PHOTO: Corie-Lea Forsack and Michelle Fahd in Sydney. SUPPLIED RAY WHITE
Ray White’s 15th call-a-thon hit a new level this week with 10,141 appraisals booked across Australasia, 100 per cent powered by NurtureCloud, the group’s unique prop tech platform.
On the back of the appraisal drive, Australia’s largest property group, donated $32,411 towards Vinnies, to help them end the cycle of homelessness.
In New Zealand the network logged 2188 appraisals and the group donated $4376 between 30 various charities across the country too. The largest donation was to Ronald McDonald House.
Everyone deserves a safe place to call home and for over a decade, supporters of the
Vinnies CEO Sleepout have provided essential support to tens of thousands
of Australians.
For every appraisal generated at this week’s Real Estate of Origin, Ray White donated $1 for each appraisal and all up the group had now raised more than $40,634 for Vinnies when fundraising from its members was included.
Five Ray White members, all from Victoria, plus RWC head James Linacre will be participating in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout tonight.
Michael Pastrikos, Alexandra Mees and Andrew Salvo from Ray White Southbank, Peter Travlos from Ray White Taylors Lakes and Ashley Weston from Ray White Frankston are all sleeping out tonight for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
“It’s a really important initiative,” Mr Linacre said.
“We work for a property company and we talk a lot about the importance of having a home and that’s what the Vinnies appeal is all about. It’s a really great cause and no one can argue with the importance of it.”
Ray White Head of Recognition and Performance Bianca Denham (pictured) said it was humbling for the group to be involved in helping Vinnies with their annual fundraiser.
”We are in such a privileged position to work in the property industry and the opportunity it affords us is not lost on us,” she said.
Appraisals are the lifeblood of real estate and Ray White holds its Real Estate of Origin events three times a year to create friendly rivalry and banter between the states and New Zealand.
Ray White Queensland won the 15th REOO with 3636 appraisals, followed by Ray White New Zealand who came in second with 2188.
Ray White Manukau claimed bragging rights this year booking a whopping 367 appraisals, and Ray White Marsden finished in second place on 289 appraisals.
Ray White Manukau | Manurewa | Mangere Bridge | Mangere took out the number one multi-office business with 590 appraisals.
The top agent winner was the unstoppable Lydia Robins of Ray White Deception Bay who booked 152 appraisals.
Lydia also won the most appraisals at last year’s REOO. She has the winning formula down pat.
“We always lead with a recent sale in close proximity to their home, let homeowners know it has influenced the value of their home and if they would like an appraisal to know the new value,” she said.
“Real Estate of Origin is a great way for our office to have a block out period to purely call and build relationships with our database – one of my associates, Sienna, said to me ‘I love Real Estate of Origin, it makes me so competitive’. We recently implemented a ‘call-a-thon’ and a ‘door-knock-a-thon’ in our office as the team responds really well to it.”
This year she was closely followed by Charlie Brothers from Ray White Manukau with 150 appraisals.
No one other single group could drum up this many appraisals in four hours which will ensure the group is set up for spring.
Ray White can measure the advantage that the appraisal drives offer the leading group.
Since 2019, Ray White has generated 103,000 appraisals through its Real Estate of Origin events.
Ray White Head of Strategy Mark McLeod said ‘AI and MI robots’ inside NurtureCloud helped to make the group uniquely Ray White.
“Last month we made more than 600,000 calls through NurtureCloud and I expect we will do better in June,” he said.
Ray White Managing Director Dan White said he was thrilled to see how far NurtureCloud had transformed the group.
“The NurtureCloud momentum is in full swing. The 15th Origin it’s the perfect time to look ahead and rejuvenate everyone’s businesses,” Mr White said.
“We are immensely grateful to our leaders for their unwavering support and dedication, which have been fundamental to our success.
“We need our business owners to get behind this event and show leadership.”
NurtureCloud, Ray White’s pioneering technology platform, launched five years ago and has now become an integral part of the leading group’s business.
“The journey has been challenging, requiring a lot of experimentation and hard work, but it’s been worth it. NurtureCloud is now an invaluable asset that provides a competitive edge and transparency for our leaders,” Mr White said.
“Anyone starting today to build their own platform will be five years behind us, which speaks to the advantage we’ve built.
“We are driven by our commitment to continuous improvement and leveraging technology to enhance operations.
“The connection within our network is what makes Ray White unique. The more we embrace and utilise our technology, the better we become,” Mr White said.
As the team gears up for a fantastic spring selling season, Dan White expressed his enthusiasm: “There’s no illusion about our communications today – we’re promising a fantastic spring, which is my favourite time of the year. Let’s make the most of it and continue to deliver exceptional results.”
Mario Carbone from Ray White Drummoyne was the winning bidder of the Alex Pattaro Auction Experience Package.
At the Ray White New South Wales event at the Strathfield Golf Club, the corporate auctioneer team raised just shy of $3,000 for the CEO Sleepout.
Auctioning off three packages, the Alex Pattaro Auction Experience Package which included one free auction and was knocked down for $700.
Josh Logan-Pye’s Auction Experience Package, including a free auction and a go-karting session, went for $1,000 while Perry Edmondson-Clark’s Auction Experience Package with a free auction, an auction training session and lunch with Mr Edmondson-Clark went for a the top amount, $1,235.
Stephanie and Ruth helped represent the girls at Ray White Sutherland Shire.
Things heated up in the south of Sydney. Ray White Sutherland Shire booked 44 appraisals during the day and the boys won out in the girls versus boys competition.
Sales agent Stephanie Blanchard said she was targeting people in the local suburbs including those she hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
Meanwhile, fellow agent Ruth Malone was looking at a lot of geodata and her past sales to dig up more appraisals.
The team said the buyers were trying their hardest to get into the Sutherland Shire market.
“There’s not enough stock and lots of buyers. They are desperate too and are trying to get into the market but failing at auction, they are offering good money too, rather than coming in low,” Ruth said.
Ray White Townsville took on Real Estate of Origin in their PJs.
Ray White Cairns and Ray White Townsville took the dress up brief in two very different directions. The Cairns team decked themselves out in sequins and fluoro for the 80s theme while Ray White Townsville got comfy wearing their PJs into the office.
Business owners Gio and Santo Spinella brought their team across to Ray White only 18 months ago and have now participated in their fourth Real Estate of Origin. Townsville is one of our highest volume businesses. The team were chasing 100 appraisals for the day after booking 96 last time, they ended up with 105 appraisals by the end of the day.
“Everyone got straight out of bed and came to work – they didn’t have to do anything else. It’s actually a bit cold today so we’re wearing our woollies,” Gio said, wearing a pair of Qantas pyjamas.
“We get a lot of value out of these appraisal drives and we’re looking to do better than last time.
“Stock is still down, we have less than 1,200 homes on the market in the whole region. There’s a massive amount of people coming through open homes and we’re still seeing things sell above the asking price.
“It’s a perfect storm and regional Queensland is pushing hard as always.”
On the peninsula, Ray White Woody Point were ready for Paris with a soccer player, a skateboarder and a golfer among others set to represent the Aussies at this year’s Olympics.
In Taylors Lakes, Peter Travlos’ office were working the phones to drum up appraisals across the north-western Melbourne suburbs. Peter participated in the Vinnies’ CEO Sleepout last week.
The Ray White Taylors Lakes team were committed to the day, booking 151 appraisals by the end. Peter said their market was doing exceptionally well with calls, appraisals and stock levels all trending upwards.
The Ballarat market may be getting tougher but the team from Ray White Ballarat have turned to auction to deal with their slowing market.
“The market has been tougher and every day we are noticing that the market is slowing and prices are coming right back,” principal Will Munro said.
“But the good thing is, we adapt and we are doing more auctions and making more calls so we’re doing better compared to the rest of the market.”
The Ray White Ballarat business recently merged with another local office, doubling their staff to 40. Both teams have gotten behind the merger and are now seven weeks in.
“It’s going fantastic, it’s gone really well. The teams have bonded and we have lots of new listings coming and some good sales,” Will said.
“It’s a tough market but we are embracing NurtureCloud and the energy has been great.”
The team booked 64 appraisals at the end of the day.
‘Warm heads, cool vibes, HOT SUCCESS’ was Team Ray White Urban Springs’ Real Estate of Origin motto. The staff made donations to the Care Cure Support motor neuron disease charity.
A topical theme following up on the heavily advertised Neale Daniher’s Fight Motor Neurone Disease Drive and the Footballs’ “AFL BIG FREEZE” which was last week. By the end of the drive, Ray White Urban Springs had booked 51 appraisals.
Ray White South Australia gathered offices from across Adelaide at the Morphettville Racecourse. Some 26 offices joined the 15th appraisal drive, where the day kicked off with an auction event. South Australian chief auctioneer John Morris got proceedings underway, auctioning off various spa packages plus two nights at the Hilton in Sydney and more totaling more than $1,500 for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
In Auckland, Ray White Austar Realty booked a venue especially for REOO, with all five offices coming together to make calls and book appraisals.
“We’ve had a ball and we’re looking forward to this activity pushing us through winter and seeing some really great listings as a result,” business owner Craig Smith said.
Ray White AT Realty Group were putting their all into the 15th REOO event. “The opportunity to be involved in such a powerful prospecting initiative across the Australian and NZ offices was too good to miss,” sales manager Richie Lewis said.
“As Macca says, ‘the lead metric for building a great business isn’t GCI, it’s appraisals.’ That’s our focus.
“Plus, since New Zealand can’t participate in the real State of Origin, the chance to compete and challenge the Aussies for REOO honours is pretty compelling!”
RWC Burleigh are one of the commercial businesses who regularly get involved in REOO. Agent Ryan Langham said it was an important day for their team.
“More calls equals more business for us in the future,” Ryan said.
“There’s also a good cause behind booking appraisals today, raising funds for Vinnies.
“It helps team morale and energy to come together on days like today, and helps us build more business.”
Ray White Paddington Chairman’s Elite agent Judi O’Dea with Jenee Bilsborough, Concierge performance manager, were getting fit on the treadmill during REOO while the Concierge team made their appraisal calls.
“Concierge is an extension of my team and bring us so many leads,” Judi said.
With the Concierge handling Judi’s database, she’s able to remain fit, fabulous and at the top of her game.
Concierge’s motto for this REOO was: ‘Don’t sweat it, Concierge has got it!’
In the spirit of the “Run Club” trend, getting people moving and running to get fit and connect socially, Concierge themed yesterday’s REOO Campaign as the Concierge REOO Run Club to promote running with a team and go the extra mile.
“Who likes running alone anyway, when you have a team to help motivate and maximise your result?,” asked Kelly Tatlow, Ray White Concierge CEO.
As part of the Concierge Run Club team the agents received:
Running Coach – one on one coaching to set up a tailored strategy and script.
Physio – Checking all database’s health to ensure it’s in tip top shape before the big race.
Personal Trainer – Push you to perform at your best with personal touch points and marketing.
Strava – which is our NurtureCloud to provide real time reporting so you are kept up to date in the race.
Facts and Figures:
Concierge had 35 individual campaigns running during the REOO, calling more than 3000 clients on behalf of the network and booking in appraisals.
Concierge achieved 350 appraisals in total.