Blog / Leadership


The ignition of collaboration


with Steve Grimbas, Place Nundah

Inspired and fired up - that’s how Steve Grimbas from Place Nundah felt when he touched down on the tarmac at Brisbane airport last year after attending the Complete Salesperson Course in Hawaii.

Determined to transform what he had learned in Hawaii into action, Steve compiled a list of 10 key things he wanted to achieve for his agency that services Brisbane’s northern suburbs. The list powered him though 2014. His office grew to 25 staff, they handled just over 310 sales and they continue to go from strength to strength.

Steve says that when he was in Hawaii listening and talking with some of the superstar agents in Australia, he realised he’d heard what they were saying before but hadn’t devised an action plan. He realised that there was an excessive distance between the knowing and the doing. He decided to change. He explains, “All of a sudden it was like, why don't you do something about it? It was just a case of actually doing something and putting some action behind it.”

So what was on the list?

1. Developed a sign up video for the property managers

Steve and his team created a video for successful tenants. The video freed up precious time for property managers. Steve says, “We get them to sign an acknowledgement that they've watched the video and they fully understand it and this allows the property managers to reduce their sign up time.”

2. Developed blended suburb reports

Steve explains, “We were pretty heavily weighted towards sales whereas now, there's a lot more balance between the rental side, the vacancies, how the arrears are running. There is no doubt a lot of people are landlords. We weren't being broad enough with the way that we were communicating to them.”

3. Used buyer booklets strategically

Steve started producing enticing buyer booklets and using them to initiate street campaigns. A street campaign starts when there has been a sale in the street and a whole series of actions against the street are implemented. Steve says they have, “targeted similar houses and made them aware of the results that have taken place for a similar property to theirs because these people tend to gravitate to one another.”

4. Added value in a newsletter

Steve changed the tone of Place’s newsletters. They’ve gone from being focused on ego to sharing useful information about their market place. Steve explains, “It’s now a lot more based on how to renovate and how to sell a home for profit. It’s going to be more educational, more information based as opposed to blowing our trumpet on how good we are.”

5. Developing packing boxes with the brand all over them

Steve says they are looking at having packaging boxes made to give to clients who sell. The idea came from Hawaii from Matthew Scafidi who has a background in packaging. Steve says, “We could give them to our owners during a move or to our buyers during a move.”

6. Committed to gathering the data

Steve is determined to acquire more of the data in his area. Steve says, “There're certain streets that we don't have the full data of those people inside the streets and what we want to do is make sure that we get everybody, capture all of them consensually to start to receive our information because we know that long term something will come from that.”

7. Developing testimonial videos

Steve is in the process of developing testimonial videos. Steve says, “There will be a voice over from the particular clients whose home we've just sold, along with the property itself, and they’ll talk about the service that they received and the benefit that we've provided and how we became a part of their profits.”

8. Maintaining continuity across the business

Steve says, “The implementation is going to be getting everyone on the same page with a listing presentation so we have a common theme taking place in our marketplace. When we were smaller, it was a lot easier to be able to know what was happening and monitor what was taking place. To keep your finger on the pulse of everything is certainly not as easy as it used to be and I know there's just not the same continuity taking place that should be so we need to address that.”

9. Settled to sold implementation

Steve says, “This is really where we need to pick up our act”. There are over 100 steps in the Real Estate Academy’s Sold to Settled checklist. Steve says, “Too often traditionally, I feel what's happened is once the deal is done, the sold sign goes up, the agent more or less disappears off into the wilderness and it isn't the same again. Now's the time to actually re-invent the job that's being done and communicate to them on a regular basis up until that settlement because that's going to be the biggest referral time.”

To address this issue, Steve is working on a program so that when clients have friends, family and neighbours asking, ‘How did it go? I see the sold signs up’ during this period, the client will be a raving fan for Steve and his team. Steve says, “What that means is we've just got to give them a better service from that moment. The job’s not over, that's the issue - it's just starting really if we're looking for another one.”

10. Cadetships

Steve wants to give young people in the area an opportunity to enter the workforce and establish pathways into the real estate industry. He says, “They're going to be based with the local schools. Our local community has been very good to us so what we want to do is get something from that community and repay what we're getting from them.” No longer do we have to be the master of everything. Through collaboration, Steve committed to changing his business and it inspired him to change. Working with the best, ignited change.  

 


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