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LJ Hooker has shared its strategy, underpinned by its people-first leadership model, which focuses on nurturing agents to foster success and continue to drive sustainable company growth in 2026.
LJ Hooker’s general manager of marketing, Stephan Gervois, and head of growth ANZ, Jarita Rayasam, have sat down with REB managing editor Liam Garman, and together they discuss the network's agent-centric growth strategy.
According to the pair, LJ Hooker has been getting ready for its next phase of growth in 2026, driven by its agents' and franchisees' work and ambitions.
They said the company’s growth over the years has been driven by its people, with a strong focus on nurturing talent through mentorship, recognising leadership potential, and creating pathways for agents to become franchisees.
“We want to build a sustainable business; we don't want just to get any franchisees on.”
“[If people are interested], if they want to grow, if they want to be supported, it’s just a conversation – it’s not a commitment,” Rayasam said.
Gervois and Rayasam said one of the key benefits of aligning with a major network as a franchisee was strong brand identity, which gave new offices instant market recognition.
Rayasam said that being with a big company also enabled brand power, technology, marketing, recruitment leverage, and peer learning, compared to many stand-alone agencies.
“We’re such a collaborative network, so I feel like that's really hard to replicate as an independent,” she said.
“It's almost like it moves you from running a business around you to building a business beyond you.”
Rayasam said the network positioned agents for growth by recognising when they were ready to become business owners and supporting them through the journey to becoming franchisees.
“They start caring about their people, they care about the culture, they’re trying to build something bigger than themselves, they’re thinking about a bigger picture,” she said.
“It starts with a bit of honest self-reflection, and I would encourage you to ask yourself, do you want to keep growing on your own effort, or do you want to be a part of something bigger?”
She said that after an agent reflected on the decision to become a franchisee, her team would speak with them about the way forward and develop a strategy.
“It’s giving a structure to their dream and their ambition. We’ll sit down, and we'll map it out – what they want to build and achieve. But the starting point is always them and their why.”
However, she said that the network’s ability to help agents flourish depended on whether they wanted to grow, and their long-term plan.
Gervois said that when agents became franchisees, the company encouraged a collaborative culture that allowed them to receive coaching and support from experts and other business leaders.
“To say, hey guys, can you help me with putting together my business plan? Can you help me put together my marketing plan? How do we grow? What is the next step?”
Looking ahead to the new year, Gervois said the LJ Hooker network will have a busy and eventful 2026 as the company plans for profit increases, staff growth, and the upcoming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regulations.
He said that LJ Hooker had been experiencing an increase in appraisal volume and was gearing up for 2026 to be a big year, making it essential to have a system to keep leads warm for franchisees.
“This is when we know we have an opportunity to scale. To us, 2026 [is] a year of scale, but driving more profit because it costs more and more money to do business nowadays,” he said.
As part of the network’s preparation for 2026, Gervois said the company was supporting its staff through changes for upcoming AML/CTF compliance laws.
“People need to understand that by the 1st of March, they will need to have a compliance officer, a dedicated compliance officer in each of their offices.”
“Then they will have to train all of their staff on the legislation on how to actually process an application and a sales contract. So very, very important that they actually start now,” he concluded.
Listen to the full episode here
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