How The Agency WA settled $1.7bn in properties in 2021–22

It sold 2,816 properties across the 2021–22 financial year (up from 2,202 in the previous year), resulting in an 18.7 per cent rise in settlement values to over $1.7 billion.

Mr Cox, general manager of The Agency Western Australia, credited the results to implementing a robust recruitment strategy that aggressively targets candidates who would thrive at the agency and can build a good rapport with colleagues, clients, and peers.

The Agency also highlights the opportunities that are available for potential new recruits, he told REB.

What would you attribute your success to?

Without a shadow of a doubt, recruitment has contributed to our growth. I don’t believe businesses put sufficient emphasis on recruitment. We’ve done a significant amount of marketing to attract agents who we think will benefit from what we do and are good to work with. We don’t necessarily seek the biggest writers. We try to avoid people who we know will cause conflicts, problems, and will not suit the model we run. I want to make it very clear that we don’t take on just anybody. We’re quite strategic about who we employ.

What’s your strategy to recruit the best agents?

It’s twofold. Firstly, we market our success externally, which creates a profile of our achievements. Secondly, we cherry-pick agents who we want to bring on board and aggressively target them by marketing to them directly. Even if they’re not thinking about joining us at that point in time, we’ll still keep in touch with them and congratulate them on their successes. We want to recognise the achievements of agents who not only work for us but also those who don’t work with us.

Can you elaborate on what your direct marketing strategy entails?

We separate our potential target recruits into categories. For example, when we market to a business owner who may be looking to exit or consolidate their business, we will highlight the opportunities that we could offer them, including the fact that they don’t have to recruit or manage people if they joined us. For an up-and-coming agent, our marketing would focus on how we embrace technology, how we could train them, and how they could improve their service. We’ve got a separate marketing strategy for what we refer to as “lifestyle agents.” They may be strong performers, but they don’t want to be answerable to a traditional sales manager because they know what they’re doing and are comfortable with the figures they’ve achieved.

Have you faced any challenges with recruitment?

Recruiting agents has not been very challenging because we are keen to create opportunities for them. Indeed, we experienced significant growth in Western Australia between 2017 and 2020 when the market was quiet. But from an administration office point of view, we’re struggling like everyone else. Property management in Western Australia is really struggling at the moment. It’s hard to get administration staff because unemployment in our state is so low.

What kinds of properties have you been selling and what sort of buyer demand have you been seeing?

We sell in all markets in Perth, including the lower end, the mortgage belt, and the middle, lifestyle, and luxury markets. This means that if one part of the market is slow, we can fall back on the others. For example, we know that the mortgage belt is struggling at the moment, as there’s an awful lot of people whose fixed interest rates are going to expire. A lot of those people are going to be hit hard with an increase in mortgage repayments. However, the luxury property market is still doing well and drawing strong enquiry for properties between $2 million and $12 million.

How are you managing client expectations as interest rates rise?

We communicate with clients constantly. When we list a property, we would have been communicating with them for 12 months already. By the time they come to the market, they have a fairly good understanding of where the market is. We provide constant market and price updates to clients. Only relatively [few] clients wouldn’t understand the pricing situation. So, while we are facing challenges, it probably is not as much as most.

What tips would you have for other sales offices to succeed?

Look outside your industry for ideas. We’ve picked up ideas from businesses outside our industry around artificial intelligence and have been working on it for over 12 months. We are about to roll out 3D virtual reality headsets for interstate and overseas buyers of luxury properties to enable them to do a virtual walkthrough. I would tell agents to stop comparing themselves to their closest competitor within the industry, and instead, start comparing themselves to businesses outside their industry. Look at some test cases of companies that have grown well or have good systems. Pick a subject of interest and research outside the industry.

To see the full list of the Top 50 Sales Offices for 2023, click here.