MY JOURNEY: BECOMING LEAD GENERATION DIRECTOR & REALTY ASSOCIATE WITH RELIANT REALTY
Eileen George – May 25, 2017
"My experience made me realize how our assumptions often become decisions. Decisions made without correct and vital information."
A PATH HOME
I began my career in a small independent office with a stellar reputation for professionalism and integrity.
After a few years, life circumstances afforded me the opportunity to work for a franchise in a larger market. It too had a great name in the community, but I found myself working markets away from my niche.
When another large independent moved into the marketplace, I joined them and spent over ten years building a large and profitable business.
I achieved recognitions for production and earned national designations in education and professional association service. But, I really wasn’t satisfying my real desire to work with others and assist them in their personal pursuit of excellence.
An opportunity arose when another large independent planned an expansion into in Sumner County. I interviewed and took on the task of opening their first office in the area and building the branch, choosing agents to fit the culture I wanted to create.
The role allowed me to pursue my passion of adding value to another’s life in pursuit of their dreams.
This role satisfied me for nearly fifteen years. However, as agents built their businesses and other changes in the mortgage and real estate industry developed, technology moved into our market at a new level.
Taking the opportunity to travel with a group of people to participate in a program that presented lead distribution technology for the company, I was intrigued. This was an exciting new business platform and I subsequently used it to build a profit center for the company.
This role touched all my professional buttons.
I was able to both build operations within a company and provide the tools agents need to succeed in their efforts.
So, I was content and excited with this position. Then I wasn’t!
The owner made a decision to have all his “Corporate” employees located in their Cool Springs office. A 90 mile daily commute was not a travel plan I could accept, so I started my search for a new company where I could hang my license and build their lead generation business.
I immediately set out to find a company to affiliate with that met my professional and personal needs.
I narrowed my search to companies under the Realogy brand because they had the lead gen platform I had worked with for a few years.
I also knew most of the Brokers and had a very easy conversation and meeting with them. But, afterwards, I had a sense of “Old-School” and stale vision.
Yet, I was really focused on the 90 mile drive a day that I needed to stop. So, I made another call to the owner of Reliant Realty, Casey Brown.
We’d met briefly a number of months earlier and, in our conversation now, he impressed me with his knowledge, insight, and vision for the company he was building.
Casey's energy level, enthusiasm for the growth and position in Nashville and the surrounding counties was infectious.
He had just affiliated with ERA and was building the Relocation Team with another person I knew well. Casey was “All-In” and excited about where he was taking his brand.
I was overwhelmed with interest and hopeful for an offer to join his company.
I let him know of my experience and understanding of the Zap platform. But while I shared my experience, it wasn’t anything he was interested in at the time.
While I was disappointed, the very positive impression from my meeting with Casey and learning of his vision and plans for his company, left me conflicted. I also had a different impression of Reliant Realty that I needed to rectify within myself.
I thought of myself as an educated and knowledgeable member of the real estate community and my opinion of Reliant Realty based on what I heard, was not favorable.
I needed to do some research.
We all hear that perception forms opinion and I had a poor one of Reliant Realty. But looking closer, I found out that my perception - and my opinion - was based on a ten year old assessment of the company and that they'd made a wholesale shift in their culture over those years.
I also found that there were more high producing agents in the Reliant Realty Sumner County office than a lot of the other offices in the area, including the one I was affiliated with.
In my research, I met the Sumner County office leadership team, the management, and other agents that totally changed my perception.
I walked into this office October 31, 2016 and was greeted by a very eclectic group of people for sure! They were all in costumes fitting the Halloween occasion.
I found a new group of friends and colleagues that day and haven’t looked back.
The Principal Broker is a man with an open door policy; anyone can drop in, call or text as needed. He is humble, sincere and offers himself in all situations to assist and encourage agents and staff.
My experience made me realize how our assumptions often become decisions. Decisions made without correct and vital information.
My affiliation with Reliant Realty is more than an office change, it’s a lifestyle change that has made me happier than I’ve been for a long time. I know it shows too because I hear it all the time from friends and family that I look better now than I have in years.
So, my advice is to never decide you know what’s going on with someone else, with another company, and with other associates until you do the personal research.
I’m glad I did and found a place that’s more than a just professional place to work: it adds value to my life and I’m building relationships with people I can trust.
Oh, the additional gift is that I work 10 minutes from home in a beautiful building with a window overlooking the countryside.
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