By now, you know that when the Quantus team gets together, our time together is about as far from boring as you can get. Good thing our tagline is “Mortgages are boring, good thing we’re not.”
This year, we escaped the early signs of winter by heading to Phoenix, Arizona for our annual team conference.
It’s Bigger Than Christmas
Our team landed in Phoenix on the United States' biggest holiday…Thanksgiving. Yes, it was completely intentional.
After everyone settled into their rooms at the Hilton Phoenix Tapatio Cliffs Resort north of the city, we met down by the pool for an early Reception. Sitting outside by the pool, sipping drinks with your work besties at the end of November, it can’t get better than that, right?
Wrong. To prep everyone for the weekend, we decked everyone out with Q bucket hats, Q sunglasses, and Q waist bags (apparently, they aren’t called fanny packs anymore). All the things you need to survive should you get lost in the desert, of course.
After our reception, the start of our Thanksgiving adventure begins.
We’ve all heard the rumours that Thanksgiving down south is bigger than Christmas. Well, let’s just say, the rumours are true. Even the McDonalds’ were closed. Seriously.
While our planned activity was open that night, the kitchen, was not. We learned the hard lesson that when calling ahead to ask if you’re open, also ask if the kitchen is too.
Needing to feed 30 hungry mortgage pros, we found our way to the spectacularly grand, most high-class restaurant around: the casino.
All the jokes aside, the Blue Coyote Cantina at the Talking Stick Resort was phenomenal. They seated everyone right away and the food was great. Thank you, to the team of servers who made this happen!
And apparently, the Resort was the place to be with a few live bands performing that evening. It’s like it was meant to be…
Business in the First Half, Party in the Second
We kicked things off on our second day with our Business portion of the trip, our Team Meeting.
Changing things up this year, our lender partners stole the show.
We started with a fantastic presentation by Jill Paish, Executive Vice President, National Sales of Merix. She shared some of her learnings from a recent Merix event which looked at how we as mortgage professionals, could create magic in our businesses using Disney’s approach to quality service.
Magic and mortgages? Totally possible!
Following her presentation, we hosted a Lender Panel where Susan Wishart, RVP, Calgary & Southern Alberta of RFA, Steve Leishman, Business Development Manager, Calgary & Southern Alberta of Bridgewater Bank, and Todd Poberznick, Vice President of National Sales, CMI Mortgages faced questions from Quantus co-owner, Paul Bojakli. They deserve a round of applause for that alone.
Thank you to our lender partners on and off the stage for participating in the meeting!
With the business done, it was time for a bit of fun.
After a bit of free time in the afternoon, either scoring low deals for Black Friday, finding the lowest score on the golf course, or venturing into the desert for a short hike, the team met back up for supper at Culinary Drop-Out in Phoenix.
Fuelling up on delicious food and crafty cocktails, the team battled it out on the ping pong tables and corn hole alleys…that is a line we never thought we would write.
If you’re ever in the area, you have to check out one of their locations. From the food and drinks to the atmosphere, it’s a 10 out of 10, Would Recommend.
Time to Go Off-Road
For our final day, we boarded a bus for the Red Rock Mountains of Sedona. The last planned activity for the weekend was jeep tours with Red Rock Western Jeep Tours.
Bouncing around on the back roads of Sedona in an open-aired jeep with just a strap to hold you in? Sounds like our kind of fun.
We could not have asked for a better day and for a better group to take us on a tour of Sedona. Thank you, Red Rock!
Thank You's
From the main team events to everything in between, we cannot thank all our lender sponsors enough.
A huge thank you to Rosy Auld with MCAP, First National Financial LP, Jill Paish with MERIX Financial, Tiffany Pederson, Director of Western Canada with Strive Capital, Scotiabank, Todd Poberznick with Canadian Mortgages Inc (CMI), Susan Wishart with RFA, Steve Sommerstad with CMLS Financial, Steve Leishman with Bridgewater Bank, and Verico Canada for their help in making this awesome team event happen!
Finally, thank you to all our team members who made the trip to Phoenix. We didn’t get lost in the vortices of Sedona and almost all of us made it back to Canada…we’re not jealous that you stayed…not at all.
Next year, we’re celebrating 15 years. And who knows? Maybe we’ll plan another trip that involves sun and sand.