How 8 SIGNAL’s Fractional CMO Leadership Drove 158% Growth and Guided Steinborn & Associates Through a Strategic Acquisition
Overview
Steinborn & Associates, a 57-year leader in Southern New Mexico real estate, partners with 8 SIGNAL for dedicated marketing leadership. As Steinborn’s Fractional CMO, we provide the executive-level guidance necessary to build, lead, and scale their marketing department across all business pillars, which include residential, commercial, property management, real estate education, and brokerage promotion and recruitment, without the overhead of hiring for a full-time executive seat.
Our ongoing collaboration has transformed a company with no marketing infrastructure into a department processing over 2,700 marketing requests annually. We have recruited, hired, and trained the marketing team through multiple transitions, developed comprehensive marketing blueprints for each business division, and guided the company through a strategic acquisition that expanded their footprint to four locations across Southern New Mexico.
Today, we continue to build on this foundation—driving 158% volume growth, maintaining 90% retention among top users, and positioning the team to scale alongside the business as Steinborn enters its next chapter of growth.
Client Background
Steinborn & Associates has been the cornerstone of Southern New Mexico’s real estate industry since 1968. Founded by David Steinborn and now led by Amy and John Hummer alongside Zane and Kayla Fikany, the company operates a comprehensive suite of real estate services:
- Residential Sales (Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate)
- Commercial Real Estate (TCN Worldwide)
- Property Management
- Real Estate Institute (REI) Education
- Brokerage Promotion and Recruitment
With a mission to help REALTORS build better businesses and live better lives, Steinborn works with 8 SIGNAL to establish, lead, and scale a marketing department that serves all five business pillars while maintaining core values of integrity, responsiveness, innovation, and kindness.
The Challenge
When 8 SIGNAL partnered with Steinborn in late 2023, the company was facing a common challenge among growing organizations: no formalized marketing department, no dedicated marketing leadership, and no infrastructure to support their nearly 100 REALTORS across multiple business divisions.
Leadership needed more than a marketing vendor. They needed someone who could sit in the driver’s seat to hire and manage staff, build processes, create strategic plans, and provide the accountability of a CMO without the six-figure salary.
Adding complexity, Steinborn was positioning for growth that would include acquiring new brokerages, requiring marketing infrastructure that could scale and integrate new teams seamlessly.
The Solution: Fractional CMO Leadership
8 SIGNAL serves as Steinborn’s Fractional CMO, providing executive-level marketing leadership designed for long-term partnership and accountability. This isn’t project-based consulting. It’s an embedded leadership role managing the full scope of marketing operations.
Key elements of our ongoing strategy include:
- Building the Team: We have recruited, hired, and trained a Marketing Director, Marketing Manager (through a leadership transition), and Marketing Coordinator, creating a fully-staffed on-site department.
- Multi-Pillar Strategy: We have developed marketing blueprints for the Residential, Commercial, and Property Management divisions, and make strategic decisions in all the divisions when setting marketing goals.
- Acquisition Support: We guided the marketing integration for Steinborn’s 2025 merger with TRU South Real Estate, expanding operations to Ruidoso and Alamogordo. They grew from one location to three with 125 brokers. We now manage remote and in-person marketing support and services across all locations.
- REALTOR Enablement: We have built an internal marketing request system serving 100+ REALTORS with design services, quick print fulfillment, campaign support, branded collateral, and personal strategy sessions. We actively manage this system and continue to improve adoption and engagement.
Leadership Continuity: We managed a seamless transition when the Marketing Manager role changed hands in July 2025, with zero loss of momentum and continued growth through the transition. We continue to lead and develop the team.
Results & Current Momentum
The partnership has delivered significant impact and continues to accelerate:
Since November 2023, the department has achieved 158% overall growth, with monthly request volume increasing 33%—from an average of 100 requests per month to 140 in 2025. The team has processed over 2,900 marketing requests over the past two years, serving the needs of 100+ REALTORS across all locations.
When the Marketing Manager role transitioned in July 2025, the department didn’t skip a beat. Volume remained consistent through the transition, with zero disruption to service levels. Top REALTOR retention holds strong at 90% among the highest-volume users, while unique REALTOR engagement jumped 70% in 2025.
Most significantly, the marketing frameworks we have built support Steinborn’s expansion from one location to three, integrating the TRU South Real Estate team and growing to 125 brokers across Southern New Mexico, with marketing systems ready to serve them from day one. As we move into 2026, we are already executing goals designed to maximize growth across all three markets.
“Trust has gone up 100% if not more… we’re seeing the results now.” — Zane Fikany, Co-owner of Steinborn Inc. Realtors“Our company, like many other companies out there, can’t necessarily afford to go out and hire a CMO specifically with the knowledge of everything that we needed. So working with 8 SIGNAL on a fractional basis allowed us access to that information and that type of person that we probably couldn’t afford otherwise.” — Zane Fikany, Co-owner of Steinborn Inc. Realtors
Conclusion
By providing true CMO-level leadership, 8 SIGNAL equips Steinborn & Associates with the strategic thinking, team development, and operational accountability needed to build a marketing department from the ground up, and scale it through continued growth.
What began as an effort to formalize marketing support for REALTORS has evolved into a comprehensive marketing infrastructure serving five business pillars and 3 locations. The department has weathered leadership transitions without missing a beat, maintained exceptional retention among top users, and positioned Steinborn to integrate new teams and markets.
Today, Steinborn operates with a marketing foundation built for continued growth, ensuring they remain the most trusted name in Southern New Mexico real estate for generations to come.
