First National Lakeshores The Sure Bet

Local property agency, First National Real Estate Lakeshores, today announced that it has edged out another local real estate agency as well as a finance brokerage to win two award categories in the Northern Lakes Regional Business Awards 2012 – Professional & Finance Business and Business Promotion.

The awards acknowledge and pay tribute to the business community within the Central Coast’s northern region of Wyong Shire, giving them recognition for hard work and dedication throughout the year.

First National Lakeshores director, Mark Millington says the awards are enormously gratifying because they are a genuine reflection of local opinion.

‘Real estate is local so everything we do is focused on building strong community relations and continuously thinking of new ways to improve our customer service’ says Mr Millington.

Over the past 12 months, First National Lakeshores has formed a productive alliance with AFG, one of Australia’s largest mortgage providers, so home financing can be smoothly integrated into the buying process.

‘Having a strong broker relationship has benefited many of our landlords as well. With falling interest rates, we’re now able to offer them a professional service whereby they can compare their current mortgage product with competing offerings, all free of charge’.

Mr Millington also says his agency has worked hard to deepen its social media reach and customer communications processes in the past twelve months.

‘First National Lakeshores reaches out to community using a broad range of mediums including newsletters, suburb profiles, competitions, social media, SMS and email property alerts.

‘We made our first sale through Facebook this year and also use Twitter to keep our customers up-to-date. But we also offered three competitions – a home re-paint worth $10,000 through Dulux, free fuel for a year through Caltex, and our $50,000 Cash Drop competition, which doesn’t finish until August’.

Mr Millington believes that the essence of his team’s success and the reason for both awards comes down to three things, balance, commitment and hard work.

‘Business must balance its customers’ needs against its goals and make sure the two are tightly aligned. Participation in social media makes you more accessible to consumers who appreciate that communication format. However, it’s equally important to maintain other promotional activities to stay connected in your community.

‘Without professional conduct, strong ethics, good salesmanship and hard work, it’s all just academic’ says Mr Millington.

Issued by First National Real Estate Lakeshores.
For more information, contact:
First National Real Estate Lakeshores, Mark Millington, principal, on (02) 4359 1555 or 0418 970 591