How to Turn Your Home Purchase or Sale Into a Dream Vacation with Kipp Lassetter

Host John Lee Dumas asks Kipp Lassetter to share a belief about success that most people would disagree with. Kipp recalls running a healthcare IT company that handled complicated software implementations for hospitals and large healthcare networks. When a customer called to praise Jennette, an individual project manager, for delivering on time and being wonderful to work with, Kipp was “very upset.” He explained that roughly 50 people had worked behind Jennette to make the project successful, so praising only her obscured the company and team that created the result. Kipp contrasts that call with another customer who praised his entire company, Medicity, for delivering what it promised and providing helpful problem-solvers. When Kipp asked who the project manager was, the customer identified Suzy. Kipp then praised Suzy and her manager for presenting Medicity as a team. His broader lesson is that entrepreneurs should build a brand that receives credit for the customer experience rather than allowing the brand to depend entirely on one star employee. Individual excellence matters, but the company should make the whole system visible and durable.

Kipp says RBN Rewards began during a brainstorming session about building a company in a very large market. The group noticed that consumers can earn rewards points for ordinary purchases such as groceries, batteries, and gasoline, but generally cannot earn them on the largest purchase of their lives: a home. That observation led to the idea of turning a home purchase or sale into a source of meaningful rewards, potentially including a dream vacation. Kipp says creating the model required working through substantial regulation and figuring out how to operate with real estate agents. RBN first had to ensure that customers received an excellent experience, so it built a network of experienced, top-performing agents. It also developed a rewards infrastructure, partner relationships, and a travel portal. The central conclusion is that the rewards are only valuable if the underlying real estate transaction is handled well; the agent experience comes first, and the points enhance that experience rather than replacing it.

Dumas asks how a new company creates the trust required for a premium rewards ecosystem. Kipp says a new brand can establish credibility by partnering with already established brands. RBN approached rewards partners with an unusual volume proposition: it did not have millions of customers holding thousands of points; it had thousands of customers holding millions of points. That led the company to focus on a primary exchange partner, Virgin Red, because Virgin’s ecosystem connects with brands such as Marriott, Hilton, and Delta. Customers who question RBN points’ value can transfer them to Virgin’s established rewards system. RBN also built value inside its own portal, where customers can use points for virtually any airline or hotel without blackout dates. For real estate, RBN partnered with Forbes Global Properties, which already had a premier network of experienced agents. RBN could refer customers to that network, while Forbes gained access to potential buyers and sellers. Kipp’s lesson for smaller businesses is to use partnerships to borrow trust, add capabilities, and create mutual value instead of trying to build every part of an ecosystem alone.

Before RBN Rewards, Kipp built and exited urgent care centers and a healthcare IT company. He says entrepreneurs often focus too heavily on the exit from the moment they start a business. That bothers him because no one knows when an exit opportunity will appear or whether the owner will ultimately want to sell. Some entrepreneurs build companies they keep permanently; others encounter an opportunity that makes an exit sensible. Kipp’s common thread is to build a valuable, durable business with persistent value and keep increasing that value. He tells entrepreneurs to treat an exit as an opportunity rather than the goal. When an owner has created a substantial business and is ready to sell, Kipp recommends looking for a strategic buyer rather than only a financial buyer. A financial buyer may calculate a valuation from margins and multiples, while a strategic buyer may see that the company is far more valuable inside its existing ecosystem. In that case, the buyer may pay two or three times what the company would command in a conventional financial-market valuation because of the additional value it creates for the buyer.

Dumas connects Kipp’s hospitality ventures, interest in aviation, and RBN Rewards to a broader focus on experiences rather than transactions. Kipp quotes the familiar idea that people may not remember exactly what was said or done, but they will remember how they were made to feel. He gives Costco as an example: he is a longtime customer and tells friends that if they cannot find something there, they probably do not need it. Kipp once had a problem with a service provided by one of Costco’s partners. When he contacted Costco, the customer-service experience was unusually personal and flexible. The representatives did not simply follow a canned script; they went off script, discussed personal matters, and made him feel that Costco genuinely wanted to take care of him. Kipp says he may not remember the exact words, but he will not forget the feeling. His recommendation is for every service business to focus on the emotion behind the transaction, because a memorable experience creates stronger loyalty than completing the transaction alone.

Kipp says RBN is building a rewards ecosystem around the real estate transaction rather than limiting rewards to the closing itself. A customer spends substantially more in the year they buy a home than in a normal year, including money on furniture, remodeling, pest control, inspections, title services, insurance, and mortgages. RBN wants to attach rewards to those activities and create partnerships that give participating businesses a lower customer-acquisition cost. Kipp highlights a recently launched mortgage partnership in which customers can use points to reduce their mortgage interest rate. He acknowledges that this may sound less exciting than redeeming points for an African safari or a trip to the Galápagos, but says the points can be worth as much as $0.14 each over the life of the mortgage—an unusually high value in the rewards industry. He describes the broader goal as creating an affinity group of businesses serving the real estate customer and rewarding people for participating in that connected ecosystem. He closes by returning to customer experience: if RBN consistently creates an excellent experience, customers will expect its partners to do the same and trust those partners accordingly.