Two main factors, says Petro van der Merwe, the manager of the Rawson Property Group’s Northcliff residential franchise, enabled her team to compete successfully for the Rawson Chairman’s Award in the Northern Region, which they had been awarded.
The two factors, said van der Merwe, are, firstly, that Northcliff has long been a very popular area in which demand today far exceeds supply and, secondly, the support given to the staff by the franchisee, Jan Oberholzer, has been “superb” and has in van der Merwe’s opinion made the team here among the best trained, most positive and most motivated in all of Gauteng.
Reviewing the first factor, van der Merwe said that Northcliff, being only 12 km from the centre of Johannesburg and inside the massive ring road that encircles most of Johannesburg’s suburbs, was always an ideal commuter suburb and is well supplied with good schools, retail and entertainment centres.
Shortly after Oberholzer established this franchise five years ago, said van der Merwe, houses and sectional title prices began to rise by 5 to 7% per annum – and they seem likely to continue to do so, albeit possibly at a slightly slower pace in late 2015 and in 2016.
Today, said van der Merwe, a standard, well-maintained three or four bedroom home will sell for R2,9 million and the average sectional title unit will cost R990,000. Rentals now average around R15,000 per month for a home and R7,000 per month for a sectional title unit – in both cases the prices are well above the South African average.
Discussing agent motivation, van der Merwe said that every one of the franchise’s 12 residential agents and eight rental agents attends monthly training sessions “without fail’” and works through the Rawson Property Group’s RAP (Rawson Achiever Programme) training which is credited countrywide with giving agents an edge.
Equally importantly, said van der Merwe, Oberholzer has ensured that every one of the ‘basics’ recommended by the Rawson management is adhered to. This means that knock-and-drop flyers are regularly delivered, extensive use is made of signboards, show houses are held at least three times, per agent, per month, Rawson branded vehicles are continually in use, telephone and door to door canvassing is maintained week after week and regular newsletters are mailed to the franchise’s 2 000 plus client base, who are also communicated with, regularly through dedicated Facebook pages.
“I do think,” said van der Merwe, “that Northcliff has set an exceptionally good example in how to motivate agents and give one’s franchise a really high profile. It is for this reason that we continue to attract good staff.”
These days, she added, her team has to work exceptionally hard to find sufficient stock because most Northcliff home owners are very reluctant to sell and are only prepared to do so at inflated prices. Nevertheless, the Rawson Property Group team is achieving 12 to 15 sales per month and in some months the figure has risen to as high as 20.
Capitalizing on his success to date, Oberholzer has diversified his operation by establishing not only the already mentioned rental franchise but also a Rawson Commercial franchise (which Oberholzer runs himself with a team of three) and a Rawson Auctions franchise, with partner Rob Whiteley, which now employs five people and is rapidly becoming well known in the Gauteng area.
For further information contact Petro van der Merwe on 083 257 0033 or via email petro.vander@rawson.co.za.
