The real-estate agency is by nature a business model oriented around a local ecosystem.
That’s why most standout real-estate firms are considered as powerful local institutions, yet quickly lose all relevance the minute you venture outside their territory.
However, one force in luxury real-estate has eschewed being pidgeon-holed to just one region and has created an international gold standard that people can trust for the best luxury properties on the world scale.
This brand is none other than One Sothebys - who through the innovative, big picture strategy of President Daniel De La Vega- has made the brand name synonymous with the top of the real-estate pyramid in every region it is found.
How Did De La Vega Do It?
Rather than taking the same approach as competitors and competing with them in One Sotheby's local market of Miami, De La Vega set out to find the best specialists across all of the various markets his luxury clientele traveled between.
That meant taking frequent, trips to Brazil, Latin America, and Western Europe. As he traveled, De La Vega began to bridge the best localized specialists to something greater- which was the emerging banner/umbrella brand name of One Sotheby’s- which he conveyed would instantly elevate the perceived value of the international specialists' respective local properties.
In a business like real-estate, where perceived value is everything, De La Vega turned this open-architecture system of hiring and connecting the best independent real-estate specialists into a vehicle that would create the first consistent, comprehensive gold standard.
Once connected to One Sotheby's organized system, De La Vega was also able to institute and maintain a consistent level of customer service, marketing, packaging, and growth across all divisions of the company by fostering a corporate cultural that would promote open, honest feedback and cross-sector collaboration.
When asked personally how he was able to build and manage a sprawling real-estate enterprise when it never had been done before, De La Vega expounded: “It boils down to two factors. Seeking out and empowering experts who are smarter than you in various capacities or markets and creating a transparent company culture where honest feedback and interactive collaboration flourish, across all company levels.”
Thus, for the ambitious and entrepreneur seeking to build out a successful business model on a broad scale, De La Vega's cornerstone attributes- a strategy of open architecture and open, cross-company feedback- will be vital to implement.
