REW Positions Canadian Firm at Head of Pack With Brand-New Real Estate Website
Liv Real Estate, located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was co-founded by Sheldon Johnston and Sara MacLennan in 2012, but its roots run even deeper.
Johnston’s parents started K.W. Johnston Real Estate in 1975, and the small, family-owned firm grew over the next decade to become one of the largest independent real estate brokerages in the area.
Sheldon began running the company in the early ’90s, and in 2005, MacLennan came on board to lead the brokerage’s online marketing. Seven years later, she and Johnston had successfully repositioned the firm, creating a new brand identity through the introduction of Liv Real Estate.
“Sheldon was very picky about who we were going to have working for us—not just because we wanted people who were going to be successful, but because we wanted to enjoy working together and have a collaborative environment,” says MacLennan, who also serves as the firm’s director of marketing.
As part of the duo’s business philosophy, they look to hire those who take care of clients the same way they would their own parents.
“Our hiring process is long, and it takes about four interviews, but our turnover is extremely low,” says Johnston. “We have agents who have been with us since we first started hiring in 2008, which is a big part of our success.”
Johnston and MacLennan also point to their agents’ success as a key piece of the puzzle, which is why the firm supplies them with the tools and resources to position them as leaders in the field.
Topping the list is leading technology provider Real Estate Webmasters. In fact, MacLennan suggested transforming the firm’s website back when she first joined the company, looking to customize it in a way that was best for everyone, and so they made the transition to Real Estate Webmasters.
“I always thought more like an agent, and Sara was thinking more about what the consumer wanted,” Johnston says. “Because of that, we get a lot of traffic.”
The biggest thing Real Estate Webmasters does for Liv Real Estate’s agents is generate a great number of leads.
“One of the things that differentiates us is the fact that we have a very relationship-focused brokerage,” says MacLennan, who goes on to explain that thanks to Real Estate Webmasters, when someone searches for anything related to real estate in Edmonton, they land on Liv Real Estate’s website.
“Agents come up to me all the time and tell me that their clients are using our website, and I’m not sorry about that,” Johnston says.
While people are never forced to register upon visiting the site, they’re encouraged to use it as much as they want.
“Even after they register, they aren’t considered a lead, so we don’t contact them in any way,” MacLennan says. “We wait until they actually request a showing or ask a question. This means that instead of our agents having to chase down registrations, they can simply deal with those who raise their hand and say, ‘I want to buy real estate.'”
The flexibility for customization offered by Real Estate Webmasters allows the firm to work the way they want—controlling how the site looks, how leads are generated and distributed, and the way in which information is presented.
“We love what we’re doing,” says Johnston. “We don’t want people who are just looking for sales, but rather, those who are looking to make long-lasting relationships.”
For more information, please visit www.realestatewebmasters.com.
