Noticing a drop off in engagement on Zoom meetings, Fiona Petrie, Executive Vice President & Managing Director of U.S. Operations for RE/MAX Integra, researched ways she could combat Zoom fatigue. Plus, she tells us how they completed an acquisition using the virtual conferencing platform.
Today’s REAL Trending features an interview with Fiona Petrie, Executive Vice President & Managing Director of U.S. Operations for RE/MAX Integra who talks about ways to combat Zoom fatigue with just a few small tweaks. It’s not always about dressing up and playing games. Plus, she shares her lessons learned from a recent conversion of an independent into the RE/MAX Integra family that was done completely virtual.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: You had an acquisition during COVID-19 that was completely virtual on Zoom. Tell me about the process and lessons learned.
Fiona Petrie: Zoom accelerated the process with a recent acquisition. We had a conversion of an independent company in Rhode Island. I met them in February 2020 at our annual convention, and I haven’t seen them since. We were able to successfully convert them to RE/MAX during COVID-19. We kept putting off the announcement date of this conversion. So we finally said, we just can’t delay this anymore. I think we delayed it three times.
We finally said, “We’ve got to do this virtually.” It was the first one we’d ever done. Imagine, you’ve owned this independent for years, your agents mean everything to you. Now you’re telling them that they’re switching the company that they’ve aligned themselves with a new brand. The agents haven’t been through the process you have to see inside RE/MAX. So they made the announcement that there was going to be a Zoom office meeting and that it was very important that they attend. Then, they had fun with it.
REAL Trending features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Victoria Wickham.
