{"id":2329,"date":"2021-07-06T17:25:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T17:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/game-changers-tom-hosack-growth-through-mergers-and-acquisitions\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:38:01","slug":"game-changers-tom-hosack-growth-through-mergers-and-acquisitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/game-changers-tom-hosack-growth-through-mergers-and-acquisitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Changers: Concentrating on a mix of M&A, recruitment and retention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Game Changer Tom Hosack managed to expand his firm last year with a focus on recruitment and M&A despite the tumult triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty <\/a>in Wexford, Pennsylvania announced it acquired Stouffer Realty of Northeastern Ohio. The deal added 250 agents to the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal continued The Preferred Realty\u2019s M&A streak<\/a>, with Hosack crediting M&A with about three-fourths of the firm\u2019s growth from 2016 to 2020. Going forward, however, Hosack says The Preferred Realty will shift toward a more balanced approach to bringing on agents: a 50-50 split between M&A and recruitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stouffer Realty now operates as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stouffer Realty. Today, Hosack serves as co-president and CEO of The Preferred Realty and of Stouffer Realty. Gary Stouffer is president of Stouffer Realty. The two men oversee a brokerage powerhouse with more than 2,100 agents who work from more than 60 offices in 22 counties in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enlarged company now ranks 21st across the U.S. based on units, according to RealTrends 500<\/a> data, and ranks No. 7 in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the merger has closed, Hosack wonders how the growth-by-acquisition strategy will work, given the industry\u2019s mostly dismal numbers during much of 2020 and the \u201cinsane\u201d numbers now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the next two quarters are going to give us a better insight as to what this market and industry are going to do, and we\u2019ll have to shift with it,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember years ago, someone gave me a book and it was really good, and it said, \u2018It\u2019s not the big that eat the small, it\u2019s the fast that eat the slow.\u2019 And if you\u2019re not on this \u2014 on a daily basis and really working \u2014 you can get run over pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosack isn\u2019t inclined to get run over, quickly or otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from making acquisitions, his firm regularly focuses on recruitment and retention. The Preferred Realty\u2019s No. 1 market position in Western Pennsylvania helps draw new agents, and its mentoring program helps keep them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each virtual mentoring module lasts 45 to 90 minutes. Afterward, agents undergo assessments to ensure they absorbed the knowledge. Aside from the online learning, a new agent works with a mentor on their first three transactions. The mentoring program has performed so well that brokers across the country have inquired about adopting the platform, Hosack says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe great thing is when you\u2019re acquiring experienced agents, you\u2019re not spending a lot of money. If you can hire them organically and grow them, it\u2019s a lot better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosack says The Preferred Realty relies on some good old-fashioned marketing to help fill its stable of agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give cards to waitresses and people in the service industry, and say, \u2018You\u2019d be a great agent if you want to get your license. Call me\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern marketing tactics come into play, too. For instance, the firm pays for digitally generated leads. And current agents talk up The Preferred Realty on social media.

Once an agent becomes part of The Preferred Realty family, Hosack wants to put more emphasis on retaining them. Toward that end, he recently hand-delivered orchids to new agents who had reached certain sales volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always say, \u2018It\u2019s not the 30 bucks we spent on the flower, it\u2019s the fact [that] I drove to their office to hand it to them\u2019,\u201d Hosick says. \u201cI just think the more managers and leadership can focus on retaining and making our agents happy, it\u2019s better time and money spent than trying to get experienced agents to jump ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Hosack envisions leaning more on recruitment and less on M&A to entice agents to come aboard The Preferred Realty ship. In other words, organic growth will increase while growth by acquisition will decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge that I think we face is, we need to create a space that\u2019s attractive to our millennial or future agents,\u201d Hosack says. \u201cBut we need to make sure we\u2019re careful that we don\u2019t tick off the [veterans] that are paying our bills right now. But I think that we\u2019re starting to see that seesaw tip, and managers are trying to relate to agents that are generationally totally different from them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Hosack of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty was a RealTrends 2021 Game Changer.<\/a> In the past five years, between 2016 and 2020, his firm saw 118% growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game Changer Tom Hosack with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty, managed to expand his firm last year despite the tumult triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15802,"featured_media":4822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1148],"class_list":["post-2329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGame Changers: Concentrating on a mix of M&A, recruitment and retention - RealTrends - Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Game Changer Tom Hosack managed to expand his firm last year despite COVID with recruitment and an eye on mergers and acquisitions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/game-changers-tom-hosack-growth-through-mergers-and-acquisitions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Game Changers: Concentrating on a mix of M&A, recruitment and retention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Game Changer Tom Hosack managed to expand his firm last year despite COVID with recruitment and an eye on mergers and acquisitions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/game-changers-tom-hosack-growth-through-mergers-and-acquisitions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RealTrends - 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