Although he’d been around the track a few times—working for GMAC/Better Homes and Gardens, RE/MAX, and Century 21 within a six-year period—it wasn’t until this race car hobbyist opened an Assist-2-Sell franchise with his wife that his real estate career got real traction. In 2006, his second year, May and two buyer specialists at his company teamed up to close 82 transaction sides totaling $20 million in sales.
The Bug race: May’s hobby was also the source of his most successful marketing event: the Assist-2-Sell Night at the Races. More than 750 former and current clients visited May’s office for free tickets to the August 2006 inaugural event at the Cottage Grove Speedway. May, who drove his Assist-2-Sell Volkswagen Bug, secured about 20 leads.“It’s a hoot,” he says. “It’s become known in town as ‘The Bug Race.’”
Bumps in the road: May ran into early resistance from a few competitors to his company’s “full service with savings” concept, but he hasn’t let it get him off track. He’s a past president of the Cottage Grove Board of REALTORS® and currently serves on the board of directors. “I’ve been involved for six years. I saw that the association was doing some good in our community,” he says, “and I wanted to be a part of it.”