Coach Val Workman writes to stop chasing agents and start attracting and selecting them instead. We provide solutions that make your value proposition compelling.
If you ask most brokers and team leaders where their business is failing, they’ll likely point to recruiting.
They’re making phone calls. They are setting up a meeting. They are doing “work”.
And yet, they’re still stuck.
When something goes wrong, the average person’s default setting is to do more of it. In recruitment, trying “more” doesn’t fix a broken model. It just exposes it to more people. Breakdowns do not occur in the middle of a meeting. It happened before I even answered the phone.
You treat recruiting like a volume game. What I’m saying here is that it’s a loser’s strategy. If you want to stop chasing agents and start attracting talent, you have to stop “recruiting” and start selecting.
Please stop pitching. start solving
Most recruiting activities sound exactly the same. “This is what divides us. This is our technology. This is why we are ‘different.'” What do you think? All the other brokers in town are saying the exact same thing. To experienced agents, you sound like white noise. They don’t care if you’re “good” or not. They care if you are relevant. Let me explain.
Elite leaders, those who are building large, profitable teams, don’t give presentations. They conduct exploratory sessions. If you talk more than you listen in recruiting meetings, you’ve already lost. Your job is not to explain what you have. It’s about revealing what they’re missing.
Wealth is in the gaps (also in talent)
The biggest mistake I see is the “safety trap.” You want to help a new agent, but you also want a $20 million producer. You need a team player, but you choose to be a lone wolf.
By trying to be everything to everyone, you become nothing to the people you really care about.
Broad is “safe” but broad is boring. High-level agents don’t want a “safe” leader. They want experts. You need to let them know that you understand their specific limits.
Are they drowning in paperwork? Has production plateaued? Are they feeling disorganized and unable to delegate? If they stop working, will business stop too? Is their business really just a high-paying, stressful job?
If your message doesn’t strike these nerves right away, you’re not a leader, you’re just another person renting a desk.
Features communicate, benefits communicate, results dominate.
Don’t let the technology stack dominate you. No one has moved from one company to another because they love CRM. They move to change.
The question underlying every conversation is, “What will change if I say yes?” If you can’t answer this in one word, you’re not prepared to hire or attract valuable talent.
If the conversations are polite but not engaging, it is because the system is not connected to its survival. You’re selling capabilities (divisions/technology) when you should be selling outcomes (back in time/wealth building/legacy).
choose rather than agree
Conversations about optimal hiring feel slow. Their driving force is not despair but curiosity.
“Are you trying to build something that is not possible in the current environment?” “What part of your business is currently killing you?” “What does “win” look like to you in 2027?”
When you ask such questions, your tone changes. You are not convincing someone to move. They are determining whether or not they are eligible to join your mission.
Clarity is multiplied
Recruiting can feel like a chase because it’s not clear who is the best fit for you. Once the problem is resolved, the wrong agent is eliminated and the correct agent begins attacking at lightning speed.
Stop trying to get in front of more people. Start increasing your relevance with the right people.
True leadership is not about the number of agents. What matters is how much production and profit those agents generate. If recruiting is unpredictable, it’s because recruiting is unpredictable, clouding your ability to serve rather than sell.
You can start meeting with agents where they are and get the solutions you aren’t getting from your leaders. When you show up that way, your value is undeniable.
The choice is easy. Either you keep looking for agents, or you build a business that’s valuable enough that the right people will want to join you. Which one will you build today?
