The Boutique Broker’s Guide to Delighting Agents and Winning Star Talent

Start at the beginning: Whose happiness are you cultivating?

There isn’t any one way to think about the kinds of agents you want to hire, the culture you intend to create, or your company’s vision and values. But one thing is consistent in the boutique brokerages that are able to create the most vibrant environments for agent happiness: The brokers behind them consider all of these variables and use them to determine everything from who they hope to hire, to how they plan to pay those agents.

Some brokers will only consider bringing on agents who have already been active in the area for long enough to acquire a certain level of business; they won’t talk to newer agents who aren’t yet capturing

There isn’t any one way to think about the kinds of agents you want to hire, the culture you intend to create, or your company’s vision and values. But one thing is consistent in the boutique brokerages that are able to create the most vibrant environments for agent happiness: The brokers behind them consider all of these variables and use them to determine everything from who they hope to hire, to how they plan to pay those agents.

Some brokers will only consider bringing on agents who have already been active in the area for long enough to acquire a certain level of business; they won’t talk to newer agents who aren’t yet capturing “sweetheart deals” and want all their agents to operate consistently using the same systems and platforms, which cost money to provide.

It’s not uncommon for brokerages to charge fees on top of what might be considered higher-than-market-average splits so that they can provide quality, uninterrupted services and benefits to their agents, which will in turn allow those agents to close more deals, working with more clients, or possibly focusing on a higher-end niche. Whether to charge those fees and how much they are will depend on what your agents want or need to help cultivate a culture of happiness.