Gary Semeniuk and his wife Gina have been a successful real estate team in Ontario since 2014. But when the market shift threatened their business in 2018, they overcame their fears and risked everything with one critical decision that ultimately revamped their business and saved their future entirely. Join us as we sit down with CINC Community member, Gary Semeniuk, as he shares how an investment in technology saved his real estate business.
What was happening in 2018 that led you to partnering with CINC as your tech platform?
We were in a downward market shift, and our business was listing-heavy, which was causing us to drown because we could not get properties to move. Our clients were too attached to the hot market burst, and it was leading us to our lowest year of sales since becoming Realtors in 2014. We did not want to be stuck, so we turned to a friend on the CINC platform. They showed us how they use the platform and network with the CINC Community members to discuss best practices. After doing extensive research, we knew with the market shift that our business had to change to survive, and we had to make a do or die decision. In September of 2018 we made the decision to take on CINC, which was the best choice we could have made as business owners.
With this challenging year threatening your business, how did you turn the business around so quickly?
The old way we were doing business would likely have put us out of business. We decided to not focus on the risk and went to Atlanta for CINC training in November. When we returned home, we shut down the business for 3 full days. All of our old practices stopped, and we implemented all the new practices we learned in training at CINC U and from the CINC Community that we met while attending. Best decision ever. The business we rebuilt and the connections we made in the CINC Community would not have happened without CINC.
How is your business doing now?
We just hit eight months on the system, and our production and transaction volume is rising sharply. We are a small team of three without any admin support, which we are working our way towards. We still have some holes in our systems, however, the CINC training has been a game changer on so many levels. We will be at about 1.3 million in production and that number will continue to grow! We were so close to having to exit out of the business after a challenging 2018 up to the 3rd quarter when we made a faithful decision to go in deep with CINC.
Any advice to others in the industry that may be struggling?
If you're struggling, look in the mirror and take ownership of your future and recommit to yourself, your family, and your team to make calls daily and leverage the CINC platform. Come from contribution and value and watch what happens. I am living proof. Very thankful for all of you, and we're just getting started.
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