As the economic effects of Covid-19 bite, many skilled people are keen to switch industries and build careers for themselves.
Auckland’s biggest real estate company, Barfoot & Thompson, wants to encourage new people to real estate, who can reach their full potential.
Two years ago, Australia-based telecommunications sales-person Prince Kapoor’s real estate agent brother asked him to help out when a colleague had not shown up for an afternoon of door-knocking for prospects. Kapoor agreed to come along.
“The first day I got him an appraisal on a property and he ended up listing it,” he says. “I thought ‘I can do that’. “Talking to people and helping them find the right home, this is the job I always wanted.”
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Kapoor spent 10 months in real estate in Australia, then came home in mid-2019. With his New Zealand licence in hand, he interviewed with Barfoot & Thompson and joined the Remuera branch.
Kapoor had his eye on being the top rookie in the company — no minor ask when on average more than 75 of the approximately 185 salespeople who join Barfoot & Thompson each year fall into the Rising Star/Rookie category. Through mentoring from his manager, Carolyn Vernon, he aspired to emulate the 2018 Rising Star of the Year, Aaron Foss, who went on to top his agency for the year to March 2019 and has continued to be the number one individual salesperson in his region for 2019 and 2020.
“I asked my manager, what do I sell — dollar value? Personal relationships? The feedback received was to focus on listings, so my plan from day one was to get more listings.”
The agency takes training seriously. Photo / Supplied
Although based in Remuera, Kapoor signed listings all over Auckland, from Papakura to New Windsor, before picking up properties in Mt Eden and Remuera. He knew that this is a long-term business, so staying in touch with clients was the key.
“My focus for the first six months was not to think about money, but to focus on getting as many contacts per day as I could. I made sure that homeowners on the street knew my face. It takes seven times before people remember.
“People gave me investment properties outside Remuera first.”
Now a year later, with a strategy in hand, a network under his belt and a winning attitude, in May this year Kapoor won the Rising Star of the Year award, achieving his goal of being the top rookie in the company.
Mission Bay branch manager Teresa Weiss, who mentored Aaron Foss, says that after 17 years of recruiting and coaching new agents, she looks for people with emotional intelligence — “it’s a people business” — but with discipline to run their own business. A bit of humility helps.
“You have to have resilience to handle rejection, which can be as much as 90 per cent in the first months. You have to have self-belief, and commit to a lifestyle change that is maybe outside your comfort zone.”
Weiss says that tourism and hospitality workers who switch to real estate careers are ideally suited, as they have the right service skills.
“People considering real estate often find it's the quickest qualification you can get with an unlimited income opportunity.”
Steve Maserow, branch manager of Barfoot & Thompson Howick, started in real estate in his native country of South Africa at the age of 19. He says people who thought like entrepreneurs running their own business rather than having an employee mentality were best suited to the job.
“I look at what they’ve done previously — were they a risk taker? Did they have the drive to be responsible and accountable?”
Both Maserow and Weiss counsel new recruits to have at least three months, even six months, of living expenses saved as it will take that long before their commission-based earnings kick in. Would-be agents need to have completed the National Certificate in Real Estate (Salesperson) Level 4, which typically costs $1500 to $2000, and then apply for their licence from the Real Estate Authority.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment reports the average income for real estate agents is $84,500 a year, with potential earnings in excess of $1 million.
New recruits to Barfoot & Thompson join a five-day Front Runners course and have daily mentoring with their non-selling branch manager. Managers say that working with the company’s systems and processes, tapping into ideas and support from experienced agents in their branch and building relationships with their managers all give new agents a head start.
Prince Kapoor says that he is now tweaking his business approach, on the advice of his mentor, and watching and learning from top agents in his branch like Leila MacDonald. He even gets regular “how are you doing?” calls from managing director Peter Thompson, who has nominated him for the Rising Star category at the REINZ Awards this month.
“I want to be number one, but I know I’m competing with big numbers. I’m aiming for top 10, then I’ll take it from there,” he says. “Everyone is looking after you, they value you like you are part of the family. I joined a family company, and an industry where the sky’s the limit.”