Creating a boutique agency comes with its fair share of challenges and rewards. Peter, who opened the doors to his boutique agency Hutton & Hutton in Fortitude Valley, Queensland, earlier this year, shares his insights on creating an authentic brand from the ground up.
Challenges
Peter says the biggest hurdle when Biggest hurdle was that mindset.
“Can I do it alone and create something and get that cut through? There’s that objection in our mind that we are up against big players like McGrath and Ray White, Place in Brisbane, Belle Property,” Peter says.
The answer to that question, Peter says, is to look at it rationally.
“Look at that landscape and ask yourself, can I offer something that different? Is there a gap in the market that’s not satisfied?”
After looking at it rationally, Peter’s advice is to then let go of the rational thinking and just “go for it”.
“Business will never go as you will expect it to go. You can make all the plans, but you take the best step forward. That’s why I’ve loved opening up this agency, the creative process is really exciting it’s challenging but so rewarding as well.”
The lack of support is an issue that independent groups face that bigger franchise groups don’t have to deal with.
“Franchise groups have support, training, a head office and the camaraderie of other principals. In an independent agency you’re on your own.”
“The key is to have systems in place. For example, we don’t have full time admin manager because the world has changed, there’s all this technology and virtual assistants. We have 2 virtual assistants in property management who are based in Brisbane.”
On building a brand
Social media has gone a long way to establishing the brand locally, with locals even recognising Peter in coffee shops and stopping to have a chat.
Peter initially outsourced social media but after he wasn’t getting the results, decided to teach himself Instagram and do the marketing himself.
“Karen, (Peter’s wife) does a video of me doing a market wrap up once a week using her iPhone, we run that for a week and I boost it through Facebook. We get around 4-5000 views in a week.The best one was 8000 views. Good content is a big driver”
“The brand has to match you. It has to match the market you have to pitch to. It needs to be authentic and real and match who you are. The content has to be relatable. My personal instagram has 1000 followers who are generally locals. I don’t post pictures of property, which I think is a bit two-dimensional, so instead I do small videos on property, some silly things, me and my dog, my wife and I out.”
“When I was setting up Hutton & Hutton brand, I didn’t look at agencies in Australia but looked around the world at brands outside of real estate to see what connects with me and my philosophy.”
Why start your own brand?
Peter says being independent allows him to direct the culture of his company, create a brand he’s proud of and set his own timetable
“As independent agent, your primary goal is creative control. If your primary goal is income, then having independent agency may or may not be solution, you can get great income as real estate agent and let someone else manage the brand.”
When asked what’s the vision for the business, Peter’s plan is to keep H & H true to the boutique ethos with the view of opening only one additional, company-owned office. With a team of five, Peter focuses on residential sales and inner-city owner occupier projects.
“You need to ask yourself whether you want a lifestyle business or enterprise business.”
“I can leave for three days every couple of weeks and go down to Byron Bay and my business doesn’t fall apart.”
