Words of Wisdom

By Mercedes Santiago, MoxiWorks Marketing Coordinator

We’ve read countless articles on tips to work from home, and plenty of webinars on the adapting state of our world: How to set up your home office, how the industry is changing, and what’s to come… Each are just as important as the next, but with the immense amount of content being pushed out to you virtually, it’s easy to miss the valuable words from industry leaders.

We’ve compiled some of the valuable quotes and conversations all in one spot for you. It’s time to focus on the future and recovery, and these industry leaders quoted below bring just that.

MoxiWorks’ CEO, York Baur, brought together four industry leaders in our space to talk about that state of the industry, what they’re doing and what they’ll continue to do moving forward. You can listen to the full conversation right here. In the video, CEO of Ebby Halliday, Chris Kelly, gives his two cents on what he’s learned through this pandemic.

“Definitive communication has been key for us and will continue to be moving forward. Covid-19 has allowed people to dive back into deep connections with one another. When we get to the back side of this health crisis, all of our spears are going to be sharpened as to how we understand the importance of relationships. Just focus on being a helper right now.”
– Chris Kelly, CEO, Ebby Halliday

We can all agree in our personal lives along with business, communication has increased in unorthodox ways. The unexpected result of virtual communication has improved relationships, productivity, and business cultures. Kelly stated how he rarely was able to take part in sales meetings with the role of CEO, but virtually, he now attends 3 a morning and is able to drop in virtually with ease. Going forward, communication isn’t going to return to what is was, and frankly we don’t want it to.

We had the opportunity to talk with Dan Forsman of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties recently. He said,

“The law of inertia: an object at rest stays at rest, until it meets a CEO who is passionate about their agents going to the next level.”
– Dan Forsman, BHHS Georgia Properties

We love the passion behind Forsman’s take on Newtown’s First Law. He believes strongly in not only running a successful brokerage, but in helping his agents continue to push forward and move up in their careers. Forsman takes training and coaching very seriously to ensure that his agents. Managers, and even himself do not stay at rest and are constantly evolving and growing. You can listen to their full conversation here (tag the video).

Our podcast REAL with MoxiWorks had Hoby Hanna, President of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services as a guest this past week, which you can give a listen to right here. York and Hanna discussed how we can turn fear into action, covid-19 related and non covid-19 related.

“I’m a believer that leaders need to emerge and say, ‘let’s take advantage of what we’ve learned.’ We may be doing virtual showings for the rest of our lives… people might prefer narrowing down their search virtually to 2 or 3 houses before they step outside and view them. Things have changed, and people need to get out of their shell and adjust to the new normal.”
– Howard W. “Hoby” Hanna, IV, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

We applaud Hanna in understanding the realistic view of how things simply won’t go back to how they were. Like always, the future doesn’t look exactly like the past, and this situation is no different. Instead of mourning in our past business-norm, let’s get excited and motivated about the opportunities that are now arising.

On an earlier podcast, we interviewed Jeff Detwiler on the topic “Leading Through the Cycle of a Crisis”. Both Baur and Detwiler have experienced multiple downturns thanks to being a long-time member of the industry, and have advice that remains prevalent for past downturns, current, and one’s going forward. Detwiler says,

“You must stay connected and keep your agents focused to avoid fatigue. You do that by trying to diminish the fear that all of us have during a crisis. The medical, the financial, the personal… We need to eliminate uncertainty and build their confidence up in doing so. It’s all about attitude and staying connected.”
– Jeff Detwiler, Long and Foster

It’s important as leaders to instill calm and security in your agents, and Detwiler is doing just that. Not only does this help during a crisis, but during recovery… Instead of feeling like rock bottom, agents have a strong base to build back up and continue on.

This situation is new for everyone, whether your brand new in the industry or a veteran. We’ve been affected at a personal level, business level, and emotional level. While this situation is unlike any before, it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from the past and get motivated by other leaders who have valuable words to share.

You can find more thought leadership under the links above, or simply head to our covid-19 recovery page at moxiworks.com.