Real Estate Agent Recruiting - Watch to learn how brokers & team leaders can train their managers to recruit.
Recruiting top talent is one of the most important aspects of growing a successful real estate business. Whether you’re a team leader, broker-owner, or solo agent looking to scale, understanding how to train your manager to recruit effectively is critical.
Many real estate professionals struggle with recruiting because they view it as a one-time event rather than a long-term process. However, when you create a structured recruiting system, you can identify top talent, build relationships, and ultimately bring high-performing agents into your organization. In this article, we’ll break down a strategic approach to real estate agent recruiting and show you how to train your manager to take over this crucial task.
Listen to The Brian Icenhower Podcast.
VIDEO: Real Estate Agent Recruiting – Train Your Manager to Recruit
The Step-by-Step Real Estate Agent Recruiting Process
Step 1: Start with New Licensees
If your sales manager is new to recruiting, they should start with newer agents. Newly licensed agents are eager to learn, not overly concerned with commission splits, and more open to training. Unlike experienced agents who may already have strong opinions about where they want to work, newer agents are looking for mentorship and support.
By focusing on newer agents, your manager can gain confidence in the recruiting process before moving on to experienced producers.
Step 2: Understand the Needs Analysis Process
The most crucial skill in real estate agent recruiting is conducting a needs analysis. This is the most important conversation in the industry. Your sales manager must learn how to ask questions and uncover the recruit’s past, present, and future motivations.
What should they ask in a needs analysis?
Why did you get into real estate?
What are your biggest challenges in your current brokerage?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
What support do you wish you had to grow your business?
The key here is simple: do not discuss commission splits or job offers during this first meeting. The goal is to listen and learn. By understanding the recruit’s pain points, your manager will be able to position your organization as the best solution in future conversations.
Step 3: Use the DISC Assessment to Build a Relationship
Once the initial needs analysis is complete, your manager should schedule a second meeting to review the recruit’s DISC behavioral assessment. This assessment helps identify personality traits and preferred communication styles, which is valuable for coaching and training.
By reviewing the DISC assessment with the recruit, your manager is providing value instead of making a sales pitch. They are educating the recruit about their own strengths and how those strengths apply to lead generation, client interactions, and business growth. This builds trust and positions your manager as a knowledgeable mentor.
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Leadership Coaching Program
This leadership real estate coaching program is designed for any leadership position within a real estate team or brokerage. Sales managers, productivity coaches, education chair, etc. Build skills on how to lead others, keep an organization motivated and accountable and become an influential person within your organization.
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Brokerage / Corporate Coaching Program
With the Brokerage / Corporate Real Estate Coaching Program, ICC 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!
Step 4: Transfer the Recruit to You
At this point, your manager has conducted two meetings:
The needs analysis meeting
The DISC assessment review
If the recruit is a high-performing agent, your manager should now bring their findings to you. They should provide you with the recruit’s DISC profile, motivations, and pain points. This allows you, as the team leader or broker, to step in and leverage your influence to close the deal.
By this time, the recruit has had multiple positive interactions with your team, has learned valuable insights about themselves, and is eager to hear about potential opportunities. This is when you can introduce the benefits of joining your organization, discuss compensation structures, and explore partnership opportunities.
Step 5: Stay in Conversation and Be Patient
One of the biggest mistakes recruiters make is rushing the process. Many of the top agents I have recruited over the years did not even know the commission split before they were ready to sign. Why? Because the process itself is what recruited them. By continuously adding value, staying in conversation, and addressing their needs, they became eager to join.
Recruiting is not about convincing someone to make an immediate switch. It’s about building relationships so that when they are ready for a change, you are the natural choice.
Training Your Manager to Become a Top Recruiter
Over time, your sales manager will start to gain confidence in the recruiting process. As they sit in on follow-up meetings with you, they will learn how to close deals and craft compensation structures that appeal to different types of agents. Eventually, they will be able to close recruits on their own, freeing up your time to focus on leadership and business growth.
The 3-Step Training Process
I Do It – You handle the recruiting process while your manager observes.
We Do It – You and your manager work together on recruiting appointments.
They Do It – Your manager takes the lead, and you observe and provide feedback.
This gradual transition ensures that your manager develops the skills and confidence necessary to become an effective recruiter.
When you create a structured recruiting system, you can identify top talent, build relationships, and ultimately bring high-performing agents into your organization.
Brian Icenhower
Why Real Estate Agent Recruiting Matters
At the end of the day, recruiting is the most valuable activity in real estate. Bringing top talent into your organization will have a greater impact on your business than any other task. While you may delegate other responsibilities, recruiting top producers should always be a top priority.
During down markets, recruiting becomes even more important. When the market is slow, agents are looking for new opportunities. By consistently staying in conversation with potential recruits, you can continue growing even in challenging times.
Final Thoughts on Real Estate Agent Recruiting
Training your manager to recruit effectively is one of the best ways to scale your business. By following a structured process, focusing on needs analysis, leveraging the DISC assessment, and staying in conversation, your sales manager can help grow your team or brokerage.
Real estate agent recruiting is not about making a quick hire—it’s about building long-term relationships and positioning your organization as the best place for agents to grow their careers. By investing in this process, you’ll create a steady pipeline of top talent and ensure the continued success of your business.
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