The Tough Get Going: Custom Residential: treat your people well

Some people laughed when real estate agent John Wills opened the doors to his new Auckland agency. Wills himself admits December last year was ‘pretty much the worst time’ to launch a new real estate company.

“Believe me, I’ve had a few sleepless nights,” he says. But his company, Custom Residential, has now sold more than $20 million dollars worth of property: nearly half of that ($9 million) in May this year alone. The business is now gathering momentum. Gross profits have doubled month-on-month from February onwards.

Custom Residential focuses on property in the $500,000 to $2 million bracket in the highly sought-after Auckland city fringe areas of greater Ponsonby, St Marys Bay, Grey Lynn, Westmere, Freemans Bay and Kingsland.

To some extent, the company can sidestep the generally sluggish housing market because more high-earning Kiwis are now choosing to ride out the worldwide recession by staying put in Godzone. And a fair number of our expat executives and professionals are heading home.

But that’s just a tiny part of the story. Wills puts extraordinary emphasis on getting good staff, keeping them happy and enabling them to really look after customers. At the heart of it all is a man who not only knows the business ‘nuts and bolts’ (last November he published his own ‘how-to’ real estate book Wages Don’t Work) but also lives the positive thinking mantra.

Wills, for example, says he hasn’t read a newspaper in about eight months. “I’m just not into negativity.” He reckons a touch of tunnel vision can work wonders in business.

“It’s all about what’s going on right in front of you and your own goals.”

Wills uses a two-pronged approach, making sure clients have a good experience as well as a good result.

“We listen and we do exactly what we say we will do. We have a policy of what we call point-to-point service. This means that from day one we lead customers through the process, keep them up-to-date and guide them through what can be quite an anxious time.”

Wills handpicked his current sales team of nine. He whittled down 80 interviewees by homing in on the people he believes have integrity and a willingness to put the customer first.

During the interviews, a key question that would nail the job was often: ‘How long are you willing to commit to the industry?’

That unearths a few home truths, says Wills. “We want people who are here to build a foundation and long-term relationships with clients. We’re not interested in quick money.”

Once in the door, agents can expect to be the centre of Wills’ attention. “We focus on our agents as customers,” he says, “because we know it’s people that deliver service and it’s people that deliver results.”

Custom Residential is fitting out new premises for its agents with the aim of providing a supportive and private environment.

“It’s going to cost a bit more but that’s just the way it is,” says Wills. “If we look after our people, it will stand both us and our clients in good stead.”

Wills says he provides ‘generous individual office space’. “Believe me, most offices are just a desk, a phone and a leaky roof…. Well, a couple that I used to work in were like that.

“The offices have lockable doors so there’s privacy and security. [The agents] can make the space their own: they can have their goals on the wall.”

There’s yet another collective space where agents can relax. “In real estate things don’t always go your way. Agents hear the word ‘no’ a lot and they have the rug pulled from under their feet every now and then. So its important agents have a space where they can talk to others who are going through the same thing.”

Custom Residential also provides equipment for self-directed training via a library of DVDs and CDs.

Wills and the agents meet as a group for two hours every week. The company circulates a training email once a week and agents have regular one-on-one sessions.

“A lot of people [in the real estate business] talk about doing these things but I don’t know how many people do it,” says Wills. “Part of the reason I set up on my own a couple of years earlier than I’d originally planned, is you just don’t get treated that well as a real estate agent. I got sick of it.”

Want another sign of the benefits of a world without newspapers? Wills plans to boost his sales team to 15 by the end of this year.

John Wills: “I’m just not into negativity.”

Advice for growth:

• Provide point-to-point service. Lead customers through the sales process. Keep them informed.

• Remember that the client values the experience just as much as they value the result.

• Don’t read newspapers. They spread
negativity.