Blog / Prospecting
Karen Joseph, Surfing 2 Success
Densely populated and studded with some of Australia's most famous surfing beaches and restaurants, Manly is the kind of place that can chew up and spit out the hardest of real estate agents. But one company making their mark is First National Manly.
Since setting up shop in August 2011, Karen Joseph and her business partner Ben Daniel from First National Manly have succeeded through dogged determination, savvy marketing and astute insight.
Responsible for the property management side of the business, Karen believes that embedding themselves in the life of Manly has been a key to their success.
For example, surfing is a way of life in Manly and it is part of their brand. A huge 15-foot high plank yellow striped surfboard rests in the foyer of the tiny, forty square metre office. Dayyan Neve, a born and bred local who learned to surf at Manly beach and went on to compete against the world’s best surfers, including Kelly Slater & Mark Occhilupo, is a sales consultant.
The location of their office was a carefully thought out business decision. Karen said, “We’re right by the beach; we‘re a little bit more relaxed. I ride my pink bike to inspections up the beachfront and people know me for that; they know I’m First National.”
Further, they chose the premises because it is located on the ground floor of one of the most popular and prestigious residential apartment buildings in Manly. It provides a flow of new business for both rentals and sales. Karen explained, “It’s a very popular block, with quality facilities. Owners come to us specifically because they know that we’re getting the higher rents in the block. And fortunately for us, tenants come to us because they naturally assume that we manage the entire block. So when it comes to rentals, we’ve got a whole database of people waiting just to get in this building alone.”
Perhaps the greatest factor in their success has been the amount of energy and time Karen, her business partner Ben and their team have been prepared to give to generate business. Karen’s not afraid to think outside the box and grabs any opportunity she can to start a conversation about real estate. Through her everyday business dealings, she demonstrates that First National Manly is the go-to real estate agency in the area. Some of her winning strategies are:
Innovative Advertising
When the office leases a property they produce an atypical, glossy drop card with a photo of the property. Karen said, “It introduces us and says: ‘We’ve leased the property. We hope you will be happy with our tenant selection and make your new neighbours feel welcome. You may not be aware that we manage other properties in your area. If you’re considering leasing, contact us’.”
Building good relationships with building managers and tradespeople
Karen knows that having good relationships with building managers and tradespeople is crucial to the agency’s success. She has made up a manual for each block she manages which lists the name of the Building Manager, their likes and dislikes as well as copies of the bylaws. She said, “Do the right thing by your tradesmen and have tight procedures in place. My plumber can see we’ve got a good tight solid system in our office and he often comments how nice it is to come in and do our work for us because the keys are always waiting, ready to go.”
Work with the local school
Karen has a child at a school in the Manly area. She sees schools as cornerstones of a community. She explained, “I do Canteen once a term and I introduced myself to the canteen lady and I said ‘Look I can’t be here all the time but I’m happy to come and help out once a term. What else can I do to help when I’m not here?’. She said, ‘Well, actually Karen we’ve just started an after school café. We’ve got a Barista; all the parents come and the kids play on the playground after school, we need some coffee cups.’ So we got some First National coffee cups done up with the running man on them, our phone number and next thing you know I’m up at the school, picking up my daughter and everybody’s walking around with our coffee cups.”
It’s a winning strategy because it raises brand awareness - and volunteering at canteen secured two very good rentals.
Branded vehicles
In addition to Karen’s distinctive bicycle, Dayyan has a branded blue Mazda 3. Karen said, “Dayyan has a fantastic blue Mazda 3 that we’ve had branded and it’s all over Manly. You just see the car driving all over Manly, people honk at Dayyan and it’s free advertising.”
Networking
Karen truly believes that any time can be the right time to ask for business. She’s had conversations on the treadmill in the local gym and in car parks that have converted into sales. She said, “If the time is right - ask for the business. People love to talk about real estate. It’s important not to get into people’s spaces. Let them control the conversation. If they do volunteer the information, then you can start having casual chats. ‘Oh, you’ve mentioned you’ve got a property’, those kinds of things but you can’t put a dollar value on asking the question and networking.”
Using a database and an ipad
Karen sees databases, Facebook and iPads as essential business tools. She said, “The Manly Daily is a very big publication here but we’ve not used it once to advertise property. We’ve not had the need. All leads have been from our database and the internet. We would love to be in the paper but it’s saving our owners money so it’s a very good marketing point. We say to our owners, ‘We can save you money by renting off our database’ so it actually does work its way back around for us.”
Karen encourages all agents to get an iPad. “It saves time and I do all of my presentations on it. Realestate.com have an iPad app so before I go out to the appraisal, I’ve already got it up on the screen, I’ve done a search of properties in their area, in that price bracket and I’ve got the photos ready to go. And I’m just scrolling on my iPad and people love it. They’re so impressed and even with the iPad, the iPad app for First National, it’s a huge selling point. We’re the only ones that have it.”
Karen Joseph is a woman going places and is a testament to what happens when a creative mind and an indomitable spirit combine. As Margaret Thatcher once said, ‘I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it’. This is true of Karen – the harder she works the more luck she has.
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