Earlier this month C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer sat down to chat with three top producing brokers to discuss their brokerages, how they run their businesses, their philosophies, and their challenges and successes.

Panelists included Sabrina Brown with Brown & Brown Real Estate in Fresno, Melissa Sofa with The Avenue Home Collective in San Diego, and Caleb Gonzalez with VonKeith Properties in Burbank.

Here are three topics covered by the panelists and what they had to say about them.

Establishing Company Culture
Singer asked the panelists what makes their brokerages unique. Brown and Gonzalez both talked about the importance of being community focused.

“What makes us really different is we're very community and industry driven. We bring on new agents – not that experienced agents aren't welcome – but new agents are just a different type of energy. I won't have agents that I wouldn’t want to be across the table from, so we really focus on training,” said Brown. “For us, it's that collaborative team environment. It's the culture. It's not the agent count; it's the agents that count.”

Gonzalez said that statement echoes exactly where his brokerage is as well. “People come into the office and say ‘hey, can you tell me a little bit about coming on,’ and I have to take a moment, step back and say, ‘well, tell me a little bit about who you are.’ Don't come into my office and tell me, you can sell 1,000 homes or that you’re a top producer. None of that is meaningful to me until you tell me about who you are, about your character, and the clients that you represent.”

Driving Productivity

Brown said the first thing she does with the agents at her brokerage is create a business plan. The business plan encompasses how they're going to get business, what their goals are long term and short term, and setting priorities. She also encourages them to add personal goals to their plan. “If they’re setting goals that are really agent driven, they're going to work harder towards those goals. They will put their business plan together and their productivity will come from those plans. They’ll make sure they stay on track.”

Sofia agreed with Brown and said “I like to speak to my agents about what personally drives them. My primary focus is not necessarily making them all sell the most homes. I just want to help them try to achieve the kind of life they want to live. Some agents in our brokerage want to sell four or five luxury homes a year, some want to serve their community and work in lower price points with VA buyers, and others want to figure out how to change the trajectory of their lives with real estate in ways they didn't even think they'd be able to in their lifetime. As a leader I feel it's crucial to find out what makes my agents happy more than what makes them money.”

Branding their Brokerage

Gonzalez explained the importance of being mindful of the money spent on your brand. “There's lots of different products and ways to spend the dollar, but I encourage my agents to spend the dollar with something that really represents their brand right.

“We do local branding and make sure we’re in the community, like advertising on local shopping carts because it's more about making sure that there's recognition.”

Sofia added that she carries a mindset through her branding. “For many years, I felt like I needed to wear a suit to be this very professional looking REALTOR®. And it really wasn't me. I felt like people needed to hear about accolades and production levels, but it really didn't feel right. So, even though it took time to build the confidence of being in my own skin, something really magical happened. I gave up that limiting belief and just become unapologetically myself and embraced my idiosyncrasies and the things that people wouldn't find acceptable for a professional to do or say or wear. People want to work with someone that they trust and when they know that you're being yourself, they want to work with you.”

To hear more from this dynamic conversation, watch the recording at https://www.car.org/meetings/virtual/tpp06042021.