Josh Heppner and Merrily Hackett (Photo by Darla Furlani)

By Susan Doran

Sutton Group West Coast Realty has been named the largest real estate brokerage in Canada by U.S.-based research group Real Trends.

With 17 offices and over 1,750 sales reps, Sutton Group West Coast Realty had 14,577 transaction sides in 2010 and a closed sales volume last year of a whopping $8.4 billion. The original Sutton Group office in Canada, the company was founded in 1983 by entrepreneurs Scott Shaw and Lance Tracey, who are still investors. The first office was in North Vancouver but the firm has since expanded across the province with the help of other partners.

Sutton West Coast’s management group is led by COO Josh Heppner and general manager Merrily Hackett. They say they’ll be opening two more offices within a few months and expect the company’s spectacular upward trend to continue.

“We are probably the best-kept secret in the real estate industry,” says Hackett. “We’ve been so focused on our growth that we haven’t yet gone out and touted our success.”

She says that the fuel propelling the company’s rapid growth is its commitment to determining Realtors’ needs in a competitive and tech savvy marketplace, and providing sales reps and consumers alike with an exceptionally high level of service.

Heppner says, “In 2009 we recognized an opportunity for us to bring better value for Realtors in the market, which began a ‘rebirth’ of the organization. We brought all the offices under a common ownership group and transitioned into expansion mode.”

Corporately structuring the company under common ownership in this way, rather than going the typical route of having broker/owners operating individual offices, is the key to Sutton West Coast’s growth and success, he says.

“We’re more market-driven than other Sutton offices,” says Heppner, who has a background in real estate technology. “Because of the structure and size of the company we’re able to combine resources and invest in key services that benefit Realtors and clients. We’ve built a great value proposition, which is the single biggest thing differentiating us.”

This gives Sutton West Coast agents a competitive advantage, says Heppner.

The firm’s market share in metro Vancouver is about 32 per cent, he estimates. The company traditionally operates on the 100 per cent commission model, with some commission splits in outlying areas.

“We have no restrictions on growth,” says Heppner, adding that the company plans eventually to go “from sea to shining sea,” acquiring non Sutton Group offices as it goes.

“Bigger is better,” says Heppner.

The “great value proposition” and “key services” he frequently refers to when discussing Sutton West Coast Realty can be broken down into several offerings for sales reps, all of which, Heppner says, would be cost prohibitive for a single brokerage. These offerings include:

* ongoing cutting-edge education and training (including a real estate ‘boot camp’ program) through a centralized training centre;

* an in-house conveying and transaction management platform that offers greater support to the increasingly mobile Realtor workforce;

* the best technology available, allowing the company and its sales reps to have a significant on-line presence and giving consumers quick and comprehensive access to information;

* universal access to all Sutton West Coast Realty offices for the brokerage’s Realtors, so when they are away from their home offices they can use the equipment and facilities at any other of the firm’s branches. This includes access to the managing broker at every location, so there is no wasted time if team consultation is required but a sales rep’s own manager is busy.

“We felt that since we were spending time, energy and resources bringing people in to work with us, we wanted to set them up to succeed,” says Heppner. “We knew we’d hit an artery when we announced that we were opening up a centralized training centre and 300 agents signed up the same day.”

Improving the company’s online presence met with similar positive results – from salespeople and consumers alike, he says.

“The vast number of consumers search for properties online and want a one-stop shop for listings,” he says. “They want instant gratification – one-click access. For a single brokerage, that could be cost prohibitive. We thought it was a must to be a leader in technology. Fast forward to today; we’ve hit the milestone of over 100,000 visits to our website (suttonwestcoast.com) per month. We’ve married high-tech and high-touch technology and also added a customer service component … we wanted to make sure we make real connections.”

Heppner feels blessed to be living on the west coast and says that although conditions are impossible to predict, the market continues to be “busy and multicultural,” with Asian and Middle Eastern buyers fuelling prices.

Whatever happens, he says, “change is critical in this industry and we’ve committed to the process.”

http://www.remonline.com/home/?p=9147