Melissa Shapiro Promoted to VP Sales and Marketing for FNT Maricopa

We are pleased to announce some very big and exciting changes happening here at Fidelity Phoenix. Steve de Laveaga, SVP Sales and Marketing Maricopa County, has been appointed to Senior Vice President, Regional Sales and Marketing for FNTG Western Operations. Steve has made outstanding contributions to our operation, applying his more than 20 years of sales and sales management experience to be a collaborative part of the our operations financial success. 

Melissa Shapiro
Vice President-Sales and Marketing
Fidelity National Title Agency - Maricopa

We wish Steve well in his new position, and it is with great pleasure that we announce the promotion of Melissa Shapiro to the position of Vice President-Sales and Marketing Manager for Fidelity National Title Agency-Maricopa. Melissa has worked diligently in Sales over the past five years, and she stands ready to accept her new position dedicated to creating a smooth transition.

Melissa’s tenacity, perseverance, and commitment all contribute to her proven success in her current role, and we can’t think of a better individual to lead the FNTA-Maricopa Sales Team. As Director of Sales and REO for Fidelity National Title, Melissa led a team of nine in producing record profits and growing REO markets. Her 15 years of sales experience combined with a strong desire to provide the highest level of customer service has led her to rise above a declining market and grow Fidelity’s REO market by 20% in 2010. 

Please help us in welcoming Melissa to her new position. 

Panel at Chader Event Share Insights on Leadership and Success

Steve Chader, having built a powerful team at Keller Williams in Arizona, and now having gained national attention as a leader and speaker, brought his business knowledge and leadership talent to a broad local business audience here at the Tempe Center for the Arts. The two day event, “Leading Your Business Through Today’s Market – The Chader Event”, with 450 business owners in attendance, was held at the Tempe Center of the Arts on January 12th and 13th, kicking off 2012 with a variety of respected speakers and leaders.

In a feature event, Ilana Lowery from The Phoenix Business Journal moderated a Panel of Experts including our Senior Vice President, Steve deLaveaga; Short Sale Expert, Jesse Herfel; Attorney Dax Watson; and well known Top Producer Russell Shaw. The panel shared their insights on leadership and service including how they lead their business to astonishing levels of success. Among the questions put to the panel:

1. Each of you is recognized as a leader and successful in business. That can't be accomplished without a strong vision. What is your vision for your business, what do you do to keep it strong and talk about how your leadership impacts your success?

• Herfel: Make a great team; the sum is better than the individual parts.
• Shaw: You have to really want it.
• Watson: Good affiliates.
• deLaveaga: Good service is the expectation so we can’t say that’s what sets us apart; we are stakeholders in your business. It’s never the people that you fire that hurt you, it’s the people that you keep. Never settle and the people around you won’t settle.

2. We have talked about the difference between having a job selling real estate and leading a business and/or professional practice. Give us an example of how you have done that and what was required in order to be successful.

• Watson: Culture is created by the leader in the company; like attracts like.
• deLaveaga: Do the right thing every day – FNT experienced a 734% increase in revenue because we have unapologetically and without malice changed the culture and do not tolerate any divergence from it. Don’t become a silo in your business.

3. This is a two part question. In leading your business you have had to adapt your strategy in order to be successful; a) Please tell us the most important things to you did to get where you are today, and b) Given the shift in the current market what is your strategy to take your business to the next level this year?

• Herfel: Make the decision to change your mindset and have the right people around you.
• Shaw: Start to listen and make an IMPACT.
• Watson: Treat clients how you want to be treated; create deeper relationships. Be able to deliver what you are selling; deliver results.
• deLaveaga: Create a culture of success and demand accountability. Our focus is helping Realtors access inventory in non-traditional ways through leveraging our relationships within the banking industry.

4. What do you do to create an Environment of Success in your business?

• Herfel: You have to earn it; have a great team and stay educated. Who you have in your environment is key.
• Shaw: A key skill you can’t delegate is lead generation – you must see yourself as already successful and stop looking UP at agents and start looking ACROSS.
• Watson: Spend 5 minutes a day connecting with people; listen to them and hear what they like and connect with them on that level.
• deLaveaga: Sales executive vs. business owner – it’s the ship builder vs. the ship captain mentality doing vs. mentoring- it’s a constant process.

5. What would you say are the biggest opportunities in this market and how would you take advantage of them?

• Herfel: Short sales will take over the market – they will also focus on creating their own inventory through flipping.
• Shaw: Listing based business.
• Chader: Sharing inventory with your agent relationships- utilizing your relationships vs. the MLS to advertise and find properties. Also focus on multiple transactions with the same people vs. a large group that you may only do one with.
• deLaveaga: Growing organically by getting deeper with our current stakeholders.

Leading Your Business Through Today's Market

You won't want to miss this Chader Event - Leading Your Business Through Today's Market