Anthony Lamacchia
CEO; Broker/Owner – REALTOR®
Lamacchia Companies Inc.; Lamacchia Realty, Inc., a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®
Waltham, Mass.
www.lamacchiarealty.com
Region served: Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut
Years in real estate: 16
Number of offices: 7
Number of agents: 275
Best tip for dealing with difficult clients: Do not get there in the first place. If you handle a client correctly from the beginning, they will treat you with respect.
Key to running a successful meeting: Have the agenda worked out before you get to the meeting so that everyone knows what to expect, then move through it efficiently.
What were the biggest challenges you overcame as you ramped up your roster by 150-plus agents in the last 12 months?
Our ramp-up went well because we built the infrastructure in advance and we were confident it would be successful. However, I will admit it’s certainly less challenging to onboard three, four or five agents than 10 to 20 agents at a time like we now do during our monthly onboarding and orientation. We learned some important things the hard way through the process, and we adjusted accordingly. We’re now 150 agents stronger because of it.
Why did you opt to create your own CRM versus bringing in one off the shelf?
I knew it was time to build a real CRM for our future back in 2014, and after looking at just about every system in existence, we confirmed that there was no true end-to-end system. The funny part is, here we are in 2020, and there still isn’t anything like our system today. I hear about some big competitors who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars, and they still do not have a system that agents like and that works from lead to close and beyond. Our system truly does it all for our agents, staff and leadership team, which is a powerful advantage.
Talk about your rapidly expanding relocation business and how Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® (LeadingRE) helped drive its success.
I thought about starting and growing a relocation business for years, but didn’t know where to begin. It all started coming together once we were accepted into LeadingRE in June 2016. Within seven months, and after attending a few conferences and events, I had a better understanding of it, and we began to put pieces in place and build a team. By 2019, we hit our stride with our relocation business, and 2020 is on track to be even better.
How has LeadingRE helped position Lamacchia Realty to compete effectively with long-established national and global brands in your markets?
LeadingRE enables us to go toe-to-toe with the international brands that like to constantly tout their marketshare globally. The truth is, with all of the LeadingRE brands combined, no other group sells more real estate internationally. They have also helped us immensely with upping our game when it comes to luxury marketing. LeadingRE brands represent the very best independently-owned brokerages in the U.S. and internationally, and we are beyond proud to be a part of it.
For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.
John Voket is a contributing editor to RISMedia.
