by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Jim DelVecchio is planning on bringing the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council up to a whole new level.
After having a few months under his belt as chairperson of SMC, DelVecchio, president of Home South Mortgage, and the SMC’s executive board have made a few changes and have a few more coming.
• Shorter meetings, which means ending by 9:30 a.m. or so.
• Raising the quality of the meetings which includes raising the quality of the speakers.
• Concentrating on education, sales and marketing.
• Growing the membership.
• Getting more members on the board.
“We have lot of newcomers on the board as opposed to years past where we had the same people year after year,” said DelVecchio. “It’s not like we told them they couldn’t come back, but many of them were just getting burned out or it was taking too much of their time.”
The SMC’s main constituency is — as you’d expect — people involved in sales and marketing of homes. It slowly has evolved from mostly site agents to today’s mix of builders’ representatives, real estate agents and brokers, and persons affiliated with the real estate community such as advertising and public relations specialists.
DelVecchio said the leadership is changing, too. as some need to concentrate on their business a little more and are stepping back.
“The majority of the people on the board are new,” he said. “The freshness of that is that they bring a lot of energy, positive attitudes and new ideas. And I think SMC was looking for that change and some new ideas to help elevate it.”
So far, the job is what he expected but there have been a few more challenges than he originally anticipated.
“You are chairing the membership of the best sales and marketing association in the state, so the demands and challenges come with the territory,” said DelVecchio. “You have to concentrate on keeping as many people happy and inspired as possible.”
DelVecchio also is working to create a SMC resource center, a place where members can check out sales and marketing materials to help better themselves.
“It is exciting,” said DelVecchio. “We are trying to elevate the SMC beyond just a social club and add value to its members. We want to make people feel there is more to it than a monthly breakfast.”
As a business owner himself, DelVecchio is trying to run SMC like a business.
“We are continually concentrating on our budget,” he said. “I’m not sure if this has been done in the past, but we are. It’s important because the Laurel Awards make money, the SAM Tram makes money and the special events like bringing in Nicki Joy, a national motivational speaker, makes money.”
He said wants to run it like a business because of the feedback he has received from some of the membership.
“We are making the SMC monthly breakfasts a great place to see friends, network and recognize great business opportunities,” he said. “Secondly, we are beginning to bring in wonderful programs to expand their growth.”
He said they are trying to focus on real estate agents and would like to see the real estate membership increase.
“It’s a great networking opportunity for agents,” said DelVecchio. “The attendance we have already had at the first three meetings surpass the crowds that we had last year. We had great presentations, great speakers that they could have learned from and I think we are turning SMC into the place to be. Everybody who is anybody in our industry in Jacksonville is typically there.”
He said they are doing the Realtor®/Builder Luncheon again this year to reach out to real estate agent.
“It will be even better than last year,” said DelVecchio. “We have some innovative ideas on how to parlay off last year’s success at the Osborn Center and make it even better.”
DelVecchio started getting involved in SMC many years ago and was asked to join the executive board three years ago.
He explained how he got where he is today.
“If you want to get involved in SMC, there is a chairperson of a committee that seeks you out to be on their committee,” he said. “If you really want to get involved, eventually you will be asked to chair a committee, which I did. If you really want to get more involved, you will be asked to chair multiple committees, which I also did. And out of that progression, it just happened that when it came time to vote on the next executive committee, my name was on the ballot. Since I’ve never said no to any committees or chair, I said well, If I’m going to be involved, I might as well be on the executive committee. It was a natural progression for me.”
Persons on the executive committee ascend through the chairs: secretary/treasurer, second vice president and first vice president on their way to chairperson. Then, you’re always on the executive committee as a past chair.
DelVecchio said he is very busy now that he is the chairperson, but he is thankful for Portland Stuart of SMC, who he said is a excellent administrative assistant.
“She provides wonderful backroom support and staff support of NEFBA and SMC,” he said. “If anyone has complaints that require any follow-up, I get Portland to check them out.”
SMC has won the last three years in a row as Best Sales and Marketing Council in Florida from the Florida Home Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council’s Excel Awards and its goal is to be first in the nation.
“My responsibility is to represent the membership and try to assist them with whatever needs or interests that they have or feel will best serve the membership,” said DelVecchio.
As an affiliate member, DelVecchio’s view of the association is different.
“I think there is a vast difference between being a builder/site person and being an affiliate,” he said. “I think an affiliate has a completely different perspective of what SMC has than being a builder or a site agent. You are looking at it from an affiliate’s point of view. Affiliates comprise of a vast majority of the SMC membership.
“Affiliates drive the SMC because it is clearly the masses of the affiliates that consist our committees. Without the affiliate membership, many of the programs and functions we have wouldn’t exist because their dollars are what sponsor those events.”
DelVecchio has been involved in the mortgage business for 25 years. He opened his own company, Home South Mortgage in 1996, and specializes in residential wholesale and retail lending.
“We are just in the beginning stages of e-commerce lending as well,” he said.
Before opening his own company, he was the head of NationsBank’s residential real estate division in Jacksonville.
Prior to the mortgage business, DelVecchio was a professional baseball player with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but his career was cut short by a knee injury.
He then decided to get into the mortgage business.
“I was lying on the ground on the infield where I hurt my knee and a little voice said to me I need to get into the mortgage business,” he joked.
He has been married to Donna for 11 years. They have five dogs and five cats and enjoy golfing, snow skiing, kayaking and cooking together. His wife owns The Facial Suite in St. Simons Island, Ga.
Currently, he has a house in St. Simon’s and keeps an apartment near his Hodges Boulevard office to use during the week. He and his wife are building a house in Palencia.