“Welcome to Columbus.” It’s a brand that shouts to residents and visitors alike. Few small cities blend world-class architecture, art and small-town charm quite like Columbus, Indiana. For CENTURY 21 Breeden REALTORS® and our team of 35-plus relentless sales professionals, it’s a thrill to be a legacy brand in Columbus and effect change that catapults the town and our 70-year-old brokerage forward. And we do just that by delivering homebuyers, sellers and property investors personalized service through every step of the client relationship.
The approach we take to the market is from two distinct angles—building up the town of Columbus in unification with our brand so that we become the destination brokerage for other real estate consumers in town, and those interested in coming here. Our goal is to generate FOMO (fear of missing out) in order to influence consumers and industry professionals to engage in what we’re doing here and then say, “Why am I not affiliated with them?”
On the new agent side, we tell people, “If you want to be an independent contributor and not be a part of something bigger, this isn’t the brokerage for you.” That’s how we attract people we want to take to the next level. We have a program in place to get these newly licensed sales professionals started immediately so that they can hit the ground running with training and coaching opportunities, leads, marketing support, open access to the entire leadership team and a team roundtable where everyone ideates, shares successes and challenges, and discusses market activity.
We have numerous success stories with our new-agent program, including Trish, a small business owner who runs a local gymnastics company, who decided to affiliate with us after having a conversation with our leadership team about her life, expectations as an agent and the offerings we provide as a company. She’s eager to come into the office every Monday to tell me about everything she’s done over the weekend and the clients she’s working with. She sends letters, makes phone calls and markets herself online, as well as in her local Kroger. She runs her real estate career as a business. She knows how many people she must touch, and then wows her clients and customers throughout the entire process.
In fact, in true Breeden fashion, Trish is now helping mentor a 20-year-old recruit who has the desire, energy and fearlessness to be successful. What she lacks in knowledge, she makes up for in confidence.
Like our small town of Columbus, we too pride ourselves on community, camaraderie and a familial culture that is serving to not only help grow our legacy brand, but more importantly, afford our team the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of homebuyers, sellers and property investors.
Beth McNeely is president/principal of CENTURY 21 Breeden REALTORS®. For more information, visit www.century21.com.
