Casey Brown
CEO, Reliant Realty ERA Powered
Nashville, Tennessee
https://reliantrealty.com
Region served: Southeast Tennessee and the East Coast of Florida
Years in real estate: 23
Number of offices: 7
Number of agents: 800
Motto/work philosophy that you live by: “If you’re not first, you’re last,” and “expect the unexpected.” We’ve always prepared for the bad weather. We have no debt, we’re crazy savers and we didn’t pull back during COVID.
Lesley Grand: What ultimately led to your decision to affiliate with ERA?
Casey Brown: ERA is a world-class brand, and it’s the only corporate relationship I’ve had. In addition to having great people, ERA also has great technology and a very strong relocation program in Cartus. Better yet, their Power By model allows me to have my own autonomy. In the end, you have to feel good about the people who are running the franchise, and I can’t stress enough how great the people are at ERA.
LG: In what ways does Reliant Realty ERA Powered support new agents?
CB: Our mentorship program puts us way out in front of other brokerages in the marketplace. We use peer-to-peer support, and we guide our new agents along the way. We make it a point to connect with our agents, and while it’s not as easy to connect as it was pre-COVID, we’re trying to interact with them and support them in a way that isn’t rigid. Our splits are another excellent draw for new agents. Ranging from 86% to 95%, not only can our agents make good money, but we can also pay for and offer education, training and great support.
LG: Please describe your management style.
CB: If I had to choose one word, it would be collaborative. My strong suit is that I don’t micro-manage. At the beginning of my career, I tried to do everything for everyone, but I’m now at a point where I can offer more conferencing than coaching. I don’t have to have a lot of edicts. I can change with the times and do what is required.
LG: What is your best advice for hiring and retaining top agents?
CB: I don’t chase top agents. We don’t say no to them, but we have clear conversations at the onset—and we keep them by setting goals and helping them meet those goals. We’re not trying to make a ton of money off of our agents, which leads back to our splits, our collaboration and the fact that I’m very involved in the company. We also hold a lot of agent appreciation events, and we provide beautiful offices for our agents to conduct their business. We want to ensure that no one has a better looking office than we do so that there’s a “wow” factor when our agents bring their buyers or sellers into the office.
LG: Where do you stand on training and education?
CB: Training and education are our thing. And while we aren’t perfect at it, we make sure the basics of being an agent are covered. Our peers who offer 100% splits can’t afford to offer the education we do, so this separates us from the rest. When we pivoted to ERA, we made the decision to make it part of the deal so that we lean heavily on the tools and resources provided by ERA and Realogy.
What is the one thing you hope your agents say about you? That I spend all my time creating an environment that helps them grow their business.
For more information, please visit www.era.com.
Lesley Grand is a contributing editor to RISMedia.
