Professional One Real Estate was named one of the “most creative approaches launched during the last decade” in the 2011 Swanepoel Trends Report.

No matter how many times I read that, I still can’t quite believe it. Did you ever wish for something REALLY specific, and then actually have it come true? That’s what just happened for me – and for everyone else at Professional One – and it is truly surreal.

A Dream Realized

When I founded Professional One, one of the few tangible goals I had was to one day have my company written about in one of Stefan Swanepoel’s (@Swanepoel) annual Trends Reports, which I consider the definitive resource on all things real estate.

As those of you who read the annual Trends Reports know, no one has his finger on the pulse of the real estate industry quite like Swanepoel does. If you can catch Stefan’s eye, I think it means that, at a minimum, you’re doing something right.

Further, to be included with great brands like At Properties, Allison James and eXp Realty is an honor. I have tremendous respect for what these other companies are doing, and I love many of the concepts these upstart brands are creating and introducing into an industry in which new thinking is a breath of fresh air.

And when I think of all the great companies I know that haven’t been mentioned in such fashion, it is truly humbling and even more of an honor to have received such recognition.

Why?

Why did we make it? Here’s what Swanepoel said in the Trends Report:

Professional One was included for its bold dedication to professionalism in a time when many other brokers in the real estate industry are scaling back their training programs and activities. Their drive toward “Raising the Bar” (also the name of his weekly interview program “Blog Talk Radio“) is very admirable. On the one hand, McClure acknowledges that it will be difficult to carve out this niche and that it will take time to develop. On the other hand, his impressive efforts in utilizing Social Media may just prove to be the vehicle needed to provide lift off.

Thank You!

In conclusion, I thank you, Stefan, and your excellent research team for including Professional One in your Trends Report, and I thank the many great people who have helped and given so much of themselves to keep the Professional One dream alive through some trying times and against a myriad of obstacles that might have killed companies with a lesser “why.”

Last year, we were delighted to be named a “Beta Brokerage of the Future,” and this latest recognition just adds to our motivation and our determination to keep pushing our strategy forward.

I say it all the time, and I’ll say it again: what drives Professional One has nothing to do with “being Number 1” or “having the most agents;” for us, it’s about bringing real professionalism to real estate and providing a consistently exceptional service experience for every client that graces our door and entrusts us with their business. While the focus of our business is in Metro Detroit–primarily in Northville, Novi, Plymouth, Canton, Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Livonia and West Bloomfield–we hope to inspire others nationally to raise their bars as well.