After disappointing Q2 earnings results, NRT has been making some big moves in the third quarter of 2016.
The latest? It’s created two new executive positions focused on growth.
Ryan Gorman, who was the senior vice president of strategic operations for NRT, will now serve as the company’s chief strategy and operating officer.
In this new role, Gorman will be in charge of ensuring “all aspects of NRT are primed for growth in a strategic manner with a focus on enhancing efficiencies in the operational support of NRT’s business,” according to a press release sent this morning.
Peter Sorbeck, who was the COO for Citi Habitats, an NRT subsidiary in New York City, will now be the company’s chief recruiting officer.
As CRO, Sorbeck will be charged with quickly recruiting top-producing independent sales associates as well as strengthen NRT’s employee retention program.
“These appointments, both filled from within our organization, speak to the strength of our leadership bench at NRT,” said Bruce Zipf, president and chief executive officer, NRT LLC in a press release. “We are taking significant action steps to enhance our performance in areas that are important to our service delivery, overall growth and success.”
A series of ups and downs over the past 12 months
These new positions appear to be part of NRT’s strategic plan to bounce back from a poor Q2 performance. Apart from Citi Habitats, NRT’s subsidiaries include Coldwell Banker, Corcoran Group Real Estate, Sotheby’s International Realty, ZipRealty and Climb Real Estate.
In December, the nation’s largest brokerage shut down its much-anticipated national listing portal, HomesForSale.com.
And according to NRT’s earnings call in August, the company’s revenue for the quarter dropped $21 million year-over-year to $1.268 billion due to dampened high-value property sales.
Furthermore, Realogy CEO Richard A. Smith noted that stiff competition from other high-producing brokerages and agent poaching were hindering growth and sales.
Then, just a couple of weeks ago, the brokerage snapped up Climb Real Estate.
Smith said NRT keeps approximately 90 percent of its top two percent sales associates and recruits a “significant number” of new sales agents. But he recognized that won’t be enough to surpass the competition.
“Our agents are some of the top talent in the industry, and as such, historically have been targeted by the competition. This trend has recently become more pronounced as new entrants to the industry as well as assorted, established firms use short-term economic incentives to build market share,” Smith said.
“Our experience tells us that economic incentives need to be complemented by a strong level of support to the agent, which we uniquely provide.”
