This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Hanbrook: You have been with RE/MAX for 26 years. Can you talk about what initially attracted you to the brand and what has kept you with the company for so many years?
Amy Lessinger: When I think back to the 26-year-old who joined RE/MAX, I was fresh out of college and really wanted to excel in this industry. I had only been in the industry for 18 months before joining, so I was still a newbie.
But when I sat down with my long-time agent, Gary Canepa, I knew I had met my tribe. I really felt like, ‘Wow, these guys are productive professionals. I want to not only be good at my business, but be great at it, and I feel that in order for me to do that and achieve that, I need to surround myself with high-caliber producers.
BH: RE/MAX is still known today for having some of the most efficient agents in the industry. Do you find this attractive to agents?
Lessinger: We stand for education and excellence. Our agents produce twice as much as our competitors True Trend Ranking number.
I think this is so important because we are a home for productive professionals. The way we help agents sell more homes is through education, technology, support and leveraging our iconic brand as the most trusted professionals in the eyes of consumers. I think that’s a big draw for agents, especially given the many changes that are happening in the market right now.
Agents need to have a high level of skill when talking to buyers, understand what representation means and what fiduciary responsibilities the agent has to buyers – and, of course, have transparent conversations about compensation.
BH: Many in the industry see these changes as opportunities for companies, brokers and agents to improve and grow. How do you hope to do this at RE/MAX?
Lessinger: We always actively support our agents to explore new areas. RE/MAX has been around for over 50 years. Of course, over those 50 years, we had double-digit interest rates and the Great Recession, and everyone had to figure out how to do a short sale, and we educated our agents during that time.
We navigate them, we upgrade, and we learn to thrive regardless of market conditions. So, I think it really makes no difference. We have launched a new designated course called Buyer Agent Professional to the entire network. it is from Kaplanbut we deployed it within 48 hours of receiving the message national association of realtors Settlement Agreement. So we’ve prepared on the back end to make sure that no matter what happens in the industry, our agents are ready.
The course provides tools to explain what buyer representation means and the benefits to sellers of having buyers represent each other. And then of course it discusses how to have transparent conversations about how agents are compensated.
But this is just one of several new tools we’re launching. We’ve also deployed a new buyer’s guide for consumers to help our agents facilitate these conversations, as well as a wealth of marketing materials and support materials.
BH: As we’ve discussed, RE/MAX agents are considered the most productive agents in the industry, as well as the most experienced. How do you think these features will serve the entire RE/MAX brand in the post-NAR settlement world we’re about to enter?
Lessinger: I think our future is very bright. As a company, we have been involved in many areas, and we always support our agents to help them become the most productive professionals they can be. I believe these changes provide us with our best opportunity to improve performance this year and lay a solid foundation for our long-term growth.
We spend a lot of time evaluating plans to accelerate, expand and capitalize on opportunities so that consumers truly value and understand what it means to have an agent with incredible skills on your side. So we’re proud of it and intend to leverage it in the future.
BH: RE/MAX is the second company to settle a commission lawsuit. Can you talk about the settlement decision and how it affects your agents, brokers and franchisees?
Lessinger: Among other terms, our settlement agreement clearly states that for our franchisees, their NAR membership is their choice. I think this allows our agents to make the choice that makes the most sense for them.
I believe the value of NAR is that they are one of the largest trade organizations protecting property titles and this is something every agent should be aware of. But we agreed to leave the decision to our brokers.
I think going forward, in terms of how this changes the playing field, I think it’s a healthy thing to focus on buyer representation and what it means to represent. We welcome these changes. We always encourage our agents to have transparent conversations and use their skills when representing a buyer or seller.
BH: RE/MAX has struggled with its domestic agent numbers in recent years, and many agents are expected to leave the company as a result of the NAR settlement. What is RE/MAX doing to attract more agents and grow their numbers?
Lessinger: We are confident in our competitive advantages and exciting potential growth opportunities. We’re certainly very clear about what we need to do to improve our performance, and I think the two top priorities in our strategy are very clear: we need to stabilize and grow our U.S. agent count, and we need to expand our mortgage commerce.
I think results in these two areas will help us build market share, increase revenue and ultimately increase earnings. I think each of these creates momentum for further growth, so how do we do that? We will leverage current initiatives and continue to develop innovative strategies because we know how important these two goals are in the short and long term.
BH: What steps are you taking now?
Lessinger: We’ve been putting a lot of effort into the CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) space for a few years now because we know that there are a lot of brokers in our network and in the larger industry who are looking for one of those succession plans or growth plans.
So we restructured our sales team to be able to function effectively in that area, and we’ve had great success. It continues to grow, so we’ll continue to take advantage of that as it provides us with the opportunity to grow in volume through alliances with companies that want to grow together. It provides them with scale, efficiency and succession planning.
We’re very proud that we saw this opportunity early on and started to become more actively involved in this space. So when you combine that with our team’s initiatives, you get a great combination to drive growth.
BH: Over the course of your career you have held a variety of roles in the industry. How does your experience as a leader help you now?
Lessinger: I think the fact that I’ve worn every hat gives me a unique perspective. I do see things through the eyes of agents, the eyes of team leaders, the eyes of agent owners, managers and recruiters. So everything we do at headquarters is designed to help increase the productivity of our agents and help them become more professional and efficient.
For our agents, everything we offer is designed to help them attract agents they’re interested in—and retain their existing agents—and then help their agents sell more homes. Because at the end of the day, productivity is what truly wins this game.
I see this from all different angles and lenses. So everything we drive is filtered through that lens so that we can continue to expand market share and focus on our growth to be No. 1 in every market we serve.
