We asked Kristen Trembinski, Regional Owner of EXIT Realty Northern Ontario and Broker/Owner of EXIT Realty Lake Superior, Brokerage, in Sault Ste. Marie, to reflect on the silver lining for real estate professionals in the cloud of social distancing.

One of the best changes that has come out of this time is the increased interaction and relations with our sales representatives/brokers.  When things began to unfold, and it was obvious that our ‘usual’ interaction would be no longer, we turned to technology in order to stay close.  We’ve been forced to get comfortable with video, and Zoom has become a part of our daily life.  We’ve been hosting 2 meetings per week, plus a multitude of training that everyone is excited to take part in.  The changes have made us more creative, and organized, ensuring that we have strong content to keep everyone engaged.  Personal phone calls to our staff and sales team that may not have occurred on a regular basis before, have become a large part of our days.  The cohesiveness within the team right now is beyond what we’ve ever experienced.

Brokerage ‘challenges’ have kept the sales team very busy updating their databases, bios, social media/websites, writing daily affirmations, participating in meetings, in-house training, and fabulous training offered through EXIT’s Stimulus Package.  The work that they are all putting in right now, will definitely pay off moving forward.

We have also increased our relations with out-of-office sales reps/brokers.  Although we may have considered them as competition in the past, this time has brought us together as a team who are all going through the same challenges.

Community involvement and client care have always been important to us, and this time has been wonderful to reflect on ways of giving back.  We’ve been able to put a one-year plan together including ideas & projects moving forward where our team can make a difference in the community and peoples’ lives.

This time has forced my partner, Jamie Coccimiglio, and I to really strengthen our budget and understand ways of cutting back on unnecessary expenses.  This has been something that we’ve always said needed to be done, and we’ve now taken the time to trim where necessary.  It feels great!

There are so many brokerage ‘projects’ – such as onboarding and training manuals, checklists, website and social media updating, etc. – that needed to be done, and day by day we have been able to check them off our list. We’ve kept our employees working full time on many of these projects and believe that this is going to keep us strong once our office doors are able to open back up.

In this industry, we are often guilty of high stress, long hours and not taking very good care of ourselves.  During this time, I have developed a whole new routine, including self-care that I will continue moving forward.  We’ve also challenged our staff and sales team to develop their own routines, some of which include daily affirmations, reading, exercise, meditation, journaling and practices that allow them to get present and clear.  This has been a wonderful time to recognize all that we are grateful for.

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