As RE/MAX Australia positions its franchise recruitment with the ‘Think bigger’ campaign, managing director Michael Davoren says it is more broadly about positioning the company as a forward runner in the real estate industry.
“We already know that RE/MAX® is flexible, dynamic, proactive, enterprising and global; and it is a platform on which property professionals can build great things.
“But thinking bigger means constantly evolving, staying relevant and repositioning for leadership.
“This is exemplified through, for instance, an expansive yet highly refined professional development program including streamed training; the roll out of a broader Microsoft partnership, and Precinct and the concept of community.”
Mr Davoren says the role of the franchisor may be changing, as technology is rewriting a lot of the rules, but the real estate industry’s role in training and professional development should remain a major focus.
“It would be a massive mistake for the industry to allow a technology focus to take over from professional development,” he said. “The industry has to be across both.”
With technology and professional development being two of his company’s major pillars, he says RE/MAX is totally committed to both.
“Billions of dollars are being spent by US companies in infiltrating the real estate industry through technology but they are finding they cannot negate the power of the human touch.
“That is why professional development remains so important. It is personal.”
He says there are those within the industry who align technology and data with the perceived battle for the future of the industry, but he’s not in that camp.
“I believe that the data itself – along with the expert systems used to gather, interpret and share it – are valuable tools when in the right hands.”
He says, instead of panicking about what’s going on with data, the industry should remind itself that it is in the business of helping sellers sell homes and buyers buy homes.
“So many of the big companies are interested in data alone – huge amount of data – but the sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants… they need more than just data.
“Our future is in delivering better, faster services to consumers and doing everything we can to make the process easier and more satisfying for them; and we need the very best professionals with comprehensive local market insight, genuine marketing expertise and, possibly the most important, the desire to create and build on relationships.
“We simply must be all about the complete consumer experience, not a tech company that happens to run real estate offices nor a training company that happens to operate in the real estate sphere.”
Mr Davoren has the consumer firmly in his sights when it comes to any talk of the industry’s future.
“We need to think about educating the public on how to handle the technology involved in transactions, in marketing and in other aspects of real estate.
“Consumer experiences and education… that’s the ‘think bigger’,” said Mr Davoren.
Media contacts:
Michael Davoren, Managing Director, RE/MAX Australia & New Zealand – M. 0411 435 505
Lyn Cox, RE/MAX public relations – M. 0418 793 096
About RE/MAX: RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. With more than 120,000 agents and 8000 offices globally, nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX.