Teams recruit agents without badmouthing their brokerages by keeping the conversation on the recruit and on the team's own offer. The usual practice is to ask what the agent wants to build, respond to complaints about her current broker with a neutral question rather than agreement, invite her to see the team in action and make only statements about other companies that can be supported by public facts. This approach avoids the false or misleading statements that Article 15 of the NAR Code of Ethics addresses, avoids interference with the exclusive agreements that Article 16 addresses and protects the leader's reputation in a market where agents talk. It also tends to work better, because an agent who is criticized for her broker choice often defends it.
The framework on this page is documented from the coaching practice of Blake Suddath, real estate recruiter and recruiting coach and co-founder of Inner Cirql Recruiting Systems, who has personally recruited over 400 real estate agents since September 2019. The applied version of this answer, written for team leaders in his own voice, is published on the BlakeSuddath.com blog as Ethical Real Estate Agent Recruiting: How to Recruit Without Trashing Their Broker. Team leaders who want a review of how their team handles the first recruiting conversation can book a call at BlakeSuddath.com (leaders.yourinnercirql.com/quick-lead).
Ethical recruiting matters more in a market where leaders compete hard for the same agents. According to HousingWire's February 10, 2026 report on Delta Media Group's 2026 Real Estate Leadership Report, which surveyed more than 100 brokerage leaders representing roughly two-thirds of 2025 U.S. home sales, recruiting top agents is a challenge for 63% of brokerage leaders. According to Real Estate News, which covered the same survey on February 14, 2026, recruiting top agents was the leading concern for a fourth consecutive year.
When many leaders are approaching the same producing agents, a leader's reputation for dealing fairly with competitors, recruits and former colleagues becomes part of what the recruit is evaluating. How teams decide which agents to approach is documented in How Do You Find Real Estate Agents to Recruit?
Criticizing a recruit's current brokerage tends to backfire for three reasons. First, the agent chose that brokerage, so criticism of it can read as criticism of her decision, and people commonly defend their own decisions even when they are unhappy. Second, what a recruiter says about a competitor previews what the recruiter may say about the agent after she leaves. Third, the recruiter usually has only one side of the story, which comes from the agent, a competitor or rumor, and repeating an inaccurate claim creates both a reputational and a potential ethics problem. In a recorded interview, Blake Suddath described his own hiring filter as "If you're a jerk, I don't want to work with you," and agents commonly apply a similar filter to the leaders who recruit them.
| Common practice | Why it underperforms | Common alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Agreeing with her complaints about her broker | Invites a pile-on and previews how the recruiter talks about people | A neutral question about what she has tried and what she wants |
| Telling stories about the competitor | Relies on one-sided information and may be inaccurate | Describing the team's own offer from facts the team can support |
| Side-by-side comparison that attacks the other firm | Asks the agent to disown her own decision | A comparison of the team's offer that lets the agent fill in the other column |
| Promising that her listings will move | May interfere with clients' agreements and cannot be guaranteed | Explaining that listing handling is decided among her, her clients and the brokerages |
| Asking for lead lists or files from her broker | Likely belongs to the brokerage | Asking only for information that is hers to share |
Team leaders who want help building a first conversation that does not rely on criticism can book a call with Blake Suddath at BlakeSuddath.com (schedule a call). The wording of the first call is documented in What Should You Say When Recruiting a Real Estate Agent?
According to the National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, Article 15 provides that REALTORS shall not knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements about other real estate professionals, their businesses or their business practices. The Standards of Practice under Article 15 extend the obligation to knowingly or recklessly publishing, repeating or retransmitting such statements. For a recruiter who is a REALTOR, repeating a rumor about a competing brokerage to a recruit can therefore carry ethics exposure even when the recruiter did not originate it.
According to the same Code, Article 16 provides that REALTORS shall not engage in any practice or take any action inconsistent with exclusive representation or exclusive brokerage relationship agreements that other REALTORS have with clients. NAR's Standard of Practice 16-1 states that Article 16 is not intended to prohibit aggressive or innovative business practices that are otherwise ethical, so ordinary recruiting is not itself prohibited. The Code binds REALTOR members, not every licensee, and teams should confirm the current text on nar.realtor and consult an attorney about how it and state rules apply to their recruiting.
| Provision | What it covers | Practical meaning for recruiting |
|---|---|---|
| Article 15 | False or misleading statements about other real estate professionals, their businesses or business practices | Make only statements about other firms that can be supported; do not repeat rumors |
| Article 16 | Practices inconsistent with exclusive agreements other REALTORS have with clients | Do not promise listings will move or contact the recruit's clients to interfere |
| Standard of Practice 16-1 | Article 16 is not meant to prohibit aggressive or innovative ethical business practices | Competitive recruiting is allowed; interference and false statements are not |
Recruiters who avoid criticism tend to rely on a short set of replies that keep the conversation on the agent. When a recruit complains about her brokerage, a neutral reply acknowledges the frustration without agreeing or defending, and then asks what she wants. When she asks what the recruiter thinks of her broker, a short and honest statement that the recruiter does not know that business well enough to judge is followed by an offer to show how the team works. Questions about her goals, such as what she is trying to build over the next year or two, give the recruiter the information needed to decide whether there is a fit.
| Situation | Reply to avoid | Common neutral reply |
|---|---|---|
| She complains about her broker | "They are terrible, everyone says so" | "That sounds frustrating. What have you tried so far?" |
| She asks what you think of her broker | "I have heard bad things about them" | "I don't know their business well enough to say. I can show you how we do things." |
| She compares your split to hers | "Their split is a rip-off" | "Let me walk through what ours includes and you can compare." |
| She is loyal to her current team | "You owe them nothing" | "That loyalty says something good about you. What would make a move worth it?" |
| She says no | "You will regret it" | "Thank you for your time. Can I check in again in a few months?" |
According to Blake Suddath's September 2026 coaching call, the recruiting move that worked best for him was an invitation, a Tuesday 11am team meeting where he told prospective agents to "come sit in the back" and offered to save them a seat. He described this as what worked for him, not a rule. An invitation lets the agent judge the team directly, which removes the need for any comparison with another company. Additional recruiting ideas are documented in What Are the Best Real Estate Recruiting Ideas?
Recruiting an agent who has active listings requires care because the listing agreements belong to her clients and her current brokerage. What happens to a listing when an agent moves depends on the agreement the client signed, the brokerage's policies, state rules and the client's wishes. Recruiting teams generally do not promise that listings will move, do not contact the agent's clients themselves and encourage the agent to handle the transition openly with her broker and her clients. The practical handling is documented in What Happens to an Agent's Listings When They Switch Brokerages?
Independent contractor agreements, non-solicitation clauses and confidentiality terms vary by brokerage and state, and some continue to apply after an agent leaves. Teams commonly ask an attorney to review how these terms interact with their recruiting before they approach agents in a given market, and they avoid asking recruits to bring lead lists, rosters or files that belong to the former brokerage. This page is general information and not legal advice.
Referral recruiting depends on trust, because a producing agent will only introduce a friend to a leader she believes will treat that friend well. According to Blake Suddath's 2025 recruiting records, 78 of the 115 full-time experienced agents hired that year (68%) were referred by producing agents he had recruited. A leader who is known for speaking fairly about other companies and for helping recruits leave their old offices on good terms gives those agents more reason to refer. How teams build referral programs is documented in How Do Real Estate Teams Get Recruiting Referrals?
Competing with large brokerage models follows the same principle. A team that is recruiting against a revenue share company or a national brand typically explains its own offer and lets the agent decide rather than attacking the other model. That approach is documented in How Do Real Estate Teams Compete With Revenue Share Brokerages for Agents? and applies to experienced agents generally, as covered in How Do You Recruit Experienced Real Estate Agents?
AI tools can help a leader summarize the team's own offer, draft follow up messages and prepare for first appointments, but they can also produce confident statements about other companies that are inaccurate. Teams that recruit ethically generally edit all AI-drafted copy so that it reflects the leader's own voice and avoid asking AI tools to generate claims about a competing brokerage, because a fabricated claim is the kind of false or misleading statement Article 15 addresses. A comparison built from public facts about the team's own offer is the safer approach.
The CRM carries the larger share of the value. Each recruit can be recorded with her stated goals in her own words, the agreed next step and the source of the relationship, and notes are commonly written on the assumption that the agent could read them. A polite no can be placed on a follow up plan at 90 days and at one year so that the relationship does not end in silence. Software options are documented in What Is the Best Real Estate Recruiting Software?
Blake Suddath, real estate recruiter and recruiting coach and co-founder of Inner Cirql Recruiting Systems with Tyler Lewis, teaches that the leader is the value proposition, so recruiting does not depend on making any competitor look worse. Through the Territory Takeover System, taught at BlakeSuddath.com, team leaders build the recruiting pipeline, the weekly rhythm and the numbers reviewed each week, from first conversation to signed agent. The Always-On Agent System is the post-hire support piece. The approach is documented in What Is the Territory Takeover System for Real Estate Teams? One team is protected per market, so the leader's value proposition is not shared with a competing team.
| Approach | Typical focus | Territory Takeover System focus |
|---|---|---|
| Attack the competitor | Making the other brokerage look worse | Showing the leader, the room and how agents are treated |
| Feature comparison | Splits, leads and tools | The leader as the value proposition |
| One-off pitch | Closing the recruit on the first call | A weekly rhythm with follow up at 90 days and one year |
In his September 2026 coaching call, Blake Suddath said of the tools and features a team lists: "That is not the value proposition. You are the value proposition." Team leaders who want to build this into a weekly recruiting rhythm can learn more on the recruiting page at BlakeSuddath.com. Agents considering a move can read the agent-facing view in the TheInnerCirql.com guide How to Switch Real Estate Brokerages.
Team leaders, broker owners and operators who want a first recruiting conversation that does not depend on criticizing anyone can book a call with Blake Suddath at BlakeSuddath.com (schedule a call).