As Carrie Nuckolls of CENTURY 21 First Group in Sulphur Springs, Texas, recently said, “Real estate is constantly about reinventing yourself.”
Reinvention was the topic of discussion during a special roundtable held on July 11, 2022, where RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston moderated a panel of four dynamic CENTURY 21® affiliated brokers from around the country. Nuckolls was joined by Arica Rucker, CENTURY 21 Rucker Real Estate, Charlotte, North Carolina; Hanna Pate, CENTURY 21 The Avenues, Calhoun, Georgia; and John Koch, CENTURY 21 Alliance, Wildwood, New Jersey.
The group honed in on how Century 21 Real Estate LLC—the originator of the franchise model—is committed to staying relevant and helping its affiliates reinvent and accelerate their businesses.
“The CENTURY 21® Brand transformed the iconic logo into a more relevant, more consumer-focused icon, and it has paid huge dividends as we are now better positioned and more relevant in the markets we serve,” said Nuckolls. “They nailed it.”
Nailing reinvention in the highly competitive real estate industry took the global franchisor on a complex, transformative path nearly five years ago, with a focus on the future—one that removed prior routines and patterns and brought to life a new mindset and strategic approach to outthink, outmaneuver and outperform the competition. By all counts, it’s working.
“It has also opened up doors for me to recruit and bring in new agents that I probably would not have had the opportunity to talk to,” said Rucker, who only nine months ago became the first African American female-owned CENTURY 21® franchised office in Charlotte. “I look forward to working with the brand’s executives and growing from one to six offices. This partnership has truly been what I have been praying for.”
“It’s about growing quality, a desire to stay boutique and recruit agents that fit the CENTURY 21 The Avenues culture,” said Pate. “I can’t tell you how many times I have had calls to my office of consumers looking for the brand, and that’s a great feeling. It’s immediate credibility.
“That C21® stamp next to your face immediately tells people you’re a professional, well-trained real estate agent,” she added.
“I couldn’t agree more,” said Nuckolls. “The C21 stamp is so powerful. I believe in it, and I see every day the positivity and support it brings to our people, and the brand as a whole.”
For current affiliated agents and those considering a move to a new home, it’s the most respected name and the one consumers are most likely to work with in the future, according to a study by Kantar Group Limited.* The CENTURY 21 Brand continues to be a differentiator in the market.
“We enjoy working with brand new licensees, and then bringing them up to a place where they’re very successful, producing agents,” said Nuckolls. “That’s our sweet spot, and we’re going to continue to grow by excelling at that.”
“Real estate agents everywhere know that when they see a CENTURY 21 affiliated office, that office is managed by professionals who show up every day, no matter market shifts, to help them succeed,” said Koch. “We have full-time leadership in each of our 10 offices and they each have the freedom to run that office as they deem most appropriate for the agents and the clients they serve.”
And it’s those clients who are the primary focus for the CENTURY 21 family. Giving back to the community and working to provide personalized, memorable moments along every step of the consumer journey is what separates them from the competition.
“You’re helping people in their highest highs and lowest lows, and by showing empathy and taking care of them, we build stronger, lifetime relationships that bleed into referrals and top-notch, third-party ratings,” said Nuckolls.
“We prepare our team to answer questions that may come from a buyer or a seller by educating them on what’s going on in the market,” commented Pate. “We have the tough conversations and answer consumer questions transparently and with honesty, and that earns trust.”
To break away from the sea of sameness within the industry, the CENTURY 21® Brand is urging consumers to demand extraordinary experiences from their real estate company and agent of choice because they deserve that level of personalization and effort.
“This mindset will take the production per agent up, and if you can take your average production per agent from seven to 11, your core group is going to be even happier,” said Koch. “The learning opportunities are there. The coaching is there. The direction is there, and if we need anything to help us go above and beyond, we simply talk to the right people to find it, because it’s there for us to use.”
“The great thing is, the brand, as well as our fellow brokers from around the world, offer all the support, programs and technologies we need to help us deliver the extraordinary to our clients,” explained Pate. “We have so much support. The talent of these people—it’s unbelievable.”
The CENTURY 21® Brand is challenging existing conventions in real estate relationships and progressing the industry in ways that favor the consumer yet directly help its affiliated brokers and agents break through the clutter and noise, win in the markets they operate in and ultimately, drive growth for their business. By reinventing itself and transforming its network with a clean and clear stage for individual personalities and unique stories to be told, the 51-year-old legacy global franchisor has built an organization that continues to grow and be known by many consumers and industry professionals alike as “the gold standard in real estate.”
For more information, visit www.century21.com/.
