Another successful event held by Re/Max this week named Kickstart, I have to admit that in all the years I have been trading under this great brand that this was my first Kickstart event. Now that I have experienced it I will definitely be attending it every year from now on, it was truly inspirational. I would estimate that there were at least 3000 Re/Max Toronto reps along with a large contingency of others Realtors from other companies. I even met some Re/Max guys all the way from India who flew in for the event.
They even served us lunch, though I wouldn't call it a lunch rather a cold sandwich, I was expecting better in that regard.
I picked up a few credits as I attended two separate classes, one involving social media and understanding how to use this tool. I have my own opinion as to how social media is changing business and how it will continue to change how corporate America plans to use this tool in its marketing efforts. I have embraced the new world order. I enjoy Tweeting and posting my Facebook status, but my favorite social activity by far is YouTube. I really enjoy shooting videos that add value to the people that want to stay in touch with how our Toronto real estate market is taking shape. It was great to see all us Toronto real estate agents get so excited!
The second day was even better than the first as we had the a great PowerPoint presentation with how the market should react with a clear market analysis from the chief economist of TD Canada Trust, his view predicted that interest rates will not be in the rise for at least another 2 years, but he also talked about my biggest fear... "Consumer shock" when rates do begin to rise. It seems Mr. Alexander and I have the same prediction, consumers have been spoiled with such low interest rates over the past few years as they will almost forget that normal rates should hover around the 6% mark. I guess no one wants to remember the mid 80's when rates were as high as 19%, yikes!
Another great slide showed how most Toronto Realtors from Re/Max retain their business, it showed that 48% of their business is generated from referrals and only 12% is coming from the Internet. I have to say that this statistic is completely false, it’s my belief that Re/Max has to encourage Realtors to pursue this type of marketing because most agents have not adopted the new era of social media and the biggest trend in search engines like Google and Bing. It's a shame that most Realtors don't get it. Generation Y wants information when they want it and the first place they go is to Google or Twitter to get it.
The exhibitors were ok, although most real estate companies still lack the necessary training in the tech department; the tech zone hosted by Re/Max Ontario Atlantic was very disappointing. There was no talk about how to utilize one of the greatest tools for agents- the iPad and all the apps that Realtors can take advantage of in the day-today business operations. Not to brag but I have been given the nickname "iPad gunslinger" from my peers. I use my iPad for almost all tasks including writing my blog posts, I even started teaching my co-workers how to use the iPad and even pitched the idea to the higher ups at the Toronto real estate board, hopefully the board recognizes the value in the course and I will be on stage before I know it.
All-in-all it was a great event and as I said earlier and it won't be my last, maybe a trip to Vegas is in order for the March event.