Top Workplaces: Long & Foster wins first place for large companies

And it doesn’t matter what role an employee holds.

“Our company has always been about putting people first: employees, agents, the people who clean our offices, inside and outside maintenance workers,” she added. “We’re one big family. (This mindset) helps us achieve the big picture goals.”

With more than 800 agents throughout central Virginia, Long & Foster has the dominant market share in Richmond, which Bradley says should come as no surprise.

“We are all-inclusive, so we handle the whole process from soup to nuts,” she said, noting that in addition to having agents who can assist with buying or selling a home, Long & Foster offers adjacent services including loan products, homeowners’ insurance, inspections, settlement and moving.

“There isn’t anything about that process of putting your house on the market and moving across the country or down the street that we can’t manage,” she said. “We make it easy for people. We want to be the white glove service.”

All those in-house services are also good for agents, Bradley noted. “That’s one of the competitive edges we have with recruiting,” she said. “Customers don’t want to find all the services, so it makes it easier for the client if we can take care of all that. When we’re recruiting new agents, they realize that’s what the consumer wants. That’s the draw to Long & Foster.”

Bradley also believes in supporting agents through regular celebrations of their successes — what she calls continuous recognition. “Whether it’s digitally or in the newspaper, we offer praise and post their achievements,” she said, adding that she encourages office managers to thank not only their in-house brokers when a sale closes, but the other agent as well. “It personalizes the relationship,” she noted. “It can be a recruiting opportunity.”

Food is another pathway to building relationships and fostering in-house connections. Bradley is known to drop in on offices with treats in hand. “If I feel like doughnuts, we’re all having them,” she said.

Bradley recalls how her daughter was always more likely to open up when sitting at the dinner table. The same is true of agents. “If I can take off my big hat and sit down, and eat and relax with [agents], then we talk,” she said. “Quite a few managers do that on a regular basis. They’re little acts of kindness. Little things build up.”

When agents feel connected at the office, they are more likely to extend those connections to customers, building relationships for the long term. “Our agents stay in touch with our clients afterwards,” she said. “They go to birthday parties, baptisms, family celebrations.”

And Long & Foster’s approach has been consistent for years. “We had a leadership change at the top 13 months ago, and didn’t lose anybody,” Bradley said. “Our leader has always wanted to hear from the part-time staff person to the top producing agent to the manager to the regional director to the accounting clerk. We want everybody to succeed.”