RE/MAX Founder Dave Liniger on successes, failures and lessons learned

On today’s episode of RealTrending, Dave Liniger, co-founder and chairman of the board of RE/MAX, joins us to discuss his longstanding real estate career, his new book ‘The Perfect Ten’ and shares insights on leadership and success in the real estate industry. 

Liniger shares his most impactful leadership lessons and how his failures have informed his success. He shares personal stories and talks about the use of the ‘Perfect 10’ score in measuring brokerage satisfaction. Liniger stresses the importance of communication, determination, and leadership adaptability for achieving success. He also goes into the many changes in the real estate industry over the years and the challenges faced by agents of the future.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• The ‘Perfect 10’ score measures customer satisfaction and loyalty in the real estate industry.
• Effective communication and leadership are crucial for success in business.
• Grit, determination, and resilience are key qualities for achieving success.
• Successful leaders are adaptable, loyal to their team, and prioritize the success of the whole over individual achievements.

Here’s a small preview of today’s interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: You have a lot of personal stories in the book. So, if you could just pick one lesson or strategy that had the greatest impact on your business early on, what would that be?

Dave Liniger: Well, I think that grit, determination, persistence are keys to achieving success. Everybody gets knocked down. It’s can you get back up off the mat and go another round? There are several stories in the book where we literally got knocked down and show how close to failure we were.

The industry was against us. I was making a lot of leadership and management mistakes. I finally developed the personal courage to sit down with my managers. And I said, what did you like best about the company you worked at before us? What did you dislike the most? What do you like best about being at Remax? What do you dislike the most?What do you like best about me as an individual? What do you dislike the most?

You better have a thick skin because realtors will tell you what they feel. I did care. I did not want to fail. I’m looking to you to develop me into the leader that you want.

The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Every week, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.