In Silver Year, Griffin Goes for Gold

Griffin Co. Realtors has turned 25 and “the corner.”

The Springdale firm has more than doubled its business since 2000, growing sales from $44 million to an expected $100 million by this year’s end. Co-owners and brokers Gary Griffin and Phillip Taldo said the leap, which would include a 45 percent increase just since last year, is a product of their expanded agent base and listings area.

What do Griffin’s 37 agents and market leader Lindsey & Associates’ army of 150 agents have in common? Their average sales per agent is about the same.

Based on projections from both companies, Lindsey’s agents are expected to average $2.6 million in 2003 sales and Griffin’s are expected to average $2.7 million. Lindsey’s total sales, the firm said, should hit $400 million.

“They are a very strong competitor,” said John David Lindsey, executive broker and sales manager of Lindsey and Associates’ Rogers office. “They are doing a tremendous job, especially in Springdale.”

Lindsey said he considers both Taldo and Griffin to be great people to work with.

If Griffin Co. hits its numbers, it would see sales climb this year about $30 million from $69.8 million in 2002. Sales increased by less than $10 million from 2000 to 2001, but Griffin said a decision made four years ago to grow has proven wise.

“For a long time we purposely stayed small, and then we realized that we couldn’t compete in advertising with a lot of companies,” Griffin said. “We just made a conscious effort to grow.”

Griffin Co. has added 18 agents since 2000 and expects to add 12 more soon. It has also expanded its listing presence in Fayetteville, Rogers and Lowell and increased its advertising budget more than 50 percent.

Griffin said his firm, celebrating its 25th anniversary, had long been a strong competitor in the market. He and Taldo also started a development and construction company in 1985. One Springdale Inc. helped develop more than 15 subdivisions including Springdale’s Falcon Heights, The Orchard, Willow Bend and North Meadows.

But the pair’s priorities shifted. Griffin said they decided to stop building homes and start building the realty end of their business.

“We found ourselves doing several things that all made us money, but the real estate division wasn’t growing,” Griffin said. “We trimmed a few things out and focused on our office. We were wearing too many hats.”

Griffin Co. beefed up its office support with customized front and back-office software and computer hardware including Dell PCs. The software tracks production sales, market time and the marketing of property along with the firm’s financials.

The company also leases a top-of-the-line Dialta copying system from Professional Business Systems in Springdale.

But the biggest acquisition may have been hiring Glenda Edwards in 2000 as a broker and sales manager. Griffin said she has been an “exceptionally large part” of Griffin Co.’s success.

Edwards, who had 17 years of real estate experience prior to joining Griffin Co., said a strong existing business base was already in place when she arrived. She said the sales growth resulted from an increase in listings volume.

“We have grown from $19 million a year in listings volume to $50 million in 24 months,” Edwards said. “Because of our base of sellers, we have buyers at all price ranges calling in.”

Patience and Wisdom

Griffin said hiring people who do more than just “talk the talk” made the firm realize big growth faster than expected.

“When I hear people occasionally tell what they are going to do,” Griffin said, “a new company will come on the scene with big plans, but there is no substitute for experience and having weathered a lot of storms and making a commitment with that behind you. It helps if know how to grow and in what way.”

Griffin and Taldo said they both believe in being selective when hiring agents.

“Recruiting and hiring quality people that will project an image of a company is key to everything we do,” Taldo said. “Gary and I don’t carry the torch. It is our staff and agents who do that for us.”

Griffin said that one of the things they do is have prospective agents answer questionnaires to determine whether they are the right fit with the existing agents in the company.

“We train our agents in-house,” Edwards said. “We have a very positive agent orientation program.”

Edwards said the business mostly hires newcomers to real estate. The firm’s long-term agents also help fuel the business.

“They follow up so well that our referral business is extreme,” Edwards said. “At one time, 74 percent of the people that did business with the Griffin Co. had done business with us before.”

Nettie Everett and Liz Means, who’ve been on board for 19 and 20 years respectively, contribute to what Edwards said is a very low turnover rate. She also said the agents get the support they need to get things done.

“The agents themselves are important, but the support staff is essential so that the agents can be available to sell and grow the customer base,” Edwards said.

Growth

Griffin said he is very grateful to Fortune 500 locals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. for bringing in the business that’s here to support them.

“It’s like in the last 10 years the world has taken notice of what has been going on here in Northwest Arkansas,” Griffin said. “I am just grateful that they have stayed here and decided to grow where they started, and we are all beneficiaries of that growth.”

Griffin remembered his disbelief in the beginning when housing values started to climb.

“When I am riding around with one of the agents I will point at a house that sold at one time for $19,000 and now is in the market for $70,000-$80,000,” Griffin said. “It’s ancient history to them because they can’t imagine it being that cheap, but that’s the way it was.”

Both Taldo and Griffin believe that the growth will continue and that housing values will increase.

“I think that the markets will continue to improve because more people come in and more goods are needed, etc. and the development follows,” Taldo said.

Griffin agreed that the company is in a great position.

“There is a lot of supply and demand going on,” Griffin said. “I have had several people say to me, aren’t you lucky to be in the right place at the right time, but we were here before it was the right place, and we are grateful.”