26 Laps of the Earth: Numbers stack up as agents hit the road

Being a commercial property agent is about much more than ticking of marketing campaigns and working the phones.

Just ask some of our Burgess Rawson agents, who’ve racked up more frequent flyer miles in the last year than most people would accrue in a lifetime, while visiting commercial properties in the most remote corners of Australia – and everywhere in between.

But you know what? Sometimes that fact might be a little lost on people. It’s difficult to comprehend just how connected our agents and offices are, and the distances our staff cover to ensure we deliver the absolute best possible service to our clients.

Despite Burgess Rawson being a dominant player in capital city and metropolitan property markets, many people don’t realise just how far and wide our agents travel.

Well what if we told you that in the past 12 months our agents travelled the equivalent of more than 26 times around the Earth in the pursuit of their everyday work?

Our national sales team alone has covered almost 1.1 million kilometres in the last year, locking in clients and deals from Perth to far north Queensland, touching every corner of Australia and even venturing to Singapore and Hong Kong and the bright lights of Los Angeles.

Why?

How else would we connect an investor from Perth with a Hungry Jack’s in suburban Brisbane or a Guzman y Gomez at Coffs Harbour in New South Wales? Or how else would our team manage a Tasmanian property for a Melbourne client?

And what about that Los Angeles trip? Our Melbourne leasing director David Mark heard rumours that fitness chain Barry’s Bootcamp was considering entering the Australian market, so he jumped on a plane to LA to chat with them about his knowledge of the retail and health and fitness sectors.

Barry’s has now appointed David to manage all of their real estate requirements, including securing sites and specialty advice, within Australia.

Clocking up the big kilometres and time on the road and in the sky is all in a day’s work for our agents, because while technology means we’re all better connected than ever before, we still understand the importance of a friendly face and a real handshake.

Burgess Rawson director Darren Beehag says that while travel is a huge part of the agency’s work, in the property game there’s simply no better way than to have feet on the ground.

“Having that connection is part of what gives an investor who’s at their office in Perth the confidence to sit on the phone and big on property at Silkstone in Queensland that’s being auctioned in Melbourne.”

When you look at our travel logs, it’s not hard to see why those distances just keep stacking up. For example, one of our Sydney portfolio clients has properties in Mackay and Townsville, which is easy enough, but they also have one at Port Hedland in Western Australia, which had our agent traversing the country with three flights and a drive in 24 hours, just to reach the listing.

It’s this approach that sees Burgess Rawson continue to attract international clientele, with sales to investors from Vietnam, Belgium, South Africa and New Caledonia, to name a few. And with such a diverse mix of staff across our five state offices, Burgess Rawson can offer unrestricted access to a broad range of investors, regardless of location.

Victorian managing director Ingrid Filmer believes it’s this wide reach that sets Burgess Rawson apart.

“It’s about offering a collective approach as a national agency, which allows us to give our clients the much-needed confidence to work with Burgess Rawson to achieve their property goals,” Filmer says.