(openPR) - SEATTLE – “If we don't create value, we will die,” warned Patricia Hoferkamp, president and chief operating officer of New Jersey-based Burgdorff ERA. Her warning is aimed at luxury real estate brokers and agents, and she will expand on this idea in a discussion entitled “Creating a Culture of Service” at the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, which will be hosted in San Diego from April 15-18, 2008.

“Service is the name of the game and what will set us apart at the end of the day. The question is how do we quantify and measure our service?” she said. “I would like to have an interactive discussion where we all share ideas on what we do to create a real-estate ‘experience’ for the consumer, thus creating clients for life.”

Hoferkamp has a great deal of experience in creating a culture of service throughout her 30-year career. “As a new agent with no formal training, I learned a valuable lesson early in my career: People want to know that you CARE, before they care about how much you KNOW,” she said. “My philosophy has always been to under-promise and over-deliver. It works every time.”

Burgdorff ERA will celebrate its 50th anniversary later this year, and Hoferkamp said that she attributes her company’s success to its dedication to service and “doing the right thing.”

Hoferkamp joined Burgdorff ERA in 1998 and was soon appointed to the position of vice president and manager of the Burgdorff Woodcliff Lake office, overseeing 59 sales associates and staff. Four years later she was named senior vice president and general sales manager of the company. She arrived at her current leadership position in January 2003, where she leads her company through many challenges and opportunities.

Patricia Hoferkamp is the president and chief operating officer of Burgdorff ERA. A dynamic leader with 30 years of real-estate experience, Hoferkamp has mastered all facets of the industry. Hoferkamp holds the Graduate, REALTOR® Institute professional designation, and she is listed in “Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals.” A graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York, Hoferkamp is married, has one son and two grandchildren, and resides in Mahwah, N.J. with her husband, Bradley.

In addition to Hoferkamp and several other discussion leaders, the 6th Annual Spring Retreat will feature two main speakers: Ben Stein, the famous actor and economist, and Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, president of Real Living, Inc., one of the fastest-growing real-estate franchises in the United States.

For more information on Hoferkamp and Burgdorff ERA, visit www.burgdorff.com. For more information on the 6th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat, visit www.luxuryrealestate.com/conference.

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