Daniel Heider was never really a book-smart kid.
When he dropped out of college, Heider was self-aware enough to realize that school just wasn’t his thing. But that fact aside, he knew how to work hard.
Daniel Heider
Speaking to The Heider Company team leader today, no one would guess that the articulate, polished professional only has a high school degree. But with his rigorous background in hospitality, Heider knows pretty much everything there is to know about high-end service.
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Before he started working in real estate at age 23, Heider worked back-to-back waitstaff shifts at some of Washington, D.C.’s ritziest establishments.
“I was working three jobs,” Heider told Inman. “I was working breakfast at a hotel, and then I would work lunch and dinner at a fine dining restaurant across the street from that hotel. So I was used to working pretty much seven days a week, all day long … It’s tough. Not only do you work long hours, but you have to be really quick on your feet. And there’s a direct correlation with how much you’re earning and how satisfied people are who are in your care.”
Developing that “massive work ethic,” as Heider calls it, benefited him immensely once he moved into real estate, where he could earn so much more while putting in the same amount of time and energy.
His first referral came from one of his regulars at the restaurant where he used to wait tables. Once he saw that 6 percent commission come in on the $3 million deal, his eyes were opened to the possibilities that awaited him through a career in real estate, and he was sold.
Today, Heider told Inman he feels lucky that he found real estate at such a young age and never got saddled with the college debt that so many other people in his generation have struggled to pay off. He started off by working for free at Washington Fine Properties (which was acquired by Compass last year), where he learned the ins and outs of transactions and found a great mentor in Jeff Wilson, with whom he ultimately moved to TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
Last year, The Heider Company had just four full-time sales advisors (today, the team has five), and managed to become the No. 2 team globally at Sotheby’s International Realty and the No. 1 team in Washington, D.C., across all team sizes.
Here’s how Heider and his team did it.
Voraciously learning
When Heider started out at Washington Fine Properties about 15 years ago, he said he was “literally an assistant to an assistant real estate agent” and wasn’t earning any income. But he realized that the opportunity to learn at the elite firm was priceless.
“I was the lowest person at the company; I was working for free, and the deal was, I want to get my foot in the door in the best place that I can possibly be,” Heider said. “And for that, I’ll work for free. I’ll continue to work in the restaurants at night, and I’ll learn the trade by day.”
Heider paid attention to what other agents were doing and put in the hours. He said he calculated how much he would have earned during that period had he been a commission-earning agent, given the number of transactions he helped secure, and it was the equivalent of paying tuition at Harvard University three times.
“My early 20s were all about work, and it was all about activating my network and getting a deep, technical understanding of real estate, and it all just sort of built brick by brick by brick by brick by brick, until ultimately, I was able to put my name on a sign,” Heider said. “Even though I was a licensed agent for a while, I [eventually] became the youngest associate in that firm, Washington Fine Properties.”
Shortly after Heider and Wilson made the move to TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, Heider started his own team, and his career started to take flight. The Heider Company is now on track to become the No. 1 overall team at Sotheby’s International Realty by the end of the year, but Heider remains grounded.
“I still feel like the underdog, and I never want to lose that,” Heider said. “It’s important to me to stay as close to my roots as I can and not forget that, not too long ago, I was the kid running around, making sure everybody had full glasses of water on the table.”
Leaning into social media
Many people tend to think of celebrity agents when asked about those who are most visible on social media today, but The Heider Company has a robust social media following in its own right.
“Social media is a huge component of our awareness in our market,” Heider told Inman. “That’s our TikTok audience, our Instagram audience, Facebook, YouTube, all combined. We are absolutely, undisputedly, the world’s most-followed team in residential real estate, for our line of work, in the world. And that’s another thing that has really contributed to what we do.”
A team of about five people run the firm’s social media channels, including Heider; his chief marketing officer, Sean New; Marketing Manager Alexa Bartenfelder; Marketing Associate Simran Dogra; and an intern.
“It’s interesting that, when you think about the most-followed people on social media for residential real estate, you think of somebody in Miami — maybe it’s Dina Goldentayer or Fredrik Eklund — or maybe it’s one of these reality TV stars. It is not — it is us.”
The team boasts a global audience of more than 4.4 million followers and has generated more than 1 billion impressions across at least 142 countries, according to The Heider Company website.
Elevating client service with an elite team
Over the years, Heider said, the team has developed a number of checklists, systems and processes that ensure each member knows what they need to accomplish in any given week, and how to stay on task.
The sales team is supported by the robust, aforementioned marketing team, as well as a managing partner, director of operations, an executive assistant and a team concierge.
“This is very much a process-driven practice group,” Heider told Inman. “Making sure that I’m delegating and giving everybody domain of their individual swim lane and their level of tasks is really what we do best.
“I am business development; I am being brought into high-level showings. Everywhere in the business where I should be, I am. And that is because of this incredible team and us staying focused on our specialty lanes. Whereas most sales teams, if you look at the makeup of how they’re structured, you’ll oftentimes see a team that is all sales agents. Maybe you’ll get one contract coordinator and one marketing person, and then the overwhelming majority of the makeup of the team is sales agents. We are structured entirely differently, where the majority of our team is made up of specialty positions that are all designed to support the small, but mighty, sales arm that we have.”
One of Heider’s biggest pieces of advice for agents to elevate client service is to create “an experience that’s unmatched.”
“My advice is to just treat your clients like absolute gold,” Heider said. “Everything that you put in their hand should be perfectly polished. Every email should be beautifully written. If they share with you that they’re going to be in town for the evening because their work anniversary is coming up, maybe you send a glass of champagne to the table and take care of the check behind the scenes — call the restaurant, do something that’s a little extraordinary. Be unforgettable.”
“What it will always boil down to is how indispensable you are as a professional,” Heider added. “And so, if you can become the most indispensable professional that they will come across, you will win.”
