Continuing an ambitious hiring spree that began last year, Compass, the New York-headquartered real estate brokerage making waves with its emphasis on agent technology, on Friday named a pair of top Manhattan sales managers from Core to serve as national “agent coaches,” both brokerages confirmed.
Doug Heddings and David Innocenzi, leading sales agents with New York-based luxury real estate brokerage Core, will join Compass on March 5, where they will focus initially on training the company’s team of more than 700 agents in New York City before expanding to a national coaching platform.
Doug Heddings. Credit: Core
“The last three years at Core were some of the best years I’ve had in the industry,” Heddings, a former Douglas Elliman agent, told Inman. “I really love the culture there, I enjoyed working there, but I had reached a plateau. There was nowhere further for me to go, and I’m not going to deny that as I watched the Compass machine grow and the excitement surrounding their expansion rise, I wanted to explore whether or not I could be a part of that and whether it made sense.”
“It’s the most well-oiled machine I’ve experienced in my 26 years in the industry,” added Heddings. “Without a doubt.”
At Core, Heddings was responsible for the company’s retention, recruiting and productivity strategies, but at Compass he intends to narrow his focus to productivity, be it mentoring agents and teams, business planning and technology solutions.
“Core wishes Doug Heddings and David Innocenzi all the best in their future endeavors,” a spokeswoman for Compass said in a statement to Inman News.
The appointments follow the unveiling in November of an ambitious Compass bid to grab 20 percent of the market share in the 20 largest U.S. cities by 2020 and an unprecedented $450 million financing round that has allowed Compass to expand rapidly across the nation. Late last year, it heralded the first of three brick-and-mortar Chicago locations with the hiring of 20 new agents, including Jeff Lowe of The Lowe Group and Joe Siciliano of Coldwell Banker.
David Innocenzi Credit: David Innocenzi/LinkedIn
Earlier this year, meanwhile, Compass expanded to Dallas with the hiring of 13 agents from The Collective, a year-old brokerage founded by Christy Berry and Jonathan Rosen, and Bryan Pacholski of Briggs Freeman. More recently, it opened an office in San Diego following its acquisition of the boutique brokerage P.S. Platinum in February.
Other markets slated for new Compass outposts include Seattle, Phoenix, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte and Philadelphia. Besides the aforementioned expansions, the company currently operates in New York City and The Hamptons, Boston, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Orange County, Santa Barbara and Montecito and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dubbed “2020 By 2020,” Compass’ expansion will run in tandem with separate plans to create a custom Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform for 2,000 agents, a targeted digital marketing tool and solar-powered sales signage. Additionally, Compass has invested in a training program that Heddings and Innocenzi will help manage this year.
“Doug and David have a passion for coaching, and share our philosophy of treating agents as CEOs,” a spokeswoman for Compass said. “They will be incredible additions to the Compass team as we help our agents become even more productive.”
While undoubtedly good news for Compass, the hires are unlikely to convince skeptics in the industry who believe the company is more hype than substance.
Email Jotham Sederstrom