Restructuring Sellect Realty, from its core values to its software, has paid off spectacularly for Christopher Lazarus and his team.
“We went from $67 million sold to $115 million and reduced our workforce from 148 agents to 120 during the same time,” Lazarus says. “Per-person productivity skyrocketed and our growth rate landed us on the University of Georgia’s 2018 Bulldog 100 list of fastest-growing companies led by alumni.”
Sellect Realty serves the residential market, focusing on traditional homeowners and investors. “Our primary objective is to give our clients the best representation while cultivating great relationships,” he says. “We work to help people make the most of their investment, either as their primary residence or as an asset in their portfolio.”
In the past year, the company left behind its old five-room digs to an expansive 3,500-square-foot office that has all the tools agents need to grow their business: a state-of-the-art conference room, classroom, work room and dedicated studio for content marketing. Several years in the making, the expansion also satisfies agents’ desire for more training.
An official member of the Forbes Real Estate Council, director of the Cobb Association of Realtors and a member of both the Atlanta Realtors Association and the Residential Real Estate Council, Lazarus says relationships are the core of his business.
“Real estate is an industry where everyone is focused on what other agents are doing,” he says. “We’re focused on our clients and how we can improve our relationships with them. Our attention is on being better every day.”
Always learning, he holds several designations in leadership training and hosts a popular podcast with fellow industry leaders who share insight into their successes and failures — “re: Think Real Estate,” rtrepodcast.com.
Lazarus and his wife, his high school sweetheart Céline, have three children: James, 5; Scarlett, 2; and Amélie Clare, 9 months. “I love to spend time with them at our family’s cabin in Ellijay and fly fish whenever possible,” he says. He is also an avid reader, always in search of a new idea that can impact the people he serves.
