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Harris Real Estate in Kent Town, Adelaide came seventh in this year’s REB Top 50 Sales Offices rankings. Phil Harris told REB that training has been central to the 13-year-old business.
Harris Real Estate Kent Town settled 1,661 properties totalling a value of $1.2 billion in the 2021–22 financial year, the REB rankings data showed.
Managing director and auctioneer Phil Harris said that the agency’s success stems from a focus on training and developing the sales team.
He also outlined how he and his team are navigating “radical” conversations with vendors in a more challenging economic environment, and how the agency plans to maintain momentum in 2023.
Your agency’s settlement values totalled over $ 1 billion in 2021–22. What would you credit this to?
Our main focus has been training our sales team. We run extensive training programs on how our agents could generate listing opportunities and convert them, how to sell properties, and how to familiarise themselves with and provide excellent customer service, so that they can achieve good outcomes for customers.
How do you provide this training?
The training is available at any time of the day for all our team members. We have a combination of online learning so that our staff can access resources in their own time. On top of that, we offer one-on-one training as well as weekly team training.
What’s demand been like for properties in your area?
In the last 12 to 24 months, the level of demand and appetite from buyers have been unprecedented. We hadn’t seen the market that strong in the last 20 years. It’s been quite extraordinary how much people have wanted to buy. We specialise in properties that are priced around $600,000 to $3 million. In recent times, however, we have certainly seen the market starting to return to a more normalised market.
What challenges have you faced as interest rates rise?
There’s still a great appetite among buyers but I think they’re taking a more cautious and less aggressive approach compared to two years ago. Buyers are still keen to purchase, but want to ensure that they are paying a fair price.
How has your agency tackled these challenges?
Our sales team has been having radical, transparent conversations with home owners when they list their property about where the market is. We tell them that it’s still good but not as strong as it used to be. Provided that we’re open and honest, and managing vendors’ expectations, we’re finding that we’re still selling properties.
Do you find that buyers and sellers are coming to terms with the rate rise cycle?
I think we’re still in the midst of a transitioning marketplace. I think Adelaide seems to be more of a sheltered market and is nowhere near as reactive as some other markets in Australia to the rate rises. But there is an awareness among the public and the industry that the property market is not as strong as it used to be. Therefore, vendors need to be realistic with their price to ensure they can sell their property.
Have you recruited staff in the past year?
Yes, we’ve recruited around half a dozen agents over the last 12 months. Recruitment forms a core part of our strategy.
Have you faced any challenges when recruiting?
I think recruiting in real estate is always a challenge, particularly when trying to find high-quality salespeople. Clearly, Australia is facing a labour shortage but the real estate industry seems to be doing okay.
What are your plans for 2023?
I think that 2023 is going to bring a lot of acquisition opportunities. In the last two years, a lot of real estate companies have done very well but I think it’ll be a marketplace where it won’t be as easy for a lot of people. So, at Harris, we’ll look to continue to expand organically and through the acquisition of other companies.
What tips would you have for other sales offices to succeed?
The most important thing is to serve and grow your people. If you can incorporate training, resources, and expertise into your business to help people become the best version of themselves, that’s the starting point for generating successful sales.
To see the full list of the Top 50 Sales Offices for 2023, click here.
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