Cole Slate directly addresses camera: The culture of my brokerage is a direct reflection of my priorities Đ serving the community. But, culture is about actions.
I'm Cole Slate, broker owner of Slate Real Estate in northeast Florida. Let's take five minutes to talk about how you can give back to your community, keep your agents engaged and do good. For my company, it's all about appreciation events.
I went from working in the school system to selling real estate. My mom was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher, so one of the first events I put together was a teacher appreciation event. National Teacher Appreciation week is in May, so in the early years, I set up a table outside of Starbucks, with the manager's approval, marketed the event through social media and paid for every teacher's order that morning.
We're now on our ninth teacher appreciation event and it's evolved into a happy hour and dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. I market the event, and my agents also market it and invite the teachers they know. For three hours on a weeknight, the brokerage pays for one dinner entree and a house margarita for every teacher who comes through. Last year, we had more than 100 teachers attend.
Now, we have two appreciation events a year where we invite customers, people who refer customers, site agents, preferred partners, vendors, and really anyone at all who knows us. And we have smaller events such as crossing guard appreciation, first responder appreciation and military appreciation. I have 33 licensees working for my brokerage who love the opportunity to reach their customers this way. It gives them a way to stay in front of the community.
I do a lot of the marketing but encourage them to post on social media and let their sphere of influence know about the events. This is the culture of our brokerage, and about 70% of the agents participate in the events.
Marketing the events is done through email campaigns and social media. I have a marketing coordinator who handles most of it, but we rely on the agents to get the word out. We also include real estate-related service providers to donate gift baskets and attend the events. However, the brokerage pays for the events.
The crossing guard appreciation event is my favorite. For our first one, we bought donuts from a local shop but found out we were breaking the rules by handing out donuts and coffee while crossing guards were on duty. So we held the event at a local cafe. And, because the St. Johns Sheriff's Office oversees the crossing guards in our area, they co-host the event and have an awards ceremony during it. This year, we piggy-backed on crossing guard training and sponsored a lunch at the new St. Johns County Sheriff's office training facility.
It's essential to plan the events to coordinate with national appreciation days. However, with our first responder event, we used to do it on 9/11. But we realized that everyone does something that day, so we changed the date of our event to the actual First Responder Appreciation Day, which is October 28. We found a local cafeCommé that supports those with special needs that hosts the event, and the owner hires people with disabilities to work at her restaurant. There is no better way to appreciate and support the community than to do it at a locally owned place. For our military appreciation day, we do a happy hour and pizza.
For me, it's all about the brand and the reputation. It's part of the culture of our brokerage, and I'm proud of that. The return on investment is a perk. The most important part is that you and your agents are seen out and about in the community, giving back and supporting the people they work with to experience the American dream of homeownership.