I field the same question quite often when I am out in the field. "Rich, we recruit well, but we are losing agents at a high rate. Why is that?"

First of all you will have a percentage of brand new agents that choose not to be productive and then choose to leave. No matter the support, the training or the accountability set up by the leader the agent self discovers that real estate is not inspiring enough to be productive … and that is okay. In fact, the leader's job is to create a condition for this self-discovery.

What about the others? If you are turning over more than 40 percent of your new recruits then there may be a deeper problem.

The answer to this is easier than you think.

First we must look at the recruiting process itself and the leader that is delivering the recruiting message. Is the recruiter telling the truth? Frustration could be defined as the difference between the truth and what is expected. With the pressure of recruiting, creating an attachment to the result of hiring agents, leaders tend to "sell" at the recruiting interview.

Is the experience you are "selling" at the interview truly the experience the new agent is going to have once they come aboard? Agents will leave if the expectation is not met. If the truth is told at the interview the expectation is not in jeopardy of not being met. This equals high retention. Yep, it is that simple.

What you tell agents in the interview must be the delivered experience. Do they truly get coached to higher productivity? If you have a mentor program what is the true experience that is being delivered? Are you inspecting this? Is the training as effective as you are telling them? Have your managers been to the new agent training so they are aligned with the company's message? Are you telling them that your training will give them the ability to produce but they are the ones that choose to produce?

Look at what is said in the recruiting interview. Make sure it's delivered as an actual experience. Then watch a magical result in your retention.