Barfoot & Thompson Conf. One of the Largest Ever

Media Release
Tuesday May 10 2005

Barfoot & Thompson Conference One of the Largest Ever Held at
Sky City Convention Centre

Auckland’s number one real estate company Barfoot & Thompson is celebrating another successful year with the opening today of its annual convention for more than 1,400 staff and salespeople.

The gathering is being held at the Sky City Convention Centre and is one of the largest conferences ever held at the venue. It runs over two days and includes the Directors’ annual address, international guest speakers, trade displays and the announcement of the company’s top performers for the year to March 2005. The top achiever in residential, commercial, country and coastal and property management will be announced as well as the Barfoot & Thompson Rookie of the Year. The winners will be recognised at a Gold Star breakfast on Wednesday, to kick off day two of the convention.

In his address this morning Director Peter Thompson will reflect on the company’s 82nd year in business. The company continues to sell around one in three Auckland properties and highlights from the 12 months to March include total property sales of $5.7 billion, a 13 percent increase in country and coastal sales, and solid performances from both commercial sales & leasing and property management.

The theme for the event is ‘Back to Basics.’ Mr Thompson says, “It’s a reflection of the fact that the incredible buoyancy the property sector has experienced in recent years is settling down and that it’s time now to refocus on the fundamentals of delivering excellent real estate service.

“While our convention is an opportunity to celebrate success, we go to great lengths to ensure it’s also a useful learning opportunity for our salespeople.” The speaker line up this year includes United States real estate specialist Darryl Davis and three specialist real estate trainers from Australia.

Mr Thompson says this is the one time of the year when we all down tools, turn off our mobile phones and concentrate on what we can do to become more effective real estate practitioners.

“I’m proud that more then 1,400 people have registered to attend the event which is offered entirely free of charge to our people. We consider our convention to be an important element in the drive to maintain the highest standards in the industry and have a deliberate policy of not charging salespeople to attend.”

“We are also delighted to be sharing the experience with 137 colleagues from the New Zealand Realtors Network. These people represent likeminded companies throughout New Zealand who form our nationwide referral network.”

ends

© Scoop Media