Banker's bad year
Lokale Immobilia talks to Coldwell Banker Polska's managing director - member of the management board, Mr Marek Stelmaszak, to find out what went wrong, and how the company plans to build its presence in Poland.
Agnieszka Barteczko: How can you summarize Coldwell's first year in Poland?
Marek Stelmaszak: The launch of CBP in May 2005 was a bit premature. The company's shareholders, previous management board and employees did not have sufficient knowledge about the Polish real-estate market.
How come such an American giant made a false start?
Only a cow does not make mistakes and only those who do nothing never commit mistakes. CB entered the Polish market and, it took several months to get good orientation among 100 real estate companies, mainly Warsaw-based. Now we know what kind of tools (which CB has) will be beneficial for the Polish real estate companies to succeed.
Why would Polish professional agents need CBP?
CBP is a Polish-American company (with a 50-50 share division). There are more than 120,000 CB agents in the world. CB has completed 54 percent of all transactions on the luxurious properties market all over the world. Thus, apart from a huge referral system, agents cooperating with CB will be receiving requests for listings from the US, Canada, and Australia. In other words, a big inflow of the foreign customers. Importantly, being CB's partners, agents will not lose their identity.
What are Coldwell Banker's plans for Poland?
My goal is to build the best franchise network of residential real-estate agents in Europe. By the end of 2006 we plan to open at least 15 offices in Poland. Two first franchise agreements will be signed in Warsaw in July, one of them will be a conversion of my own firm (Euromark Nieruchomości) into Coldwell Banker Stelmaszak.
In five years we will have between 100-150 offices in Poland. In 10 years, approximately 250 to 300.
Is this market ready to receive the franchise system now?
It is like the development of shopping centers in Poland. At first, there were fears they will pose a threat to the smaller local shop keepers. Now everyone benefits from them, simply because they are more convenient. In two or three years, Polish franchise companies will also be launched. In 10 years' time there will be about three American franchise systems, two or three from western Europe and at least five Polish franchise networks.
What costs will the Polish agent have to bear in order to join CB franchise system?
The costs will be carefully analyzed and balanced so that the agents are able to afford them. We still have to work on the cost policy. We are talking to financial institutions in order to work out financial tools, such as pre-approved loans, which will help the agents to enter CBP painlessly.
What will CB require from future partners?
We would like CB offices to be visible. The final strategy of what offices will look like will be prepared shortly.
