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The real estate industry is facing a period of change and turbulence. To maintain relevance, the best networks understand that they need to adapt to the changes, evolve ahead of them and grow above them. This is how three prominent ones plan to do so.
General manager at Elders Tom Russo said that Elders will continue to deploy capital through its business acquisition program, investing in “quality agencies” operating in both established and high-opportunity growth markets.
“Typically, we are looking for businesses of scale, for example, large rent rolls of at least 600 properties and substantial sales teams with solid commission earnings spread across multiple quality agents,” Mr Russo said.
“Above all, the business must be a good cultural fit for Elders.”
He added that Elders will look for these opportunities in both capital city markets and regional centres with robust economic outlooks.
“A good example is our recent acquisition of Southern District Estate Agency, headquartered in Bunbury, Western Australia.
“This is an outstanding business anchored by a significant property management book and holding a market-leading position built by a quality sales team.”
Network
Mr Russo said that Elders also plans to continue to expand its franchise network at the same time.
“This will be underpinned by our ongoing commitment to delivering initiatives to our franchise principals that deliver real and tangible value to their business.
“Our significant investment in our brand and digital strategy is central to this. We will continue to invest in lead generation initiatives for our offices and roll out consistent brand-building campaigns throughout the year.”
He also said that a key area of growth is the use of analytics and big data in prospecting and lead generation.
“So to that end, we are investing our time and resource into understanding the best products available in this space.
“The amount of information now available to an agent to understand prospective sellers’ demographics, lifecycle stage, coupled with market knowledge, will change the communication and service delivery to real estate customers of the future.”
Performance people
Professionals general manager Alastair Lias said that recruiting and maintaining high-performing staff is a priority growth driver for the network.
“The need for recruitment of sales staff and to some degree property managers is an ever-increasing challenge,” the GM said.
“This will affect the systems and staffing an office uses.”
Mr Lias also said that digital initiatives and the intelligent use of data are of paramount importance.
“With many options out there, agents will be looking to the growth of CRMs and associated business management systems.
“Ultimately, to be a one-stop system that will save costs and streamline business management and structure efficiency.”
Coronis managing director Andrew Coronis said that the Queensland niche group’s growth has been strategically planned and carefully mapped out.
“Coronis is very focused on implementing our vision of 40 offices by 2020,” the MD said.
“We have strategically mapped out suburbs in South East Queensland that show great potential where we are yet to open an office. The leadership team have committed to this target and we are actively growing our team to bring our vision to life.”
Data
And like the others, Mr Coronis places the smart use of data at the forefront of the network’s growth ambitions.
“We’re also heavily invested in our digital strategy to enhance the customer experience.
“We have already implemented key tactics such as live chat on coronis.com.au, Diakrit photography and email software to talk to our users at the right moment of their buying, selling or renting process.
“These three things alone have added great value to our business and tripled the amount of leads into the business in addition to doubling our web traffic.”
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