Strategic Plan · Ownership Dashboard
Defending #1 — & Extending It
Market-share growth strategy for RE/MAX Bentley's — built on live MLS PIN, Google Ads & Analytics data.
Data pulled
May 22, 2026
May 22, 2026
The position today
Live MLS data confirms it: RE/MAX Bentley's is the #1 brokerage in Greater Newburyport by sales volume. The lead is real — and, for the first time, genuinely contested.
14.8%
GN volume share — #1
$96.9M closed, 12 mo.
~3 pts
Margin over #2 & #3
KW 12.2% · Realty ONE 12.1%
3%
Share in "& beyond" towns
394 sales/yr, wide open
76,000
Lead database
The under-worked asset
A narrow crown and an open frontier
Bentley's leads on dollar volume — but by listing count it's a three-way photo finish (KW 12.2%, Bentley's 11.3%, Realty ONE 9.0%). And in the four surrounding "& beyond" towns, Bentley's holds just 3%. The opportunity is two-sided: widen a narrowing lead at home, and plant the flag where the brand barely registers.
Greater Newburyport — share by sales volume
Trailing 12 months · 6-town market · MLS PIN
The five-pillar battle plan
Click any pillar for detail
The prize
Widening the GN lead toward 18%+, lifting "& beyond" share from 3% to ~8%, plus database-driven repeat business is a realistic +60–100 transactions a year — roughly $1.3M–$2.2M in additional gross commission, much of it from owned assets.
Market Snapshot — live MLS PIN data
Every figure pulled from MLS PIN on May 22, 2026. "Greater Newburyport" = the six towns Bentley's leads; "& beyond" = the four surrounding Essex County towns.
753
Sold — Greater Newburyport
6 towns, 12 mo.
$775K
Median sale price
Newburyport: $918K (+7.7%)
2.6 mo
Months of supply
Firm seller's market
+394
Sales/yr "& beyond"
The expansion frontier
Median sale price — 24-month trend
Blended monthly median across the territory
Months of supply by town
Cranberry = GN core · blue = "& beyond"
Town by town — the core six and the four beyond
Trailing 12 months
| Town | Tier | Sold | Median | YoY | DOM | Active | Mo. supply |
|---|
What the data says to do
Inventory — not buyers — is scarce; whoever wins the listing wins the deal. Amesbury (232 sales) is the busiest core town after Newburyport; Ipswich (160) anchors the frontier. Seller lead generation and farming are the growth levers.
The Competitive Landscape
The same market, two metrics. Bentley's wins on dollars and narrowly loses on listing count — and the gap between the two charts is the strategy.
By sales volume ($) — Bentley's is #1
$96.9M closed · the "#1 since 2019" claim, confirmed
By listing count — a photo finish
Bentley's #2 on activity, behind Keller Williams
The two competitors that matter most
Realty ONE Group NEST — near-nonexistent in 2020 — is now #2 in Newburyport itself (19.8% of city volume). Keller Williams out-lists Bentley's on count by spreading wide. Lamacchia, the headline "threat," is currently smaller than its reputation (6.9% of GN volume).
Newburyport proper — share by volume
Bentley's #1 in the home city
Competitive positioning map
Horizontal: city → region-wide · Vertical: mid-market → luxury
Threat assessment & counter-moves
Click to expand each competitor
Digital Presence & SEO
Built on the firm's own analytics. Two things reshape the digital plan — one a major strength, one a measurement problem.
Where website traffic comes from
Sessions by source, GA4 lifetime · referral-spam excluded
Where the spend went — Google Ads by network
17 months · 43% leaked into low-intent Display
The strength — Facebook is the engine
Facebook drove ~177,000 website sessions over the analytics lifetime — more than direct, Google organic and Google Ads combined. This is not a channel to fix; it's one to feed and convert harder.
The problem — measurement can't be trusted yet
GA4 has had tracking gaps and is heavily polluted with referral-spam and bot traffic; ad conversion tracking is unreliable. Clean GA4 and rebuild tracking before scaling spend — foundational and cheap.
The 2026 one-site rebuild
- All listing search on one domain
- RealEstateAgent + LocalBusiness schema
- Deep page for all 10 towns
- Rebuilt Home Valuation flow (fixes 82% bounce)
- Live MLS market dashboard
- Clean GA4 from day one
newburyport.com — owned asset
Ownership owns the exact-match market domain — already refers ~3,000 sessions/yr passively. Turn it into a community + market hub that funnels intent to Bentley's. A moat no competitor can replicate.
Two fast wins
The Home Valuation page has ~9,000 views but an 82% bounce — the most expensive seller leak on the site. And the content engine is already producing (130+ photos this year) — it just needs tracking and conversion paths.
The Advertising Engine
Live Google Ads data shows the core problem: the spend the firm can see is mis-structured, and the rest runs through Ylopo's black box.
Live finding
The internal account is a single Google "Smart Campaign" ($7,336 over 17 months). 43% of spend ($3,161) leaked into the Display network — banner traffic, not searchers — while only ~46% reached Google Search. Monthly spend has fallen from ~$486/mo to ~$300/mo. A Smart Campaign auto-allocates this with almost no control.
Internal Google Ads — monthly spend & clicks
Single Smart Campaign · Dec 2024 – Apr 2026
Recommended budget — moderate tier (~$10K/mo)
Re-weighted for measurability & seller intent
Tiered budget framework
Scale the same mix to fit the month
| Channel | Lean $5K | Moderate $10K | Aggressive $15K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads (structured search, rebuilt) | $1,500 | $3,000 | $4,500 |
| Ylopo + paid social / Meta | $1,800 | $3,000 | $4,000 |
| Content / SEO / video / newburyport.com | $700 | $1,700 | $2,800 |
| Database — email / SMS / FUB tools | $400 | $800 | $1,200 |
| Social / GBP / reviews | $400 | $900 | $1,500 |
| Brand / farming / events | $200 | $600 | $1,000 |
| Total / month | $5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
Fix before you scale
Replace the Smart Campaign with structured Search · rebuild conversion tracking & clean GA4 · get one dashboard across internal + Ylopo · judge Ylopo on cost-per-closing · lean into Facebook, the proven channel.
The 76,000-Lead Database
The highest-ROI asset in the building. Database contacts convert ~10× better than cold leads; reactivation costs 5–10× less than buying new ones.
From 76,000 contacts to closings — the realistic funnel
Illustrative model — refine after a Follow Up Boss audit
after scrub — ~59%
~20% of valid
~25% of engaged
3.5–5% of hot
Database segmentation
Five buckets, five cadences (illustrative)
The reactivation playbook — in Follow Up Boss
- Audit & scrub — dedupe, validate, find the true reachable count.
- Segment & tag — stage, recency, town, price band.
- Score — 0–100; Hot 80+, Warm 50–79, Cold <50.
- Reactivate — a genuine "we dropped the ball" sequence, 5–7 touches / 45 days.
- Route hot leads — straight to an agent, call task in 5 minutes.
- Always-on nurture — monthly value until they convert; AI nurture at scale.
Why it's pillar-priority
Every other channel rents attention — the database is owned, and it pays back fastest: reactivation results show in 60–90 days, long before SEO compounds. Start the audit in Week 1.
The Action Plan
90 days to fix the foundation and bank quick wins; 12 months to compound it into market share.
18%+
GN volume share target
from 14.8% — widen the lead
3% → 8%+
"& beyond" town share
the expansion frontier
+60–100
Incremental deals / yr
listings + buyers + database
$1.3–2.2M
Incremental GCI / yr
much from owned assets
Sequencing logic
Do the foundation first — database, tracking, the rebuild brief, reviews — because it pays back fast or protects a big investment. Then compound with SEO, content, newburyport.com and farming. Resist chasing share before the foundation is set.
The Agent Playbook
Every market-share point in this plan is ultimately won or lost by an individual agent at a kitchen table. This is the playbook every Bentley's agent runs.
The agent compact
Brand, leads, content and tools come from the firm. Calls, contacts, listing presentations, reviews and follow-through come from the agent. Nothing in this strategy works if the agent corps doesn't run the playbook below — and nothing in the playbook is optional for someone serious about top-producing in this market.
01 · Non-negotiables (every week)
- 5-minute response to every new lead — qualification jumps ~78%.
- Log everything in Follow Up Boss; tag every contact.
- Ask for a Google review at every closing.
- Post 3× a week on personal FB + IG.
- Attend the weekly office meeting & roleplay.
02 · Work the personal database
- Build a 100-name core sphere list.
- Quarterly touch on every name (call / text / coffee).
- Birthday + home-anniversary notes (auto in FUB).
- Annual home-value letter to every past seller.
- Monthly "Who do you know thinking about a move?"
03 · Win more listings
- Use the live GN market dashboard in every presentation.
- Print a town-specific market report for each appointment.
- Lead with the data: "Bentley's is #1 by volume in this market."
- Show a clear Week 1 / 2 / 3 marketing timeline.
- Pre-walk every showing route — never improvise.
04 · Farm a town
- Pick ONE town and become known there.
- Monthly door-knock route or postcard farm.
- Sponsor a local event, school team or community group.
- "Just listed / just sold" mailer to 50–100 nearby homes — every transaction.
- Walk the streets. Be a face, not a logo.
05 · Build a personal brand
- One Reel per week — neighborhood walk, listing tour, market take.
- Monthly live market update on personal FB.
- Show up in community life — events, charity, local businesses.
- Maintain a personal Google review profile.
- Own a hashtag and a tagline. Be findable.
06 · Pick a lane — specialize
- First-time · Move-up · 55+ downsizers
- Luxury · Waterfront · Plum Island
- Investors · New construction · Relocations · Condos
- Senior agents: mentor a junior — recruiting starts here.
- Top producers own ONE niche.
The five numbers every agent reports weekly
__
Contacts made
Calls + texts + face-to-face
__
New FUB leads
Added & tagged
__
Listing appts booked
The leading indicator
__
Listings won + reviews
The lag + the multiplier
How ownership rolls this out
Print this. Hand it to every agent. Set the weekly numbers as the standing office meeting agenda — names on the board, no hiding. Pair each agent with a town to farm and one specialization to own. Top producers run this playbook every week without being asked; everyone else gets there by being asked, every week, until it sticks.
RE/MAX Bentley's — Greater Newburyport Market-Share Strategy · Confidential
MLS PIN (Bridge API) · Google Ads & GA4 exports · May 22, 2026
