Michael Saunders & Co Names Ferrara “Social Revolution Man of the Year!”

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Matthew Ferrara spent the morning with Michael Saunders and Company recently, helping this market-leading firm leverage the latest sales, marketing and technology tools to reach for the future. A prominent member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and a four-decade market leader in Florida luxury real estate, Michael Saunders brought more than 400 agents, managers and staff together for a “Re-Invent Yourself” event that featured a special version of our Secrets of Social Networking to launch the day.

Michael Saunders, Steve Harney, Matthew Ferrara and Drayton Saunders

The program, also featuring Steve Harney, a leading sales trainer and Eric Bryn, teaching blogging techniques using Leading Real Estate Companies of the World powerful Propology platform, combined strategic learning and practical sales skill techniques to prepare the company to turn around the market, rather than wait for it to turn around on its own.

The local Clear Channel radio affiliate covered the event, and interviewed Matthew about the goals of the program. Saunders noted that Matthew Ferrara & Company has been at the forefront of the “industrial revolution of the real estate industry” helping companies orient themselves toward the modern consumer. Ferrara added that unlike companies who are just running for cover, Saunders’ organization is investing money, time and training into building the skills and expertise necessary to remain a leader in the future marketplace.

Listen to the radio interview here:

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Ferrara spent the morning helping the attendees move beyond the normal “sales” techniques of the past and develop relationship-based prospecting strategies that directly connect with the Generation X and Y consumers of the real estate marketplace. “It’s time to forget about mailings and newspaper ads,” Ferrara said, “and get yourself positioned to influence the next generation of real estate consumers. Social networking is really a more powerful form of prospecting – but unlike methods like postcards, your efforts don’t ‘interrupt’ the consumer’s day, they become an everyday part of it.”

Ferrara took the stage with his trademark energy and humor, mixing laughter with serious challenges to the status-quo of today’s industry. “If the Pope uses an iPhone to keep up with his peeps, don’t you think it’s about time the real estate industry got with the program?”

Ferrara noted that agents who use social networking to simply “throw up their listings online are going to find themselves without any friends.” Social networking isn’t a place for advertising; it’s a way to connect with consumers and manage relationships. Companies who use the system as just another postcard-newspaper-ad substitute are going to find themselves totally disconnected from the modern consumer.

Ferrara has already received plenty of “friend requests” from attendees who  took immediate steps to practice the techniques taught in the program. Managers were especially eager to tap into social networking, seeing its potential as a recruiting tool and referral generator for their company.

After the event, Michael Saunders said, “You certainly know how to passionately present the critical importance for brokers and agents not to follow the consumer into the future, but to get ahead of this new consumer.   You demystified and simplified the effective business applications of social networking – you even gave everyone permission to have fun while building relationships online.

I am certain that LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter saw a spike as a result of your speech yesterday.

We have had nothing but rave reviews and you have been lovingly labeled as the “Social Revolution Man of the Year”.