Two of the nation’s largest independent brokerages have teamed up in a multi-year marketing alliance, saying the model could provide a blueprint for other independent brokerages facing consolidation pressures.
As brokerage consolidation accelerates across the industry, Brown Harris Stevens and the First Team have chosen a different path. It’s a multi-year marketing partnership designed to expand reach and share a pool of buyers without a merger or acquisition.
The partnership brings together two of the nation’s largest independent brokerage firms with more than 5,000 agents in more than 70 offices in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, California, Arizona and Washington. Both companies are members of the world’s leading real estate companies.
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The partnership grew out of an unexpected conversation at an Inman event where Brown Harris Stevens Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Leone and First Team Vice President of Marketing Lauren Hens met at a pop-up recording studio.
“I don’t think we even planned it, but we talked for about 45 minutes,” Leone said.
Matthew Leone
From those conversations, a strategy emerged to build cross-marketing efforts, shared advertising, public relations, and referral networks without the structural changes associated with integration.
“We don’t need to cooperate through M&A,” Leone said. “We have been able to work together through like-minded thought leadership, collaboration, and collaborative marketing strategies to best serve our clients.”
Leone said the partnership is also aimed at directly countering the fragmentation of private listings, which has been a growing topic of discussion in the industry, including the rise of off-market listing networks.
“In trying to expand the buyer pool and expose as much of the available inventory as possible, it goes against the trend of private listings and network fragmentation that is currently occurring within the industry,” he said.
Lauren Hens
Hens said independence gives both companies significant operational advantages not matched by franchised brokerages.
“When Matt and I need to do a marketing campaign or something that benefits them, we don’t have to get board approval or anything and we can make every penny,” she said.
This agility allows the two companies to accomplish things that large brokerages cannot, Hens said.
“We are still [providing] “We provide boutique-level services to our agents, but with scalability that larger brokerages cannot offer,” she said. We do it for agents. ”
Both executives said the partnership is intended to serve as a model for other independent companies considering their options as pressure to consolidate increases.
“Consolidation is not the only option going forward, because we have two growing private brokerage firms that are making decisions in hopes of creating a template for how other brokerages can operate for years to come,” Leone said.
Hens simply said, “It’s not about integration, it’s about collaboration.”
Beth Friedman, CEO of BHS, said in a statement that the partnership expands services at a time when consolidation limits options for buyers, sellers and agents. FirstTeam CEO Michelle Harrington said brokerages focused on long-term growth need to find ways to collaborate rather than compete.
Hens sent the following direct message to agents of both companies: “Get ready, because this is the best of both worlds.”
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