Garrett Bell
Broker/Owner
Denovo Realty, a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®
Melbourne, Florida
https://garrettbell.denovorealty.com
Region served: Brevard County, Florida’s Space Coast
Years in real estate: 13
Number of offices: 1
Number of agents: 70
Work philosophy that you live by: Building the right systems, continuously improving those systems, owning the outcomes and collaborating without ego
As a third-generation Realtor®, real estate is in your DNA. What specific pain points in traditional real estate inspired you to launch Denovo Realty?
Having come from a large big-box brokerage, I felt like a lot of the systems that were created weren’t actually made for people out in the field doing transactions. Being in that position as an agent, I had to go out and build my own systems and recreate the wheel, which led to a poor client experience. From a pain point perspective, it was the systems that were offered, the turnover and the culture that’s created with having a mix of new and experienced agents in an office. I’m big into systems and operations, so that was part of why I wanted to do this. I also noticed a high turnover of new agents, so part of our business model is that we deal with experienced agents only.
Your mission with Denovo emphasizes giving agents better resources and support than what’s typically offered in the industry. What are your top tips for building a high-performance environment where agents stay accountable while feeling supported?
Support and accountability aren’t necessarily opposites, but good support gives people clarity, tools and coaching in an honest feedback loop. Agents are independent contractors, and by nature, salespeople don’t like being micromanaged. If we were to make goals for them and hold them accountable to that, it would feel like micromanagement. We need to help people develop their own goals and their own priorities, then support them and hold them accountable for that.
Florida’s Space Coast has grown rapidly with tech, aerospace and corporate relocations. How are you positioning the firm to capture and serve buyers and transferees moving into the region?
At the beginning of the year, we created and launched a dedicated relocation and client service division as part of our company. With that, we hired a relocation coordinator to work alongside our relocation director. Being able to build out a formal department that has systems and processes has enabled us to create all the marketing material associated with this. Building a formal department has also allowed us to create a lot more relationships.
In addition to residential sales, Denovo operates Novavista Property Management and a dedicated relocation division. How have you built an operational system that keeps those distinct business units running smoothly without overwhelming your team or splitting your focus?
A big thing is treating them as their own distinct units with clear services, clear leaders and people accountable for each one of those areas. As an office, we run what’s called the EOS model: entrepreneurial operating system—an infrastructure for how to run your business. We run that in each one of the departments so that all the people and processes are aligned. When you have them as their own individual units and you’re running them like a proper department, when you need resources and you add people or a process, it makes it a lot more clear.
What advice would you give top-producing agents who are thinking about making the jump to opening their own independent firm?
The first thing is being honest about why they would want to do this. Salespeople, in general, are often poor managers and aren’t necessarily into operations and systems, and that’s a big piece of running a brokerage. If they’re doing it to build a larger sales team or to keep more of their commission, it’s the wrong idea behind it. Producing and running a company in a leadership position are two very different jobs. As a broker or broker/owner, you have to be really into building people, systems, culture, compliance—not doing it to sell more or to keep more commissions. You need to understand the economics behind staffing, insurance, technology and training. It’s a lot more about running a business and operating a system than growing larger and being a top producer.
For more information, visit https://www.leadingre.com.
