Jerry Hammond: Humble, Hungry, Global Success

Jerry Hammond (00:00)
Reinvention is a real key to staying relevant in the marketplace. People in general are short-term thinkers today. They judge you in two to three seconds on whether they want to deal with you or not. If you’re not making that initial impact, you’re not going to get your message across to them, no matter what you’re doing.

Scott Bursey (01:52)
Hi everybody and welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey and today I’m joined by someone I’ve really been looking forward to chatting with, Jerry Hammond. Jerry is engaging, he’s inspiring and he’s the CEO and founder of Hammond International Properties, a boutique luxury real estate firm in Toronto, Canada.

Jerry is a leading industry expert recognized by a diverse network of high net worth and ultra high net worth clientele, notable personalities and industry professionals locally and internationally. As a multi award winning real estate broker and trusted industry mentor, Jerry’s knowledge and expertise of purpose driven success is founded on his philosophy, stay humble, stay hungry. Jerry, welcome to the show.

Jerry Hammond (02:42)
Thank you very much and thank you for having me. We appreciate being here and the opportunity to ⁓ talk to your audience.

Scott Bursey (02:49)
It is our pleasure. And I think our audience is really going to take something away from your belief that luxury isn’t a price point. It’s an experience. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Jerry Hammond (03:01)
Absolutely.

Scott Bursey (03:03)
So first off, for people who may not be familiar with your world, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days?

Jerry Hammond (03:12)
Yeah, so ⁓ we are focused on the luxury market. We continue to do so. We feel that we’re serving at the highest level ⁓ within this marketplace. You’ve got to be very respectful. ⁓ You’ve got to understand and be in tune with that clientele. And of course, make sure that the work that you provide and the service that you provide is at the highest of levels. So that’s what we do, and that’s how we do it. And we do it really well.

We’ve been honoured by being ⁓ the world’s number one luxury firm by the International Property Awards in London, England and one of the top 100 firms in the world. And that’s not easily achievable.

Scott Bursey (03:50)
No, it’s not. So you are operating on a global level.

Jerry Hammond (03:55)
Yes, we are.

Scott Bursey (03:56)
Love it, love it. What caught my attention about you was the fact that you’ve managed to maintain a day one work ethic despite being at the absolute pinnacle of the global luxury market. What’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly, Jerry?

Jerry Hammond (04:10)
Yeah.

You know, I think for many years I just didn’t want to fail. And I’ve had some great mentors and people that have surrounded me over the years, some people that have excelled in their own lives, ⁓ in their personal businesses, and that was my driving force. And they left clues behind. And those clues sort of opened the doors to the desire that I wanted to achieve and be like them in many ways, ⁓ but obviously in the real estate industry. And so that’s what led the path. ⁓

And so for years now, I’m an avid reader. I wake up early in the morning, make sure that your mindset is correct and that we share that with the team every day. And that sort of keeps us going. And you just have to be optimistic about life and it’s amazing what it returns back to you.

Scott Bursey (05:49)
Absolutely, hey I’m with you on that, I couldn’t agree more. It’s impressive that you’ve reached that level of autonomy. Was there a specific moment or a particular deal where you realized, okay hey, this is actually working?

Jerry Hammond (06:06)
Yeah, so years ago, well, prior to Hammond International Properties, I was with another organization. In 2007, I had helped over a thousand families move. In 2011, I was top 25 in the world out of over a hundred thousand agents globally with that organization. And that was quite a large organization. And so they had asked me to open up the luxury division for them because I went into the, I took my business into this direction because it was really about time.

So I knew that I was selling real estate. I was going to make it a lifelong journey. And I knew that I also want to spend time with friends and family. And ⁓ I had to understand how to diversify my time. So in order to do that, you could get paid more in real estate by selling more expensive product. And that would give you some of your time back. And then from that path onwards, it just led to a true understanding and an eagerness to actually fulfill myself in that end of the market.

Scott Bursey (07:07)
Now Jerry, every operator I know has a moment where things got real. Maybe a deal that went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. You mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Jerry Hammond (07:21)
Yeah, certainly. So, you know, it happens quite often. Let’s face it, you know, it’s the real estate industry. You know, it’s not like buying a commercial property where you’re just looking at the return on investment. There’s a lot of emotions in the way. And so you have to be very sensitive to that. It’s good to understand negotiation skills. You know, it’s good to understand some psychology courses so you can understand people in general and just be compassionate, show a lot of empathy.

Because deals do go sideways, but the smart thing about it is you can’t let your emotions get in the way. You just have to move beyond it, unfortunately. Because if you get caught up in the moment, it’ll drag you into a direction that you don’t necessarily want to be. So remaining focused, remaining optimistic, know, keep having that friendship. You know, keep the relationship going. I mean, we call it a business relationship, but when you’re selling and buying homes for people…

there’s a huge emotional component to it. So really that’s the most important part to think. When you have a long term vision versus just a short term vision to make the sale. You can’t be in the business and think short term and just think that you’re in it for the commission. I mean that’s going to take you right out of the industry. Unfortunately there’s too many people in the industry that just only think that way. But if you have a long term growth pattern and you want to make a mark in the marketplace.

and create a company that supersedes ⁓ your competitors, then you have to think long-term on a broader scale. And customer service, relationships, ⁓ understanding how to build those bonds is extremely important.

Scott Bursey (08:58)
Getting back on the horse and having that long-term vision is key. Looking at your business today, what tripwire or system have you built specifically so this exact misfortune doesn’t occur again, Jerry?

Jerry Hammond (09:16)
Yeah, you know, we set up a great team. So I’m just, you know, I’m just leading the team and sort of directing the team. But we’ve attracted a lot of incredible people that are supporting our mission and our journey. And each and every one of them is responsible 24 hours a day to keep us, you know, keep the public informed as to what we’re doing through our social channels. Then we have a great team of realtors. So we’ve got about 10 people on our marketing side that help keep us sustained and maintained.

and make sure that we’re part of the public eye all the time through our YouTube page, through our social channels, through anything that we can do to capture attention out in the marketplace. ⁓ Then we’ve got the sales team, and they’re about 15 strong. And these people are all cherry picked. And we make sure that we’re very selective about who’s on that team.

We don’t choose people for the sake of being on the team. If you’re breathing and you have a license, it doesn’t mean you can join us. We go through a regimented process to make sure that they have

the right qualities that we want in order to support the company out there in the marketplace. And they can demonstrate their skill set accordingly.

Scott Bursey (10:56)
That’s the kind of recipe that I don’t hear too often. And honestly, it’s what separates the folks who just dabble from the ones who stay in the game long term. Let me ask you this, what are you most focused on solving or scaling next?

Jerry Hammond (11:01)
Great.

Yeah, so ⁓ the company has been focusing on single-family residential for the most part, although we’ve gotten involved with a lot of developers. And what we’ve done in the past is, you know, let’s say we’re dealing with a mass production builder who essentially focuses on that part of the market and they want to have a luxury division for their development projects. We’ll rebrand that development project, rebrand their name, rebrand the way they showcase out in the marketplace.

And we’ve been really succeeding at that. We were awarded 17 homes up in the Markham area. We rebranded the entire project. We sold homes anywhere from 3.1 million to 5.1 million. And we ended up selling the model home. And then we sold it all from paper. And that was an interesting venture. We assist some of the largest developers in Canada. And obviously, we deal with them on a personal basis. But we also…

you know, do a lot of business with them and they’ve really enjoyed doing business with us. We really showcase them in a very different light and bring a new perspective to who they are as their own brand and the association and the complementary shift that we provide for them is pretty incredible.

Scott Bursey (12:31)
a refreshing perspective, I might add. So what’s the next real goal for you? The bullseye, if you will.

Jerry Hammond (12:40)
Yeah, well, you know, I think first and foremost, we’ve got to get through this marketplace and, you know, getting through this marketplace is quite tricky. And this is where fundamentals come into, you know, into reality for everyone. You know, things are not necessarily working the way we want them to, or, you know, the sales aren’t happening as consistently as we want them to, even though we’ve had a stellar year to begin. But it’s only because of the effort that we’re making, you know, and then we have a lot of the right inventory.

So now we’ve got to set the benchmark as to what our expectations are for the year. And what does that look like? Well, we’ve gone back to the team and we said, OK, you know, if the listings to sales ratio was, you know, four out of 10 homes selling, it’s now down to three homes out of 10 homes selling. So you’re going to have that much inventory that you have to host in order to be, you know, part of the marketplace. So the marketplace, you know, will come to you and you’ll sell product irregardless of the times. So it takes that

that strength to really go out there and a concerted effort with my ideas and then of course to the team to demonstrate that out in the marketplace. What I find is a lot of organizations, the leader in the company is not directing the people in the organization in general terms. And so I can only talk about franchises for instance. So when I’ve seen the franchise model, the franchise model is all about the hiring process.

and get as many people as you can and whoever sinks, sinks, whoever swims, swims. For us, that’s never been the, I guess, the focus, just because I figured it doesn’t work. you can get paid on incidental costs, but you’re not going to be focusing on production. Whereas the firm that we created here is focusing on strictly on production, which is an entirely, we kind of flipped the entire business model in order to support that.

Scott Bursey (14:34)
That is fantastic. And it’s just great to hear that that philosophy has taken you to the level that it has. That is just awesome. A lot of people in the industry treat the door count or revenue like the final scoreboard. For you, is hitting those numbers the win itself or just the capital you need to stay in a much bigger game?

Jerry Hammond (14:52)
Right.

Yeah, so I’ve never really focused on numbers. It’s never been my primary focus. My primary focus has always been building the relationships, being respected out in the marketplace, and creating great work. So the quality of work that we demonstrate that we do, when we’re showcasing that to customers, they’re embracing it, they’re finding value in it. They understand that in order to position themselves in today’s environment, they’re going to need leverage out in the marketplace, and we help support that. And that’s the biggest changing factor.

I was part of a guest speaking arrangement last week through a group called the Buzz Conference and there were a lot of ⁓ other luxury agents there and what I’m finding is people are still doing things like they did 30, 40 years ago and those fundamentals are important but they haven’t evolved, they haven’t changed, they haven’t implemented new strategies to get noticed and if you look at some of the famous singers in the world that have stayed relevant

They’re always reinventing themselves.

Reinvention is a real key to staying relevant in the marketplace. People in general are short-term thinkers today. They judge you in two to three seconds on whether they want to deal with you or not. If you’re not making that initial impact, you’re not going to get your message across to them, no matter what you’re doing.

Scott Bursey (17:03)
That’s big. Now that next move can either compound things for you or create chaos depending on how you play it. Now I know a lot of our audiences either earlier in their journey or looking to level up and Jerry I think they benefit from hearing this from you. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Jerry Hammond (17:30)
The biggest difference is understand that every person you come across, every person that you meet could be a potential client or they know somebody. I’m going to share a story from years ago. I was hosting an open house in an area where at that time homes were relatively expensive. This home was in the two point ⁓ four million dollar range. you know, back then that was expensive for this neighborhood. And I remember hosting the open house. This gentleman comes in.

The car is not the greatest of vehicles. It’s a station wagon. It looks like it’s rusted. ⁓ He comes out of the vehicle. But, you know, when you’re young, you treat everybody with respect and you, you know, you want to make the best of a situation. So I was very pleasant to him. I took him through the properties and through the property and showed him around. After his little tour, he comes back. He says, I want you to know something. Because of my appearance and because of my vehicle, a lot of people didn’t allow me in the home.

but I’m gonna share something with you. My uncle’s coming in from the Middle East and because you were so kind to me and you showed me around and showed me some respect, I’m gonna refer him to you. And I just thought nothing of it at the time, but I got the call two weeks later and we sold them a home in what’s known as the bridal path here in Toronto. And that kind of changed my way of thinking and never decided to judge a book by its cover and just be respectful to everybody. And that sort of philosophy took my…

took me by surprise because it’s very long-term thinking. So now in an industry where people are coming and going and we’re realizing that maybe 70 to 80 % drop out by their second year, unless you have that long-term horizon line that you’re actually going to make a business out of it or enjoy the journey that you’ve been provided with, then that’s the only way to think. Otherwise, you know what, short-term thinking, short-term gains.

doesn’t create long-term longevity.

Scott Bursey (19:28)
Jerry, we all wake up in the morning with the opportunity to do things right. And that was a perfect example. Thank you for sharing that. Everyone says provide value. But when you were starting out and you didn’t have a huge bank account or a massive portfolio, what was your currency? How did you actually get the attention of the heavy hitters?

Jerry Hammond (19:54)
Yeah, you know, that’s a good question because somebody pointed it out to me years ago and he was probably the best coach that I’ve ever had in life. He’s passed on now. He my late father-in-law. But he said to me, he says, it’s your personality. Comes down to your personality. You know, if you can’t win by showing value through anything else, at least be kind and generous and compassionate to people and be respectful. And I think that is the highest form of currency.

as to the rest of the value that comes into play, that becomes your historic work, the quality of work that you put forward, and that’s sort of the next level in terms of where you have to take it.

Scott Bursey (20:32)
Absolutely, and you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in this space. And I think a lot of people underestimate the compound interest of a good relationship, Jerry. One solid connection today might not pay off for, you know, three years. But when it does, it’s usually the biggest win of your career.

Jerry Hammond (20:36)
No, you can’t.

Yes.

Right? You know, I was referred ⁓ to one of the largest developers in Canada years ago and he wanted to sell his personal property. And I didn’t want to do any paperwork. I just wanted to shake his hand. I was a little intimidated by him at the very beginning. I wanted to do the right thing. I didn’t want to do the wrong thing. And so I did business with him on a handshake. And obviously today that’s changed. But I said, so, you know, what is it that you want? How much do you want for the property? You know, I may have a buyer.

I did have a buyer at the time, I ended up selling it. And then we did business on a handshake. He says, well, what’s your normal commission rate? And I told him what it was and he said, well, would you accept this? And I said, absolutely, it sounds reasonable. And we ended up conducting business that way. So, and to this day, that developer has said for many years and extended, you know, what I have done for him. And he said that, you know, I don’t trust anybody else except for Jerry Hammond. So that was a real compliment. And that really said a lot at that time.

Scott Bursey (21:57)
It says a lot about you and what you have been able to offer the world, society. Thank you for sharing that as well. All right, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to contact you?

Jerry Hammond (22:16)
Well, we’ve got all the social platforms on Hammond International Properties. We’ve got our YouTube channel. You can contact me on Jerry Hammond Leadership through Instagram. I’ve got a LinkedIn page as well. ⁓ Or our YouTube or our website at HammondInternationalProperties.com. Or Jerry Hammond if you search the internet and Google the name, you’ll find us. And that’s the way you can contact us. We’ve got a 1-877-number.

That’s toll free from North America. So feel free to call I’m at extension 3000 or just send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to talk to anyone We’re also offering a master class in fall So we’ve developed a system that we follow through here in the organization because it’s talked to everybody here in the company And we’re going to be going public with that in October

Scott Bursey (23:08)
Perfect. Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and definitely your perspective. We need more people in this space who are doing it the right way. Thanks again for being here.

Jerry Hammond (23:20)
Thank you.

I appreciate that. And thank you.

Scott Bursey (23:24)
And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Jerry, who are out there building real businesses. We’ll see you in the next episode, everybody.