Adam Contos CEO of RE/MAX | Taking Action & ”Partying With the Beast”

This week Kala does a one-on-one interview with Adam Contos, CEO at ReMax.

Adam has a new book “Start With a Win” that is being released October 19th.

A Little Background

He worked his way up through the ranks at ReMax to become it’s current CEO. Adam grew up in Denver and joined the Marine Corps right after high school, his goal was ultimately to become a police officer. While he was an officer he developed a real estate agent safety program that ReMax eventually bought and hired him as a consultant to teach. Later he accepted an offer form the ReMax CEO to learn the business form him and accepted the position, eventually making it to the C-suite. I’t about focused effort and working hard - caring about the people around you and doing what you can to make a difference.

His book is really a tactical how-to on achieving amazing things.

On iBuyers

He looks at iBuyers as cash buyers, there have always been and always will be cash buyers in the real estate space. So to anybody who says iBuyers are new he says it’s how cash buyers are doing things that is new, Burt ultimately we can see that how we are doing a lot of thing sin life is new. Evolution is business is nothing new. A lot of this change is through clarity of communication.

There is a report out saying that 77% of people say they would give up some equity to use an iBuyer and have an easier, faster sale. Contos says he doesn’t doubt the 77% statistic that people SAY they would be swilling to use an iBuyer, you just don’t see that many people actually doing it. What we are seeing now is iBuyers becoming more efficient and offering a less friction option, but I challenge you to show me an iBuyer making profit at this point.

It is nice to have iBuyers in the space to give agents and sellers options, we can share our sandbox.

The ReMax motto … MORE

The ReMax motto “MORE” is our value statement. We wanted to re-align ourselves to our north star - the way we are following. M.O.R.E. The “M” is for max, as in deliver to the max; the “O” is Obsessed, be obsessed, care with everything you’ve got; “R” do the right thing - we are ethical, honest and trustworthy people; and “E” everybody wins, this is what should happen with every real estate transaction.

What does a “win” mean? So many people go through life just doing things, the way Adam looks at it is that everything we do is a little mission. You either complete the mission and win or you don’t and you lose and learn. Everything we do in our lives we should look at and appreciate the opportunity to do it. Have the right attitude and take action, then you’ll win.

What is the beast and why would I want to party with it

Inside all our heads and hearts is this beast that causes us to doubt ourselves; doubt our knowledge, preparation, ability … Right when you get to the point where you need to do what you need to do that beast is going to come at you. You have to decide is that beast going to take away your power to do what you know you can do? Or are you going to go in there and use the beast as what it is, your realization that you know what yo do … that beast is your best friend and you have to decide if you are going to party with the beast or let fear stop you.

Action.

There is one solution to fear, doubt and being overwhelmed, and the tis action. The reality is that nothing happens thill you take action. Enabling is allowing people to get away with not taking action. Empowerment is encouraging people to take action. We deserve what we tolerate. Helping people take action is what leadership is all about.

A lesson about vulnerability

The interesting thing about vulnerability, people who have wrong intentions will use it against you. You have to be strong and vulnerable at the same time. If we are confident and strengthen we are vulnerable and we own what we say and how we do things and we are honest with other people, the reality is you’ll find out it’s ok and we don’t have to hide things and live in fear. We have to allow ourselves to trust other people.

The future of real estate

Every industry eventually goes through a complacency with the level of service clients. That is when disruptors come in and say “you’re going to go away” but really what we should be hearing is “raise your game” get better, provide a greater experience. There is a need for evolution, what the consumer wants is an expert. Let’s raise the bar, its like the difference between putting on a band aid and performing heart surgery. Let’s become heart surgeons.