Dana Point Office Manager Mark Kojac helped his team rank #1 in Highest Sales Volume company-wide for 2020. As the #1 selling FirstTeam Office in 1993 and 2003 – 2018, Mark is a bona fide legend within the company. Extremely knowledgeable and unflinchingly direct, he is best known for helping his agents build lasting careers in real estate.
How did you begin your career in real estate, and at FirstTeam?
I was licensed in 1981 at age 21 when I started my career. My Broker at the time told me after my training to get a listing every day and write it on the wall, so I did what I was told - I took everything literally. I took 29 listings in my first 30 days! It was June of 1982 that I joined FirstTeam and I knocked on doors every day until my feet were so sore, I had to sit on the curb and let them cool off.At 29, I was offered a position to manage one of our offices in Anaheim Hills. I was flattered but at the time I didn’t own a horse - but I did surf every day - so I turned down the management job and said if you open up an office by the beach, I’ll do it! Soon after that, we opened up our Dana Point Office and within 9 months we had become the top-selling office among the Board of REALTORS®.
How do you support your agents and help them grow their business?
I learned from my mentor Chuck Grant that having the right culture is the key to having a successful office. Each and every agent is important to me from our newest green agent to the highest top producer.I believe in sharing ideas and best practices with one another because collaboration creates more business for my agents – not competition. There’s plenty of business for everyone, so I operate from a mindset of opportunity. The fact is, people need our help buying and selling homes and investments, and all we need to do is find them.
Do you have a personal philosophy?
I’ll give you two:Do it right or don't do it.Stop trying to make a million dollars, and try to help a million people.
What is your #1 piece of advice for real estate agents today?
Be the most knowledgeable real estate agent anyone has ever met. You have to know your community statistic and have superior product knowledge to continually grow your business and thrive. That’s why I tell my agents to prospect every day and connect with people so you can let them get to know you, like you, and trust you. You’ve got to be the Queen or King of follow up! When you meet someone and you want to do business with them in the future, never let them go.
What plans do you have for your office in the next year?
Being a real estate agent can be a lonely job with long hours, long weeks and months that seem to go on forever, and escrows from hell. So, this year and beyond, we plan to make being an agent more fun. That means more break-away sessions that include socializing, as well as activities that rest the mind. Being #1 is always good, but being number #1 and well-balanced is even better.
If you had to be stranded on a deserted island with another member of the FirstTeam family, who would it be and why?
My wife! I actually met her long before she ever worked for FirstTeam because her parents worked for me years ago, and her dad still does today. We reconnected here at FirstTeam many years ago and she has been my best friend ever since. We take road trips with nowhere to go, we ride horses together, play golf, watch sports; we pretty much do everything and anything. I wish I were stranded on a deserted island with my wife Shauna! Just leave some Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley, and we’ll be good to go.
