The resilience of the Western Australian economy, increased consumer confidence and population growth is helping to drive housing sales and rental demands. According to the latest data, property is being snapped up at the fastest rate since 2006 with some agents reporting having received multiple offers above the listing price.
This has created a flurry of activity for real estate agency business owners. While this level of activity can be good for business in the short term, business owners are aware that these conditions will eventually end. The savvy owner should be continuing to focus on business improvement, investing in self-development and development of the leaders of their business to drive long-term growth.
Some of the questions that business owners need to continue to ask include, should they be investing time and money into new systems? How can they improve business operations? How much should time should they spend on sales and marketing? How effective is our financial function at supporting our business decisions?
John has been running his own agency in Wembley Downs for five years and has worked hard to build up his brand. Over this time, he has built a team and the business is starting to generate good cashflow. Despite his success, John is not on top of the financial aspects of the business or his personal affairs, he feels like he is constantly paying taxes, his operations are overly manual, and his marketing and branding strategy has not evolved beyond the initial objective of building his personal brand.
This is a common challenge for small business owners that can cause the growth and potential of a business to stagnate. While John is a highly successful agent and has been able to grow the business on the back of his competency and personal drive, he lacks clarity as to what is now required to take the business to the next level.