1. How long has the Leapfrog group been in existence and how many offices operate in SA?
Leapfrog officially launched in June 2007 and now has 46 offices. It is a 100% South African brand.

2. What are the benefits for agents joining a recognised brand?
The benefits are extensive, but the key ones include:

• Brand recognition – there is greater market awareness and brand exposure both regionally and nationally. The benefit of having a national marketing strategy and central budget carries many positive spin-offs for franchisees.
• A regional and national referral system – principals/agents have the advantage of being part of a large network of branches which facilitates inter-office referrals, particularly useful when clients move out of one area to another.
• Access to the latest technological developments - Keeping abreast from a technological point of view as an independent is a very expensive exercise and usually not manageable in isolation. It’s also massively time consuming. Being part of a national group gives you the edge technologically as the franchisor takes responsibility for technology development, research and maintenance while the franchisee can get on with the day to day running of the office and can focus on the agents and selling. This is a significant benefit for franchisees and by far more cost effective.
• Training and education – the more demanding industry qualification criteria requires high standards in terms of the education requirements of agents and property professionals. As a franchisee you are able to tap into a centrally coordinated training and education function and benefit from a centralised buying process when it comes to the cost of training agents. More critically though, all the time consuming, intense administrative work that comes with securing bursaries, learnerships and completing the lengthy paperwork requirements of the likes of the Services Seta, assessors and training providers is managed on your behalf.
• Group buying power – your signage, boards, marketing material and advertising material can be ordered and coordinated centrally, providing significant cost savings for the franchisee, leaner running costs and better bottom lines.
• Being part of a recognised national brand will more often than not give you the first bite of the cherry when it comes to banks disposing of their distressed properties. These properties are well sought after and many are excellent value for money, so buyers are keen to get their hands on one. The banks are working with established national groups in this regard rather than independent agents.
• Recognition – peer recognition on a regional and national basis.

3. What are the drawbacks (if any) of joining a recognised brand?
In our view, there aren’t any. In as much as you are part of a recognised, brand, within the Leapfrog culture the entrepreneurial spirit endures and is encouraged as you most definitely need to be a self-starter and a finisher in the property industry. Agents get to interact with their principals more often and more strategically as more time is available on the principal’s part as they have less administrative and logistical stresses to manage.

4. Have you found that franchises are more popular with buyers and sellers in certain areas?
I can’t say that there are identifiable trends in specific areas. Overall the brand has been very well received in all markets and this has a lot to do with the uniqueness of the brand personality that actively strives to challenge the staid status quo of the industry and questions the reasons for doing business in the traditional manner, simply because “it’s always been done that way”. The Leapfrog brand really has broad appeal.

5. Are your franchise holders restricted to trading in designated areas?
Yes they are. We firmly believe that an office needs to focus on its particular area and become known and involved within the community. This is the only way that a principal and/or agent gets entrenched in the local community – a mistake that agents often make is that they spread themselves too thin. The size of the franchised area is demarcated to ensure a franchisee can run a very profitable business. Specialisation in terms of defined areas is key.

6. What kind of support does Leapfrog offer franchise holders/agents

• Hands-on operational support
• Specialised in-house training and education for new and experienced agents, administrators and principals
• Marketing and branding support
• IT support – we have a sophisticated property listing and administration system on our website and as such agents can build and communicate with their databases in a very cost effective way.
• We have an in-house designer and a marketing consultant who support all our offices with their design and communications needs.
• We offer an EAAB service where we assist principals and agents with all dealings in this regard.
• Our customer service programme is run independently of the offices and looks after the sales/buying experience of the customer. This provides invaluable feedback to the franchisees as to how their operation is perceived and valuable information for customer feedback and engagement going forward.



7. Does your brand attract the right type of agent with the right type of qualification?
Yes, it’s a fact that we pride ourselves on attracting top talent. But no matter what business you’re in - but particularly in real estate – the brand is only as good as its people. A good agent will always be a good agent irrespective of what brand they are with. A good agent with an independent will be a better agent with a franchise simply because of the additional support. Our franchisees do attract the best agents in their areas of operation. We also hold the view that an agent does not necessarily have to have all the qualification in place when theyr join us, but with the right attitudes and skills we can develop them to be the best in the market and the best in their area.

8. In your opinion has the number of independent contractors dropped significantly since the start of the recession? Why do you think this has occurred?
Yes and it’s not just about independents numbers dropping although franchise agents have probably borne less of a brunt due to the support and infrastructures in place. Leapfrog has been in a fortunate position that our estate agent numbers have remained static, which is exceptional given that industry statistics over the last 24 months have been dire.

In 2006, approximately 80 000 registered real estate agents were active in the market. Today, notwithstanding that there are 37 000 EAAB registered agents, less than 30 000 agents are still operating. This fallout is due to three major factors, specifically the economic downturn which has made trading conditions very difficult, the strict lending protocols imposed by banks and the rigorous educational requirements implemented by the South African Estate Agents Affairs Board (EAAB) to professionalise the industry.

9. Do you have training programs in place to help agents achieve the required NQF qualifications?
Yes – we have partnered with various service providers and we work with them to obtain bursaries where possible and available from the Services Seta as well as providing the curriculum and courses for agents to get themselves qualified. Our in-house trainer handles all of this on behalf of the agent and principal.

10. What advice do you have for any agent entering the industry?
Join a reputable brand that can offer the benefits and advantages we have mentioned above. Training is vitally important, as is mentorship – make sure you get to work with a principal who is experienced and committed to developing his or her agents. Needless to say it is very hard work and a lot of your success has to do with your attitude and will to succeed.

Our commitment to excellence sets South Africa’s Leapfrog Property group apart from the rest, find out why, today!