Faye Salopek is a Realtor liaison with KB Home.
WHAT IS A REALTOR LIASION?
“I am the conduit between the Realtor community at-large and KB Home. So whenever a real estate agent wants to know information on our communities I work as the information processing person between the two.”
MULTITASKING?
Salopek is still the sales performance coach so she also handles the training of new sales counselors in addition to her Realtor liaison position.
WOULDN’T THAT NORMALLY BE HANDLED BY THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT?
“We have a marketing department. I am the facilitator with the Realtors because I am a licensed real estate agent. I have been in real estate for about six years now. We realized here at KB Home that a large portion of all homes that are sold are sold by real estate agents and we want to partner with those real estate agents. We have a goal to have a certain percentage of our sales come from the real estate community. We realize that people trust real estate agents, so we want to build on that trust and that partnership with them.”
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
She visits the real estate offices on a regular basis in different parts of town on different days. She will distribute flyers if they are having Realtor incentives specifically related to certain communities or the company at-large. She sends thank you cards when a Realtor sells a home. As part of their “We Make it Easy as Pie” (to sell a home) campaign she also delivers pies to the offices. “We go and deliver pies and tell them all about KB Homes. It makes them remember us the next time they have a buyer who wants a new home. We also make sure that the sales counselor that is closest to each real estate office comes with me. So if we have a new community on the Northside and I’m visiting Northside offices that week the sales counselors from whatever communities we have on that part of town will go with me. That way they have a face to remember when they visit the communities.”
HOW DO YOU HELP REALTORS?
In January, KB is implementing a new program to train new sales agents on new home construction. “We call it ‘Hard Hat Training’ and it will be held by our construction department. The agents will go to a new community and the supervisor for that community will go over framing and different items that are unique to new construction. It will help agents even when they are selling re-sales because they will know what is under the drywall because they have seen one being built now.” They will offer the course quarterly and will distribute flyers to the offices for the new agents.
ARE THERE OTHER REALTOR LIASIONS IN TOWN?
“Not that I know of, I don’t believe they do. This is a national position with KB Home. Our other divisions also have the same position.” Since the Jacksonville division has only been around for two years, the position was just filled in July 2003.
HOW LONG WITH KB HOME?
Salopek has been a sales performance coach with KB Home since January 2003. “I was also a sales counselor in one of the communities so it was a promotion from within.”
WHERE WAS SHE BEFORE KB HOME?
She was with Watson Realty as the manager of the property management office on 103rd Street for four years and a general sales agent with Prudential Network Realty for two years when she first got into real estate.
WHAT DID SHE DO BEFORE THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY?
She was a make-up artist at Classic Images for two years. “I did the makeup for the Roar (Jaguar) Cheerleaders, weddings and photo shoots.” Prior to that she was a compensation and benefits analyst for St. Luke’s Hospital.
WHY DID SHE GET INTO REAL ESTATE?
“A friend of mine got into real estate and I realized it had a better income potential.”
IS THIS A FUN JOB?
“Oh, yes, and I get to see all of my real estate friends.”
WHAT HAS HELPED YOU MOST TO GET YOU WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
“Probably, attention to detail and I am willing to try anything to see if it works.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“It’s never personal and you can make people happy. You may have to work at it sometimes, but the goal is to make them happy. When you reach your goal it is very, very satisfying in real estate. There is nothing better than seeing someone move into their first home or the home of their dreams.”
HOW HAS HER PAST EXPERIENCE HELPED HER IN HER POSITION?
“Most of it is people skills. I like being around people. That is why I have liked the jobs that I have had. Number one is listening and seeing what they want. That is no different whether I am doing their makeup, selling them a home or listening to a Realtor’s problem that they may be having at the time. Or an idea that they may have for something that we are doing one way and they think we need to be doing another way. You never know where your great ideas are going to come from.”
HOMETOWN
Los Angeles. She moved to Jacksonville in 1988.
RESIDES
Orange Park.
FAMILY
She has a daughter, Michelle, two cats, Salem and Stanley and a dog, Chloe. “My daughter and I are big animal lovers.”
WHAT DOES SHE LIKE TO DO WHEN NOT WORKING?
Painting, photography or anything art. She also enjoys riding horses and attending horse shows.
FAVORITES
Salopek cites “Casablanca” as her favorite movie. Her favorite place to visit is Venice and her favorite author is John Grisham.
— by Michele Newbern Gillis