At A and N Mortgage’s first Power Hour of the year, Matt Laricy, managing broker at Americorp Real Estate and team lead of The Laricy Team, and Jill Silverstein, president of the JS Group at Compass, pulled back the curtain on how top-producing teams can scale without losing their edge. The panel, titled “Scaling Smart: When to Hire, When to Outsource, When to Grind,” drew agents looking for concrete strategies to grow in the Chicagoland market. 

Planning in Q4 for 2026 

Laricy opened by stressing that success in January is built months earlier. He reviews every lost listing and client who chose another agent, saving their feedback and using it to rebuild his playbook for the coming year. “I’m planning January in September, October, November,” he said, explaining that weaknesses identified in the prior year become targets for improvement so they can turn into strengths in 2026. 

Anticipating a surge in demand, Laricy has grown his team ahead of the curve, hiring and training agents and adding virtual assistants in the Philippines to handle late-night scheduling and logistics. That move, he said, protects his in-office staff from burnout while ensuring every opportunity is captured during peak season. 

He also pushes buyers to think strategically about timing, often advising January and February shoppers with spring leases to extend to late summer or fall so they can skip “waiting in line like a club to get into a property” and buy when competition eases. 

Coaching buyers to compete 

Silverstein focused on front-line execution with buyers, especially in multiple-offer situations. She coaches clients to treat every showing as an audition: dress well, introduce themselves to the listing agent, and come across as “warm, easy, rational, fair” so they stand out when offers pile up. In a market where most offers are over asking, “as is,” and accompanied by appraisal waivers, she said the difference is often in presentation and process, not just price. 

Her team’s offers are packaged with a buyer profile, JS Group accolades, and a tailored cover letter that humanizes the deal while staying within fair housing guidelines. Strong terms on earnest money, timing and flexibility around the seller’s needs round out the strategy. 

On the agent side, both Laricy and Silverstein criticized “text-only” negotiators; Silverstein tells her team, “Call the agent. Call the agent. Call the agent every time,” while Laricy admitted he’ll take a lower offer with a strong, responsive agent over a higher offer from someone who won’t pick up the phone. 

Hire before you feel ready 

On hiring and scaling, Silverstein said while it’s good to understand what you’re good at, it’s also to know what you’re bad at.  

“I worked to be able to hire an assistant because I knew that was going to be the ticket to help me scale,” she said. 

Silverstein hit $11 million in volume in her first year, largely from open houses and relentless networking, then hired an assistant just 10 months in so she could focus on prospecting and brand-building. A later hire — a dedicated transaction manager — was “pivotal,” allowing her to hand off contract-to-close and stay in growth mode. 

Laricy, meanwhile, described his hiring filter as simple but strict: undying loyalty, work ethic and cultural fit. Candidates meet him, then existing team members, because “we’re like a family,” he said, and he refuses to carry agents who treat real estate as a part-time hobby.  

For agents in Chicago, the message from both panelists was clear: plan early, hire before you feel ready, outsource the noise — and grind where your unique value is highest.