Selling real estate was never a dream job for Ray White’s Luke Crockford – in fact he admits that he didn’t have a very high opinion of agents. But after a friend talked him into giving the property industry a go, he found he could really make a difference when he gave both vendors and buyers the “Luke Crockford experience”.
Q: What did you do before real estate?
I’ve always had some kind of sales and marketing role. My first job straight out of school was with Coca Cola, then I was with Rip Curl for five years, which was great because I love surfing. I’m from Australia originally but moved here when I was 10 and grew up on the beach at Mount Maunganui.
From Rip Curl I went into the media industry, working for boutique radio station George FM, doing their sales, marketing and advertising. I also did their surf report on the breakfast show. I was there for 10 years, based in Ponsonby Road, which has become my hood. [Ponsonby restaurant and bar] Longroom is where I do most of my work, everybody knows they can find me here.
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Q: Why move into real estate?
I had friends who were big in the industry and kept shoulder tapping me, saying, “Luke, you’d make a great agent." But I never wanted to be one. My opinion of real estate agents was that they weren’t always – how do I put this politely? – the nicest of people.
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I said to my mate, “No, that’s not me, I’m not one of those guys.” And he said, “Look, we know the industry hasn’t always been great, but it’s being tidied up, and if you want to see it change, the best way to do that is become an agent yourself and do things the way you would want them done. Give people the Luke Crockford experience.”
I thought about it for a few weeks, and liked the idea of a challenge, so with the support of my partner Rebecca, who’d just had our first child, Elsa, I decided to do it. That was 12 years ago.
Q: Was it scary, going into a commission-only job with a new baby?
It was, but I believed in myself. I’m a very positive thinker. I believe if you put time, effort and energy into something, it will work out. My first listing came from dropping flyers – that’s what you were taught to do back then when you were starting out. It was a do-up in Grey Lynn and I sold it at auction for $1,050,000.
I had friends in Tauranga just starting out in real estate and they were like, “Are you serious? That’s your first sale?” Prices were a lot lower there than here in Auckland. It might have seemed easy but it wasn’t.
Right from the start, I have always dedicated myself to every last detail. I don’t leave any stone unturned when it comes to working for my vendors, who are paying me what I think is a lot of money.
Q: Did your previous sales and marketing experience help?
Definitely. Sales has always been my thing. With marketing, you want the property you are selling to be the diamond in among all the jewellery, the one that stands out. And you don’t have to spend loads of money to do that. I came up with the idea of doing social media teasers for videos I was making for properties and decided to call them Did You Say?, as in “Did you say you wanted wooden floors?” or “Did you say you wanted a north-west facing back yard?” These 15-second clips are a lot of fun – I do things like getting excited about artificial grass – and people say they love them. Now I’ve trademarked Did You Say? as part of my business and it’s on my billboards and everything. It’ll get old one day but for now it has really captured people’s attention and is working for me.
Q: You’ve done extremely well, including being in the top 6% of Ray White agents in Australasia. What’s the secret of your success?
I think it is my attitude. I always want to get the best possible deal for each vendor and I respect the responsibility that comes with selling someone’s biggest asset. I return every phone call and every email, and I work really hard to win people’s trust and solve any problems.
Crockford says his job is to take as much stress out of the house-selling process as possible. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Being positive helps, and I also have a lot of energy. I am naturally that way; I don’t do anything special – I’m not a gym person and I don’t have smoothies or ice baths. I just always have the energy to get things done.
Also, I don’t judge people. You never know what their situation is. I had a guy come to an open home in jeans, jandals and a beanie, and I told him to let me know if I could help him. He rang a couple of days later and left a message. When I rang him back he said he’d gone to 15 open homes over the weekend and I was the only agent he’d contacted afterwards who’d called him back. It turned out that he was a serious buyer, and he was a doctor. He didn’t buy that particular house but I was able to facilitate another sale for him.
The thing with success is that everyone has a different definition of what it means. For some people, success is getting out of bed in the morning. For me it is not about how many houses I sell or how much money I earn, it’s about doing something to the best of my ability, trying to achieve as high a standard as I can, and feeling good about it at the end of the day.
Q: What do you do when you’re not selling houses?
I like to spend as much time as I can with my family. My partner and I have two kids, Elsa, 12 and Leo, six. Family has always come first for me, before work. One of the reasons I got into real estate is the flexibility – if I want to go to sports matches or on school trips, I can organise my day so that I can usually do that. You still work hard, you just work smarter.
We spend a lot of time at the beach. I take the kids up to Orewa most weekends before I start open homes and we kick a ball around or have a paddle on our boards. I still love surfing. For me, the ocean is a great healer, it helps me to detox from the stresses of daily life and rejuvenates me.
Q: Are you the kind of agent you wanted to be when you decided to give real estate a go?
Yeah, I think I am. I feel like I do get to help make a difference in people’s lives by giving them a good experience when it comes to selling their house. Hopefully I take as much stress out of the process for them as possible. I also feel good about being able to give back to my community. I help Richmond Road School out with things like donations and sponsoring sports uniforms.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about real estate, it’s that you get to make really good connections with people, but while some will love you, others won’t. You just have to do the best job you can and to not worry about what anyone else thinks. Just do you.
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