Staff turnover is one of the biggest challenges facing real estate principals today. Walk into most agencies and you’ll hear the same story: promising recruits who flame out within months, wasted training investment, and frustrated business owners wondering why they can’t build a stable team.

The statistics tell a grim story. Depending on which industry reports you review, anywhere from 50-70% of new real estate agents exit a business within their first twelve months. That’s not just disappointing, it’s expensive and disruptive.

The problem isn’t the people you’re hiring. It’s the system you’re using to bring them in and bring them up.

Most real estate businesses hire too fast and plan too little. The process looks something like this: conduct a quick interview based on gut feel, make an offer, hand over a desk and phone, and hope for the best.

There’s no structured pathway. No clear milestones. No accountability framework. Just vague expectations and crossed fingers.

When you don’t have systems for real estate recruitment and development, you’re gambling with your business’s future. Every failed hire costs you time, money, and team morale.

The 18-month success program replaces hope with structure. It’s designed to take startup agents and develop them into elite performers through four distinct phases, each with specific objectives and measurable outcomes.

Phase One: The Recruitment Phase

This is where most businesses go wrong, so it’s where we focus first.

Instead of one interview and a handshake, this phase involves three strategic steps:

The Triage Process starts with a quick 10-15 minute screening interview. You’re providing an overview of what the eighteen-month journey looks like and assessing initial fit. This isn’t about making a decision yet, it’s about giving both parties enough information to decide if the next step makes sense.

The Commitment Test comes next. Here’s where things get interesting. You ask the candidate to complete an online prospecting course at their own expense before the second interview.

Think about that for a moment. If someone won’t invest a hundred dollars in their own career development, are they really building a career or just looking for a job? This simple test reveals more about motivation and commitment than any interview question ever could.

The Profile Assessment is the final piece. This involves matching the candidate against a benchmark profile of what elite agents look like in your business. You’re analyzing traits, behaviours, and characteristics that predict success. The assessment provides a percentage rating of how likely this candidate is to become a high performer.

This isn’t guesswork. It’s data-driven decision-making that dramatically improves your hiring outcomes.

Phase Two: The 90-Day Prospecting Sprint

Once someone joins your team, the next ninety days are critical. This phase is laser-focused on one thing: building the foundation for a sustainable business.

Here’s what you’re NOT doing: involving them in team meetings, assigning administrative tasks, or having them run open homes. All of that creates distraction and dilutes their focus.

Instead, they’re working toward what we call the 333 process:

• 300 relationships built in their database
• 30 people who’ve raised their hand as potential listings in the next twelve months
• 3 qualified leads handed to senior team members that convert to listings

This structure ensures your new agent is essentially paying for their own employment during this period. They’re not a cost centre, they’re building real value from day one.

Throughout this phase, they’re also completing core learning modules that establish fundamental skills and knowledge. Everything is structured, measured, and accountable.

Phase Three: Buyer and Vendor Management (Six Months)

By now, your agent has proven they can generate activity. The next six months are about developing the skills to convert that activity into results.

This phase teaches what we call the sales flow system. Your agents learn how to navigate vendors through changing market conditions. They understand how to handle difficult listings, structure effective vendor meetings, and ask the right questions of buyers.

This isn’t theoretical training. It’s practical, applicable skills they use immediately in their day-to-day work. The learning modules continue, but now they’re focused on conversion and client management rather than lead generation.

Phase Four: Listing Mastery (Six to Nine Months)

By the time agents reach this final phase, they’re ready to operate as standalone performers. They’ve got the relationships, the conversion skills, and the confidence. Now it’s about differentiation and excellence.

This phase covers the three-phase listing process that separates good agents from great ones. Your team members learn how to establish clear points of difference from their competition, master the auction system, and position themselves as the obvious choice in their market.

After eighteen months in this program, you’ve got a fully developed agent who didn’t just survive, they’ve been systematically equipped to thrive.

Here’s what makes this different from typical training programs: it’s not a course, it’s a system.

Every phase has clear objectives. Every objective has supporting learning modules. Every module has measurable KPIs. Nothing is left to chance or individual interpretation.

As a real estate agent coach working with principals across Australia and New Zealand, I’ve watched this framework transform businesses that were stuck in the hiring and firing cycle. The businesses that commit to this structured approach don’t just reduce turnover, they build competitive advantages.

Your competitors are still hiring on gut feel and hoping for the best. You’re building a systematic pathway that consistently produces elite performers.

Staff turnover stops being your biggest challenge when you stop treating recruitment and development as separate activities. They’re two parts of the same system.

The recruitment phase filters for commitment and capability. The development phases build skills systematically rather than haphazardly. The entire eighteen-month journey is designed to remove friction and create momentum.

Think about your business twelve months from now. Would you rather have another round of failed hires and wasted potential, or a team of agents who’ve been properly developed from day one?

The difference isn’t luck. It’s systems for real estate businesses that actually work.

If you’re ready to stop the turnover cycle and start building an elite team, the path forward is clear. This isn’t about working harder at recruitment, it’s about working smarter with a proven framework.

The 18-month success program gives you the complete roadmap: the screening processes, the commitment tests, the profile assessments, the learning modules, the KPIs, and the training frameworks that make it all work.

Your next hire doesn’t have to be a gamble. It can be a strategic investment with predictable returns.

Ready to transform how you build your team? Book a complimentary brainstorm call and I’ll show you exactly how to implement this system in your business: https://jessdensley.com/real-estate-business-assessment-brainstorm-call/