Long term aspirations include mortgages and insurance products, says owner
New Zealand real estate company Tall Poppy has reported 138% year on year growth this November, exceeding the company’s previous growth record by 30%.
The team recently established a presence across Christchurch, New Plymouth, Invercargill, central Tauranga and Blenheim, and has doubled the size of its team since 2017. According to owner Sam McIntyre, the firm’s rapid expansion has been down to its strong recruitment drive and sales activity.
“Latest statistics from TradeMe show we’re selling our properties quicker,” McIntyre said. “Listings stay on the site for 40 days, compared to the national average of 54 days. In the last six months, our listings had 47% more views, and 38% more were added to watch lists. Compared to the industry average, our salespeople achieve two to three times the number of sales.”
Tall Poppy was established in 2012 and operates out of a central office on the Kapiti Coast. Co-owner Michael Seymour says its lower fee model makes it an attractive option for property salespeople, and that the firm will look to move into mortgage and insurance products in the future.
“We’ve got a slightly different offer – there are over 14,000 real estate agents in New Zealand, and most of them are offering very similar things to their clients, and their reimbursement models are also similar,” McIntyre explained.
“Our point of difference is that we can offer a lower fee, but not a lesser service, and our salespeople also get paid a higher percentage of the commission than the traditional models.”
“Our long term aspirations will be to bolster other products and services – mortgages and insurance being among them. But the next logical step for us would be property management, dealing with rural and commercial, and then potentially business sales.”
McIntyre says Tall Poppy deals exclusively outside of Auckland and the regions have been the company’s strongest area of growth.
“The strongest growth we’ve seen is around the Bay of Plenty region, where we’ve gone from one salesperson to having over 20 sales people and four franchisees,” McIntyre said. “We’ve got a lot happening in the South Island too, around Central Otago and Queenstown and across to Christchurch, and we’re also kicking off down in Invercargill. We’d like to expand into every region by the end of 2020.”
