Most brokerages have an exit interview. That’s the conversation where you finally ask a good agent what went wrong, right after they’ve already signed with someone else.
That isn’t a retention strategy. It’s an autopsy.
Ask before they leave
Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans, authors of Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em, have long championed a simple alternative: the stay interview. You sit down with your best people while they’re still here and ask why they stay, and what might make them go.
It sounds obvious, but almost nobody does it. Most broker-owners assume they already know the answers. They usually don’t.
Five questions that work
- What keeps you here?
- When was the last time you thought about leaving? What was going on?
- What’s one thing we could fix that would make your week easier?
- What do you want your business to look like in three years? Are we helping you get there?
- If a recruiter called tomorrow, what would they offer that we don’t?
Listen for the D’s underneath the answers. “The TC was slow on my last three files” is De-Risking. “I’m not learning anything new” is Development. “I don’t know where we’re headed” is Direction.
Three rules
Don’t defend. The moment you explain why something is the way it is, the honest answers stop. Write it down and say thank you.
Meet on their turf. Go to their office, or buy them coffee near their listings. Your office feels like a performance review.
Close the loop within two weeks. Pick one thing they said and fix it, then tell them you fixed it. That single follow-up builds more loyalty than any split concession.
The quiet ones matter too
Don’t only interview your top producers. Include the steady $2M agent who never complains. Quiet doesn’t mean content. Sometimes it means they stopped expecting anyone to ask.
Try This
- Pick six agents this month: your top five producers and one quiet, steady agent.
- Hold each conversation in 30 minutes. Use the five questions and nothing else.
- Fix one thing for each person within two weeks. Tell them when it’s done.
Question
Which of your agents would give an honest answer to question two? And what would you do if they did?
Resources
Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em and Hello Stay Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss, both by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans.
You can’t keep what you don’t understand. So ask.
Win the day.
