentorship Program Leader – develops and oversees new agent training.
ISA Manager – leads inside sales agents and drives appointment setting.
Licensing School Instructor – positions your brokerage as a source of education and training.
Mortgage Director – partners with the brokerage’s lending side to boost production.
Property Management Leader – grows a property management division, paid from increased profits.
Private Lender Partner – allows agents to finance flips and investments, creating a huge draw.
Flipping or Development Division Leader – builds wealth opportunities beyond sales.
Managing Broker / Deal Doctor – handles compliance and transaction issues so you can focus on growth.
Notice that most of these roles are self-funded. Compensation is tied directly to profit increases or production. That means you aren’t paying unless they’re producing.
Stop being just a leader of people, and start becoming a leader of leaders.
Brian Icenhower
Leaders First, Agents Second
The truth is simple: it’s nearly impossible to scale a team or brokerage beyond 20–40 agents if you’re the only leader. You’ll burn out.
If you want to scale to 100 agents or more, you must recruit leaders first, agents second. Build a deep bench of potential leaders and always be on the lookout for people who can step into these roles.
This approach not only fuels growth but also creates retention. Why would a top producer leave when they have one of the few leadership roles available in the market?
The Big Picture: Motivation and Vision
Recruiting isn’t just about roles and compensation. It’s about painting the finish line.
Show agents what’s possible.
Share success stories of others who’ve achieved it.
Connect their daily activities to their long-term goals.
Create opportunities for leadership and growth.
If you consistently provide vision and opportunity, you’ll naturally attract top-producing agents who want to be part of that environment.
Final Thoughts on How Real Estate Brokers Recruit Top Agents
If you’re wondering how real estate brokers recruit top agents, here’s the truth: it’s not about waiting for the right season, and it’s not about being the only leader. It’s about building a leadership-rich culture that excites, motivates, and retains top talent.
Recruit to leadership roles. Paint the finish line clearly. Become a leader of leaders. That’s how you grow beyond the rollercoaster and build a brokerage or team that thrives in any market.
