The Biggest Thing I've Learned as a Manager

The key to successful marketing lies in the ability to seamlessly communicate with consumers – to know what they want, when they want it, and communicate to them how they can get it. In a world of incredibly competitive industries, quick and efficient marketing can be the difference between a business surviving, or not. 

Chrissy Nolen, the CMO of Colliers, Houston, has made a name for herself as a person who can see the places where critical communication can be improved, and Colliers, a leading commercial real estate brokerage and investment management company has benefited greatly from her vision. 

“We were very fortunate not to lay anybody off during COVID – we actually went through a huge growth phase. We were having to onboard people remotely, which was new and challenging in and of itself. But these metrics that we were able to pull – we realized that if we created dashboards for our clients, that we weren’t losing any property.” 

To hear all about how Chrissy went from a front-desk manager at a boutique real estate firm with a bold idea to switch to digital invitations to Chief Marketing Officer for one of the largest real estate companies in the world, be sure to tune into this week’s episode of Marketing Trends. 

Main Takeaways

• Say yes to big challenges. If there’s an opportunity to showcase your unique talents in a work environment, say yes to the challenge – even if you’re not completely sure about the nuts and bolts. Even if you’ll have to google “how to” before starting. The chance to shine and prove your worth doesn’t happen every day – jump at it when it comes! 
• Lean into new communication styles. Leading groups of diverse people can be a challenging task, and the key component of team leadership is the ability to communicate and listen to your team. If something isn’t working, try approaching the problem from a different angle. Ask new questions, and you might just get some new answers. 
• Sometimes it’s a good thing to hit pause. When COVID hit, Chrissy’s team was about to launch an entirely new interface. Instead of being frustrated at the hiccup in their plan, Chrissy and her team took the time to make sure everyone was well-versed in the technology – and that break, that step-down, made it so that when they were ready to launch, everyone was ready. Sometimes, you go farther when you take a beat to make sure you’re ready for the sprint. If an unexpected break comes your way, embrace it. 

Key Quotes

“The biggest thing I learned [about leadership] was how to empower people… I was ready to let somebody go just because it seemed like they weren’t working. Fortunately, I had a great mentor that led me to some great management tips. I was able to turn around and simply by asking ‘what is it that you need from me to be successful?’ and ‘what can I do to help you?’... we were able to turn things around.”   

“The biggest thing we’ve done to align [with sales] is the age-old ‘start and stop’. What should we start doing? What should we stop doing? What should we keep doing? That turned into… ‘hey, let’s brainstorm about this initiative. Let’s flesh this out.’” 

“I’m most excited about how easy it’s becoming to connect our technologies and being able to do things without an expensive third-party platform.” 

“We have so many people that know [our tools] well enough that they’re constantly coming up with ideas about how to do things, and it’s easy to make the change.” 

Bio

Chrissy Nolen is passionate about innovation and productivity in the workplace, and is constantly seeking a better way to help others succeed. She entered the professional world in high school, where she did everything stuffing invitations and performing endless mail mergers for fundraiser mail-outs or organizing group volunteer projects.

She started as a marketing specialyist at the front desk of a small boutique real estate firm, where her first assignments was to build a website – something she had never done before but did, anyway. She’s been innovating ever since. 

Now, she’s the CMO of Colliers Houston, where she’s a principal of the firm. She’s been named Colliers U.S. Marketer of the Year, been involved in some of Texas' largest commercial real estate projects, and has been listed as a local Top 40 Under 40.

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