Arium Real Estate faced a problem most brokerages would love to have: too much growth, too fast.
When Lesley and Dwayne Byrd’s Brevard County operation acquired another brokerage, their agent count doubled overnight—from 40 to 80. Then Zillow Flex landed, demanding even more bodies to handle the lead volume.
Their existing “system”? Referrals, sticky notes, and transaction software jerry-rigged for onboarding. When 40 new agents hit at once, everything broke.
“We had 40 people waiting for broker agreements, system access, and training paths,” says Lesley Byrd, COO and Broker. “Some waited three weeks just to get their logins. We were losing momentum—and agents—every single day.”
The Breaking Point: When Manual Processes Meet Hypergrowth
Before Humaniz, Arium’s recruiting lived in Lesley’s inbox and iPhone notes. No pipeline visibility. No handoff protocols. Just hope and hustle.
Onboarding was worse. Each new agent triggered a cascade of manual tasks across three departments—ops handled agreements, marketing set up profiles, IT configured systems. Everything happened sequentially. If one person was out sick, the entire chain stopped.
The acquisition exposed every weakness:
- Agents waited 2-3 weeks for basic system access
- Half the new hires never completed onboarding
- Lesley spent 60% of her time chasing signatures and passwords
- Different agents got different experiences based on who handled their file
“We knew every step in the process,” Lesley explains. “We just couldn’t execute them consistently at volume. It was like trying to serve a dinner party for 100 with a home kitchen.”
Building Infrastructure That Actually Scales
Arium didn’t just need better recruiting—they needed operational infrastructure. Humaniz became their growth operating system.
The Recruiting Engine
Instead of scattered leads in various inboxes, Arium now runs a proper pipeline:
- Multi-channel sourcing pulls from Indeed, social, and paid ads simultaneously
- Phone screens auto-schedule based on Lesley’s availability
- Every conversation gets recorded and tagged for handoff
- Clear stage gates show exactly where each candidate sits
“Now I know we have 12 people in phone screens, 8 in final interviews, and 4 ready to onboard. Before, I’d discover agents stuck in limbo weeks after they applied.”
One-Click Onboarding That Actually Works
The real transformation happened in onboarding. One click now triggers parallel workflows:
- VAs receive document tasks
- Marketing gets profile setup notifications
- IT provisions systems
- Training assigns the right path (solo agent, team member, or mentorship program)
Nothing waits on anything else. The SLA dropped from 3 weeks to 5 days.
HR That Doesn’t Suck
Here’s what surprised even Lesley: Humaniz became their HR backbone.
Every agent now has a complete digital file—signed agreements, annual policy acknowledgments, commission structures, everything. When Florida updated their agency disclosure requirements, Arium pushed new documents to all 80 agents and tracked signatures in real-time.
“We went from scrambling during audits to having everything instantly accessible. One click shows me any agent’s complete documentation history.”
The Numbers That Matter
Since implementing Humaniz:
- Net agent growth: +29 (with 30+ smooth transitions in/out during the same period)
- Time to productivity: 5 days (down from 21)
- Onboarding completion rate: 94% (up from ~50%)
- Lesley’s time on admin: 10% (down from 60%)
But the real metric? Zero dropped balls during their second Zillow Flex expansion.
“When Zillow asked if we could handle 20% more leads, I said yes immediately. Six months earlier, that question would’ve triggered panic. Now it’s just Tuesday.”
The Playbook for Scaling Brokerages
Based on Arium’s experience, here’s what actually moves the needle:
Week One or Bust: Treat system access like a vital sign. If agents wait more than 7 days for logins, you’re already losing them. Arium’s 5-day SLA became their North Star metric.
Parallel, Not Sequential: Stop making marketing wait for ops wait for IT. Launch everything simultaneously and track completion independently.
Build Multiple Paths: Solo agents need different onboarding than team members. Experienced agents need different training than rookies. Build once, deploy infinitely.
Document Everything: That annual acknowledgment you collect on paper? The commission agreement in someone’s desk drawer? Digital or dead. Audits don’t care about good intentions.
Record First Touches: Those initial phone screens contain gold—motivation, concerns, timeline. Recording them means nothing falls through the cracks during handoffs.
The Bottom Line
“Most brokerages think their bottleneck is lead generation,” Lesley reflects. “But you can’t scale revenue if you can’t scale operations. We were lighting money on fire bringing in agents we couldn’t properly onboard.”
For Arium, recruiting automation was table stakes. The real unlock was turning chaotic onboarding into a predictable, measurable system that runs itself.
They didn’t just add agents. They built infrastructure that makes every agent successful from day one.
See how Humaniz can transform your brokerage operations. Schedule a demo to explore automated recruiting, instant onboarding, and HR that actually helps you grow.
