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Despite the housing-industry split-screen of 2022, starting out with low-interest rates and a continuation of the Covid housing boom and ending with skyrocketing mortgage rates and a market downturn, the Keyes Company still ended the roller-coaster year with its second-biggest year in the company’s 96-year history.
With over 50 office locations in Florida throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Volusia, and Collier Counties, The Keyes Company continued to see growth by mergers and agent count as the year progressed. Here, company President Christina Pappas shares insights about the changes made in-house, how they are keeping agents motivated, the biggest industry threats and opportunities and her predictions for the remainder of 2023.
The Keyes Company
No. 22 Sales Volume
No. 36 Transactions
Christina Pappas
President
Was your company’s performance in residential sales volume and transactions for 2022 in line with your expectations for the year? Why or why not?
2022 was a volatile year. We came into the year riding the low-interest rate and Covid Boom, ending it with 7% interest rates and a slowing market. Overall, we were able to merge Skye Louis and Novus—two local brokerages—into our company and ended with our second-best year in our 96-year history.
What was the biggest contributor—positive and/or negative—to your results in 2022?
As the market diminished, we focused on growing our associate count. Our Wildly Important Goal (WIG) was appointments set by our Management Team for experienced producing agents. That yielded a 30% increase in hires for the third quarter.
We also hired a Director of Growth and Development, who implemented a Zoom motivational Monday for our company and companywide call-a-thons. He’s currently working on an “MBA” program for our new agents and a Concierge program for our current agents.
What is the most significant change your company is making this year to ensure success in a shifting market?
Our WIG (wildly important goal) for the first quarter for our Management Team is to make connections and appointments with existing small firms for fold-in opportunities. We were able to bring over a 60-person office (Boca Mizner Grand) in February.
How are you keeping agents motivated and productive in the shifting market?
We consistently communicate with our agents via webinars and trainings on our tech programs and sales techniques. We probably have about 30-40 opportunities for learning and sharing throughout the month.
We shifted our annual awards into four regional breakfasts and a Virtual event preceding those that allowed us to give more individual recognition and appreciation to our top-performing agents.
What’s the biggest threat to business in the coming months?
The continued volatility, the uncertainty of the economy and high inflation. Saying that, we believe that we can control our own destiny through focus, increasing our associates contacts, and recruiting, thus gaining market share in a soft market.
How do you anticipate 2023 ending up? Are you seeing signs in your market(s) that things are turning around?
We started out the year behind 2022’s numbers. However, we believe we will outperform the second half and end the year similarly to 2022.
What are the biggest opportunities for growth ahead?
In a declining market, fold-ins and mergers will give us the bigger pop. Also, our focus on agent retention, growth and concierge service to better partner with our agents and their business.
