How brand, content and tech tools contribute to North Group’s success

“If you don't have a presence and you don't have a strong educational focus, you're going to get lost. Real estate is the game of Top of Mind.”

Sara Minty, Director of Operations, North Group

When Sara Minty joined forces with North Group founder Amy Youngren, her role was to help Amy create a platform that empowered agents to succeed. Their goal was to go above and beyond simply providing office space and marketing materials to agents. Instead, Sara came on board to research the best tools, establish a platform, and help educate agents to facilitate opportunities and fuel their success.

Sara is the integrator to Amy’s visionary.

Sara’s Story

Sara sees herself as an integrator on the team. She started not as an agent but in the backend, helping Amy set up North Group’s proprietary method and systems. She was focused on taking Amy’s ideas and making them a reality. In the early days, this ambitious duo understood they couldn’t start bringing on agents until they had the tools and systems in place to help them succeed. And Sara helped North Group do this.  

It wasn’t until seven years later that Sara realized that if she really wanted to embrace the idea of integration, she needed to develop herself further. She decided to get her real estate license and leverage the very tools she helped create. Within 90 days, she had completed eight successful real estate transactions. She attributes her unheard-of success to the fact that she didn’t have to spend a lot of time setting up her own business. North Group’s systems did that for her.

Why the Team at North Group?

Real estate agents come out of real estate school unprepared to set up their businesses. That’s today’s reality of the industry. They need someone to help them develop a system and provide support so they can focus on the core of their business: Calling and being in front of people. With 70,000 other realtors in the Toronto area, competition is stiff. North Group allows agents to build their own businesses within the ecosystem of an established brand. That gives them clout.

As well, Sara understands that with 98% of buyers starting their home search online, it takes powerful, unique content to stand out in the crowd. They don’t write blogs about cleaning out gutters. They engage professional copywriters who provide strategic content with agent insights on the things their clients need to hear.

“It's done in a way that cuts the fluff, cuts the advertising and cuts the ‘pitch’ to get you directly to exactly what you need to do.”

NORTH GROUP LEVERAGES TECH

Every agent today needs to leverage technology with a website, database management software, and lead generation software. These are what Sara and North Group consider “the crucial pillars to run an online business today.” Because agents are overwhelmed with thousands of apps and platforms available, it’s easy to get distracted by “bells and whistles.” As a result, they waste time and money trying to find the best tech.

“That is my job, to audit software for agents so that we choose what's the easiest to use on your phone and just make your business better.”

What sets North Group apart is making it easy to access these critical tools. Agents not only receive the tools, but also undergo fully supported training so they can start optimizing time-saving functions to make life easier.

As a result, North Group won Inman’s most innovative team award for its digital approach to everything. They offer a state-of-the-art model, positioning themselves as industry leaders.

TECH SUPPORT IMPROVING FRONT END SERVICE

Sara’s role as Director of Operations ensures all departments work together seamlessly. Each distinctive department collaborates as the unseen support contributing to every transaction. Everyone has access to the tech they need to streamline the process and ensure every step is accessible to scale up their business with ease.

LEVELING UP

Internal training allows North Group to “level up agents and keep them sharp” regardless of whether they’ve been in the business for 10 years or 10 days. Staying educated through ongoing development and technology enhances skill range.

Agents go into an operational system and continue to improve that system as new realizations and changing customer expectations evolve. There is a North Group roadmap to follow and support in place that allows agents to pursue whatever business they desire. Just like Sara getting her license.

“I got my license because I'm influencing what the agents do. I never talked to a client at a property, and now I put myself in an agent mindset that has helped quite a bit.”

At North Group, everyone sees the opportunity to always consider what’s next, with leading-edge systems in place that make it easy to focus on attaining their goals.

Get to know Sara Minty a little better

Sara has been featured by various industry media outlets, like on podcasts such as Powering Real Estate and being interviewed for industry magazines such as Buzz Magazine.  

Her favourite pastimes

1.    Reading self-development books (a recent favorite “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell)

2.    Binging on Instagram reels. Naturally.

3.    And who doesn’t love the very controversial Gary Vaynerchuk?!

Want to know more about Cody - follow him on Instagram. Want to work with North Group? Get in touch with one of our team members.