Last month in San Francisco, Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate Generations won the Inman News Innovator Award “Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise,” in recognition Generations’ rapid company growth, GENLIFE agent training program, and inventive marketing strategies. Leighton Dees, chairman and CEO of BHGRE® Generations shares with Clean Slate what winning this distinguished award means to him, and his organization.
In the business of real estate only one thing sells houses; “People helping people.” The main takeaway personally in winning this award was the reinforcement it gave that we are aligned with our vision and purpose. Simply being named as a finalist was a win in our eyes.
The experience was surreal because we in no way expected to win.
I’m just a kid in a toy store each day. My office is merely a playroom that promotes creativity and passionate execution of new ideas. The walls are mostly dry erase boards to build the architecture of strategies that constantly evolve.
The balance of the roles and relationship with my business partner, Josh Tanner, and me is the foundation that allows for this type of environment. Early on in our partnership, we identified each of our strengths and how we were wired. We built our brokerage growth model around this.
This Inman Innovation Award has already opened up immense opportunities for us to build on as well. Our big project currently is the GENLIFE Agent Training Systems Platform, set to open nationally Q1 2015.
When you win something like this award, the main thing to focus on is how to leverage it; not let it feed your ego or get caught up in the attention. That said, our main focus is using the recognition to build more channels to deliver more and more immeasurable value to our agents.
Agents are always our #1 priority. Always. Growth is key to survival in this industry with how it has evolved in the past 10 years. Building a unified culture is the glue that holds it all together. Using our national exposure and marketing to make them look like rockstars is our promise to them.
In the end, the Inman Innovation Award builds the trust of our company culture in our leadership and vision. It enforces our purpose, and will help ensure our continued growth – all of which aligns with our purpose: “People Helping People.”
That is what Inman did for us, and we couldn’t be more thankful to them.
