Building a Strong Reputation With Brand-Name Recognition — RISMedia
Max Rea
Broker / Owner, RE / MAX Excel
Schofield, Wisconsin
https://the-team-to-trust-101895720.remax.com/
served region: Central Wisconsin
Years in real estate: 18th
Number of offices: 1
Number of Agents: 45
The best advice for new agents: Work your sphere of influence when you start.
Favorite part of your job: problem solving.
Paige Brown: You previously ran your brokerage business as Realty Executives. Why did you choose to explore other franchise opportunities?
Maximum range: The Realty Executives office I was in was an established office in town, and I bought ownership of that company. I previously worked for a RE / MAX office and have always loved the RE / MAX brand and what it means.
PB: What attracted you to the RE / MAX brand?
MISTER: I was really drawn to the consumer awareness, tools and resources they have. Plus, they have the best of the best when it comes to agents. In the nine years I’ve been a broker / owner, only four agents have left to work for another firm. I’m proud of that as we try to keep our agents here. RE / MAX helps us with this through its agent loyalty program and broker network, which was of great help when it came to talking to other brokers about their activities.
PB: How was the switch to RE / MAX?
MISTER: The transition was relatively smooth. When we bought the RE / MAX franchise, they provided us with a support team and resources to make sure we had everything we needed to make the move. From helping with securing the right signs to introducing new tools, they were there for us.
PB: Which RE / MAX tools and resources are most valuable to you and your agents?
MISTER:The contact management platform booj and the First app, with which we find out which buyers and sellers are most likely to buy and sell on our marketplace. And of course the balloon. We have a big balloon festival here in our market and we can bring the balloon for four days and it flies over our town twice a day during that time. We invite all of our customers to see the balloon in person and see it glow. Occasionally, some lucky ones can even fly in it!
PB: You have seen incredible growth over the past few years. How has aligning with RE / MAX helped you in this area?
MISTER: When we were Realty Executives, we were a small company and not a lot of people knew who we were. Moving to RE / MAX gave us a brand name for agents in our community, which helped us add productive agents and grow our business.
PB: What do today’s agents find most valuable when deciding which brokerage firm to join, and how do you ensure you offer that value?
MISTER: I think what most agents are looking for today is brand name recognition and the tools that go with it. They are also looking for offices that represent agents more than the operator. We strive to let our agents know that they are our customers too, and we do everything we can to make sure we support them in their business so they have no reason to look elsewhere. We are agent-driven, not broker-driven.
For more information, please visit remax.com.
Paige Brown is the content editor for RISMedia. Email her your real estate news ideas at [email protected].