by Michele Gillis, Staff Writer
Real estate companies around Jacksonville hold large awards events each year to celebrate their company's success and award their agents for their production and sales.
No matter how they choose to celebrate each year, it seems they all have one thing in common – it's all about the agents.
And most have one other thing in common: the event is well-planned and usually extensive.
"We have held our awards dinner previously at Aqua Grille and the Coastal Oaks at Nocatee clubhouse," said Erika Valenti, manager at Re/Max Unlimited. "All our agents come to these events, even those who are not receiving awards. The event is always inspiring and motivates agents to work towards a goal."
Prudential has held its annual awards programs in several locations ranging from Epping Forest to the World Golf Village but most frequently it has been held at the Jacksonville Marriott.
"We typically have at least 250 in attendance so we need a sizable space." said Christy Budnick, broker/executive vice president of Prudential Network Realty. "We want it to be convenient for everyone and we need enough space and parking."
Century 21 usually holds its events in a centralized location such as the Marriott Sawgrass and Serenata Beach Club to allow easy access for all their agents.
"Our award events are personal since you tend to know everyone," said Dirk Schroeder of Century 21 St. Augustine Properties, president of the his company's Northeast Florida Broker's Council,
Since their offices are so spread out in such a large geographical area, Watson Realty holds several awards events to celebrate their agent's successes.
"We have numerous events due to the size of Watson Realty," said Ed Forman, president of Watson Realty. "This year the Jacksonville awards was held the TPC Sawgrass, St. Augustine offices awards were held at the World Golf Village and the Orlando office awards were held at Lake Nona. The company's marketing director researches facilities based on the number of attendees, audio/visual requirements, location and appearance of the facility."
Some of the real estate companies affiliated with a franchise attend larger gala award events with Realtors from across the country, but the local events allow them to relax and enjoy their success with people they work with every day.
"Local award rallies are more fun since they can be customized by the organizers who are typically a group of brokers/owners that create an event around a theme," said Schroeder. "We have had a great time planning events around Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mardi Gras and other holidays."
Re/Max Unlimited broker Brenda Horst plans their awards event with input from the agents, so she gives them exactly what they want. Since they attend the larger Re/Max International event, they try to keep the local one low key.
"Our theme is the awards and agents, nothing further," said Valenti.
Budnick said they determine their theme each year based on the activities during the prior year.
"I know that sounds odd but we put a great deal of thought into what took place over the year and the theme materializes," said Budnick. "This past year was such an incredible year for our whole team and everyone really felt and saw a sustainable positive shift in the marketplace so the theme for the awards program was 'Back in Black' and we tied it to the AC/DC song, creating a whole rock 'n roll theme. Everyone loved it!"
Once the theme has been chosen, they work out the details as to how the program will run.
"After the theme has been selected we brainstorm with the leadership team on how to best position it including things like decorations, music and costuming, which plays a huge role in the program because our president [Linda Sherrer] firmly embraces dressing up in costume or at least a great hat every chance she gets," said Budnick. "Once we've worked to create the program and retained a great speaker, our marketing team goes into overdrive putting the company wide invitation together along with all of the pieces of collateral to insure a successful program."
Watson Realty's marketing director, Michelle Claudio, makes recommendations to the Watson Realty leadership team regarding the theme of each year's event.
"Claudio has a team of six working with her and with the staff in place, we were able to make this year's events bigger and better than in years past," said Sarah Miller, Watson Realty's Corporate Marketing and Public Relations coordinator. "We determine the theme based on what is hot in the market at the time and individual accomplishments of the offices and top producers. We try to keep it fresh each year to be exciting and to surprise everyone that attends. It's a great time to celebrate the accomplishments of the agents."
Every company has an event they hope everyone remembers.
"Every year is special, but this year was off the charts," said Budnick. "There was such positive energy in the room and nearly everyone came in some sort of costume which was a blast."
Forman said this year's event was the best yet.
"The theme was the Watson Oscars ['Woscars'] and the PowerPoint presentation was in line with the Oscars as far as slide design," said Miller. "We had a 24-foot red carpet and velvet ropes that each award-winner walked to get on the stage and a step and repeat backdrop for the photos. The entire event was stepped up in every way from year's past. The centerpieces were an elegant with a 'Watson Red' Gerbera Daisy floating in a glass vase with 'Watson Blue' glass stones and submersible LED lights. We had a voiceover emcee for the event, pre-recorded, that went along with the presentation and added an Oscar feel as each person and stats were announced."
Budnick feels the awards programs and all the hard work put into them is absolutely 100 percent worthwhile, even during the tough times.
"We are in a sales and service business," said Budnick. "The nature of the people that work in this business is to celebrate the good times and to come together and inspire one another in the tough times. For this reason we continued to hold our annual awards program during the 2007-2010 years when it was difficult to find much to celebrate and we had to get pretty creative! Every year despite market conditions our team let us know how much they appreciated the program, that it gave them something to look forward to and they knew they would leave inspired."
Forman agreed that celebrating the success of the agents is very worthwhile.
"There is nothing better than recognizing our wonderful and talented team," said Forman.
Valenti said she really enjoys seeing the agents together in a positive and uplifting environment where all are inspired to achieve new goals.
"Receiving these production awards is a reflection of the amount of work they put into their business," said Valenti. "Awards night is always very fulfilling. The agents have worked so hard and being recognized for that hard work is an important piece of our business."
Most real estate companies hold their annual awards events early in the year to get the crowd motivated for the year ahead.
"The timing of the event is normally late January or early February," said Forman. "It needs to be done soon after the year ends. All we need is enough time to complete our stats for the previous year."
Budnick also agrees that early makes for a great way to get the agents motivated for the year ahead.
"We try to host the event in the middle to end of January so that the information being shared is most relevant," said Budnick. "It's also a great way to jump start the new year, creating a lot of motivation to hit the ground running to beat your personal best."
Everyone loves to celebrate their personal successes and the success of their peers and if they have some fun doing it, it's all for the better.
"The feedback is overwhelmingly positive," said Budnick. "Our team knows how much we appreciate them and this is just one of the many ways we show it. They know how much hard work goes into making sure all of the details are just right so that they can enjoy and celebrate their success and that of their peers.
Forman said his agents rave about Watson's events.
"We welcome their input and always ask for their comments after all events," said Forman.
"We hold events like the annual awards meeting to celebrate all of the hard work and success of our team," said Budnick. "Our Realtors and staff are our greatest assets and we want them to know how much they are appreciated. What better way to show appreciation than to create an event entirely centered around celebrating their achievements?"
In addition to the annual awards program, Prudential's top producing agents are rewarded with a very special invitation to the company's Top Producers Party which has most recently been held at the TPC Clubhouse.
"This cocktail party includes our top performers who are encouraged to bring a guest which allows us to further celebrate their success in front of that special someone," said Budnick.
Sonny Downey, broker of Exit Real Estate Gallery, said he enjoys recognizing his agents that passionately enjoy what they do.
"By recognizing them for their achievements, it provides acknowledgment that they are doing a great job and encourages them to continue doing what they do best, sell real estate," said Downey. "One of the commonalities that I find amongst my top producers is their drive. Recognizing them their achievements goes a long way."
Schroeder said it gives him a sense of personal gratitude to help organize and host the award events.
"The award events are designed to be a rewarding experience for hard working producers in our profession," said Schroeder. "Agents who have set goals and reached them should be applauded and rewarded for their achievement and the bar should be set high so that only the disciplined can reach the highest levels."
Watson Realty also holds large events to celebrate their agent's successes.
"Our sales associates work very hard," said Forman. "It is important to acknowledge them on their many achievements. This is a time to congratulate them and communicate how much we appreciate all that they do."
Showing their appreciation helps the agents get motivated for the next year and makes them feel special.
"Agents who receive awards feel appreciated for their professionalism and productivity and everyone leaves with a renewed enthusiasm," said Schroeder,. "It gives me a sense of personal gratitude to help organize and host these events."
Re/Max Unlimited also hosts a local awards luncheon/dinner each year to recognize their associate's accomplishments.
"This event is always a hit with the associates and several Re/Max Unlimited Associates said that being recognized for their achievements will inspire them to do even better in the coming year," said Valenti.
Though it seems the individual real estate companies throw gala events to outdo the other companies, they say they really just want to spotlight the success of their agents.
"We strive to have a great event for our Watson team," said Forman. "We don't think of competing with our competitors. We strive to do our very best. We have the advantage of researching what other Leading Real Estate Companies of the World are doing so our events include videos, speakers and professional keynote presentations."
Budnick said their awards events are focused on their team and celebrating their success, not to outshine others events.
"While I always think it's great to gain ideas and insights from outside sources, we reflect on the prior year to come up with the theme, guest speaker and all of the magical pieces that make our awards program so special," said Budnick. "I can just about guarantee no one else does it quite like Prudential Network Realty."