By Dennis McCloskey
The person who first said, “it takes two men to make one brother” could have been describing Richard and Alex Pilarski, the broker/owner siblings of Re/Max Realtron Realty, with seven real estate offices in the Greater Toronto Area and a head office and education centre in Markham. The brothers, who started selling real estate separately in 1972-73 and are marking their 25th year in business together, are known as “the hard working nice guys.”
Richard, 64, and his “baby brother” Alex, 57, are like two peas in a pod. “We think alike, and if you ask us a question, nine times out of 10 you’ll get the same answer,” says Alex in a phone interview with REM while holidaying in Hilton Head, S.C. “We like and respect each other.” A day earlier, Richard had been sitting in the company’s Markham boardroom and was asked by REM what it’s like being in business with his brother. “We trust each other; we’ve known each other all our lives.”
Peas in a bucket! Some things (and people) just naturally go together, like caviar and champagne.
In 1971, Richard graduated from the University of Toronto and is a professional engineer. In 1973 Alex graduated from York University with BSc degree. Later, with the elder brother working for an international computer firm and the younger brother making more money selling real estate part-time, it didn’t take long for the two men to decide to make real estate a full-time career. Both honed their respective skills in the field, in various positions and capacities, and in 1985 teamed up to found Re/Max Realtron.
Today the company has over 500 agents, and the brotherly brokers/owners have created a firm that is consistently in the Top 20 Re/Max companies worldwide (out of 5,600 companies) and the No. 1 Re/Max company on the Toronto Real Estate Board, based on total number and volume of sales and listings. “It was a struggle for the first 10 years,” says Richard, who tells his grown children there are two ways to get rich: the slow way and the fast way, and the slow way is the fast way.
Six years after opening their first office in Willowdale, they opened another one in Thornhill. Six years after that they opened a third office on Woodbine Avenue and added a fourth in Richmond Hill in 2000. The most recent to open, the Sheppard Branch in 2008, is managed by Richard’s daughter, Karen Meshwork.
“It’s a complicated business,” says Richard. “You need to develop systems in order to manage it.”
Some of those systems include state-of-the-art facilities; a full-service administration and education centre; a professional appointment and call centre that’s open seven days a week; and proprietary technology. Alex concurs that the biggest change in the 25 years they’ve been in business is the advance in technology. “One key to our success is that we not only accept change but we are perceived as leaders to help initiate change. We push for change.”
He believes that the business today is more professional and more business-like than a quarter century ago. “The training is better and there are more rules and regulations that protect the public.”
Both men agree that their biggest challenge over the years was, and is, recruitment. “We are independent contractors and we work for our agents; they are our customers,” says the senior Pilarski. “We provide them with the kind of services and a formula for success that we hope will attract the best agents in the industry.” Among those services he names several, including “offering the best brand, education, technology, sales tools, management and an environment to work with the top agents.”
In separate conversations, the veteran brokers sound senatorial in their musings. As they move toward the next stage in their careers, they say they’ve become coach, trainer, mentor and teacher. “We still control the decisions,” says Alex. “But as the company relies less and less on our day-to-day involvement, we want to take it to the next level to make a stronger company.” He sees the training of agents as their No. 1 task in becoming bigger and better. “We want to help our agents grow because if they do better we do better.” His brother agrees: “We want our people to exceed their clients’ expectations: promise them less and give them more.”
One of the things they teach their agents is the “consultative approach” to selling. “The agent shouldn’t care what house the client buys; the agent’s job is to help them buy the right house that’s right for the client,” says Richard. A lot of this teaching takes place in the company’s head office classroom that holds 80 people and another dedicated room that holds 20.
Richard spends most of his time these days overseeing the facilities (“managing the managers”) and recruiting, along with Alex. Weekly recruiting sessions are conducted at head office, and one of the coaching and training programs that Alex takes to the branches is called Power Wednesdays.
When asked what makes a good agent, Richard admits it’s not easy to identify early on who will succeed and who will not. “It’s all in their head,” he says. “Persistence and a never-give-up attitude are among the qualities of a top-selling agent.”
A daily runner and marathoner who has completed 17 international marathons with his wife, Marilyn, (who is the company’s vice-president, associate services), Richard says there are a number of things an agent can do to take his game to the next level. He cites three strategies that he learned from inspirational speaker Anthony Robbins: “Raise your standards; eliminate limiting beliefs; and change your strategy.”
It’s obvious the Pilarski brothers are extremely proud of their company, which Alex calls “a truly Canadian company where every office is representative of what Canada is today.” Richard says he’d like to be working in this business when he’s 85 because “I love it.” Not surprisingly, Alex shares his brother’s enthusiasm. “We enjoy what we do, we have complete confidence in each other, and we like our people.”
As they celebrate their 25th year with Realtron Realty, it’s not a stretch to imagine them celebrating a few more decades in business together. This scenario is reminiscent of an apt proverb that suggests: “If you help your brother’s boat across, your own will reach the shore.”
