Her office is in Lexington Park, Md. His is 70 miles away in Alexandria, Va. But for company president Mary Lynn Stone and CEO Todd Hetherington, the partners and dynamic visionaries behind CENTURY 21 New Millennium, the distance is bridged by a focused synergy that powers the company’s success.
“We don’t need to be at adjoining desks to understand our individual strengths and use them to our advantage,” says Stone. “We’ve been co-leading the company long enough to understand that it is, in fact, our combined strengths that enable the business to keep growing.”
“Together,” says Hetherington, “we have been able to focus on growing our footprint from within, as well as on completing a few additional and very strategic mergers and acquisitions.”
As a result, the company today is among the top three CENTURY 21 franchises in the nation with more than 700 agents in 16 offices in Maryland, Virginia and the D.C. Metro area, with an estimated $1.6 billion in volume and more than $41 million in gross total commissions last year.
Most recently, the company announced the acquisition of three additional Maryland offices and the opening of a new office with the prestigious address of 1000 Pennsylvania Ave. on Capitol Hill in D.C.
But despite the company’s formidable reach, there is no secret to its formula for success.
“We are grateful to be large enough to have market presence and clout,” Stone acknowledges. “But we will always remain small enough to be involved and agile, and very focused on our accountability and unmatched customer service.”
Hetherington thrives on analysis and strategy. It is he who traditionally crunches the numbers, studies the trends and business indicators, and recommends budget and growth strategies. He also oversees the company’s mortgage, title and property management divisions.
Stone is involved in the day-to-day, from hands-on sales and staff supervision to the company’s extensive community outreach programs.
But communication between the partners, their branch leaders, their staff and their agents, keeps the wires humming.
“We run the business like a business,” says Hetherington. “We are detail oriented, and accountability is a big part of that. All our calendars are accessible, so everyone is on the same page.”
The company’s business model provides complete support for agents, including full-time, non-selling branch leaders and business coaches, individual office operations managers, customer service representatives who answer phones and handle administrative issues, and transaction coordinators who process paperwork so that agents are free to focus on prospecting and impeccable customer service.
“In the end,” says Stone, “our agents stay with us over the long term because we do everything possible to make certain they are successful. No matter the state of the market, there is never a pity party here. Our mindset is always up.”
As the general economy and the housing market rebound, confidence and optimism are high—an outlook that carries over to consumers.
“The market is strong as consumers take advantage of historically low prices and phenomenally low interest rates,” Hetherington says. “With our full complement of core services, CENTURY 21 New Millennium is prepared and excited to take business to the next level.”
For more information, visit www.c21nm.com.
