Balancing Professionalism and Fun

Jill Butler
CEO
RedKey Realty Leaders, a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®
St. Louis, Missouri | redkeystlouis.com

Region served: St. Louis, Missouri
Years in real estate: 20
Number of offices: 3
Number of agents: 180

Talk about RedKey and your strategy for staying ahead of the competition. 
Jill Butler: Over the years, I have been involved with different franchises, and while the experience was always very good, eight years ago, I decided to create my own independent brokerage. RedKey is based on three core tenants: love, service and fun. When we stick to our core, we get the best outcomes for our clients. Technology has leveled the playing field, and we are committed to making decisions based on our clients and agents. We are also part of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, which gives us excellent networking opportunities.

What type of culture do you try to develop and maintain in your offices? Why is this important? 
JL: Going back to love, service and fun, we try very hard to make sure our agents are in alignment with these values. We also maintain a very high level of professionalism while helping one another and having fun at the same time. By hiring, promoting and firing based on our core values, we’ve assembled a group of staff who respect our agents and work diligently. And we expect our agents to treat our staff well. Professional agents who want to grow their career fit in well here.

Where do you stand on training and education? 
JL: RedKey has a proven process. We provide the tools and systems and then coach and train agents to be very professional. We believe that even as things continue to get more techy, real estate is still a people-to-people business. It’s all about referrals, so we aim to be the trusted advisor. While most people personally know 12 agents, we try to teach our agents how to be the one agent people turn to when they buy or sell real estate. When it comes to training and education, there are different tracks, but we provide agents with the support they need to build the systems they can use to grow.

What is the one piece of technology you can’t live without? 
JL: My database. I have heard it said that something like 88% of people say they would use their REALTOR® again, but only 12% actually do, so it is very important to stay in touch. Your database lets you do that.

How has your business model changed in the last year? 
JL: Have you found any silver linings? Throughout the pandemic, it has been more important than ever to get close to our people and support them. In addition to encouraging our agents to make phone calls, we also delivered care packages filled with biscotti, coffee, candles and blankets so that they would feel surrounded in support. We believe that support is the most important thing.

For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.

Lesley Grand is a contributing editor to RISMedia.