Bill Rawson, Chairman of the Rawson Property Group, has in an exclusive press interview confirmed that his group’s goal is by 2020 to have 400 franchises up and running across the length and breadth of South Africa as well as in certain neighbouring African countries. The possibility of overseas expansion has also not been ruled out.
Right now, said Rawson, his group is expanding at an approximate rate of one new franchise established every two weeks. This expansion rate, he said, is not quite as high as that of last year but it is satisfactory in view of the care being taken to select suitable franchisees: on average only one in 12 applicants is accepted.
To date the Rawson Property Group has set up 238 franchises and, although the vast majority of these are involved in residential sales, the group is also active in the rental, commercial and auction fields and the franchises here are also being regularly expanded.
Asked why, apart from increasing the group’s profits, ongoing growth of this kind is seen to be necessary, Rawson said that the wider the group can cast its referral net the more valued and respected it will become.
“We want to end up in a situation where, no matter what part of the country a buyer or seller is interested in, we can refer him to a local franchisee.”
A countrywide footprint, added Rawson, will raise the awareness of the Rawson brand further – and this is a primary goal.
“I think it is quite possible that awareness of our brand has grown faster than that of any other national estate agency group,” said Rawson. “We are now definitely perceived to be innovative, ambitious and growing – but in the absence of published data on this subject it is not easy to say which of the groups in South Africa are, in fact, growing the fastest.”
In his group, said Rawson, no less than 50% of all the royalties collected from franchisees are channeled into marketing and branding. This is quite likely the highest percentage allocation of this kind in any real estate marketing group, but it has, in his view, paid handsome dividends.
Rawson said that, as in most businesses, the 80/20 principle is seen to be operating very clearly throughout his group: 80% of the turnover is achieved by 20% of the franchises and the top 10% of franchises are very much in a league of their own.
“What this means is that we have to give extra special care to the smaller, less effective franchises, but, as I have said on many occasions, what sets us apart from most national groups is the huge emphasis that we place on franchise support, training and the development of appropriate, easy to use technology.
“Many good franchisees and estate agents,” said Rawson, “are mildly or severely technophobic – they dislike IT in all its forms. However, if a group such as his does develop simple IT systems, agents soon learn to appreciate the labour savings and the increased efficiencies that these bring about.”
Asked what input his management have to make to ensure adequate support, Rawson said that they employ some 70 head office and regional office staff whose primary goal is support of one kind. What is more, he said, regional management staff have to be available on a 24/7 basis to franchisees and estate agents and on average every agent goes through 50 to 60 hours training per annum.
“One has to realize,” said Rawson, “that the number of agents employed in South Africa today is only 28,000. This is a huge drop from the 90,000 plus figure of 2007 and this has come about because today extensive state regulation and fairly arduous educational requirements have made it necessary for estate agents to be exceptionally well trained. In my view the regulation can now be excessive and it certainly has not helped transformation in our industry. However, it does mean that today’s estate agents are a relatively small group and we at the Rawson Property Group have to ensure that our estate agents are among the best of what is already a very small profession.”
These professional qualifications, said Rawson, slant the franchise selection process in favour of those who are already qualified and have experience in this field. However, it remains true, he said, that for a relatively small investment the returns that a franchisee can earn are substantial and that many smaller agencies, having become members of the Rawson Property Group, find that they can increase their turnover by anything from 50% to 150%.
“We have sold some franchises for as little as R100,000 and others have cost over R2 million, but in all cases the upfront outlay is relatively small in relation to the return that a good franchisee can achieve within the first 12 to 24 months.”
Rawson added that successful franchisees quite often had added another franchise to their portfolio or cordoned off a section of their franchise and sold it to another person. All of these tactics, he said, can help the franchisee to improve his profit situation radically.
For further information contact the Rawson Property Group on 021 658 7100.
