kee realty
Real Living Network Brokerages Among Top Firms For Services Excellence
Companies Honored with QE Award for Verified “Extraordinary Customer Service”- an Industry First
America’s Top 35 real estate firms based on service excellence are being honored for exceptional customer service satisfaction with an industry first – a QE Award (pronounced “Quie”) – “that measures and independently verifies excellence in the delivery of the highest levels of customer satisfaction and service quality in real estate in North America,” according to Quality Service Certification, Inc. (QSC), creators of the award.
“They’re not just raising the bar for customer service; they’ve committed to a whole new standard knowing consumers are tired of seeing meaningless perfect reviews where every agent has a 5-star rating.”
The 2017 QE Award recognizes the Top 5 Large Companies, the Top 10 Midsize Companies and the Top 20 Small Companies, spanning 22 states, from Florida to California and Minnesota to Texas, and includes some of the most respected independent and well-known national and regional brand names.
“There is no greater honor than earning the highest ratings from our customers for the hard work of our agents touching all the bases and bringing home a fantastic service experience for every one of our clients,” said Mike Pappas, President and CEO at Keyes Real Estate in South Florida. “That’s why winning a QE Award from Quality Service Certification is the best award any brokerage in real estate can receive,” he added.
The 2017 QE Award is based upon the results of an independent survey limited solely to buyers and sellers who were in a real estate transaction that actually closed with participating real estate companies from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. Quality Service Certification, Inc. and Leading Research Corporation, San Juan Capistrano, CA administer the survey process to ensure that every past customer is surveyed, preventing agents or the company from interference or influence in any way.
The 2017 QE Award winners for the Top 5 Large Companies include:
- Charles Rutenberg Realty, Greater Chicagoland Area
- Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties, Northern California and Nevada
- Harry Norman, REALTORS®, Atlanta, GA
- The Keyes Company, South Florida
- RE/MAX of Reading, Reading, PA
The 2017 QE Award winners for the Top 10 Medium Companies include:
- Real Living Messina & Associates, Inc., Duluth, MN
- Kinlin Grover Real Estate, Osterville, MA
- RE/MAX Estate Properties, Los Angeles, CA
- Real Living Kee Realty, Rochester/Clinton MI
- Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Tomie Raines REALTORS®, East Lansing, MI
- Real Living Realty Professionals, MA
- CJR Carol Jones Realtors, A Berkshire Hathaway Affiliate, Springfield, MO
- RE/MAX Allegiance, Alexandria, VA
- Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty, Burlington, VT
- Keller Williams Classic Realty, Coon Rapids, MN
The 2017 QE Award winners for the Top 20 Small Companies include:
- The Berkshire Group, REALTORS®, Denver, CO
- Home Realty, Inc., Owensboro, KY
- Real Living Property For You, Peoria, AZ
- Real Living 1st Choice Realty, Coral Springs, FL
- Real Living Capital City Realty, Atlanta, GA
- BOWES Real Estate Real Living, Arlington, MA
- Real Living CO Properties, Denver, CO
- Real Living Palm West Home Realty, Inc., Palm Coast, FL
- RE/MAX Select, Oviedo, FL
- Real Living Wareck D’Ostilio, New Haven, CT
- Real Living Northwest REALTORS, Bothell, WA
- MikkiMoves Real Estate, Inc., Eureka, CA
- Real Living Cypress Realty, Inc., Fort Myers, FL
- Real Living Volpini Realty Group, Youngstown, OH
- Real Living Karapasha Realty, Katy, TX
- ERA Martin Associates, Salisbury, MD
- Real Living Realty Group, Franklin, MA
- Golden Real Estate, Inc., Golden, CO
- Real Living Gateway Realtors, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
- First Colorado Realty, Inc., Estes Park, CO
“At a time when consumer are seeking transparency, greater accountability, and trusted information to help them make better, more informed decisions and choices, hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of their service professionals are now electing to participate in service assessment and feedback following every transaction, which is setting a new and better standard for excellence,” said Kevin C. Romito, President, Quality Service Certification, Inc.
“They’re not just raising the bar for customer service; they’ve committed to a whole new standard knowing consumers are tired of seeing meaningless perfect reviews where every agent has a 5-star rating,” Romito adds. “We believe that in a consumer-centric world the higher standard for gauging excellence in professional services should authentically measure how well each customer is served not just how much business is done.”
Larry Romito, Chairman, CEO sees the new QE Award as motivation for change. “We hope the prestigious recognition of the QE Award for measurable excellence in service and satisfaction will launch a viral movement toward better customer service, transparency and accountability, where every real past customer is surveyed and all surveys are unedited. That’s what QSC and the new QE Award are all about. A complete, reliable picture of customer feedback, from real past customers on issues important to prospective consumers,” he added.
Romito notes that the QE Award is based upon the aggregated overall Customer Satisfaction Rating of all returned surveys of real customers where every past customer has been surveyed without selectivity, editing, deletion, cleansing or manipulation. “No other system exists in the real estate industry that can legitimately make that claim,” he said, noting that “accurate, reliable, independently validated survey results of individual agents” can be accessed by visiting RatedAgent.com.
Quality Service Certification, Inc. created the QE Award to foster, encourage and recognize the highest levels of service quality and customer satisfaction. QSC with its sister company Leading Research Corporation assures the careful measurement and independent validation of service and satisfaction results.
Eligibility for the 2017 QE Award requires a minimum number of surveys sent and returned, which may be adjusted from year to year based upon market conditions and the number of participants. More than 30,000 real estate agents and 750 companies elected to participate in the customer satisfaction assessment survey process in 2016 for the 2017 QE Award.
About Quality Service Certification
Quality Service Certification, Inc., based in San Juan Capistrano, CA, provides the most accurate and valuable customer service measurement service for the real estate industry, having conducted more than 2 million customer satisfaction surveys of real estate agents. QSC offers consumers the only complete, reliable and unbiased picture of participating agents’ overall and detailed customer service satisfaction history. QSC provides real estate agents the timely and detailed feedback they need to both improve and maintain their highest levels of professional service. For brokerages, QSC offers a Performance Management Platform that helps firms better influence, manage and control professional activities that they can otherwise not see – resulting in measurably better, more satisfying and a more valued customer service experience. Founded in 2000, accurate, reliable, independently validated survey results of individual agents from QSC can be accessed by visiting RatedAgent.com.
Thoughts on Leadership: Winning is a Habit
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me first in Detroit where I spoke with agents, managers and leadership at Real Living Kee Realty. For each meeting, I like to deliver several principles for success, specific ideas to follow in order to win.
It’s no surprise winning is on my mind because I just received a text from my good friend and former All-Pro wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers as well as five-time Super Bowl champion, Dwight “The Catch” Clark, who’s on his way to Houston for Super Bowl Media Week appearances. Each summer, as soon as pre-season begins, teams have one Wildly Important Goal (WIG) in mind: Make it to the Super Bowl and then, win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. This trophy—a football resting atop a pedestal that measures 22 inches and 7 pounds of sterling silver glory—is only given to the team that has proven to be the very best in the world.
Why is it called the Vince Lombari Trophy, you may ask? Why not Super Bowl Championship Trophy? Well, it’s an interesting story. On Jan. 15, 1967, the first-ever Super Bowl was played between the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League—whose coach at the time was Vince Lombardi—and the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFL. Green Bay won that game handily by a score of 35-10 and would go on to defeat the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl the following year, 33-14. After Super Bowl II, Lombardi retired as head coach of the Packers but not before solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest coaches and leaders of all time.
Still, for the next few years—until 1970 to be exact—Super Bowl winners would receive what was called the World Professional Football Championship Trophy. When Lombardi suddenly died of cancer in 1970, the trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy before it was awarded to the Baltimore Colts after they beat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.
Some might imagine the trophy bore Lombardi’s namesake because he was the leader responsible for bringing his team to Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl I and II but it’s really so much more than that; the name, the man, the legend known as Vince Lombari is absolutely synonymous with winning.
Lombardi once said, “winning is a habit,” and for him, it truly was.
During his 10-year coaching career, Lombardi’s teams won 96 regular season games, which amounted to a .728 winning percentage. He also had an astounding .840 winning percentage in all the pre-seasons he coached and during post-season, was virtually untouchable with a .900 winning percentage, which included five NFL titles.
So, what’s the message? It’s one I’m sure New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady, Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Matt Ryan are repeating over and over leading up to Sunday’s big game; it’s the idea of habitual, unwavering devotedness to a single, achievable goal — a Super Bowl victory. That’s a powerful message we can all take with us, whether we’re attempting to win a listing, a deal or a new client. We must remain focused, steadfast and unflappable in our devotion to win. “Winning is not a sometimes thing,” Lombardi once said. “It’s an all-the-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do the right thing once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”
P.S. If you’re looking for a good read to learn more about Vince Lombardi, I recommend When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi.
GINO BLEFARI is CEO of HSF Affiliates LLC. You can follow Gino on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.