RAMS: A Brief Look at A Day in the Life...

It’s Monday morning …

… and fresh from a busy weekend with their respective families, Justin Leaney and Jeremy Whitelaw, Franchise Principals of RAMS Hawkesbury/Blue Mountains (NSW), meet for their regular start-of-week catch-up to check the previous week’s figures and look to the week ahead. They like what they see. Last week was a good one and the office whiteboard displays their future appointments. It’s going to be a busy week, and if they have their way, this will continue to be the case.

Justin and Jeremy come from diverse career paths; one was a builder and small business owner, the other an IT executive with a past in running small businesses. Neither partner had written a loan before launching their RAMS franchise 7 years ago.

“The concept of home lending was not completely foreign to us,” says Jeremy, “and owning and operating a business that aligns with our values as individuals and helps Australians achieve their dream of home ownership was something that really appealed.”

It’s team meeting time

The two Principals now sit with their team of 11 staff to go over the whiteboard. They all review the figures, provide an update on how their team and the business is progressing, look at areas to focus on, workshop any current deals together to assist all staff and create a smooth and seamless experience for their clients and finally cover any important communications.

Jeremy looks up to the monitor on the wall where team member Sandy can be seen nodding.

“Sandy’s a highly valued member of the team and when she told us of her desire to move to Tassie, we looked at how we could keep her involved,” Jeremy explains.

“We’re all like family and it was hard to say goodbye. So she now works permanently from home in Launceston – we’ve set up a TV and camera and Sandy video conferences in most of the day so she’s still part of the team. She travels up once a month to see us in person.”

It’s customer appointment time

Justin and Jeremy make sure they build deep relationships with their clients, and even though as business owners they could leave their staff to do all the work, they each still roll up their sleeves and write home loan applications for their valued customers. And today is no different.

Having completed an appointment each, it’s now lunchtime and Jeremy explains that he has a meeting with a young couple who are small business owners and seeking their first home. They’re tight for time so he’s visiting them at their place of work.

“Knowing him he’ll shout them coffee just so he can have one too,” laughs Justin as he checks on preparations for this evening’s meeting with a law firm in their office lounge area.

“These kinds of meetings are important informal events for us,” Justin explains. “They build closer business ties with the local community and they also help generate referrals for us. It’s a win/win all round.”

And speaking of wins …

RAMS Hawkesbury/Blue Mountains is no stranger to success. Last year they received high accolades from the Franchise Council of Australia, winning the Franchise of the Year – 2 or more staff NSW/ACT category in the Excellence in Franchising Awards.

Their year was capped off nicely winning the RAMS Franchisee Leadership Award, recognising their leadership spirit within RAMS, their business and their local community.

It’s all about customers and community

For Justin and Jeremy though, it’s their local community affiliations that make them most proud, supporting various local clubs, associations and charities.

“We love being there within our community and supporting those like-minded organisations that want to help others succeed. We’re privileged to be in a position to help – it’s what we’re about, helping customers and our community,” says Justin.

He proudly points to a certificate of appreciation from the Mountains Youth Services Team (MYST), just one of the many organisations they support.

“That to us is success right there.”

Success has enabled growth

With Jeremy off meeting with his customers Justin grabs lunch at the local café that he says his franchise partners with quarterly to offer 50 customers a free coffee in a RAMSbranded cup.

“We get good support from RAMS Head Office with our local area marketing, and little things like this always go down well. All the little things add up, and that helps us succeed and grow.”

With lunch in hand Justin dashes back to the modern office to prepare for another appointment – his last of the day. And if you were to measure business success only in terms of premises, Justin and Jeremy demonstrate this nicely. Their growth in recent years led to the need for more space with purpose-built client meeting rooms and the informal lounge area where tonight’s business gathering will take place.

“We initially had two sites,” Justin explains. “So we merged our Springwood and Richmond sites to one large office here where the whole team can now be together.”

“After all, we are greater together.”

You and RAMS could be Greater Together

RAMS has been helping Australians achieve their dreams of home ownership for over 25 years, and they’re looking to grow.

“It’s our network of franchisees that makes us special,” says Managing Director, Jake Bromwich.

“As a business, we focus purely on the residential home loan market, so we’re passionate about helping customers into their new home. And just like Justin and Jeremy from Hawkesbury/Blue Mountains, we’re super proud and privileged to be involved at a community level. We get to know our customers through our personal touch and our local model prides itself on forming enduring relationships.

“We’re actively seeking individuals who share the same passion for helping people as we do, and who will commit to being fully invested in our brand and what we stand for. We have limited territories available right now for new franchisees to join us, so if you are interested in finding out more about joining the RAMS family I recommend getting in quickly,” says Jake.

Are you ready to become Greater Together as a RAMS Franchisee?

If you’re ready to apply to join the RAMS family, get in touch and we’ll take you through the steps.

1800 616 082 franchising@rams.com.au rams.com.au/franchising/