Ray White Commercial hosted its inaugural call-a-thon on Wednesday, with 467 appraisals booked across Australia and New Zealand. The appraisal drive generated some friendly competition between Ray White Commercial offices across Australasia, as agents picked up the phones to book as many appraisals as they could across a four hour period. Fourteen Ray White Commercial offices across Australasia participated on the day, making hundreds of phone calls. Commercial Real Estate (CRE) sponsored the event, pitching in prizes including a Platinum Extend listing for the number one agent, and a social media boost. Other prizes included an office lunch for the number one office, a ticket to Ray White Commercial’s conference and awards night, and a scripts and dialogue session with Ray White Corporate Commercial Business Development Executive James Linacre. The Ray White Commercial Northern Corridor Group team recorded a massive 207 new appraisals booked in, ahead of Ray White Commercial Auckland who managed to secure 68 new appraisals. Individually Emily Pendleton of Ray White Commercial Northern Corridor Group secured a staggering 102 appraisals on her own. Ray White Commercial Auckland won the Commitment to the Cause award for their enthusiasm and engagement throughout the day. 
Mr Linacre hosted the event via a live video broadcast and congratulated everyone who participated in the Ray White Commercial network’s first call-a-thon. “Our mission extended beyond facilitating appraisals but to be a catalyst for agents building relationships and business,” he said. “The aim was to showcase the opportunities available within the Ray White Commercial network. “Congratulations and well done to everyone who got involved on the day. Making these calls and generating leads can help improve the overall performance of a real estate business. “With all the conversations we had yesterday, we got a real sense of activity in the market and an increase in confidence heading into the new financial year.” The broadcast featured a number of live crosses throughout the day. Ray White head of research Vanessa Rader kicked off the crosses with an economic update, providing callers with a few talking points to use once they’ve picked up the phone, touching on interest rates, employment rates, and asset class performance. Ray White Commercial Gold Coast had a table full of snacks to keep energy up throughout the day. “We want to use this as an opportunity to get everyone on their phones at the same time, use that energy, and drive those appraisals,” Ray White Commercial Gold Coast team leader Luke Boulden said. “We’re reinstating the importance of the ongoing communications and building those relationships with clients. Ray White Commercial Northern Corridor Group were full of enthusiasm, with many staff dressing up in fluoro outfits to celebrate the day. 
“We know you can get too busy for prospecting, but today is about the energy the team provides you and use your team to have that discipline to make those calls,” Ray White Commercial NCG director Michael Shadforth said. “This exercise is a reminder to make sure you’re getting your data straight, and be improving your pipeline all the time. “We’ll be able to measure the value of today in eight months’ time, a day where we spent two hours making calls dressed in fluoro could result in a number of sales.” Ray White Chief Strategy Officer (Real Estate) Mark McLeod, who founded the residential network’s mammoth appraisal drive Real Estate of Origin, joined the broadcast to provide his top tips for the day. “Be prepared, work at a steady pace, and have some fun and create some energy,” Mr McLeod said. “The offices that do really well are the ones that create energy by dressing up or having internal competition. “It’s also important to work at a steady clip and make sure you’re taking those breaks to keep your momentum going.” 
There was some strong internal competition at Ray White Commercial Bayside, who were keeping energy up with their own internal leaderboard. “It’s been quite a unique experience for us and it’s been good to get everyone together and create a bit of fun and competition,” Ray White Commercial Bayside Director Nathan Moore said. “It caused us to make those outbound calls that we don’t get to make on a regular basis. “We’re in a changing marketplace so the calls have been more welcome than not. It gives us an opportunity to touch base with our clients.” 
Prospecting is a daily habit for the team at Ray White Commercial Burleigh Group, but commercial sales consultant Ryan Langham said it was nice to be a part of the group event. “We’ve had a fairly productive day,” Mr Langham said. “We’ve offered some additional value in the form of tickets to the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show as well as access to a free webinar with Ray White Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee. “We understand the market is very tight here on the Gold Coast, so we used some different tactics to get in front of people and get them to talk to us about their properties.” | 