In this Q&A, learn how a real estate team of 11 agents has grown to 25 at its own brokerage under the RE/MAX umbrella.
John Armstrong
Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Rising
Bloomington, Illinois
www.remaxrising.com
Region served: Central Illinois
Years in real estate: 25
Number of offices: 1
Number of agents: 92
Jameson Doris: You previously ran a team of 11 agents at Coldwell Banker, which has now grown to 25. Why did you decide to open your own brokerage, and why did you decide to work with RE/MAX?
John Armstrong: We decided to open our own brokerage because we didn’t feel there were good options for teams in our market. We saw an opportunity that no other companies were focused on. We knew we could develop new agents if they were in a team structure with lead opportunities and world-class training, and the reputation for RE/MAX was high-producing veteran agents with great brand awareness. We felt we could make our business model work well within the brand even though we were very focused on agent development. The opportunity with RE/MAX was a win-win.
JD: How does your office foster the growth of multiple teams within your brokerage?
JA: Right from the beginning of our agent development program, we teach that being a REALTOR® means you are a business. This is not a job, but a business with the potential to create some passive income. Agents who begin as members of our team are told that we want them to eventually be off our team and starting their own, if that’s what their goals are. We discuss budgets, systems, lead generation and many other aspects needed to lead a great team.
JD: What are you doing to help your agents navigate this historic market?
JA: Listening to others who are going through the same thing is critical. Learning from their mistakes and avoiding going down the same path is what will keep us prepared in the current market and help us serve as guides to agents. We are in uncharted waters right now. This is the first time a market has looked like this, especially here in Central Illinois, so we have to be on our toes and ready to make quick decisions.
JD: How do you nurture your client relationships to generate new inventory?
JA: When we have homes coming on the market, we let our clients know immediately. Our agents should be letting clients know about new listings before an app does. We created a great Facebook page that serves our local community and is a place for them to express their wants and needs when it comes to real estate. It’s also a way for our agents to poke bushes and see if there is some untapped inventory out there.
JD: Where do you see your business in five years?
JA: I think there are going to be a lot of changes. The trend toward more teams, and larger teams, is going to accelerate. Brokerages are going to have to change the way they do business, catering to teams with four or more people. Currently, we are focused on growing and supporting the teams within our brokerage. It is really important that brokerages don’t have an adversarial relationship with larger teams, because at the end of the day, we are all working toward the same goal.
For more information, please visit www.remax.com.
Jameson Doris is RISMedia’s social media/blog editor. Email him your real estate news ideas to jdoris@rismedia.com.
