In a market where many agents are still flying blind, Jonathan Spears and Maria Coukoulis are operating with precision. Together, they’ve scaled Spears Group to over $2 billion in sales, built a data-driven culture where performance is measured and repeatable, and developed an AI-powered platform that packages it all into one scalable system.
On the Luxury Presence Podcast, they revealed the systems, habits, and innovations that turned their team into a powerhouse, insights that any agent can adapt to sharpen their own business.
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A partnership rooted in performance
Jonathan Spears got his real estate license at 18 and reached $1 billion in sales before turning 30. A “self-described overachiever,” he said real estate was always about channeling his entrepreneurial drive. “I saw this opportunity in real estate at a time when I think everybody else was thinking that the world was ending,” Spears said.
Maria Coukoulis didn’t come from real estate, but she knew how to spot a business opportunity. After working in PR, she realized luxury agents in Florida weren’t tapping into media the way they could.
“I was seeing all these incredible luxury real estate agents across the state and none of them were utilizing PR as part of their marketing,” she said. She connected with Spears and soon joined full-time as COO and head of PR.
Run like a Fortune 500 company
Coukoulis’ first step as COO of the Spears Group wasn’t glamorous. “The very first thing I did was I became a financial forensic analyst,” she said. “I wanted to first really understand the numbers because I think in order to make decisions on your business, they have to be based in data, not in emotion.”
From there, she helped standardize everything: Onboarding new agents, launching new listings, and delivering a consistent brand experience across the team. “That’s the only way to really have a functioning business to the level that you need it to be: Consistency,” she said.
Spears credited Coukoulis with helping him scale past the limitations of top-producer thinking. “What Maria really taught me was understanding not only to hire to my weakness, but that when you put one and one together, her brain and my brain, you can really produce 10x the results,” he said.
Data informs and powers culture
Coukoulis and Spears don’t just track the usual KPIs. They drill into every lead source and conversion. And they use that data to coach agents, not with guesswork, but with evidence. “We track it,” Spears said. “As you put your contracts in, we are able to pull the lead source.”
The team uses performance tools to foster motivation and visibility. “Very simply, we have an internal hot sheet and we have an internal agent leaderboard. And that agent leaderboard is motivating,” Spears said. “If they don’t want to be at the top, this is probably not the place for them.”
They also keep a tight feedback loop between data and decision-making. “If you’re tracking that data, you can look back at it and then make informed decisions based on it,” Coukoulis said.
The value of market obsession
Spears described his early career focus on foreclosures and how he gradually moved into the luxury space. His advice for other agents? Become obsessed with your market. “I ate, slept, breathed, sometimes suffocated our market, and I understood everything happening,” he said.
That obsession feeds both branding and results. Coukoulis shared how they coined the term “Hamptons of the South” for their market, and repeated it consistently until it appeared as a headline in The Wall Street Journal. “Find out what makes your area unique, and then run with that and repeat it over and over again until it sticks,” she said.
Transforming internal processes into an AI-Powered platform
After building Spears Group into a machine that could run with just three staff and over 20 agents, Spears and Coukoulis created something bigger: MyOps AI. It’s a platform based on their internal processes, now powered by artificial intelligence.
“MyOps gives you the systems and processes that we created here at Spears Group that’s supercharged by AI,” Coukoulis said. “We’re basically giving you a shortcut to that.”
The tool supports everything from listing coordination to gate codes to performance reporting. “It’s like an assistant in my pocket,” Spears said. “It’s giving us our time back.”
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Technology fueling the future of the industry
Spears and Coukoulis agree that technology is changing the job description of the agent. But they don’t see that as a threat.
“To me, the agent of the future is somebody that can do more with less,” Spears said. “Technology’s going to allow us to do more with our time. And when we get that time back, how we spend it is going to be so critical.”
Coukoulis added that what matters most is using data to act with clarity. “If we are taking the time to track that data and see the trends, we’re just going to be able to do more with our time because we have that information,” she said.
Their advice is not to mistake structure for restriction.. “There is a difference between having systems and processes and rules and regulations,” Spears said. “It gives you more freedom.”
5 lessons you can steal from Spears Group today
Whether you’re leading a team or working solo, here are a few lessons agents can apply from Spears Group’s growth story:
- Obsess over your market
Know the who and the why behind every deal in your target area. As Spears puts it, “If you’re the mayor of your market, you should understand every person, every one that’s transacting in your market.” - Build systems early, even if you’re small
Processes aren’t about bureaucracy. They’re about consistency and freedom. “In order to scale this, we have to run this place like a Fortune 500 company. It can’t be run like a real estate team,” Coukoulis said. - Track everything
Lead sources, conversion rates, agent performance, it all matters. “You can look back at it and then make informed decisions based on it,” Coukoulis said. - Use your data to coach, not critique
High-performing cultures aren’t built on guesswork. Spears said, “We are able to pull the lead source and… remind them” where their business is really coming from. - Consistency is the brand
Every client experience should feel like the top of your game, no matter which agent delivers it. “What systems and processes give real estate teams is branding,” Coukoulis said.
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