The Banff Western Connection 2015 (BWC2015) is in the record books. The quality of the content, the Realtor delegates and trade show exhibitors continue to raise the bar and exceed years past. The best little real estate conference in North America has called the Fairmont Banff Springs home since the early ’90s.
It attracts more than 700 delegates for three days of leadership training, motivation, education and technology supported by a very tight group of pertinent exhibitors – you can’t buy silk carpets at this bazaar. The tech talks are the most current, presented by actual top-producing individual and team agents and brokers.
This year’s keynote – to be fair, there were three speakers who could have led the conference – was Jon Montgomery, who won gold in men’s skeleton at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. You may recall him more familiarly as the host of The Amazing Race Canada. If your memory cells are intact from 2010, you likely recall him as the red-bearded Olympian walking Whistler’s streets quaffing from a beer jug. Jon took us from his early years in Russell, Man. to that triumphant hero’s walk, describing a journey of the effort it took to earn the best reward, urging hushed listeners to “do things that scare you”, reminding us things are only “out of your reach if you put them there.”
Jon’s presentation kept us laughing and attentive but as it closed with the video of his gold medal run and “walk of fame” you could feel the time warp as we remembered where we were in 2010, reliving the moment. As the video froze on its last image we were on our feet, teary eyed, lumps in throats, hollering and stamping and clapping. I have never experienced such an intense surge of emotion from a crowd.
Then I had to speak.
A strangled thank you from me was all it took for the applause for Jon to start again. Then he volunteered to auction a replica beer jug and Olympic autographed souvenir gear for the BWC2015 charity, the Banff YWCA. Who knew he was an auctioneer too? And a master. He took the crowd from $100 to $2,500 in easy steps and the winning bidders were vibrating in their victory dash down the aisle to claim the gold.
Follow that speech, I dare you.
We did – with chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur Vikram Vij. He is the latest addition to the CBC program Dragon’s Den. Vij is not an Olympic athlete. In his own words, “There’s nothing low fat about me!” His too was a journey to success. Born in India; crossing to Canada with an opportunity to work in the Banff Springs Hotel and stories along the way of his early experiences with entrepreneurs – they didn’t share his vision – to the opening of his signature restaurant to his latest, My Shanti. Funny accounts punctuated his presentation, illustrating his message: Be proud enough to put your name on it, take care of family, take chances, cherish your mistakes, be passionate and creative. Of the new technology, of an “app” for everything, he scorned, “Why can’t you just write this shit down?”
It was another gold medal performance and standing ovation. Two for two.
CREA president Beth Crosbie and other national directors and staff gave us an update and reminder of the values of CREA and specifically, new tools and resources at Realtor.ca and RealtorLink. The ability of members to use the word Realtor in domain names and email addresses, the Realtor Action Network and 2014 Consumer Insights were presented. Members were urged to lead their clients to the mobile app for Realtor.ca and to look at it themselves.
Afternoon sessions included Jeph Maystruck, who asked why kids laugh 300 times a day while adults can only muster six. His presentation was peppered with free lottery tickets and at least one $50 bill. Technical presenters, Realtors Tony Joe and Dennis Plintz, reviewed client communication strategies, including the cautionary tale of voice recognition software. Siri, as iPhone users will attest, is very capable but when a text message dictated as “Thank you for having a thick skin when it matters” became “Thank you for having sex when it matters” some damage control was necessary.
We listened to a panel of six consumers discuss their experiences with real estate agents and why three of them ultimately decided to sell their own homes. Their use of social networks, how they chose their Realtor, what they didn’t like – registering in order to get information and unqualified buyers – was enlightening. Ultimately, the consumers complimented the resources of the industry, if not the salespeople they dealt with. They acknowledged that in a slower market, only one of them would still attempt to sell their own property.
Final sessions included Scott Stratten, the author of UnSelling and creator of the YouTube segment wherein he broke off his dysfunctional relationship as a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Michael Thorne spoke on social media and his weekly web show Mobile Agent TV and a final panel presented suggestions for selling to the international market. We wrapped up with John Spence on the future of business excellence and cartoonist and artist Hugh MacLeod, who had been drawing throughout the conference.
The evenings at Banff are filled with funny money casino gambling, mouth-watering food – the final banquet featured lobster and beef tenderloin this year, only one of which came from Alberta – endless buffets and valuable prizes. Thankfully, the snow blower went to a lady from Lethbridge. In all about $25,000 in prizes were given away and the 50/50 draws presented the Banff YWCA and a lucky delegate a little over $8,000 cash each.
My summary of the theme of the Banff Western Connection 2015 is simple. Despite the myriad of tools appearing almost daily, few endure. The old premise of getting face to face, voice to voice, belly to belly with a client and growing a relationship that matures from knowing to liking and finally to one of trust – is timeless. Is there a secret to success in sales?
Yes indeed. It’s a relationship, stupid!
Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.
