Peake Real Estate (‘Peake’) is a trusted and highly rated independent real estate agency operating in the Casey/Cardinia region in Melbourne’s south east. Peake is committed to setting the standard for excellence in the real estate industry, and to its founder’s goal of “client satisfaction with empathy”. It’s achieving this by creating a collaborative and inclusive environment, a strong sense of community, and by offering clients a personal touch.
The firm specialises in high-end lifestyle properties and is based in Berwick, which in July 2023 was revealed as the most sought-after town in Australia based on the highest engagement for properties by homebuyers over the previous 12 months. This growth in buyer engagement and activity has been matched by an increase in Peake’s property management business, which now has more than 600 properties under management.
Peake’s communications services, including telephony, had been managed for many years by the one telecommunications vendor. However, Peake’s Director Marisa Adams was increasingly questioning the value provided.
“Every six months, we’d get a call from the telco’s account manager trying to upsell us some new service that they’d say was going to save us money. Every time we took this step, it just led to us paying more money for equipment that we didn't need for a service that wasn't great and we were stuck in contracts for three of four years,” said Adams.
“You’re caught up in running your business and the telephone accounts are one of the last things you tend to review.”
That included telephony for a second branch opened four years ago in the nearby town of Officer for Peake to run its property management services. While the original PABX installed at Officer was connected to the main office, when the original system was replaced in Berwick, the two PABXs operated as completely separate systems. That meant Peake could no longer transfer calls and had to advertise separate phone numbers for the two branches.