Marketing to the world

When Jane Babcook and Mark Baron, the renowned real estate duo, decided last year to take a fresh approach to customer satisfaction in the real estate business, they knew they were onto something big.

With some muscle from powerhouse Brown Harris Stevens behind them, Baron and Babcook differentiated themselves in the space of true service by embracing the value that teamwork and a true partnership can bring to helping people get into the right home.

After a blockbuster 2017 season, the pair committed themselves to having no downtime. Instead, they continued to reinvent what it means to be “connected,” and now are bringing the Hamptons to the world and the rest of the world to the Hamptons. In essence, they looked beyond their own team to find ways to partner with their luxury peers across the globe.

“Jane and I have done extensive networking during the past year, and one of the highlights for us was the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World Convention in Las Vegas, in January, which was a huge success,” says Baron. “Around the same time, Jane attended the Inman Convention, and it was there that she discovered that the industry was taking our lead, that there is a trend towards teams across the industry. It was purely coincidental because we really feel like we were in the forefront of that a year ago. It was very affirming.”

According to Baron, that’s the future of high-roller real estate, because what buyers want now is white glove service grounded in an all hands on deck mentality, “because you must leverage local expertise to ensure an informed and perfect experience for your global customers.”

Today, that is manifested in their work through being invitation-only members of Luxury Portfolio International, the luxury face of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, the largest global network of premier locally-branded companies dominated by many of the world’s most powerful independent luxury brokerages (including Brown Harris Stevens). The network, which includes a dynamic web site, continues to grow and actually marketed over 50,000 of the world’s most remarkable homes just last year.

According to Baron, the service attracted over three million high-net-worth visitors by presenting a gallery of the finest luxury properties and brokerages worldwide, and boasts a brand that is recognized throughout the world as the luxury standard of excellence.

“Put simply, this helps us create the bicoastal, or international, connections and opportunities to cross-promote all over the world,” says Babcook. “Through this partnership, Brown Harris Stevens, and now Mark and I, have created international relationships and partnerships in major destinations and luxury markets around the world.”

Baron says a lot of Europeans have decided that they want to come to the States for a second home or simply want in on the luxury home market, and may not know exactly where they want to be based.

“This service is set up to bring our expertise to the table, and to provide the buyer with assurance that they are dealing with the most experienced brokers. There is peace of mind that comes with that, and it doesn’t matter how wealthy you are; when you are making a decision this big and potentially disruptive to your life, your peace of mind is always our top priority,” says Baron.