The following is a transcript of the induction speech presenting Shaun Cosgrave into the Harcourts Hall of Fame. It was announced on Wednesday 23 May during the Harcourts New Zealand National Conference 2018.

Harcourts scoop Most Trusted award for sixth year in a row

Reader’s Digest has announced its Most Trusted brands for 2018, and Harcourts, New Zealand’s largest real estate brand has come out on top. Meaning that for the sixth consecutive year, New Zealanders have voted Harcourts their Most Trusted real estate brand and making Harcourts the only real estate brand to have held this honour for this continuation.

Harcourts CEO Chris Kennedy says the support and faith New Zealanders continue to put into the company is humbling.

 “To be named the Most Trusted real estate brand for six years in a row is an incredible achievement. We are not only proud of our teams across the entire country, but we want to thank those New Zealanders who have worked with us and voted us number one.”

“We take the trust New Zealanders place in us very seriously. After all, making the decision to buy or sell a property is often one of the biggest, most important financial decisions all of us will make. You want to know that the sales consultants you are working with have knowledge, experience, honesty and integrity.”

The challenge for the company is to keep finding new ways to deliver exceptional customer service. “That is absolutely always at the core of everything we do. We are constantly looking at ways to improve our clients’ experience with us,” he says.

“To ensure Harcourts is living up to this goal of offering clients a premium service, the company will, in 2018, launch a client experience project. This will allow every customer the opportunity to rate their experience with our company and our people, in a transparent way that can be measured. It’s an exciting innovation which will allow Harcourts to continue to grow our people and constantly evolve our service to clients.”

“You hear it said a lot, that no relationship can work without trust. Trust is something you can’t put a price on. That is why this title of Most Trusted is so important to us.”

Harcourts will receive this prestigious award on 30 May alongside other elite Kiwi brands such as Whittakers, Air New Zealand and Resene.

Thank you, New Zealand.

Todd Cassie, Harcourts International’s Head of Technology, has been featured by CIO magazine New Zealand as a member of the CIO100 list. The list annually honours the most innovative technology leaders across all industries who are at the forefront of decision-making and strategic change.

More than $50,000 has been donated to New Zealand hospice services around the country in the first round of the Harcourts Foundation funded, Hospice NZ Grants Programme.

The Harcourts Foundation established the unique programme alongside Hospice NZ in July this year. The primary goal of the Grants Programme is to assist member hospices with funding for key projects that directly benefit the people using hospice services in the local community.

Harcourts Bay of Islands in Kerikeri is taking a hands-on approach to training the next generation of auctioneers by running a training course with students from the local high school.

For a quarter of a century the team at Harcourts Holmwood has been an integral part of the Invercargill community.

Encouraging more women to embrace public speaking and mentoring them to succeed in their chosen fields are the ultimate goals of a new organisation recently launched by Harcourts.

Harcourts NZ figures show the average house price in Christchurch was $521,855 in July.

More than five years on from the Christchurch earthquakes Harcourts Holmwood is preparing for a new era with the demolition of its quake-damaged head office.

The damaged building at 397 Ilam Rd is to make way for a new state-of-the art premises for the well-known, successful local real estate business.

A loophole in applying LVR restrictions means home owners are struggling to get bridging finance and are effectively shut out of the intensely competitive property market.