Meet Quincy Clayton, CRS: Helping Clients and the Community

Next Home Elite Realty, Springfield, MA

How did you get involved with real estate?

I got involved in real estate when I bought my first home back in the late ’90s. I had never bought a home before, and buying property wasn’t something that was a thing in my family. My parents owned a home, but most of my relatives did not own real estate. This was a big deal for me, and I was very nervous and had a lot of questions. And though I loved my real estate agent at the time, I could see that she was very frustrated that I had so many questions, to the point where she told me, “Just go ahead and sign the contract. Your wife understands it, so you should be good.” At the closing, my REALTOR® and the attorney were talking amongst themselves about things that had nothing to do with our transaction. The attorney was passing papers back and forth to me with very little explanation, and I felt like I was interrupting them with questions. By the time we wrapped up the closing, I felt like, “I should do this. I bet I could do this better than she did.” And I made a vow at that point that I’ll never forget: Every person that I work with, whether they are buying or selling a home, will never sign a document with me that they do not fully understand, because I didn’t like how that made me feel.

What prompted you to pursue the CRS Designation?

I had earned another designation fairly early in my career, but there was an agent, Mary Pula, who was highly successful when I got started about 24 years ago, and is still in practice today. I remember seeing the letters “CRS” after her name, so I asked her about it; she told me what they stood for and what it took to get it. I thought, “It sounds like the best of the best have that designation.” I also thought, “I’m pretty good—let me work toward that.” Even before I achieved the designation, I attended a Sell-a-bration® as a speaker—maybe because someone saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I thought, “If you are really serious about what you do, you probably should get this designation.”

Are you actively involved with RRC activities?

I am currently the education chair for the New England region of RRC for this year. It’s my first role in local leadership. I thought I would be teaching, educating, because I am passionate about that, but it actually turned out to be more planning the courses. Next year, I might transition and do something more on the marketing side. I love things marketing, digital and social media—stuff like that.

What is your approach to marketing?

I market specifically to people I have done business with through creative videos that I do on my own. I tie those with very creative marketing pieces that I use to drive leads to my website and collect information that way. I found ways to do most of this lead generation organically, by building my own web pages on our platform. My marketing is a combination of video, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok (even at my age!) and print. With that, the email campaigns that I’m sending out, and the personal texts and touches that I do, all of them are redirecting people to different things. I use all these points of contact because I feel that if I can touch my sphere of influence 12 to 20 times per year, they will never forget me—and that’s all that matters. They just need to know who I am, because when they are ready for me, when they’re ready to make a move, they will call.