[A bonus episode in the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

Before we bring you two of Whissel Realty Group’s top-performing agents to close the series, we’re highlighting one of the most important themes you’ve heard from the team.

A key lesson in the series: providing agent leverage profitably.

A unique way they bring it to life: the ACE Team (Agent Concierge Experience).

In this short, jam-packed episode, get the philosophy, strategy, and tactics behind the ACE Team, including specific tips for working more effectively with virtual assistants.

CEO Kyle Whissel
- The three things they want agents doing most often
- The leverage they provide to make that happen
- The way they do it profitably and equitably

COO Chris VanderValk
- The macro trend that requires a team to provide agent leverage

- The specific value the ACE Team adds to the sales funnel

- The importance of the team providing this leverage, rather than agents providing it themselves

Director of Operations Shannon Youssefi

- The core services provided by the ACE Team

- The lessons she learned hiring the initial VA to building a 25-member international team

At the end, hear from our two final guests in the Inside Whissel Realty series - Adrian Quijano (who’s tripled unit sales for three years straight and is pacing to do it again this year) and Karlee VanDyke (who’s closed $45M in volume in her first two years with the team).

[Episode 7 of the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

New to Whissel Realty Group and new to the real estate industry, Max Bolanos is drinking from a fire hose. And he was kind enough to join us in this series just 90 days into that journey as the team’s new Director of Marketing.

Learn how Max developed a strategic, structured approach to omnichannel marketing and how the #1 team in San Deigo and a top team in the US and in eXp Realty globally will benefit from this experience.

Listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Max for insights into:

- The benefits of pressure and intensity

- How a memorable ad campaign (and a less-than-desirable letter grade) launched his marketing career

- A definition and example of an omnichannel marketing campaign

- The challenges of marketing attribution, especially in real estate

- How he joined Whissel Realty Group and what the plan was for his first 30, 60, and 90 days

- The power of a creative brief and intake form for new listings

- A valuable change to your project management process

- Honoring different creative visions

- Balancing marketing and branding

- Getting more out of in-person events

- Leveraging the ACE team (Agent Concierge Experience)

At the end, learn about a diverse, healthy, structured, and aligned team.

Max Bolanos:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxbolanos/

- https://www.instagram.com/thewhisselway
- https://thewhisselway.com

Real Estate Team OS:

- https://www.realestateteamos.com

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

[Episode 6 in our Inside Whissel Realty Series on Real Estate Team OS]

Besides Kyle Whissel, CEO and Team Leader of Whissel Realty Group brokered by eXp Realty in San Diego, very few people have been on this team’s journey longer than Media Manager Bryan Koci. How long? Nearly a decade!

In this conversation, Bryan brings you the strategies and tactics behind their agent-facing content like the Media Mayor Mastermind and The Whissel Way podcast, as well as their consumer-facing content for the top, middle, and bottom of the sales funnel.

You’ll also learn how the media team serves agents, how and why to balance “low production” (iPhone) with “high production” (studio), why they have multiple YouTube channels, Instagram handles, and Facebook pages and groups (and why you might, too), and how all of this evolved over the past decade.

Listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Bryan Koci for insights into:

- The modular studio he built that we recorded the series in

- How the structure provided by EOS took the team “to the next level”

- How the evolution of the company and the media team introduced him to the challenges and questions that every team leader faces

- The importance of balancing “high production” and “low production” of your video content - and the role of each in helping your business

- The three pillars of their content strategy - agent-facing, mid- to bottom-of-funnel consumer-facing, and top-of-funnel consumer-facing

- Specific distribution tips for Facebook and YouTube all under the theme of “separate channels for separate audiences”

- How and why to bring Collaborators into your Instagram content

- Doing things because it’s right or good, not just because of the ROI

At the end, learn about camera gear that never gets used, shared Netflix logins, and boxes of cords and cables.

Bryan Koci:

- https://instagram.com/bryankoci

- https://thewhisselway.com/

Real Estate Team OS:

- https://www.realestateteamos.com

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

[Episode 5 in the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

After managing a yoga studio for a decade, Katy Carlson joined Whissel Realty Group brokered by eXp Realty in San Diego as a real estate agent. In her first 18 months, she became a mentor and helped mature the mentorship program. She then shifted to the admin side as Head of Agent Development.

Today Katy serves as Agent Success Manager.

Learn what her role entails and how she helps get right-fit agents into active production quickly.

Get details on their full-time, two-week training program, their mentorship program, the three main tools agents have to learn, the balance of different types of training methods, and more!

Watch or listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Katy Carlson for insights into:

- Everyone following the same sequence and heading in the same direction despite different skill levels and paces

- The scope and mission of the Agent Success Manager role

- How she chose Whissel Realty Group as an agent after interviewing four other companies

- Training energy regulation, sales skills, and mindset

- The design of the first three months of agent onboarding, including the full-time, two-week training program, the mentorship program, and the green-lit/on-probation/cut-from-the-team outcomes for agents

- The three main tools agents use (and get trained on)

- The limited changes to buyer agent training

- The types of training - role-play, refresh, required, optional, virtual, in-person, etc

- The three things she’s focused on for 2025

At the end, learn about one-way tickets, new people, and beautiful experiences.

Whissel Realty Group:
- https://thewhisselway.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/thewhisselway/
- https://whisselrealty.com/

Real Estate Team OS:
- https://www.realestateteamos.com/subscribe

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

[Episode 4 in the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

Learn from school-teacher-turned-ISA-turned-sales-leader Rachel Choo how the skill of regulating emotions improves sales as we dive into the agent training, mentorship, and role-play behind the #1 team in San Diego, a top team in the nation, and a top team in eXp Realty globally.

Rachel also shares insights into their top lead sources, lead distribution process, and lead team policy, as well as the way agents move through four tiers or quartiles based on their production levels.

Watch or listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Rachel Choo for insights into

- The critical balance of clear expectations and values alignment

- The scope and mission of the Director of Sales role, including key leadership roles within sales management

- The path from school teacher to ISA to Director of Sales, including the commonality between working with agents and working with parents and children

- Why agents need to build the skill of emotional regulation and ways to do so

- The three main topic buckets of agent training - and their connection to the mentorship program

- The financial and non-financial reasons mentors participate in the mentorship program

- Why they held off on training around the NAR settlement and changes to buyer agency

- Specific value propositions buyers agents have on the team - including the VIP Buyer Program and the Love It or Leave It Guarantee

- Top lead sources and how agents get access to those sources

- How they set sales goals, track pipeline, and adjust training

- How agents land in the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum quartiles and what they mean

- How niching down will help them level up in the year ahead

At the end, learn how book selection supports resting, relaxing, and recharging, as well as learning, growing, and developing - and the preferred location for both.

Whissel Realty Group:
- https://www.instagram.com/rachooqua/
- https://thewhisselway.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/thewhisselway/
- https://whisselrealty.com/

Real Estate Team OS:
- https://www.realestateteamos.com/subscribe

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

[Episode 3 in the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

From third-generation real estate agent to team operations leader, Shannon Youssefi has unique experience and skillsets. Even within Whissel Realty Group, brokered by eXp Realty in San Diego, she’s been in multiple seats from listing management to transaction coordination to (now) Director of Operations.

Shannon shares lessons learned while unifying systems and technologies across the company. This never-ending process seeks to provide more leverage to agents, more clarity and efficiency for staff, and a better experience for clients.

Pay special attention to tips on storytelling with data to improve sales and working successfully with international VAs.

Watch or listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Shannon Youssefi for insights into:

- How issues take care of itself when you have the right people in the right seats

- The unique experience and skillsets of a salesperson turned ops leader

- The evolution and scope of the Director of Operations role, including the people and teams she oversees and the people she connects with daily, weekly, and monthly

- Building the “backbone of the whole sales funnel” - the process and the benefits

- Storytelling with data for better training and results

- The never-ending process of improving listing management and transaction coordination, including roles, rules, and exceptions

- The core tech powering operations - and the role of the data scientist

- Lessons learned from building the international team of VAs from one to 25 members

- Why problems and mistakes are often a “me” problem, not a “them” problem

At the end, learn how a stockpile of phone cases is more attractive than selfie mode.

Whissel Realty Group:
- https://thewhisselway.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/thewhisselway/
- https://whisselrealty.com/

Real Estate Team OS:
- https://www.realestateteamos.com/subscribe

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

[Episode 2 in the Inside Whissel Realty series on Real Estate Team OS]

From head of acquisition for an eliminated partnership program to ISA team builder to EOS integrator and hands-on COO to eyes-on/hands-off COO, Chris VanderValk has seen and contributed a lot to Whissel Realty Group brokered by eXp Realty in San Diego.

In this conversation, he walks the line between criticism and positivity, explains how the Agent Concierge Experience team and new Agent Advisory Board help agents, talks through lead sources, and describes how and why they left the cap model and allowed agents to claw back splits through GCI.

A top theme: creating more leverage for agents.

A primary lens: “We have to make this so valuable people can’t leave - period.”

A result: the #1 real estate team in San Diego and consistently a top team in the nation and in eXp Realty globally.

Watch or listen to this Inside Whissel Realty episode with Chris for insights into:

- Improving processes and results through a culture of “hyper criticism with positivity”

- The arrival into and evolution of the COO role and the EOS process (including a layoff, a resignation letter, and a democratic process)

- How and why they’re launching an Agent Advisory Board (including interviewing, selecting, tasking, and rewarding the agents)

- Ways to enhance agent productivity in a profitable way (including their ACE or Agent Concierge Experience team)

- How and why they successfully transitioned from a cap model to a no cap model and uniquely allow agents to claw back splits through GCI tiers

- A rundown of top lead sources from open houses to the “belle of the ball” (Zillow Flex)

- Enhancing agent leverage in 2025 through changes to the ACE and ISA teams

- Why the traditional job of a real estate agent is “illogical”

At the end, the fun and relaxing nature of catching, cleaning, cooking, and eating halibut and corvina.

Chris VanderValk:
- https://www.instagram.com/chris_vandervalk/
- https://whisselrealty.com/
- https://thewhisselway.com/thewhisselway

Real Estate Team OS:
- https://www.realestateteamos.com/subscribe

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Within a couple of days of recording this conversation, Whissel Realty Group brokered by eXp Realty in San Diego, had 42 transactions scheduled to close. On one day! This type of performance isn’t possible without mature and optimized systems.

Kyle Whissel welcomed us into his recording studio and his real estate team to help us kick off this 9-episode series taking you Inside Whissel Realty, who consistently perform as the #1 team in San Diego and a top team in the nation and across eXp Realty globally.

• How to get past vanity metrics and how to know who knows their numbers.
• Seven key inflection points on the team-building journey.
• How they know which agents to bring on and which to cut.
• The elusive power of brand building.
• How they’re keeping agents in the three most dollar-productive activities.

Kyle shares all this and much more right here in this conversation!

Watch or listen to the first episode Inside Whissel Realty for insights into:

- Two benefits of running the team on a system (specifically: what life was like before and after they implemented EOS)

- Why the systems run the company and the people run the systems - and where that leaves the leader

- Two things you can expect to hear more about in this 9-episode series

- How and why he shifted out of commercial real estate into residential

- The piece of direct mail he can still see in his mind that sent him down the team path - and two big mistakes he made in the process

- How you’ll know if you’re the right person to build and lead a team and what type of agents you should design for

- The financial and cultural upsides of “running the play that’s called”

- How they’ve built a company that keeps agents doing the three things that make money (going on appointments, prospecting, and negotiating contracts)

- How to know who knows their numbers - and who doesn’t

- Where he turns for credible, valuable insights to help him learn and grow as a person and as a business

- The power of brand, the value of video, and the challenge of marketing attribution

- Key points of inflection on his team-building journey

- Why top agents love seeing low performers get cut - and what minimum standards must be met to stay on the team

At the end, learn about a Buffalo pilgrimage, a serious student, and late-game legs.

Kyle Whissel:

- https://www.instagram.com/kylewhissel/

- https://whisselrealty.com/

- https://thewhisselway.com/thewhisselway

Real Estate Team OS:
- https://www.realestateteamos.com/subscribe

- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos

- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/