Family owned Sibcy Cline relays the family-feeling to customers

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Sibcy Cline managers in Dayton (from left) Bill Rogers (manager of
Centerville office), Beth White (associate manager of Centerville office),
Susan Knobe (director of marketing) and Cyndi Scarpelli (manager of
Beavercreek office) say a family environment keeps employees happy and tight-knit.

Tristan Navera Sibcy Cline managers in Dayton (from left) Bill Rogers (manager of Centerville office), Beth White (associate manager of Centerville office), Susan Knobe (director of marketing) and Cyndi Scarpelli (manager of Beavercreek office) say a family environment keeps employees happy and tight-knit.

The Cincinnati-based company stays in contact with costumers even after a home sale is complete.

By Tristan Navera, Staff Writer Updated 12:06 PM Friday, January 27, 2012

Constant communication has ensured that Sibcy Cline Realtors’ business mentality has trickled down from management to the customer.

The Cincinnati-based company, founded by Rob Sibcy, employs 1,475 nationally. Most employees are in the Tri-State area of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Indiana. Dayton has 127 agents and staff.

“We’re a family-owned company and we act family-owned with the daily operation of our business,” said Bill Rogers, manager of Sibcy Cline’s Centerville office. “Our people really embrace that concept.”

Susan Knobe, Sibcy Cline’s director of marketing, said the family-owned culture permeates the workplace.

“The owners are accessible. They know us by name, they know our wives and children and our agents,” she said.

Rogers said he’s tried to emulate founder Rob Sibcy’s air of approachability, encouraging agents to contact him at any time of the day.

“One time I got a call when I was repairing my barn roof, so I sat down for six or seven minutes and they never even knew,” Rogers said.

Clients often complain they don’t have enough contact with their realtors, a problem Rogers said the company has sought to overcome by keeping in touch after the sale is done.

Agents send weekly progress updates to homeowners before sales, Sibcy Cline agents send new home owners an email informing them of sales around their neighborhoods.

“We’ll let you know the prices of sales in your neighborhood every 90 days or so,” Rogers said, “I want to make sure that if you’re a past customer, I’m not going to forget you.”

The company keeps its employees and clients engaged with a system of online training and a web presence they said even competitors use, including professional photographers who shoot every house for sale, and a dedicated tech support staff.

But keeping employees happy is what Sibcy Cline says keeps it ahead. Managers, who get a portion of agents’ sales commissions, support their agents full-time, atypical in the real estate business where managers often must have listings of their own.

“If you look at the work we do for our agents, we are a full-time partner,” said Cyndi Scarpelli, manager of the Beavercreek office, “We’re full-time marketing, full-time web support, we offer virtual tours.”

Moreover, the company showers employees with education programs and gives them flexibility and freedom to work from home.

Sibcy Cline hopes to expand further north in coming years, as more buyers and sellers from Troy, Sidney and Piqua have sought the company, Rogers said.