Sell My Timeshare NOW, the global leader in the online advertising and marketing of timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, announces the hiring of Jacqueline Russ as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Jason Tremblay, CEO and co-founder of Sell My Timeshare NOW, says, “Jackie is a tremendous asset to our executive management team. She brings -targeted expertise to our fast-growth company, which is especially important as we expand into new markets.”

Tremblay explains, “The economy is challenging industries, including the long rock-solid timeshare industry, to reevaluate products and services. Even companies like Sell My Timeshare NOW, with consistently high marks in customer satisfaction, are developing new ways to deliver more and serve our clients better.”
Jackie comes to the timeshare resales marketing company with twenty years experience in successfully leading start-up companies through periods of rapid growth. Her background includes having most recently been the President for Home Brands, Inc., a Portsmouth, New Hampshire based company where she helped double revenue and grow the company into one of the industry’s most successful home installation programs.

Prior to being with Home Brands, Jackie was the Chief Financial Officer for MicroArts Corporation, an online and offline marketing and brand strategy company, which was acquired by Cordiant Communications Group. She is also the former Chief Financial Officer for Newmarket International, provider of group sales and automated solutions in the hospitality industry. Jackie began her professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in Boston. She has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire in Durham and is a Certified Public Accountant.

“The timeshare industry is changing with emerging new business models for timeshare sales and the marketing of timeshare resales. I am excited to join Sell My Timeshare NOW at this time of growth in the company and change in the industry,” says Jackie.

About: SellMyTimeshareNOW.com, the company’s flagship website, offers internet advertising and marketing solutions and timeshare brokerage services for timeshare owners. With over 160 employees and offices in Dover, New Hampshire and Orlando, Florida, the company was recognized in 2008 and 2009 by Inc.com as one of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in America. To learn more about Sell My Timeshare NOW, visit the company’s website at www.sellmytimesharenow.com.

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), one the world’s largest hospitality companies, has been ranked among the top 100 greenest companies in America by Newsweek magazine, which also ranked the company in the top 10 of its Media, Travel and Entertainment category.

The Newsweek Green Rankings, the magazine’s first such report, is based on the environmental footprint, policies and practices of America’s 500 largest publicly traded companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees.

Newsweek ranked Wyndham Worldwide number 81 on its list based on a number of criteria including greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste emissions, use of other natural resources, management of environmental issues and policies, regulatory compliance and policies concerning climate change.

The report, published Sept. 28, also factored the results of Newsweek’s reputational survey of chief executive officers, corporate social responsibility officers, the news media, academicians and members of key environmental groups.

“We are honored to be recognized by Newsweek as a national leader in sustainability,” said Stephen P. Holmes, Wyndham Worldwide chairman and chief executive officer. “We are committed to conserving our natural resources, preserving our habitats and preventing pollution. With more than 70,000 locations in 100 countries, we can make a tremendous impact in our communities around the globe.”

WyndhamGreen by Wyndham Worldwide, the company’s sustainability program, aims to manage energy consumption as a part of the company’s overall green strategy across its businesses and brands.  Due to the Company’s numerous brands, properties and distribution points, WyndhamGreen is expected to have a large impact on the Company’s overall carbon footprint.

The recently released WyndhamGreen Global Best Practices document showcases the company’s initiatives in energy and water conservation, recycling, education, community programs and innovation. It notes that Wyndham Worldwide’s new 250,000-square-foot headquarters, located in Parsippany, New Jersey, is on target to achieve Silver LEED certification for its interior.  The building is expected to reduce water, energy and waste by 10 to 30 percent. The Company also recently received the “Green Pioneer” award from ConEdison Solutions for purchasing 100 percent of the building’s electricity from wind generation.

Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with more than 7,000 hotels and 11 brands, is implementing the EarthSmart linen reuse program to save resources and operational costs.  The company’s Super 8®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, Days Inn® and Ramada® brands currently participate.

The Wyndham® Hotels and Resorts brand developed uniforms spun from recycled plastic bottles.  Each uniform requires 66 percent less energy and 90 percent less water to produce than a standard uniform. The upscale hotel chain’s Wyndham ClearAirsm initiative features allergy-friendly rooms designed at improving air quality.

Group RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, saved 1.3 million kilowatts annually at its Parsippany headquarters and Indianapolis call center by replacing lighting fixtures and bulbs and installing motion sensors to control lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning units. Last year, RCI was the first in the vacation exchange industry to begin printing all of its resort directories and Endless Vacation magazines for members on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper. RCI also converted vacation confirmations and notifications to members from direct mail to e-mail, saving more than 5 million pieces of paper and an estimated 435 trees.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world’s largest vacation ownership business, provides low- and no-phosphate laundry and dish detergent in its resorts, an initiative that has reduced pollutants by 90,000 pounds since its inception in 2008.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s Asia Pacific division developed a sustainable destination resort on the Australian island Tasmania that practices conservation of biodiversity and restoration of the natural habitat.  The resort utilizes a state-of-the art wastewater treatment plant, and its villas were designed to resemble sea shells to fit into the environment.

“We have made tremendous progress in a short period of time,” said Faith Taylor, Wyndham Worldwide vice president of sustainability and innovation. “Although we still have much to accomplish as we evolve our strategy, we are proud of our associates and partnerships that have helped us make this world a better place.”

Additional information is available at www.Wyndham-Green.com.

About Wyndham Worldwide
As one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business–to–business customers a broad suite of hospitality products and services across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world–renowned brands.

Wyndham Hotel Group encompasses over 7,000 franchised hotels and approximately 590,200 hotel rooms worldwide. Group RCI offers its 3.8 million members access to more than 73,000 vacation properties located in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 150 vacation ownership resorts serving over 830,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 25,500 employees globally.

For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit the Company’s web site at www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

Quintessentially Estates work alongside the most prestigious estate agencies worldwide and retain strong relations within all aspects of the property industry – Ensuring a wide selection of commercial and residential properties to fit all criteria and they now have a section solely dedicated to fractional ownership.

With Quintessentially Estates this process is made easier and the stress is relieved. Not only do clients have the luxury of a building and interior service at their disposal, but they can also be comforted by the fact that the team work to ensure they are available to assist before, during and even after the sale.

Before The Sale
A meticulous brief is drawn up detailing the exact requirements of the client and this will initiate the search. Once Quintessentially Estates has sourced the best possible properties by working alongside the most prestigious estate agencies in the world, viewings will be arranged at the convenience of the client so as to limit the disruption to their lives.

As a company who understands the strain which can come from desperately trying to search for the perfect property, Quintessentially Estates ensures that the stress often experienced is eliminated. For example, for luxury property viewings the client can choose to travel in style either in a helicopter or a chauffeur driven car. The cars include Range Rovers and Jaguars.

For clients viewing properties abroad in the neighbouring countries such as Marrakech, South of France or Italy, private jets are frequently used and a preferred partner agreement with PremiAir, the leading executive helicopter charter operator, has just been signed.

During The Sale
The team at Quintessentially Estates are there to offer any help they can which includes the recommendation of legal advisors, lawyers, surveyors and financial advisors, as well as expert advice on the best schools, doctors and restaurants in each area.

After The Sale
In the days after the sale Quintessentially Estates really stands out from the rest in what it has to offer. Available to the client is a full team of builders, cleaners, moving in services, designers, interior decorators and electricians who can help with any job whether it is big or small. The building service is especially comforting to the client as this is an industry in which work is often not carried through and promises not kept. Their tradesmen are picked for being experienced, hard-working, and, above all, extremely reliable. The result is a project which is finished with the minimum amount of stress and, most importantly, on time and to budget.

Overall, Quintessentially Estates manages to safeguard the comfort and happiness of the client during a process which is often incredibly stressful, at the same time as ensuring the sale of the property runs smoothly and all the individual requirements of the client are met.

Clients come to Quintessentially Estates because of their reputation and they remain loyal as they receive a personal service unrivalled by any other company. They are committed to delivering results, combining integrity and dedication whilst ensuring a high degree of experience and expertise.

Interiors and after sales
Quintessentially Estates has on-site specialist staff who are on hand 24 hours a day with expert knowledge and understanding of all housing related services including building, interior and landscape design.

Quintessentially Builders
Quintessentially Builders was established to meet a demand for professional, reliable and experienced residential building services in an industry which often fails to deliver on promises. Carrying out all types of residential building works of £20,000 upwards in the London area, QB understand that when busy clients undertake building works, they want a product delivered with the minimum of stress, on time and to budget.

Interior design service
Quintessentially Estates work with an exclusive residential interior design company, offering a high-end service from concept development through to complete project management. As well as interiors, their experienced interiors team represents a team of specialist product designers, giving you access to truly unique items for the home.

Their portfolio includes international properties across Europe and the Caribbean, London apartments, town houses, country estates, listed buildings, restaurants and nightclubs.

Landscape, garden & exterior
design service Quintessentially Estates have a multi-award winning landscape design practice offering a comprehensive service from initial meeting and concept development to design implementation. Their international portfolio ranges from chic urban courtyards and penthouse sun terraces to sweeping country house estates and villas.

Quintessentially Wine
If you’re investing in a property through Quintessentially Estates, you will automatically gain access to the exclusive Quintessentially Wine service.

Whether assisting you in stocking an existing cellar, or creating one for you, they will be able to provide you with an unparalleled quality of service and advice. Quintessentially Wine work with some of the finest chateaux in Bordeaux, the best producers in Burgundy, and have access to the most desirable and collectable wine estates worldwide.

They have experts in cellar construction who are among the finest in the world, and have created spaces for clients that have been praised as much for their beauty as for their ability to store wine in perfect conditions.

Quintessentially Art
Quintessentially Art will help you put the finishing touches on your dream property with some of the finest art in the world. Keeping your lifestyle and preferences in mind, we will work closely with you to create a collection that reflects your personality and individual style, transforming your property into an expression of your impeccable taste, with unique treasures that you and your guests can savour for years to come.

Foreign Exchange
Foreign Exchange remains the most liquid and important market worldwide, previously only traded by Central Banks, Speculators and Governments, the retail investor is becoming increasingly more exposed to volatile movements and asset depreciation. There is no avoiding the significance a market move can have on a client buying an International property, but with the correct planning and advice, you can minimize all currency risk and reduce the cost of the property purchase.

The Quintessentially Group has grown to become a portfolio of complementary businesses that cover every facet of luxury lifestyle. With an ever-expanding presence around the globe, and available to both members and non-members of the private club and concierge service, each Quintessentially business is led by specialists with unrivalled expertise.

Quintessentially Estates which has a London office in Belgravia Square is a sister company to Quintessentially. It is a leading global property company which works with top end properties and developments across the world.

Through Quintessentially’s network of offices in the UK, Europe, America, Asia, the Middle East and South Africa, Quintessentially Estates offers an extensive search service across the commercial and residential market, for both investors and occupiers. Quintessentially Estates understands the pressures of today’s world and is committed to delivering results, combining integrity and dedication with experience and expertise.

Whether individuals are relocating or looking for residential, investment properties in the UK or abroad, Quintessentially Estates is on hand to advise and guide the client throughout the entire search process.
For more information visit www.quintessentiallyestates.com or call +44 (0) 845 224 3658

By Dr. Stephen Kraus and Dr. Jim Taylor

Turbulent markets are rarely as bad as the media portrays. And, as we have all learned the hard way, market upswings are often built on the weakest of foundations, another fact that the media is inclined to overlook (at least while the money is flowing).

We have spent much of the past decade studying top performing salespeople in a variety of high-end categories, and have found that one trait they share is the tendency to see opportunity in good times and in bad. Indeed, it turns out that this is one characteristic they share with their upscale prospects. Throughout the last year, the affluent and wealthy who considered real estate “a real opportunity” outnumbered those who considered it “a real risk” by two-to-one. Among those with at least $10 million in assets, the figure rises to three-to-one.

Today’s economic turmoil has certainly removed the “aspirational” customer from most timeshare and fractional markets. But among the truly upscale customers who do the bulk of the buying and traveling, there has not been the whole exodus from the market one might expect. Among those with at least $100,000 in discretionary income (roughly the top 10% of economic spectrum, encompassing just over ten million households), approximately 15% own a timeshare, and 2% own a fractional property – figures essentially unchanged by the economic gyrations of the past few months. That is not to say, however, that the market hasn’t changed. Expectations, goals, hot buttons – all are significantly different from just a few months ago.

Sales strategies must evolve with the times, and to that end, we offer five keys for selling to the affluent and wealthy, in good times and bad. These insights come in part from an extensive series of studies about wealth in America which culminated in our book, The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy (AMACOM, 2008). The cornerstone of this research effort has been the Annual Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America, a continuous tracking study that is psychographically- and demographically-representative of America’s financial elite. We produce this research in conjunction with American Express Publishing, an organization that truly has its finger on the pulse of the wealthy population by publishing titles such as Travel + Leisure, Departures and Food and Wine.

Understand the myths and realities of wealth today
Over 80% of the general U.S. population believes that most wealthy people inherited their wealth. In reality, less than 10% inherited their wealth, as the vast majority created their own wealth through entrepreneurship and corporate leadership. And that’s not the only prevalent misconception about the wealthy. Our research has found that they are widely viewed as lazy, self-centered, insensitive to the concerns of others, and focused on conspicuous consumption. Instead they tend to be hard-working, modest, and more prone to a philosophy we call “stealth wealth” rather than conspicuous consumption.

These common misperceptions are not limited to the average person on the street. In a survey we conducted with AgencySacks, an advertising agency specializing in the luxury market, we discovered that even CEOs and CMOs of luxury companies profoundly misread the market. These senior executives also vastly overestimated the appeal and prevalence of conspicuous consumption. They believed, for example, that a majority of wealthy people want others to know they are wealthy; in fact, less than one-in-five feel that way. Similarly, nearly half of the wealthy agree “luxury items like expensive watches, jewelry and cars are a waste of money,” while the senior executives predicted that less than one-in-five would agree with that statement. They also misread other elements of their target’s profile as well, underestimating how happy the wealthy are (it turns out that money can buy an extra bit of happiness), and overestimated how many are divorced (despite stereotypes of “trophy wives,” most are still married to their first spouse).

Sell value
Another misconception about the wealthy, among laypeople and marketers alike, is that they spend freely and are insensitive to price. In fact, a profound value-orientation runs deep in consumer psyche of the affluent and wealthy. This mindset has its roots in their middle-class upbringings, played a key role in their business and financial success, and has intensified in today’s economic uncertainty. Even among consumers averaging $10 million in assets, eight-in-ten describe their sense of financial security as shaken, and nearly half are worried about running out of money.

A strong value proposition is certainly a must for selling in today’s market. But it is important to remember that selling value does not necessarily mean offering the lowest price. In fact, price is an important cue that sophisticated buyers use as one indicator of quality, and price drops can raise questions about value among prospects. Moreover, it potentially frustrates a salesperson’s most valuable resource – relationships with past clients – by making them feel less-than-smart for having purchased at higher prices in the past.

One obvious effect of today’s economic slowdown is heightened price sensitivity among buyers; but paradoxically, it has also created something of a flight to quality. When it comes to vacation and real estate spending in particular, today’s upscale consumer is very hesitant to trade down in terms of quality. When we asked how the economy was shaping their personal travel spending, the most common answer was expecting to stay in the same quality of  accommodations, but expecting to get a better deal. Value expectations are high, but so are expectations about quality and service. In this environment, the most successful salespeople will be those who are able to hold the line on pricing, while building perceptions of value. This might take the form of building an economic case for the likely future value of the property, as well as enhancing their portfolio of value-added services (such as rental management, exchange programs, concierge services, etc.).

Remember that the angel is in the details
Indeed, when we ask the wealthy what they like about particular brands, the list is typically topped by quality, craftsmanship and service. The social and emotional benefits of brands – feeling or looking successful, for example – have dropped in dramatically in importance as the economic slowdown has taken hold. At the intersection of quality and craftsmanship are details – the subtleties of design and experience that are proof of extraordinary quality.

It is subtle, even sublime, details that define the world’s most exceptional brands, and most impressive properties. A salesperson should be armed with the detail-rich stories that engage the imagination about the property, the destination, the amenities, the design, the architecture, the local culture, and more. Travel and vacation-home ownership are about value, but they are still fundamentally about allure of far-off places, and the wanderlust that lives deep in the human species. It is details, not adjectives, that stir these emotions.

Sell to the team, and the new team leader
Regardless of who the primary breadwinner is, it is the female head of household who ultimately makes most major decisions in today’s affluent and wealth families. Yes, when asked about travel spending and real estate purchases, over 80% of both genders describe the decisions as shared. But make no mistake about who is really in charge; the vast majority of women today – across all income levels – agree “In the end, my opinion determines the family financial decisions.” We’ve called it The New American Matriarchy, or more colloquially, the rise of the Mom-ocracy.

Women are in charge, and they have a decidedly different approach to purchasing, and to family leadership, which must be acknowledged. Her decision making is collaborative and consensus-building; every family member’s opinion matters, and everyone’s input is respected, including that of the kids. A salesperson who strives to impress the male will implicitly patronize the female and fundamentally misread the best opportunities for closing the sale. Women lead the trend toward a stronger emphasis on value, and although it may be an unfair generalization to label half the population “risk-averse,” it is fair to point out that they generally weigh risk and reward differently from men. As one of our colleagues put it: “Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. If they had been Lehman Sisters, they’d still be here.”

Love your job
Most wealthy people didn’t set out to be wealthy. They set out to pursue a passion, did it well, and found that wealth was a largely unexpected outcome of their efforts. Acknowledging your love for your work can be a powerful way of connecting, and for easing the unspoken class distinctions that can make both the prospect and the salesperson uncomfortable. Keep in mind that wealthy prospects have finely-tuned BS detectors, honed by years of successful business experience. Expressing your love for your job only works if it is authentic, and it will likely be detected if it is not.

About the Authors

Jim Taylor

Jim Taylor and Stephen Kraus (along with Doug Harrison) are co-authors of The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy, hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “indispensable to marketers.”

Dr. Taylor is Vice-Chairman of Harrison Group, a marketing research and strategy firm. A widely-recognized authority on marketing to the affluent, he was once named Marketer of the Year by BrandWeek, and is honored as a Distinguished Alumni at his alma mater, Michigan State University.

Dr. Kraus is a Vice-President with Harrison Group, and holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University.

Stephen Kraus

The data cited in the article are from The Annual Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America, which Harrison Group produces in conjunction with American Express Publishing. The authors’ next book, on selling to the wealthy, is slated for publication in 2010. The authors can be reached at www.HarrisonGroupInc.com.

Perspective Magazine met with Sherman Potvin at the Ragatz Fractional Interest Conference in San Francisco and we were intrigued to hear about the industry veteran’s new project, Fractional Homes International.

Perspective: Can you start by giving us some background on yourself and your company?

We have LuxuryFractionalguide.com which is the largest fractional website in the world, and we geared that website to be consumer oriented, We wanted to do two things: obviously make money in the long term, but what I had discovered 15 years prior is that the education of the general public is crucial if this was going to be a success. Because the website is consumer oriented, we write articles and updates and we now have a blog to further educate the public on the pitfalls and the promises of fractional sales and the benefits of course of why people are buying fractions and why developers are selling them.

Luxuryfractionalguide.com has been like a window on the world of fractionals for me that very few people have.

One of the things I learnt quickly was… have “Ask The Expert” on that website and I often at times want to just rip it down! Because I get so many questions, but I’m the sort of guy that will answer them, people take the time, so I answer them, so there I am 10, 11, 12 o’clock at night, I’m at my computer and sometimes I’m like “god these questions!”

So I thought I could alleviate some of the questions by writing a book because the questions are mostly from home owners around the world, I’m not talking just America, but Bulgaria and New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East and the Far East, everywhere, in fact it was amazing to see where they came from.

So, I wrote my book, as I said about 18 months ago, Fractionalize to Maximize, and it served a purpose to some degree, I’ve sold over 2000 copies from people all over the world, so the book has been helpful but yet it’s created even more questions as I had wanted to keep it in layman’s terms and there’s more to selling a property than just what’s in the book, this is more about how to get your property ready to sell.

So, I knew, and I’ve known for a couple of years that the niche within the niche of fractional ownership, is the one off standing homes, the single vacation home where people want to sell them in this economy and can’t, but even in good economies when, two, three or four years ago when the economy was rolling, people were wanting to sell in fractions to maximize their return, and, they understood that if they could sell some fractions of their home, keep a fraction, they could have their cake and eat it too. They could still go to visit their place but they didn’t have all the costs associated with ownership.

So, what with that, I started to think about developing Fractional Homes International, which is a franchise company, and basically, our goal here is to produce talented, knowledgeable, trained people – real estate related people – whether they’re real estate license agents or small developers or investors who want to buy a home and turn it into fractions. This company will serve all those people – with our “bible”, what we call our training manual – which is 14 months in the writing. This will serve our franchisees with the knowledge to be able to, from A to Z, take someone’s home, and sell it out in fractions.

There’s nobody consulting today that wants to deal with a one off home because there’s no money in it. Myself and the six or eight other people who do consulting for the larger developers, we tend to stick with the larger developers because a) the homeowner can’t afford us and b) there’s not enough long term money in selling a one off home for us.

So, I know that the people who graduate and come out of our training as franchisees will be busy right away because the market’s so huge, especially with the economy the way it is, so much beautiful real estate for sale at bargain prices, and even at bargain price there not moving. This is a way to move the person’s home and get a fair price for it. So, in a nutshell, I’m hoping Fractional Homes International will be the vehicle to springboard the vacation home owner from around the world ahead faster, the true fractional industry is going to be growing, the first niche has got to come out of the box.

I believe that the industry itself is going to recover much quicker than whole ownership real estate. I think people are going to be looking for alternative ownership where they can have a little chance of an investment, not as much money, be able to vacation in a much more expensive, nicer home than they normally could afford with a fraction of the cost and I think that’s where the industry is going.

Perspective: So, you’re going to train people to then consult consumers on how to fractionalize their homes– are you also going to help advertise those homes for sale, through the website?

Absolutely – our website will have those homes on it, our Fractional Homes International website, but also those homes will be on Luxury Fractional Guide as part of the deal. So they’ll have two different avenues of advertising. I really plan on this company being Number 1 in the world a year from now in the fractional industry.

I’m going to spend the money to do it, I’m committed to it and we plan to put this website out by mid-summer in five languages. We truly want to be international because the market is international. The long term goal is to have a master franchise, someone for Europe, and in the UK, someone Down Under, and every country that seems to have taken to the fractional concept. South Africa has more fractional programmes going on right now than we do, it’s crazy, its caught fire over there and so I would expect I would licence someone there to be a franchise for Fractional Homes International.

I envision this being a global company where they can all exchange inside the network and all the franchisees would have the advantage of being able to communicate with each other on what’s working and what’s not in different areas and what they did to a particular house to make it special, or where they put money that didn’t work etc.

I mean, the education within this company five years from now, with maybe four or five hundred or a thousand, even, agents, is going to be unbelievable, and it’s just going to make us all that much better.

Perspective: So for example, if someone owned a fraction of a home in San Francisco they could change it with someone in South Africa through you?

Of course. Right now we are bringing into play our own fractional exchange called Luxury Fractional Exchange but we envision maybe as soon as two years down the road, the company will have its own exchange system within the company as we’ll have that many homes being fractionalized and that will make it even nicer and more reason for people to join us.

Perspective: How would that work alongside some of the larger people you work with? Do you envisage being able to get the exchange company to a point where they’ll accept people from stand alone homes into theirs or do you think they’ll keep it totally separate?

No, not at all – I know all of the guys from the exchange companies , I’ve been in this industry all my life practically it seems, but, I know all the players, and they’re not particularly interested in getting into the one off single stand alone home as it doesn’t give them enough critical mass to be effective. Our exchange will be unique to vacation home owners and small developers.

Perspective: What would you class as a small developer?

Ten units or less. Anything over ten units we wouldn’t allow them on, we wouldn’t want them to dilute the product.

Perspective: I’m looking at your training manual and its huge – what sort of things are included? What does it entail? And do you get some sort of certification at the end?

Well yes. And of course, we follow this manual all through training and during the whole week of intense training, day and night actually, we do a mythical home, we actually do a whole home all the way through sales and marketing – the whole thing.

But obviously this is all in depth, and we only touch the highlights through training, but when someone has this manual when they graduate, they take it with them. They never really own this, we always own it, they just have it on loan and if they ever lose it or someone copies it, they’re gone. This is really serious material.

But to answer your question, the manual was built like this because we really, really wanted our franchisees to be – when they’re confronted with a little bit of a problem such as a different house, different location, something different about that particular project – not to have to call our mentors on a 24/7 basis – 99% of what they’re looking for is going to be found right here in the manual.

Perspective: So would people come to you in a training centre?

Yes – our next training will be in Denver, Colorado in July

Perspective: And how many people would come along to that?

25 – We don’t allow any more than that – we want it to be intimate, get to know the mentors really well because that’s who they’ll be working with. We’re all going to mentor these people so that they don’t make mistakes and they get off on the right track.

Perspective: And that lasts for one week and then they have an exam they have to pass to get their qualification?

There is a mini exam at the end. They get a certificate and with the certification they get to use all our marques on all of their materials, on their websites, and they are an accredited fractional consultant. For a real estate agent it would be invaluable because they’ll have such a leg up on their competition by virtue of being able to say both on their website and on all their collateral and in their office with our emblem that they have in-house – a person that can fractionalise your home from start to finish. I think that’s going to add tremendous value a year down the road.

Perspective: Do the homes have to have certain criteria – or a certain value? Would it be you that would select those homes or they would have to come to you for approval or some description?

Yes, definitely, we have our operations manual and our standards, and our ethics. All of this is related to our relationship with the person that comes to us and wants to sell their home. It definitely has to meet criteria, location of course being first and foremost, but then the fit and finish, the furnishings, the surroundings, accessibility, the landscaping. It has to be really perfect to be successful – the owner has to understand what needs to be done in order for their home to be right and if he doesn’t we are going to walk away and go to the next one. Because, we really can’t afford to fail – that’s the bottom line, we’ve got to make every one of our projects work in order for the company to grow.

So yeah, we’re hoping that we set the standards for integrity and success in this industry. There’s a lot of people breaking out in this industry claiming to be fractional experts and they’ve never even been on a project before – it’s embarrassing – I see their website and go, “my god, I know that person, that person doesn’t even know anything about this” – but the average consumer doesn’t know this. A lot of people don’t do due diligence and don’t make the phone calls and then they get themselves in trouble and they put thousands of dollars up and fail. So, we’re hoping that we can set the standard in the industry so that others will want to follow it and just to make it the right way so the consumer has confidence in this product; it’s an alternative product, not run of the mill real estate, as everyone knows and understands it. Now, if we all do it right it’s going to be successful. That’s our goal.