When Ray White Upper North Shore agent Jessica Cao joined the group in August 2020, she set a clear goal - to be well established in her key market within five years.

Fast forward nearly five years, and Jessica is now a Chairman’s Elite agent, ranking in the top one per cent of the Ray White Group, and dominating Sydney’s prestigious Upper North Shore.

She is well on track to achieving her goal, after quickly distinguishing herself as a top agent at Ray White Upper North Shore which has been recognised as Ray White’s number one office group internationally.

Standing out in a competitive market has always been important to Jessica, and early on, she knew that differentiating herself in a meaningful way would be the key to success. She engaged heavily with Ray White’s training and support programs, walking away with two core strategies that now underpin her business.

“I run almost everything to auction. The whole thing about auctions is that you can control your days on market,” Jessica said.

“We all know a property is worth its most when it’s freshly listed, when it becomes stale, it’s losing value. With auctions you can control your days on market and control the capacity of your team.

“With my sellers, I make it quite clear that this is the best way to create competition and get the best price. For vendors, they can see the result, they can see their neighbours' result, and they understand how it can work for them.

“It helps you become known in your market and it’s a great tool to show the value you can offer a seller in real-time. I invite neighbours and potential vendors to all my auctions.”

Auctions have also strengthened Jessica’s media profile, with her Saturday auction results often featured in national and metro news outlets and television stations every week.

“The media absolutely loves to report on an auction because the results are public and can be published. They love getting a nice little story behind each sale too so I always look out for something that will create a hook for them.

“My main tips for dealing with journalists would be to just answer their calls and be open with them, there’s no right or wrong answers, just be real.”

For Jessica, engaging with the media is a vital part of building her personal brand and adding value to her sales offering.

“What value don’t I see in it? It’s just building a personal brand. We’re marketing agents so we want to market ourselves and get our name out there,” she said.

“The further the reach, the better. It’s something I layer on top of local marketing like letterbox drops. It gives you authority in your marketplace and works really well.

“You don’t know when people will list but people in my area know me, they text me and they say ‘I saw you on TV or in the paper’, so it certainly builds another contact point - a very positive contact point.

“We’re all always trying to establish relationships with people in our area so hopefully they will sell with us. Cold calling is valuable but these kinds of contact points are also very valuable.

“They read about you and what you’re doing so in their mind they picture you actively working in the local area, and as someone who knows the market, knows buyers and has a proven record. That’s what positive marketing can do for you.”

Jessica said sharing the story behind the listing by involving her vendors is an easy way to foster relationships with the media, boost exposure for her sellers and their home and continue to build her profile.

“We say, ‘you cannot sell a secret’, so once your story is in print or online, it’s pretty powerful that people know about your property,” Jessica said.

“We can see in the backend the click rate goes up so much and vendors will always feel grateful to have that opportunity to showcase their property and to talk about it so more buyers are aware that the property is for sale.

“If you time it well, in the middle of the campaign, it gives the listing a really good boost. It’s free marketing!

“My vendors are usually very receptive, they see the value it can bring - more buyers which means more competition on auction day.

“No vendor has ever said don’t talk about my property in front of the media.”

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