Rick and Tammy Owens
Broker/Owners
RE/MAX Alliance
Collinsville, Ill.
www.MetroEastLiving.com
Region served: Metro East Suburbs of St. Louis, Mo.
Years in real estate: Rick: 12; Tammy: 18
Number of offices: 7
Number of agents: 158
How does being a part of RE/MAX help you and your agents do your jobs well?
Rick Owens: The RE/MAX brand recognition is most important. And, of course, all the supplemental materials are invaluable. RE/MAX is constantly refreshing their marketing materials and introducing new apps and products. Nick Bailey (RE/MAX chief customer officer) is doing something new every week and communicating well with the agents, which is vital during this time.
Is there a specific work philosophy that you live by?
Tammy Owens: We treat the agents the way we would like to be treated, and we hope all of our agents feel like our partners because we are all a team. In addition, we have an open-door policy. As husband and wife broker/owners, Rick and I have clear and different roles, so there is never any confusion as to who they should take their questions to. I am the managing broker, so if anyone has a contract question, they know to come to me. If agents have a marketing, business or technology question, Rick takes care of it.
RO: Whenever we have to make a change or do something that affects the agents, the agents vote on it. We give our agents a voice in decisions that affect them.
What is your No. 1 piece of advice for hiring and retaining the best agents?
TO: We have a magnetic culture and have grown our company with little or no recruiting, so our advice is to be a destination for agents, and they will come. Let your agents be your best voice. As far as retaining agents, we offer the support and tools they need. That said, we are very selective about the agents we bring on board because we want the right people on the bus. It’s very important to make sure we do not hire anyone who is not a good fit and may poison our work environment.
What is the one thing your agents say is the best thing you do for them?
RO: With 12 staff/support people, as well as a corporate trainer, they know we are going to take good care of them. We also make sure we are accessible to them and that we have a genuine connection with our agents. It is especially important to be the faces of the company and be visible. Our agents know they can call us anytime between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
How are you helping your agents work through this unprecedented time?
RO: We are constantly looking for ways to motivate our agents by giving them new ideas and helping them stay calm. We realize that this is a hard time for everyone, but we can make the most of it, and we will get through it together. We are a very strong team.
TO: In addition to having a private Facebook group where we share ideas, it is important that our agents have some fun, too. To that end, we have a bingo game on our Facebook page that gives them different tasks to do and technologies to learn, thus ensuring they don’t waste this slightly slower time. Each spot has an idea to help them see a return on their efforts. We are also trying to reassure our agents that we are going to get through this by doing a motivational, heartfelt video every other day to lift them up.
For more information, please visit www.remax.com.
Lesley Grand is a contributing editor to RISMedia.
