Above: Greg Pernus and Marianne Drenik.
Marianne Drenik, Broker/Owner
Greg Pernus, Broker/Owner
HomeSmart Real Estate Momentum
Mentor, Ohio
https://homesmart.com/real-estate-office/ohio/mentor/113-homesmart-real-estate-momentum
Region served: Northern Ohio
Years in real estate: Marianne: 23; Greg: 30
Number of offices: 6
Number of agents: 260
Most effective recruiting pitch: “If you’re looking for a real estate brokerage that helps you make more money and waste less time, let’s talk.”
No. 1 tip for dealing with difficult clients: Be a good listener and remove the emotion.
Key to maintaining a profitable brokerage: In addition to controlling fixed and variable costs, recruit top performers and train newer agents while providing strong marketing, tech and coaching.
Best time-management tip: Time-block consistently while utilizing your CRM in an efficient manner.
As HomeSmart celebrates 25 years of giving 100% to agents, what is the biggest or most recent news coming out of your brokerage?
Marianne Drenik: Having taken our in-house support to the next level, we now offer consistent agent collaboration, one-on-one or group coaching, advanced technology and Ninja Training. We found in recent years that people were getting away from one another, so by implementing coaching and training, we’ve been able to get our agents together in one room—and we’re seeing a lot more collaboration. And when one of our agents is up against a challenge, whether it’s with technology, their listing presentation or something else, we’ll set up a one-on-one session. We also hold a new agent/seasoned agent group once or twice a month, and that’s where we see a lot of positive mentorship taking place.
How are your agents supported and driven by the brand’s tools, programs and leadership?
Greg Pernus: We believe our training programs have given agents the opportunity to expand and increase their production, especially this past year. When we offered the Ninja training, we were pleasantly surprised to see more than 25% of our agents participating. And the reason they’re able to invest their own money in that training is because of the 100% commission they’re earning here at HomeSmart. We’re currently planning our quarterly company meeting, where five Ninja graduates will present on one aspect of the training and how it has helped their business.
Powered by technology and systems, can you tell us about some of HomeSmart’s recent tech innovations that have helped your agents?
MD: The new Marketing Design Center along with built-in AI capabilities has taken our marketing to a stratospheric level. As soon as we introduced it, we had nearly a dozen agents implementing all the features available to them. That said, I think the automated listing marketing packages have been the most well received. We also use RealSmart Agent as a dashboard, and our agents can log into the platform and find everything they need.
Why would you recommend real estate professionals consider joining your firm?
GP: Because of the simplicity of the tools and systems that give both agents and brokers the opportunity to maximize their production without sacrificing support and tech. When we realized that we needed to make a change from the traditional model under which we used to operate, we sought advice from a lot of trusted people—and after spending a week at HomeSmart’s headquarters, we dissolved our existing team and joined the brand. Since we began exploring the partnership eight years ago, we’ve experienced 100% organic growth. Not only are we the No. 2 HomeSmart brokerage, we’re also No. 299 among all brokerages in the entire country for transactions.
For more information, please visit https://join.homesmart.com.
