To achieve growth goals, Duffy says, brokers will need to break out of the mold and be creative in their approach, keeping “strategic subway maps” at the forefront. told participants in New York.
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New Zealand Blackfoyles driver Peter Burling doesn’t win races by following the pack, he wins by looking at things from a different perspective. That’s the message United Real Estate founder and CEO Dan Duffy wants agents and brokers who leave Inman Connect New York to take home with them this week.
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The CEO showed footage of the New Zealand team’s recent victory in an international hydrofoil race. The Black Foyles started the race far away from the other teams who had gathered together to protect them from the wind, but still achieved a perfect finish.
Dan Duffy
“[Burling] I said forget it,” Duffy told the crowd. “I’m going to go a long way from here and start the race differently.
“They never caught up to him. They never got close.”
The idea of thinking differently than others in the industry is a core value at United Real Estate, and Duffy said the family of real estate brands has grown approximately 735% over the past five years, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. I believe that I have contributed to this. .
As part of this mindset, brokers and team leaders need to think about how their customers spend their day and how they can better serve those customers.
For Duffy and the United leadership team, that means thinking about how agents spend their time each day and how leadership can help agents do their jobs more effectively.
Corporate evolution doesn’t happen overnight, Duffy reminded the Inman Connect audience. It is a very gradual process and sometimes there will be periods of stagnation.
Duffy said the real estate industry was stagnant for decades until it gained momentum in recent years and billions of dollars were poured into industry-disrupting products.
Mr. Duffy examines the effects of catastrophic climate change over the course of Earth’s history on companies and events that have disrupted the real estate industry in recent years, including Homes.com, Compass, and Zillow, as well as the Antitrust Commission’s lawsuits. I likened it.
“Instead of these events…these companies have actively created an environment where certain models…win and lose,” Duffy said.
“When things like this happen, you have to think differently…and for those who think differently…it’s a great opportunity.”
Dan Duffy’s slides about industry-disrupting real estate companies |Credit: Dan Duffy
Duffy’s method for dealing with industry disruption while driving United Real Estate’s own growth is creating what he calls a “strategic subway map” that helps the company plan its actions toward achieving its goals. It was to do.
“We need a strategic subway map,” Duffy urged other brokers.
Thanks to Subway Maps, the company was able to increase the number of agents from approximately 2,500 in the first quarter of 2011 to approximately 25,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024.
As part of the plan, the company also needed to implement a step function to achieve systematic growth, Duffy said.
“You get results like this, but it doesn’t happen quickly,” he said. “You have to have a long-term strategic plan so you can see things and do things so you can get to your destination.”
Near the end of the presentation, Duffy gave the audience an example of how to put different thinking into action, which he shared in a slide.
Dan Duffy’s 10 Practical Techniques to Change Your Mindset |Credit: Dan Duffy
From taking the opposite position from a popular position to moving people within the company about once every three years (Duffy says most people are ready to defend the status quo in their position by the third year). ), the CEO suggested 10 ways to help agents. And brokers switch things up to think differently.
Duffy also showed a chart showing the disproportionately large share of high-tech companies in the US compared to other parts of the world, which reflects how much venture capital is willing to bet on the growth of new ideas in this country. He said that it represents something. The appetite for gambling could present a great opportunity for brokers, Duffy said.
“America as a culture will take capital and take risks on new ideas,” Duffy said.
“Venture capital firms are going to back you, and you have to think about the fact that you’re blessed…you have a chance to grab that dynamo.”
Email Lillian Dickerson
