New franchise calls for brokers to work its leads

Chief executive Paul Newell told The Adviser that he planned to sell another 11 regional franchises by mid-year.

There will be two in Sydney, two in Melbourne, two in south east Queensland and one each in Perth, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and far north Queensland.

Mr Newell said each of the 12 regional franchises would have partnerships with multiple independent real estate offices.

Aro Software, which is a shareholder in Nectar, will provide the platform that connects the brokers and real estate agents.

The agents will enter all buyer leads into the Aro platform for brokers to chase. Nectar flyers will be handed out at open homes and follow-up emails from the agents will include Nectar advertising.

Mr Newell said Nectar had identified a niche that meant it would not be in direct competition with big franchises like Aussie Home Loans.

“We’ve got a really niche spot in the market because we deal with these independent real estate agencies,” he said.

“We’ve got a spot, we know where it is, and we think we can provide quality leads to brokers.”

The 12 regional franchises will each have 20-25 brokers who will operate independently and will aggregate through Custom Equity Group.

Mr Newell said the regional franchises would recruit 150 brokers by the end of 2015, with the long-term target being 250.