The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
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The Alimond Show
Donny Samson of Samson Properties - From Real Estate Novice to Brokerage Leader: Leveraging Mentorship, Technological Innovations, and Personal Branding to Drive Industry Growth and Ethical Practices
Get ready for an inspiring journey with Donny Samson, CEO of Samson Properties, as we uncover his transformation from a 22-year-old real estate novice to the helm of a major brokerage firm. Donny’s story is one of determination, mentorship, and innovation, as he reflects on the pivotal influence of his father—the original owner of Samson Properties—and how their combined strengths have fueled a thriving business. With Donny at the helm since 2019, the company has expanded to nearly 6,000 realtors, all while maintaining a commitment to integrity and community engagement.
Amid the fast-evolving real estate landscape, Donny shares the guiding principles that set Samson Properties apart, emphasizing the increasing importance of technology and the irreplaceable human touch in the home-buying process. Listeners will gain insights into how the company distinguishes itself by offering unparalleled resources, including a state-of-the-art print center, and how embracing video content is transforming realtors' ability to connect with and grow their audience. Donny also opens up about the balance between work and family life, and the role of personal branding in today's competitive market.
The episode concludes with Donny’s vision for the future of real estate—a future rooted in unity, growth, and ethical practices. With plans to broaden their service offerings, Samson Properties is set to become a one-stop-shop, fostering industry collaboration to tackle challenges head-on. Donny leaves us with empowering mantras on resilience and gratitude, driving home the message that success comes from adapting our actions and being open to growth both professionally and personally. Tune in to discover how these insights can inspire your own journey.
My name is Donnie Sampson. I'm the CEO of Sampson Properties. We're a residential brokerage company. I also run Cardinal Title Group. We own our own title company as well and we provide real estate services, commercial residential rentals, property management all those things for everybody, all over. We're based in Northern Virginia, but DC area, west Virginia, maryland, all the way down to Richmond, all over the place.
Speaker 2:Love it. That's amazing. I'd like to know a little bit of a background on how you got to being the CEO of Samson Properties.
Speaker 1:Like what did you do before? A little crazy.
Speaker 2:Was this always in the car? That was never the plan?
Speaker 1:No, actually. So I was 22 years old. I got my license. When you're 22, you want to do whatever it is your dad isn't doing. So my dad was in real estate and he actually recruited one of my buddies to get in real estate. He had a lot of success the first couple of months and my now wife of 20 years, meredith, looked at me and was like if he could do it, maybe you should try it. So I got my license and I guess it stuck, because here I am 22 years later. So I sold for 13 years. I had a lot of success, sold a few homes and my dad was the owner and started Samson Properties. And about 2016, he came to me and said, don, I want you to help me run the company and get out of sales and really focus on growing this company with me. So I became our COO in 2016. I kind of built up all of the foundation of the brokerage a lot of our services, kind of.
Speaker 1:My dad was great at recruiting, had great energy, great thoughts, but we need to kind of build that base of a company a little bit better great recruiting, great energy, great thoughts, but we need to build that base of a company a little bit better. We had about 700 agents at the time, from 16 to 19,. We ran it together. He was doing the front face, the recruiting. I was doing a lot of the operation stuff. Then, in 2019, I took over as CEO. My dad slowly moved into retirement. I took over all the recruiting, the front face. That was probably five and a half years ago, I guess, at this point, and today we're at almost 6,000 realtors. So it's been a crazy. It's been a crazy I guess nine, eight and a half years since I got into management with my dad and kind of took over about five and a half years ago.
Speaker 2:That is awesome, oh my gosh, and the fact that I didn't know that your dad was like you know the head honcho before so did that kind of like help you. Was he there to? I know he's like, hey, why don't you come join me, but was he like that mentor for you that helped you transition? You know my dad's fantastic.
Speaker 1:He's got so much energy, uh, great ideas. He just thinks differently than other people. He was like the original trailblazer and disruptor and and uh, I think what's been great is that he's got certain skills that I really learned from and then I've got certain skills that really, when blended together, I think I can take some of a lot of the things I learned from my dad over the years and a lot of things that were kind of natural in me that some of the leadership stuff and organizational stuff and more of the tech stuff. And you know, I think that some of those things blended together have really kind of helped us take off.
Speaker 1:I don't think that my dad and I had a conversation the other day. I don't think that either one of us could have ever done what we've done, Like it needed his great energy and bold spirit to just run through the wall and get us going, and then I don't think he maybe could take it to where it's gone because of some of the, some of the things that he wasn't good at. So we kind of complimented each other and now we've gotten to this point that, you know, I'm thankful for everything he built and thankful that I can just take his baby and hopefully continue to make it great you know, make it your new baby.
Speaker 1:Make it make it my baby but our baby. So we do, we do co-own it together. Now he was, he was nice enough to share ownership with me at some point and, um, it's been great. You know, I'm very, very thankful for my dad everything had, everything you grew and everything we're growing together now.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful. I love that.
Speaker 1:That's so beautiful. You made me cry. You can't make me cry. Oh no, we've got tissues. Oh, thank you, we've got that covered, thank you.
Speaker 2:And I would like to ask you back to the topic of, like, the type of services that you provide. Can you describe to me about, like, what people are coming to you for and why Samson Properties is the place to go?
Speaker 1:So I think, from my perspective running a company my job is to. I do a lot of business development stuff, but my job as an owner of a company and a broker and CEO is I want to provide our realtors the best chance to succeed. So what my goal is is to provide great services and tools so that all of our realtors can help their clients. My clients are really our realtors. I want to provide the best resources so they can connect with their clients, the best tools like Facebook ads and a print center that we have that nobody else has to do postcards and brochures and newsletters. I want to provide our realtors the best chance to serve their clients. That's kind of where I come in.
Speaker 1:I think what really helped was selling hundreds of homes as a realtor for years, so I think I know what can help them succeed. So what does the public need to know? The public needs to know like we're doing our best to equip Samson Properties Realtors with the best tools possible so they can serve their clients. And I think that's my goal every day is I can't do it for people, but what I can do is if I can provide print center and tech tools and 37 offices for them to work out of, and great brokership and great leadership, then they can then fly and do the best they can with what they've got.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I love that answer. And then I'd like to ask you can you share the key principles or values that guide your leadership style for you personally?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, I'll say, at Samson properties we have kind of a culture wall, you know. So that's kind of what I try to be every day. But but, be nice, be professional, have great integrity, uh, pay it forward, and then we really are focused on giving back to the community, education and innovation, those that's kind of our our culture wall panoramic office. For me personally, Uh, I, uh, my faith is very important to me.
Speaker 1:I am, um, a firm believer, a firm, strong Christian, and you know, I think that to me I'm serving my God every day and what I try to do so every day I wake up. I'm never going to do everything perfect, but if I'm doing what I think is best every day, trying to lead with my heart and leading with really what's best for the agents every day, the money and all that stuff will take care of itself. But if I'm doing what's best by our realtors, what's best by what I think is the right thing to do in every situation, then I feel like in the long run, all that stuff works out. So for me it's about trying to lift our cultural wall that we've put up, but also, in every situation, not worried about what's best for me, but what's best for the realtor, our clients, the managers, our staff, all those types of things, and I'm sure I miss all the time, but I wake up every morning trying to do my best, that's for sure it happens exactly, as long as you do your best.
Speaker 2:You know, as they say, forget the rest.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, If I haven't heard that one, forget the rest. It was on P90X or whatever.
Speaker 2:It was like do them anymore but I don't know what I was thinking back then. And then let's see what do you think differentiates Samson Properties in a highly competitive real estate market?
Speaker 1:And so I guess there's two examples of this One. You know, when I think it comes to how our realtors serve our clients, I think we've given our realtors the best tools to serve our clients the best way by having 37 offices, by having a variance of services, by having title and lending and property management partners the best way possible. Now, when it comes to why should realtors join us, why do we have a hundred realtors joining us every month and why are we growing in this way, is because we have a unique value proposition. We're a hundred percent brokerage. We allow, we have a small monthly fee and a small admin fee to our realtors and we really just want to pour. We want to let our realtors give them all the tools possible. We've got a unique print center that nobody has in our headquarters in Chantilly. We have three full machines. We do thousands of postcards every single day for our agents for free. So we have a print center, we have great tech tools, we have concierge, we've got all these offices and brokers and services and education, and we like to let our realtors keep as much money as possible.
Speaker 1:You know now obviously people are like well, how does that work? How can you do all this stuff. Well, we own a title company and really we can't make anybody do anything. But people are like look, you give us all this stuff, we'll try the title company. Oh, they're great, we'll keep using the title company. So our title company will probably Cardinal Title Group will probably do 7,000 closings this year, probably 600 a month, somewhere around that 550 or 600. And it's because they do a great job, but also because our realtors are like hey, you guys are doing so much for us, let's try the title company. They have offices in all, 37 offices. This is a win-win. So I think that's our differentiator when it comes to the real estate community. They love us because we have great services, we have great offices but also have a great split. And then for the public, it's because I'm giving the realtors all these tools and all this stuff to work on, they can serve their clients the best way possible.
Speaker 2:I love that. No, that's a good answer. Having your own title, like being able to work with them like that is like the dream.
Speaker 1:It's fun. Hello, it's fun. It's a win-win so far.
Speaker 2:Good, and then, how do you see the real estate market evolving in the next five to 10 years and how is Samson Properties preparing for these changes?
Speaker 1:And I know it's like it's crazy and it's always changing.
Speaker 2:Something new pops up every morning when you look at your phone.
Speaker 1:It does right. It's crazy stuff. It's ever changing. Obviously, this has been a big year with lawsuits and changes and commission changes and all sorts of things we've got to keep an eye on and you know, and how are we going to manage this and all those other kind of things? So how do I see it changing? I think tech will become a bigger thing, obviously as we grow, just like any industry.
Speaker 2:In what way?
Speaker 1:I think that there's a lot of buzz nationally about how we're going to create the tech may try to replace realtors like the Expedia, the Travelocity the travel agents.
Speaker 1:We're going to make this process easier for clients. They can just one-stop shop, click buttons and then buy a home, and to me I don't see that happening. I think tech I need to stay on top of it so I can find the right tech to help our realtors be more successful. But tech should enable us to become better realtors, but it won't replace us, because I still think that home buying and home selling is the most personal and biggest decision in people's lives.
Speaker 1:It's not buying a coat or a plane ticket, it's I'm buying a $700,000 house or I'm selling a $600,000 house and if we let buyer and seller just deal with each other, they murder each other half the time because it's emotional, right, and it's difficult and people take offense to things and realtors and professionals and a true pro is always going to be in this process.
Speaker 1:So I think that our industry will continue to have disruptors and tech things and there might be a smaller percentage or a bigger percentage of people that are like oh, I can do it on clicks and points and that kind of stuff. But I think that the act and the profession of real estate and being somebody's person to hold their hand and help them through the biggest transaction of their life is going to continue to thrive, and I think that that's kind of the way I see it changing is, we'll have more things that come in and there might be some more streamlined services, but if we stay on top of that and we're innovative, I think our service and our core value is the people will always be needed.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, no, I agree, and something about that personal touch and, like you said, like the robots or computers or whatever, they're not going to. It's just not going to be the same. They're not going to walk you through the house. I mean they could be like here's the key enter. But, they're not going to explain things to you, give you advice like there. Maybe it will, I like there maybe it will.
Speaker 2:I don't know who knows, but I feel like that in-person connection, being able to relate, look somebody in the eye and you being able to tell them what exactly you're looking for, and seeing your best interest. I don't think a robot's going to see your best interest. It's going to look at statistics and be like well, this is going to benefit the company more than help the client or whatever.
Speaker 1:No, I agree, and there's so many times though. I mean you think of just like a simple thing, like a home inspection. Well, like the buyer does a home inspection and there's 36 things wrong and the seller believes that I don't have to fix anything in my home, and like, how do we matriculate that process if we don't have great pros on both sides that are able to mediate the situation, work through it?
Speaker 1:and come to a solution that both people can live with, because ultimately they want to sell the house and they want to buy it. But if left to their own devices or a click in the middle, they'll never agree on everything. They need people in the middle that have done this hundreds and hundreds of times. And how do you market your property the best you know. A computer is not going to do that, you know. So I think that they're always in need for us and I think the goal is to find the great innovations that are happening out there and help us to become better at our job. And maybe it'll streamline, maybe that shrinks commissions at some point, because we've got more things that can help us do it better, but we're still going to be a vital resource that people need to do. The biggest thing in their life, the biggest financial thing in their lives, is buy and sell homes.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's like kind of the quote unquote American dream is to own that house, so it's like a big small thing, it's a big thing, absolutely. Yeah, and then, speaking of marketing, what are you guys doing, um, to get your names out there, like, what are some of the resources that maybe you could share with other entrepreneurs?
Speaker 1:Sure, Um, we do a lot of. We do a lot of Facebook stuff. Um, I still think that at least our market um realtors are on Facebook Some. I know that the younger generations are transitioning to Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat and all the things I do, some TikTok dances. I have four teenage daughters, so they help you. Yeah, 18, 16, 14 and 11.
Speaker 1:So I'm up on all the TikTok stuff, but I know that younger transitions are doing or so there's some businesses that's probably more appeal to. When I'm looking at, okay, realtors, I think Facebook's a thing. I think some of our realtors when they're advertising homes and stuff, they need to integrate more into the, the instagrams or the tiktoks or building their foundation. But when I go to recruit realtors or for a samson's business, I think facebook is still a thing. We're doing a little instagram tiktok. I think google ads are becoming a bigger thing. I think there's all sorts of ai stuff.
Speaker 1:We're really big on video. I know we're getting a video podcast right here, but we have a whole studio in our headquarters. I'm probably on video at least twice a week. We do a lot of video out to people. We do video to our realtors. We do have a university that we do a lot of education on, so I think video is becoming a bigger thing.
Speaker 1:I think helping realtors become comfortable with video, because I think that we talk about innovation and technology. I think people whether you're running a business because every realtor and I know you've had a lot of realtors on that they're running their own business. Obviously they work for a brokerage like mine, but they're running their own business within our brokerage. You need to become comfortable with video and you look how you look, you sound how you sound, and the more you get comfortable with that, the more you can spread your wings and you can create followings, and we've got some realtors that do a fantastic job. Half the time I'm learning from them, but I think video and all these different social platforms are a great place to start. We also you know tried and true the print we still do a lot of.
Speaker 2:I love the print.
Speaker 1:You know it's different now. It used to be like 10, 15 years ago everybody, every realtor hits your mailbox, but now nobody does, so we're the only ones that do. So it's kind of a little bit different.
Speaker 2:Keeping it classic but also doing the modern stuff too. I like it. You're hitting like all the marks. Yep, that's right, I like that and I like that you touched on that. Video is important because sometimes I feel like some realtors out there and it's not to like call them out or anything, but they maybe don't see the benefit of how much it could be helping them or they're like no, it's fine, I don't need, or maybe they can get someone else Right. Like nowadays, you really do have to think about like your image and marketing, putting your name out there. Who are you behind the realtor Like? What are your like it's scary.
Speaker 1:But I mean I'll walk up at these realtor events and people walk up to me Like I'm like, we're best friends and they're like as much as there's a part of me that makes it uncomfortable. It's like you have to embrace that because that's the way of the world and every realtor, every business owner needs to dive into it, because you don't become it's not the first time that people see me like oh, let me call Donnie or let me call Samson Properties.
Speaker 1:It's that second, that fifth, that tenth that fifteenth time, so the more comfortable people get with video, those are the people that are going to continue to differentiate themselves in whatever market they're in, if they're selling knickknacks or houses or or whatever down the street.
Speaker 2:You know video is key. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad that you brought that up, so thank you. I'd like to ask you in your free time if you have free time with your title company and being the CEO, what do you like to do to unwind and take care of your mental health, my?
Speaker 1:girls, my family, my wife is everything and my four daughters are everything to me. Um, I coached uh 17 lacrosse games last weekend for Thanksgiving tournament. I coached my. I will coach anything that moves. I love sports, I love my girls, I love spending time with them. Um, you know they're. They're first and foremost. I mean my faith, my family, my girls and my business is something I'm passionate about, but they're there. You know you won't catch me. You know I have 15 holiday parties this month for our company.
Speaker 1:And before we scheduled one of them, I pulled out my girl's schedules and said, ok, well, here are the games, here are the things I was like no, like, we have a game this night, we can do this. Like, because I don't want to wake up in seven years and be like great, I've got a great company, but I kind of missed out. Like, no, like that's. I want to look back and say, look, great, we grew the company, but I was the best dad I could be to those four. That's what's more important than anything. So, unwinding sports and my family, that's what I love, that's my passion.
Speaker 2:I love that for you. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that, of course. Yeah, where do you see yourself in the next five years or so, with yourself and with your?
Speaker 1:business. It's a crazy question because and I don't want to sound I'm very thankful we're very blessed in so many ways. If you had asked me that five years ago I don't think there's a world I would have told you where we are today, so I don't want to shortchange where I think we could be. I love where our company's positioned for the future of real estate. I love where our company's positioned and our value proposition and the amazing people staff and clients and groups and teams and brokerages that have joined us in the last year and two, and I think we're going to continue to grow in the Mid-Atlantic. I think that we've got a great value proposition. I think that we'll probably add even more services that can help our realtors and clients, like bulking up our lending arm or insurance or other things that can help us be a one-stop shop to everything. I think that we'll grow within the Mid-Atlantic region and hopefully just continue to provide true and great, honest and good integrity with good ethics, A good real estate company that I'm proud of, the realtors and staff that we're proud of and if we keep doing stuff the right way, I think the doors will continue to open for us.
Speaker 1:But five years I don't know If you told me 6,000 realtors five years ago, I told you you're crazy, but I don't know. 10,000, 12,000 realtors and offices in more States and and more growth and more bandwidth, Um, but, but more importantly, hopefully, uh, hopefully for healthy girls. They're going off to college and a family I'm thankful for. But. But I think that our company is in a great spot and I think if we can find great staff I don't do all this by myself by any stretch, but great staff that we've been able to hire, I think five years ago, how many great people work on our staff and our team now, and if I'm able to get half that many people in the next five years then to help me grow this thing, then the sky's the limit for our company.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well said. I like that.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I see good things for you guys.
Speaker 1:So I'm rooting for you in the background. Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 2:Is there anything maybe that I have not touched on that? Perhaps you would like to talk about, whether it's about yourself, your family, your business, your industry. You have the floor.
Speaker 1:No, I think. I think that one thing I've leaned into lately is you know, we're all in this together. I think the real estate industry has taken some some swings at it this year, whether it's lawsuits or the perception of consumers out there and I think that in past years it's been okay, it's us against you, but now it's kind of us as a real estate industry together. I've done more broker events and more events making friends and colleagues, and conversations and lunches and breakfasts where we're strategizing to make sure that our industry stays strong together. So I think that's one thing that I would encourage everybody out there Like, look, I'm recruiting us other brokers every day, but and we competing as other realtors but I think that this industry has been under a little bit of attack at us as realtors, like, do you have value? Do you have this?
Speaker 1:And I think that's one thing that I'm really focused on is look, realtors are valuable. They're valuable to help us achieve the American dream to buy or sell homes and get the most we can for it and help make sure we're protected during that path. And, as an industry, bonding together is more important than anything during these times and I'm sure there'll be more attacks on us at some point as an industry, and I think that's one thing I'm really committed to is making sure that we stayed on this together, that I'm a part of the solution, not a part of the problem, and you know, and working together with other colleagues to get there and hopefully, along the way, some more of those realtors jump on our team. But really it's about let's make sure our industry stays strong, because we've got a great industry that wants that, really helps people every day, and I want to continue to make that better.
Speaker 2:Well said.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. My final question yeah, drum roll, please. I'm just kidding. I ask this to everybody, but is there a quote, a saying, a mantra, maybe a verse? A song or the Bible, anything that has inspired you in your life or your career that stands out, and would you mind sharing that with us.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, wish I'd prepared for that one. Wow, wish I'd prepared for that one. You know, I wish I had a good quote, but I would say this that I've got two, I guess One when it comes to realtors, and one thing that I kind of push on them is if you don't like the results, then you've got to change what you're putting into it. You know, and I think every day, people expect their lives that they're polite, to change as a realtor, as a business owner, whatever it is and they can get, woe is me.
Speaker 1:And if you don't change the formula that you're putting into it, the results aren't going to change. The actions we take today are the consequences that we're accepting tomorrow, and I think that that's one thing that I would try to push upon. That angle on realtors, I think when it comes to me every day, you know I wake up. You know when it's tough times it's God never gives me more than you can't handle. You know when I'm trying to, when I feel like sometimes I'm getting sucker punched from different angles, and I also you know when it comes to the good times, it's to stay humble and know that God's the one that is strengthening me every day, that gives me the talents and skills to do the things that we can and to try to honor him in everything I do and, I guess, what's important to me.
Speaker 2:Well said. Well thank you so much for sharing that and for being on the podcast today.
Speaker 1:Of course, thank you. Thank you for having me. This is great.