News and advice
A Welcome Change: How This Agency is Letting Go to Grow
Gold Coast Agency, Welcome Change Realty, is following their own ethos. Guided by Robyn Wigmore and her vision to give clients “The best care, the best communication, and the best results” she came to realise, after five years running her business, she couldn’t reach her potential alone. The answer? A partnership with UrbanX.
Robyn initially launched Welcome Change back in 2019, born out of frustration with the traditional real estate model and the industry’s treatment of clients “as mere data points” and believes in a values-led approach that prioritises authentic connections over transactions.
“I spent the first 10 years of my real estate career working in various franchised and independent agencies around Robina & Mudgeeraba which gave me a great foundation of knowledge and experience…” she shares.
“However, I was always frustrated knowing I couldn’t fully utilise my strengths and unique approach in these environments because the only ‘success metric’ being tracked was the volume of sales an agent would do. This meant agents were incentivised to churn through as many clients/sales as possible as fast as possible, despite it compromising their ability to provide a high level of personalised care which in turn could leave their clients feeling like they’re part of a process line… Eventually it became clear that the only way I could truly bring a much-needed welcome change to the industry was if I built a values-led business from the ground up!”.
The move paid off, and Robyn and the Welcome Change team experienced early success. But then Covid hit. The business survived and is performing well but they’re ready to step up a gear.
“Since launching in 2019, I was just starting to build real momentum when Covid hit. While we’re grateful to still be standing (unlike many businesses post-pandemic), the time came to make some exciting changes that would set us up to take the brand to new heights in 2024 and beyond – hence Welcome Change Realty ‘2.0’!”.
And so, 2024 will be one of extreme growth, thanks to their new rebrand and partnership with UrbanX.
In a strategic move, Robyn collaborated with UrbanX to allow herself and her team to focus on what matters most, their clients and securing a confident future for the business. Robyn says, “We acknowledged that if we were to increase our reach and impact, Welcome Change needed to make some changes to our business.
“If we continued to manage everything in the back end of the business, we would be so tied to our desks that we couldn’t be out there meeting people and helping them”.
Why UrbanX in particular? “We researched many options of these types of service providers and chose UrbanX because they, like us, aren’t the cheapest, but are on a mission to be the best.
“We love that they’re onshore – a local team in Brisbane – and have amazing systems and processes…They genuinely care about their clients, and they do what they say they will do. We spoke with lots of agencies who use them and heard rave reviews. It ended up being a no-brainer decision… The team has been guiding our business through the brand refresh and administration side with incredible expertise and care. We feel listened to and have loved the collaborative process”.
An advocate for improving the industry Robyn, alongside licensed real estate professionals Stewart McLeish and Jackie Clarke, she acknowledges the challenges inherent in real estate transactions and knows independent agencies will be the change-makers.
“The industry is in desperate need of independent agencies who together can make a real and lasting difference to one of the least trusted professions in Australia… If you have a passion to make a difference in the lives of others and impact the real estate industry with your integrity, go out on your own and do it!”
And she’s doing exactly that. “It’s time to show the Gold Coast that there is an alternative and they don’t have to settle for being treated as a number in a transaction any longer”.
Welcome Change Realty’s partnership with UrbanX empowers them to transform the real estate industry even further, and we can’t wait to see them succeed.