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In short: good agents rarely leave over commission, whatever they say on the way out. They leave when they hit a ceiling with you or when nobody looks at their work, and they decide weeks before the offer. To retain them, review each one’s future and numbers with them, and hold a retention conversation as soon as the signs appear. |
Real estate agent retention means keeping your producing agents building their careers in your agency because they can see a next step and a manager who pays attention to their work, rather than because you pay an extra point on the split.
I’m writing this for the agency owner who has just lost someone good, and for the one who has noticed something off for a few weeks. Both usually land on the same explanation: ‘they left for the money’. I don’t buy it. What I see in the offices I work with tells a different story.
Why do top real estate agents leave their brokerage?
They leave because of something that happens inside your agency long before anyone outside makes them an offer. In the talent module of MoneyMaker Leader we work through four reasons, and none of them is financial.
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‘Money is the excuse they give when they leave, not the reason they decided to leave.’ Michele Di Sei, coach for real estate leaders |
1. They have hit their ceiling with you
Your best agent has mastered the job. That is exactly why nobody spends an hour with them talking about what comes next. Your management time goes to the people who are struggling; the one who delivers gets a ‘well done’ in the WhatsApp group on completion day.
Good agents think five years ahead. If they can’t see where that future fits in your agency, they will build it somewhere else. Possibly in an office with their own name over the door.
Try this with each of your best agents: what will they be doing in your agency in three years’ time if things go well? If nothing comes to mind, nothing comes to theirs either. And they have already asked themselves.
2. The standard has been negotiated in silence
When the agent who misses their numbers gets the same treatment as the one who beats them, your best people reach a very simple conclusion: hitting targets here makes no difference. And if it makes no difference, why keep pushing?
With your top producer, something else happens. Because they close, nobody listens to their calls or rehearses the listing appointment with them. From your chair it looks like trust. From theirs it feels like indifference.
Nobody announced it, but your team has worked it out. That is why being able to say no as a leader also keeps your best people.
3 and 4. A vision nobody can repeat, and decisions that contradict your meetings
If you rang your best agent now and asked where the agency is heading, would you get a sentence that makes sense or a silence? Whatever they say is your real vision. The one in the welcome presentation counts for little.
And good agents read your decisions before your speeches. If you talk about excellence in the sales meeting and have kept someone who never delivers for years, they go by what you do.
Here is an exercise I run with directors in that module, before explaining anything. Think of the last good agent you lost in the past two years. Write down their name, what they told you when they left, and which of these four reasons was underneath. It usually stings.
Is it really not about the money?
It is rarely only about the money. Commission matters, and if you pay well below your local market you have a different problem. But when a producing agent accepts an offer, the decision has usually been made already. The offer is just the exit ramp.
That is why matching it tends to go badly. You buy a few months. The underlying reason is still there, and the next agency to call will find the door just as open.
I don’t know of a reliable statistic on real estate agent turnover in Spain, where I work, and I’m not going to invent a percentage. Take this case instead.
Imagine an agency director messages me first thing on a Tuesday: ‘My best agent has just gone. Two years with me, the top biller. I need to replace him now.’ Before talking about candidates, I would ask her three questions, in this order:
- Did you see it coming? The honest answer is nearly always yes. There were signs weeks earlier and nobody named them.
- The deals he left half-finished: do they need someone who closes or someone who coordinates? Under pressure people look for someone who does ‘a bit of everything’, and those are two different profiles.
- Why did he really leave? She already knows what he said. I want her reading of it.
The answer to the third is almost always similar. The relationship cooled, and someone else paid attention to him when she didn’t have time. That is fixed with leadership cadence: protected time for each person, every week.
What are the warning signs an agent is about to leave?
The signs come before the offer, and almost all of them are behavioural. This is the table I would use to go through your team this week.
| Warning sign | What is usually behind it | What to do this week |
|---|---|---|
| Speaks less in the Monday meeting | Feels that what they say changes nothing | Ask about one of their deals in front of the team, then find time alone with them the same week |
| Has stopped suggesting things | Sees no path ahead: has hit a ceiling | Write the line about their three-year future and test it with them |
| Less energy: turns up at the last minute and leaves early | A full diary with no growth, or their mind is already elsewhere | Go through their four numbers for the last few weeks with them, without judging |
| Their conversations drop before their deals do | They have stopped sowing; today’s completions come from months ago | Look at their diary for the week together: the gap shows in the calls before it shows in the fees |
| Answers everything with ‘fine, all good’ | The relationship with their manager has cooled | Have the retention conversation (the script is in the next section) |
Most agency owners spot at least one of these signs. Where it breaks down is the next step: the conversation feels awkward, it gets postponed, and everyone waits for the agent to change on their own. It usually ends with them leaving.
What should you say to an agent who might be about to leave?
You have an early retention conversation: one to one, as soon as you see the signs and before any offer exists. HR calls it a stay interview. The version I give agency directors is shorter and asks only what is missing. Change the wording so it sounds like you:
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‘I want to talk to you about something that has nothing to do with this week’s deals. You’ve seemed different for a while, and I’d rather raise it now than find out the day you have another offer in front of you. I’m not going to ask whether you’re looking elsewhere. I want to know what’s missing for you here, and what you’d need to see in the next twelve months to keep building your career with us. If it’s something I can’t give you, better to know today, and I’ll help you leave on good terms.’ |
Then you stop talking. The hardest part is sitting through the silence without defending yourself and without making a counter-offer at the same table. Write down what they say, in their words: that is your work plan with them for the next quarter.
What can you do on Monday to improve real estate agent retention?
Five steps, before the team meeting.
- Write the names of your three best agents on a sheet of paper. On paper, and keep it where you can see it.
- Next to each name, the line about where they will be in your agency in three years if all goes well. If you don’t have it, that is your first piece of work with them.
- Note when you last went through their four numbers with them: conversations, listing appointments, exclusive listings and completed deals. If you can’t remember, the answer is ‘too long ago’.
- If any of them shows signs from the table, the retention conversation happens this week.
- Put a fixed slot in each one’s diary, weekly or fortnightly, to review their numbers together. Fixed means it doesn’t move when there is a completion.
How do you know it is working?
You know within a month, with two checks. First: the three-year line for each of your best agents is written down and they have seen it. Second: the fixed slot to review their numbers has taken place at least three weeks out of four. If either is missing, nothing has changed.
Gary Keller puts it in SHIFT in a phrase I repeat to agency directors all the time: inspect what you expect. A standard nobody checks slowly fades.
So that it doesn’t depend on your memory, I suggest two tools. A short weekly one-to-one with each person: what they set out to do, what happened in the numbers, what changes this week and what they need from you. And a scorecard with six indicators at most, because with more nobody reads it.
Why person by person rather than the team total? According to the MoneyMaker 2026 Report (30 agents from different groups, 2023-2026, each measured over their own 12 weeks; self-reported data), together they recorded 4,514 conversations, 417 listing appointments, 241 exclusive listings and 198 completed deals. That total won’t help a director retain anybody. The same count, agent by agent, will, because it shows where each one gets stuck: plenty of appointments and few exclusives means training the listing appointment and objection handling; exclusives that don’t sell means the asking price.
A coaching conversation like that does more for retention than any congratulations in the group chat. What happens when nobody looks at those numbers is the subject of the invisible work behind an agency’s results.
How do you build an agency that good agents don’t leave?
By treating talent as a system, with parts that keep working even when you have a bad week.
Retention starts before the agent joins: in how you select and how you onboard. In the first three months, spell out what you expect from them at day 30, day 60 and day 90. Then comes the pipeline of candidates. A director with nobody waiting in the wings negotiates every departure from fear and ends up accepting terms they didn’t want.
This is what I work on with agency directors in MoneyMaker Leader, the 8-week programme for those who have already completed MoneyMaker. If you are wondering where to start, this is what good training for real estate agency directors should include.
Would you like to review agent retention in your team with me?
If you want to look calmly at who in your team is at risk and which conversation to have with each of them, we can go through it together on Zoom.
I first wrote about this in my LinkedIn newsletter: the MoneyMaker Weekly version of this topic (in Spanish). And if you are thinking about working with someone from outside, here is what a real estate coach does and how to choose one.
Frequently asked questions
Why do good real estate agents leave?
Rarely over commission, even if that is what they say when they go. They leave when they hit a ceiling in the agency and nobody shows them the next step, when they see that underperformers get the same treatment as them, when they can’t tell where the owner is taking the business, or when the owner’s decisions contradict what they say. The outside offer arrives once they have already decided.
How do I keep an agent when another agency offers a higher split?
Matching the offer usually buys a few months, because the underlying reason is still there. Before talking about percentages, have a retention conversation: ask what is missing for them in your agency and what they would need to see in the next twelve months to stay. If you can give them what they ask for, put it in writing with a date. If it really is only money and you can’t pay it, help them leave on good terms.
What signs show an agent wants to leave?
The most common ones are behavioural and appear weeks before any offer: they speak less in the Monday meeting, stop suggesting ideas, show less energy and initiative, and their conversations with clients drop before their deals do. Most agency owners notice them. The mistake is waiting for it to pass instead of having the conversation that same week.
What should I say to an agent I think is about to leave?
Tell them you want to talk about something that has nothing to do with deals, that they have seemed different and that you would rather raise it now. Don’t ask whether they are looking: ask what is missing for them and what they would need to see in the next twelve months to stay with you. Then stop talking and take notes. What they say is your work plan with them for the quarter.
How do I reduce agent turnover in my agency?
With a talent system that doesn’t depend on your mood: selection against a clear profile, onboarding with your expectations spelt out for day 30, day 60 and day 90, a weekly one-to-one with every agent, a scorecard of six indicators at most and a pipeline of candidates that is always active. With your best agents, a three-year future written down and reviewed with them.
About the author
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Michele Di Sei is a coach for real estate leaders. He has worked in real estate since 2012 and has trained more than 500 agents and managers through courses, webinars and programmes. He built and led a team at Keller Williams Marbella and was a trainer for Keller Williams Spain. He created MoneyMaker and MoneyMaker Leader and has spoken at AMPSI, RE/MAX (2026), Inmociónate, the Agora Congress, Family Reunion Spain and Keller Williams Mega Camp in the United States. |
Michele Di Sei on LinkedIn · Michele Di Sei on YouTube
Sources
- Michele Di Sei, MoneyMaker Leader, Module 3 ‘Talent’, participant manual (2026): why good agents leave and the four reasons.
- Michele Di Sei, MoneyMaker Leader, Module 4 ‘Continuous recruitment’, participant manual (2026): warning signs, the director’s case and the early retention conversation script.
- Michele Di Sei, Team Manager’s Handbook, Inmoexito (2026): weekly one-to-one script.
- Michele Di Sei, 14-day Diagnosis guide (2026): the four numbers per agent and how to read them.
- MoneyMaker 2026 Report (2026): 30 agents from different groups, 2023-2026, each measured over their own 12 weeks; self-reported data from several Spanish-speaking markets; a deal means a sale or a letting.
- Gary Keller, SHIFT, tactic 3, as quoted in the MoneyMaker Leader Module 3 manual: ‘inspect what you expect’.
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