Why the % of failing agents is overblown/needs rationalization

[Craig Moore]

All,

After doing some research on becoming a real estate agent, getting feedback and taking the preliminary exam courses, I stumbled upon a troubling number. "80%-90% of new agents quit or fail within the 1st year." I believe this number can be very intimidating to new agents who are aspiring to be successful in the business. Here are my issues with this number and why I think we need to be more specific on the topic.

1) Who is accounted for this 80-90% of failing/quitting agents? Are these people with chronic health issues that eventually prevent them from being successful? Are these former people who have battled drug addiction and relapse? Are these people who have had some significant or traumatic experience in their lives that prevented them from going all in on this career (loss of a spouse, house fire, etc.) These can be labeled excuses, sure, but this is the reality. Some people lose hope and quit when their house burns down, or get misplaced. These are some of the things I think about when I read that figure. WHO is accounted for in this 80-90%? What is the quality of agents in this batch and can we use this as reputable data? 

Tons and tons of Toyotas Priuses were recalled in the past. Now, I don't know the exact percentage of this, but are we to assume that all of the other Priuses are non-efficient? Going into buying a Prius, you don't say, "Well Priuses have been recalled before, so maybe this one will be too." Subconsciously you may think that. But these are two totally completely different vehicles, which prompts me to say, maybe your experience as an agent will be different than the other 80-90%? Why are we using this number so faithfully without knowing what constitutes it?

2) In my class, I sat in with 50 other people. FIFTY. There are at LEAST 50-60 other schools in the state of MA alone. So, 50 people x 60 schools = 3,000 new agents. Assuming we all pass, there's 50 students per school, this is 3,000 new students per month! (Assuming everyone takes 40 hours in one month and takes the exam the next month and every school is booked up). Of course the number of failing agents is going to be large, because of the sheer volume of new agents coming in at any given time.  But, out of these 3,000 candidates, who failed after a year and why? What is the specific criterion for this? Everyone's situation is different, and sure we should all want to succeed, but I think it's time to stop using this number because it can very easily intimidate new agents, or prospective ones from even taking the next step. 

What are your thoughts on this?