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Milestones: Beazley Co. Realtors
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Business New Haven
11/24/2003
By: Mimi Houston
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Beazley Co. Realtors
107 Whitney Avenue, New Haven
Telephone: 888-333-1768
Web: www.beazleycompany.com
Ownership: Gregory Scott
Milestone: $1 billion annual sales
Awards and Accomplishments: For Greg Scott, hitting the $1 billion mark in sales last year was a big deal, and a bit of a surprise, as well.
"We've been growing in sales every year," Scott explains, "But we really didn't think we'd reach that goal last year. Then, toward the end of the year we had a big push and we did reach it."
President of Beazley since the early 1990s, when he assumed the reins from his father, Scott has been in real estate for 20 years now. He says the billion-dollar milestone is a great payoff to a new marketing investment the agency recently took on.
We have been gaining a bigger share of the market," Scott says. "The Beazley company has been around for a while, and we decided to take a brand-new approach about five years ago. We really repackaged ourselves to become more current because we realized we needed to take that fresh approach.
"We have our slogan - 'Just Turn the Key' - which refers to total home ownership solutions. Whatever you need when you buy or sell your home, we try and provide for you. We've communicated to the public what we're all about-that we're local and community-based, but we provide all the services they'd get from a national agency."
Scott notes that those services include - among many others - relocation and moving services, homeowners insurance and mortgage services.
"And the list goes on and on," he says. "As we see what people need, we want to make sure those services are available to them. As time goes by," he adds, "we're hoping to get even more effective, offering even more services to make the whole process better for [our clients]. Relocating is a challenging time, and we know that."
Scott says offering such services has helped his company move forward in a competitive marketplace.
"Not everyone expects [Beazley's ancillary services]," Scott says. "They've heard that we're a full-service agency, but they don't really understand the many services that are involved."
Scott says that when his customers learn more about what Beazley offers, they tell their friends - and their friends tell their friends.
"The basis of our business, which is primarily residential," Scott says, "is from referrals and repeat customers. It's ultimately about the relationship we create with that buyer or seller. Service is a big part of that, and that's what they tell everyone."
Looking Back on a Changing Industry: Scott says focusing on becoming a service-oriented business has helped Beazley achieve grand goals.
"What we really want to do is help our customers," he says. "It sound so simple - it's such an easy concept. But it's actually hard to do. We had to work internally, which means getting the right people to work for us. They have to believe in our mission and vision. Then there's the process of training, and communicating our focus. The focus is that it's the agent's job to help people."
With more than 600 employees at Beazley Companies throughout the Greater New Haven area, even minor changes have created major undertakings when it comes to communicating the message to every agent.
"We have four meetings a year, with the whole company," explains Scott. "And, each of the offices meet once a week with the agents to talk about communication, sales and listings, and we have continuous management meetings. We have the internet, and email that we can use constantly. So, we don't just meet once every four months-it's a constant, ongoing thing. And definitely, technology has afforded us better communication strategies, but sometimes it can be too much-a person can get too many emails. It's not enough to just send it-you have to be sure that you're reaching them, and that they're understanding the message."
A billion dollars represents a lot of help. Scott says he expects his company to hit $1.3 billion this year, and he doesn't see a downturn any time soon.
"Our future is all about the customer and the services they need," he says. "We expect to continue opening new offices and expanding our borders as much as we can. I expect real estate will continue to be good - maybe not as robust as it's been the last three years for the next three years, but the mortgage rates will stay low, and within the next 12 to 18 months there should be a fair amount of job creation."
Which means, naturally, more workers who need that special place to call home.
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