WE DO IT DIFFERENTLY!

When started in October 2022 with Harcourts International, lots of people said to me “it’s #betterinblue” - truth be told, didn’t know what they meant. Why was it better in blue?

Well, having just experienced my first HX conference in both New Zealand and Australia, I now know.

Mike and Steve in their keynotes spoke to the fact that ‘people won’t remember what you say or do, but they will remember how you made them feel’ - and the reason why it is #betterinblue (having spent some time in another real estate brand) is because this business, this network puts people first with genuine care, empathy, excitement and celebration for each other in everything they do.

There was countless displays of this across HX2023 in New Zealand and Australia, but for me, there was two moments where this felt very real, very genuine - they were

• when our latest Hall of Fame recipients were inducted. The emotions visible for Cameron Bailey (NZ) and Mark & Sam Forde (AU) were a physical demonstration of the power of the brand, its values, its people. Nothing was contrived. Everything mattered. Everyone cared.

• when Dane Atherton, Managing Director of Harcourts Coastal accepted one of many awards on the night, and whilst showing sincere gratitude towards those in his team who had helped them achieve what they had, paused to specifically call out how Harcourts was simply different - better - for the genuine care that everyone showed and shows for every single award winner in the room, no matter how close they may be as friendly competitors, or whether you’ve ever met them before. Certainly for mine, none of the latter mattered for everyone in the room, there was sheer elation for everyone who was on stage being recognised for excellence across many parts of the network.

And whilst it’s unique and certainly advantageous for our network to operate every day with the values as the cornerstone of our mindset, there remains an innate desire to get better, to continuously improve, to be the best in our street, suburb, community, state and country - just not through the prism of WIIFM (what’s in it for me) but more from the view of how can we get better, so we help others get better - or more specifically, how we help others achieve success.

But - what does this mean? How do we capture it? How do we share it with others? How do we leverage the value of it - the value of our values, our vision, our purpose?

For some of you reading this who attended #HX2023, you may have been in the sessions where I shared a high-level digital marketing strategy around how we will be working hard to add value back into your businesses and our network.

Much of this is around getting the basics right - content creation, content amplification and ensuring that we do the fundamentals well so that we have a systemised, consistent and performance focussed plan that positions you to capitalise on the opportunities available. But more than getting the basics right, for me, it’s clear that we need to work with you to tell our story to create a wedge between Harcourts and the industry that tells our story. Because at Harcourts, we do it differently - we do it because we care, because we genuinely want to help others achieve success and we do so by putting people first, being courageous, doing the right thing and having some fun and laughter along the way - because life is definitely too short to not. At Harcourts, it is #betterinblue - and with your help, together we can show the world.

So - and as Ned Brockman says - Get comfortable in the uncomfortable, keep showing up and help us find a way, because from where I’m coming from, we’re only just getting warmed up. Reach out to me anytime where we can help, and where you think you can help us based on stories you have to tell.

Chief Marketing Officer, Harcourts International

trent.sutton@harcourts.net