Ninety-four years of real estate wisdom in 30 minutes 💥 In this episode of Stay Paid, we sit down with Lennox Scott—yes, that Lennox Scott—Chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. With over 3,000 brokers and a 94-year legacy, Lennox...
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Luke Acree
Foreign.
Joshua Styke
Welcome to Stay Paid sales and marketing podcast on a mission to help you close more deals and retain more business, but only if you take action today. What do you think I brought back?
Luke Acree
Yeah, I like the old. The old school intro.
Joshua Styke
We like the old school intro. My name is Joshua Styke. I'm the chief marketing officer of Reminder Media. Joined as always, Luke Acrey, the president of Reminder Media and our host of panels, Cody and Steven from the Acree Brothers realty team. The number one team.
Luke Acree
And they got a new sign they're trying to copy. Steven, I feel like you truly are the younger brother now, man. Trying to copy my. My sign, but you had to put your name on it like a classic realtor. I love it. Guys, if you. If you're just listening to the audio here, you gotta go. You gotta go watch the YouTube video because Stephen and Cody have a sign in the background now.
Cody Acree
Yeah.
Joshua Styke
Make sure you subscribe. Pretty sharp right over the. The. What do you call that? The. The step and repeat panel. Plus the. The neon sign. I love it.
Steven Acree
Yeah, we're just all about branding, you know, brand max.
Luke Acree
Yeah.
Joshua Styke
Well, I want to get into. Introducing our special guest today. He is Lennox Scott. He is the third generation chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, one of the top 20 most productive residential real estate brands in the Nation. With over 100 offices and more than 3,000 brokers, Lennox has also been ranked number 32 on the Swan Pole Power 200 list of most influential industry leaders. Lennox, welcome to Stay Paid. Thank you for being here.
Lennox Scott
Well, I really appreciate it. I love the name of the podcast. It's all about implementation, isn't it?
Luke Acree
That is a hundred percent. Like, when Josh and I created this podcast, it really came out of kind of a frustration of we were dealing with so many clients that we were telling them, oh, this is what you should do. But nobody was taking action. We're like, you got to take action if you want to get paid. You actually got to take action on it. Lennox, man, super excited to have you on. I was sharing before we, you know, hit record. You know, I feel like I'm interviewing a legend here. You've been in the industry a long time and then, you know, the. The brokerage, it's just incredible. 94 years. And to think that a company like Reminder Media, we hit our 20 years not too long ago, and I feel like that is, like, insane. And I can't imagine. I hope we get to 94 years. And so I selfishly want to pick your brain on, you know, My first question to you would be, you know, what are the principles or leadership values that have transcended, you know, over the generations for you guys at John L. Scott that you would say needs to be in an organization to last 94 years?
Lennox Scott
Well, I just let me touch base on just a few items behind that. I know about 75 years worth of John L. Scott Broker Associates. I started doing the gardening work and painting the signs for the company at age 10, age 13. And so, so over these 94 years, it's been all of us together on the team that really helped us move forward. And I'm third generation. My daughter is going to be fourth generation leader. She's already in the company working on this major topic of implementation. So, you know, what's really led to our success, I think is anticipation. I grew up in the everything's possible generation of the landing on the moon, of the movie 2001 Space Odyssey, which showed the first time I saw AI and then of course, future shock. Just everything is possible. And we've always looked forward to adopting technology as we move forward.
Luke Acree
How do you. I'm curious there because the hardest part in like I've seen for me with leadership is you have to be willing to change, but you can't chase the shiny object. And I have a tendency because I'm more of a visionary at heart, I guess, or maybe others call it lazy in organization. I like to frame it up as visionary. But I've found that it's like I want to just change and go, go, go, go, go. But if you lose focus, you lose productivity. Have you seen that to be true with you as well? And how have you overcome that when you're anticipating and always trying to move?
Lennox Scott
Well, as these major technologies come on board, we will take a look at them to see if we can get implementation, if it'll move the needle forward. But we really look at research and psychology and the research shows 80% of the listings come from someone you already know. And we have a leadership principle called vital one. And then important many important many would be a list seller, marketing presentation, a purchase agreement, getting a home closed, buyer representation, and that's skill mastery. And we do that and we continually learn, but there's only one vital one. And then it's the frequency of focus of that vital one. I'll get to it in just a second here. The frequency of focus of the vital one. Otherwise the conversation disappears. And our leadership are means. To us, leadership means being responsible for the conversation and keeping the conversation alive. And that's sensing and tracking on a periodic basis, weekly or monthly, whatever it shows up for you. Our vital one is relationship database engagement. That is where all the business comes from, 80% of it. And that's what everybody gets out of focus on is, is a look at the shiny objects. If it applies to that one item, it's a winner.
Luke Acree
It's so funny because I mean you're preaching my language like I literally like yeah, scream it from the rooftop, shout it to the people in the back. Our whole business reminder media as you know, like we've built our business off of helping agents keep in touch with their database because we saw such a gap in the market. Call it the loyalty gap where it's like agents do a phenomenal job usually pre close and a terrible job post close, like a terrible job in the follow up. Not because they're trying to, they just, they're focused on the next deal and not nurturing the sphere that they have. And they, they almost get like what I call is like commission breath and they treat all of their relationships as a transaction and not relational. And that's really where I mean, I'm kind of thankful for it in a way because our business now exists, you know, to solve that problem for real estate agents. But I'm curious if you can speak more into like how do you think about keeping in touch with your database? How do you actually, in practicality, if you're an agent like put into implementation, relationship driven, you know, business or not focusing on the transaction.
Lennox Scott
You're going to hear me coming up with statements that we are ingrained into our company. This next one is flipping the 8020 rule. We figured out how to flip IT and the 80:20 rule is 20% implement and they get 80% of the business or the majority of the business. What we're flipping that to 80% implement. And particularly on this one topic of keeping engaged with your database. So we set it up, our support team really stepped up our office support team to help our agents enter their names into our database. It wasn't going to happen other than that. And I signed a pledge. The name belongs to you, only your contact information and I'll never reassign it. And now we're up to 386,000 contacts in our database where we do the content, we send it out on their behalf, their photo, their contact information every single month. And that just sets the stage for personal engagement because the bit you know, you get one or two businesses pieces of business year out of every 100 in your database because they actually remember your name. Otherwise 70%, I think I've seen the research forget within one year and only 80, 15 to 20% of agents in the nation have a database. And so we want all of our agents to have a database and then do personal engagement on top of that because that's where the business comes from, is personal engagement. And that's how we set up the system.
Luke Acree
Yeah, it's so good. It's funny to me because I think, and this is a good note, Steven and Cody, on like the operational side of the just simple practicality of. I paid my team to, to enter in the names of the people into the database and then I promised the agent, hey, I'm not going to sell, I'm not going to, you know, trade your name to anybody else. But that I don't want the audience to miss the golden nugget of it's not some rocket scientist system. It's literally we will enter your names for you in the system and we will send out things and you actually force people to do it. At Reminder Media, we literally have like 17 people on staff. All they do all day long is help. Yeah, we call it list in photo. They call the agents that have signed up for our program just to help them get their list in their photo. So it literally hits home for me. You're going, yeah, you would think it's some great AI system, some great technological advance that we're doing. No, no, no. We're just, we're just trying to get a name and an address and put it in a system so we can send something to it. But those basics people fall down on.
Lennox Scott
And Luke, I'll just share something on top of that, you know, in conjunction with that. Is that all we asked for was a name and an email address? That was the beginning. We didn't ask for 10 things. We got the program started with a contact name and an email address and now we're filling it out. But for the first couple of years that's all we got and to have a database and then we've elevated it to a engagement activities. And I can go through those with you, some of the ones that are really working for us. But, but that's where we are now. So this was a two step approach to get to where we are today.
Luke Acree
It makes sense. Can you go into the content that you're sending and like the engagement things that you're doing and like how frequent, I'm curious, like how frequent are you touching them? The database?
Lennox Scott
Yeah, well, we have the monthly housing Update, and we do 40 of them. We're in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and just over the border into the Siskius in California. So we do 40 updates a month. And, and day one, we're not going to be doing them. Day 15, we do a day one market update. So it's relevant, exciting information. Break it out by price category within each area. And I do, and my daughter, with my daughter Savannah, we do a market comments and a little education on emotion graphics for, for our. Our database. But that just sets the stage. And then the engagement comes in. So we focused on one item and one item only. And that was happy home anniversary. We have 140,000 happy home anniversaries with our current brokers in the company. If we would just send a card and contact each of them, we would double our business. And because we're teaching the lost art of engagement and. And there's a great book out called Persuasion. It's all about front loading your conversation. So you send the card, which front loads your conversation. So it's a warm call. When you're calling into people, they feel really good about you calling it. Oh, I got your card and yeah, we've been doing well. And you can chat with them because you're in relationship. They haven't forgotten your name. You don't have to reintroduce yourself. Who are you? Why are you calling? No, they already know why you're calling and they know who you are. So we started with that and then we spread a couple other activities throughout the year.
Luke Acree
Yeah, that is funny.
Cody Acree
It's like focusing on the one thing that's so good. It's just taking one thing. You're going to implement it, implement it super well. And then you get your staff to do that as well. Like as it goes to the transaction, they put the anniversary date.
Lennox Scott
Yes. And our support team, again, they're just champs on this. They're now entering all of their happy home anniversaries, their past buyers into the system so that our, our system now activates it and tells them when to make the call, what card to send out or video, whatever they text, whatever they'd like to do.
Luke Acree
Okay.
Cody Acree
How many brokerages are you up to?
Luke Acree
Like how many places, how many offices? Locations?
Lennox Scott
Oh, we have a hundred, 107 locations.
Cody Acree
Okay. And like, what does the structure, like organizational chart look like for each one? I'm just curious because you said you have 17 staff putting them in. I'm trying to figure out. Yeah.
Lennox Scott
How to that point in our, in our setup Each, each office has a their support. One of their support team persons in that 107 locations would put the names in for, for that their team.
Luke Acree
Okay, that's awesome. Yeah. And did you find like from a like I look at it from like an agent productivity standpoint, do you find that you have to stay on the agents like that support person has to reach out constantly to the agent to get the info or have you built in where you don't have to get the agent to get you the data anymore? Because that is always the Achilles heel is trying to get the agent to input the necessary things. So have you found that like with the home anniversary date, that's something simple in the process you have that date when you're processing the transaction. That's why you've chosen that. Whereas maybe a birthday is a little harder to get or a kid's birthday is a little harder to get because that's where I think we get so many people that come on the show and they give so many good ideas. But in practicality of implementation is where it falls down. And if I'm picking up what you're laying, it seems to be very clear because you just said it too, Stephen. Oh, Linux has freaking dominated because he's not overthinking it. He's taking the very simple things that everybody should be doing and actually forcing it to be done.
Lennox Scott
Yeah, well I've seen research. If you focus on one item, you have an 82% chance of success. Two items, 54. Three items, eight.
Joshua Styke
Oh boy. So we're closing down some of our businesses.
Luke Acree
Oh gosh. That was the golden nugget of the episode.
Joshua Styke
Man, I gotta live by that.
Lennox Scott
And so too much is too much. More than one item at a time and it's skill mastery of that item. We're teaching the lost art of personal engagement. Most of the industry just doesn't do get involved. They don't have a database and they certainly don't engage because nobody remembers their name. They're not talking to anybody. This is the secret of this industry is having a database and engaging another item we engage on. And you can start out simple with your top 10 in your database. Do an annual home valuation for them, drop it off to their home, have a comp. They're either home or not. If they're not home, take a photo, text it to them and then make the call that it's the communication, the two way communication. We brought a psychologist into the company, Dr. Helen Chung, she came in, did two sessions about how we're all connected and about reciprocity, about looking out for one another. I'll send them referrals and resources for them to use in life, and they do the same for me. But it's all about that connectivity and walking in joy. What we're in business, we're in this, we're blessed to be in this industry to walk in joy with one another.
Steven Acree
Yeah, I love this conversation because it's all like system and operations based, which is always like, yeah, preach it. Because it all starts with the database. Like, it starts with keeping track of your people, knowing who you're working with, and following up with them in a systematic way. Which for you is like, hey, it's a home evaluation. It's a home anniversary. It's an easy way to track. So keeping it simple starts at, hey, what does your database look like? How many people do you have in there? Do you know the amount of people that you have? And basing your beginning numbers off of.
Lennox Scott
That sense and track how we're doing on that. We have a report by office, by individual agent about how many are in their database. What are they sending? Are they sending our monthly housing update, the seasonal campaign, their neighborhood campaign, whatever it might be just as a foundation, but that's not engagement. That's just so they remember your name. And then you can build on that to get to engagement. Because right now we need to outperform the market flat out. You know, there are 4 million transactions, resale transactions nationwide, not the normal 5, 5.2 million or the 6 million from year 2021. We're at 4 million. And so we need to get 50% of our business referrals from those in our database.
Luke Acree
Yeah.
Lennox Scott
So but you got to have a database and you got to have engagement periodically throughout the year to keep the reticular activation system triggered so that they'll look out for you, you look out for them. Yep.
Luke Acree
I don't want people to miss, because that's a key thing you've been saying, hey, it's all about this personal engagement. But sending the piece is just awareness. Like, it's just so they remember your name. But the engagement is actually the conversation. The engagement is actually the reach out, the communication with the client. And that's key. I don't want people to miss that. But that is what really obviously brings in the referral is you got to have them remember your name by sending the things, but you've got to outreach to the actual person that you're sending it to, have conversations with them because that's where the magic's made. I'm curious because you talked about the market, right? We got to outperform at 4 million. I'm curious where you see the market at right now. There's a lot of turmoil, right? There's a lot of debate going on, as you know, we don't have to get lost in the weeds of clear cooperation or the lawsuit, stuff like that. Everybody is. Is, you know, beat that to death. But I'm curious of how do you lead through turmoil? How do you lead through change? And what are you telling agents right now? Obviously, you got to engage with your sphere, but how do you keep them motivated? Like, how do you. Especially the ones that aren't closing, right? There's a lot of them that are not closing. And, you know, I don't know where your brokerage sits on that, but I've been talking to a lot of agents and a lot of them are not producing well.
Lennox Scott
The energy of our company is from our office leaders. They're just golden in our company to keep the energy going, keep the focus, you know, skill mastery. But real focus on business development activities because that's where business takes place. And then we practice our business with our presentations and skill mastery negotiations, all those items for that. So it's, it's right now we roll out books in our leadership team. We all read the. Or listen to the book on audible at 1.5 speed. We listen to them, yes. And then we have breakout discussion groups on it. Then the one we've pulled back off the bookshelf, I think was written in 2016. Is the book called Grit. We've been in this market for three years. Years. Three years. Everybody should get a badge, a grit badge. I got grip if they're doing the activities because that's where the markets put us into. And we will have this forever. These concepts are going to be so ingrained to us, this next generation of realtors that have come into the industry. If they're doing the activities, they've got the grip. And so with, yeah, we have a executive leadership team, just strategy meeting every month where we anticipate the market, we look at the next months ahead. You are talking about the market right now. This is a market where buyers can get a home and sellers can sell the home. That's the market we're in. It's not just lopsided one way or another. There's more balance in this market than before and transactions can take place. I got it. Sellers aren't getting premium pricing right now because the multiple offers Are, have come back off in those really hot areas from, from extreme frenzy back down to very strong. Very few multiple offers right now. But homes are selling and so it comes down to the seller motivation. What do they want to accomplish? Where, what's the destination community they're going to, what's taking place in that community so that they can buy. It's okay to buy and sell and say within same market timing, but I just got to know what it is so I can consult them. So I, I feel really good about the market for professionals, for those engaged and, and consultation is a higher value right now.
Luke Acree
Yeah. Especially because as information becomes more and more. What's the right word I'm looking for? Accessible. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's my. The thoris right here. You know, that's why I have you on the show, Josh. You got to give me all these words. Yeah. But as it becomes more accessible. Right. And as they say, knowledge is becoming free with AI, essentially what you still want is that guide. That person who can verify that, can give you that almost like affirmation of, yeah, I'm doing the right thing. Yeah, this is what I should be doing. And they're guiding you through the process. I'm curious like, you talk about having grit. I'm curious for you. You've been in for 49 years in the real estate business. You've seen a lot of ups and downs. Do you think like, like future of real estate? Do you see the real estate industry compressing? I just talked to the leaders of Next Home not too long ago and they were talking about. I think it was James who was telling me that. It's like, hey, look, there's a lot of agents in this business that shouldn't be in this business. There's going to see compression. Where do you see the industry in the next couple years? Just, I know it's, you know, theory, but where do you see the industry?
Lennox Scott
Well, of course, there's a lot of agents in the industry doing very little business if, if at all. That's what, 50 of the industry they're talking about.
Luke Acree
Yep.
Lennox Scott
They're over here. I'm focused in on the successful brokers and top producers. That's the programs we bring forward that those are the individuals that implement that are fully engaged with their client base. Their skill mastery, they keep improving. We have a concept, good to great, Great to greatness. Greatness is always walking in the conversation of excellence. I myself, personally, I go to every national speaker when they come into town. I could probably teach it right next to Them, but I go to them because I go through renewal, spirit, renew my affirmations, my approach of my energy.
Luke Acree
That's great.
Lennox Scott
So it's staying in the conversation and as we change with the markets. This is my fifth ten year cycle. Real estate goes in ten year cycles. This is the beginning of my fifth. So I have seen everything every which way except for this one's unique. Every time oil prices go up, interest rates go up, inflation prices, transactions go down and prices go down. Not this time. Prices went up because of the lock in effect of the 3% mortgages, keeping supply down. And in some markets the institutional investors have been taking up a lot of the inventory, which I don't appreciate, but they've also shortened up the supply.
Luke Acree
Yeah, it's, it's so, it's so interesting hearing you speak because there's such a certainty and confidence which I just appreciate so much because. And it's almost like I'm so focused in, when I'm asking you questions on the little nuances and you're, the way you're speaking, it's like no, no, no, that doesn't matter. It's good people doing good things constantly over and over again. And that's just so powerful. Like what I'm hearing from you going, no, I just, I focus on getting the best producers and making sure they're doing the right things that they should be doing every single day. And I'm going to keep going back to the basics again and again because that's what will win. And that is just so powerful because the temptation in my mind is to get to, well, what's the one thing I'm missing? Like what's the little piece of leadership that I don't have? And it's just interesting hearing how it's like every time I go to like, well, what's the. And you're just like, no, no, no. It's about you got to walk in excellence. You got to do the little task every single day, all day long. That's super powerful.
Lennox Scott
And schedule your success. We know getting brokers that are in our achievement group there aren't quite there yet. They're on their way up. Is scheduling your personal engagement, two sessions a week of two hours each. That's all it takes to get your database and do your engagement, schedule it and then perform your engagement throughout the week for that to help move forward. And our top producers, they're just out there doing it every day. And you know, we've, we've really helped over the years by having transaction Coordination centers that they can hire on a per transaction basis. If they get a personal assistant, I want to see their personal assistant helping out in business development activities. They still use the transaction center because otherwise they're taking up all their time on that when they. The real production increase for personal assistant is helping with their database and engagement activities. Here's the list to call today. That's where you get your real advancement. So the good producers are just going to do more in the future with the AI everything world that we're heading in Everything at the nanosecond. And, and that's. We. We've been prepping for that for years. We. I didn't know it was going to be called AI but we've anticipated this instant everything world.
Luke Acree
You thought it was going to be Skynet? You know, sky. That's what I thought I was going to be, you know. No, that makes, that makes so much sense. So you said your, your daughter's now in the business. Correct. So I'm curious because we're in a family business ourselves and so how you think about passing on business and can you share any succession tips or legacy planning tips that you've seen work well in your company?
Lennox Scott
You bet. It feels like I'm already working for her instead of the other way around, which is a good thing. But how we got here is that early on she was around company events helping with our foundation. We raised help raise money. Sponsorships for children's hospitals, for fundraisers. And then during college she became a personal assistant for a summer and I for one of our top brokers. And then the year after that. And then she worked with two of our top 1% brokers in the company of our 3,000. She worked for two of them and helped them move their business forward with database and things and then into sales. And now she heads up our number one item which is business engagement relationship database engagement. She's our director of that department. Coming up with these items around property tax cycle, around the housing forecast, the mid year forecast. We have five items a year. The office coordinated client appreciation event. Our top producers have their own but for the office they do an office coordinated one for that. So again we have five things, maybe six things a year for engagement periodically and we have a chart out on that and all of our office leaders and support team help support that.
Luke Acree
That. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna. We'll have to have. Have her on the show because I love to pick her brain because that's the world we're in is obviously in that engagement world. So I love to pick her brain, share ideas like, here's what we're seeing, working with what we're sending, you know, what are you seeing? But that's awesome. Yeah, for us it's been, you know, awesome. My family business is incredible because it's very valued based. There's a family feel, but there's also struggles with it because of family dynamic. Naturally there's struggles there. But also in the long run, how do you, you know, plan for the future? You want to be a company that lasts 100 years and that's a company that outlasts you. And if that means you have to be a values driven company and values will drive results. But there's a difference between being a results driven company and a values driven company is what I'm learning. When you're, when you're results driven and focus on revenue and sales and KPIs, it's great. But sometimes you gotta do things that don't necessarily drive the revenue because if you just focus on revenue, you're stepping over a dollar to get a dime type idea. And so you have to be a values driven company to last the test of time.
Lennox Scott
So another expression for you, manage to budget lead to greatness. So it doesn't cost you any money to lead to greatness. It's just moving the, keeping the conversation alive and moving it forward, keeping it focused. And Savannah, she's already involved with our young professional group, our diversity committee, our foundation. She's working with our office leaders and support team on our number one initiative which is relationship database engagement. She's graduating in two weeks. Her executive MBA program from the University of Washington, the foster school there. So she involved with the Realtor organization. So much energy. I'm just excited for her and her, her teammates and just for the company moving forward.
Luke Acree
Yeah, that's awesome.
Joshua Styke
Lennox, this has been amazing. Thank you so much. It's no wonder after listening to you speak just for 30 minutes, why you are leading one of the most respected brands here in the world. Before we close out, let people know how they can connect with you.
Lennox Scott
Well, my email address is lenox le n n o x lenox@john l scott.com and our website is john l.scott.com awesome.
Joshua Styke
Thank you. And thank you Cody and Stephen for joining us. Thank you all so much for listening. You can dive deeper into this episode. Get any of the links or resources that we mentioned as well as the video over@staypaid podcast.com if you enjoyed this episode and want to show you support, head on over to Apple podcast Spotify. Drop us a five star review and leave us a comment. We'll read it here on the show. If you want to get hold of me or Luke, you can email us@podcastmindermedia.com follow us on social media. We are at Stay Paid podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Styke.
Luke Acree
And I'm Luke Acree. Linux man. It's a pleasure. I can't wait to have you back. I'm gonna already, you know, throw that out there to hopefully plant the seed to have you back. I'm engaging with you to have your back. So here's my action item for everybody listening to this, right? Because you, you just heard a legend speak. Been in the business for a very long time. Thousands and thousands of agents, extremely successful. And notice how what he talks about was the basics. And I would challenge all of you guys today. Are you connecting with your clients on their home sale anniversary? That's a date you should have and it's a way for you to engage. It's a way for you to connect. It's an action item that you can literally today, of all the things you've heard over this 30 minute show, you can actually put that into action and it's not hard to do. So I want to challenge all of you. Go find the home sale anniversary of all your clients, get that into your database and set up the cards going out or set up the text message going to be sent or the phone call activity you have to make. Remember, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. Take action on that today.
Title: What 3000+ Agents Taught Lennox Scott About Longevity
Hosted by: Luke Acree and Joshua Styke
Guest: Lennox Scott, Third Generation Chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate
Release Date: July 14, 2025
In this insightful episode of the Stay Paid Podcast, hosts Luke Acree and Joshua Styke welcome Lennox Scott, the third-generation Chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. With over 94 years in the industry and leadership overseeing more than 3,000 brokers across 100 offices, Lennox shares invaluable lessons on building a sustainable and enduring real estate business.
Lennox Scott delves into the foundational principles that have sustained John L. Scott Real Estate for nearly a century. Highlighting the importance of anticipation and technology adoption, he emphasizes staying ahead of industry trends to ensure long-term success.
Anticipation and Technology:
"We've always looked forward to adopting technology as we move forward." [03:32]
Leadership Across Generations:
"Our daughter is going to be the fourth generation leader. She's already in the company working on major topics of implementation." [02:31]
A central theme of the conversation is the "Vital One" principle—prioritizing relationship database engagement to drive 80% of business.
Flipping the 80/20 Rule:
"We figured out how to flip it. The 80/20 rule is now 80% implement and 20% implement." [06:49]
Database Management:
Lennox discusses the practical steps John L. Scott Real Estate takes to maintain and engage their extensive database:
"We have 386,000 contacts in our database where we do the content, we send it out on their behalf... This sets the stage for personal engagement." [05:36]
Lennox emphasizes that effective engagement doesn't require complex systems but rather consistent, simple actions:
Ease of Implementation:
"It's not some rocket scientist system. It's literally we will enter your names for you in the system and we will send out things." [09:29]
Support Structures:
Each office has support personnel responsible for data entry, reducing the burden on agents and ensuring that database management is seamless.
"Each office has their support team... entering all of their happy home anniversaries." [12:34]
The episode highlights the importance of focusing on one engagement activity at a time to ensure mastery and higher success rates.
Focused Implementation:
"If you focus on one item, you have an 82% chance of success. Two items, 54%. Three items, eight%." [14:19]
Skill Mastery:
By concentrating efforts on specific engagement activities, agents can build stronger relationships and generate more consistent business.
"Most of the industry just doesn't get involved. They don't engage because nobody remembers their name." [14:39]
Lennox shares strategies for maintaining leadership and guiding agents through fluctuating market conditions.
Energy and Focus:
The company’s energy stems from its office leaders who maintain focus on business development and skill mastery.
"The energy of our company is from our office leaders... focus on business development activities because that's where business takes place." [18:47]
Adaptability:
Lennox discusses adapting to current market trends, emphasizing balanced transactions and informed consultation to meet client needs.
"Sellers aren't getting premium pricing right now... It's okay to buy and sell and say within the same market timing." [20:10]
Transitioning leadership to the next generation is crucial for sustaining the business beyond the current generation.
Next Generation Leadership:
Lennox’s daughter, Savannah, is actively involved in the company, overseeing relationship database engagement and contributing to strategic initiatives.
"Savannah is already involved with our young professional group, our diversity committee, our foundation." [29:30]
Legacy and Values:
Emphasizing the importance of a values-driven approach, Lennox ensures that the company's culture and operational excellence are preserved.
"A values-driven company lasts the test of time." [29:30]
The hosts conclude the episode with practical steps listeners can implement to enhance their own business:
Engage on Home Sale Anniversaries:
Lennox challenges agents to connect with clients on their home sale anniversaries as a simple yet effective engagement strategy.
"Are you connecting with your clients on their home sale anniversary? That's a date you should have and it's a way for you to engage." [31:13]
Consistent Personal Engagement:
Encourage agents to schedule regular engagement activities to keep their reticular activation system triggered, ensuring clients think of them first.
"Scheduling your personal engagement... that's all it takes to get your database and do your engagement." [24:57]
"We're teaching the lost art of personal engagement."
Lennox Scott [14:39]
"The difference between top producers and mediocre producers... is top producers take action."
Luke Acree [31:13]
"We're fully engaged with our client base. Their skill mastery, they keep improving."
Lennox Scott [18:47]
This episode of the Stay Paid Podcast offers a deep dive into the enduring success strategies of one of the nation's leading real estate brands. Lennox Scott’s emphasis on relationship management, focused implementation, and values-driven leadership provides actionable insights for agents and entrepreneurs aiming to build sustainable businesses. By prioritizing consistent engagement and mastering essential skills, listeners can elevate their practices and achieve long-term growth and freedom.
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