For brokerages navigating scale, identity, and brand impact, the ability to operate with clarity and foresight has become a decisive advantage. In July 2025, Luxury Presence brought together three trailblazing figures to examine that exact frontier.
Moderated by Luxury Presence’s director of content, Chris Linsell, the panel featured Nest Realty founder Jonathan Kauffmann, SERHANT. chief experience officer Ryan Coyne, and First Team VP of marketing and strategic initiatives Lauren Henss. Their discussion revealed a sharp divergence in branding approaches, a shared reverence for clarity of purpose, and several unexpected lessons for those looking to grow with intent.
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1. Brand clarity matters more than brand reach
Henss was upfront about her early decision to narrow First Team’s recruiting funnel. Rather than attract everyone, her team focused on connecting with the right people. “What I was trying to do […] is utilize our agents as brand ambassadors because I want people to resonate with the person that speaks most closely to [the prospect] and their values.”
Kauffmann echoed this sentiment, describing Nest’s process as one of “curating a network of agents versus just collecting agents.” Their emphasis on methodical alignment over scale has resulted in mid-to-high 90% retention annually.
2. Culture alignment trumps raw production
While many brokerages lead with agent productivity metrics, Coyne said SERHANT. screens new agents first and foremost on fit. “Rule number one with us is to be a good human to other people and focus on selling homes. There is no rule number two.”
He emphasized that culture isn’t static. It requires proactive enforcement at all levels, including executives: “We do terminate if somebody is disruptive or not a culture fit any longer.” That approach, he argued, has been essential in maintaining consistency across 11 states and more than 400 agents.
3. Your quietest innovations may shape your future
Sometimes, a seemingly simple solution becomes a brand-defining asset. Nest Realty’s founder, Kauffmann, recounted how a casual Friday idea — helping agents stay in touch with their spheres — evolved into one of the company’s most valued offerings. “It’s a big piece of our culture and our service offering,” he said of Friends of Nest, the firm’s in-house direct mail program.
Initially meant to nudge agents toward better follow-up, the program now sends eight branded, customizable touchpoints per year on each agent’s behalf, totaling 350,000 to 400,000 mailers annually. It’s consistent, high-quality, and fully managed by the brokerage. The surprising impact? It deepens retention, reinforces brand presence in local markets, and removes a major operational hurdle for agents, without requiring them to lift a finger.
For brokerages and agents alike, the lesson is clear: Build simple systems that make excellence easy, and they may quietly become the cornerstone of your value.
4. Visibility means nothing if your agents don’t know what to say
An eye-catching platform can’t make up for a lack of clarity. At SERHANT., Coyne emphasized that a brand’s strength lies not in exposure alone, but in how well agents are equipped to communicate their value. “You can give anybody the world’s best, most technologically advanced, shiniest megaphone, but if they’re not confident and don’t know what to shout into it, they won’t use it at all.”
To address this, SERHANT. created ID Lab, its internal identity development hub. The lab helps agents articulate their positioning, align messaging to target demographics, and clarify the emotional throughlines that drive their brand. “What are those minimum requirements? What’s the maximum?” Coyne asked. “How do we make sure that we bring the entire strength of the team to every single agent?”
The framework is simple but potent: Uncover the agent’s strongest attributes, map them to specific audience personas, then design repeatable content systems around them. Whether they’re camera-ready or camera-shy, agents are given the tools and language to amplify their personal narrative without defaulting to generic messaging.
For any team, the lesson is that branding is about making agents distinctive. Without internal resources that help agents define and express who they are, scale only amplifies the noise.
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5. Platform loyalty is strategic
All three panelists agreed: A brokerage’s tech stack should support behavior, not replace it. Coyne was especially direct about this, saying, “What good is any platform that you’re using if you don’t have a system or a process around it? If you don’t have good standards to enforce and you don’t hold people accountable.”
First Team’s rollout of over 2,300 agent subdomains, a massive infrastructure project, was only possible because expectations were set from day one. Henss noted that these standards are part of early conversations: “There should be no questions in terms of where we are. If we’re having those questions once everything’s signed, we have a problem.”
The consistent thread: Platforms are only as valuable as the behavior they enable. Before investing in any tool, whether it’s a CRM, listing automation, or marketing portal, leaders need to define what they want the platform to change. Will it save agents time? Will it help them deliver a better client experience? Will it reinforce the brand in measurable ways?
Treat platform selection like a brand extension exercise. Choose tools that integrate cleanly, reflect your visual identity, and are simple enough for agents to actually use. Then codify usage expectations into onboarding and retention workflows.
6. Personalization scales if you start with the right expectations
All three leaders emphasized that agents can personalize their branding without undermining the company’s identity, but only if the brokerage sets firm guidelines up front. At Nest, that means turning away agents who expect complete creative control. “If an agent comes with […] a giant orange sign and they’re not willing to work within a framework […] they’re probably not the right fit,” said Kauffmann.
Instead of limiting agent creativity, this clarity empowers the brokerage to support it responsibly. Henss shared how her team often performs full brand audits for incoming agents, showing them what their current aesthetic communicates and how it might evolve. “Are you dressed for the job you want versus the job you have?” she asked. These audits act as branding education and onboarding opportunities, repositioning agents as professionals worthy of premium perception, without diluting the company’s visual or strategic voice.
For brokerages seeking to scale brand expression, the blueprint is this: Create flexible design systems, not infinite exceptions. Offer personalization inside a strong container. And make those boundaries known up front.
7. The best branding advice is deceptively simple
Each panelist shared the one insight they’d give their younger self. Coyne’s was more of a warning: “Just because you’re smart enough to convince yourself of something doesn’t make you correct.”
His broader point underscored the importance of iteration and humility. “Leadership is about changing how people think so that they change what they do. Management is about changing what you do.”
For Henss, the surprise came in realizing how powerful the First Team’s independence had become: “How powerful being fiercely independent is… I can sit here and… build an amazing content suite… delivered directly to their inbox.”
Kauffmann, asked to reflect on a win he didn’t see coming, returned to the value of service simplicity: “Direct mail is amazing. It works.”
As Coyne succinctly said, “Your opinion matters to people more than you think it does. You just need to keep your phone calls and advice shorter.” In other words, substance beats spectacle, but only when delivered with intention.
Your brokerage and Luxury Presence
The success stories of Nest, SERHANT., and First Team reveal not just the power of brand-first growth, but the risk of trying to grow without knowing exactly who you are.
Luxury Presence partners with industry leaders to elevate what’s already working, through powerful digital platforms, seamless systems, and brand-consistent tools that actually get used.
As Ryan Coyne put it, “Luxury Presence is a great partner.” Lauren Henss called it “a true partnership.”
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Agents using Luxury Presence grew sales nearly 2x faster than their peers, increased sold listings by 6%, and closed over $300B in transactions. Ready to grow your business? Let us show you how.
