Jennifer Kjellgren from Nest Realty Atlanta sat down with Jonathan Kauffman and Jim Duncan about how she learned about Nest, meeting Jonathan at T3, and her journey to opening the Nest Realty office in Atlanta.

- New experience of opening a Nest in a large market

- Value of the Nest brand when growing her brokerage

- Nest’s marketing department and integrating her brand with her existing brand

- The “F” word, franchise

- How Nest was a solution for the things they needed - technology, marketing scalability

- Jennifer’s videos

- Friends of Nest’s value to the agents and the brokers. “Secret Sauce,” in Jennifer’s words

- The value of the Nest brand to agents and the consumers

- How Nest is a growing niche brand that offers value and support to it’s brokers and agents

Jonathan, Keith, and Jim discussed Nest’s recent Lead Broker Summit, how we look outside the real estate space for inspiration and insight, and detailed highlights of what we saw and learned at the outside companies we visited.

We discussed:

Crutchfield, based in Charlottesville

The Draftsman Hotel, an Autograph Collection by Marriott hotel

Farmington Country Club

Farmington’s food truck

Three Notch’d Brewing Company, a rapidly and thoughtfully growing brewing company based in Charlottesville

We talk a bit about Nest’s Envoy platform, and our Friends of Nest program, and the common thread of relevance and humanity through all of the companies.

Each day we walk down streets and interact with others. But rarely do we think about the way which the streets, the sidewalks, or the trees change our interactions. This week on Sweat The Details, we focus on the planning of new residential development and how design can impact our daily lives. We talk with Bob Youngentob, CEO of EYA, a developer outside of Washington, D.C. who seamlessly blends his neighborhoods with some of the most historic areas in our nation.

EYA’s Website: https://www.eya.com/

Episode 11 - Responding to Criticism - Jay Thompson

Show Notes

It all starts with a negative online review. Sitting back and not engaging just isn’t an option. But how an agent responds will likely be more important than the negative review on its own. A public response is the opportunity for an agent to show who they really are, and how they address concerns.

Surveys have shown that a positive response to a negative review can be more valuable than a positive review from the start. Jay Thompson, past Director of Industry Relations and Social Media for Zillow Group joins us to discuss on-line reputation management, and the larger issue of on-line engagement.

A 2017 interview with Jay: https://www.labcoatagents.com/2017/06/05/zillow-chat-jay-thompson/

A story from Jay’s retirement: https://www.inman.com/2018/02/08/jay-thompson-announces-retirement-zillow/

One doesn’t have to search long to find Internet conversations surrounding the value of the real estate professional in a transaction. While there are a multitude of reasons why hiring an agent is wise, one of the most frequently cited is the ability of Realtors to provide relevant interpretation of pricing and sales data.
While few agents would consider themselves well trained economists, clients expect an agent with 20/20 foresight. Mike Simonsen, founder and CEO of Altos Research, has created a company ideally situated to help agents understand the market around them, supporting their efforts to be the expert in their local and broader market. More than 100,000 readers monthly rely upon Altos Research to help them shape their stories. And this episode is about simplifying the message in a way that data can make sense.

Altos Research Homepage

Many groups talk about building community, but the non-profit arena is uniquely positioned to bring together disparate members of a community and put them together, unified in a common goal. Whether it is clients, volunteers, board members, or donors, all are necessary to fulfill a common mission. And many of the people involved give selflessly for no reason other than to build a stronger community.

On this episode, Erika Viccellio, long time non-profit leader in Charlottesville, joins Keith and Jim to discuss the role of non-profits in communities. She’ll talk about raising up leaders in the volunteer ranks and involving the clients in their own future. And she’ll share a bit about her current role in The Fountain Fund, which provides loans to individuals who have been formerly incarcerated. Communities are made better daily by the work of folks like Erika, and we’re thrilled to share our conversation.

The Fountain Fund’s Website: https://www.fountainfund.org/

Jim, Jonathan, and Keith look back at this year’s successful run for UVa’s first national championship in basketball and the 25th national title for the University across all sports, and talk about what a real estate firm (or any company for that matter) can learn from these outstanding athletes and coaches. They’ll talk about capital investments and the need for a long term vision. They’ll talk about putting the right systems in place, and using those systems consistently to generate the right outcomes. And they’ll talk about owning good decisions as well as bad. In part of this discussion, Jim references a short speech that Tony Bennett, the coach of UVa Men’s Basketball, gave his players after they won the national title. You can find that talk HERE.

Jeff Turner is in the business of helping real estate and tech companies. In this installment of Sweat The Details, our discussion revolves around how tech can be used to improve the human experience, or how it can just muddle a simple process into an ornate, nonsensical application. Jeff provides a wonderful view of how brokers need to look at their offering for agents, and how agents can use information to improve their understanding of their clients.

We talk about the 1.4 million REALTOR members, and what sets the great ones apart from the masses. Jeff reviews the future of the great agent. And the future of great real estate technology.

Stick around while Jim, Jonathan, and Keith continue the conversation focusing on dreadful efficiencies and the evaluation of tools. Amy Dawson built trust with real estate clients. How can agents emulate Amy?

Jeff Turner’s Website: https://www.jeffturner.info/

One of his posts we love: https://www.jeffturner.info/shit-sandwich/

Our guest this week was Josh Cromwell, CFO with Starr Hill Brewery, located in Crozet, VA. In 1999, Starr Hill became the second craft brewery to open in the Commonwealth, and is now among more than 250 brewers in Virginia, delivering over 28,000 barrels of beer each year.

We were able to talk about the rich history of Starr Hill and the importance of a successful re-branding of their products. We covered the difference of new product launch and re-presentation of existing beers that are strong sellers that have loyal followers.

And finally, we talk about the importance of the local involvement with the community and the way that community drives culture. Why employee culture is so important to Starr Hill and recognition and rewards.

Starr Hill Redesign: https://starrhill.com/2015/04/27/starr-hill-brewery-releases-new-packaging-designs/

The company’s designer Wyndsor Hug: https://starrhill.com/2016/02/01/meet-the-designer-wyndsor-hug/

We were joined by Jack Miller, President and CTO for T3 Sixty, a leading management consultancy dedicated to the residential real estate brokerage industry. Jack has spent more than 20 years in real estate and has worked in independent and franchise brokerages as well as in the support systems for brokers. We talked about the enormous amounts of capital that have been flowing into the market and helping to fund new real estate brokerage models, as well as new trends like iBuyers. We explore where agent training is headed, and what technology is going to be required to support the new firms.

T3 Sixty link: https://www.t360.com/about-us/