A Top Real Estate Team Shares Their 3 Keys to Success

The Kevin Blain Team closed 1400 transaction sides last year--their volume was over a quarter BILLION dollars in 2017. With 18 years in real estate and 75 team members, they're the number one team in California, according to Real Trends.

So what are their secrets to success? They shared their approach to customer service, recruiting, and lead generation in recent interview with realtor.com®. Here's a transcript of the conversation:

Customer Service

You worked hard to establish your name and reputation over the past 18 years and to grow your business. Your team in itself is now larger than some real estate companies. How do you keep that high quality relationship going when you are managing 1500 transactions? Are the customers expecting you to be personally involved? How do you maintain that level of quality and care when delivering through a team?

To be able to offer the same level of service with that many transactions we have specialists in place—there are sales specialists, listings specialists, support team specialists. With each having a defined role, it has allowed us to keep a high quality relationship with each of our customers. We have an expression: one client at a time. Each client gets individual attention; that's how we work.

Recruiting

How do you recruit team members that give you that level of professionalism?

We are always looking looking for talented agents. We recruit here in Central California and we look for three things: integrity, attitude and intelligence—and maybe four, as I like to throw in energy. Bringing to the team the quality of service the right people will provide gives us what the customer is looking for.

You may ask if the customer is looking for me to be personally involved and the answer is not usually—they expect the same quality of care as if I was. As long as the specialists on the team are delivering that, we will get a five star rating.

And what are the agents you recruit looking for in return? What is your value exchange?

When they look at our team, we need to exceed the value of what other companies may offer. We have the best support staff—a listing coordinator, a transaction coordinator, sign people—and we have the best training. They are getting training from the number one team in California. When they walk into a listing appointment, they can say that their team is the top team in all of California.

We add value by providing leads—internet leads and from other media. Those leads do provide value. Here is a true example: We had an agent who was just starting on our team and after just 60 days in real estate, had closed five and had eight more pending. That does not typically happen, but it shows these leads can help an agent get off to a good start.

Lead Generation

We understand you have worked with realtor.com to bring in more leads for your team. Do you introduce your lead program when in a recruiting discussion?

They bring it up—they know there is value in being on the team. They know there are several ways of getting business and one of those is online leads

How have the leads from realtor.com contributed to the growth of your team or your plans to grow?

About two and a half years ago, we started our inside sales department and that's when we started to purchase online leads, including realtor.com leads. From there, we have been able to expand to four counties in the Central Valley of California.

When you are working with online leads, you need to respond quickly and have the wherewithal to follow up. We know it takes eight or nine contacts to have someone convert to become your client. If that work is not put in, then you may as well not purchase leads. We plan to engage up to 12 times knowing the conversion tends to happen after the eighth or ninth attempt. These are viable people and they get busy, so you have to call or contact them and they will finally respond when it is most convenient for them.

What do you do to make sure that the investment you make in leads is not wasted? How do you track what actions are taken with them?

I check numbers weekly with our inside sales dept. I look at lead measures every week so there is accountability on both sides. As I see them come in, I can see the follow-up efforts and appointments set, and address any issues if the follow-up is not happening.

Is it all worth it? After investing your time and capital in realtor.com leads and following up, what kind of return are you getting on your investment?

We get a good return on our investment and we work every day, every week, every month to get better. If you hear complaints that the these leads are not good, I don't believe that. What we have seen is that if we are doing our part to mine these leads and to provide good customer service, then they do pay off. We are continuing to enlarge our territory and go into new locations with online leads. Without them, we could not have made this happen so quickly.