Tony Clarke, Managing Director of Rawson Properties, has on several occasions said that one of the main reasons for the ongoing growth of the Rawson franchisees countrywide is that the Group is wholly committed to supporting these entrepreneurs and making them more successful. Clarke has also added that a crucial component in the Rawson support system is always the Business Development Manager.
“These all important people,” he said recently, “have to be, and are, available to franchisees on a 24/7 basis. Furthermore, they have to have been at the coalface themselves. When we appoint such people, we look for someone who has filled as many roles in property marketing as possible.”
Rawson Properties’ latest Business Development Manager, serving the Western Cape, is Nancy Todd - and she certainly has the necessary requirements.
Todd completed a BA degree in languages at Stellenbosch University, a Teachers Diploma course at UCT and an Honours Degree in English (also at Stellenbosch). In addition, she has a third BA major in Psychology.
These qualifications, said Clarke, put her in the top 3% or 4% of all academically qualified people in the Rawson Property Group.
Todd has, too, the practical property experience which is so necessary for a Business Development Manager. After a two year stint in teaching she talked to Bill Rawson in 1982 about a career in property, this resulted in her being taken on by him, after further study, in 1986. At that stage he had only 15 agents.
“In my very first weekend,” she said recently, “I sold five properties. That hooked me into the property world for good.”
Ten years later, in search of a big brand, she joined Seeff and in 1994 moved on to the Rabie Property Group, where she was involved with the selling of new projects, always an exciting field in which to be. These were in a wide variety of areas, Marina da Gama, Strand, Milnerton and Camps Bay.
Moving on from there she did similar new project selling for Stagg and Faircape and then in 2007 joined Sotheby’s as their National Operations and Training Manager, she then went on to become their Managing Director for their Southern Suburbs branch.
Asked which areas of franchise support she finds most need advice and help, she said that the situation is different in every franchise, but, generally speaking, every aspect of a franchise operation can be improved. This, she said, includes canvassing, mandate presentation, negotiation, marketing, IT skills and administration – and, she added, it is not just the rookies who benefit from what she can tell them – the top performers can also always learn something and become better, in the process - also teaching her new skills.
“The most exciting thing about the property industry is that you learn something new every single day. My job at the Rawson Property Group is to help spread the knowledge and expertise the brand has accumulated to everyone.”
“My aim is always to try to help people to think creatively and out of the box, to find new ways of doing old things,” she said. “I can help them because I have been there myself, have experienced all their problems and the joys of success in this field. There are no Ivory Towers at the Rawson Property Group.”
