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Simon Parker
Raine & Horne is enjoying a 'purple patch' at the moment, opening 14 offices since July and expecting more growth across the country, its CEO Angus Raine has said.
“We’re in a bit of a purple patch and that’s a bit to do with the market,” Mr Raine told Real Estate Business last week.
“Most markets have bottomed and are trending upwards in a northerly direction, albeit slowly. I think there’s a bit of confidence back with agents. So, if you’re going to open an office it’s good to do it in the next six to 12 months.”
Mr Raine said growth was strong across the country, although Western Australia was the focus of a “very aggressive expansion” for the group.
In August, the group appointed Rae O’Neill, who spent nine years as a real estate property consultant with a rival network in South Australia, as a business support and development manager for its WA business.
Looking to 2013, Mr Raine said Raine & Horne would continue to focus on “getting agents’ phone to ring”.
“I think a lot of people get too analytical,” he said. “As a franchisor all we need to do is give our offices tools to get their phone ringing… and that also means SMS, email, enquiries on the web, whatever.”
Resources will also be directed towards tools that empower consumers, he added.
“This year we’ve got three strategic themes that we’re looking at, and it’s more [about] empowering the consumer,” he said. “It’s giving the consumer more information. I think for a long time now the consumer doesn’t want to be told, ‘We’re the best, we’ve won all of these awards…’, they actually want information, and particularly in this day and age, with all the mediums, the public can come in and look at all the information about their market.
“So, what our tools will be, and they’re going to be rolled out in January and February next year, is about that, giving the consumer more information.”
Mr Raine added principals that exhibit strong leadership and management skills are likely to out-perform their rivals in the battle to retain and attract top quality staff.
“It’s really building, maintaining and mentoring your sales and property management teams,” he said.
“A lot of our guys in the industry aren’t good at that coaching, leading and mentoring part of things … retention is a big issue, apart from recruitment … So if you give someone strong leadership they’ll invariably stay with you.
“If they leave, it’s usually not about the money – they’ll tell you it is, but it’s not.”
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