The S.E.C.: A Unique Collaborative Environment
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When first attending an S.E.C. meeting, guests are often surprised by the warm and sincere welcome they receive. On the first morning, there is a private breakfast, where the guests get together with an S.E.C. member and receive advice on how to make their meeting as effective as possible. They are each assigned an experienced S.E.C. member to coach them during the three-day meeting. Then toward the close of the conference, the President often meets with guests to receive input from them on how future meetings can be improved to better meet their needs. Throughout the meeting, guests are amazed at the cooperative attitude and the efforts of others to help them put together a transaction.
Guests have told us that the spirit of cooperation at S.E.C. meetings is refreshing and, in many important aspects, the total opposite of their usual experience with other brokers.
Why is there a difference? What is the driving force behind these opposing attitudes of competition in the traditional market and collaboration in the equity marketplace of the S.E.C.? The reason for this difference is very basic, it is economics!
Think about it, in the traditional real estate market, brokers market themselves to the public, and every new agent in their community is a new competitor. The new agent is working against other agents in the community to sign up the same sellers and attract the same buyers. Their advertising is in direct competition with other brokers’ advertising. Each listing signed and each buyer served by a new agent subtracts from the total pool of available transactions for all agents. Is it little wonder that competing agents are not eagerly accepted in the traditional marketplace?
In sharp contrast, in the unique equity marketplace of the S.E.C., brokers market their client’s property to other brokers, not to the public. Therefore, a guest at an S.E.C. marketing meeting is not a competitor. A guest is, instead, a potential colleague in putting together a successful transaction so that both agents can earn a fee from their own client. A guest also brings new product to the marketing meeting, thereby, creating additional opportunities to meet the needs of all agents in attendance. The new product and the additional exchange clients that are represented by the guests actually increase the total pool of possible transactions for everyone at the meeting. Therefore, guests to the S.E.C. marketplace mean more business and more income for all.
To some degree, the success of the S.E.C. for the past forty plus years has been the recognition by guests of the unique atmosphere of collaboration, rather than competition, at the marketing conferences of the Society of Exchange Counselors. For those who have not yet experienced the productivity of an S.E.C. meeting, we invite you to join us and see for yourself the difference that makes a difference.
