Every year, RealTrends chooses GameChangers based on five-year, transaction side percentage data from the RealTrends 500. This year, we chose seven independent brokerage firms and 10 franchises who grew their businesses at astronomical rates.
In analyzing this list of top-growth brokerages, these GameChangers grew their brokers in multiple different ways — from mergers and acquisitions to recruiting and coaching and retention.
As CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties Group in Houston, Texas, Stacy Mathews brought about 342% growth between 2017-2021 by transaction side percentage to be named a 2022 RealTrends GameChanger.
RealTrends spoke with Mathews about the growth of his brokerage:
Tracey Velt: What was your biggest aha moment or lessons learned while building your firm?
Stacy Mathews: The biggest AHA moment and lesson learned is that the leadership team believes 100% in the name recognition and benefits of belonging to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. However, that is a fact not always believed by the agent population.
Tracey Velt: In the past five years, what percentage of your growth was organic and what percentage was mergers and acquisitions?
Stacy Mathews: About 40% of our growth was organic. The remaining 60% was through a merger. We had the opportunity to fold in a large BHHS franchise that had offices in Houston, Tyler, Lubbock, Amarillo and Austin. This opportunity increased our presence in one of our existing offices and gave us an opportunity to buy an office to roll into Lubbock.
Obviously, the M&A was the opportunity we needed, but the additional agents added to our growth.
Tracey Velt: Moving forward, what is your main focus for growth?
Stacy Mathews: Like many brokers, our main focus for growth is with recruiting and agent productivity. Our target for agent growth is 40% for 2022.
