Reputations take time to build: there are few overnight brand creation successes.
In the SA property sector today, however, there is a mounting awareness that one real estate company, Rawson Properties, has become a major brand and is very definitely on the war (expansion) path.
Asked recently to comment on this new perception in the publics mind, Tony Clarke, the MD of Rawson Properties, said
'It is not something we have conjured out of a brand building hat, it is based on facts'
These, he said, are that in 2010 Rawson Properties grew its turnover by 63,6%. In 2011 they raised it by a further 26% and this year they expect to see a further 40% growth. They are now very definitely a national operation.
'It is now accurate to describe us as the fastest growing property franchise group in SA today,' said Clarke, 'and we intend to hold onto that'
The group today has 145 property franchises in nine provinces. In 2011 46 new franchise purchasers were accepted by the franchise sales team (which on average take only one in twelve applicants).
Clarke says that their policy is both to diversify in areas where they already operate and to seek out promising new territories. For this reason, he said, he and his team are open to any suggestion from any area, including territories across SAs borders: two of the latest fully-fledged franchise sales have been to applicants from Namibia and Zimbabwe and Clarke has said that he has big hopes for both as in each case the new franchises are well qualified professionals.
In KwaZulu Natal, into which they moved only 14 months ago, they now have 12 franchises.
The expansion also, however, involves what might be described as diversification: Rawson Properties has always had some franchises in which rental management has been a strong contributor to profits. Now they are offering dedicated rental franchises in selected wider territories.
Similarly, in October last year, they established a commercial property division, giving franchisees here the opportunity to obtain mandates for commercial property for sales and renting. To date 16 such franchises have been established and the national commercial manager, Jason Lee, has said that by the end of this year he expects Rawson to have a bigger 'footprint' in SA commercial property franchising than any other company.
These successes followed on from another diversification initiated in 2010. This was Rawson Auctions. They now have two auction franchises, operating in both the Western Cape and Gauteng.
In all its franchise operations, says Clarke, the groups success stems from its support systems.
'We have,' he said recently, 'made huge strides with our franchisee proprietary computerised management system, Realtytech. This is now in its third version and, put simply, it helps the franchisee to manage his franchise and his agents to perform more effectively. Coupled to this, we offer '“indeed we insist on '“ regular ongoing training and system upgrading'
This approach, says Clarke, although so patently and obviously the right way to go, is still relatively rare in real estate marketing.
'We realised that our franchisees had to know that we were committed to making them successful. In our view it is dangerous to run a branch '“ and franchise '“ operation in tandem because there will always be a temptation to favour the branch in whose profits the chiefs share directly, rather than the franchisee who pays on a royalty basis'
Looking ahead, Clarke said that by 2015 Rawson Properties plan to have 300 franchises countrywide '“ and, he added, they are by no means averse to further expansion in Africa and possibly overseas.
For further information contact Tony Clarke on 021 658 7100 or email tony@rawsonproperties.com.
