By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Denver, CO for the HSF Affiliates Franchise Sales Team Meeting. As it happens, Denver International Airport (DEN) has been named the most on-time airport in the U.S., and the city is known as the most educated in America, boasting the highest percentage of college graduates. What better location could we choose for a conference bringing together our punctual and skilled sales team members?
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Costa Mesa, CA for Tom Ferry’s Leadership Summit. The event brought together hundreds of broker/owners, managers and top teams from across the nation and served as a forum to both hear and share ideas. Tom Ferry kicked the meeting off in his typical, high-energy fashion and as I later told him, being among so many industry peers felt like being among family. (Although I must admit, I always feel like family when I’m with Tom. After all, his wife, Kathy, is 100% Italian, so he really is family. I’ll also never forget the first time I spoke to Tom … he was 19 years old and cold called me to attend his Superstar Retreat. We’ve been friends ever since!)
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in Palm Springs, CA for the 2016 Real Living Connection conference. The meeting has been an incredible opportunity to connect with the Real Living brokers who work hard in markets across America and I must give kudos to Bob McAdams, president of Real Living, for putting together such a powerful and inspiring event. I’ve been having a great time participating in the conference activities, and even biked almost two miles in the 95-degree sweltering desert heat yesterday to compete in an Amazing Race-style team-building event. (Hey, it’s all about commitment. Remember, if you’re INTERESTED in being successful, you do what’s convenient but if you’re committed to being successful, you’ll do whatever it takes.)
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in Southern California for a meeting with the HomeServices of America, Inc. board and to work with our staff at HQ on products and services that will help our brokerage networks achieve even greater success this year. Just before arriving in California, I had finished The Storyteller’s Secret by best-selling author Carmine Gallo—who also wrote one of my favorite books, Talk Like TED—about the power of stories to impress, illuminate and inspire.
“We’re all storytellers,” Gallo writes. “We don’t call ourselves storytellers but it’s what we do every day.” He goes on to explain that in this twenty-first century age of information—the “knowledge economy”—we are only as valuable as our ideas. In the spirit of idea-sharing, here are five of my favorite concepts Gallo presents in his book:
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Washington, D.C. to attend the 2016 Housing Policy and Hispanic Lending Conference held by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).
This week my travels found me in Washington, D.C. to attend the 2016 Housing Policy and Hispanic Lending Conference held by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). During the conference, I had the honor of speaking on a panel moderated by 2016 NAHREP President Elect Leo Pareja, and spoke along with Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, and Geoff Lewis, president of RE/MAX about best practices in real estate. During the panel, I discussed the “NAHREP 10,” principles put forth by the organization to allow its members to succeed. It just so happens that these guidelines are very close to my own philosophies and practices that I’ve used and embraced throughout my entire career:
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels first found me in Burbank, CA for the transition of Century 21 Crest Real Estate, now operating as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Crest Real Estate. This fine brokerage has 25 proud years serving Burbank, La Crescenta and Sunland and is on a mission to grow. At their transition event, you could practically feel the excitement in the air; everyone on that team is ready to go forward as a member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices family.
After Burbank, I was on my way to Dallas to get ready for the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Sales Convention. (Be sure to follow the brand on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat for the latest updates from the #REvdUp2016 event.) I took my usual Uber to the airport in California and once in Dallas, was planning to call an Uber again to take me to the Omni Hotel. I must confess I’m no stranger to the app-based taxi service, which I find convenient and always reliable in getting me where I need to go. I’m also intrigued by Uber’s steadfastness in the face of certain speed bumps on their road to success. So far, long-standing regulations and legal obstacles haven’t stopped the company from finding rapid and expansive growth.
So, here I am in Dallas, about to call my Uber when I notice a new option on the screen: “UberPITCH,” it reads. Immediately, I’m intrigued.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in Indianapolis to meet with the talented team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Indiana Realty. Spending time with the agents and managers at Indiana Realty, including co-founders Kevin Kirkpatrick and John Dick, as well as Chief Operating Officer Craig West, was an incredibly rewarding experience, and all attendees were in warm spirits despite the cold weather and impeding snow.
While driving to the Indiana Realty event, I had the opportunity to catch glimpses of the Indianapolis skyline from my car window and it’s difficult to be in that city without thinking of its most iconic event—the Indianapolis 500. The race is especially front and center this year, as the Indy 500 is set to hold its 100th running May 29.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in the rainy Pacific Northwest for meetings with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate team, including president/CEO Jason Waugh and Northwest Real Estate Chairman Mike Gain. I started off by speaking to our Seattle-based agents and managers then drove with Jason and the event’s keynote speaker, Ashton Gustafson, 174 miles on I-5 southbound to Portland.
I was thrilled to spend time with both Jason and Ashton—Jason for his consummate professionalism and leadership of the Northwest Real Estate brokerage and Ashton because I was intrigued by the speech he delivered in Seattle that spoke about the importance of connection. Essentially, Ashton’s message was that no matter how much you tweet or post or snap in today’s tech-centric world, real estate is still about genuine, personal connection. It doesn’t matter, he might argue, if you achieve real connection through handwritten notes, in-person meetings or even a casual drop by to visit a past client; real estate is not an online business. Real estate is a people business.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me getting work done in an unseasonably cold Northern California. And while checking emails and conducting conference calls, the following message was also busy sending the Twitter world abuzz:
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Minneapolis to present my third quarter report and the 2016 budget to the HomeServices of America, Inc. board. Then I headed west to San Francisco, where the autumn season and my recent forward-looking meetings played unexpectedly on my mind.
Thoughts on Leadership 