Most of us have heard it by now. Lots of organisations have adopted it as their catch cry. One large telco even used it as the theme for an advertisement.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together.”

There’s no doubt this old African proverb about the value of community holds true. But due to recent overuse, and in many cases misuse, it’s sadly become just another cliche. Especially in our industry where cliches are rampant.

Take the story we heard from an agency who rebranded recently to a large national franchise group. This well known group had pitched themselves hard as one big happy family who’d be there to support through thick and thin. The principal said before he signed up, his team had visits, phone calls, dinners and gifts from various corporate members, all the way up to the top. The state CEO even showed up regularly at their Saturday auctions to cheer them along.

But as soon as the ink dried on the franchise agreement, there was nothing but tumbleweeds. Nada. Nix. Months later, they’re still struggling to transition.

So rather than making you empty promises, we hope you’ve been able to read some of the real life stories we’ve been sharing about our members’ journeys to success. If you have, you might have noticed there’s a key theme emerging. It’s about how much our members support one another – not just in coming along and clapping at awards nights, or having a few drinks together at our many and varied get togethers both here and overseas, but in meaningful ways.

In these articles, our members talk about how our more experienced principals run training sessions for newcomers, how when new members join, the First National community bands around them to help them get set up. They say that there’s always someone just a phone call away if things get tough, both personally and professionally – and it’s not just our corporate team, it’s everyone. They talk about how they’ve made friends for life.

These stories have been written by an external consultant who was just asked to write whatever stories they were told by the member. Unfiltered. Unbiased.

We chose to do it this way because we wanted to show you the face of who First National Real Estate really is, not spin some slick advertising campaign.

Because to risk using another cliche, what you see here, is exactly what you get.

If you’re the kind of person who thinks that sounds like a better way to do business, let’s chat. Fill in the form beneath this video and we’ll be in contact.

Here’s what agents who’ve joined us say about the process.