Tom Toole has interviewed over a thousand people to build his team, and he still says the interview process is “extremely dishonest.” People will say whatever gets them the job. Much like with dating, the signals of incompatibility often only show up later.
But, as with dating, the way to get some clarity before decision time is to ask the right questions.
If interviews can’t be trusted at face value, a team leader needs specific questions built to surface real signals instead of a polished answer.
Tom Toole sat with Luke Acree for an interview on the Stay Paid Podcast and shared four questions he uses to vet agents before they join his team.
From there, the incompatible ones tend to weed themselves out.
#1. How Much Time They Actually Plan to Commit
The first question gauges whether a candidate is treating real estate as a full-time career or as a side hustle (or something to try before they buy in).
“How much time do you plan on spending in real estate?”
Meaning how much time per week, on average, does the candidate plan to devote to the work.
For Tom, a response like “I’ve got 15 hours I can devote to it each week, and we’ll see how it goes” is an immediate disqualifier.
He explains what that kind of answer tells him:
“If someone says, like ‘I got 15 hours,’ I’m like what? This is not the team for you. Like we are not the right people.”
Tom has built his team with people committed to treating real estate as a business, not as a side hustle or something they’re giving a trial run on a part-time, second-fiddle basis.
Which is why his team screens for full commitment before a candidate gets a lead.
Granted, as Tom acknowledges, the candidate could lie during the interview and say they’re in it full-time. So, this is a question worth revisiting during the onboarding process.
#2. Whether They Can Realistically Show Up
Commute distance is another test of a candidate’s compatibility for the Tom Toole Sales Group.
Tom’s cutoff sits between 45 minutes and an hour from the office, and he explains why:
“I think more than like a 45 minute to an hour radius is tough to get people to drive to every day. That’s just the reality.”
A candidate can pass every other test and live too far from the office to make the daily commute work. For Tom, it comes down to logistics. Over time, agents who live outside that range struggle to keep up with in-office expectations.
#3. How They Communicate in the Interview Itself
Tom watches how a candidate communicates during the interview. He treats the conversation as a preview of how they’ll sound on the phone with clients.
He compares it to his own delivery on the podcast.
“Imagine if I came on here and I was like a mumblemouth, you know… Well, that’s how you’re going to handle phone calls and everything else, so it’s probably not going to go well. So, that’s an important factor. I look at things we can evaluate there.”
A candidate who struggles to communicate in an interview will struggle on a call with a buyer or seller. Tom uses that read as an early signal of an interviewee’s lack of readiness for the work.
Communication is a pillar of a functioning real estate business. If a candidate doesn’t sound ready for a conversation with a client, they’re not ready to join the team.
#4. What They Say About Past Accountability
Tom borrows one question from real estate team leader coach Jon Cheplak, built to get past a rehearsed answer and toward how a candidate handles responsibility.
What’s your experience been like with accountability in the past?
Once the question is out, as Tom says:
“You just stop talking because what you’re looking for is victim language. Who cares how they answer it… You’ll know if they’re taking ownership or not.”
Tom listens for blame aimed at other people or bad luck, set against a candidate who owns their results without prompting.
He runs his own business by the same standard, treating outcomes as his responsibility rather than the market’s.
“Life gets a lot easier when everything’s your fault in real estate. So, I just assume it’s always my fault.”
He expects the same level of responsibility and accountability from the agents he welcomes aboard. An agent who looks for other people or circumstances to blame for their own failure to meet reasonable standards is a liability for the whole team.
The 90-Day Trial Every New Hire Gets
Tom treats the four questions above as a first filter. The real test comes once someone is on the team, working the plan day to day.
Tom explains why he doesn’t rely on the interview alone:
“When they start acting different than what they told you in the interview, you have to fire them quickly because you validate what you tolerate… I would assume half these people aren’t gonna make it.”
Every new hire on Tom’s team starts with a 90-day trial period. And his team’s retention numbers support that:
- 40% to 50% of new agents make it through their first 90 days
- Retention climbs past 70% for anyone who clears that mark
Compare that to some of the real estate industry stats Tom shared:
- “75% of new agents will fail their first year and be out of the business.”
- “87% of agents are done in five.”
Luke brought that into the much wider circle of service-based businesses:
“If you look at the business world, 91% of advisors fail. 90% or so of restaurants fail… In most businesses that are the service-based entrepreneurial businesses, the failure rate is so high…. So, don’t fear too much putting people through the pipeline. I tell my team all the time, ‘Hey, you’re gonna have to kiss a bunch of frogs before you find the prince.’”
He also admitted he still hires agents who later reveal they aren’t a good fit for the team.
“I’ve interviewed…it’s gotta be a thousand-plus people at this point. And it’s so crazy to me that I still can’t spot it. I still get duped. I still fall for the trap, and that’s why it’s less to me about having the perfect interview and more to be about being willing to get rid of them within the 30/60/90.”
For any team leader building a hiring process of their own, Tom’s four questions offer a solid starting filter.
The 90-day trial that follows is what turns a good interview answer into proof.
