Best of the Best: The Drive, Passion and Spirit of Ryan O’Neill

Fortunately for Ryan O’Neill, the drive, passion and creativity it takes to succeed as a working musician translates well to the world of real estate. As half of a piano-playing duo with his brother, Tim, he has sold more than 2 million CDs in the past 15 years. And as the leader of a growing, 50-member sales team in Minnesota, he ranked No. 1 nationally in “The Thousand” survey released in September by REAL Trends and the Wall Street Journal.

It takes a certain kind of person to build, organize and manage a team that closed 764 transaction sides for $139 million in sales volume last year. It takes a certain kind of energy, a certain kind of extra gear.

“I go nonstop, and that’s exactly how I like it,” says O’Neill, 36, a Broker Associate with RE/MAX Advantage Plus in Lakeville, Minn., on the southern end of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. “But I don’t force that style on anyone else. Our team has a fun, fair environment where agents have incentive to do their very best. They’re making money and leading balanced lives.”

All In, All the Time

Giving his all to whatever he’s doing comes naturally to O’Neill, one of those rare individuals able to create a name for himself in two completely different arenas.

From 1997 to 2002, O’Neill worked tirelessly to perfect and promote his piano duo, The O’Neill Brothers. When he shifted to real estate full time, joining the regional chain Edina Realty, he applied the same ap­proach to building his new career.

“Being young, and looking young, was a challenge at first,” O’Neill recalls. “I realized quickly that this was a tough business, but I had no plans to quit.”

O’Neill had purchased a few investment properties, so he decided to target that part of the market.

“As an investor, I had encountered a few pushy, high-pres­sure agents, and that’s just not how I operate,” he says. “I saw a need and I understood the process, so I went after that busi­ness and tried to provide something better. I placed a couple of little ads in the Minneapolis newspaper, built a website and would meet with anyone and everyone who was interested in investment property. It was a real grassroots approach.”

In the red-hot market of the mid-2000s, Minneapolis- St. Paul was thriving and home sales were soaring. “Investing in properties was cool,” O’Neill says, and there was no shortage of clients.

Moreover, he discovered that if he took great care of his investor clients, he could create an endless stream of repeats and referrals. So he helped them find properties. He helped them find tenants. He helped them find contractors. And he soon found himself too busy to handle the workload.

The Beginnings of a Team

In some respects, O’Neill’s early experience with in­vestors laid the groundwork for everything that followed, because he realized that others – with the right direction, coaching and support – could fill in for him quite well.

“I built terrific relationships with the investors I worked with, but they didn’t really care whether or not they were dealing directly with me,” O’Neill says. “What they expected was a certain level of service, and as long as that was being provided by people I trusted, they were happy.”

O’Neill brought a few friends on board as team mem­bers. And his operation flourished.

At about that same time, he began to look at his bro­kerage options. He had several conversations with Eric Malmberg, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Advantage Plus, and he liked what he heard.

“I’m a numbers guy, and the numbers at RE/MAX worked for me. Also, RE/MAX attracts the sort of business-minded agents I wanted to associate with,” O’Neill says. “I knew I could fashion a team that combined the best aspects of RE/ MAX affiliation with the unique things I was bringing to the table. It seemed like a natural step forward in my career.”

A Winning Concept

O’Neill and Malmberg talked about O’Neill’s plans for the future.

“We set up some models and dissected what it would take to do what he wanted to accomplish,” Malmberg re­calls. “Ryan is a visionary: He had the ability to see how the industry would be using technology.”

Notably, O’Neill had recognized the growing impor­tance of online search engines in generating business for real estate agents. By strategically marketing his Minnesota Real Estate Team, he hoped to reach the first page of Google results whenever a buyer or seller sought prop­erty information in his state.

“At its core, real estate is a lead busi­ness; you need to have ways to make the phone ring,” O’Neill says. “We did all sorts of things to promote the team and connect us to people who could benefit from our services. And the phone rang.”

Bringing on solid team members was another key. From the start, O’Neill kept the focus off himself. Kevin Curtis, a 100 Percent Club member who joined the team in 2005, says O’Neill’s approach has always combined strong leadership with valuable independence.

“People ask me, ‘Why would you want to be on a team?'” Curtis says. “What they need to understand is that this isn’t set up as the Ryan O’Neill show. I’m able to promote Kevin Curtis, member of the Minnesota Real Estate Team. Ryan allows you, as an agent, to grow your business however you want. If you only want to work with buyers, that’s great. If you want to do listings, that’s great too. He provides training if you need it, and he has a fantastic support system in place.”

Tim O’Neill wasn’t surprised at his brother’s ability to attract strong team members.

“Ryan is really good at reading people,” Tim says. “He finds out what they need and then helps them get it, instead of trying to sell them something they might not want. His emotional IQ is very high.”

For Ryan, it was all about quality.

“My job is finding the right people and retaining them, and a large part of that is giving them control over their own careers,” he says.

Growth and success came swiftly. By 2007, the Min­nesota Real Estate Team – now up to about 10 members – had taken O’Neill into the RE/MAX Top 100 rankings of the network’s best producers. Just two years later, he reached the Top 10.

Always Willing to Share

Within the group structure, members of the Minne­sota Real Estate Team are able to market themselves in their own way. With such a large force in place, O’Neill spends most of his time managing and mentoring team members. He tries to create an environment in which everyone succeeds.

On Saturday mornings, he hosts a weekly real estate show on the radio. He likes knowing that many Twin Cities agents listen in.

“I think the radio show has created good mojo for us,” O’Neill says. “We don’t beat anyone over the head with who we are, or how great we are. We just provide some informa­tion that we hope people find relevant. It’s a lot of fun.”

Giving away information has never been a problem for O’Neill.

“In this business, everyone has the same opportuni­ties, but some people make more of them than others,” Malmberg says. “I’ve chastised Ryan because he’ll share his entire business plan with everyone. I’ll say, ‘Aren’t you worried about doing that?’ And he says, ‘I’ve had people take 50 percent of what I do, or 75 percent, but no one does 100 percent.’ Ryan is competitive, but at the same time he’s very willing to help others.”

Ryan’s wife, Kathy, agrees. “People just want to be around Ryan, so he’s always had a million friends. He always tries to inspire people to do their best, and I think that’s why he’s grown the team as quickly and successfully as he has. He’s got business sense, he’s got people sense, and he’s got heart.”

Even when O’Neill is relaxing, he’s all in: He’s a dedi­cated runner (“very amateur,” he says), a die-hard fan of the Minnesota Vikings (and his two fantasy football teams) and still very much a part of the O’Neill Brothers (they will be doing a holiday concert tour in December).

Ultimately, his life reflects the lessons learned in childhood, not too far from where he still lives today with Kathy and their Cockapoo, Poky.

“I’m a reflection of how my parents raised me,” O’Neill says. “I’m motivated by seeing the potential in others – a tree that’s always growing. When you treat people fairly – whether it’s a team member, a client or anyone else – good things generally happen. That’s the foundation of everything I’ve accomplished.”

Creative Salesmanship

Ryan O’Neill grew up in the small town of New Prague, Minn., as the youngest of five children. His mother, a musically talented grade school teacher, and father, an attorney, made sure all five kids took piano les­sons. Ryan’s talent was evident.

In 1997, after graduating from Notre Dame, Ryan joined his older brother Tim in forming the O’Neill Brothers – an easy listening piano duo – and a recording company. They began producing CDs.

Through several innovative marketing ideas – including one that resulted in their music being stocked in JCPenney stores nationwide – the O’Neill Brothers grew in popularity. Live performances added to the momentum.

They’ve released more than 30 CDs, covering a wide variety of styles, from lullabies to showtunes to holiday favorites and more.

For several years, it was a tough, demanding schedule.

“On any given day, I might fly somewhere, say D.C., and go from store to store, playing and checking on the displays,” Ryan recalls. “We’d also do arts-and-crafts shows, where you sit and play piano all weekend long. For CD sales, it was like a feeding frenzy. We’d perform holiday concert tours, and we started bringing along guests – Deborah Gibson one year, and Katie McMahon another.”

The brothers eventually ap­peared on QVC for a Christmas-in-July promotion and sold more than 30,000 three-packs of holiday music “in about eight minutes,” Ryan recalls. They even hit the Billboard album charts.

With Tim managing the business, the O’Neill Broth­ers remain a well-known act among fans of relaxing piano music. Their recordings still sell well, and are often used in movies, TV shows, videos and other projects.