SUCCESS STORY

Welcome center
Rethinking Office Culture

Inviting space keeps business humming.

BY WENDY COLE

If you’re in New Hartford, N.Y., and want information about cruising the nearby Erie Canal, touring a local brewery, or exploring an old diamond mine, the chamber of commerce in town won’t be of much help. The chamber has no office space. Nor does this quaint upstate New York burg near the Adirondacks, population 21,000, have a tourism bureau. (The town is served by the Oneida County Convention and Visitors Bureau in neighboring Utica.)

In New Hartford, your best bet is to wander into Mohawk Valley 1st Choice Realty, an expansive storefront office in the heart of town, nestled between a trophy supplier and a yarn shop.

And while you’re perusing brochures touting the area’s cultural, recreational, and educational opportunities, you can savor a pumpkin spice cappuccino from the office’s café bar while nibbling on freshly baked doughnuts (powdered and jelly-filled) — all free of charge.

If your children are accompanying you, let them grab a cookie before you steer them to the eye-popping Kid’s Corner where they can busy themselves with a wide selection of dolls, trucks, and board games and a hand-me-down Nintendo video game system.

Sinking into the office’s plush living room–like chairs, you can resume your quiet contemplation of the universe or perhaps hunker down with a sales associate about what you’re looking for in a home.

At a time when many real estate offices are cutting ancillary services and costs to stay competitive, Ronald Stewart, broker-owner at 1st Choice, is taking the opposite approach. Early last year, he opened the Welcome Center in a space adjacent to the office he’s had for seven years.

“No one around here has anything like this. We wanted to be different,” says Stewart, who tore out a wall between the two storefronts and installed a charming wooden banister to give the newly remodeled office the feel of a sunken living room.

Personal Touches Help

In the Internet age, brokerages may typically see little value in setting up office space explicitly designed to capture walk-in customers. That could be a costly mistake, argues Stewart.

“Around here, many offices are in lovely old houses or commercial buildings not particularly visible from the street,” he says.

Expecting Internet traffic alone to drive sales ignores a huge opportunity for differentiating your business.

“If we rely on the Internet as the only form of communication, it will eventually put us all out of business. People want personal touches. It’s what separates us from competitors,” he says. Cramped offices that are set up like traditional banks or insurance companies with sparse furnishings and rock-hard chairs don’t send the customer-oriented message that defines Stewart’s mission.

Stewart spent six years with a nearby Prudential franchise before opening his own brokerage. His previous retail management career — including at a department store, pharmacy, and later his own sandwich shop — greatly influenced his laser-like focus on developing what he describes as a retail real estate shop.

Stewart’s formula appears to be reaping rewards even in a fickle market: He started the brokerage with one sales associate in 2000 and now has 22, making 1st Choice the largest independent real estate office in the Greater Utica–Rome, N.Y., region, says Carol Longo, who runs the local REALTOR® board. And while his inventory last fall of about 150 properties is up by about 15 percent over a year ago, his sales volume for 2007 topped $20 million, slightly surpassing his $19.9 million total for 2006.

Satisfied customers are easy to find. Just spend a few hours at Stewart’s office.

When established home buyer Mike Sunderlin strolled in on a recent Tuesday morning, he settled into a couch like a regular. He declined a snack but gladly accepted a cup of coffee as he waited to sign addenda for the multifamily investment property he would soon be closing on.

Sunderlin discovered 1st Choice after dinner at an Italian restaurant a few doors down last August, when the storefront, well-lit at 7:30 p.m., gave him his first inkling that the place was different. 1st Choice is open until 8 p.m. six nights a week, compared with the 5 p.m. closing time of nearly all its competitors.

“I’ve never seen a real estate office this hang-out friendly,” says Sunderlin, an insurance sales manager. “The people here work hard. I’m always looking for good investment opportunities. So when I’m not traveling for work, I come by a few times a week.”

Even if the right property isn’t available, he’ll always find a fresh pot of coffee.