What It Means To Be A Real Estate Agent At Drumelia

By Artur Loginov April 10th, 2025 · 19m. reading time

Read more about Artur

With the team growing and our new office opening soon, I felt the need to pause and reflect on what it truly means to be a Drumelia agent.

I will start by sharing a phrase I read once that I remember fondly: “A company’s culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

At Drumelia, we aim to elevate the real estate industry and create new opportunities; our sales team plays a vital role.

Our beginnings were simple: the first office I worked in at Drumelia in 2009 was 15m2 on C/Calvario in Marbella, with a rent of 300 euros per month that many months we were struggling to pay. The path to where we are now was full of obstacles, a path I would not dare take if I knew the difficulties, but one I am proud of pursuing.

It’s important not to forget the early beginnings and where we come from, not to take things for granted, and not to fall into the trap of thinking we are better or know more than others. Consider yourself your most fierce competitor and keep pushing your boundaries further.

This is part of the atmosphere in our office and the basis for our daily work with our sales team. Any company’s values start with management and the leaders and are conveyed to the rest of the team daily, in every conversation and every action, shaping our culture by example. To better understand the sales agent role, it’s important to first provide the background to what and who surrounds them. This will help us understand why things are done the way they are in Drumelia.

As with any company, it all starts with the founder. Sergey, 53 years old, has been working in Marbella since 1997 as a self-made successful real estate agent and co-owner of Drumelia. He could have already taken a comfortable approach to his day-to-day work responsibilities and shifted some on others. Instead, he is a very active sales team member as a Senior Property advisor. He is at the forefront every day, providing a unique example and continuously surprising all of us with his sales successes and ability to create powerful connections with every client and provide excellent service. Thus, all his business comes from referrals. To date, Sergey sets an example that inspires the sales team to copy his approaches and elevate our service together.

I, Artur, 33 years old, joined Drumelia 15 years ago and worked my way from real estate agent to CEO and co-owner of Drumelia. This role fulfils me and has incredible opportunities for future growth, personal and professional, which has always been my fuel. Recently, I switched my title to a more (I hope) subtle, Team Leader, to remind me every day what my daily purpose is and set the example: our title is irrelevant and should not be a reason for pride; it’s what we do every day that matters.

I have a passion for the real estate service industry. I owe everything I have to this job, yet there are things in this industry that sadden me. That’s why we have made the sole purpose of Drumelia to elevate the real estate industry. We create change for the better in all aspects of our job and inspire other companies to follow, together with a team of outstanding professionals joining our path. My dream is that one day, the real estate industry will be in a position that I proudly could recommend my 2-year-old daughter to join.

Our organizational chart has several layers of circles, and the first circle next to me is the Responsibles circle; these are the people I work with daily and who directly affect Drumelia’s future. Sergey – Founder and Senior Property Advisor, Natalia - Responsible for marketing operations, Yaroslav – Responsible for marketing strategy and performance, Kemdrix – Responsible for sales performance, Kevan - Responsible for listings, Ines - Responsible for exclusive listings, Bruna – Senior Property Advisor and recently also Partner, Cristina – Human Resources and Talent Responsible, and Borja – Lawyer and Responsible of legal and finance department. Only having so many key people in the company aligned is what allows me to lead the team and set the foundation for future solid growth.

I like to remind my colleagues from the responsible circle that they should never forget that they have two titles in this company. One title is what they do daily, for example, marketing operations. The second title of Responsible is far more important and represents that they are responsible for the company, not just for their own departments. Treat the company like it was yours, and believe you have no limits. This approach is very important and aligns with our value of collaboration. Without such an approach, we cannot create outstanding results to elevate the real estate industry.

Our strong connection within the Responsible circle, based on similar values and the inspiration of our mission and vision, has shaped our culture and company into a place that challenges the sales team daily. At first, not everyone can maintain the pressure, but if you hold on long enough, you will find inspiration in it, like we do.

Our sales team consists of different profiles aligned with our international business position. We already mentioned Sergey and Bruna, who are active sales team members, and other colleagues are Olga (Latvia, Senior property advisor), Cinthia (Dominican Republic, Property advisor), Joaquin (Spain, about to receive the title of Property advisor, a great celebration for the whole team and a huge moment of proudness for all the Responsible and owners of the company), Ruth (Spain, Property consultant), Ralph (Belgium, Poperty consultant) and Gasper (Slovenia, Property consultant).

The approach to everything is always quality, not quantity. To achieve quality in our daily actions from our sales agents, we have built a strong 360-degree team around them to impulse the agents and protect their time so they can fully concentrate on the client and provide excellent, dedicated service with care, delegating everything else on the team behind. This behind-the-scenes team of +25 people, shaped in the same culture, takes full control of listings, valuations, marketing, sales assistance, sales performance, concierge, after-sale, legal, finance, exclusive listings, and, of course, our lovely Cristina from human resources and talent management, makes sure everyone feels at home. All these different teams contribute to the overall client experience and support our agents in everything they do.

The career of a real estate agent in Drumelia is defined in 4 to 5 steps over a period of +10 years. The agents with experience that join Drumelia start as Property consultants, and people who aim to pursue this career, who lack experience but show outstanding soft skills, start as Junior Property consultants, with the possibility to grow to Property consultants within one year. The next promotion from Property consultant usually occurs after 1-3 years to Property advisor. After another approximately 2-5 years, you could be promoted to Senior Property advisor, and finally, the most desired is Partner and Senior Property advisor, which only a few can reach after many years of excellence. All promotions are based on sales results combined with performance growth, the last being the most important. Therefore, we are now introducing tailored assessments to our agents for an in-depth look to identify growth points and provide necessary tools in combination with training that all agents receive on a group and one-on-one base.

Additionally, there are yearly prizes handed to our agents at the Christmas ceremony to distinguish outstanding results over the course of the year.

The sales team's growth, as is the growth of each team member in the company, is not an individual concern; it’s part of our daily routines and an important priority that we embed into the culture. If we take an arrow as a representation of our company and our combined efforts, the sales team would be at the end of the arrow, representing and connecting all the company’s efforts with our clients, and for that reason, the excellence and continues growth within the sales team is of great importance to every team member as eventually represents all of us.

In our office, things move very fast, and the flow of information is huge. We all must train ourselves to interpret everything at such speed. In the beginning, this is not easy, but what seems like 100kg before you start becomes 15kg after you have practiced for a while with true intention and resilience. So, how does a normal week look for our sales agents?

Each week, we have three sales meetings: one formal sales meeting of 60 minutes and two informal sales meetings of 45 minutes. Every second week, there is a listings/exclusives 60-minute meeting where everyone is updated on the latest market sales, listings, price reductions, and news. Every month, we have our 60-minute general meetings, during which each responsible presents the latest news, plans, and results for the department. Weekly reports from each agent, combined with a big email workload and many client leads, client tours, and team viewings, is a serious challenge. And the dynamics constantly change.

Management supports the agent’s clients but doesn’t attend to them directly. In the first quarter of 2025, the company provided 101 buyer leads to our agents from our website with an average budget of 6.321.782 million. Our agents categorized 50% of these buyers leads from Q1 as clients with a serious interest in buying.

To understand how we achieve this, attached info according to SEMrush (independent SEO and online marketing analytics service), on the position of Drumelia’s web page on Google compared to competitors for our key areas of expertise, which are Marbella, Benahavís, and Estepona, with a special reach in communities like Zagaleta, Sierra Blanca, Golden Mile and a key focus on high-end properties.

Each client requires enormous attention and workload, reaction times are measured, and routine emails are not welcomed. Every interaction must be with care and purpose, and a complicated first structure of follow-ups and categorization is implemented for everyone who shows interest in our services to guarantee such.

In addition, when going on a tour with a client, which happens very often, the agent’s time becomes fully occupied with such, but still, time must be created to follow up on all matters according to our standards. I must admit that our processes in the sales team make the job of our agents not easy but add that extra layer of care and impulse growth. Excellence is a continuous journey and comes at a very high price and effort.

As a real estate agent in Drumelia, you are not expected to rely on the passive income from leads that the company provides. We expect you to take constant meaningful actions to generate your own additional business, including listing properties, even though we have a listing department and are now hiring listing agents.

For sales agents to truly be successful, they need to develop 360-degree experiences and continuously work out of their comfort zone. A sales agent is an entrepreneur. You need to develop and polish a complicated range of skills, take control, and plan your actions, always remaining busy with purpose independent of fluctuations and less busy periods with clients. We are always working to provide our current and future results, and to achieve such, we need to have intention in both directions.

Anyone can sell a house occasionally, but few can do it permanently over the years. Only some can always sell, independent of market tendency. That is a special mindset combined with years of expertise, growth, excellence, and client care, which is what we are teaching our sales team.

The complications and depth of a real estate agent role are defined by each one of us, and there are no rules here to help us. I have seen many agents concentrate on a limited scope of work, implement the same routines, and stick to them over the years, rarely taking the initiative to look for change. Some are more comfortable working with owners and rely on other agents to bring buyers to the property that he/she represents, which significantly reduces the expertise required. Others occasionally or continuously deal with buyers, but the level and quality of interaction remain similar year after year, focused on showing properties.

The agents we intend to grow within our company must aim for more. We wish to inspire not to find satisfaction within the same scope of successes and workload. Increasing professionalism continuously and achieving new professional heights yearly must be the motor. Growth needs to develop into a necessity, and increasing service excellence should be a reason for celebration and pride above closing deals. We are working to help our agents become versatile in their knowledge and experiences and to be able to create long-lasting connections with every person that they meet, having a direct and positive effect on their clients ’ lives, caring for the successful result of the buyer’s purchase, above the sale itself, being able even to lose a sale if it goes against what we believe in. By example, I am shaping the sales team to align with the ideas and values the challenging real estate industry has taught me. Values like resilience, entrepreneurship, and accountability are transmitted with daily actions.

Both Sergey and I started as real estate agents, and everything we achieved has been as real estate agents, so we understand our agents better than anyone. We understand and feel every struggle and provide support every day. Still, I do not see the future of Drumelia without the strongest team in the sales department, so everyone must share the responsibility of daily efforts that growth requires. This reality doesn’t accept any excuses, and if you don’t have what it takes to keep up with our rhythm, you cannot be part of this sales team. Even though, in the end, it’s a question of wanting or not wanting rather than having or not having. Or a combination, in all fairness.

Our senior sales team leads by example, and I am also an active member of the sales meetings and conversations. We prioritize building a strong sense of collaboration and teamwork within the sales team, and nasty competition doesn’t exist. There is just an air of healthy, motivational competition as we celebrate and see our colleagues’ sales successes together. We try to emphasize the importance of admitting mistakes publicly as the main tool for unlocking growth, and here again, I try to lead by example.

But let’s hear some thoughts directly from some of our sales agents.

Bruna: To grow within Drumelia means to reinvent yourself constantly, not because you’re asked to, but because the environment inspires it. Here, excellence is not a goal, it’s a habit. And being part of this journey, where purpose and passion meet, is something I deeply value every single day!

Olga: The company I joined more than six years ago was very different from what it is now, but I feel that the overall mission, vision, and values were subconsciously there and always personally aligned with me. At Drumelia, I believe a property advisor should have a deep passion for the real estate industry and a true willingness to learn. Even if someone doesn’t have all the experience or knowledge at first, the right attitude makes all the difference. With dedication, hard work, and self-awareness, the skills will come, and that’s what will allow us to consistently deliver exceptional service to our clients with the enormous support of the whole Drumelia team from other departments. Just as important is being a team player. At Drumelia, in my opinion, there is no success of only one member of the company. When we support each other and work as one team, that’s, I believe, when both individual and collective success really happens.

Cinthia: This is my third year here, and without a doubt, one of the values I’ve come to appreciate the most, especially right now, is resilience. Selling a property can be challenging, but the real challenge lies in staying consistent and committed over the long term. At the same time, it’s truly impressive how much personal and professional growth this career brings, not only in terms of knowledge but also on a personal level. You begin to realize that your only real competition is yourself, and the goal is to become better every day. In the end, you create your own luck through constant daily practice and perseverance.

Ralph: I would say it’s a completely different experience from anything I’ve seen or heard in other agencies. It’s not just a job; it’s a deep commitment you make first and foremost to yourself — to elevate your own standards, mindset, and ambition — and secondly to the company, whose expectations are exceptionally high across every aspect of the role. What makes it truly special is the multifaceted nature of the work. No two days are the same, and every interaction and challenge is an opportunity to grow. It’s a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment that demands excellence, creativity, and emotional intelligence. More than just a fantastic career opportunity, it’s a powerful platform to reinvent yourself, build a future with purpose, and step into an exclusive network that offers remarkable synergies — both personal and professional. You're not just representing a brand — you're shaping the image of the modern real estate agent and contributing to a mission that’s elevating the industry standard globally.

Ruth: I am pretty sure that very few real estate companies can say that they have a healthy sales team that collaborates with each other and that celebrates other colleagues' achievements. Being in such a comfortable working environment is very inspiring and somehow softens the challenging days of a Drumelian.

On another note, maybe some of you have asked if we hire new agents.

With our structure and organization, we see a much bigger market share that we should be able to accommodate, and the number of sales agents is part of the key to this direction. We envision a team of 20 sales agents and 3 sales managers capable of working without competition under one office within the areas of our expertise (Marbella, Benahavís, and Estepona).

In preparation for this, we have been building the expansion of our office to a total of 50 working spaces, five meeting rooms, a kitchen for 25, and some surprises, planned to be fully operative from the 1^st of June 2025.

But no matter the plans, we understand that growth needs to be handled without urgency, and every new member is handpicked. We must set our standards high, and only those who align with our values should be considered. Over these years, I have learned some things the hard way. Growing a team is not just about bringing in more people. It’s about protecting what makes us great. Together. In the past, we expanded quickly, and while we met incredible professionals, not everyone was the right long-term fit for Drumelia. Experience alone is not enough. Mindset, culture, and values matter even more.

For that same reason, when done right, growth benefits everyone, and a new hire will boost the team, not be a burden. The right person will bring fresh energy, experience, and new opportunities for every agent and team member here.

This company’s success will be based on teamwork.

This Blog is dedicated to Ruth, Joaquin, Ralph, Gasper, Cinthia, Olga, and Bruna. When reading these lines, I invite you to take a moment to feel proud of your journey to get where you are and imagine where you can be in five years.

If you found yourself relating to this article, or simply want to share your opinion, feel free to leave a Google review here.