75% Quit in Year One. Your Onboarding Is Why.

Here’s a story I hear every time I sit down with a managing broker: “We recruit well, but we can’t keep them.”

They invest in recruiting events, signing bonuses, and compelling commission plans. They bring in fifteen new agents per year. By December, ten of those agents have gone inactive, switched brokerages, or left the industry entirely.

The broker blames the agents: “They didn’t have the drive.” “They weren’t willing to do the work.” “Real estate isn’t for everyone.”

But when I audit the onboarding process, I almost always find the same thing: there isn’t one. The new agent gets a desk, a set of logins, access to the CRM, and a pat on the back. Maybe there’s a two-day orientation that covers compliance basics and office policies. Maybe there’s a mentor assigned who’s too busy with their own deals to mentor effectively.

And then the new agent is expected to figure out the rest — how to generate leads, how to manage a transaction, how to use the tech stack, how to build a business from zero income — entirely on their own.

The Hidden Cost of the Revolving Door

The direct cost of recruiting a replacement agent is $5,000 to $15,000 in advertising, events, and signing incentives. But the real cost is harder to see:

The managing broker spent twenty hours interviewing and recruiting that agent. The office admin spent eight hours on paperwork, technology setup, and orientation. The assigned mentor spent (or was supposed to spend) forty hours in the first ninety days on training and coaching.

When that agent quits in month eight, all of that time investment produces zero return. And the cycle starts again with the next recruit.

A brokerage with fifteen annual hires and a 65 percent first-year attrition rate is spending the equivalent of a full-time salary just on the churn — recruiting, onboarding, and losing ten agents per year while only retaining five.

What Effective Onboarding Actually Looks Like

The brokerages with the lowest attrition rates don’t have more charismatic managers or better office coffee. They have structured, systematic onboarding programs that don’t depend on any single person’s availability or enthusiasm.

The program runs like clockwork because it’s automated. The new agent receives the right information at the right time, is held accountable to specific milestones, and gets flagged for intervention before they quietly disengage and disappear.

The 90-Day System

Here’s the onboarding framework I implement at brokerages. It’s designed to be executed primarily through automation, with the managing broker or mentor only involved at key decision points.

Pre-Arrival (Days -7 to 0):

• Welcome email with first-day agenda and required documents
• Technology accounts created (CRM, MLS, e-signature, email)
• Mentor assigned with introduction email to both parties
• First-week training schedule blocked on the new agent’s calendar

Week 1 — Foundation:

• Day 1: Office tour, technology login verification, compliance overview
• Day 2-3: CRM training — adding contacts, setting up drip campaigns
• Day 4: MLS training — searching, CMAs, market data
• Day 5: First assignment — enter 50 sphere contacts into CRM

Each day’s training is delivered as an email module with clear instructions and a completion action. The agent confirms completion by responding to the email or completing a form, and the system tracks progress.

Weeks 2-4 — Activity Launch:

• Lead generation fundamentals (SOI outreach, geographic farming, social media)
• Transaction process walkthrough (contract to close simulation)
• First listing presentation preparation
• First open house scheduling

Each week has specific deliverables: “By end of Week 2, you should have contacted 25 sphere members.” The system sends a check-in form each Friday asking the agent to report their activities.

Days 30-90 — Production Ramp:

• Monthly production reviews against benchmarks
• Identification of stuck points (no listings? no showings? no closings?)
• Targeted resources based on where the agent is struggling
• Transition from intensive onboarding to ongoing accountability

The Retention Flywheel

The math changes dramatically when you improve retention. Consider a brokerage that recruits 15 agents per year:

Without structured onboarding: 65% first-year attrition = 5 agents retained. After 3 years: 15 agents (5 per year, assuming some year-2 and year-3 attrition).

With structured onboarding: 35% first-year attrition = 10 agents retained. After 3 years: 25+ agents (10 per year minus some later attrition).

That’s not just ten more agents. It’s ten more agents who are productive, who have passed the first-year survival curve, and who are contributing commission splits to the brokerage’s revenue.

At even a modest $30,000 in annual brokerage-side commission per retained agent, five additional retained agents per year represents $150,000 in incremental annual revenue by year three. That’s the difference between a brokerage that’s barely profitable and one that’s thriving.

The agents who quit didn’t lack talent. They lacked a system that showed them what to do, when to do it, and whether they were on track. Build that system, automate the delivery, and your brokerage’s biggest expense — agent turnover — becomes your biggest competitive advantage.