In the following interview, Tommy Brigham, chairman and founding partner of ARC Realty, a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® (LeadingRE) in Birmingham, Ala., discusses marketing, recruiting, referrals and more.
Region Served: Greater Birmingham, Montgomery and Wetumpka
Years in Real Estate: 40
Number of Offices: 9
Number of Agents: 300+
Best Advice for New Agents: Build a strong database and use it to facilitate touchpoints with your clients at least 30 times a year.
No. 1 Best Practice for Owners/Managers: Establish and build strong, authentic and trusted relationships with agents and staff.
Key to Staying Profitable: Focus on managing the things you can control with diligence, then adjust decision-making around the things you can’t control. This provides the opportunity to adapt based on day-to-day market rhythm.
Best Recruiting Technique: In my 40-plus years in the business, I’ve found that when you create a customer-for-life-experience with your own agents, the rest will fall into place.
Tell me about how you’re setting the bar for your entire team when it comes to relationship-building that helps promote long-term and repeat/referral business.
ARC literally stands for “A Relationship Company,” so we built a foundation on strong personal interactions, which is the core of any successful business. We’re hyper-focused on investing in and helping agents build strong, long-standing relationships with clients, while doing the same through our business and relocation relationships as a company.
How are you attracting and retaining top agents in your market?
I give a great deal of credit to our agents for attracting other top agents to ARC. Our support staff also helps attract and retain high-quality agents by working hard on the relationship side of our business culture. That being said, our marketing/support staff is not only larger than most, but also fully dedicated to supporting our agents when it comes to maximizing their potential. Because our agents know that they’re our customers, they know that we’re committed to their success. They, in turn, tell their peers about this great culture, and those peers come calling to be part of the ARC team.
What are the latest and most effective marketing practices you’re implementing at ARC Realty?
There are so many tools out there today, but the most effective ones we’re using are social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. We combine those with the use of traditional media outlets to create a comprehensive digital campaign to benefit all our stakeholders. We also have a program called Lolo, which is a database gifting program. In addition, we use Waze—a navigational program—and Canva—a customized flyer platform—to enhance our already effective marketing practices.
How does ARC Realty engage in giving back to the communities it serves?
From the beginning, we’ve been engaged as a civically responsible corporate neighbor in our communities. We remain at the forefront of outreach and engagement, which involves working with the city, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, local schools, our children’s hospital, regional cancer center and additional children’s services organizations throughout town. We believe ARC Realty is obligated to engage in our community and contribute to society for the greater good.
For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.
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