July is the month of the year when real estate companies throughout New Zealand are invited to submit entries for the annual real estate awards. The credentials of nominees are scrutinised by an independent panel of judges, and winners are announced the following month. The awards cover categories over all facets of real estate, namely residential, commercial, rural and business sales, property management and allied areas such as marketing excellence, community involvement, administrative functions and innovation. The awards recognise individual performance and also overall office performance during the previous financial year to 31st March.
Tommy’s has a proud award-winning record and over the years has gained numerous individual and company accolades both locally in Wellington and nationally against New Zealand-wide competition. In the formative days of Tommy’s, our company was successful on numerous occasions in the annual awards conducted by the then Wellington branch of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ). In more recent times, the awards have been conducted under the auspices of the national body of the REINZ and Tommy’s City Office has twice won the award for the top large office in NZ (in 2015 and 2017) and was a finalist in the same category in 2018.
In most instances, the awards are based on the sales performance achievements of the individual or company, who must be fully licensed, must be members of the REINZ and they must have an unblemished disciplinary record. Recognition by the REINZ appointed judges becomes a powerful marketing tool when promoting the merits of one agent over another or one real estate company against their opposition and can assist in the further development of an individual or company profile.
Tommy’s management shares the belief that nominating a person or an office sales team collectively for an award is a way of acknowledging (other than by remuneration) outstanding performance irrespective of the outcome of the particular nomination. Awards time also creates an opportunity for management to compare individual internal performance and to identify where a helping hand or some ongoing assistance to lesser performers would be beneficial.
So what makes an award-winning real estate agent?
The simple answer is that there is no set blueprint or criteria. Tommy’s has recruited successful agents from a wide cross-section of professional, commercial and industrial backgrounds. When the company was first formed in 1999, Tommy’s made a point of restricting the employment of agents with previous real estate practice. The belief was that old habits die hard and it was preferable to train and develop a new sales team with common goals, with good work ethics and no preconceived ideas about how the industry works. Interestingly though, many of these new people had already experienced previous success in other pursuits. This formula has worked well for Tommy’s over the ensuing 20 years.
There are many qualities that combine to make a successful salesperson. Honesty, integrity and sound ethical behaviour are obvious and these qualities are an essential element we expect from anyone representing Tommy’s. Other qualities possessed by successful agents but in no particular order are; attention to detail, good organisational skills and an ability to negotiate. Above all, a good agent will be personable.
Collins dictionary describes “personable” as being pleasant in appearance and personality; a description that we believe sits well with most successful salespeople. Agents also need to be adaptable and to be compatible with those they represent. While selling a property, an agent will likely spend many hours in the presence of home sellers and their families, so compatibility is important. Open discussion, regular reporting and working to a common goal will usually ensure a good relationship and a successful agent/homeowner partnership. The old adage ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ should be the catchphrase for any successful agent.”
Tommy’s has always promoted team performance ahead of individual performance and this has been recognised in previous awards successes. Our belief is that while a homeowner will deal in the main with one or two listing agents, listing a house for sale with Tommy’s places a responsibility on our entire sales team to secure the best possible outcome for the homeowner. This is a responsibility we don’t take lightly.
As the saying goes ‘a champion team will always beat a team of champions’. We invite you to call Tommy’s and put our team culture to the test.
