Most brokers and team leaders go looking for talent. They should be building it.
Four of the top five producing agents in my market are on my team, and not one of them was licensed before they met me. That’s not a recruiting story. That’s a development story, and it repeats every time because the blueprint doesn’t depend on finding someone special. Developing top agents comes down to the fundamentals almost nobody runs consistently.
Are top producers born or built?
Built. Nearly every big producer I’ve worked with started with zero experience and a willingness to do simple things repeatedly.
The trap is thinking your next hire needs to arrive impressive. What you actually need is someone coachable who will make contacts every day. Talent shows up later, as a byproduct of reps. If you’re waiting for the perfect candidate, you’re going to be waiting while a competitor develops the average one you passed on.
What comes before a new agent makes a single call?
Script certification. They don’t go live until they can handle the conversation.
Sit with them and run it. They should be able to deliver the dialogue naturally and answer common objections more than one way without freezing. That takes role play, not reading. Certify them, then let them call. Turning a new agent loose on real sellers before they can hold a conversation burns leads and their confidence at the same time, and confidence is the hardest thing to rebuild. This is exactly why scripts work when an agent sounds like themselves instead of reciting.
What’s the fastest way to improve a new agent’s results?
More conversations. Results track directly to how many people they talk to, and nothing else moves the number that fast.
But volume alone is expensive. If it takes 60 conversations to produce a listing, adding contacts is the only lever they have. Sharpen the skill and that number comes down to 30, then 20 — same production, half the effort. So you push both: more conversations this month, better conversations every month. Working harder without improving conversion is how a promising agent burns out in year one.
Why do most new agents fail even with good training?
Nobody knows whether they did the work. They’re in an environment with information and no accountability.
Build the accountability into the week and it changes everything. A daily check-in on activity. A number they report. A peer challenge on the board. Ten minutes of “what did you do yesterday” beats another hour of training, because the training was never the missing piece. If you lead a team and you can’t say how many contacts your newest agent made yesterday, that’s the gap.
How do you get someone to stay through the hard part?
Paint the vision, then protect the process.
When you hire an assistant or a new agent, show them where this goes. What their role becomes in two years, how it fits the bigger business, what they’re building alongside you. People stay through the boring stretch when they can see the destination.
Then don’t let them shortcut it, and don’t shortcut it yourself. The activities look basic because they are basic. Consistency with basic activities beats clever every time, and your job as a leader is to keep the plan boring long enough for it to work.
Your one move this week
Pick your newest agent and certify them on one script — role play until they can handle three objections without hesitating. Then set a daily contact number and check it every morning. Master the conversation, have more of them, and hold people accountable. That’s the whole blueprint, and it works from zero.
What do you do when a new agent stalls?
Go straight to their activity before you touch anything else. Almost every stall is a contact problem wearing a costume.
An agent tells you the leads are bad, the market is slow, or they need better marketing. Pull the numbers. If they had 14 conversations last week, nothing else in that list matters yet. Fix the volume first, then look at conversion.
If the volume is genuinely there and results aren’t, sit in on the calls. Listen for where the conversation dies — usually one objection they’ve quietly started avoiding. Role play that single moment until it stops scaring them. One skill at a time, verified by you, beats sending them off to consume more training.
Ready to develop producers instead of hoping you hired one?
That’s what we build inside the Agent Success Academy — the scripts, the role play, the tracking, and the weekly accountability that turn a new agent into a listing agent. Bring your team or come sharpen your own skills first.
Not sure where to start? Explore Greg’s coaching programs for personal and group support, or dive into the self-paced courses and start developing talent today.
Frequently asked questions
Can you build a top producing agent from no experience?
Yes. Four of the top five producers in Greg’s market are on his team and none were licensed before they met him. Development beats recruiting when you focus on dialogue, conversation volume, and accountability.
What is script certification?
It means a new agent can deliver the dialogue naturally and handle common objections several ways before they ever call a real seller. You certify them through role play, not by handing them a printout.
How do I hold new agents accountable?
Track daily activity and check it daily. Contacts made, appointments set, listings taken. A short morning check-in or a peer challenge does more for production than another training session.
Should new agents focus on more calls or better skills?
Both, in that order. Volume produces results immediately; skill lowers how much volume each result requires. An agent who only adds hours without improving conversion burns out before the business takes hold.
About Greg Harrelson
Greg Harrelson has spent more than 30 years building agents and offices across the Carolinas as Broker/Owner of Century 21 The Harrelson Group. Four of the top five producing agents in his market are on his team, and none of them had a license before they met him. His organization has closed more than 10,000 transactions, and he still prospects about three hours a day alongside the people he coaches. Through the Agent Success Academy he teaches the development blueprint he uses in his own offices: certify the dialogue, raise the conversation count, and build an environment where activity gets noticed.
