Compass President Neda Navab outlined her vision for the next chapter of the brokerage at the company’s annual RETREAT in New Orleans, announcing new investments to strengthen connections among Compass agents, raise standards for agents joining the brokerage and expand the reach of the Compass brand.
“While we’ve grown and changed a lot over the years, who we are at our core hasn’t changed,” Navab told the 1,500 attendees. “Compass is a community of the smartest, most trusted, and talented professionals in real estate, building this company together.”
Navab announced three initiatives—as noted in a release—that are designed to support Compass agents and help them grow their businesses.
One such initiative is a 30% increase in the minimum production requirement for agents, “emphasizing quality over quantity” as the brokerage said in a release.
Additionally, Compass announced the promotion of Felipe Hernandez to the newly created chief marketing officer position. He will work on reinvigorating the brand and developing consumer marketing campaigns supporting the company’s vision for Compass.com.
Hernandez joined Compass in 2016 after a career in luxury and fashion marketing, including roles with Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and TOMS, as well as real estate marketing experience with Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, according to a release. He later founded Compass Luxury, building a marketing organization that helps agents grow their businesses through customized strategies, specialized expertise and direct support.
“I want us to keep setting that standard, for luxury and for innovation, with a brand that’s sharp, clear and unmistakably ours,” Navab said at Compass RETREAT.
Several other promotions were announced, including Rachel Hocevar’s move from leading the Texas and Southwest regions to now overseeing regional agent experience and operations teams across the brokerage. The brokerage noted that for the first time teams will now report to a single leader, “making it easier to share successful programs and practices across markets while preserving the local relationships agents value.”
“Our local teams create a level of familiarity and accountability that’s really difficult to recreate,” said Hocevar. “They’re incredibly close to the business. They know what agents are dealing with day to day.”
One example is Summer of Success, a program created by Compass agent Candy Miles Crocker in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia region to help agents use Compass technology to grow their businesses during the slower summer months. The program has since expanded nationally, showing how successful ideas from one market can benefit agents nationwide.
In addition, the brokerage announced that agent and team leader Courtney Smith has been promoted to strategic advisor. Smith’s work includes customized business planning and national mastermind programs that bring together agents who have closed at least $100 million in sales or 100 transactions in the previous year. She recently advised a top-producing team aiming to build a billion-dollar business, helping develop a strategy for operations, staffing and growth.
“The Compass agent is highly professional, highly collaborative and at the top of their game. These are people who believe that getting 1% better every single day is the name of the game,” said Smith.
Navab said that the works of these leaders reflects her vision of “combining the reach and resources of the nation’s largest residential brokerage with the personal relationships, expertise and support of a boutique firm.”
The last aforementioned initiative was a special promotion for agents attending RETREAT—complimentary admission to a Compass regional event of their choice next year in order to create “more opportunities for collaboration.”
Navab concluded her keynote address by stating that the next chapter is about building on the strengths that made that success possible.
“Since stepping into this role earlier this year, the No. 1 question I’ve heard is: ‘Neda, in this next chapter of Compass, what stays uniquely ours? Uniquely Compass?” Navab told attendees. “It’s the power of the Compass network. It’s the caliber of our agents. And it’s the strength of the Compass brand.”
