The Ray White Group swelled by a record number of new offices in 2017 after a stellar year attracting some key businesses to its growing stable of more than 1000 offices this year.
Ray White Network Development CEO Andrew McCulloch confirmed 2017 was a record year of growth with more than 106 new business owners in Australia calling Ray White home. This includes 74 new businesses plus 32 existing businesses undergoing ownership restructures.
But the network says it’s not interested in getting bigger for the sake of it.
“We are only chasing quality leadership and marketshare,” Mr McCulloch said.
“Most franchises charge similar fees but hands down Ray White offers the best value back to its owners. We have the most comprehensive franchise offering in the market, no-one gives more value than Ray White.”
During the year, well known directors Richard Harding and Geoff Smith in the Lower North Shore of Sydney rebranded to Ray White, so did the highly regarded agent Vivien Yap in Perth’s western suburbs as well as Andrew McSweeny’s business in Carina, Brisbane.
“None of these key offices needed to rebrand but they all became game changers for us as these were all businesses on the incline and growing but their directors looked to us to future-proof their businesses and help them grow for the next 20 years or more,” he said.
Mr McCulloch was clear on one thing, that Ray White’s not looking to recruit just anyone.
“I liken this industry to working in Hollywood, as everyone wants to be a real estate agent as they see them drive flash cars and wear nice suits but not everyone will make it. The people who make it are highly driven individuals. It’s a service based industry and the high performing agents work very long hours,” Mr McCulloch said.
“There’s a huge percentage of people who won’t succeed and at Ray White our retention rate is better than the industry’s 30 per cent. We look for those with drive.”
Mr McCulloch was himself the youngest real estate agent in New Zealand at age 17.
“The only reason I succeeded was I was driven to succeed. I wanted it more than anything else in the world. I gave up everything to follow my dream. I was the youngest business owner and I was hungry but it’s an all-consuming job.”
Mr McCulloch said successful real estate businesses look to Ray White for its stability and leadership bench.
“We have had a stable leadership bench across our states and New Zealand and the White family itself is not going anywhere, they have made that loud and clear,” he said.
“This is a 115 year old family-owned business. The White family will always own it. People know what they are going to get from us with our stability and our innovation.
“People can see how progressive we are and how invested we are.”
There’s almost 500 corporate support staff on the White family’s payroll, all highly skilled specialist professionals whose function is to support the network.
The recruitment focus will shift heavily to the more affluent Melbourne suburbs next year.
“We are keen to hear from some of the successful boutique agencies in Melbourne, plus Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Inner West. We already lead the ‘blue’ end of the market, we already sell more properties over $2 million in Australia than another brand,” Mr McCulloch said.
“We are the brand for the driven but we have proven our worth at the top end.”
