A rookie principal has established a strong Facebook following and also focused on building his new agency’s rent roll to offset a soft sales market.
Celebrating his company’s first anniversary, Raine & Horne Muswellbrook director Grant Jupe said he’s fulfilling a dream by running his own business despite tough market conditions.
“We’ve had to learn to hit the ground running, market hard and come into a difficult market and get our market share during tough times,” Mr Jupe told RPM.
He said the slow sales market was caused by reduced mining activity near Muswellbrook, which is 180 kilometres north of Sydney.
“We’ve worked on building our rent roll, which has gotten very strong over the past 12 months, so we’ve really put our focus on that while sales have been a bit quieter.”
According to Mr Jupe, the company has run several marketing campaigns at a local level to help establish the brand, particularly within the digital space.
“We actually have the most highly followed and interacted Facebook page of all the agents in town,” he said.
“We’re also using the original method of print media and letterbox dropping, so we try to cover all bases.”
In setting up his own company, Mr Jupe has emphasised the importance of doing adequate research and setting realistic goals.
“We’ve exceeded our goals and expectations in the early months, as it’s always better to aim for a smaller scale when starting a new business,” he said.
“You can then reach those goals and even use those achievements in your marketing, like we did.”
Mr Jupe said setting up a franchise business was the right way for him, since it offered instant brand recognition in the local area.
“I always had my heart set on going with a franchise rather than going independent, because of the support, training and network that comes with a franchise,” he said.
One key thing that helped Mr Jupe in establishing his business is familiarity with the area and the market.
“I’d already been working in real estate in this area, so I had ongoing knowledge as an active agent and I was fairly familiar with the market and the other agents in town.”
[Related: Starting a rent roll from scratch]
New PM boss learns lessons: start small and market hard
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