How many times have you been working with a REALTOR® and thought, “I wonder what Bob looks like?”
Well, we all know if Bob’s a REALTOR®—we can quickly Google him and get that information—but aren’t REALTORS® known for not updating their headshots? To be fair, who wouldn’t want to look younger? In all seriousness, how many deals have you done with a phantom agent?
When I first joined the Ottawa Real Estate Board’s Young Professionals Network (YPN) in 2014, I had no idea what to expect. I wanted to be a part of my board and volunteering was a meaningful way to contribute. Back then, the YPN was just three letters to me; however, my understanding of what made this committee so valuable would soon be discovered.
I remember my first committee meeting and thinking the Chair (Sarah) was extremely cool and relaxed, the group was creative, and how much fun being a part of this group would be. One of the first things we did was talk about the previous year’s challenges and what could be done differently.
Our biggest initiative was to offer something of value at every event and to allow more opportunities to network. Hence, coining the tagline, “The REALTOR® Lifestyle—Where Social Meets Smart.”
While working in real estate is amazing, it can also be hard at times. With busy schedules, it’s important to find efficiencies. Therefore, we decided to offer events to help make the REALTOR® life easier. Our thought was, “What if giving an hour of your time meant getting five hours back?”
We started by reaching out to leading agents in our market and asked them if they were willing to share details about their successes. We then took it a step further to understand what these top agents did to excel.
Not only would we offer an informative and educational aspect, but we put our agents face-to-face with like-minded REALTORS® who wanted to do better and be better.
Suddenly, it hit me; the YPN was about connecting, it was about people, and it was about the face behind that email address. When linked to a value proposition, the YPN is powerful.
Since then, I’ve been privileged to volunteer with the YPN for four years and have been Chair for the last two. Every year, we ask ourselves, “How can we take this further?”
Sign up for your board’s next YPN event and ask yourself, “What might I learn today that could make my life easier in the future?”
Have any questions? Send an email to ypn@crea.ca.
