Brandon now commands over 40% market share in Burnside, one of Adelaide’s prestigious Eastern foothill suburbs. His success is no coincidence – speaking with Bianca Denham, Ray White’s Head of Recognition and Performance, he credited strategic geographic specialisation and disciplined database building as key factors in achieving this dominance.
Finding your territory
After finishing high school in Bordertown, Brandon moved to Adelaide and immediately gravitated toward the Eastern suburbs.
“It was always Eastern suburbs which I drew towards… it was green and leafy and probably had a bit more of a country feel to it in the foothills,” Brandon explains.
When it came time to select his farm area, he “instantly drew towards Burnside and that neighbourhood” – a decision he’s never looked back from, despite significant challenges.
Brandon wasn’t walking into favourable conditions. Ray White had no presence in the Eastern suburbs at that time, and boutique agencies dominated Burnside.
“It probably made it a little bit tougher to get into it, but in a way that probably built some resilience and made me work that little bit harder and keep pushing,” he said.
The discipline of geographic focus
What set Brandon apart was his unwavering commitment to his chosen territory.
“That’s where I want to work, that’s the community I want to be a part of,” he shares.
“When there was opportunities when I was on the phone to someone and they said they lived outside of it, I just didn’t really pursue it.”
While he would ask if they had plans to move into his area within 1-2 years, he otherwise declined to take their data.
This laser focus has proven valuable: “My database really is Burnside and the surrounds, it does not have much more in it.”
The true payoff came in his third year when “the numbers started to grow because I started to not be competing with anyone because I built the relationships.”
Those relationships stemmed from his early prospecting efforts: “They were all the people that probably in the first six months I’d cold called, I’d door knocked, and I’d started having conversations with.”
Brandon said this “uncontested side of it is what started to build my career up.”
While competitors worked broadly across the Eastern suburbs, “no one had a focus on selling property in Burnside and Hazelwood Park specifically.”
The numbers behind the strategy
Today, Brandon’s database approach is impressive:
- Personal database of approximately 3,000 contacts
- Team-wide management of 6,000 contacts
- SMS notifications to the entire suburb for every listing and sale (40+ touchpoints annually just from this)
- Minimum of twice-yearly phone calls to every contact (3-4 calls for higher-value prospects)
- Street-specific notifications for competitor listings and sales
- Monthly letterbox drops
This systematic focus has resulted in Brandon’s team having contact information for approximately 50-55% of the entire suburb – and growing.
“We’re speaking to a lot of people, we’re giving that information to a lot of people, and it’s just going to improve our chances of getting those listings.”
Even for homeowners not in his database, the sheer volume of marketing means “hopefully we will still uncover some opportunities that I’m not aware of.”
