Property passionate duo Gavin Addison and Emily Hay founded The Addison Group in 2024, bringing with them a wealth of experience from the selling side of real estate. Ready for a new challenge, they channelled their strong work ethic and drive for success into building a business focused on representing buyers and haven’t looked back since.
In under two years, The Addison Group has secured over 120 purchases, positioning the team as a leading force in the Buyers Agency space.
How did you start down this career path?
We were both working in sales alongside some of the top agents in the country. Gavin had been toying with the idea of starting a Buyers Agency for some time, although, it was just that, an idea but something shifted and it slowly became more of an obsession than a passing thought.
Emily has always had a strong background in managing high-performing teams. Even back in high school, she was running a coffee shop in Freshwater Village, so the foundations were always there. Still, the idea of leaving secure and successful careers to start something of our own was incredibly daunting.
One day, we decided to sit down and map it out, if anything, just to see what it could look like. We almost expected that once we started planning, we’d talk ourselves out of the idea altogether. Instead, the opposite happened. The more time we spent on it, the more real it became, and the more excited we got.
After about six months of planning, Gavin made the call to leave his role, with the intention that Emily would follow 12 months later. Emily was essentially working two full-time jobs, her role in sales during the day, and building The Addison Group at night. Within just two months, we started to see real traction, which gave us the confidence for Emily to step away from her role and go all in.
From that point, there was no turning back. We’d taken the leap, and failure just wasn’t an option.
What inspires you in your role/industry? Why?
We’re both naturally competitive and driven. Coming into the Buyer’s Agency space, we knew we couldn’t compete on experience straight away, but we also knew that no one was going to outwork us, care more, or be hungrier to succeed.
From day one, we made it clear that we would do everything we could for our clients. That mindset hasn’t changed, and we believe that having a mindset like that has been a big part of our success.
Early on, and to this day, there was scrutiny from more established Buyers Agents in the area. We get it, that’s part of the territory, but if anything, it pushed us even harder to succeed. Without them realising it at the time, it became fuel for us. While others were focused on what we were doing, we stayed focused on improving, prospecting, building relationships and sourcing properties.
We genuinely love what we do. It’s a tough industry and momentum is absolutely everything. It’s an industry that rewards consistency and hard work. These days, what drives us most is the outcomes we achieve for our clients, their experiences, and the fact they trust us enough to consistently refer us to their family and friends. A large portion of our business now comes from referrals, which is something we’re really proud of.
What's your approach to customer service that separates you from the rest?
We believe our customer service is what truly sets us apart. It’s something that was instilled in both of us during our time in sales, and it’s a standard we hold ourselves and our team to every day.
We’re big on doing the right thing by our clients, and we genuinely go above and beyond to make sure their experience is a positive one. A lot of our early planning was centred around what our client journey would look like, and how we could make it better than anyone else out there.
It’s something we’re constantly thinking about and refining. We’re a bit obsessive when it comes to our client service and their ultimate journey.
How do you innovate and stay ahead of industry trends?
We’re always looking for ways to innovate, whether that’s through our marketing, technology, services, social media, prospecting for new business or even how we communicate with clients and agents. Nothing is ever really “set and forget” for us, we’re always looking to improve. Being a small business also allows us the flexibility to make changes effectively and quickly.
Staying on top of the market comes down to doing the work, keeping across the media, analysing data, speaking with agents, but most importantly, being active in the market ourselves.
By consistently buying property and staying involved, you naturally develop a real-time understanding of what’s happening. That’s what keeps us relevant and gives our clients confidence that we truly have our finger on the pulse.
What is the toughest challenge you've faced in your role? How did you overcome it?
We’re both very empathetic people, which can be a challenge in this industry. It’s hard when clients become emotionally attached to a property and if things don’t go their way, we feel that with them.
What we’ve learnt is that in those moments, it’s important to reset quickly and get back out there. Our focus shifts straight to finding the next opportunity and keeping momentum for our clients.
At the same time, we’re very clear on what matters most, a property needs to represent good value, and our clients need to genuinely love it. When we get that right, everything else falls into place. To date, we’ve never had a client unhappy with what they’ve purchased, which is something we don’t take for granted.
What are some of your goals for the next 5 years?
Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen some really strong growth. We’ve built a great team around us, and more recently welcomed Will Carroll as a Senior Buyers Agent. Will brings a strong track record on the Northern Beaches, along with the same work ethic and drive that’s so important to us. To date, Will has been a great asset to our team.
Looking ahead, the next five years aren’t about building a large team. We’re quite intentional about staying relatively small, so we can focus less on managing people and more on what we love doing, buying property and delivering consistent results.
Our goals are more personal, and performance driven. We’re focused on our own personal growth, our team’s individual success, and continuing to strengthen our presence on the Northern Beaches.
We like the idea of being a small business that punches above its weight. For us, it’s not about scaling for the sake of it, it’s about getting better and better at what we do.