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REality
Welcome to the REality podcast--the best podcast for real estate agents. Join us each episode as we talk with industry experts and top producing real estate agents to peel back the curtain and reveal what it takes to make it in today's ultra competitive real estate business. This is real life, in real time, sharing real experiences of industry professionals to help both new and seasoned agents achieve their goals and realize their potential. Are you ready to take your real estate business to the next level? Let's get started now. Sign up for Gary's weekly FOCUS newsletter, delivered right to your inbox each Monday morning: https://mailchi.mp/e3771e6a2516/focus-email
REality
Transforming Real Estate through Legacy and Innovation: RT Christopher on Building Trust, Navigating Coopetition, and Mentorship
Ever wondered how to thrive in the real estate industry amidst fierce competition? In this episode, we guarantee you'll gain invaluable insights as RT Christopher, a seasoned real estate veteran, shares his captivating journey from Wilmington, Delaware to becoming a key player in the real estate world. We'll delve deep into the concept of "coopetition"—a blend of competition and cooperation—that can transform how you approach your real estate career.
Curiosity fuels growth, and this episode is bursting with stories and lessons rooted in the fundamentals of real estate. Listen as we reflect on the indispensable role of mentorship, and reveal how intentional, reciprocal guidance can significantly enhance your career. Whether you're a newcomer or a veteran, you'll find value in our discussion on aligning with mentors and peers to learn from shared experiences, especially in today's evolving market.
Welcome to Reality Podcast today. A special special guest. A special guest because he's a great friend. I'd like to welcome to Reality Podcast Mr RT, christopher RT. How are you?
Speaker 2:Great, gary. How are you doing? Thanks for having me, I'm doing great, it is our pleasure.
Speaker 1:This is a first for the Reality Podcast. It is the first time a guest and I work for different companies, but we've got some ground rules and the ground rules are we're not going to mention either of our companies. Is that fair?
Speaker 2:I agree, yep.
Speaker 1:Now my guess is, listeners will put some pieces together and they'll figure some things out. But our goal today, RT and I, go back 30, 35 years. Our families go back to the early 1960s and we're going to talk a lot about the real estate business. We're going to talk a lot about relationships. We're going to talk a lot about change. We're going to talk a lot about how. We're going to talk a lot about how we're in this unique business of coopetition. We compete, compete, compete. But we've got to sell other people's listings and have them want to sell our listings. But first we're going to get to know RT Christopher, a little bit. Rt, let's start. Where does RT Christopher hail from? Where does RT Christopher hail from?
Speaker 2:I am from Wilmington, delaware. I went to Salesianum School. I graduated 30 years after my father graduated from Salesianum School. I have a son that's a senior there. So it's you know time flies. But so I'm a local person, that's for sure. I live and work about two miles from where I grew up and about one mile from where my wife grew up. So that's kind of it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:And I think a couple of things. I think I actually know your wife, liz and I went to high school. Let me rephrase that we didn't go to high school together. We went to the same high school at different times. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2:That is correct. Right, it is a small town, gary.
Speaker 1:That's right? Yeah, it is, and my brother-in-law who actually works with your firm, to be nameless went to Silesianum as well and was a football coach there, and I know your son is getting ready for his senior season, so good luck with that. You attended, you left Silesianum and you went not too far away. Where'd you go to school?
Speaker 2:I went to Mount St Mary's University in Emmitsburg, maryland. I still have great relationships that I maintain from that school. It's one of the benefits of going to a smaller school is that you make really lasting friendships. I believe that Um and I still have a dozen guys that I talked to um not on a daily basis, but on a regular basis, and we make a point to get together at least once a year. Um, no matter what people's schedules are, we figure out how to get together for a day or two once a year, which is great and I think rumor has it that is every once in a while.
Speaker 1:That could be at the international cornhole tournament. You know, I've been told all about that particular louis each event. But your dad went to the Mount, your sister went to the Mount and your brother-in-law went to the Mount.
Speaker 2:That's correct. That is correct.
Speaker 1:You got a big Sally's relationship, big Wilmington, interesting. As good of friends as you and I are, and as many days and times as we've spent talking about the business and our families and our kids, talking about the business and our families and our kids, I did not realize that you did what I did and you graduated from the Mount and you got right into the real estate business. You know, one of the things you and I spoke about prior to getting on the air was you know, is this a good opportunity for brand new people in the business? So I'm going to wrap this into two questions. One, take our listener down your journey of what it was like coming into the business not only coming in at your age, but coming in with a family reputation that stellar on every definition. And then let's talk a little bit about what you and I think is an opportunity for new to the business today.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes RT, our listeners will range from I'm in pre-licensing, I'm thinking about pre-licensing, or I'm a 20-year veteran, I want to re-engineer my business, I'm a single agent, I want to be a team, I want to buy a team. So we've got all kinds of great things to talk about. Let's go back to the start of your real estate journey. Let's go back to the start of your real estate journey.
Speaker 2:So I always wanted to be in the real estate business. I know people struggle getting out of college with what they want to do. I always knew I wanted to be in the real estate business and it's probably because I grew up in the business. I grew up in a family where the real estate business was always a topic of conversation and I never doubted that that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:The challenge is when you get out of college and then you go through pre-licensing I was 22 years old. I looked like I was 17 years old, like I was 17 years old you have to work with people that are much older than you and more experienced with you than you, that have different life experiences, and it's a challenge for younger people. There's certainly that aspect to it, but I wouldn't change anything about that because I still remember every single day. I remember the struggle that that was and how I had to overcome those deficiencies that I had in order to kind of make my way. In order to kind of make my way. And on top of that, we've mentioned that my family's been in the real estate business my entire life and my father is a well-known industry leader and always has been we have the same name.
Speaker 2:My name is RT Christopher, but that's Richard Thomas Christopher and he's also Richard Thomas Christopher, so that, um, that creates its own expectations and challenges, Right? Um, but, um, to his credit, uh, I was not spoon fed anything. Um, he, he, he made sure that there was nothing that was given to me because I was his son and, as you look back on things, it might have been frustrating at the time, gary, but it was very, very important in developing my own business and my own work ethic and all of those things. He could be a mentor, but he certainly was not going to provide me with anything that he wouldn't provide anybody else.
Speaker 1:I think it's, first of all, I think you're really you know, spot on. You know, coming in young is not easy. So to our listeners who may be on the younger side, it's not easy. But I would say this Virtually RT everyone I know that started right out of college or shortly thereafter ultimately was really really successful, or shortly thereafter ultimately was really really successful. You know I can throw around some names that you and I know Jeff Bollinger, paul Enderly I, like you, graduated college in May, sold my first house in September. I, like you, grew up in a real estate family, but I can go on and on and on about the individuals who maybe didn't have the familial bond to the business that you and I had, but they got in it young and they just figured it out. And now, 20, 30, 35 years later, they're the stars in the industry, in the markets in which we operate. So I think that one of the things, the questions that I have, is as you built your business back, I guess late 80s, early 90s, would that be about accurate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I graduated from college in 1991. And I did take a little time off. I will say that we've we've already discussed what a home body I am. I guess, right, I'm a local person. The reality is I had not been off the East Coast, if you can believe this. I had not been off the East Coast when I graduated from college.
Speaker 2:East Coast, when I graduated from college and my father said, go do something else for a year and go, I'm not going to pay your bills. Go do something else and then, when you come back, if you want to get into the real estate business, let's talk about that. And I and that was that was very, very beneficial for me to do. So, you know. So I got into the business shortly thereafter. I got, you know, came back, traveled around, went to Colorado and Arizona and places I had never been Fantastic, would never change any of that Worked all kinds of different jobs and did different things and met different people. And, you know, then came back and wanted to get into the real estate business and get into the pre-licensing course. And, you know, I think that I had never wavered and that's what I was going to do. But that was a good year for me to do that too.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things I like to do during the podcast and during our interview RT is to highlight some things that I think the listener needs to hang on to, and I think about what I just learned about you that I didn't know. One of the common themes that I've been trying to share through our guests is this important concept of asking great questions, being really curious and being a listener and as close as you and I are. I did not know that and I think that speaks to an opportunity for our listeners when they get a chance to meet and interact with people as much as you think you know someone, there are more questions to ask, right, right, and I think sometimes we take those things for granted. You know I want to talk about the real estate business today, but you know I'm now curious about the odd jobs you had paying your bills in Arizona and Colorado. But you know, when I think about you know, I'm now curious about the odd jobs you had paying your bills in Arizona and Colorado.
Speaker 1:But, you know when I think about. You know my dad did not give me that advice, albeit now I look back and say I wish he had given me that advice. I, like you, knew exactly what I was going to do. You know I joke often. You know how many people, when they're in the sixth grade, when somebody says what are you going to do when you grow up, you actually say I'm going to be in the real estate business.
Speaker 1:And that's actually what you do. You know, I debated NBA or real estate and I thought that, since I probably wasn't getting much taller than five foot 10. But let's go back to 1992, 93, 94, because the other thing that is really important and I've heard you say this to me dozens and dozens of times is the fundamentals of our business. Don't change. They don't change. Right, how I execute them might change, technology will change, but the fundamentals. So just share a little bit about how you built your business back then, how it relates to some things you're doing today, and then we'll talk about the changes and things like that. But stay focused, rt, on the fundamentals of 92, 93, 94 that work in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Speaker 2:So let's just put it in context, right, the inventory was not the same as getting paid, and having a successful transaction was very, very prevalent at that time. So we had, we had plenty of houses to sell and not enough buyers to buy them, right? So finding buyers was was was a tough, a really tough sledding thing, especially for somebody like me who's new into the business. One of the things that I've said over and over and over again is that when you want to accomplish something, you need to align yourself with people that are already doing what you want to do, and you need to understand how they've gotten to where they are and maybe take bits and pieces from several people and use those in your own way to achieve what goals you have. Well, a person in the office took pity on me and said let me split a listing with you. We sold that listing for $44,000. And we split that 50-50. And that was my first experience with working with sellers and my first time that I understood that working with sellers is what I wanted to do. That's where I wanted to concentrate my business, and from that little row house in the city of Wilmington I got another listing and she allowed me to put my name on the sign. She was fantastic. I got another listing and another listing and another listing from there, and remember that listings were not selling Houses were on the market for 60, 90 days plus. At that time I had an unfair advantage because I hadn't known any other market and so I could talk to sellers with confidence about what needed to happen to get their home sold in the market that we were in then, and that's how my business got started.
Speaker 2:And then there was other opportunities to work with some other people or learn from some other people in the office, and I can't stress that enough that what you put out there, you get back. What you put out there, you get back. If you have a curiosity about you and you demonstrate that you want to learn and you ask questions of people, they will share with you their experiences, and people root for you to get wins People always. Well, why would that person help me? The person will help you because somebody helped them. That's why, right, so have that same mindset as you move up the ladder.
Speaker 2:Right, that that you should be Working with people that you're trying to inspire in our business and try to help them grow. And that's really how I got started in the business. It's not saying that I didn't have buyers, but I always knew that the business with working with sellers was the business that I wanted to be in, and that's when buyer agency was coming into. You know, just coming into play right, everybody was. This is the first iteration of buyer agency right during that time. So that's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:So a couple of questions. Number one a little trivia. So who was the manager of your first office? Do you remember who that guy was?
Speaker 2:I know his name is Jack Giles. Fantastic guy, one of one of the best people I've ever worked with.
Speaker 1:And then, shortly thereafter, I stepped in for Jack, which is when you and I got to do business together, and it's safe to say a couple of things. Number one is that office was an all-star cast, so you chose wisely to lean in on. I can only imagine the names of the people Wells Foster, right? Yeah, you know. You got Judy Levy, which we'll talk about in a little bit. You got Katie Ryan, you got Wayne Knisley and the list, buddy West, and the list goes on and on, and on, and on and on, and I think one of the challenges RT that we have is even before COVID, but certainly enhanced by COVID is there just aren't the same number of people in the office to experience that lift that you got from the interaction with these superstars?
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, that's a challenge, but there are ways to overcome that. There are ways to look at who is doing what you want to do and seek them out. There's different ways to do that. It doesn't actually, you know, unbelievably, it doesn't have to be within your own firm, right, unbelievably, it doesn't have to be within your own firm. If you have a mindset that we work in a cooperative business which is what we do, that we cooperate with all different agents in different firms and you want to build relationships taking them out to to get a coffee on, on their timeline or anything, or treating them to lunch, or going to an open house that they're holding and trying to talk to them and being curious about things and seeing how they do that those are all opportunities to do that too. It doesn't have to be because the person sits next to me.
Speaker 1:So I think the takeaway I get from that segment RT is more so today than ever. You have to be intentional about that journey. You went on Back 30 years ago. You walked in the office and there were 37 people sitting in the office, right 30 years ago you walked in the office and there were 37 people sitting in the office.
Speaker 1:Right. Today those same people are out working and the newer agent or the two-year experienced agent needs to reach out to RT and say, hey, can I have coffee? It's got to be much more intentional than accidental. You made it intentional in an environment that the Petri dish was filled with rock stars. Right, that the Petri dish was filled with rock stars. Today I'm going to encourage everybody listening. Number one reach out to those people in your office. Number two reach out to people in your firm. And number three don't be afraid to reach out to the competitive landscape, and I think that's a really significant takeaway that in the series of three years of podcasts, that has not been a recommendation or encouragement, and I think it's spot on. There is no corner, there is no monopoly on good to great ideas in our industry.
Speaker 2:No, and I'll just follow up with that. That that happens to me today. That that happens to me today. People reach out to me and say could we grab a coffee, or would you like to get a beer after work, or whatever it is. I've never said no once, never said no once. Maybe I can't do it Tuesday. It's going to be Thursday. It's just happened with some of the new era of real estate that we're entering right now.
Speaker 2:Different agents from different firms have reached out and said hey, can I pick your brain about X, y or Z moving forward? How are you going to handle this and things? And I'm happy to do that. Why? Because I would want somebody to do that if I asked them. Number one Actually, I'm having lunch with somebody from another firm on Tuesday. He asked to have lunch and I'm certainly going to have lunch. Well, that's important in our business. It's a cooperating business and what's going to come from the changes that we have and we've only touched on just recently here right opportunity for all of us to raise the bar on the professionalism in our business. So why wouldn't I want to discuss different ideas of how we, how we can help develop our business? We all work together. Whether we're at X firm or Y firm, we all work together. Whether we're at X firm or Y firm, we all work together. That's one of the unique things about our business. That is one of the great things too.
Speaker 1:You know, I think, as I gave a lot of thought to the direction of our conversation today, marti, you know your business and your life is built on relationships and you know I want to tell a little story and then have you tell the big story. So I think it was sometime around 2012,. You know, you had an opportunity to move into a different role, which was to lead a real estate office, and it was a real estate office that really was infancy stage is probably a conservative definition but you took an opportunity that really, you know, if you put a look at it on paper would have been daunting and I'll do a little braggadocio on you only because I observed it from start to finish and RT was offered an opportunity to build an office in a market that he obviously knows well and it was with a. You know, at that time that firm did not have a significant share and over the course of literally somewhere between 18 and 24 months, maybe 36 months on the outreach, that office became not only the number one office in the state, but it quickly became the number one office in the enterprise in which you were working and continue to work there, and so I think it's really interesting and I think it would be interesting for our listeners.
Speaker 1:How did you go from no agents to almost 200 agents in a very short period of time? And I think you've already began the journey through your comments earlier, rt, about relationships and going out and having lunch, and people trust you. So just share a couple of the things that you learned from that experience, because I think that those learnings can be transferred to a lot of our listeners as they're thinking about how they're going to grow their business, how they're going to take advantage of you, and I absolutely agree that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enhance the level of professionalism and to be better at my craft and to understand how better to articulate my value. So you and I see this opportunity as just that. So just take our listeners on a little bit of a journey of how you accomplish this and how it might relate to them and their business. Whether it be growing their sphere of influence, whether it be expanding a just listed campaign, all those things all really come together.
Speaker 2:So let's just make sure that we're all on the same page. I came to my, my firm. I was in the office, I had one real estate agent that was my sister who joined me, and we you know it was it was it was not, it was not an easy thing, right, but you know, and I went home one day. I'll never forget it. I went home one day and my wife said how was work? And I said I think I committed career suicide. But one of the things that stuck in my mind was that I met with a leader of um, the brokerage, prior to joining, and he said to me you know, we don't do this, we do not grow offices organically. We typically acquire a another firm and build from there.
Speaker 2:And I never forgot that, because that's a challenge, it's an opportunity, but it's also a responsibility that was being placed upon me to make it work. And I had a responsibility to my family, of course, to what I was trying to achieve, but I also had a responsibility to the trust that was put in me to make a go of this. And I never forgot, and I still remember it today. I'll never forget that comment. So when you think, boy, this is tough sledding and boy, I got to get back at it and all those other things. You got to remember things like that. You got to have things in your mind that say, look, there's only one way to go, one place to go, and it's up. Right, I'm going to go up and I can do this. And you got to believe. You got to have a clarity of your purpose every single day. I really think that that that is paramount. That everybody can translate to any business they're in, regardless of what the stage of their business.
Speaker 2:So you know, what I wanted to do was I wanted to meet with different people in our industry and talk to them about why they should come and join me at this firm, and the key point to that is I absolutely, 100% believed that it was going to be a better place for them to work than where they were now.
Speaker 2:This was not just a recruiting campaign blanket Let me see who does the most business, and I will target them with all kinds of different methods of getting in front of them. It was not that at all. It was who should I align with? That, I believe, would help us grow our business and attract other great agents and add to everything that we're doing and can I deliver on what I'm saying that it is absolutely going to be a better place for you when we are all working together. And you and I believe that are all working together, and you and I believe that, and I think if I talk to any one of the 200 people that that were under my leadership, they would say, absolutely, that was a great decision, and so that that that drives you. That drives you to to continue to, to look at where you are and where you want to go. That's the essence of it.
Speaker 1:So what's interesting? There is a common thing that we discuss RT but sometimes it's hard to accurately articulate, effectively articulate, and that is you. Quickly, in that moment, when you'd made the decision, you had a clear answer to this fundamental question what was RT's why? You had a why and your why was I have a responsibility, I have an opportunity, I have a challenge, I have a why. So that is and I think every single one of our listeners you know, I've heard many, many national speakers on success you got to have your why really locked in, because your why is going to drive your how and your when and your what. If you don't have your why, it's really hard to harness the activities to get there. And you provided such clarity.
Speaker 1:And I think here's the other thing, and I want everybody to listen we can have social media campaigns, we can have direct mail campaigns, we can have texting campaigns, we can have all kinds of campaigns to connect with people. I want everybody to just think back to four minutes ago when RT Christopher said I called them and I met them. I called them and I met them. I didn't put them on a drip postcard campaign. The 10 reasons why you want to join our office, the 10 reasons why you want to join our office and I want our real estate professionals to know.
Speaker 1:As you listen, I'm not suggesting you don't create a CRM program. I'm not suggesting you don't connect with your circle every 16 days, which is the number but I'm suggesting that you pick up the old telephone and you go sit face to face and you ask people questions and you do real estate reviews and you do home physicals and you talk to people about the value of their home and you talk to people about are you going to remodel, Are you going to repair? And we've got I think we've gotten lost in the automation of relationships and I just I really want people to capture the essence of. You went from zero to 200 and it wasn't. You didn't wait for the company to create some kind of marketing. You picked up the phone, you went to brokers, open houses. You went to open houses, you were involved in the community, you were involved in the industry and you built long-term, sustainable, trusting relationships with the real estate community.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what a real the number one competitive advantage comes from investing consistently and generously in relationships. And you know, we can talk about ninja selling. We can talk about all kinds of other things. That is the essence of our business. I truly believe that and if you think about just what we've been talking about for the last couple of minutes let's just use an example I believe that somebody would build their business and have a better life working under our brand and with me, working under our brand and with me.
Speaker 2:And I go to their open house on Sunday and I don't recruit them at the open house. I talk to them about how's it going, how are things, how's your business? I look at the open house and I see it and I leave, and then they sell it on the following Wednesday and I see that they sold it and I call them and I say congratulations, I knew you're going to sell that house. It was priced right and it was conditioned right. Great job with that. That was a fantastic listing. Great to see you on Sunday. I didn't say anything else besides that. All right, but what was the reality of that? I was present, I talked to them, I followed up with them and I wanted to understand a little bit about their business and I took some interest in them succeeding.
Speaker 2:This was not an act. That's the thing. It's not an act. You cannot just pretend to be interested in what people are doing. You have to generally be interested in what people are doing. You have to generally be interested in what they're doing. And then what happens from that? That means that now, 10 agents over a course of a couple of months become 30 agents that are working together, which then becomes 40.
Speaker 2:And who is doing the recruiting? The agents that are there, because it wasn't just me. There's a team of people that have to follow up and follow through and make sure the onboarding process is smooth and that they get everything that I say that they're going to get. And there's a whole group of people that helped in that process. And that's critically important as well. Right, because now I have an army of people saying if you're thinking about moving, you're crazy if you don't talk to RT Christopher. Great. That's exactly what we do in the real estate business, isn't it? We want people to say if you're thinking about selling, you're crazy if you don't call this person. My experience with them was over the top. They're fantastic, they follow up, they follow through, they do what they say.
Speaker 1:They're going to do.
Speaker 2:Of course we need to be professional and competent and all of those things that that should be a given in our business, but we should have a an added value, that there's little touches there that mean something to people, because that's where relationships are built. That's that's. That's kind of in a nutshell what my business philosophy is.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm glad you uh, you wrapped a bow around that. I was thinking about. Your army of agents. Were the people that were attracting people, satisfied, raving fans, my clients who love it To your point? Are you listener? Are we as an industry doing the things where that agent excuse me, that consumer will stand on the mountaintop? You know what's interesting, rt, over the last month and a half I've had a couple of conversations with people who have purchased homes within the last four years and we're talking about things, and they were asking me about the change in the business Normal set of conversation, in the business normal set of conversation. So we had a great dialogue and none of them had purchased from our firm, which obviously was frustrating for me, but I accepted it. And when I said who was your agent, three of the four who had bought a house within four years had forgotten who their agent was. And you and I know that that kind of data says you know, buyer, seller surveyed 30 days after I'm going to use my agent Three years later, they would use them, but they can't find them. And that is the norm, not the exception. And so it's that consistency, it's the process, it's the system I wrote.
Speaker 1:I love these interviews because I take down quotes. You cannot pretend to be interested. I love that. You cannot pretend to be interested. I'm going to shift gears. You and I had an early conversation right before we went on the air, about the challenges of our business the headwinds. Oh gosh, we got headwinds. We got the NAR lawsuit, we got inventory, we got interest rates. And I made a comment and I need you to bring back that answer because I said, rt, you're a data guy. You always, I remember, come to your meetings and you would say, gosh, here's what it was in 15 and 17. And here's what we got today. Because one of the things we hear all the time is what We've got an inventory shortage and challenge. And you shared something with me that was an absolute light bulb that every one of our listeners needs to hear a different perspective about the current state of inventory.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I made a decision a couple years ago maybe two and a half years ago that I was not going to talk about the data any longer. I was not going to get specific regarding the inventory and the number of active listings that were in our marketplace, and I told everybody that. I said I have been discussing the inventory challenge, as we say, for the last couple of years and we know one thing it's been going down steadily since the second quarter of 2015. So let's not talk about inventory anymore. Let's not talk about that data anymore. Let's talk about the market that we're in and the challenges and opportunities that are presented in this particular market.
Speaker 2:When the market changes, we can start talking about different things, but right now, let's talk about what we're doing to overcome any obstacles on a daily basis. What are we doing in this current market that we are in? Let's not focus on the exact numbers, because they don't matter, gary. I really don't think they matter, unless they change drastically. It doesn't matter. If you are in the business every day, you already know what I would be telling you at any meeting, or you should right. Well, and what difference does that make to the consumer, to our customers? Does it? Does it make any difference to them? No, we have to be able to explain the market to them in layman's terms so that they understand what it's going to take to buy or sell a house today and the specifics of it.
Speaker 2:I've decided.
Speaker 1:I'm not.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to discuss unless things change drastically, and then we'll talk about things a little bit differently than that.
Speaker 1:So I think that's such a different approach. You know so many of us and I'm guilty, you know I always say every number matters and this and that, and you know it's, you know, but but to allow that noise, that, to your point, doesn't, it's not changing. And so I love that different approach. Artie, I want to shift gears again. You know so much to cover in a fairly short period of time. We've kind of set the stage to our listener 1992, successful career selling 2012, successful 10-year career or 10-year chapter in building this branch to be just the dominant branch in a marketplace and in a company. And then you shifted gears again. And then you shifted gears again. And I think you shifted gears probably because you saw an opportunity, not just short term, but midterm and long term. So if you'll take a minute and share a decision you made to move on to a different part of the business, I am highly confident the listeners will find it incredibly interesting.
Speaker 2:So after 10 plus years of doing what I was doing with running a branch and actually multiple locations right, we had multiple locations that were under my guidance and I had assistants and things and people that were support staff, and all those people were absolutely fantastic. But I made a decision that I wanted to do something else. Now, remember, I'm not qualified to do anything else but be in the real estate business. So there was one of the leaders in the industry the first team that joined the office when we were in our very beginning stages. Um, they the leader of that team wanted to retire and was looking for a succession plan, and I was looking to assist her in finding somebody to lead the team. Um, so, because the team is made up of great people and deserves to continue, but at this stage in her life she didn't want to do it anymore and she's been in the business for a long time and has unbelievable accomplishments. I have nothing but the most respect for her throughout my entire career.
Speaker 2:Well, I decided to resign from my position which people would say you have the best brokerage job in Delaware, are you crazy? And get back into the business of real estate on a day-to-day level and leading a smaller group of people that I hope that I can impact in a completely different way and that I can help them grow their business and be more targeted in that approach, and so we can take what has been built over years and years and years and not only maintain it but continue to expand it as times move forward. And I think there's lots of opportunities there. I think that there's lots of opportunities to grow the business. I think there's lots of opportunities to potentially look to others that are looking to do the same thing and see if that works for our business. And you know I'm I'm bullish on the future. I am motivated and energetic about it. I love it. I think you have to have an entrepreneurial spirit, certainly, but that's what our business is made of, right, that's that's what we, that's what we do, and so that's that's my current role.
Speaker 1:We had discussed many times as we had had chances to work together about, you know, this succession planning opportunity for somebody or somebody, right, when you think about, you know the average age of us and you think about a book of business that can just dissipate overnight, and you think about an annuity pay plan over a two, three, four, five-year period and you think about other businesses that have mastered it.
Speaker 1:The financial services business has mastered it and that's a little different because there's an account that's there and it's alive and it's well and it's sitting at wherever. We're selling a book of business, that we're selling relationships of individuals that will buy every nine to 11 years, and so you've got to really have a detailed strategy to hand off a great relationship to another person and let that relationship build at the same level, and I think that's it's such a fascinating opportunity that there will be people in our industry taking, I think, significant advantage of that here, certainly in the next couple of years. Just the demographics seem to make sense. Arte, one of the things that we wanted to talk about and I would we would be remiss not to talk about it. We've mentioned a little bit about your father and I think that what's so interesting to me and I think about it often is, and I think listeners might find it interesting is that my father and RT's father were fierce competitors from 1961 till 1991.
Speaker 1:And RT's dad ran the number one company in the state of Delaware and my father owned and ran the number two company in the state of Delaware and they did it at a time that we RT and I laugh a little bit. They did it at a time when you did not recruit agent from company A to company B but you fought like heck for that brand new person in pre-licensing. And you know, I think often about our parallel journeys. You know, working for your family as it's good and bad, I was going to ask you the one question is you know I treated very similarly to you, which I was given nothing, and I finally said to my dad one day hey, everybody thinks every piece of business I do comes from you, so why don't you give me one?
Speaker 2:Give me one right. Did you ever have that conversation with your dad? I?
Speaker 1:mean they all think they're all coming from you. That's right.
Speaker 2:And you got two sisters in the business right. I would say better than me in a lot of respects at my previous job. I marvel at some of the things that she has been able to accomplish and I work with my sister, kathleen, who is, yeah, maybe I'm biased, but one of the best real estate professionals I've ever worked with, best real estate professionals I've ever worked with, and, um her attention to detail and her attention to the customer, um, she is undoubtedly if, if you, if you asked me um name the best listing agents, um, she would be right there at the top of the list.
Speaker 1:So, uh, a little Intel there. Uh, his sister, Kathleen, listed my mother's house when my mother had to sell her house and the funny story there is my mother unfortunately was, because her name's Kathleen, but you know it was. It was great. And then I think you also have a member of your team, that you have two members of your team that might be related to me. Any truth to that?
Speaker 2:niece and her husband both work on our team and they are absolutely fantastic. They are a younger generation and just have a tremendous amount of energy, but at the same time they know what they don't know and they ask questions and they make sure that they are doing things the right way, that they're building their business to last. You know, I say all the time it's no trick to sell one house. Ok, the contract in any state is a fill in the-the-blank contract and anybody can sell a house. The trick in our business and the key in building a successful real estate career is to do it consistently again and again and make sure that you are treating everybody as individuals, listening to their needs and following up and then doing that again and having them say if you're listing or selling, you need to talk to this person. That's the key to our business.
Speaker 1:So what we're going to do now, we're going to wrap a bow around this, tie it tight, but I'm going to tell one story about your father and then I want you to share a couple of books that you really leaned in on, kind of in your career that you're going to recommend. So I know I've told this story many times. I'm not sure I've ever told it on the podcast. So I had the good fortune in the spring of 1993 to interview for a job with RT's father, dick Christopher, and I will never forget it. It is a lesson that I will never, ever forget.
Speaker 1:I was sitting at a dining room table and he was sitting across from me and he pushed his business card over to me. I told RT this a thousand times and he said what's my title? And I said president, and he brought it back and he crossed it out and he wrote a word and he handed it back to me. He said what's it say? And I said it says farmer and I looked puzzled and confused. I think I was 28 years old, rt, actually, in 1993, I was 30. And he said I grow people. He said I grow people. And I have never, ever, ever forgotten that and I think, as our listeners have listened to Artie, the acorn didn't fall far from the tree. Artie grows people. You and I, as real estate, we grow people. We grow people in their journey for the American dream and the building of generational wealth.
Speaker 1:And everything that RT shared today, whether it was about building his team or building the brand, or listing and selling, selling all relates to every aspect of our business, and I thank your dad multiple times a week when I say to myself my why is the why that he shared with me in April of 1993.
Speaker 1:And that is just have a good impact and influence on people and try to make their lives a little bit better by the fact they got to spend a little time with you. I mean, it's almost that simple, and so it's not easy to do, right, it's like anything else it's not easy to do, it's easy to understand, it's not easy to execute. So thanks to your dad for that. Dick is alive and well and he rides his bike 20 miles and he plays cornhole with the grandkids and he uh, serves meals on wheels two or three days a week, one day in Lewis, one day in Wilmington, and I'm sure I've missed a lot of the other things that your dad continues to do. So, if you'll, uh, feel free to make a statement about your dad and then share a couple of books, and we will say goodbye to this great audience that spent time with us today, Well you know, I will just say that I'm a.
Speaker 2:I realize that I'm a lucky person, you know. I think you have to think about that and think about the gifts that you've been given and think about those all the time, because that's that story that you tell there is is not. That is the way that my father lived and lives his life, and anybody that you speak to would tell you the same thing. And he's a genuine person and he's 85 years old and he is absolutely like the energizer bunny still today. You know he's. There's so many sayings that he did, he's he's shared over the years.
Speaker 2:But you know, one is never stop learning. I mean, I don't know how many times he has said that to me Never stop learning. You can always learn something new from somebody. Be curious, all of these things right. So that stuff sinks in over time and you know I'm lucky to have almost not a day go by where somebody doesn't say I know your father and he's a great guy, or he helped me in this way, or he did this and that's. You know that that is something that's special and for for my brother and my sisters. You know we are, we are lucky people that way and you know it goes without saying that my mom is one of the best people in the entire world as well.
Speaker 1:My mom is one of the best people in the entire world as well. I did not. So, just on the record, when your mom listens to this, mary, I did not mean not include you. We know that behind every successful endeavor is a rock solid mom, wife, grandmother. We know that. I, just I want to, before you, share your books. You know you made another comment earlier, rt Consistency and generously. I've heard consistency a thousand times. I've heard competency 500 times. I've heard competency 500 times. Be consistently generous. Really hit me today and it speaks to your description of your dad and the generosity has been around from his high school days at Salesianum. He probably served Meals on Wheels today while you and I are doing this right, absolutely Five days a week. By the way, yeah well, he had to get a two-knee replaced and get back on the bike, and now he's at five. Anyway, arte, give us two books and then we're going to call this a show, and a great one at that.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to wrap a couple two books into one. I love the story of Herb Kelleher with Southwest Airlines. If you don't know the story of Herb Kelleher, you should read it. There's two books out. There's not great books about him, but there's a lot of interviews, nuts and Herb's Heroes, fantastic books, his entrepreneurial spirit and in one of the things that he says all of the time was that we are in the service business, we just happen to fly airplanes. And I think about that all of the time. We are in the service business, we just happen to be in the real estate business as well.
Speaker 2:You don't have to learn just from real estate the real estate business there you can learn from all sorts of different industries and apply them to yourself. The other book that I would highly recommend is by Will Guiarda. I forget how you pronounce his name. He's a restaurateur If you haven't read it. Unreasonable Hospitality the Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than they Expect. He built a five-star restaurant in New York City and the parallels to the stuff that we talked about today are unbelievable Just giving a little bit more than people expect.
Speaker 2:One of the takeaways from that book, gary, is that service and hospitality are not the same thing. In our business, service is doing the things that you're supposed to do, right. Hospitality is how you make people feel when you provide that service. That's the separator in our business and in all businesses. Two thirds of GDP in the United States is driven by the service industry. Right, but we're in the service business regardless, and most people are in the service business in one way or another, and that really is something that that people should think about when they're working with people.
Speaker 2:I'll give you the last one. It's the easiest book in the world. How Full Is your Bucket? It was published 20 years ago. I still read it. It was published 20 years ago I still read it. It's a really easy read and it has a real simple concept that the smallest everyday interactions we have with others really affect our relationships, our productivity and our health. And do we add to people's buckets when we interact with them or do we take from them. And those are books that I would read again and again and again, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:Well, here's what I know RT Christopher added to the bucket of every listener. Rt can't tell you what a joy it was and a treat for me to spend an hour with a good friend. I learned a few things. Uh, we're going to get back uh later offline about, uh, the year or two you spent wandering the midwest and the west coast of this country, because I'm sure there's stories that I would like to know about that you could not share on the podcast. But uh, thanks for joining us. Buddy, you are a good friend. I wish you the very best of luck and I'm sure you and I will be in touch soon. Take care.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me See you.
