Most real estate companies like to brag that they are #1.
We’re here to brag about being LAST in 2020.
If this was a train, we would be in the CABOOSE.
Now, it’s really not all that bad. Out of 18,200 Royal LePage agents and teams in Canada, we came in LAST… for the Top 1% in the company.
#182 out of 18,200 is USUALLY something to be proud of. Some agents have incredibly successful careers and never make it to the Top 1% in the company. We’ve worked hard, made some good choices, and fortunately this is the NINTH time we’ve made it into this group, which Royal LePage agents call the “Chairman’s Club”.
But being the last place of the top group is an interesting position to be in.
It plays with your mind.
“Would it have been better to NOT be in the group than to be in last place?”
“How did we manage to screw this one up?”
It was pretty tough on our spirits, if I’m being honest. Especially because we’ve had many years where we cracked the Top 100.
But once the dust settled and we had some time to reflect, a completely different perspective opened up.
About four years ago, our business completely changed its focus. Our coach (Ken Goodfellow) explained that teams are built to win championships. The Mighty Ducks, the Jamaican Bobsled Team, the Green Bay Packers and even the Toronto Maple Leafs ALL have a goal of winning the trophy at the end of the season.
So he asked us this simple, but profound question:
“What’s your Stanley Cup?”
In other words, what was our reason for being here, doing real estate in the west suburbs of Toronto?
It took a lot of brainstorming, but ultimately what we figured out as a team was that the QUANTITY of transactions was much less important than the QUALITY.
Our definition of success was to create a FIVE-STAR EXPERIENCE for every client in our business. That was our championship — to receive feedback that it was not just good, but amazing. If someone writes something great about their experience with our team… that’s like winning a Game 7 Championship to us.
We celebrate it with each other. There’s even a BELL in our office that gets rung when a five-star review comes in.
Of course, doing more business is not a bad thing. But not if it means that our clients would receive a poor quality experience.
From there, we came up with our values, and got clear about our priorities, but the point is that we have never really cared about rankings, or numbers, or anything related to status.
So why would we start that NOW?
In fact, we’ve always been more comfortable being like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets. Remember them?
We would rather be sitting up in the balcony, observing, making jokes and being DIFFERENT than everybody else.
The truth is… if we’re being honest, we’re more likely to be laughing at the kind of agents who puff their chests out and brag about their accomplishments.
Because what we believe it’s really all about, when we eliminate all the bullshit games that our ego tries to play with us, is this simple statement:
RELATIONSHIPS MEAN MORE THAN AWARDS
Our clients don’t care about our ranking. So why should we?
They care about getting help when they need it. A real estate sale or purchase is usually accompanied by a major change in life. It’s usually in a stressful time. More often than not, there’s a deadline and a consequence if things don’t happen when they should. That’s where we come in to lead the process and show them how to get things done property, on the right schedule.
There’s really very few business relationships like a real estate relationship. You really can get close to each other. Do you have the same level of intimacy with your mechanic, your accountant, or your lawyer as you do with a trusted real estate agent?
Most people don’t.
Our team has been hosting client events, doing door deliveries, and sending mail and emails to some clients for more than 15 years now. We’ve watched their kids grow up, we’ve mourned losses of family members, and walked in parallel through the many ups and downs that life throws our way. They’ve been there for us, too. It’s a two-way street.
When one of us struggles, the other one is there for them. No questions asked. It goes deeper than just business.
Maybe some real estate agents just treat their clients like transactions, but where’s the fun in that?
We let clients know early in the process that there are real estate agents that run their business like a taxicab. They’ll get you from point A to point B, and you’ll never hear from them again. That’s totally fine if you want that.
On the other hand, our business model aspires to treat clients like they were in a limousine. You usually take a limo when it’s a special occasion. It’s a more enjoyable journey, and the next day you can’t wait to tell people about the experience.
That mindset helped us get over the pain of being in last place.
FINAL NOTE — Remember to introduce all of your friends, family, neighbours and co-workers to us in 2021. We don’t want to be LAST again next year. 😜
