Greyvensteins Attorneys recently walked away with the prestigious PMR Africa Diamond Award for the second year running.
Leaders in the legal field and with a footprint in three major cities across South Africa, director of conveyancing, Chris Nortier, believes Port Elizabeth, being a smaller city, has allowed his team the opportunity to harvest business relationships that are more personal in nature.
Please share some background on yourself and how the business was started?
Founded in 1960, we have been around long enough to understand that loyal relationships are built and nurtured over time. Our first office was opened in PE. In the early 1990s we opened our second office in Cape Town, as it used to be the seat of the Deeds Office for the PE property transactions. It has since grown into a full service law firm. In 2012 we opened our third office in Johannesburg. This focuses on conveyancing and serves on the panels of SA’s major banks.
What is your core service?
We specialise in almost every aspect of law. Our practice groups include property, corporate, commercial, family, general litigation and wills and estates. We have a strong focus in property law and conveyancing, and are leaders in this field.
We are administrators of estates and our full complement of litigators offer specialist advice on a broad range of legal fields from corporate, commercial and general litigation, to family law. We pride ourselves on working as a team.
What makes your business unique?
Our cutting edge is that we focus on relationships. We are personal and approachable and we ultimately take our business to our clients.
We focus on service delivery, thus providing an efficient turnaround time. Furthermore we have in-house IT specialists who assist us with guaranteeing the utmost privacy, security and the fastest turn-around times for our clients.
Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs or new business owners?
Starting a business venture on your own is challenging.
It’s wise to build a support system rather than doing it all on your own. Many fresh businesses struggle to survive and often end up shutting down. It’s therefore important to think long term and make decisions for the future.
What are some of your biggest challenges in day-to-day business operations and your particular industry?
Our work is often dependant on external persons performing public functions. It’s therefore challenging to maintain optimal productivity while dependant on external bodies that you’re unable to control.
Another challenge is striving to be innovative while remaining industry leaders.
What is the best advice anyone gave you on success?
You must step out of your comfort zone, and never stop learning. Set the standards for your competitors to follow rather than following your competitors. Very important is to never promise what you can’t deliver.
How do you measure or define success in your business?
We define our firm as successful by virtue of clients continually returning. Our client base grows continuously. We have a low staff turnover.
What are some of the best practices that have made your business successful?
Personal interaction with an emphasis on building strong relationships. Ultimately, any business can offer services to the public but the key lies in how to offer those services.
We strive to ensure our clients have a positive experience, and a desire to return.
What kind of advertising do you do?
As we have a strong focus in property law and conveyancing, we aim to make our presence known via multiple advertising avenues. This includes property magazines, newspapers and billboards throughout PE. We are provided with numerous opportunities to discuss our expertise on the radio. We also sponsor athletes in different sports where they wear our branded clothing.
What is your firm’s vision?
Our entire culture and vision is committed to helping clients meet today’s challenges in an often over-complicated world.
Transformation is at the heart of our firm. Our vision is to build and to expand on being a South African firm and we believe strongly in the necessity to move with the times.
What is your target market?
It generally consists of various role players in the property market, from first-time home buyers to the most experienced commercial property owners.
In our litigation department, our clients include a multitude of individuals and corporates ranging from private individuals to large corporates and everyone in between.
What have some of your highlights been in running your business?
We’re frequently recognised for our service excellence as well as our contribution to the economy. We have won numerous awards as a firm and our directors have also won numerous accolades in their personal capacity over the years.
Our community involvement has also allowed us to make a difference. The Givers Gain Project has raised millions for various charities in the Eastern Cape where the need is great.
How important is social media and an online presence for your business?
It’s essential for our business to have a social media presence. Social media enables us to engage with our clients by way of social interaction. Simply put, it enables us to take our business to our clients.
How many people do you employ?
We have over 90 staff members, including a highly committed and efficient support team.
Do you have any plans for expanding the business, and how would you go about this? Not at the moment.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your business journey so far?
It is important to stay humble as well as to invest time and effort into your business.
Surround yourself with good people with similar objectives in mind. Don’t take things for granted and always learn from your mistakes.
What have been the greatest challenges and advantages of running your business in a city like PE?
The greatest challenge at first is there are no guarantees that you will be successful. We’re constantly challenged to better ourselves by setting our own standards and measuring ourselves against them daily. PE being a smaller city often allows the opportunity to harvest business relationships that are more personal in nature. Although this can be seen as an advantage, it can also be a challenge in that the public often appreciates personal attention. We therefore tailor our services to meet their expectations.
How important has mentorship been to you in your entrepreneurial journey?
It’s very important to surround ourselves with role models who have a degree of work and life balance but still made it to the top without significant cost to personal life. A mentor is invaluable, books can only teach you so much.
What do you think are the three key traits of a successful entrepreneur?
Adapt to change, never stop learning and have a goal to work towards.
How do you motivate staff?
The emotional wellbeing of staff is a priority to ensure they are able to cope with the demands of working in a law firm. We have an open door policy and have created a family-like dynamic. We believe that looking after our staff is the single best reason why they look after our clients so well.
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