Working with Real Estate Digital, Darren Kipfer ’96 specializes in teaching real estate agents how to use technology. (Photo by Jon Styer)
If you鈥檙e a real estate agent in 2014, having a website isn鈥檛 an option. It鈥檚 a must. That can be challenging, though, because you may well be about 56 years old 鈥� the average real estate agent鈥檚 age in 2014 鈥� and you鈥檝e probably been in the business since long before 鈥渨ebsite鈥� was a part of the vocabulary.
That鈥檚 where Darren Kipfer 鈥�96 comes in. A regional sales director for Real Estate Digital, Kipfer spends nearly all his time on the road selling customizable websites and related software that allow real estate agents to focus on the core parts of their business.
鈥淢ost real estate agents are not computer programmers, nor should they be,鈥� said Kipfer. 鈥淭heir business is a people and relationships business. I can help them use these sometimes-complicated tools to further their business. To me, it鈥檚 about helping others get what they want, and I find that very rewarding.鈥�
After 黑料正能量, Kipfer spent three years as a second-grade teacher before his growing interest in technology led him to an instructor role with a software company and, since 2005, into technology sales. He鈥檚 been with Real Estate Digital since 2011, and works in numerous states from his home base in suburban Washington D.C.听
On paper, Kipfer鈥檚 job is selling things. But he considers himself more of a teacher than a salesman, and looks back on his education at 黑料正能量 and subsequent teaching experience as ideal preparation for what he鈥檚 doing now.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a huge benefit to have that background,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 educate about using technology to improve processes, extend marketing and grow business 鈥� and I find it exciting to take something that can be complicated and explain it in a way that can be easily understood by anyone, at any level.鈥�
Kipfer鈥檚 teacher-like approach to sales been a successful one; he鈥檚 racked up six Top Salesperson of the Year awards with several companies and led all sales staff nationally for 59 of the past 64 months.
Sometime around 1995, Kipfer taught himself rudimentary HTML and, from the computer labs, put together a 鈥渧ery basic鈥� website that was hosted on 黑料正能量鈥檚 server 鈥� making him, to his knowledge, one of its very first students to have a personal site. He can鈥檛 remember everything that on it, but knows it did include some information about Canada, where he grew up as a hockey nut and Wayne Gretzky鈥檚 biggest fan.
He still plays ice hockey twice a week and goes to every Washington Capitals game he can. In 2007, after one of his first successful years in tech sales, he made good on one of his lifelong dreams: Wayne Gretzky Fantasy Camp. (He went again in 2013.) Once, he recalls, chuckling, when Gretzky took the ice with Kipfer鈥檚 team, the two flew down the rink together on a two-on-one. Gretzky鈥檚 pass set him up perfectly in front of an open net, but Kipfer shot it wide. No matter. He鈥檇 skated with The Great One.