Family Unity In An 'A' Team

THERE is no better A-team than a happy and productive family - and offering good proof of this are the four, fair-haired relatives at the heart of an award-winning Dormehl Phalane Group (DPG) branch in Westville, Durban.

Besides being blood relatives, this quartet of women also has the extra comfort and support of being in the countrywide embrace of DPG, the fast-growing property group that takes great pride in referring to all its team members as family.

The DPG branch in question is The A-Team in Blair Atholl Road, managed by Lindi Honey. She works alongside her sister Sue Foster and their mother Nola Ortlepp, while the youngest family member at the branch is Lindi's married daughter, Christy du Preez.

Completing this dynamic, all-women team are Anne Heyes, Chene Theunissen and Kim Hayes (not related to Anne). All three are as close as one can get to being blood family, say their sidekicks.

DPG founder Owen Dormehl is the principal of the much-lauded branch, where Lindi, Anne, Christy and Sue handle sales. Kim takes care of marketing and canvassing, Nola assists with canvassing and Chene is described as "the admin backbone; the glue that holds it all together".

The A-Team ladies know how to play hard - many of them are often at the pulse of the party at company functions - but they work even harder. When it comes to success they most certainly live up to their branch name, often winning accolades in DPG's monthly awards.

At the 12th DPG awards ceremony, held in April last year at Alpine Heath in Bergville in the Drakensberg, the branch scooped 13 awards, and Sue Foster was named one of the company's top 10 agents of the year, an accolade of which she is super-proud.

"Last year's awards for The A-Team included those for most 'easy-sell' mandates sold and most referrals. We were also in the top five branches nationally and top five in KwaZulu-Natal," says Sue.

She has been with The A-Team since the branch was established three years ago, in an area where she and others in the team had previously worked with another property group. And there lies another family connection as Sue's late father, Adrian Ortlepp, was the owner of that Maxprop Westville franchise.

When that was bought by Owen Dormehl, the women came up with the idea of calling themselves the A-Team so that the branch was seen as independent from the Dormehl Phalane Group's other Westville branch, Elite.

Sue has not always been in the property business, she points out: "I was passionate about nursing and qualified as a nursing sister in 1982, then worked as a retail rep for The Daily News and Sunday Tribune. I also had a brief jaunt selling a de-greasing product, for Spraysafe, to farmers!"

She was very happy to become part of the DPG brand as she had long been a friend of Owen Dormehl and admired the way he worked.

"Owen is the biggest strength of the brand. He is always willing to help all his agents," she says. "He is a very strong leader, has integrity, and he is honest and loyal. Oh, and he arranges amazing award functions... and I guess his drinking tequila is a bonus!"

The A-Team's ongoing success is as a result of Owen's mentorship and "unity in our office; working as a team", adds Sue.

The branch covers Westville, Cowies Hill, Sherwood, Mayville and Reservoir Hills. Sue says it's an area she strongly encourages people to look at for their property needs.

"You definitely get value for money. The Westville schools are fabulous and we have the Pavilion shopping centre and Westville Hospital on our doorstep. Also, Westville has a strong community that cares for one another, as seen during last year's looting chaos and during lockdown."

Although born in Piet Retief and from a farming community, Sue matriculated from Westville Girls' High School.

The property market is improving, she believes: "The interest rate is low so this has encouraged people who were renting to now buy. It has become more affordable for them to own their home as opposed to making their landlord rich".

Away from the property world, Sue devotes a lot of time to the outdoors and helping animals and the needy: "I work with a lot of animal rescue groups in my area and I was involved with 'Project O' in the Inanda Dam area, where orphaned children live with their 'Gogos'. We would distribute food parcels to the families. Heart-wrenching, but worth it."

Sue, who is engaged to George Speechly, a horticulturist in Dubai, explains that her motto as a property person is "to sell in the shortest time, with the least amount of hassles, for the highest price".

She describes her strengths as being "confident, loyal, honest, a people-person and a go-getter". Her weaknesses? "Cold canvassing and impatience".