Hello, everyone. Welcome back to CEO Secrets. Today we have a very special guest. He is the founder of one of the leading CRM platforms in the real estate space. Let’s welcome, the Co-Founder and CEO of BoomTown, Grier Allen.
Grier grew up in a family of real estate agents and this fuelled his passion for the industry early on. This is why even as he started a digital advertising company after college, he felt drawn to go back and focus on real estate. He wanted to build a product that would impact more lives within the real estate space.
In 2006, he and the members of his founding team pooled their knowledge, experience, and skill sets together and spent an entire year trying to understand where they could make a real impact on the industry. This is how they came up with software products that will help real estate professionals provide a better experience for their prospects and customers - thus, BoomTown was born.
Today, Boomtown has grown to be one of the leading CRM providers in the entire industry. They are considered to be the behemoth in the real estate CRM space and have been able to maintain their top-notch status despite having numerous competitors come up over the years.
Let us hear from Grier as he shares his insights on hiring leaders, the importance of culture, and his journey to making BoomTown a success.
Top Takeaways:
03:46 The distinct competitive advantage for Boomtown
04:58 How important team-building has been to the success of Boomtown
08:21 What is BoomTown doing on the product side to help customers stay relevant
10:29 BoomTown’s mission from the get-go
11:39 Grier’s views on the future of the real estate industry
12:50 The greatest secret to identifying, selecting, and getting the right leader in place
18:06 Which leadership roles could be performed remotely and which ones should be performed next to the team?
19:18 Is it ideal to offshore key leadership roles to other countries?
21:10 Where were the roadblocks BoomTown had to deal with from a revenue perspective?
21:50 When did BoomTown decide to define their core values
26:26 Why you shouldn’t let search fatigue dictate your hiring decisions.
25:51 The value of finding someone who fits your culture
28:10 The “silver bullet” in the interview process to make sure that people gel together
33:39 What's the next big grandiose plan for Boomtown to stay on top?
36:02 Grier’s advice for the small players to find opportunities to grow and have success
44:06 Which teams/companies does Grier think will have incredible growth in the future and which ones does he think will fall behind?