Putting indie brokerage savvy into the launch of an uber successful team

How this successful team leader of Urban Nest Realty is using experience and technology to drive team growth.
 

By Paige Tepping, RIS Media

In an industry where technology adoption consistently hovers around 25 percent, Jan O'Brien, team leader at Urban Nest Realty, is bucking the trend thanks to her past experience launching an indie brokerage and applying that knowledge to create an uber successful team. With her unique approach that begins with mastering the technology herself, O'Brien shares her tried-and-true strategies to achieving high adoption – and a high volume of business – through her technology solutions.

Hyperfocused on adoption, O'Brien decided to do things differently when she jumped into her real estate career back in 1992.

"Brokers and team leads are lucky to get 20 percent of their agents to adopt a tool," says O'Brien, who leveraged the unique advantage that came with starting a company independently.

"I didn’t have to inherit legacy software, which gave me the opportunity to do my own vetting," explains O'Brien – who was determined to find something she herself would like. 

"I realized that if I could adopt it, use it and love it, I could train others with real passion and proof about why they should use the software."

And with 50 percent adoption, O'Brien – a self-described tech guru – must be doing something right.

The key ingredient? Inside Real Estate's kvCORE Platform.

"kvCORE was an easy solution," says O'Brien, who, at the time, was building her brokerage from scratch and needed tools for her agents, a back-office system to run compliance and myriad other components to get her company off the ground.

"Not only was kvCORE a scalable team solution, but it was also the most affordable," says O'Brien. 

Chock-full of features created for the sole purpose of setting agents on the path to success by getting tangible results, the kvCORE Platform has been a true gamechanger for O'Brien and the team at Urban Nest Realty. 

By simply showing agents one thing to get them started, she's made an overwhelming piece of the puzzle more manageable for everyone involved. 

"I come into a meeting and tell my agents that I'm going to show them one thing that will change their life for their business," says O'Brien. "It's not just telling them that they need to use it, but rather, leading the way by using it myself."

But it doesn’t end there. In fact, O'Brien has taken her kvCORE Platform and turned it into a successful recruiting engine. 

Using the technology that her agents use to bring on new recruits, O'Brien and her team leverage the automation inside kvCORE to do their recruiting for them via integrated video, text and emails.

"We've built out our recruiting messages for both new and seasoned agents, but we let the system do the work," says O'Brien. "Our overall message is that we're using a system you will use if you join us, and I've had many agents tell me that I'm the only one that consistently followed up with them. And it was all the automated functionality through kvCORE. It truly sells itself."

A firm believer in the power of video, O'Brien also takes advantage of CORE Video, powered by BombBomb, to take her recruiting efforts to a whole new level.

"There's nothing more powerful than sending a video with a personal message to an agent we're looking to recruit," she says. 

Automating much of her agents' day-to-day workload so that they can focus on their clients, kvCORE will continue to play an integral role in the firm's success path forward. 

"The team at Inside Real Estate is constantly innovating, and I appreciate the ongoing training and support they provide," concludes O'Brien.