Dermot Buffini discusses brokerage leadership, real estate market shifts

Dermot Buffini, the CEO of Buffini & Co., joined this week’s episode of the RealTrending podcast for a conversation on the evolving challenges for real estate leaders.

Speaking with host Tracey Velt at HousingWire’s The Gathering, Buffini addressed the pressures that brokers and team leaders face amid market volatility and shifting agent performance.

He emphasized the importance of focusing on fundamentals in a business environment that’s increasingly filled with noise.

This conversation excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.

Velt: When a broker comes to you and says, “My margins are down, business is horrible, my agents are leaving,” where do you start with them? And where are you seeing their biggest challenges?

Buffini: Our program, called 100 Days to Greatness, and our other training programs, allows them to actually lead in a very meaningful way and go, ‘Hey, we’re going to work on these things. We’re going to generate leads. We’re going to generate referrals. We’re going to focus on our database.’

He acknowledged that in tough markets, brokers often feel overwhelmed, like they’re trying to grab onto something stable while dealing with agent attrition and shrinking margins.

Buffini: Momentum is a big deal. When momentum is going against you, you’re sliding down the hill. You’re just trying to grab onto a rock in markets like that. That’s what it feels like.

He said the first step is to identify which agents truly matter to the future of the brokerage.

Buffini: For us, it’s about sorting and qualifying the agents that you have. Who are the agents that you feel like you can’t lose? They’re my most important people. They’re the folks we’re going to win with not just today, but in the future, and they need my attention.

He also said that losing some agents isn’t always a bad thing.

Buffini: Then I need to think about the agents that I’m OK with losing. You know, if you lose a headache, if you lose a problem, sometimes loss isn’t bad.

The key, he said, is focusing on what drives results.

Buffini: We really try to focus on what’s the center of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can eat the crust if you want to, but the best part’s in the middle. And what’s in the middle is agent productivity, agent productivity, agent productivity.