Unlock Your Warm List with This Simple Phrase

by | Oct 14, 2025

Last week, one of the leaders I coach revealed he has 11 viable prospects on his warm list that were reluctant to move forward.

I’ve met with each of these individuals at least once, and several of them more than once.

I’ve uncovered each of their pain points, and I’ve earned their trust through consistent, value-based follow-up.

But everyone seems reluctant to move.  How do I get them unstuck?

I frequently hear similar versions of this conversation, and it’s something that most hiring managers struggle to solve.

So, why do prospects resist taking the final step in the process so much?

Because agents hate change.

And the pain of what they’re experiencing at the moment does not outweigh the pain they’ll experience from changing brokerages.

To fix the problem, you’ll need to do two things:

Get permission to say something difficult. If you’ve earned the trust of a prospect on your Warm List, during your next conversation try using this phrase:

Would you let me be your coach for the next 5 minutes?

Most people will say yes, and it opens the door to hearing something outside the norm.

Help them to experience their future pain now. It’s easy for a prospect to put off tomorrow’s problem until tomorrow. It’s your job to help them experience it today.

If you have another year like you just had, how will this affect your family and your financial goals?

Does it frustrate you to see others succeed while you continue to tread water.

Until a prospect feels some significant acute pain, they will not move.

You can wait for this to happen naturally (their life blows up), or you can move up the timeline.

 

The Simple Psychology of Real Estate Recruiting [2nd Edition]

Unlock the secrets of effective real estate recruiting. Revised to include actionable frameworks for sharper execution and to help you turn psychological theory into a repeatable recruiting system.

The Attrition Variables

The Attrition Variables

While these attrition constants still have the greatest influence, there are some emerging attrition variables worth noting. People also tend to leave companies when: They feel like they’re not doing as well as others in their peer group outside the company. They feel like they’re not as far along as they should be at a certain point in life.

The Attrition Constants

The Attrition Constants

If you’re not focusing most of your retention effort on these issues, you’ll miss the mark. If you’re not focusing most of your recruiting effort on exploiting these weaknesses among your competitors, you’re missing the best opportunities.

The Persistence Mindset

The Persistence Mindset

A leader equipped with this mindset can have a profound effect on the life and career of each individual they engage. It works because an agent is getting a real-time glimpse of what it would be like to work on your team. But it only becomes believable when it is persistently applied over time.