- 3 days ago
In this episode of the RealTrending Podcast, Wendy Forsythe, CMO of eXp Realty, discusses the evolution of real estate teams, the challenges of scaling and the importance of technology and profitability. She emphasizes the shift in mindset from traditional agent roles to team leaders acting as CEOs, focusing on holistic success and lifestyle balance. The conversation also highlights emerging trends and the future of team leadership in the real estate industry.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Teams have evolved significantly over the years.
New agents joining teams are more likely to succeed.
Scaling teams requires understanding operational efficiencies.
Profit per person is a crucial metric for success.
Team leaders must balance support and profitability.
Automation and technology are essential for modern teams.
Emerging trends include content creation and remote operations.
To learn more about Homebot visit homebot.ai
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Teams have evolved significantly over the years.
New agents joining teams are more likely to succeed.
Scaling teams requires understanding operational efficiencies.
Profit per person is a crucial metric for success.
Team leaders must balance support and profitability.
Automation and technology are essential for modern teams.
Emerging trends include content creation and remote operations.
To learn more about Homebot visit homebot.ai
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The idea of a team has evolved so much over the years. I mean, we've seen everything from
00:17the two-person family team to, you know, the downlines teams or the coaching teams.
00:24And today, my guest is Wendy Forsythe. She's the chief marketing officer of eXp Realty,
00:31and she's seen it all. So we talk a lot about the evolution of a team, and she offers some
00:37really interesting insight into what a team could look like in the future and some ideas for team
00:45leaders now who maybe want to structure their team a little bit differently. So enjoy the podcast.
00:51And thank you so much to HomeBot for sponsoring this episode of The Real Trending Podcast.
00:57Wendy, welcome to The Real Trending Podcast.
01:01Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.
01:03Yeah, it's always a great time talking to you. I really appreciate you coming on.
01:07And on our phone call, we kind of talked about all things teams. So I want to start out with
01:13just a little bit of like at eXp, you see teams of all sizes and all different markets.
01:19What do you think really separates the teams that scale cleanly from the ones who kind of hit a
01:26ceiling and stall? Yeah, I mean, we see teams of all shapes and sizes, as you said, and teams continue
01:34to evolve. And when we think back, say it like a decade ago, we questioned, you know, what would the
01:42future of teams look like? And I think, you know, we can definitely say teams have changed the industry
01:50and teams are here to stay in the industry. And we have the data that shows that teams are just
02:00making such a difference in the individual agents' life. We know that our agents on teams have a
02:11greater likelihood of success. So new agents joining the industry, if they're joining a team,
02:18they have a greater likelihood of success, and they have a greater chance of being more productive.
02:23So not only are they, you know, doing, you know, staying in the business longer, but they are doing
02:28more business. So, you know, when we think of, you know, scaling operational leadership early on
02:37makes a huge difference in how a team ends up scaling. Yeah. Does eXp, you know, how do you work
02:46with them specifically to scale? Not every team wants to scale, and they all want to scale differently,
02:52right? So what is it that you do at the very beginning to kind of help them with their direction?
03:00Yeah. One of the things that, you know, we do, one of the programs that we help them to figure that
03:08out with that's been hugely successful is called Team Leader Academy. And that's working directly with
03:16the team leader to figure out what you just said. You know, kind of like, now that you're a team leader,
03:21what does that mean? And what does that look like? Because the evolution of teams has really
03:29changed. You know, it used to be that, like, I'm a team leader, because I was a really good solo agent
03:36that got so busy, that I wanted help. So okay, now I'm going to be a team leader, I'm going to bring on
03:44maybe a buyer's agent, a couple's buyer's agent, to kind of, you know, help me with all the leads I
03:50have, all of the business that I have. And now I'm a team leader. Well, that was kind of like phase
03:57one. And for most people that got into being a team leader, because of that, it didn't go so well.
04:04And that, you know, just, it just doesn't work. So I think the evolution is, well, now, what does that
04:13mean to be a team leader who wants to scale, right, really grow a team. So our Team Leader Academy
04:22helps our team leaders figure out that transition from being a solo producer, to being a small team,
04:31to being a midsize team, to being a large team, to being an enterprise team. And there's all different,
04:38you know, phases of that. And there's a great saying that John Cheplek uses that there's a devil at every
04:48level. So every level that you're scaling a team, there are devils that we need to work through. And that's one
04:56of the things that our Team Leader Academy helps our team leaders identify with is what are the
05:02operational efficiencies and systems you need to have in place to scale through the different levels
05:09that you're aspiring through as you are scaling your team. Yeah, I know, you know, even when I was
05:15at Real Trends before Housing Wire purchased them, just the rankings, we have gone through so many
05:21iterations of what are the definition of a team is. And I think this year, they've even changed it a
05:27little bit more. And so you've seen those evolve from the small partnerships to enterprise, like
05:34full-blown enterprises. What do you see as the single biggest shift in how teams operate today
05:41compared to 10 years ago? You've been in the business for a long time. What is it that you've seen?
05:47Yeah, I really think it's a mindset shift. And I think the word and the phrase that you used,
05:54like enterprise, like teams are really mini brokerages. And we've used that phrase and we've
06:01talked about how, you know, teams have become sort of a mini brokerage within a brokerage for a long
06:07time. But the mindset shift and the pivot that I think that has really happened is that teams are
06:15are building not just volume, they're building enterprise value. So these mini brokerages,
06:23these teams within our brokerages are building their own enterprise value. And that is really a
06:30mindset pivot that we've seen these large mega teams and enterprise teams, which is one of the new
06:40categories that real trends is introducing. And that is because of the scale and the magnitude
06:46and the types of really businesses that these large teams are building and have built. It is a very
06:56different scale and very different operational mindset that these team leaders are running their
07:04teams by. Yeah, I mean, it is amazing to me, the transition that I've seen with these enterprise
07:10teams, especially, I mean, sometimes they have their own ancillary services. You know, they they are,
07:17well, they call them a teamerage if they're actually a brokerage, but they aren't brokerages, but they run
07:23much like one. You know, and how do you think the future is really the top production is team based? Or are we
07:31heading toward like a different model altogether? I think it is team based, but it's, it's a different
07:37type of team based model than maybe what we've thought of in the past, or maybe even what many
07:43people think of today. And I think that we're just touching on it in this conversation of mega and
07:50enterprise value teams and what that looks like. And that is a new concept for many people. And there's
07:59really only, you know, a handful of those true, you know, enterprise type teams across the country.
08:06And, you know, we're seeing them evolve. And when we think of the, you know, whistle beer team here
08:13at EXP, that's a great example of one of those sort of true, you know, enterprise value teams,
08:19they are running at such a high level brokerage, and they are running sort of teams within their team.
08:28And what makes them extraordinary is they are producing in their local San Diego market at a
08:36very high level. They are teaching and leading their team members underneath their production team and
08:47underneath their geographic team, which is spread across the country, how to produce at very high
08:54levels. And I think that that is another one of those pivots of what it means to lead a team is
09:01it's no longer confined to a local geographic market. We're now leading teams across countries
09:09and across the globe. And that is another sort of true change of what it means to leverage and lead
09:18a team that I think a lot of people when they think of being a team leader, still think very local.
09:27And today's mindset is becoming much more global in what that leadership can look like.
09:33Yeah, I interviewed and I'm drawing a blank at the name of the team. But I'm always fascinated when
09:39I interview EXP teams, because they are so many different variations. And the one that I interviewed,
09:46they were both top producing agents who had a team, each had a team, they team up together,
09:55plus their downline team that they coach. And it's just fascinating to me, like the different ways to
10:03comprise a team. And they were very, very successful at what they were doing. And it was really interesting,
10:09because their team members who were just on the downline were all very successful and they loved
10:17the coaching. So it's really interesting how much it's evolved over the years.
10:24It is. And it's one of the reasons that we continue to see our production per person on teams continue to
10:31rise because our team leaders and team members are pouring that skill set that they have into each
10:41other. And it's that like sort of rising tide, right? Lifts all the boats, right? So they're out there
10:48front lines, you know, knowing what's happening in the market, but then they're sharing that experience
10:55with one another, those strategies with one another, and then going out there and executing
11:00and implementing with one another, which ultimately benefits the consumer, but it benefits one another.
11:07And it's, it's truly a gift that they're so willing to share their playbooks across markets,
11:13as I said, across even the globe. And we see that in the results. And we see that in an increasing
11:20production per person. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. Do you feel like
11:24technology has changed a high performing team, like has helped that team model really evolve?
11:33And what do you think that looks like in this year, 2026? Yeah, I mean, technology is definitely
11:40having an impact. I mean, in everything that we do, right, it allows us to introduce leverage to that.
11:49And that's everything from, you know, using AI, which, of course, how could we have a conversation
11:56without talking about AI?
11:58Yeah. So we're seeing, we're seeing our teams, you know, add in AI for, you know, operational
12:06efficiencies. So like, that is a tremendous focus that, you know, anyone operating a business
12:14has to be looking at AI from an operational efficiency perspective. And I think one of the
12:21things that we've really been focusing on is a metric that I don't think gets enough attention,
12:28but that is so key. And that is looking at profit per person on your team, and not just production
12:37per person. You know, we always talk about PPP, right? What's your production per person? And I
12:42just finished talking about it, right? But, you know, one of the unsung KPIs that we need to look at is
12:50profit per person. And I think that is where technology and really looking at, are we introducing,
12:57particularly AI, to help leverage operational efficiencies that can improve profit per person?
13:06Because in today's world, if we're not really driving at profit per person, you know, that's going
13:14to be a problem. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you know, teams have better margins than brokerages,
13:21basically, mostly because of the leads. But how are smart teams really rethinking their economics,
13:28their splits, their leverage, their staffing, to keep that profit per person high?
13:33One of the things we talk about with our teams and really help them work through is what I call hybrid
13:39leverage, right? So you mentioned leads. And that's certainly like part of it. But one of the
13:46things that agents who join a team are looking for is support. And they're looking for typically
13:52more support from a team leader. So it goes back to the conversation we were just having about profit per
13:59transaction. So as a team leader, typically where it gets challenging for them is how am I managing
14:06profit per transaction and providing the support that my team agents are looking for? And now how am I
14:15balancing that equation? And oftentimes where team leaders get themselves into trouble or a challenging
14:22situation is as volume goes up and transactions go up and agent count on their team goes up. A lot of times
14:31then that profit per transaction goes down because they start adding more services. So they're trying
14:38to keep their agents and team agents happy. They're scaling and so they start adding and adding and adding
14:45and then that profit per transaction happens. So that's where the notion of hybrid leverage can get added
14:52into that. So that is AI, that's virtual assistants, that is automation, that's fractional roles. I mean,
15:00we're in a world where you don't need maybe a full-time COO when you get into kind of that like highly
15:09scaled enterprise sort of team, but a fractional COO is a great option. A fractional CMO is a great
15:17option. So those are the types of options that we see that allows you a really good sort of hybrid
15:25leverage. And those are great ways to provide amazing value, but also keep that equation of
15:36profit per transaction where you need it to be. Yeah, absolutely. And what do you see as the biggest
15:42mistakes that team leaders make as they try to scale? Losing sight of profit per transaction,
15:48right? Like losing sight of the key KPIs of the business because they're scaling so fast.
15:56And I call them the vanity part of our business. And we at the core all started out as real estate
16:05agents with that sort of vanity ego for the production and the top line numbers, right?
16:13So when we get into volume, agent count, all of those things are the vanity numbers. But when we
16:22lose sight of the bottom line numbers, those are the mistakes that I see team leaders make. And that's
16:31when we see things get a little off track and can get team leaders into challenging times. And that's where
16:38we see sort of teams fall apart, right? Is when it just, it goes off the rails and we still see that,
16:47right? We still see teams that like don't make it and fall apart and have to be rebuilt. Or we see
16:55team leaders say, this isn't for me. I'm going to go back to be a solo agent. And that goes back to one
17:01of your early, earlier questions is a team leaders got to know like, what is their goal as a team leader? What is
17:09their vision? And they've got to really stay true to that as they're building through various phases. Not
17:16everybody wants to be a mega team and enterprise team. So you got to understand what success looked like for you.
17:22Yeah, absolutely. Um, so how are recruiting and retention changing inside teams? Um,
17:28especially as more agents are questioning like traditional career of being a solo agent or
17:33just joining a team and not moving on from there. Yeah, I think that it is leaning a lot more towards
17:42what we would normally call the softer skills. So a lot more conversation and focus around leadership
17:50and lifestyle, right? It's not all just leads tools production. I think agents are really looking
18:00towards their team leaders to help them, um, really paint that vision for a more sort of holistic
18:11vision of what success looks like for them. So like, what is, what does my lifestyle looks like?
18:17What is the goal for the, you know, sort of the, my family and my hobbies? And like,
18:24I don't want to just work 16 hours a day, right? Like we talk about lifestyle business, right? A lot of
18:31people get into real estate because they want a lifestyle business and then they get into real
18:37estate. And all we talk about is this hustle culture of like hustle and the grind and we get to go and go,
18:44go, go, go, go. And I think that there is definitely been a shift of a more sort of balanced approach to
18:53that. And I think that team leaders, um, have a responsibility and a lot of team agents are
19:00looking to team leaders to set that vision of leadership that is more aligned with a culture of
19:08lifestyle, a culture of what does balance mean for me, a culture of like, I don't need to be
19:15on 24 seven and that's okay. I can still be incredibly successful and success doesn't mean that
19:24I'm somehow less because I'm not constantly in this hustle mode all the time. And there, there,
19:31you know, there's a lot of talk, I think about that in, um, in, you know, if you just watch along
19:38on social media, I think you'll, you'll see a lot of the large teams are definitely talking a lot about
19:44that. Yeah, absolutely. And, um, it's so kind of in tandem to that question, how do you see the team
19:51leader role evolving, you know, more Rainbaker, more CEO, more, you know, something entirely new?
19:58Yeah. I think that it really is that visionary CEO, like the team leader is the CEO. They are that
20:08person who is painting the vision of that brokerage within the brokerage, that team, that organization,
20:17and they are looked at at a very high pedestal. I mean, their team agents, their team organization
20:26are following that person, they are setting the standard. So definitely that visionary,
20:32I see those team leaders very much in that visionary, in that CEO role in setting that,
20:40that tone. And I think that the days of just, you know, the, the team leader being the Rainmaker,
20:48being the one that's out there bringing in the leads and doing the deals. Um, I think we've progressed
20:54far beyond that, even in the smaller teams, even in the, you know, 10, 25, you know, agent teams,
21:02that team leader role has been elevated to a much higher status. And I think that's really great for
21:10our industry. Cause I think that's how we create change and we create elevation in our industry is
21:17by having those leaders of teams of all different sizes, step forward and elevate our industry. So
21:25I'm really excited to see that. It also helps with the value of a team. Um, you know, I've talked to
21:31Scott Wright at real trends all the time about, um, they valued teams. And when you're, when you're not
21:39the Rainmaker, when the team leader is not the Rainmaker, um, teams are more valuable because you
21:45lose the Rainmaker, you lose the team. Um, and so I do, I feel like that's shifting as well to
21:51more of like the CEO role and not necessarily the Rainmaker role in teams too. So yeah. Um,
21:59and so what trends do you see that are really underappreciated, but likely to reshape team
22:05structures, um, moving forward? There's a few trends that I see. One is what I call micro specialization.
22:13And these are roles that again, uh, may not be full-time roles within a team, but roles to help
22:22the team members. So things like content or media leads. So when we think about, you know,
22:30the world of content these days, I mean, we are all content creators and, uh, you know, the world of
22:39online media is so important to brand building to our team leads, to our team agents, you know,
22:46agents need help with that. So that is definitely, you know, a role that a few years ago, we wouldn't
22:53have thought within sort of the ecosystem of a team that was needed, but it's definitely, you know,
23:01needed. We see teams with full content arms as part of the team value proposition. You know,
23:08you want the, the digital team, you want the videographer, you want the editors, you want the
23:14social media strategist, you want the paid, uh, you know, strategist, like that's a whole sort of
23:21ecosystem within itself that agents are, are leaning into. So that's definitely sort of a micro
23:28specialization, um, arm that we're seeing more and more of, um, another sort of area is remote first
23:37operate operations. So we've had sort of virtual assistants for many years. I think we're continuing
23:44to see that, um, evolve and what that means. Um, you know, I recommend to people now as you're scaling,
23:53like before you even get to a buyer's agent, like get yourself a good VA, um, like VA frees up time
24:01and time is your most precious resource. So continue to see like that evolve along the way.
24:07So those are, those are definitely, I think, unappreciated trends that are so important.
24:14So, um, let's just hypothetically, if you were to build your own team today, um, how would you design
24:20it differently than maybe five years ago? If you built a team, I'd start with automation,
24:25right? So five years ago, we didn't have automation the way that we have today. So if I were starting
24:31from scratch today, I would think about every system that I could automate in building that team.
24:39And I would work with the vibe coding tools that are available. And I would automate every single one of
24:47those systems. I'd vibe code it all, and I'd have everything automated so that I could then leverage my mind.
24:56So how I think, how I want my clients treated, how I want the step-by-step in every part of the transaction
25:05to happen, every part of the relationship to happen, every part of the follow-up to happen. I would have
25:13all of that automated and all of that systemized so that I would have the platform to start scaling.
25:20So I'd be the first thing I would do would be the automation. And then I would get really clear
25:24on what I wanted my brand to be and have really good clarity on that so that I could start to
25:32communicate that out on social media. And I would lean into social media to build that brand messaging,
25:41because the way that the social media algorithms are working now, I don't need to be connected with
25:46a lot of people on social media in order to get engagement and get a message out there
25:53to a lot of people on social media to drive lead gen. So those would be the two things that I would do.
25:59Yeah. When you, when you said that, I don't know, it just reminds me of, you know, when I first
26:04started, gosh, it was, I started at Florida Realtors in 1990. So, um, and all of the agents who had
26:15great branding were, they picked a specific thing like the pink hat lady or the, you know,
26:22the car guy or something like that. And it's evolved so much into more lifestyle rather than one,
26:29like the one with the red glasses or, you know, how it used to be. And I don't know,
26:34it just made me maybe think of how much marketing has evolved, um, in real estate since then.
26:40So yeah, a lot. Yeah. Especially with the, you know, just social media and that too. So
26:46it doesn't have to cost anything now. I mean, get how lucky like we are now, Tracy, like we can
26:52throw stuff out on Instagram, right. For, for free and reach, you know, hundreds and thousands
27:01and millions of people versus like way back with the pink hat ladies, right. Where you had to try
27:08to like scrape together money to put an ad in a newspaper or a magazine or something. So
27:13Or a bus bench or yeah, yeah, definitely. So we're going to do some quick hits. Um,
27:18just your quick answers. Um, team size, sweet spot under 10, 10 to 25 or 25 plus.
27:25I think 10 to 25. I think it's big enough to scale, but it's small enough to really build culture.
27:34Um, so I think that's a sweet spot. 10 to 25.
27:36Your best first hire for a new team. Thank you.
27:40Yeah. Uh, one tool every team should be using, but probably isn't.
27:45Custom chat GPT trained in your brand voice and client avatar.
27:52Yeah. That's really important. Um, in one word, the future of real estate teams.
27:58Integrated.
27:58Great. Wendy, thanks so much. This has been really, um, really insightful. I appreciate you
28:04coming on real trending and sharing. Um, so thanks so much.
28:08Thank you so much for having me. This has been such a fun conversation.
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