On Tuesday, February 5th, we held our Annual Spring Kick-Off at the Hilton Mississauga hotel and conference centre in Meadowvale. It was wonderful to see so many in attendance!
We opened the meeting with an address from our Brokers. Alex Ocsai, Broker/Owner addressed the room first. He discussed the year ahead for Royal LePage Meadowtowne discussing their 4 areas of focus:
- Innovation and Technology
- Agent services and Support
- Communication and Marketing
- Awards and Recognition
To the point, Alex Ocsai, Broker, enthusiastically announced that the company was implementing a full service agent and client services technology suite designed for Meadowtowne. Our agents, home sellers and buyers will have an improved experience with the process of buying, selling, and marketing real estate. Expected roll out of this tech platform is April 2019. “We are looking forward to evolving our own internal processes as well as expediting the entire appointment booking and showing process” Alex went on to add. “When the platform is in place it will also provide our agents and clients to additional features and services like having access to new and resale inventory not available on conventional Multiple Listing Services.”
Meadowtowners took in the new platform presentation with the clear consensus that this tech lift will add to the company’s competitive edge in the marketplace.
Moving on to our first Keynote Speaker Andrew Fogliato. Andrew is an expert in leveraging technology for Real Estate. He is known for helping high performing agents scale their business using Facebook ads.
Within the first 5 minutes of Andrew’s address he had shared with us the “one-thing” that can blow the top off your pre-listing marketing plan. He provided us with specific instructions on how to approach Facebook advertising reminding us to start small and to pick a lane.
He not only said to create content we enjoy making but recommended we pick something we actually like doing because, “You are most likely to stick with it.” What Andrew provided for us was a synopsis of years of acquired knowledge and his an insightful approach to winning an audience’s trust by building report.
“You have to get people to know, like and trust you, but there are 3 stages in that statement. First get them to know you, then get them to like you, then get them to trust you. By running ads to people you have previously engaged with you are more likely to gain and build their trust.” Andrew Fogliato
Did you know that 40-46% of online leads are never contacted? Andrew notes that using online processes to generate leads is only the beginning. “If you are following up with leads you are already doing better than 40% of agents out there.”
In closing Andrew provided us a tool to use in our next email campaigns to kick start our Spring marketing. What great advice!
Our second keynote and special guest for the day was none other than Phil Soper, President & CEO of Royal LePage Canada. After a warm welcome to our Meadowtowne REALTORS Phil discussed the upcoming Spring market and the global outlook on Canadian real estate.
“Canada is still very affordable compared to most countries.” Phil Soper said. “Employment rates are high, and full-time jobs turn renters into buyers.” Phil shared his insight into the mortgage stress-test too, he said, “The mortgage stress test was not aimed at the real estate market. It was about debt and people’s capacity to handle debt.” He also said, “it is being valued globally as a genius move.” He advised us to get used to it as it is not going anywhere. The stress test will become common practice.
He went on to stress that Royal LePage is #1 in 110 markets nationwide, why? “It’s about settng the service standards, not just about giving pats on the back.” Real estate is a huge and important part of the Canadian economy.
As he closed his remarks he moved towards what’s next, like, “technology that can help increase revenue, lower costs, increase quality of life and reduce risk.” What the Competition Bureau of Canada did by stopping TREB from restricting members’ use of real estate data was open up the data for innovation for Royal LePage Canada for projects like the Home Price Heat Map available on their website. “Consumers just want to know. The truth is the truth. Give the consumer what they want.” Phil Soper. We couldn’t agree more!
We would like to formally thank all 3 of our presenters and for everybody who came out to kick-Off the Spring market with us. We would also like to thank the Meadowvale Hilton for their hospitality, lunch was delicious! A great day was had by all.
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