We all know that retaining your productive and profitable agents is even more important than recruiting new ones.

And yet many hiring managers are surprisingly passive about retention.

They quietly tell themselves:  If I don’t say anything, perhaps my high-performers won’t notice any of our deficiencies and recognize what our competitors are offering.

Here’s a news flash—they are noticing. And they want you to notice too so problems can be fixed before they grow into reasons to separate.

How should you notice?

According to recruiting expert Penny Fletcher, a retention interview is the most useful tool for bringing problems to the surface, and it provides other ancillary retention benefits, as well.

Here are a few of these benefits:

Feeling Heard and Valued. Agents want to be noticed and recognized for their ideas. This is a safe way for them to express their thoughts.

Patterns Emerge. After a few of these interviews, some patterns (both positive and negative) may become apparent. If multiple agents are saying the same thing, it’s worth listening.

Source of Testimonials. Since recruiting is competitive, it’s helpful to have a reserve of testimonials from real agents who love working on your team.

Retention interviews are a natural way to capture these testimonials.

Interestingly, pay issues rarely surface during these interviews.

You’ll typically hear things like a need for more recognition, more opportunities for leads from the company, and more hands-on support.

These are the things you need to hear and improve if you expect your agents to stick with you over the long run.