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How does your usual day look?
My partner and I are raising our 8 year old grandson so my day starts in my ‘car office’ from school drop off time. I have a 20 -30 minute trip into our office in Tauranga CBD during which I take the opportunity to connect by phone with key clients/contacts.
As soon as I arrive in the office, I have our daily coffee-planning meeting with my EA (who, by the way, has just won New Zealand Ray White PA of the year out of 177 branches - a huge accolade for Tauranga Commercial).
The balance of the day consists of client meetings, phone calls and staff supervision. We also have a small satellite office in the heart of the Tauriko Business Estate - New Zealand's largest industrial estate. I often meet appropriate clients there for industrial sales, design-builds, developments and leasing. I am able to phone in my deals from the Tauriko office or my car, to the efficient and highly capable administrative support in the office who get the deals on the go.
How did you start your career in commercial real estate?
In my mid-20s I owned and managed garden centres in the Manawatu. That’s where I learnt to sell! My garden centres were sold to a national chain and I was relocated to Tauranga as the North Island Manager.
I ultimately moved into commercial and industrial property management which led to starting a boutique real estate company called McMahon Commercial and from there, the Ray White Commercial Franchise was picked up.
We operate in the fourth largest city with 120,000 and growing, and we are a small boutique team with four selling and leasing agents.
What do you enjoy most about being a director at Ray White Commercial? What makes Ray White Commercial different?
Family values and trust are exceedingly important to me and I do everything I can to impart these to my team. Within the boutique or “family” nature of our team, I get immense pleasure out of training and assisting our young and upcoming agents who will be extremely successful, especially with the support of the Ray White franchise. We find that there is always someone in Ray White happy and willing to help us in Tauranga Commercial with issues or ideas.
What are your go-to property marketing methods that you present to your clients?
Signage, which is very applicable in the Tauriko Business Estate where I specialise - there are more Ray White yellow signs there compared with the competitor's signs combined. We have painted the estate yellow!
Press is used regularly to keep our Ray White Commercial presence constant in the market.
Online marketing is key, but it is client, developer and stakeholder meetings, and site visits, especially at Tauriko Business Estate, that produce results. ‘In person’ is how I operate and what generates my business. Phone calls are a huge priority, rather than emailing. My three rules of real estate: “talk to your clients, talk to your clients, talk to your clients.”
Tell me about a unique success story?
Selling twice within two weeks! Three land lots in Tauriko. These sold and settled, and sold and settled again a month later, with zero marketing budget and it only happened due to our relationships. I made the original owner, a land banker and developer, a multi-million dollar profit.
What’s the one thing you know now, that you wish you knew when you first started out?
I started out specialising in leasing which I thoroughly enjoyed however, I resisted for a long time being involved in sales, possibly due to a lack of confidence. I now know that I had the ability, however time has allowed me to build on communication skills and strengthen networks, giving me the ability to consistently negotiate and sell.
The Ray White brand has offered exceptional training. In hindsight, the boutique real estate agency I was involved in previously should have picked up the Ray White Commercial franchise much sooner than we did so we could have benefited earlier from the support systems.
I also resisted the need to employ a personal assistant either part time or full time and was unaware of the significant difference that would make for my business. I am not an administrator but I'm a connector and love being “out there”. Having this support, now as an executive assistant, has allowed me to significantly increase the volume of business I can handle.
What is your outlook for the Tauranga commercial market over the next 12 months?
Tauranga (Bay of Plenty) has the largest port by volume. We are the kiwi fruit capital of the world and a major avocado producing region. The lifestyle in Tauranga is not dissimilar to the Gold Coast, though the climate is a little more temperate.
We are part of the Golden Triangle (Auckland - Hamilton - Tauranga) where approximately fifty per cent of New Zealand’s population lives and much of the country’s business activity takes place. Bay of Plenty is the second fastest growing region after Auckland, and Tauranga is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing cities and is a main centre for business.
The area I specialise in, being Tauriko Business Estate, is New Zealand’s largest industrial development and Tauranga is New Zealand’s fastest growing region for business growth.
So in summary, my outlook for Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty is extremely positive! Tauranga is an exciting place to own a Ray White Commercial franchise and we can’t wait to see the establishment of more Ray White Commercial branches throughout New Zealand.
CONTACT
Email: philip.hunt@raywhite.com
