In what appears to be an era where agents are reconsidering the traditional shopfront, Stacey Sheehan discusses why it remains of utmost importance.
In 2002 a new CEO was appointed to AMP, Australia’s largest superannuation fund manager, to navigate it through a corporate crisis that some viewed as terminal. He was noted to say at the time of embarking on the company’s restructure, “There are no sacred cows, except CQ.
“CQ” as it is affectionately known, is AMPs head office at Circular Quay; Sydney’s first skyscraper, clad in gold façade panels, an iconic 60’s structure with uninterrupted views over Circular Quay and beyond. AMP built it, own it and, for the last fifty years, have occupied it, but would have made a fortune from it, had they sold it or moved to cheaper office accommodation. As Manager of the building at the time, I was quite relieved not to be backfilling 33,000 sqm of office space but it was not until much later in my career I came to understand why they placed such importance on their corporate address.
Fast-forward ten years, I now run the family real estate business in Devonport on the North West Coast of Tasmania. In the current market, I find myself in a constant cost benefit analysis loop, trying to ensure the company’s bottom line stays healthy. Since January, three local agencies have closed their doors and industry peers are looking at cost saving options such as virtual offices, hot desking staff, and moving to cheaper office accommodation. It’s a tempting thought, but are there intrinsic benefits to investing in your office space that have economic benefit at the end of the day? I’d like to nominate three of the most compelling ones to me, in no particular order:
- Your customers use your office presentation as a means to assess the quality and likely longevity of your business when making the decision to entrust their asset with you. Over 60 per cent of our landlords are intra or interstate and maybe inspect their properties once every few years. They need to know they can ‘set and forget’ their property and trust their agent to provide a quality service. Anecdotally we know our clients throw our office presentation and location into the mix when choosing us to manage their property. Where you run your business from says something about you that clients place value on, particularly in a small regional centre like Devonport where people are more likely to pay a premium for stability.
- It will help you attract and retain talent. Twelve months ago my mother retired from an active day to day role in the business and with a beautiful sun-filled office sitting there empty, I decided to sub-lease it to a local barista and create what we call our Client Lounge, a space where our team, clients and local office workers can all interact or take time out. It is not dissimilar to what staff at Macquarie Bank, Mallesons Stephen Jacques and Fairfax Media enjoy courtesy of George Gregan’s GG Espresso franchise. Though not originally intended, local planning laws required us to make the space integral to our business. We included monitors displaying our latest virtual tours, staff profiles, a framed photo wall of some of our feature properties and packed it with Matt Blatt reproductions and the latest industry publications from across the globe. The team love it, as do I – not only is the office filled with the delightful aroma of coffee beans when you walk in, but when the sales and property management teams are all out on the road, the café generates activity and interest which form part of that all important first impression for clients.
- Your office is a valuable marketing tool for your brand. While it will not suit all business models, as we are located on a busy commercial strip opposite the main entrance to Kmart, Coles, and Woolworths, whatever we spend on advertising on our building we get payback. With regular traffic to the door over the weekend, we purchased a Splash Touchscreen last year, which activates our brand message day and night. While we originally bought the screen as a marketing point of difference, with the acquisition of another agency its now coming into its own, as we simply cannot fit our 200+ listings in our shopfront. Similarly, we have invested in soft and hard landscaping improvements to the forecourt and are looking at installing operable windows and spill café seating out to the forecourt later in the year. Our radio advertising always mentions the office address to reinforce the building branding.
I noticed AMP, recently listed in The Australians Top 100 Investments for 2012, are using CQ in their latest ad campaign. It was a good call to hang on to it, and I’m equally comfortable that at the end of the day, continuing to invest in and improve our office space to specifically tie in with the three factors mentioned above will not only make it an environment we will all enjoy spending half our lives in, but add to our bottom line as well.
