Adrian Wilson

Last financial year your turnover was $1.3 million with a growth of almost 80%. How are you looking this year?

This financial year we are on track to achieve around $2 million and we would hope that would increase by 30% to 40% the following year.

We are still maintaining reasonable growth and the reason behind that is because we have a very strong property management department and we specialise in executive lettings.

We have basically grown that both naturally and by acquisition, so we now manage quite a large portfolio of property, which brings in a very steady income for us.

Our rental and our property management department often refer a lot of business for us.

The two golden rules are communication and attention to detail.

The other thing is that we have continued to grow our sales teams and up until recently they have all had previous experience, but now we have got to a stage where we have implemented our own in-house training program and have taken on two new agents we are training from scratch.

You’ve been very successful during what has been a tough time for real estate – how have you done that?

With a lot of hard work and not a lot of sleep!

The growth has been reasonably consistent for the four years coming up to June. We have doubled our turnover every year; we have been trying to make sure the brand is synonymous with the market; and we have positioned it as professional and knowledgeable and in being real experts in what we do.

We have been consistent in our message in terms of our marketing, and quite a lot of our business has been referral, which is important as well.

Were you concerned about the timing of opening Wilson Property?

I was always confident but a lot of people were sceptical, especially given that, at that time, we had the GFC.

Unlike a lot of competitors, I had a real vision as to how I wanted the business to grow and it comes back to those precincts and working out how to market in those precincts.

Also I had experience in working in the Pyrmont market as well and Pyrmont is increasingly a really viable option for people wanting to move into the city.

What were the challenges in achieving that growth?

The two things have been the time split between actively listening and being in the marketplace as an agent, and spending time and energy on the business to make sure that everybody is happy and productive and that everyone has a goal and strategy.

I now spend more and more time dealing with the people in the business and just dealing with high profile clients now. My role has changed immensely.

One of the things I noticed is that a lot of agencies or competitors seemed to be one-off family type agencies or the much larger franchise group and that there was little in-between.

I think that is because an agent may be successful in a certain area and running a business requires a different set of skills, so I have been trying to keep up my skills. By the end of the year I will have finished my Masters of Business Administration, which I am doing at the University of Technology Sydney.

I have also made sure that I have aligned myself with professionals within the industry through being a committee member with the Real Estate Institute of NSW. The attrition rate is exceptionally high and there is not a lot of support out there for young people, so being involved with a group like that really helps.

How has the MBA helped you?

Immensely. The most important thing is that the first couple of years of setting up the business were run on passion, energy, desire and hard work, but as the business grows that is not enough – you need to understand the broader economics and importance of things like human resources and corporate governance. I have found it really allows me to grow the business, develop a better team and develop a better strategy.

What are your plans for the future?

The plan is to open another two or three offices: one in the next 12 months and then another two from there. I am sticking to Sydney at this stage, but what we do in regards to city residential is transferable between most major cities, so that is on our radar.

At this stage we want to be the number one agent in this market and we are almost there. We have been awarded best small agency in NSW, and that has been important to us to show potential recruits and the market that we are at the top of our game even though we are a pretty new business.