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Compass’ Luxury Division has launched its first international referral program with Paris-based brokerage BARNES International, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
With the program, Compass agents can send referrals to and receive referrals from BARNES agents located across 20 countries in Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean.
Felipe Hernandez Smith
“Driven by a shared belief in collaboration and seizing opportunities, this groundbreaking program opens the gateway to the world for Compass,” Compass Luxury Division head Felipe Hernandez Smith said in a written statement.
Each Compass Luxury Division region will have a BARNES International point of contact responsible for facilitating referrals from BARNES agents to Compass agents. Meanwhile, BARNES’ business analysts will manage referrals from Compass agents to BARNES agents. The analysts will assign the referral to a local team, who will give Compass agents timely updates about transaction progress.
A Compass spokesperson said fees are associated with sending and receiving referrals for sales and rentals but declined to share specifics.
BARNES President Thibault de Saint Vincent said the partnership has been years in the making and started with an impromptu meeting with Compass agents Sebastien Courret, Daniel Brewer and Suzanne DesMarai during an industry presentation in Washington, D.C.
“Like Compass’ Entrepreneurship Principles, BARNES has built our leading business and impeccable reputation upon our tenets of entrepreneurship, including passion, optimism, bespoke personalization, and flexibility for reinvention,” de Saint-Vincent said in a written statement. “BARNES understands that buying and selling luxury and ultra-luxury properties are not purely business transactions but a complete experience through which the trusted relationship between agent and client.”
The partnership will open doors for BARNES’ U.S. reach, which currently includes two offices in New York City and Miami. Meanwhile, Compass agents will be able to expand their reach to prestigious locations, such as Paris, Geneva, London, Dubai, Saint-Tropez, Cannes and Monaco.
“This concierge-style networking tool proves particularly advantageous for American citizens purchasing properties abroad, where luxury and ultra-luxury properties are often exclusively shown by a single brokerage or remain off-market,” the announcement reads. “COMPASS and BARNES share similar values and forming a relationship like this is one of the most frequent requests we hear from our customers (i.e. agents), and we’re very excited to see it come to fruition.”
Compass Luxury Division’s partnership with BARNES aligns with the wider company’s moves to supercharge its referral processes, grow market share and retain more of its consumer base.
In November 2021, Compass unveiled ‘Find An Agent,’ a mobile platform that brokerage leaders promised would be a “repeat and referral goldmine” as agents could utilize location, property type, listing price and buy-sell and sell-side filters to quickly find the right agent who can help a client.
Then-West Regional President and current Senior Vice President of Growth and Communications Rory Golod hinted the platform could be the catalyst to take Compass international.
“[Find An Agent] instantly connects you to the entire community of Compass agents and beyond,” Golod said in 2021. “While the industry is busy talking about affiliations, you’ll be able to search a global network of the top agents around the world and easily send their listing right to them, effectively making you one phone call away from every millionaire and billionaire purchaser of their home.
“That is powerful.”
