Business
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COURTYARD MANOR
aggressive marketing and the latest tech-
nology. We advertised mainly on the
back cover of a throw-away publication
called 'Homes,' and we received a lot of
referrals. We closed only 50 loans in out
first year, for $6 million worth of busi-
ness. We close almost 10,000 loans a
3/
month now.
Rock then moved to an office building
on Telegraph Road, and opened 30
branches in the Midwest. It quickly out-
grew the Telegraph building and moved
to Livonia, eventually sclling back to
branch offices only in Farmington Hills
and Auburn Hills. The branches retain
the Rock name today.
"To make sure our employees spend as
much time as possible in the office, sell-
ing, we often have caterers bring in
lunch and dinner food," said Gilbert,
and, during extremely busy times, we
put people up at nearby hotels to avoid
wasted commuting time. We now spend
about $50,000 monthly on these ameni-
ties."
The current Quicken salespeople,
divided into teams with catchy names
and slogans, benefit from sales incentive
contests, with the top sellers winning
trips to Las Vegas and Florida, and local
"nights on the town.
Employees get a $1,000 bonus if they
recruit a salesperson who stays with the
firm at least 90 days. To also help sign up
promising salespeople, Quicken execu-
tives distribute cards to restaurant wait-
ers, sales clerks and others, saying: "Your
service caught my eye. You should work
for a world-class company.
The company last year was named
"Metropolitan Detroit's Best & Brightest
Company to Work For" by the
Michigan Business & Professional
Association.
In the late 1990s, Rock became a "vic-
tim of its own success." The firm went
public at $10 a share in 1998, then
launched its online lending site, while
also striking deals with a variety of online
real estate sites.
In late 1999, Intuit, Inc., of California,
makers of market-leading Quicken and
Turbo Tax software, bought Rock for
$532 million in Intuit stock. With the
stock market soaring at that time, Rock
shareholders were paid off at $33 a share
— more than triple their original invest-
ment. "We just couldn't afford to turn
down the deal," Gilbert reflects. "It was a
great price and it gave Rock the Quicken
name and a 20 - million customer base."
But the youthful Gilbert got restless,
and he and a group of investors bought
the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from
Intuit in 2002 at a price he won't dis-
close. He owns 60 percent of the new
firm, and about 15 investors own the
"
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7)
rest. 'Again, it was an excellent price, but
this time it was the other way
around...and we wanted to be on our
own and not have to report to a large
corporation," he said.
"Since then, our business has increased
about 150 percent. One of our secrets to
success is that we keep recruiting great
people and, of course, we still have that
highly visible Quicken name and do
heavy TV and radio advertising."
There are no plans at present for the
company to go public again.
"Dan Gilbert may be the closest per-
son to a David Hermelin that this com-
munity will ever have," declared Alan S.
Schwartz, of Franklin, chairman and
CEO of the Detroit law firm of
Honigman, Miller, Schwartz and Cohn,
which has handled Rock's legal business
for the past seven years. Hermelin was
the highly successful businessman, com-
munity leader and philanthropist who
died in 2000.
"Dan is an astute businessman, a great
motivator, very charismatic and is doing
wonderful things in the community,"
said Schwartz. "Rock Financial is a
reflection of his genius and leadership."
In one of his personal business ven-
tures, Gilbert is a partner of Steve
Greenberg, managing director of Allen
and Co. in New York and son of Hank
Greenberg, the legendary Detroit Tigers
baseball slugger. Allen is an investment
banking firm specializing in sports and
sports media.
"Dan is a terrific guy because he mixes
tremendous business success with gener-
ous charitable work," Greenberg said.
"And I especially admire him as a won-
derful family man.
Gilbert's parents are Shirley and Sam
Gilbert of West Bloomfield. She's a
Realtor and he's a retired restaurateur
who, at age 87, recently underwent suc-
cessful heart valve surgery in New York
City. The whole family got interested in
JARC, mainly because a relative lives in a
JARC home. Dan Gilbert spent several
years on the JARC Executive Committee
and served as treasurer before taking over
the presidency.
Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, have
four children younger than 7. When the
eldest developed neurofibromatosis, a
rare nerve disorder, Gilbert attacked the
situation with the same zeal that earned
him plaudits and success as a business-
man. He and Jennifer visited several
physicians around the country with the
boy to learn more about the disorder and
get help. With special treatments, their
son is doing better. Gilbert now is on the
board of the National Neurofibromatosis
Foundation, Inc. in New York, helping
to raise funds to fight the malady. I I
"