Peake Real Estate
Replacing a complex, outdated and costly set of services with RingCentral’s cloud-based telephony platform has simplified and streamlined communications for leading real estate and property management agency Peake Real Estate. The new RingCentral solution is supporting the growth of Peake’s property management business and meeting the increase in buyer engagement and activity in their region.
INDUSTRY
Property & Real Estate
HQ
Melbourne, Australia
YEAR FOUNDED
2003
EMPLOYEES
32
Marisa Adams
Director - Peake Real Estate
peakere.com.au
Peake Real Estate (‘Peake’) is a trusted and highly rated independent real estate agency operating in the Casey/Cardinia region in Melbourne’s south east. Peake is committed to setting the standard for excellence in the real estate industry, and to its founder’s goal of “client satisfaction with empathy”. It’s achieving this by creating a collaborative and inclusive environment, a strong sense of community, and by offering clients a personal touch.
The firm specialises in high-end lifestyle properties and is based in Berwick, which in July 2023 was revealed as the most sought-after town in Australia based on the highest engagement for properties by homebuyers over the previous 12 months. This growth in buyer engagement and activity has been matched by an increase in Peake’s property management business, which now has more than 600 properties under management.
Peake’s communications services, including telephony, had been managed for many years by the one telecommunications vendor. However, Peake’s Director Marisa Adams was increasingly questioning the value provided.
“Every six months, we’d get a call from the telco’s account manager trying to upsell us some new service that they’d say was going to save us money. Every time we took this step, it just led to us paying more money for equipment that we didn’t need for a service that wasn’t great and we were stuck in contracts for three of four years,” said Adams.
“You’re caught up in running your business and the telephone accounts are one of the last things you tend to review.”
That included telephony for a second branch opened four years ago in the nearby town of Officer for Peake to run its property management services. While the original PABX installed at Officer was connected to the main office, when the original system was replaced in Berwick, the two PABXs operated as completely separate systems. That meant
Peake could no longer transfer calls and had to advertise separate phone numbers for the two branches.
When Peake was introduced to ICT Revolution, the communications and technology consultancy’s first step was to undertake an audit of Peake’s existing telecommunications infrastructure and services.
“ICT Revolution found so many things we were paying for that we didn’t need, or that were now out of out of service or no longer even functioning. That resulted in about $7000 in credits that we could claim immediately,” said Adams.
ICT Revolution recommended RingCentral MVP as the ideal replacement, providing Peake with an easy-to-use cloud-based telephony service requiring minimal setup costs and no hardware outlay, apart from handsets.
Most of the basic administration of the phone system can be done in-house by Peake’s reception staff. Implementing RingCentral also allowed Peake to connect both branches on the one phone system using its existing broadband connections and dispense with costly separate fixed line telephony services to each location.
While it is still negotiating with its previous telco to cut off a number of legacy services, once these services are discontinued Peake expects to be saving more than 50% on its monthly telephony costs.
Since implementing RingCentral, Peake can advertise just one number for the business, and use a simple IVR option for callers to
direct sales or rental and property management enquiries to the appropriate branch. The receptionist at each office is able to pick up calls if unanswered at the other branch, or handle all calls if the
other receptionist is away from their desk or not at work. After hours,
automatic diversions have been programmed to ensure that Peake’s
property management team is available 24/7 to take emergency calls
from tenants.
“It means we never miss a call,” said Adams. “If that caller is a new
client to the business, they’re usually someone who is looking
at selling and we want to make sure they can speak to someone
straightaway. If our receptionist can’t get through to the first person,
they will connect them to the second person.”
There are some traditional processes and working practices that will
take time to change, says Adams. Agents’ mobile phone numbers are
still listed on property signage, and on promotional and marketing
materials, so 99% of buyers today ring people’s mobiles. While Peake’s
sales team have access to the RingCentral app on their smart phones,
most are only picking up transferred calls once they are automatically
diverted to their mobile number.
“Over time, we expect our sales team will use the RingCentral app to
enhance the way they are communicating and connecting with their
clients and colleagues,” said Adams.
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