“Life is like a game board; to win, simply tilt the board toward you”
Yes, it’s silly inspirational poster copy most likely from an English major. Still, there is a validity to it. Ten years ago, today; 7-15-08, Wynd Realty opened in the midst of the biggest real estate meltdown in generations. Given that backdrop, how could any new company really compete against the franchise mega giants? As it turns out; you simply tilt the playing field toward you.
What could a small company do that a franchise wouldn’t? In July of 2008, the average agent fee was still hovering around $100 a month. Somebody had to pay for all those faux fancy stacked-stone franchise offices. When Wynd Realty introduced our $9.95 monthly plan, agents didn’t believe it. We heard: “Are you kidding”? “What’s the catch”? There was no “catch”. Small and agile always beats fat and bloated. In a war of price, franchises will always lose!
Anyone with “days” of experience in the real estate industry knows, there are a ton of agents out there. The numbers tell us it would be impossible to have that many agents working full time. So, duh, that meant most of the agent tonnage was in fact; part-timers. So, Wynd Realty was the first area Brokerage to embrace the part-time agent. For the first two years our tag-line was “Atlanta’s Leading Part Time Agent Advocate”. Even today, I believe we are still the only area Brokerage openly promoting a real estate license as just another tool for the gig economy.
Having worked my entire life in marketing, I know what “busy work” looks like. Hell, it’s been my profession. Making the mundane seem important or valuable can be tricky. But, what had pissed me off about the Realty Boards was they did marketing so poorly. All that money with so little output. It seemed as though they weren’t even trying to articulate value. Permanent “auto-cliché”. From day one, Wynd Realty believed no agent should ever be forced to pay for someone else’s need for busy work.
At the start, our anti-Board stance did get us some hate mail and a few “f-you” voice mails. It was at this point we knew we had a chance. Stirring up both hatred and passion, told us we had latched on to something. Today, Wynd Realty is proud that none of the hundreds of agents who have passed through our company has ever paid into a Realty Board. That has meant hundreds of thousands of dollars staying in our Atlanta economy and not flushed away on some marketer’s need for BS.
We did a couple things right at the start. But, I can say in all honesty, the whole thing flushes away if it weren’t for the agents we were able to attract. We needed to have a sound and mature approach within the agent community. And, we needed to be taken seriously.
I am extremely proud to say several of those early adaptors are still with us today. Celebrating their 10th Anniversaries with Wynd Realty are: Bob Boyd, Marion Brown, Carl Clayton, Teresa Hicks, Andrew Doyle, David Drake, Bernard Foster, Gloria Hudgeon, Dorthea Johnson, Marsha Ogilive, Jay Purvis, Monty Sharma, and Billy Woods
Thank you so very much. And, thanks to all the agents who have passed through over the years, I know “word of mouth” has remained our strongest marketing tool. And, I would also like to thank all the new first-time agents who have recently joined. We are thrilled you are starting your career with us, and perhaps more importantly, excited you have opted to start out as a “little r”.
In ending, there is one more little thing a franchise office would never do; and that is, honestly publish their sales statistics. Since we have ten years of data, why not? They aren’t franchise type stats, but we’re proud of them. You guys did this! Thank you!
Number of homes sold: 1,563
Revenue of homes sold. $314,243,193
10-year average: 156 homes per year for an average of: $201, 051 (Not bad considering the first year total was: 30)
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