Gary Malin, Citi Habitats

We’re investing a significant amount of time and effort into training and coaching. The barriers to entry into our industry are so low. Agents need and want training and coaching. It’s really just to enhance everyone’s skill set. People get to a certain level in their careers and think they know everything, and that’s not the case.

Bob Albanese, Long and Foster

We are a really neat enterprise. We are the largest independently owned real estate brokerage in the country. We are still profitable. We have no debt. We are a whole company positioned for growth. That is the most profound and distinct thing that separates us from the pack right now.

Jeffrey Schleider, Miron Properties

Our online marketing has delivered remarkable yield per dollar invested. We have a search engine strategy that’s based on organic results. We do email marketing that’s very effective. We also have a policy of encouraging agents to pursue their own innovative marketing ideas, which has brought great results.

Noah Freedman, BOND New York

We have a database of over 30,000 New Yorkers that we have worked with in the past and we have an ongoing email drip campaign to them. It has really been a boon to business for our agents.

Gary Legrand, Surterre Properties

We have a thing we call best buys. We have all our agents looking at all these properties, and if they see something that they think is a great buy, they send us an email and tell us why they think it’s a great deal. It doesn’t even have to be one of our listings. The best buy can be based on value or uniqueness. Every other week, a panel of 20 agents gets together and looks at all the nominations. Then the best buy goes out to all 300 of our agents, and they resend it to their contacts. If the property makes the best buy list, it has a 73 percent chance of selling. We’ve sold well over 100 properties in this program over three years, so it’s been a very successful program. They’re anywhere from REO properties all the way up to $14 million.

Leah Caro, Bronxville-Ley Real Estate

Right now, back to basics is what’s required. Somebody said that thinking outside the box is great if you’ve got the box mastered, and if you don’t, get back in the box. That’s really true. I have a written list of expectations for my office. It’s simple stuff, but if it’s not written down, nobody knows what’s expected. Be on time. Respond in a timely fashion to people. Know the inventory. Know the marketplace. Be a better agent. Do your homework. Do your due diligence. And follow through, follow through, follow through, follow through. I nag my agents about that a lot. I continue to train agents one on one, which I think is important to them.

Shaun Duggins, Carol Jones Realtors

It’s our advertising campaign. Our “Right Now” campaign is running online and on television. We’ve got billboards with Abraham Lincoln holding an iPod. We’re just letting people know that if they’re sitting on the fence, one of the best times in history to buy a home is right now — the best prices, the best selection, the best interest rates, the best terms, the best everything. No one else in our market was really saying that. Instead of wasting money on bricks and mortar, we just decided we were going to be the voice to step out there and do some aggressive marketing. It’s created a new excitement within the company. We’ve kind of changed the mindset of the agents. It’s created better agent morale. We launched it in May, and we’ve seen a tremendous increase in web traffic, leads, and phone calls.