We were lucky to catch up with Madison Reeves recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Madison thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. So, we’d appreciate if you could open up about your growth story and the nitty, gritty details that went into scaling up.

I recieved my real estate license in August of 2019 after working as an unlicensed assistant for a real estate team for six months. I turned 18 in July of 2019 and started selling real estate one month later. In my first six months, I helped serve five clients. In March of 2020, during the midst of the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, I made the leap to switch real estate teams. I worked for that team for three years and had the opportunity to scale my real estate production to an average of 35 transactions per year.

In October of 2022, I made the decision to take yet another leap in my career and I started my own real estate team and brand, Valene Realty. We scaled from 35 transactions in 2022, to 39 transactions in 2023 and 43 transactions in 2024. The growth came with our fair share of trials and tribulations. As my production grew, it became increasingly obvious that I needed more administrative help. I brought our first admin on at the beginning of 2023 to handle our listing and marketing coordination. At the end of 2023, another admin was brought on to handle our transactions.

I had my first baby in September of 2023, three weeks before her due date, and ended up listing a house in my hospital bed, 12 hours after giving birth. It was then at this point, I knew I needed more leverage. I knew I needed sales agents to help scale our production even further and help take some of the weight of my shoulders (especially in times like these!)

Our first licensed sales agent joined in January of 2024 and our second licensed agent in July of 2024. We have had our growing pains and the biggest help we had was implementing our operations manual with all of our systems from hiring, to training, to transactions and advertising, completely laid out and shared with all members of the team.

As of the end of 2024, we have had the pleasure to help over 239 clients buy, sell and invest in real estate. We have a goal to serve a total of 500 clients by 2029!

Madison , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are based in the Black Hills (Western) South Dakota area, helping clients buy, sell and invest in our market. We serve an approximately 50-70 mile radius. Our market is well known for tourism for areas like Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Deadwood, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and more. Our area sees over 3 million visitors each year. Because of that, this makes our market popular for second homes, vacations rentals, long term rentals and more! We saw a major influx of people both moving permantely to the Black Hills during the Covid-19 Pandemic due to the state’s decision to stay open.

We serve clients looking to purchase, sell and invest in Black Hills real estate. We focus on providing a five star customer experience each and every time we work they work with us. From first time home-buyers, to sellers, and seasoned investors, we take them through each step of the way. Most notably, we help our buyers (regardless if they are an investor, or looking for their primary residence) to find properties that are both on the public real estate market and off-market opportunity. For our sellers, we have a unique marketing plan called “Make My Listing Famous” where we run a campaign on each of our listings optimizing their property through videography on social media and search engines. On average, our video content is seeing upwards of 80,000 views per month.

We are incredibily proud of our VIP client program, providing our clients with fun events, exclusive discounts and more each year! Our clients are more than just a transaction, they are family!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Integrity! Simply putting – doing what I said I was going to do. It starts very simply…from answering the phone and/or promptly responding to existing or potential new clients. From there, we make it very clear the expectations and our promise as their real estate partner through transaction. Follow through is so incredibily important in a real estate transaction. We provide regular market updates, clear communication through both the listing and sale process, and a smooth closing. After the transaction is complete, we are a continued resource for each of our clients, providing local reccomendations for whatever they might need! This has helped us develop a strong reputation in our market for a real estate ream with integrity.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We have a unique VIP program that helps us keep in touch with our clients and foster brand loyalty. Through this annual program, we do four events our clients are invited too. This year, we are planning a Movie Theater event, a Family Photo event, a Pumpkin Patch event and a Thanksgiving Pie event. This is completely complimentary for our clients and our way of giving back each year. Additionally, we partner with local businesses throughout our area (like barbers, coffee shops, photographers, etc) to offer our clients exclusive discounts. Additionally, we focus on touching base with them regularly, providing reccomendations as needing, birthday cards, anniversary cards and more!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valenterealty.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themadisonreeves
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buyandsellvalente
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-reeves-a30049276/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/valente_realty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@valente.realty

Image Credits

Reverie Photography https://www.reveriephotographyllc.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHjvY1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdUTiCtS0eIPr1jFB02AIzCA0pOifa9Hci7D64VZKsNf8fWVfznL7EsPiw_aem_FtLTZBkiXQROM-FpFlQNTA