inside CRS

Getting Down to Business

Facing the future with new skills and meaningful connections

The Council welcomed hundreds of the most successful real estate professionals at Sell-a-bration^® 2016, the industry’s premier education and networking event at the Loews Royal Pacific Hotel in Orlando, February 8-9. This year’s theme was Let’s Talk Business and the event featured a host of keynote and breakout sessions led by a number of top-producing REALTORS^®. Here are the highlights from the event.

Exhibiting Success

Sell-a-bration^® 2016 attracted a record number of exhibitors sharing information about the real estate industry’s cutting-edge products and services with attendees. The Council thanks 2016 Sell-a-bration^® sponsors: Pillar To Post, Real Pro Systems, The Entrust Group and Cutco Closing Gifts, and the following exhibitors for helping to make this year’s event one of the most successful ever: Oakley Signs, Cloud CMA, The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, Salvation Army, MoneyCorp, Move for Hunger, easiloans, deductr, HWA, Women’s Council of REALTORS^®, Teldon, The CORE Training, ReferralExchange, AREAA, The Personal Marketing Company, Bling Name Badges and Homes.com.

Keying in on the Sell-a-bration^® Keynotes

By Lisa Tomcko

Sell-a-bration^® 2016 kicked off with a candid Q&A session between Tarek and Christina El Moussa of HGTV’s Flip or Flop and emcees Dale Carlton, CRS, and Leigh Brown, CRS. The El Moussas opened up about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into Flip or Flop.

“On the show, it’s Day 1 and w’re flipping a house,” Tarek El Moussa said. “But what they don’t see is all the back-end work: all the prospecting, the marketing campaigns, the marketing ideas.”

The couple reminisced on rookie mistakes from their early days of flipping, including accidental electrocutions and baseboards glued to the floor. They also shared about how they got their big break.

“We were at a real estate convention just like this one,” said Tarek El Moussa. “We did a lot of networking, and we met a guy who had a local TV show.” In the process of flipping their first house, the El Moussas decided to audition for the show, and the show took off.

Sports tycoon Brandon Steiner began the second day by recounting his improbable defeat of Michael Jordan at a Las Vegas basketball camp.

Steiner described walking up to the NBA legend and issuing him a challenge: “I’m gonna kick your butt, Michael.” When they met on the court the following morning, he made good on that promise, thanks to a missed layup and a last-minute basket.

The founder and CEO of Steiner Sports Marketing credited his win to his underdog mentality, a product of his modest upbringing in Brooklyn. He stressed the importance of maintaining that mindset even after achieving success. “I’m constantly trying to figure out how to create that little chip on my shoulder and be that underdog.”

In the closing keynote, “How Does a CRS Do That?,” top producers Brenda Wade, CRS, Sher Powers, CRS, and Zac Pasmanick, CRS, fielded attendee questions on topics ranging from fee splitting to website design to hiring admin help.

When asked whether they would take a cut on their commission, the panelists were unanimous: no. On other questions, they differed.

“If I know up front that I’m not going to make somebody happy, I match them with someone that I think will,” said Powers, sharing her strategy for refusing a referral from a past client.

The Hosts with the Most

This year’s Sell-a-bration^® event was enhanced by a team of official show Hosts—30 enthusiastic CRS Members who volunteered their time and energy to get people together both at the conference and through social media. Sell-a-bration^® Hosts answered questions for attendees and helped break the ice by initiating conversation throughout the two-day event. They demonstrated how to use the programs mobile app and participated in an entertaining networking game. They also served as roving reporters, taking pictures and posting them along with sound bites from the event. Over 800 social media posts were generated and displayed on the social media walls throughout the conference space.

“Our Sell-a-bration^® Hosts played a huge part in helping to make this year’s event a success. We sincerely thank them for all of their work on behalf of the Council. We will definitely continue the program next year in Phoenix in 2017,” said Tony Priore, VP of Marketing and Communications.

Purposeful Education for REALTORS^®

This year’s event included nearly 30 educational sessions held in four concurrent tracks: Strategy, Selling, Tools and Clients. The conference was full of excitement as attendees gathered to share their expertise with each other. Here are some of the highlights:

Strategy track: Jon Goodman, Esq., and Duane Duggan, CRS, provided advice and examples to help agents avoid risky and costly pitfalls in an environment of shrinking inventory (Writing Winning Offers in Hot Markets); Jim Dorman, CRP, CPA/PFS, provided professional guidance to maximize business deductions and leverage retirement contributions to minimize tax liabilities (Financial Planning); Debbie Yost, CRS, delivered an energetic and jam-packed session on creating effective and efficient systems to optimize business success (Systems 101).

Selling track: Linda Craft, CRS, and Andrew Truesdale, shared their strategies for taking more well-priced listings, evaluating market data and communicating it to highly emotional sellers (The Art of Pricing); Sean Moore discussed ways to prepare customized, client-centric presentations to generate more listings and higher profitability (The Ultimate Seller-Focused Listing Presentation); Sasha Farmer, CRS, delivered a compelling, information-rich session to a standing-room-only crowd on how to deliver a higher level of service to your clients, communicate your points of difference and command higher commissions as a result (Crushing Your Competition at the Listing Table).

Tools track: A dynamic panel of real estate experts discussed time-tested ways to cultivate client referrals (Refer to the Experts: How to Get More Referrals); Nobu Hata discussed the latest consumer and technology trends, and provided advice on how to integrate solutions that save time and money (Strategically Integrate Tech & Tools Into Your Business); Jay Thompson explored ways to leverage Zillow Group sites to take your business to the next level in the areas of prospecting, lead generation and contact follow-up (Getting the Most Out of Zillow).

Clients track: Clients who have sold (Sellers Uncensored) and bought (Buyers Uncensored) properties in the recent past delivered insights directly to attendees; clients shared their buying/selling concerns, motivations and decision-making criteria for selecting their agents; Seth Dailey, CRS, and Alyce Dailey, CRS, unveiled fun and innovative ways to engage clients to build and sustain profitable relationships (Party Your Way to the Top); Wyn Ray, CRS, explored the opportunities in a market shift that are expected to create the largest transfer of wealth in U.S. history (Position for the Next Market Shift Selling Inherited Properties).

The Name of The Game is Networking

This year’s attendees participated in an entertaining networking game that created quite a buzz at Sell-a-bration^® 2016. Each attendee was provided a simple game card that directed them to collect the signatures of different types of attendees, such as first timers or CRS Host. When all signatures were collected, the cards were included in a drawing for several great prizes.

“I am thrilled that so many people participated in the game,” said Peter Glowacki, vice president of Professional Development for the Council. “It made it easy to network. Everyone enjoyed meeting different folks they wouldn’t have otherwise met. And the potential to win one of the prizes added an element of fun.”

Congratulations to the following official networking game prize winners:

Jen Ward—Grand prize: Free registration with hotel to Sell-a-bration^® 2017 in Phoenix
Kara Schlepp: Apple iPad
Lacey Brown: Apple Watch
Clara Alcine: GoPro Video
Maria Woodul: Free flowers delivery for six months

The Let’s Talk Business networking game was such a big hit, it is certain to find its way back to next years programs at Sell-a-bration^® 2017.

The Global Reach of CRS

Networking and learning did not stop at the U.S. borders for Sell-a-bration^® 2016—nearly 100 international agents were also in attendance. International attendees included CRS partners from Spain and Italy. While this was the first year of attendance for the Councils Italian partners, Spains contingent celebrated its 10th anniversary.

“Spending two days with so many real estate superstars inspired us immensely, and we look forward to making CRS Italy a unique training adventure for the Italian real estate agents. You made us feel special and appreciated: We’re grateful and hope to see you all soon. We’re a big family indeed!” said Luca Gramaccione, CRS Italy.

Fernando Garcia Erviti, director of UCI/CRS Spain, reflects on his experiences at Sell-a-brations^® over the years: “Since my first Sell-a-bration^® in San Antonio, to this most recent one (11 total), I keep telling myself how lucky we are to have CRS, and what a gift Sell-a-bration^® is for all of us.”

Regardless of nationality, years in the business or production levels, Sell-a-bration^® attendees left the event with ideas and tools they can implement in their own businesses, an ever-expanding network of like-minded top professionals, and a renewed excitement about the industry we all serve.

“I want to thank the CRS leadership, the management and the staff for all the good work they do to make this happen,” said Garcia Erviti. “And I want to thank all the presenters who give away all the knowledge and tools that made them successful. These ideas are shaping the real estate industry in Spain and Portugal; you should all feel proud of that.”

Connecting in High Gear

Let’s Talk Business at Sell-a-bration^® 2016 took on special meaning when CRS members and non-members met for a speed networking session over lunch. The entertaining exercise focused on expanding referrals and developing new relationships among attendees.

People entered a room filled with tables for two to meet their peers. Many noted, “This feels like speed dating, and indeed, there were similarities.” They each spent a few minutes at a table getting to know each other before time was called and one moved to the next table.

Questions were provided to get the conversation started. As one attendee noted, “This was an exercise in active listening.” CRS hopes to host similar sessions at next years event.

Investing in the Future of CRS

In conjunction with Sell-a-bration^®, CRS State Chairs, as well as additional leadership team members from across the country, joined CRS in Orlando for the annual Leadership Training Program. The goal of the Leadership Training Program was to collaborate on finding creative ways for CRS leaders to reach out in their community to positively affect their State CRS, as well as their professional businesses.

The program included great presentations on how to build successful leadership teams, ultimate leader attributes, activity planning, sponsorships and building community via social networks. The breakout sessions brought leaders from across the country to brainstorm ways to improve their State CRS, and to discuss new ways to increase member participation in their local area.

Jen Ward, the State Chair from Maryland/D.C., attended the program this year for her second time, and brought along three of her state leaders to attend with her. “I feel like I have made lifelong friends from my Leadership Training group. We collaborated, shared experiences, laughed and learned some things to take back to our state organizations. I love that everyone shared so much information from technology tips to member engagement.”

The Leadership Training Program is an annual conference put on by the Council of Residential Specialists. If you are interested in attending next year or you would like to be more involved with your State CRS, please contact us at community@crs.com.

Missed this year’s Sell-a-bration^®? Well, there’s always next year. Make plans now to attend Sell-a-bration^® 2017, which promises to be even bigger and better. Next year’s conference will be held at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix on February 9 and 10. Don’t miss it. A record number of attendees from this year’s event already pre-registered for next year’s Sell-a-bration^®. Visit crs.com and take advantage of special early-bird pricing before it expires.