Team Sotheby's International Realty Canada,
I have been travelling to benchmark and build relationships with our Sotheby’s International Realty (SIR) colleagues outside of Canada. At the beginning of December, I visited New York City. What a place. People talk faster there; things move faster there - it truly is a city that never sleeps. While I was there, I had the chance to spend time at our Eastside office in Manhattan with Nikki Field and her team of 14 real estate professionals (www.nikkifield.com). I was incredibly impressed.
For those of you who do not know Nikki, she is an icon in our firm and within the real estate industry. She and her business partner Kevin Brown run one of the most successful teams, if not the most successful team, in the SIR network and, by definition, the continent. Their gross production is north of $250M USD ($335M CDN) annually. Wall Street Journal named her the Top Agent by volume for 2016.
I was in New York City to study Nikki and her team, their secrets to success and where they are headed in the future. There is a definite kinship I experience with everyone I meet from SIR and Nikki and her team were no exception to that rule. The SIR culture is as strong outside of our firm as within.
One of the greatest lessons I learned (from “the Field”) was Nikki’s philosophy. The team’s byline is “Bringing You the World”; and “It takes a village to sell real estate” is one of their mottos. Both phrases capture a breadth of thoughts and ideas.
Nikki and team see other sales people in the SIR network as their partners. They travel extensively to individual markets to build relationships. Nikki is a sought-after speaker for may franchises and trade shows where she willingly and openly shares her secrets to success. Nikki knows that giving and making herself available is some of the best marketing that anyone can do. Call it karma, paying it forward or simply adding value – it has paid off for the team in a big way. People call on Nikki and her team if they have a referral for NYC. People put their listings in front of the team because they know their client base is large and ever expanding. She is sought after to give advice and recommend other colleagues in our network whom she has faith in. Finally, she reminds her clients that she can help them with their real estate anywhere in the world. In short she has created a universe, the Sotheby’s International Realty universe, in which her team is at the center.
Nikki views herself and her team members as global residential real estate portfolio managers. As any great asset manager would do, at every juncture, she and her team find out where their clients own, where they want to own, where they vacation and where their kids, parents and friends may want to do the same. This database is a very powerful tool. It gives her team the chance to market to that audience with a thoughtful stream of content – pictures, videos and other collateral material– from our network and to put the right information in front of the right people at the right time.
She also has a section on her website to feature global opportunities which are listings with her partner salespeople (all of us) from across the world. She welcomes and encourages her partners to send the information in. While the leads are listed on her site, they lead back to the listing sales person. It makes her more global and drives business for her partners.
A particularly potent strategy is how Nikki convinces her clients to use her outside of her home market. Many SIR clients have properties in various markets. It is not always obvious why they would use a broker in one market to transact real estate in another – particularly if they have already had someone else they have used in that non-home market. Here is some magic: in those cases, Nikki will contact an SIR professional in a market outside of her own and ask that salesperson to partner with her and her team on the potential opportunity. This sales partner helps her watch a specific market or property where one of her clients has an interest, and reports to Nikki any information of interest to her client. Nikki or her team then passes the information along. This strategy has led to numerous cases where the partner has provided Nikki with information that has so impressed the client, that Nikki and the partner were able to do the deal, trumping incumbent competitive brokers and resulting in transactions that might not otherwise have been created. The result is a fee for the partner, a referral for the team and a legendary experience for her clients. According to Nikki, 78% of her business year to date comes from referrals – that is almost an annuity.
So, where are Nikki and her team focusing next? Doubling down on international opportunities. The team has already created an Asia desk with Daniel Chang which has facilitated many transactions from Mainland China. Recently, the team expanded to include a Middle Eastern desk with Leigh Williamson in partnership with Gulf Sotheby’s International Realty. Now they are planning the third prong or their international strategy for the evolving market in India.
This post merely touches the surface of a very intricate strategy and a powerful and inspirational team. It also proves that if you aspire to be legendary, people will tell your story over and over again.
Be Legendary.
Brad HendersonProud Team MemberFollow Me: Twitter @bradjhenderson | LinkedIn
