How Experienced Agents Progress Toward a Hiring Decision

by | Apr 9, 2026

Robin Dreeke is an expert on building trust and rapport.

In a corporate keynote address, he explained the progression individuals go through when making a commitment to another person.

People subconsciously want to know the answers to this series of fundamental questions:

Why should I talk to you?

Why should I tell you anything?

Why would I want to see you again (follow-on appointment)?

Why should I take actions for you?

Why should I follow you?

Working from top to bottom, a person does not progress to the next question until the previous one is adequately answered.

It can take weeks of building rapport to work through this list and finally arrive at the place where a competitive agent is willing to follow you.

Is it worth it?

For the right agent, yes.

What’s not worth your time (or anyone else’s) is attempting to hurry through the list at your pace rather than theirs.

You’ll come up empty-handed every time.

 

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 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.