Most brokerages won’t survive another slow spring. Not because the market is brutal, though it is, but because their leaders will do exactly what they did last year and hope for a different result.
This isn’t 2023’s bad market. It’s 2026’s, and your agents are tired, distracted, and quietly considering their options.
I called this cycle back in 2022. A long real estate winter with no real recovery in sight. I thought two years. It’s been three. And spring isn’t saving us this time either.
So the question isn’t whether this market is hard. It’s whether you’re leading or just waiting.
Here are four strategies that will determine which one you’re doing.
Strategy 1: Drive Activity
There’s a simple truth that never goes out of style: activities breed results.
As a brokerage leader, your job isn’t to hope your agents stay busy it’s to ensure they have a concrete weekly activity plan and that they’re actually executing it. That means regular Zoom check-ins, in-person touchpoints, and accountability built into your culture.
I recently worked with a brokerage where morale was low and productivity was even lower. Agents had been stuck in a long slump. We set one clear 30-day goal every agent committed to 20 dials per working day throughout January, which is rarely a great month for real estate.
The result? Most of those agents finished January with at least one listing and one written deal. More importantly, their pipelines were full and they felt optimistic going into spring.
That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of disciplined activity. Your job as a leader is to drive those activities not just encourage them.
Strategy 2: Lead From the Front
Leadership doesn’t happen from behind a desk.
In a slow market, your agents need to hear from you not through a mass email or a weekly newsletter, but through real, consistent human contact. Pick up the phone. Take a call list with you in the car. Ask your agents how they’re doing, what they’re working on, and how you can help.
When someone falls off track and some will don’t shame them. Remind them that tomorrow is a new day and that 20 dials is absolutely possible.
Your presence and consistency set the emotional tone for the entire brokerage. If you’re calm, focused, and active, your agents will be too.
Strategy 3: Remove Negativity Quickly
I use the word cull intentionally here.
In nature, the herd is culled so that only the strong survive because weak or sick animals put the whole group at risk. In your brokerage, the danger isn’t illness. It’s negativity.
You know exactly who I’m talking about. The agents who constantly complain, blame the market for everything, and rarely hit their activity targets. These people drag everyone around them down, and no amount of coaching or encouragement will change that if they’re not willing to change themselves.
Your job isn’t to rescue them. Your job is to help them transition off your team quickly so you can protect your culture and the agents who are doing the work.
Protecting your culture is one of the most important things you can do as a leader in a down market. Don’t let one or two toxic voices erode what you’ve built.
Strategy 4: Celebrate the Right Things
Celebrations shape culture. So be very intentional about what you’re celebrating.
Yes, celebrate listings. Celebrate sales. But in this market, the real win is completed activity. Celebrate the agent who made their 20 dials. Celebrate the one who stuck to their plan all week when everyone else was making excuses. Celebrate consistency.
When you celebrate activities, and activities breed results, success follows. Maybe not overnight but inevitably.
The Bottom Line
Some of you reading this might be thinking: this sounds like a lot of work or maybe even, this feels a little old school.
You’re right on both counts.
It is a lot of work. And it is old school. And in this market, old school works.
This isn’t 2021. You can’t coast. You can’t wait for the market to turn and hope things pick up on their own. You need a different playbook one built on disciplined execution, not wishful thinking.
Here’s the context worth keeping in mind: in 2025, there were approximately 4 million real estate sales in the United States and roughly 450,000 in Canada. Real estate is still moving. Buyers are buying. Sellers are selling.
The only question is: how many of those transactions will happen inside your brokerage?
What you choose to do differently this spring will determine how your brokerage emerges when the market eventually heats up again. Lead intentionally. Drive activity. Protect your culture. Celebrate discipline.
That’s how you win in 2026.
Want help implementing this playbook in your own brokerage?
Book a call with our team and we’ll look at your business, your agents, and your plan for the spring, and map out your next steps together.
Or, if you’re ready for a proven, structured framework, enroll in Brokerage Made Simple: Profitability an evergreen, self-paced course that gives you the systems, tools, and leadership approach to drive activity, protect your culture, and build a stronger brokerage in any market.