The real estate recruiting season starts in August, not January. Learn the two conversations every broker and team leader needs to be having right now.
August is here. Your agents are exhausted. Their pipelines look thinner than they did in May. And whether they’ve said it out loud or not, a good number of them are starting to wonder if the grass is greener somewhere else.
That’s not pessimism. That’s the calendar. The real estate recruiting season starts in August — every single year — and if you’re a broker/owner or a team leader who waits until you see the transfer paperwork to react, you’ve already lost the agent. The decision got made months before that.
Here’s what’s actually happening in your office right now, and what you need to do about it.
VIDEO: The Real Estate Recruiting Season Has Begun!
Why August Starts the Real Estate Recruiting Season
Think about how a real estate year actually runs. Spring and summer are the sprint. Pending home sales climb starting in March and peak in June, and on NAR’s long-run averages, existing-home sales jump 8.2% in June to their highest level of the year. Your people have been running flat out for five straight months.
Then August hits. The listings that were going to close have closed. The buyers who were going to buy before school started already bought. Your agents come up for air, look at their pipeline, and see a lot of white space.
And that’s when the thought starts: “I don’t have many listings in the pipeline. I don’t have many buyers in the pipeline. Maybe I should look at moving brokerages.”
That’s the trigger. It’s not usually about you. It’s not usually about your split, your office, or your marketing. It’s a slow pipeline and a tired agent doing math in their head in August.
I compare it to an accountant on April 16th. They just came off the hardest stretch of their year, and they’re fried. Your agents are in the exact same place right now — worn out, a little discouraged, and unusually open to a conversation with someone else.
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Recruit: Recruiting Real Estate Agents (Icenhower Institute)
ICT Online CourseRecruit
Recruiting Real Estate Agents
Master the systems and strategies top brokers and team leaders use to consistently attract, recruit, and retain great agents.
Learn how to build and manage a recruiting pipeline with proven follow-up systems
Discover how to identify top talent and match agents to your team culture and value proposition
Gain access to scripts, dialogues, and presentations that turn interest into commitment
Implement marketing strategies to position your team or brokerage as the place top agents want to work
Understand how to onboard, train, and retain agents for long-term success
Includes recruiting dashboards, tracking sheets, and customizable scripts
Attract Top Talent
Learn how to position your team or brokerage as the clear choice for high-performing agents.
Recruit With Confidence
Use proven scripts and systems to identify, connect with, and convert top prospects.
Retain for Growth
Build a strong culture and onboarding process that keeps agents engaged and productive.
Designed for all learning types
Video Training
In-depth video training walking you through each module of the course, explaining the strategies, tips, and best practices for using Canva for real estate agents.
Written Workbook
Detailed and downloadable written workbook that provides you with a bullet point outline, summarized text, action steps, key takeaways, as well as space for taking notes.
Instructor Materials
Teach this course at your organization with the help of our downloadable presentation notes, presentation files, and Instructor's Manual.
Course curriculum
Enrollment includes access to the following course materials for 6 months
Module 1: Your Unique Value Proposition & Recruiting Targets- Workbook: Your Unique Value Proposition & Recruiting Targets
- Video: Your Unique Value Proposition
- Graphic: DISC Behavioral Assessment
- Graphic: DISC Profiles
- Commission Comparison Chart Template
- Workbook: The Recruiting Scoreboard
- Video: The Recruiting Scoreboard
- Graphic: The Big 3
- Resource: Sample Weekly Calendar
- Resource: Sample Recruiter Dashboard
- Resource: Recruiting Tools
- Workbook: Recruiting with Technology
- Video: Recruiting with Technology
- Graphic: 10-10-5 Daily Plan
- Workbook: Recruiting Sources
- Video: Recruiting Sources
- Script: Congratulations & Production Report
- Script: Congratulations on Production
- Script: Expanding into Your Area
- Script: New Listing
- Script: Thank You for Cooperating on Buyer Side
- Script: Thank You for Cooperating on Listing Side
- Script: Real Estate School and New Licensees
- Workbook: Setting Recruiting Appointments
- Video: Setting Appointments
- Script: Let’s Talk About Your Production
- Script: Provide a Production Report
- Script: After Closed Transactions #1
- Script: After Closed Transactions #2
- Script: When Recruit is Referred by One of Your Own Agents
- Script: When Recruit is Referred to the Recruiter
- Script: For a New Brokerage or New Recruiter
- Script: Looking to Build Relationships
- Script: Referred by Agent After Transaction
- Script: Students from Real Estate Licensing School
- Script: For Rookie Agents in Their First Year
- Script: For Up-and-Coming Agents
- Script: Increased Market Presence
- Script: Invitation to Class or Training Event
- Script: Invitation to Participate on Agent Panel
- Script: Confirming Recruiting Appointments
- Script: Objection Handler – Not interested in moving companies
- Script: Objection Handlers – I’m too busy #1
- Script: Objection Handlers – I’m too busy #2
- Script: Objection Handlers – Happy with current company
- Script: Objection Handlers – I need to wait until my transactions close
- Script: Objection Handlers – Let me think about it
- Recruiting: Scripts E-book
- Workbook: Conducting Recruiting Appointments
- Podcast Episode 196: Real Estate Recruiting Scripts – Conducting the Appointment
- Video: Conducting Appointments
- Script: The Recruiting Process
- Workbook: Setting Follow-Up Appointments
- Video: Setting Follow-Up Appointments
- Natural DISC Profile Business Generation Tendencies
- Script: Attend a Class or Training Event
- Script: Behavioral Assessment
- Script: Set a Coaching Appointment
- Script: Create a Business Plan
- Workbook: Closing recruits
- Video: Closing Recruits
- Agent Intake Pipeline
- Scripts: Closing and Objection-Handling
- Script: When, Not If
- Script: They Can’t Say No to Their Own Goals
- Script: Delay Causes Resentment
- Script: Commission Split
- Script: You Need Our Systems
- Script: Start Transitioning Ahead of Time
- Script: Can Your Broker Help?
- Script: Prepping the Broker Conversation
- Script: Transferring Current Business
- Workbook: Creating a Growth Environment for Recruiting
- Video: Creating a Growth Environment for Recruiting
- Graphic: Characteristics of a Growth Environment
- Graphic: DISC style identification
- Graphic: SWOT
- Real Estate Office Brokerage Training Monthly Calendar
About this course
- $299
- 82 lessons
- 5 hours of video content
Immediate Takeaways
Here is what you can expect to gain from taking this online course.
- SCRIPTS for recruiting. Congratulations & Production Report Script, Expanding into Your Area Script, New Listing Script, Thank You for Cooperating on Buyer Side Script, Thank You for Cooperating on Listing Side Script, Real Estate School and New Licensees Script, Objection Handlers, and many more
- RESOURCES to help you recruit effectively. Sample Weekly Calendar, Sample Recruiter Dashboard, Recruiting Tools, Recruiting Scoreboard, Agent Intake Pipeline
- HELPFUL GRAPHICS to illustrate takeaway points and reinforce learning. DISC Behavioral Assessment, DISC Profiles, The Big 5, 10-10-5 Daily Plan, DISC Style Identification, Characteristics of a Growth Environment, SWOT
- OPTIONS for how you learn best. Each module provides a downloadable PDF chapter as well as a featured video of Brian Icenhower, teaching the topic at hand. At the beginning of the course, you are also provided with a full audiobook to listen to. So however you learn best -- we have an option for you!
Certification & Designation Upon Completion
In this ICT online course, you will receive an official designation of "Certified Recruiting Director" or CRD upon completion, as well as a downloadable (and printable) Certificate of Completion. Add your designation seal, as well as your designation letters, to your email signature to bolster your reputation and show off your expertise to clients and colleagues alike.
Reviews
"I use ICT systems, the Icenhower Institute, and the coaching program to coach and train my team of over 30 agents. I use the ICT dashboard systems to keep my entire team accountable for their activities and set proper expectations."
Jake Rockwell
Over 500 Units Sold Annually
"I have coached with ICT for over five years. ICT has helped me quadruple my luxury business through marketing strategies so that I receive listings and sales through lead generation and multiple pillars of income."
Dennis Adelpour
Luxury Agent - West Los Angeles
"When we started coaching with ICT we worked all the time with some degree of success. Now, seven years later, we have grown to have the #1 market share in our area, we more than tripled our income and production, while also improving our work-life balance to enjoy our personal life with family and friends."
Tammi Humphrey
#1 Market Share & 100 Million in Annual Sales Volume
InstructorBrian Icenhower.
If your business isn't growing then it's dying.
To attract agents to your real estate team or brokerage, you must evidence your ability to increase their productivity and help them sell more real estate.
In his most important work to date, veteran coach and real estate consultant, Brian Icenhower, shares the systems and strategies he used to build some of the fastest growing real estate companies in the United States.
Recruiting is the single most valuable skillset in real estate and the linchpin of all successful real estate businesses. To exponentially and sustainably increase the net profit of your real estate business, it is essential that you operate a committed and systematic recruitment practice.
From sourcing recruits and recruiting with technology to setting, conducting, and closing recruiting appointments, this exhaustive course provides invaluable insights and practical instruction for creating a production-centric growth environment that attracts agents to your real estate team or brokerage.
With our consultative approach, recruits guide agents to a place where they self-discover that the best way to sell more real estate, become more successful, and increase their net income is by joining your team or company.
We know not everyone learns the same way. For that reason, this course has videos, text modules, and a full audiobook. In addition, the text and audiobook are downloadable so you can keep this information for life, and take it with you wherever you go.
Build a recruiting system that drives long-term growth for your team or brokerage.
Enroll in Recruit: Recruiting Real Estate Agents (ICT) to master the models, dialogues, and systems top leaders use to attract and retain exceptional talent. Learn how to fill your pipeline with qualified prospects and grow your organization strategically.
Start building your recruiting pipeline today. Add to CartRecruiting for Real Estate Agents
More about this real estate training course
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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 Lag Between Thinking and Leaving
Here’s the part most leaders get wrong. Agents don’t decide in August and leave in August. They decide in August and leave in October, November, December, and January.
Why the gap? Because all it takes is one listing or one buyer under contract to freeze them in place. They don’t want to disrupt a live transaction. So they sit on the decision, keep producing, and move the second their board is clear.
Which means by the time an agent hands you a resignation letter in November, you’re not losing an agent who just made up their mind. You’re losing an agent who made up their mind twelve weeks ago while you were still congratulating yourself on a strong summer.
That lag is also why the fall and winter matter so much on the offensive side. Market activity slows from November through January — in the Midwest, June averages roughly 4,430 home sales per day compared to about 2,050 per day in January. Slow market, restless agents, open calendars. That’s recruiting weather.
Two Ways Leaders Handle the Real Estate Recruiting Season
In August, you’ve got two options as a leader. Most people pick one. The good ones do both.
Option 1: The Guy With the Fishing Pole
This is offense. You’ve got a line in the water and you’re actively going after agents at other companies. You’re having coffee. You’re making calls. You’re building relationships now with agents who will be ready to move in November.
Option 2: Back on Your Heels
This is defense. You’re not recruiting anybody — you’re just trying to keep everybody happy. Putting out fires. Answering complaints. Hoping nobody walks.
Pure defense feels productive because you’re busy. But you’re only reacting. And a leader who’s purely reactive in August is a leader who gets surprised in November.
What I’m Saying Is: August Is the Time You Do Both
You don’t choose. You run offense and defense in the same month, and they’re two different conversations happening in two different places.
Outside the Office: Reconnect
Get in front of agents at other brokerages. Not with a pitch — with a reconnection. These are people you already know from the MLS, from co-ops, from association events. You’re not closing anybody in August. You’re establishing the relationship now so that when their pipeline stays thin into October, you’re the person they call.
The recruiting conversation you have in August is the transfer you get in December.
Inside the Office: Calm Your People Down
Your own agents are stressed out from working so hard, and stressed agents are recruitable agents. Your job in August is to take the temperature down.
Tell them the truth: winter is coming, and things get easier. The frantic pace is a season, not a permanent condition. A lot of what looks like dissatisfaction with your brokerage in August is just fatigue wearing a disguise.
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Growth Operations Systems (Icenhower Institute)
Systematizing Growth for Teams & Brokerages -
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Team Coaching Program
The Team Real Estate Coaching Program is for smaller teams looking for internal structure, leverage and leadership.
The Needs Analysis Appointment Is Not a Coaching Check-In
This is the single most important piece of the real estate recruiting season, and it’s the one most leaders fumble.
A needs analysis appointment is a structured, sit-down conversation with your own agent about where they want their career to go. It is not this:
“Hey, how you doing? How’s your business?”
No. No, no, no. That’s a hallway conversation. That’s you being friendly. It doesn’t do a thing for retention, because it doesn’t surface anything real.
A needs analysis appointment is you actually trying to find out where this person wants to go — and then giving real guidance on how to get there. Where do they want their production in two years? What’s broken in their business right now? What do they need from you that they’re not getting?
Here’s why that conversation is your best retention tool: when an agent has a documented plan with you and a leader who’s actively helping them execute it, a recruiting call from another brokerage doesn’t have anywhere to land. The competing broker’s whole pitch is “I can help you grow.” If you’re already doing that on paper, on a schedule, that pitch is dead on arrival.
The retention math backs this up. NAR’s 2026 Member Profile puts median tenure with a current firm at six years — which means the typical agent in your office is going to change companies multiple times over a career. The only question is whether they change while you’re paying attention.
And if you lead a team, the stakes are higher per head. You’re not just losing production — you’re losing a slot in a structure you built, plus the ramp time to replace it and the drag on everybody else while you do. A team of five that loses one is down 20% of its capacity until you rebuild.
Your August Action Plan
Here’s what you do, starting this week:
- Block the calendar. Schedule needs analysis appointments with every agent on your roster between now and September 30. Not check-ins. Real appointments, on the books, with an agenda.
- Rank your roster by risk. Who had a strong spring and a dead August? Who’s gone quiet in team meetings? Who stopped showing up to trainings? Start there.
- Build your outside list. Twenty agents at other brokerages you’d genuinely want. Names, numbers, and a reason to reach out that isn’t “come work for me.”
- Set a weekly recruiting number. Five reconnection conversations a week from August through January. Track it like you’d track lead gen — because that’s exactly what it is.
- Get your people through the fatigue. Address the exhaustion directly in your team meeting. Name it. Then remind them the fourth quarter is where the market gets quieter and the deals get cleaner.
- Follow up in October. Every outside agent you reconnected with in August gets a second touch in October, when the pipeline pain is real and the thinking has turned into looking.
Don’t Let the Season Pass You By
The brokers and team leaders who win the real estate recruiting season aren’t the ones with the best split or the flashiest office. They’re the ones who understood that August is a decision month, and who showed up in August with a plan instead of showing up in November with a counteroffer.
Your competitors are already making calls. The agents in your office are already doing the math. Get out in front of it.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO, above, in the blog for the quick breakdown on seasonality and the recruiting conversations that actually convert.
Ready to build a real recruiting system instead of winging it every fall? Subscribe to the ICT YouTube channel for weekly broker and team leader training, and click the blue button below to talk with a coach about building your recruiting and retention engine before the season gets away from you.
Video Transcript
Prefer to read along? Here’s the full transcript from this training video.
