From the desk of Bryan Loughnan, REBAA Treasurer & Head of Acquisitions at Propertyology
REBAA was established to help our profession evolve from its humble beginnings toward mainstream acceptance and widespread adoption by property buyers across Australia. The road is long, but engagement among professionals who value integrity, service and results is key to achieving the outcomes we all want.
At REBAA we want to educate, advocate and engage. We hope as a REBAA member you know the benefits membership brings to your business, and to you as a buying specialist.
But there is one part of the membership base we can build together – and that’s staff membership. In fact, having more staff come on board with REBAA is a win-win that can help us all.
What is staff membership?
As you know, REBAA membership attaches to an approved business, and includes one representative of that business (usually a principal buyers’ agent) being nominated as a full REBAA member with voting rights at events such as the AGM.
This individual enjoys all the benefits of the association including access to a wide range of educational opportunities, along with attendance opportunities for networking events such as the national conference. That member also gets to promote their, and their organisations, REBAA affiliation through branding in client communications. This identifies you as someone of skill and integrity, who chooses to abide by a code of conduct designed to protects buyers and deliver outstanding service.
But many agencies also have staff members who operate in an advisory, research or other specialty capacity, but who aren’t themselves REBAA members… but they certainly should be.
And the easiest path is via a staff membership.
For $250 per year, a REBAA staff member can promote their own professional affiliation when communicating with clients and others. Staff membership also comes with full access to all REBAA resources including the learning centre and forum. To be able to attend networking events such as drinks and, of course, the annual conference, membership is a requirement. If you have staff who can’t make use of these valuable opportunities because they aren’t members, they are missing out on forming exceptional connections and advanced industry knowledge.
In short, staff membership comes with all the benefits of a full membership, except without voting rights.
There are other reasons why encouraging (or even facilitating) membership for staff is so important.
When REBAA advocates on behalf of our buyers’ agents, having a larger membership carries more gravitas in conversation. Whether it be with political discussions or education of society more broadly about our roles as buyers’ agents via media engagement, there’s no doubt a healthy membership base gives us momentum.
An additional benefit for REBAA and our members is cashflow – which is an extremely important resource in our volunteer organisation. Adding staff members to our base, means added revenue that will be used to provide increasingly better resources to all members. It spreads the cost for things like conferences and social events, so ticket prices remain reasonable even as the calibre and volume of content, presenters and venues rises. Financial reserves also help us gain media and political traction via professional communications and promotions.
So – think about the importance of staff membership for you, your staff, your business, our association and your fellow members. There’s no doubt that a robust membership strengthens us all and ensures we continue on the path to buyer’s agents being recognised and accepted as invaluable and necessary participants in Australia’s real estate industry.
