The Lessons Carolyn Rosson Learned From Ebby Halliday

Hi, I'm Candy Evans, and this is Dallas Dirt. Today, I have an amazing guest here and you are going to love her. I feel like Ebby Halliday is in the room with us or in the studio, I should say, with us today. You're going to love Carolyn Rosson.

She is the president and CEO of the Ebby Halliday Companies, and she's a wonderful person and a dear friend who I've known for Oh, quite a few years. Welcome, Carolyn. Thank you, Candy. It's an honor to be here.

Now tell us, you're now the CEO, the leader of this wonderful, large, which is the largest brokerage in the state of Texas, correct? Yes. Ebby has grown phenomenally and you guys just do everything right. You are now the president.

You kind of stair stepped up to that, but you were in Southlake For about 15 years, we built a new office and grew that office. It's a fabulous location with great people. I went to the opening, of course. Of course you did.

I had my pink hard hat. So tell me, before we get into all the wonderful things y'all are doing, I find it so interesting to know how and why people got into the fields they did. And you got into real estate in Las Colinas as an agent. Yes.

It lasted. Well, for a very short period of time, because I learned very quickly, Candy, that my joy came from helping people be successful and helping them build careers. And so I transitioned into the support role and had several different, opportunities in the support role. And then at a very young age, in my twenties, became a sales leader of the Las Colinas office.

Wow. Wow. Unbelievable. So you mentor people.

I do. Yes, I do. And, you know, I was taught by the very best, Ebby herself. Yes.

How did you get to know Ebby? You know, Ebby, I think back on those days when I was in my 20s, and Ebby was 69 when I joined the company. A spring chicken. And she was really in her prime, if you think about it, at that time.

She knew what every office was doing, who was leading each office, she knew the agents. She just, taught me so many things, but probably the most valuable lesson that I learned from Ebby is that when you are with someone, be with them, be present and listen and learn and listen more than you speak. She did make you feel like you were a million dollars. And you were the only person.

In the room, although you could have been in a ballroom with 3000 people, but you were the only one. And no matter how, you know, I remember like running into one of her birthday parties once and I was like exercising and I think I was kind of a sweaty mess, but she still made me feel welcome, comfortable and special. Always. Yes.

And that's what you do, too. Always. Yeah. Thank you.

You do. Thank you. Well, you are just going great guns here with Ebby. I was so impressed with Summit, which was what, a week ago, Monday?

Yes. I'm still floating. It was your first time to do this. Yes.

Yes. So let me explain. So Summit was an all company, like a retreat almost, right? In Dallas.

Correct. Like a retreat. Yes. At the Winspear, which.

Winspear. Winspear. It was beautiful and it was huge and was so well attended. I mean, it was like a concert, but it was all helping, educate.

agents within the companies and they came from Fort Worth and from everywhere, didn't they? Just under a thousand agents in one space. And you know, as we've done, we've had summit each year, but during the COVID years, it was a virtual event. And one of the things the agents said to us is, please, can we get together?

We just want to hug each other and learn from each other and network with one another. Oh, it was such a home run and what a beautiful venue. It was so gorgeous, so easy to get to. The parking was great, you know, so you got the idea.

You listen to your agents, right? Which I think Ebby does a lot of. You listen to the agents. It's a very reciprocal type of experience to work there.

What else do you think that Summit did for the agents? Loved about it? I think the various speakers that we had, I think there was a really good balance of new ideas and things for agents to know. And then things that you already knew, how important connection is, how quickly someone makes a determination, whether they like you and are going to do business with you.

So Sylvie, spoke about seven seconds. That's all we have to make a good first impression. Seven. Seven seconds.

That's pretty quick. What did she say? There were like 80 or something different things your brain does in those seven seconds to decide what they like about someone or don't like. Absolutely.

Fascinating. How did you know her? Did you know her? I heard her speak for the first time at Leading Real Estate Companies of the World in Las Vegas last year.

And when we began planning the summit, I said, I know exactly who we need. To come and be our keynote and several were interviewed, but she hit it out of the park. She's so lively and real up on stage. You just felt like you were right there in a small room.

Summit was really helpful because it educated the agents, which they need now. I mean, agents need a little help and I feel like you guys are really doing that for your agents. You know, it's so important. And again, listening to the agents, what their needs are, what their challenges are.

What our job is, is to help them and elevate their business to the best of our ability as the leader. And so the only way you can do that is to listen to the agents. What are your challenges? What are the obstacles?

If you remember, we had Rajiv, Saja, talk about A. I. How important is A. I.

in our business today? And so, I think, you know, Candy, I've always said our job is to serve our agents. They are the lifeblood of our business. We don't have a company without our great agents who are outlisting and selling real estate.

And so, as we talked about and planned the summit, we listened to what some of their challenges were. And we planned. The speakers based on what some of those challenges were right to meet that because agents are in sort of a transition today. I mean, our whole life is in basically transition with the technology.

And as you said, the big question out there is, you know, especially for journalists, is a I going to Journalism, is it going to write stories for us? And yeah, it kind of is writing some stories. I don't know how accurate they are, but it's definitely writing them. And I'm sure the agents have some questions about this too, don't they?

You know, it's interesting because one thing that will never be replaced is the human connection and. AI may be able to write a script for you, but they can't smile and they can't give the emotion that you do or that I do when we're speaking with people. The other thing I think is there's so much to be said about the knowledge and the skill that you've taken years to build your knowledge and skill. to what you've become today, which is an iconic person in Dallas, Texas and beyond.

And an agent does the same thing. They work for years to sharpen their skills on negotiating. So important to have transparency in what we do and how we represent our client today. And so that is something that is of paramount importance to the Abbey Halliday companies is making sure we provide the education, the tools, the resources, our incredible marketing team.

Yes, you have a good market. We really do. There's not one better. And that's important for agents because, real estate agents are independent contractors.

They're small businesses. So when we talk about small businesses as help for small, that's what a realtor is. They are their own business that they affiliate with a broker, correct? That is correct.

And, but you don't pay their salary. No. Correct. You actually take a little bit of their salary to kind of keep them.

You know, the lights on that shot, but you also give back to them the support and services, education, uplifting. I mean, if they come in and they're just, everyone has said, I hate every house I've looked at or something. I mean, you help them deal with that, correct? Absolutely.

And you know, it's the sales associates. are the CEO of their own business. Yeah, there's no expense reports. They have no one to turn an expense report into their mileage, all of their professional fees, how they represent a client.

If you list a home, there are photographs to be taken, brochures to be ordered, all types of publicity to be had. So an agent. Is an independent contractor. They're in business for themselves and they are under the umbrella of a broker.

And so that is the, that is our role. Also, you know, we help them with legal things that may come up. We have a broker of record. Within our company.

And then we also have an in house council. So we're there to serve the agent and meet them where they are. And that varies depending on their level of experience, a new agent. There's all types of education.

That's wonderful. And so summit was really another. form of education. That's right.

For agents and they, they loved it. They lapped it up. Now you're going to do it again. Yes.

We've decided it has to be a yearly event. Oh, that's wonderful. And next year's going to be really important because it's our 80th year. Wow.

So we might have to have a little. Oh, fun. How about attached to that? Cake maybe, or bubbles.

I mean, you know, love, who knows cake and bubbles, cake and bubbles. I mean, I'll never forget Ebby's birthday cake. That was the little train. Oh my gosh.

I will have to find a picture of that so we spoke a little bit about Ebby, but. You worked with Ebby directly, didn't you? I did. I did work with her directly.

She was the person that when I knew I wanted to nail an agent for securing them, whether they be experienced or a brand new agent, I would always get in the car and drive over to the home office and introduce them to Ebby. If I had them 80 percent of the way, Ebby would bring them home. And so she was just, someone that everyone looked up to, wanted her autograph. I mean, anything.

She was our own little rock star. Oh, yes. I mean, she's an icon. Totally.

But real estate is such a local, local, local business. No matter how hard companies have tried to nationalize it, it's still, why do you think it's such a local business? Well, I think that you've got to know the communities you serve. And our agents do that so, so well.

And as you know, Ebby did. You don't drive around in Dallas and not see one. thing or a community involvement or a philanthropic entity that she didn't touch everywhere, everything. And she taught that to all of us and all of our agents, our agents serve their community so well.

So talking about local, I always say real estate is like the weather. It's local. People want. An agent to serve them that knows the community, the arts, the cultural, the political arenas.

And that's something that our agents do. They live and work and breathe in those communities. And so it's, it's incredibly important. And that's where I always found this interesting, kind of almost like a.

An overlap, like the old Venn diagram, you know, the little area in the middle with journalism because journalism is the same way in many respects. You've got your national news, but what people really care about is the high school football team and the crime in my neighborhood or my grocery store. They want to know about their local life. And so it kind of goes hand in hand and that's why I feel like, local real estate companies.

Just can't be wiped away. By the big boys, I completely agree. I completely agree with that. And you know, a lot of times the people who are relocating here, migrating to Texas, the realtors, their first friend, let's face it.

And their conduit to everything, everything, doctors, dentists, Right. Exactly. What about the nail salon? Yeah, very important.

And that's why realtors make. Friends for life. I mean, we have agents who have sold families and their children and their children and that's what we strive to do is be that type of realtor for our consumer, our client. Now, you have watched Ebby grow over the last few years to from, I mean, can you imagine when Ebby was here?

There were. You know, there was South Lake and there was Frisco and there was Plano and there of course was Dallas, but now you're up in Sherman. Yes. Oklahoma.

East Texas. Tyler and Jacksonville. West to stephenville. And then into Oklahoma.

So yes, it has grown. We've grown. And we've tried to meet the consumers where the need was. And so our Kandi, is really developing and building those offices that we have to serve.

Acquired and those that we have that are already doing such a great amount of business. So that's really our focus right now is really focusing on what we have, which is a gift and a blessing. We have, 18, 1900 agents. And so that is, that's our focus is really serving them and serving them well, Hence you had, this wonderful connect and you probably will be doing some other things or ongoing things to help your agents.

Absolutely. You know all the EBBY agents have to take like a school, go to EBBY school? Yes. I was talking about EBBY school.

So it's not called EBBY school anymore, but it was called EBBY school. Now it's called EDGE and so our, that's our foundational courses that our new agents go through. Our next level of training is our coaching program and That has just been a phenomenal for our newer agents to help them get up and running. And what we've seen is a significant increase in their success.

The first year, 18 months by going through that coaching program. Because you know, being a real estate realtor or an agent is again, it's lonely. I mean, you could, just have your home office and not see anyone and sometimes you get a big sale and sometimes you don't. So it's really wonderful that a company.

Invests in its agents, helps them, coaches them, makes them feel good about what they're doing. Right. And to your point, it's important for them to have a network. You know, I always say, go into the office, go to the sales meetings that our sales leaders run at least twice a month, usually.

Go in because that's when you learn and grow and connect. And that's our word this year is connect. That's why Summit was called Connect. Yes.

So, it's really important for agents today. To have that connection, not only with their community and the clients and their sphere of influence, but the agents that they work with, they're the cheerleaders. They'll cry with you when you've had a bad day and they'll celebrate with you when you've had a great day, have those bubbles with you. That's right.

I am so excited about the masterminds group also that you have the top top people meeting quarterly. Now that's within the company. Yes, that is correct. Brands.

All three brands. Yeah, you will. Williams true Fort Worth. in Dallas.

We have in town and Lake Highlands, yes, exactly, and Preston Center, Park City, yeah, what about Frisco, no, they're a Big Abbey office, Big Abbey, very large Abbey office, yes, okay, so you've got them, and you are offering these different levels now. Yes. So, what we determined, Candy, is that that top level of agent needed some connection and an ability, a platform, if you will, to share. What are you doing?

What's working? How did you build your group? How did you build a team? I'm an individual agent.

Do you have an assistant? Do you have a transaction coordinator? And so we determined it was really important. We tried it before COVID, right before COVID, we started the mastermind groups.

Well, what we found out Real tours are very social people candy kind of like you and I are. And so they don't like to meet on the screen. They want to meet in person. And so it really didn't do well when we were working towards the virtual.

So we launched it. We're about to have our second group meeting. There's about 50 on the invitation list. And it's top agents across all three brands, both individual, group, and team.

So it is a dynamic group. I've got to tell you. My heels are turning about. You know, maybe covering one of the meeting.

Oh, please do. Wouldn't that be awesome? I feel like I'm in a room of celebrities when I walk in that room. Because they are so smart.

The top people who are selling and rubbing shoulders. Celebrities. And they take time. Out of their busy schedules to come and be together.

It was so powerful, the sharing and the networking that took place. So we're really excited about that. I What about the baby agents who are just coming in and, you know, just Kind of green and that I want to be an agent. I really want to sell real estate.

25 years old, 20 years old, right out of school. How are the best way to get into this? And I mean, obviously through the training and through things like connect, but tell me how you, how do you train? Not only do we have the education that we just talked about, impact and coaching, but the other thing we have in each of the offices, we assign them a mentor.

So this mentor could be 20 years in the business, longer than that, could be 10 years, someone who's successful. But the mentors have to be in the office. Have made the decision that they want to give back and they want to share and help someone else grow and be successful in the business. So we have amazing mentors in each of the offices that will allow a baby agent to go with them on a listing appointment, maybe hop in the car where they're going to show a house, hear them talk, just shadow them.

And, it has been very successful. We believe in that so much that we, the company pay for the mentor. We don't ask our agents to pay the mentor because, you know, as a new agent, You have expenses and it's important that they be able to capture the income that's coming in. It may take a little while for them to get that first paycheck candy.

And so we pay for the mentor based on a closed transaction. We will pay the mentor. That's pretty amazing because again, I, I'm never surprised by how much people don't know about the real estate industry, but it is what they say. Eat what you kill.

In other words, you do not get a salary every month with the taxes taken out. You get a check when you sell a property. That's right. And up until that point, you're paying for the marketing and you have to pay your own taxes and your own.

Expenses, unless you come into the office and, do some stuff there. But basically you don't earn anything until you're That is correct. That's why we always say to an agent, listen, don't be an Island. Don't be at home by yourself.

Get up, get dressed, come into the office every day. I always encourage new agents go on tour. You need to learn the market. You need to drive to the new construction, the new home sites, go in, introduce yourself.

Do something every single day. It's so, so important. And the other thing I tell them is be a part of a club or a community event or community, entity that you can meet people and grow your sphere of influence. Sit on open house every weekend.

So there are so many things a new agent can do, but you know what? They need counsel our sales leaders in each of our branch offices are so good to counsel a new agent and help them to build and grow their business. Oh, that's so important. So important.

Because again, they, there's not really schooling. I mean, you can get, take a class to learn to pass your, you know, get your license and kind of know that, but then that changes too. So, what do you think, or what did you hear that the agents love the most about Summit? I think Sylvie's talk was probably the home run.

The other thing we've heard great feedback about was the agent panel. So we had an agent from Companies in Austin, Houston and San Antonio, and they sat down with Betsy Cameron, who is our moderator and just talked about their business today and what they're doing and how they're growing their business and their community connection and how they're dealing with transparency in the market today. Buyer agency, which is so important, and you know in Texas, we're so fortunate because we've been practicing buyer agency for years.

Exactly. But some of our other states in the United States have not. So, I think that was the other powerful piece of the summit, was the agent panel. Agents like to hear from others who are doing the same line of work that they are.

They want to hear from people. Who are successful and encountering the same challenges every day that they are, which is why I think it's so important that you do. You bring the experience agent in because no one really wants to go here. The theoretical.

And then it's even more, I think, criticized in mainstream education everywhere, you know, and it works like physician, they go, they go into the hospital, they do surgery with another doctor watching, absolute saying, Hey, you know, move that liver over there. Right. I've always said to an agent who's getting ready to sit for the real estate exam, listen, Everything you learned is probably not anything you're going to take boots on the ground. It's what you've learned to get your real estate license.

When you actually get in the field, it's all about the people. You've got to connect with the people and you've got to connect on their level and serve them and serve them well. Exactly. And, you know, that's where the unknowns pop up.

Yes. Indeed. And so that's where this, all the experience that these other, agents have had in their lifetime. And it's so wonderful that they're willing to share.

And I have found that really good agents, they're not cloistered. They're really happy to share. What they've done that's been successful. Absolutely.

You know, I'm always so overjoyed when you see an agent who says to a new agent, I'll share my home marketing plan with you. I'll share my listing presentation with you. I'll share my buyer consultation with you. And you know, that's rare candy because real estate is a very competitive industry, and that is.

A differentiator in our company is that our agents are willing to share with others and new agents and experienced agents coming from other companies. So we are very blessed. We have a culture that is just such a synergistic, helpful, thoughtful group of agents that love to work together and help one another. It's a great atmosphere.

So what's next? You guys are. Pretty well centered in North Texas now. I mean, you're in Fort Worth, you're going west of Fort Worth a little bit.

Yes. To Stephenville. Stephenville, which is a very hot area. You've got to go.

I know. I actually have a couple of developers who contacted me about that. How hot it is, because I guess the homes there are tremendous, the values are very strong there for what these young folks can afford. It's a little bit of a drive, but then now some people, they can work from home half the week, so.

It's great and it's kind of the start of the hill country, right? It kind of is. Yeah. And there's something about driving over the hills and seeing the horse properties and seeing the properties that have acreage two or three or five acres.

The stress just kind of melts away a little bit, you know, from the bumper to bumper traffic People zooming around you on the freeways. Or, or even on Preston Road. Oh, yes, absolutely. Or down South Lake Boulevard.

Exactly. Or on the tollway. It doesn't matter, right? People are in a hurry.

What I loved about South Lake too, is to me it was just a little more spread out. There's just a little bit more I'm going to be doing a little bit of a, uh, hob moment, you know, when you're home and you can put your feet up in the backyard. I love that. But I'm, so I'm just thinking you're there, you're East, you're Tyler.

Are you going to Austin, San Antonio next week? Great question. We are focused on the great offices that we have and the great teams that we have in the building grow those areas. That's our focus.

It really is. And when you acquire these other companies, they're very much entrenched in the community. Yes. Absolutely.

It's that community involvement. We want people who have like minded cultures like we do. Great professionalism, ethics, great agents, and, just that level that is important to the Ebby Halliday companies. Yes.

It's so wonderful. Well, tell us what is in store next year for Connect, But we're starting already. I think our first meeting is next week to begin planning for 2025. And I think it was very smart that you had the AI there because technology is coming to all of us no matter whether we like it or not.

Yeah. We better get ready. You got to get ready. We got to adapt to it.

Exactly. I'll never forget being at, what I think it was, the Amazon, I can't think of his name, but you know, the guy who started Amazon. Yes. And, he, was giving a wonderful speech at SMU, part of the Tate Lecture Series.

And an agent sat next to me and said to me, what's AI? Oh. And I said, artificial intelligence. Okay.

And, and she was younger than me, which made me feel young, you know, but I mean, again, to be an agent now, you have got to be in the know. You've got to be in the know because your consumer is in the know. Right. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And, so, you know, and there are fun ways you can use AI. An agent can plug in a, property description and the, chat GPT or whatever platform you use can really help with some great words. I love it too.

So let's just use that and use my creative brain for the important part. So that's great. So that's definitely where AI can help. I think in the writing of that.

Also, I mean, look at Excel. That's the best AI in the world because it adds for you. There's nothing for me, like anything that could add for me. So I have a funny story about AI and Sylvie, cause you love Sylvie on stage.

So seven seconds was her topic. And we had dinner the night before the summit and she said, Carolyn, what is your walkout song? And I said, I don't know. And she said, let's figure it out.

So she got her phone and she spoke into her phone under chat GPT or AI and said such precious things about me. Well, out popped 10 walkout songs. And so I chose mine candy. You want to know what it is?

What was it? Ain't no mountain high in the house. I love that. I love that song.

So, we need to find what your walkout song is. Oh, my walkout song? Yeah. Boy, we should do that.

But I love that. So, she walked into her phone to do that. Yes. Yes.

In five seconds. Five seconds. And you heard it. And she taught me.

She said, don't type into ChatGPT. You need to speak into it. Speak into it. It's your voice.

Fascinating. We have learned something today, very important. We speak to ChatGPT. Okay.

Well, thank you for sharing that tip and thank you for coming on the show and let's come back and talk about. Another six months and we'll start to talk about what your plans are for the next connect because it was It was quite a show. I said inman which is like the real estate You know national and some international too. That's like the biggest Conference really it really is they do two a year but they better watch out because you guys put on a show that I thought was It was better.

It was more personable. I could relate to it and all the agents I spoke to related to it too. So I'm telling you, you've got a real winner there. Thank you so much, Carolyn.

We'll talk soon. Thank you, Candy. Thank you. And thank you for joining us for Dallas Dirt.

We will have more, so always stay tuned.