Power Teams: Community-Focused—and No. 1 in the World

The Gail Roberts and Ed Feijo Team are coming off an exceptional year.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based duo—along with buyer specialists Margo Delaney and Victoria Kennedy—garnered more than $175 million in sales volume in 2018, and were Coldwell Banker’s No. 1 real estate team, in the small teams segment, for the year.

The Gail Roberts and Ed Fejio Team

“Our company’s been amazing and very supportive to us,” says Feijo, affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – New England. “We have really strong support from corporate, from both our PR department and our regional managers and up to our president.”

The group has been honored more than once over the years, including awarded the Coldwell Banker International President’s Premier status, denoting the top 1 percent of practitioners worldwide.

Throughout their acclaimed careers, Feijo and Roberts have been driven by a key motivator: the community. Both are on the board of Furnishing Hope of Massachusetts, which assists families who have been homeless. Roberts is also on the boards of Boston’s Huntington Theatre; the Cambridge Community Foundation; Mount Auburn Hospital; and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, while Feijo is on the board of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.

For those who know the pair, they can expect laughs—and lots of them.

“I enjoy what I do, and coming to work every day with the people I work with,” Roberts says. “This is a 24/7 job, so you have to enjoy it and have fun.”

Here, Feijo and Roberts discuss the dynamics of their team, and how they’ve built their business with the community at the forefront.

Suzanne De Vita: You’re both community-oriented, and have been for many years. How has that affected your business?
Gail Roberts: We both feel very strongly that we’ve been in an area that’s given us a good life and a good business, and it’s our responsibility to give back to the community. We participate. Between the two of us, we’re on at least seven different non-profit boards. You get to know people—and, we’re known for connecting people in the neighborhood.

SD: One of your ads reads, “We take our business very seriously, but not ourselves.” How do you approach marketing?
Ed Feijo: We work with a marketing company that’s helped a lot with our branding. We’re consistently marketing, but always looking for something new and different. Our ads are very much like us—there’s a little bit of comedic relief to them, but a serious delivery.

GR: It’s all about consistency. We do 4,500 postcards. We’ve been running a full-page ad in every issue of Boston magazine for at least 10-12 years, a full-page ad in every issue of Harvard Magazine for at least 12-13 years, a full-page ad in the playbill for the American Repertory Theater in Harvard Square, and more. Consistency is important.

SD: How do you collaborate as a team? How often do you get together?
EF: It’s organic. We’re all office-driven people, so we see each other every day. We have impromptu meetings throughout the day. Our accountability is to one another, so while the four of us are working independently, we’re also checking in on the others.

SD: What advice would you give to an agent that’s considering forming a team, or a team that’s just starting out?
EF: This is such a hard business that coming into it at any stage, whether it’s a good market or a typical market, without any sort of backing to help you through it, is tough. It can be easy to get lost. Work with someone that has different strengths from you, but works in a similar manner. You have to be running in the same direction to your end goal, but using different strengths to get there.

GR: Ed and I have similar, strong work ethics. We both really love working with people, but we do have different strengths that actually help strengthen the other. There’s never really downtime if you want to be successful. Even when you think it’s a slower market, that’s the time you’re talking to other clients, reaching out, making sure everyone’s happy and making plans for what’s next.

SD: 2018 was a stellar year for you. What are your goals for this year?
EF: The interesting thing about real estate that people lose sight of is that it’s all about the people. The technology comes and goes. If you don’t stick to the basics and treat people the right way, the business isn’t there. You have to be people-focused. 

GR: I enjoy what I do, and coming to work every day with the people I work with. This is a 24/7 job, so you have to enjoy it and have fun. I look forward to continuing exactly what we’re doing, and maybe a little more.

Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.