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Grills and Co. Conveyancing

Conveying the right messages             

Combining experience and expertise with friendly service and price security have helped Murray Grills create a successful conveyancing business.

Murray now hopes to take Grills and Co Conveyancing to the next level thanks to advice from the Small Business Mentoring Service on how to manage his workload.

Grills and Co offers fixed price conveyancing for residential units, homes, land, freehold sales, off-the-plan purchases, subdivisions, deceased estates and transfers between husband and wife.

 

Grills and Co Conveyancing 


Murray has 30 years’ experience and started his first conveyancing business in Altona in 1997. He also operated an office on the Bellarine Peninsula and managed up to seven large offices for other businesses in Melbourne and Geelong.

Murray set up Grills and Co in 2013 in Newtown, highlighting his commitment to the Geelong area and ensuring positive client outcomes.

The business is founded on broad ranging expertise, strong commitment to client satisfaction and flexible, enthusiastic and dynamic service. It prides itself on the speed of return calls and emails.

Murray knows that being informed is one of his clients’ greatest needs, so he strives to keep them up to date through every step.

His four-person team can answer any conveyancing question, no matter how complex, and seek information on a client's behalf. Most importantly, they communicate without legal jargon.

Like many small businesses, Murray spent so much time working in the business he needed some help working on the business. When he realised that a fellow lunch club member, Martin Shirley, was an SBMS mentor, he booked some sessions.

Martin has more than 40 years’ experience in the transport, logistics and freight forwarding industries and is skilled in sales, marketing and general management.

His company, Martin Shirley & Associates, was purchased by corporate giant Patrick Corporation.

SBMS is a non-government, non-profit organisation of volunteer expert mentors who give their time and experience to help small business.  It is supported by Small Business Victoria, which refers clients to it. 

Murray and his main administrator, Amber Field, had four sessions with Martin over five months under the core SBMS package. They hope to have another four to consolidate on the initial sessions.

Martin says the business was growing and has three support staff, but Murray needed help with delegating.

He advised him to appoint a manager to run day-to-day operations and recruit more staff to deal with client growth created by Murray’s ability to spread the word out in the market place.

Martin told Murray and Amber how to work with a growing business and how to maximise staff productivity by recognising and using their skills.

“The mentoring centred around identifying staff skills and how Murray could delegate to allow him to work on the business and not in it,” Martin says. “He was then able to utilise his particular skills to market and grow the business.

 

 Grills and Co Conveyancing


“This strategy was aimed at maximising productivity and helping the business grow with maximum customer service.”

Soon after, Murray began delegating his tasks and appointed an Office Manager. The business is running more smoothly and building a positive reputation. 

Martin says Murray now understands he cannot “do everything” and that by sharing the load his business will run better and revenue will increase.

“They are utilising staff skills to grow the business and Murray now understands his staff are his biggest asset,” Martin says. “This a gradual process with the newly appointed office manager, Amber Field now looking after office administration and Murray concentrating on his core strengths.”

Martin says staff morale and turnover have both increased. He says profitability has also risen and the business has great potential.

“The business is now better structured to provide better client service to match and compete with its competitors,” he says.

Amber says Murray has recognised the need to delegate and is working on making it happen more often. She says this can be difficult for small business owners and takes time. “He’s really starting to see it now,” she says.

The aim is to become more efficient so the business can see more clients and complete all work to a high standard, which will lead to more referrals. “I want us to be efficient with what we have,” Amber says.

Amber says Martin’s advice was invaluable. He provided a detailed insight into the needs of running a successful business and the tools needed to achieve success.

“It’s only going to be of benefit,” Amber says. “He was really straight down the line and no mucking around … ‘this is what you have to do’. He was able to give us many examples. They just made sense, especially when he’s been in business himself.”

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