The team library
Who Do I Call When a Deal Goes Sideways?
Updated
Bottom line: Two names, and they are the same two every time: Sibel Caliskanlar Cope and Alexis Ruiz-Ney. The Concierge Directors take the call and route it to whichever of the six success team functions owns the problem.
Who is the first call?
Sibel Caliskanlar Cope and Alexis Ruiz-Ney are the Concierge Directors on Houston Properties Team, and picking up is the job. You do not have to work out which part of the team owns your problem before you call, which is the reason two named people do routing rather than selling.
Owners and team leaders talk to Bob Martin, who has run this team with Paige Martin since 2002. Everybody else starts with Sibel or Alexis and gets handed on from there.
What do the six success team functions cover?
Client acquisition and lead conversion follows up with leads and sets qualified appointments. Transaction coordination and compliance owns timelines, inspections and appraisals, closing documents and contract compliance. Client management and database support does database cleanup, valuation alerts, engagement tracking, drip campaigns and past client outreach.
Content and marketing writes the neighborhood guides, listing descriptions, social posts, email campaigns and events. Email and communication handles lead engagement, inbox management, consultation scheduling and RSVPs. Listing preparation and management covers photography, descriptions, MLS setup, brochures, staging, showings and virtual tours. An inside sales team sits beside all six and books appointments straight onto member calendars.
What if it is not worth a phone call?
Say it at 8:30. The second half of the weekday huddle is Need Help: anyone stuck on a file or a client says so in front of the room, and somebody picks it up before the meeting ends. There is no queue and nobody logs a ticket.
It works because the people who could take the problem are already in the meeting, including the five designated mentors who run the weekly squads. The success team meets weekly and the squad leaders meet weekly, so a problem raised in the huddle is not waiting for a monthly agenda.
Who is left holding the client?
You are, and that is deliberate. What comes off your desk is the work behind the conversation: the paperwork, the chasing, the scheduling, the listing preparation. A client who finds themselves dealing with a coordinator starts wondering who they hired, so the conversation never leaves you.
525+ leads a month come into this team (team records, August 2026) from the Houston neighborhood sites the team owns, and the inside sales team books appointments off them onto member calendars. That is the same arrangement read from the other end: somebody else does the calling, and you run the appointment.
Filed in The team, for agents who are stuck.
Questions & answers
What do Houston agents ask about this?
Who is the first call when a Houston transaction goes wrong?
On Houston Properties Team it is Sibel Caliskanlar Cope or Alexis Ruiz-Ney, the two Concierge Directors, and either one will do. You do not have to work out which part of the team owns the problem first. They route it to the function whose job it is, and from there it is that function's file.
Six functions cover the work around a file, each owning a named piece of it: lead conversion and appointment setting, transaction coordination and compliance, database and client management, content and marketing, email and scheduling, and listing preparation. An inside sales team sits beside all six. The other way in costs nothing and takes no phone call, which is the Need Help half of the 8:30 huddle every weekday. Both routes end in the same place, and what each of the six handles is set out on the page about who picks up a file that goes wrong.
What happens to my file when I hand it to the success team?
It goes to whichever of the six functions owns that kind of problem, and you stay the person your client talks to. Transaction coordination takes a contract or a deadline. Listing preparation takes photography, staging or MLS setup. Client management takes the database. Nothing about the client relationship changes hands.
That division is the whole design. What comes off an agent is the work behind the conversation, and a client who finds themselves dealing with a coordinator starts wondering who they hired. The success team meets weekly, the squad leaders meet weekly, and the AI tools draft and follow up around the clock, so a message arriving at two in the morning is answered at two in the morning. The people answer on weekdays and the team says so plainly rather than promising a human at midnight, because that is a promise somebody here would have to keep.
Does a team take over my client when I ask for help?
Not on Houston Properties Team. The six success team functions carry the work behind a file: the paperwork, the chasing, the scheduling, the listing preparation. The appointment, the negotiation and the close stay yours, and so does every conversation your client has, because that is the part they chose you for.
Asking in front of the room is the part experienced agents hesitate over, and the Need Help half of the 8:30 huddle is built to make it ordinary: everybody does it, every weekday, including the five designated mentors who run the weekly squads. A problem said out loud on a Tuesday morning is picked up before the meeting ends. Whether you raise it there or send it to a Concierge Director, your client keeps dealing with you.