When former sparky Martin Honey started in real estate 34 years ago, he didn’t even have a suit. Today he and business partner Ben Bibby are in the top 1% of all Ray White salespeople in New Zealand, and they like to do things a little differently at their office in Auckland’s One Tree Hill.
Q: What did you do before real estate?
Martin: I became an electrician straight from school then went off on my OE for a few years. When I got back in 1991, there was a recession and not a lot of work.
One day I saw an ad in the paper. It didn’t mention real estate, it just said “Do you want to get into sales? There’s lots of potential,” or something like that. I rang the number and found out it was for a company called Challenge Realty, which was part of Fletcher Challenge. I went for the interview in a leather jacket, I didn’t own a suit. But I got taken on by a guy called Neil O’Connor, along with four other newbies.
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I had to scrounge money to be in real estate. My first suit was made by my friend’s mum, who worked for Cambridge Clothing. I wore that same suit for two years. You do what you have to.
Q: How long did it take you to find your feet?
Martin: Nearly everyone else who started that year left within 12 months, but I took to selling real estate straight away. I did everything Neil told me to do. He said people need to meet you, so I did lots of door-knocking, which a lot of agents didn’t want to do. In my first week, I walked down Mount Albert Road from Mount Roskill to Point Chevalier beach, which is a long way. Out of that I got a listing, but I did one open home and the owners decided to withdraw it from the market. I was gutted.
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I did get another one pretty much straight away, in Mount Albert. I was very determined to be successful. Every morning before work, I watched video tapes of an American real estate trainer called Tom Hopkins and studied what he said. I remember going to an awards night and rubbing shoulders with some good salespeople. I thought, “This is what I want to be”. Within six months I was the biggest lister in the office.
After a year I went to Challenge in Royal Oak and that’s the area I’ve been in ever since, working for a couple of different companies until I ended up with Ray White almost 20 years ago. I bought the office at Royal Oak and still own it – Neil, who got me into real estate, is the manager there – but I work from the One Tree Hill office, where I am in partnership with Ben.
Q: How did Ben get involved?
Martin: Ben’s mum is my partner. I went to his 21st and when I talked to older people there about him I was really impressed with what they said about his work ethic and determination. I thought he’d be a great asset to the business. He’d just finished a business degree and was wondering what to do with his life. He was down in Wellington so I sent him a ticket to Auckland. I bought him a suit and gave him a room in my house for a few months.
Ben: He said, “Come and give real estate a go”, and so I did.
Martin: Actually what I said was, “Get your butt up here”.
Ben: I saw what Marty was doing and it looked like fun. I had no idea what I was going to do next so I thought I might as well try it.
Honey and Bibby are 50/50 partners in the selling side of their One Tree Hill business. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Martin: I think people thought he’d only be here for six weeks and move on.
Ben: Twelve years later I’m still here.
Martin: Since 2018 we’ve been 50/50 partners in the selling side of the business. Ben’s going to become a director. My son Turner also works with me. He started at 18 four years ago.
Ben: Working with Marty was one of the best things I could have done. I learned so much.
Q: What’s the most important thing Martin has taught you about real estate?
Ben: You’ve got to do what you say you are going to, and put in the effort. If you do that, people will trust you and you’ll form connections. They’ll remember you years later when they want to sell their house, or they’ll tell other people about you. You can’t think, This is just one sale.
We have a lot of five-stars reviews from our clients on our website and I’m really proud of that.
Q: Do you always get on well? Do you ever butt heads?
Martin: Not really. Ben keeps me on my toes.
Ben: Our personalities complement each other. And if there’s ever anything we don’t quite agree on, we can have a conversation about it.
Martin: We do a lot of stuff together outside real estate. We love sports. Ben is a huge supporter of the Warriors and I support Auckland FC. We go to all the games. We just get on well.
Q: Why do you think you have been so successful?
Ben: I think it all comes back to doing what you say you will do. Every time.
Martin: Over the years I’ve asked people why they chose me to sell their house – especially when I was younger, I was only 26 when I started – and they’ve said it was my enthusiasm. Plus I was very focused, right from the start.
Honey and Bibby are big fans of the local football teams - Bibby the Warriors, Honey Auckland FC. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Hard work’s a big part of it. I was once told that successful people worked 60 hours a week and I took that on board. I did that for many years, although not so much now. I balance my life a lot better. But it has never felt like work. I love what I do, even after 34 years.
The enthusiasm of the younger people I work with really helps. We have a great team here at One Tree Hill, and a set-up that’s quite unusual.
Q: What’s different about it?
Martin: We don’t have independent salespeople. Everyone in the office – there are seven of us – works as part of a true team. Ben and I are 50/50 partners but everyone else is paid salaries instead of working on commission. We also supply cars and phones. It’s kind of like the apprenticeship you do when you are learning to be an electrician. The staff work alongside us and are paid to learn.
I think if staff work on commission only, why should they turn up at 9am? When they’re on salaries, they are a lot more accountable for what they do. In a team, there is always something to do, and you always have back-up. If someone’s got a sick child or goes on holiday, the wheels keep turning. If anyone ever wants to be self-employed in the future, that’s fine, they can go to the Royal Oak office.
Ben: We also do things differently when it comes to marketing – we cover all our vendors’ costs.
Q: Out of your own pockets?
Ben: For the last five years we’ve spent over $600,000 on marketing, half out of my pocket and half out of Marty’s. And it isn’t added to our commission either. That includes the photographer, auctioneer and a home stylist who gives free advice on how to make your home look better. It’s the right thing to do and although it is free, it is still best quality.
Martin: As long as the property sells, we pay for marketing. It helps people because they can put that money into something else.
Q: What do you do when you’re not working?
Martin: I love cycling. I went away last year on a cycling trip in the Dolomites in Italy and it was the first time in 34 years that I haven’t been available on the end of the phone. I’m also a fisherman – I love being miles out at sea, fishing by myself.
Ben and I have done the Coast to Coast a few times – he’s a good runner.
Ben: I like to spend as much time as I can with my wife Jordelle and our daughter, Blake, who is one year old. I get up at the crack of dawn to go for a run and Jordelle and I will run together, with Blake in the pram.
Q: What do you love about your job?
Martin: One of the things I really enjoy, other than the challenges of helping people to sell their home, is training other agents. I love it when they’re passionate and I can help them with everything to do with the business.
Ben: I love the interaction with people and the connections you form over the years. It’s so good when you help someone and years later they come back to you to sell their home.
Martin: One of the most memorable sales was for people who were pretty standoffish. They seemed very apprehensive when we listed their home.
Ben: I think they’d had a previous experience that wasn’t good.
Martin: When it sold on auction night, they hugged us and thanked us with big smiles on their faces. They wrote us a testimonial saying “Friends for Life”. That was cool.
Ben: We meet such interesting people. We love the area we sell in – One Tree Hill, Royal Oak, Onehunga, Green Lane and Hillsborough. It’s got everything you could want, including Cornwall Park, which is the Hyde Park of Auckland.
Martin: We get to spend time with people from all walks of life, and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, or doing anything else.
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