Fastest Growing Private Company: Sara Holland & Company

Sara Holland, broker and owner (Christine Carignan).

Three-Year Average Annual Growth: 93.7%
Rank on Private 100: 92
Headquarters: One Bridge St., Plymouth
Product/Service: Residential and commercial real estate firm serving NH’s central lakes and mountains region
Owner and Broker: Sara Holland
Founded: 2017
Total Number of Employees: 10
Website: sarahollandco.com

For the second year in a row, Sara Holland & Company tops the Fast Five list, fueled by a real estate market that, while challenged by low inventory, still commands top dollar.

“We automated a number of processes that put us back in front of our clients,” says Owner and Broker Sara Holland.

“Instead of spending time in the office shuffling paperwork and doing administrative stuff, we have a team of virtual assistants that help us with certain things as well as an outsourced transaction manager who does a lot of administrative work for us so we can be out there with our clients more.”

A client-focused culture has been a key factor in the company’s growth, says Holland, with business built largely on referrals.

“Although we have a variety of marketing that brings us clients, one of our number-one sources for new clients is just our general sphere of past clients and vendors … folks who know us and trust us and understand how we work, and they refer people to us they think would be in alignment with how we do business.”

Most of that business has been in single-family homes in the median price range for the state, now around $400,000. The company has not realized its dramatic growth through a couple of “big hits,” but by slow and steady nurturing of long-term relationships.

“We take more of a service approach, versus a dollar-focused approach,” says Holland. “We don’t have a high transaction rate. It’s more about the quality of the relationships and fulfillment of the process.”

Rather than taking any business that walks in the door, Holland says her team takes a more focused approach, working hard in the past year to craft an avatar of the ideal client.

“There’s enough business to go around and you don’t have to have all the business,” Holland says.