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BROKER NETWORKS
Excellence through innovation CENTUM’s Chris Turcotte tells CMP how the company, recently crowned Broker Network of the Year at the Canadian Mortgage Awards, is driving its brokers’ success through new ideas and integration FOR CENTUM president and COO Chris Turcotte, one moment stood out in the aftermath of the company being named Broker Network of the Year at this year’s Canadian Mortgage Awards. Minutes after CENTUM’s victory was announced, Turcotte checked in with the company’s longtime director of operations, Caroline Rapson, to get her reaction to the win. Instead of celebrating, she was immersed in a Zoom call with new franchisees, fielding questions and providing information. For Turcotte, it was a perfect encapsulation of what CENTUM is about: going above and beyond to provide assistance and outreach to its community of brokers. “It was so poetic to me,” he laughs. “The one who had stuck with CENTUM through absolutely everything misses the big moment because she’s going the extra mile for one of our new franchisees. I’ll remember that over anything else that happened – because in that moment, it was an exact representation of what we’re about.” Turcotte says the victory also served as a validation of the company’s journey over the past several years – one that has led to profound change and a radical rethinking of its approach to the industry and the network model. Part of that process involved prioritizing the needs of agents and owners, putting them front and centre in CENTUM’s transformation – so Turcotte says the company’s
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win at the CMAs was theirs as much as anyone else’s. “It’s really special for us that our agents and owners have something where they can be proud about getting out and recruiting – it gives them that brand pride,” he says. “We have franchisees who were with us on day one, 19 years ago. They can genuinely say that they’re at the best network in the industry right now.”
service and leadership in the industry. That focus on being the most authentic broker network, rather than the biggest, has led to nearly a tenfold increase in business, even as the network has reduced its total number of agents from 2,600 to around 2,100. One of the most striking elements of CENTUM’s success has been its focus on technology. Its in-house digital agency allows brokers to request custom marketing, from
“Ultimately, the only thing that matters is that those brokers are happy. If they’re proud to be here, that means we’re doing our job right” Chris Turcotte, CENTUM The value of integration That commitment to doing things differently has been at the forefront of the company’s approach in recent years; innovation and new ideas have spurred its success. Turcotte says everything the company has built is based around putting the broker first, an ethos that’s not going to change anytime soon. It also means carefully aligning with agents and brokerages whose values and ethos reflect CENTUM’s own: integrity, trust, excellent lender relationships, exceptional
bus benches to billboards. Instead of keeping marketing staff on payroll or retainer, brokers can access quality marketing directly through the network. CENTUM has also successfully deployed the marketing and administrative firepower of the other brands at the Charlwood Pacific Group – Real Property Management and Century 21 – an approach that brokers can expect to see more of in the future. In fact, while the company is naturally interested in growth, Turcotte says its priority for the
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