ELITE AGENT Issue 17 Jun Jul 2017

10 SOURCES TO GROW YOUR DATABASE PAGE 28

IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE PAGE 40

SPOT THE DISRUPTER PAGE 72

LEARN FROM THE BEST #17 JUN-JUL 2017

The Leadership Issue RICHARD BOOTLE KYLIE DAVIS TANJA M JONES MATT LAHOOD PETER MUMFORD CAMERON NICHOLLS TONY ROWE SUZANNAH + GENEVIEVE TOOP

MARKETING

HOW TO GET LISTINGS FROM LINKEDIN SALES

SOLVING THE 10 PAIN POINTS OF PROSPECTING

OUR TOP 50 INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS 2017

Mighty Mackay

LEANNE DRUERY

CUSTOMER SERVICE

ROBOTS AND THE NEED FOR SPEED

PUT YOUR PROPERTY FRONT AND CENTRE WITH FRONT PAGE “Generating maximum exposure for your listings is essential to all campaigns, and with the introduction of Front Page, you can now take the lead in your suburb. Front Page is the ultimate way to get the right consumers viewing your listings on Australia’s number one property site, realestate.com.au” – Andrew Rechtman, Executive General Manager, realestate.com.au realestate.com.au is putting property first with Front Page, giving agents the opportunity to advertise their properties front and centre on the realestate.com.au homepage.

Front Page listings are showcased to a highly relevant audience based on the smarts of realestate.com.au’s search results. This targeting, based off previous search behavior ensures listings are showcased to highly relevant property seekers in your suburb.

For a Front Page listing to be displayed in any given suburb, consumers will need to have previously searched for a suburb in the Buy section. Once they return to realestate.com.au and search again in that suburb, your listing will be visible on the home page. With an audience of 16 million monthly home page visitors1, the

home page provides the greatest exposure for you and your listing.

Over a seven-day period you will hold the most exclusive position on the site.

With Front Page, a property will be advertised on the realestate.com.au home page across all devices, including desktop, tablet, mobile and the realestate.com.au app, which has been downloaded more than 6.3 million times2.

With an audience of over 16 million monthly home page visitors1 , the home page provides the greatest exposure for you and your listing.

The demand for Front Page has already proved high with agents, with campaigns now live across suburbs all over Australia.

If you are looking to take the lead in your suburb, find out more by visiting agent.realestate.com.au/front-page/ or speak to your Account Manager.

“Front Page provides our agents with unprecedented reach to showcase our vendors’ properties to buyers looking for homes in our key area. The exclusivity of Front Page gives us a great opportunity to further differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

Michael Clarke, Principal of Clarke & Humel Property.

Disclaimer: Front Page is only available to Premiere customers 1. Adobe Analytics, average monthly visits to the home page (entire site), February 2016 to January 2017.

2. Google Play and Apple iTunes Total App Downloads to February 2017

Put your property front and centre with

FRONT PAGE

First impressions matter You can now advertise your property on the realestate.com.au home page across all devices – desktop, tablet, mobile and our app, giving you a level of exposure like never before*.

Speak with your Account Manager or visit agent.realestate.com.au/frontpage to see how you can be front and centre today.

*Available to Premiere All customers only.

1 Adobe Analytics, Average monthly visits to the homepage Feb 2016–Jan 2017.

Actual visits to targeted suburb(s) will vary.

Take the lead in your suburb Nationally the realestate.com.au home page receives 16 million visits each month.1 With Front Page, people searching in your suburb will see your property first.

for Real Estate

Issue 17 Jun | Jul 2017

eliteagent.com.au | eliteagent.online SAMANTHA MCLEAN Managing Editor samantha@eliteagent.com.au MARK EDWARDS Publisher | Commercial Partnerships mark@eliteagent.com.au

SHANTELLE ISAAKS Marketing Assistant | Producer shantelle@eliteagent.com.au

JILL BONIFACE Sub-Editor jill@eliteagent.com.au

CHORUS DESIGN Art Direction | Design thegoodpeople@chorusdesign.com

FEATURE WRITERS Samantha McLean, Sarah Bell

COVER STORY PHOTOGRAPHY Carla Martin, topsnap.com

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6 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Contents

Regulars 010 EDITOR’S LETTER Samantha McLean 012 READER PROFILE Peter Williams 014 WATERCOOLER Catch up on what you may have missed 022 PEOPLE PARTNER Alison McGavin 024 MINDSET CORNER Jet Xavier 026 BUSINESS DEPOT John Knight 028 D ATA INSIGHTS Eddie Cetin 072 THE HOME STRAIGHT Mark McLeod

First Person 016 SOLVING THE 10 PAIN POINTS OF PROSPECTING Josh Phegan 018 PURPLE PAIN Simon Whale

30

020 BREAKING THE RECRUITMENT CYCLE Julie Davis + Neil Williams

Cover Story 030 MIGHTY MACKAY Leanne Druery

Transform 2017 034 A GAME OF INCHES Jet Xavier with John McGrath and Monika Tu 036 ASK THE COACH Claudio Encina 038 LINKEDIN: STAND OUT AND GET MORE LISTINGS Colin Anstie 040 ALAN STEVENS: IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE Sarah Bell 042 G AVIN CROFT: THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGENT AND AUCTIONEER Sarah Bell 044 HUSTLE AND HEART WILL SET YOU APART Tanja M Jones

56

Momentum Wrap-up 046 ROBOTS, DRIVERLESS CARS AND THE NEED FOR SPEED Steve Carroll 048 COMMISSIONS ARE IN THE COMMUNITY, NOT IN THE OFFICE Tom Panos

The Leadership Issue 050 T HE STATE OF INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP Kylie Davis and Tanja M Jones 054 RUNDL THE WORLD: LAWLAB Sarah Bell 056 LEADING WITH INTEGRITY Peter Mumford 058 THE CYCLE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Tony Rowe 060 HOW TO BUILD A SUPER TEAM Matt Lahood 062 TRADITION AND INNOVATION Suzannah + Genevieve Toop

62

066 BECOMING YOUR OWN BOSS Cameron Nicholls 068 SPECIAL: TOP 50 INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS 2017

MATT LAHOOD CEO, THE AGENCY

MARK MCLEOD CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF GROWTH, RAY WHITE GROUP Where are you from originally and where do you call home now?

I’m originally from Bundaberg. I travel most days so I’m as at home in an airport lounge as I am at home which is now Brisbane.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

My children – they both have come to the end of their respective educations and are forging their path in life. My partner Kelly, who runs a huge business within Ray White called Concierge; watching how she manages herself with such style and professionalism every day amazes me.

What’s the most important project you are working on right now?

I’m working with our group to understand the changing behaviour of our customers, and adapting our procedures and structures to meet our customers’ expectations.

Trend to watch in the industry?

Our customers continue to move to digital platforms and have a different expectation of speed and quality of response. The tools that are now available to them to selfappraise and self-evaluate may put us one step down the supply chain.

Favourite quote or words to live by?

If I can read and write but choose not to, then I have no advantage over someone who can do neither.

72 8 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Where are you from originally and where do you call home now?

I was born and bred in Sydney and went to school in Randwick. Coogee is where I call home now; I love it. Along with the village feel, there is an eclectic mix of people and I have lots of friends in the area.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

Deepak Chopra is an influential thoughtleader in mind, body and spirit. He has the ability to challenge mindsets and change mindsets, which I greatly respect.

What’s the most important project you are working on right now?

I’m working on building a strong culture and team from scratch and watching The Agency’s model evolve.

Trend to watch in the industry?

Residential tenants will become a big part of the buying cycle over the next few years.

54 Favourite quote or words to live by?

‘Words change lives’. The way you talk to a person can literally change their life.

Words have the power to encourage, build confidence, teach and lead, but also to tear a person down. I’m very careful about the way I talk to people; I take responsibility for the impact my words can have.

CONTRIBUTORS ALISON MCGAVIN SENIOR RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, REAL+ Where are you from originally and where do you call home now?

I was born and bred in Canberra. Now I’m a happy Sydneysider and haven’t looked back.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

I recently returned from a three-week trek in Nepal and found the Nepalese people extremely inspiring, always smiling and going out of their way to help one another. Outside of Kathmandu there is little desire for material possessions – a strong reminder that our relationships are what is most important. However, in my regular life I am inspired daily by the tenacity of industry new starters and what they’re prepared to do to get a foot in the door.

What’s the most important project you are working on right now?

Right now we are focused on delivering the Real+ Property Business Loop, which is all about looping the service elements of Real+ (consulting, recruiting and training) with a business’ needs around strategy, structure, systems and growth.

Trend to watch in the industry?

22 I’m not sure I would classify it as a trend because I think this is the new norm, but definitely ‘culture’. People used to chase money and title but there has been a significant shift; now they seek a company with a healthy, value-matching, rewarding and passionate culture. People want more than just a job and pay cheque these days.

Favourite quote or words to live by?

‘Learn more, do more, be more’ – our motto here at Real+. It’s so important to continue learning and developing our brains so that we can do more, which in turn helps us be more!

18 SIMON WHALE DIRECTOR, REAPIT Where are you from originally and where do you call home now?

I was born in Kuwait and grew up in Abu Dhabi, which means in post-Brexit Britain I’m no longer welcome in the UK. Now with Trump in the White House I’m looking forward to a different type of white glove treatment when I next visit the States. I now live in Manchester, which I described as feeling very similar to Melbourne; to be fair I may have oversold that comparison, as anyone ‘fortunate’ enough to visit our rainy city may attest.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

In a world seemingly becoming less tolerant, people like Malala Yousafzai, the girl who was shot by the Taliban and subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on equal rights, make everyone else’s problems the first world issues they are.

What’s the most important project you are working on right now?

We’ve got a few exciting ones, but the most important one for Australia is our property management module going live with our first clients over the summer. People like Josh Phegan talk about a four-dimensional view of clients and understanding the value of those who are both landlords and buyers, or tenants and vendors, or indeed any combination. But you can’t give your business the best platform for success if it’s siloed away in different systems, one for sales, one for property management, one for website and another for email marketing. Those Chinese walls stop referrals around the business and our clients around the world tell us that it’s one of the most important decisions they made to help the business thrive.

Trend to watch in the industry?

We Poms have got a few things to apologise for over the years, not least Rick Astley; but the latest is online agents who’ve landed here and are making similar noise to back home in the UK. The key thing, however, when looking at their proposition is to separate the fee on listing model and their innovation. I have zero respect for the race to the bottom fee structure and a lack of service culture; but what you can’t ignore is the technology they have introduced that the public loves. But we think our Digital Agent module gives traditional agents the ability to take the best bits of the online agents’ offering with the killer combination of a traditional agents service.

Favourite quote or words to live by?

There’s far too many clever business ones so I’ll steer clear of them, but ‘Kneel before Zod’ gets me every time.

Want an ‘all access’ pass to extended Transform 2017 coaching?

Here’s one for you… and some for your friends too.

Extended coaching episodes from Transform 2017 are now available in an immersive 3D environment* like you have never seen before.

eliteagent.online * viewable on your desktop browser

M EDITOR’S LETTER

MANAGEMENT IS NOT leadership.

The terms themselves imply different things, management being about moving resources around to achieve an outcome, while leadership is being able to move the hearts and minds of people to inspire them to support a larger vision under your direction.

I believe that true leaders are about the collective gain: ‘we’, not ‘me’. The pursuit of a better environment for all. Knowing your team and yourself well.

Making sure others have the tools they need to succeed.

Using your magical powers for good. The ability to build common goals and find solutions to problems. Helping others achieve their goals.

Are leaders always people that we see at the top

“Good leaders focus on ‘we’, not ‘me.’” – Kristi Hedges, leadership coach and author, The Inspiration Code (AMACOM, 2017)

10 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

of organisation charts or constantly in our social media newsfeeds? I would say the answer to that is no; sometimes they are rule breakers, clever geeks or supporters who invent things, think up better ways of working and pretty much just make it happen.

And so, in this special leadership issue of Elite Agent, we give you our first-ever list of our top 50 real estate industry influencers, as nominated by readers of the magazine. There are some names on there you probably would expect, and then there are others you probably wouldn’t expect; maybe it’s overdue that the industry recognises the hard work of some of our ‘quieter’ heroes.

Transform 2017 has taken our thoughts on the definition of leadership in a different direction too. When we started out on the journey with this year’s #supersix there were a couple of them we had pegged as definite leaders. Darin, of course, has been a leader in his business for some 25 years, but felt he could be a better one by improving his knowledge of tech. Admirably, he was keen to show his son what he thought a good leader looked like by growing and developing himself. Leanne needed to be a leader for her kids after losing her husband and lifelong partner.

Nikki let go of the need to be liked and started working on becoming a leader in her market.

Ben made the decision to ‘Go Pro’ and use his new skills to take a step up in every aspect of his business. Lukas became a structured prospecting

powerhouse to lead his market.

And Michael will always be leading in marketing in his area and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

I would like to congratulate all of our #supersix this year, and especially Leanne who of course, having made the cover, was the ultimate winner of the challenge.

During that 12 weeks, Leanne showed more grit, determination and courage than pretty much anyone I have ever met. I hope you all enjoy her story. Beyond Leanne’s story, we have captured many practical takeaways and tips from Transform 2017, and hope you will be able to use them to lead the way in your business.

We are lucky to have a new leader in our team, although let’s just say she has always been a leader in the industry. If you turn over to the current issue of EPM, you’ll find Sarah Bell, industry trainer, thought-leader, agency director and general awesome human, will be leading from the front in EPM as permanent editor. She has some fantastic ideas in store for our property management readers, and the team and I are super-excited to have a fresh voice in the magazine. I know many of you have loved her feature articles in Elite Agent to date and this issue she also has done it again with some great interviews we hope you enjoy.

What is the real ‘state’ of leadership today in the industry?

For the first time we have some idea of where it’s at with the early release of the results from the CoreLogic/TMJ Coaching

leadership survey. The Real eState of Leadership Report canvassed the insights of 508 real estate agents in an online survey run from January to April this year.

The results were varied; while a typical principal is likely to have undergone some formal training, it found that close to one third had no formal training at all. Does this make for bad leadership?

Not necessarily, but the survey

also found that there are a large number of agents wanting better leadership and help in staying motivated and positive. I hope this survey is able to provide the impetus for principals to take action, raise the bar and create mutual success for all, another definition of a leader.

I also hope you are inspired by some of the great leadership examples we have brought to you in this issue of the magazine – a diverse bunch of stories that can help you step into leadership no matter where you happen to be in your career right now.

eliteagent.com.au 11

READER PROFILE

FROM TV TO TOWNHOUSES PETER WILLIAMS, RAINE & HORNE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS, NSW

After 35 years in television, Peter Williams switched careers and now works as Sales Executive with Raine & Horne Southern Highlands, NSW. Specialising in the over-55s market, he primarily sells residential, retirement living and development opportunities.

According to Peter, it’s never too late to change – if you can make it through challenge of the first two years.

How many years have you been in real estate?

I’ve been in real estate for three and a half years. I had a major change in my work life after 35 years in television. We moved to Bowral and when I decided to have a crack at real estate for myself, I managed to join Raine & Horne, who had sold us our home.

What motivated you to get into real estate?

We had a terrible real estate agent when selling our home in Sydney, and I thought to myself I could do much better than this guy and his poor service. We ended up sacking that agent and had two wonderful women then sell our home fast and for a great price. That stayed in my mind for a few years.

What is the market like in your area right now?

Our market is very strong right now due to the close proximity to Sydney and the amount of people leaving the city for a tree change, or retirement. This last year has seen some significant price growth, with an inundation of people looking for land,

12 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

townhouses, developments, houses and farms. If you’re thinking of being an agent down here, just remember there are 150 agents in a very small area, so competition is fierce. So maybe stay where you are!

Who or what inspires you?

My inspiration comes from a few sources. I was lucky enough to get two great personal coaches, Julie Davis and Neil Williams from Agent Dynamics, who profiled me, coached me and set me straight on my real estate journey. They’re always

“We had a terrible agent when selling our home in Sydney, and I thought to myself I could do much better than this guy and his poor service.”

available to call and check in with me regularly. I’m also a member of Josh Phegan’s website; it’s great to drive and listen to his interviews and updated inspirational dialogue.

Our director and principal of three Raine & Horne offices in the Southern Highlands, Matthew Anstee, is full of knowledge and advice, and allows great flexibility to everyone in the Raine & Horne team. All our offices congratulate each agent on a sale or a listing and are a true team.

Lastly, my beautiful wife, Vicki Williams, is a psychologist and has great insight in how to treat certain people on my real estate journey!

In your ‘briefcase’ right now is…

My iPhone, iPad, notebook, multivitamins and a few lollies – and, believe it or not, I always carry the latest Elite Agent Magazine, in case I have a spare five minutes here and there waiting for a client.

Something (or someone) you couldn’t live without?

My wife and my iMac. What do you enjoy most about Elite Agent Magazine?

The diversity of information, coaching tips, dialogue, marketing, success stories: there’s always

something to glean from each magazine, and also the website is an excellent resource.

Any words to live by?

I do like this quote from Zig Ziglar: “F.E.A.R. has two meanings – Forget Everything And Run, or Face Everything And Rise.”

What advice would you give to someone starting out in real estate?

Get a coach as soon as you can.

We all function differently, so you need to get personality profiling done to see what type of person you are and what will work for you.

I wish I’d seen my coaches as soon as I started in real estate.

Keep training; don’t stop because you think you know enough. Try and get out on the road with a great lister, learn their dialogue and turn it into yours.

Keep track of your sales, listings, presentations and monitor how you are performing. The first two years are very hard – just keep going and work the hours, meet the people and stand out from the crowd with service.

Everyone you meet may be a future client. Before you know it, your quality of life will start to change. I started in my late 40s, so it is never too late to have a go.

ELITE AGENT AC A DEM Y

CPD points for agents attending AREC 2017 Delivered in association with MRT (RTO 41529) 12 points* are available to NSW agents attending AREC 2017 in person and completing an online assessment.

(And, if you didn’t attend AREC 2017, we have plenty of online CPD courses for you to study from just $89)

visit eliteagent.academy/arec2017 *assessment and certificate fee of $57 applies / ask us about points for other states

THE WATER COOLER D

Our daily newsletter #THEBRIEF brings you the latest real estate news, tech and marketing tips straight up every day. In case you’ve missed anything, here are some of this month’s trending stories.

Subscribe to #THEBRIEF eliteagent.com.au/subscribe.

NEW SERVICES A BONUS FOR @REALTY AGENTS

REAPIT LAUNCHES NEW DIGITAL CONCIERGE TOOL Reapit has launched a new digital customer experience designed to help agents add a digital layer to their service offering without compromising traditional relationships and negotiations. The new digital concierge tools are fully integrated with their RPS software to support the ultimate customer service experience.

RPS Digital provides any client (vendor, buyer, landlord or tenant) with 24/7 access to the information agents want them to have related to properties, transactions and important workflows, including tenant maintenance requests and marketing approvals. It can even be configured as a private platform for off-market listings.

Lead capture and conversion are supported by online registration for inspections and market appraisal booking tools that display real-time availability.

This technology is the first of its kind in Australia and will allow forward-thinking businesses to compete with online and hybrid agencies without having to significantly change their business infrastructure.

For more information contact Reapit – enquiries@ reapit.com.au.

14 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

@realty, with a unique business model that enables agents to operate autonomously under the @realty brand, have announced new services including financing/ refinancing, and conveyancing with more to come in the coming months.

Speaking about the changes, Director JJ Taylor said, “We are excited to be able to offer more services through the group to vendors and buyers. These services are all online, so clients can log into the solicitors online portal, for example, and view real time what is happening.”

Adding another 70 agents to the group since December, Mr Taylor says he is thrilled with the continued expansion so far this year. “Agents are frustrated with the traditional/complicated models where the principal takes a bigger slice of commission with very little support.

“They don’t necessarily need to rely on a physical office address anymore; the office isn’t providing walk-in leads like they did 15-20 years ago.”

The @realty software platform has also had several exciting upgrades to make agents more productive in producing client presentations, brochures, flyers and other marketing tools.

The cost of $275 per month for being part of the group also covers things like trust accounting and other back office support.

For more information visit atrealtycareers.com.au.

Coco Republic leading in design and style Coco Republic has established itself as one of Australia’s leading furniture and design brands, Australian owned and operated for over 35 years. Coco Republic’s design heritage is woven into the fabric of the company, offering not only sophisticated attention to detail but ground breaking innovation combined with the finest craftsmanship and quality.

Operating from studios in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Coco Republic Property Styling has a consistent track

record of styling homes to resonate with the target market and deliver sales results that exceed asking prices. Check out their property styling services at cocorepublic.com.au.

VISIT ELITEAGENT.COM.AU/CATCHUP FOR FULL VERSIONS OF THESE WATERCOOLER STORIES

Best Practice: Some advice for creating better digital ads

By Jed Carlson, ADWERX We’ve had the privilege of serving over a billion ad impressions on behalf of over 40,000 real estate agents. And in that time, we’ve been asked over and over again: what are the best practices for these ads?

Here are our top tips...

DO INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION. Your prospects need to be told what to do – even if it’s as simple as ‘click here’. But here are some even better calls to action: • Learn more • Download a free report • Subscribe for free • Register now • Book an appointment DON’T PUT YOUR EMAIL OR WEBSITE ON YOUR AD It’s tempting to think of your digital ad like a business card, but it’s so much more. Use your ad for an attention-grabbing headline and a reason to click. Your contact information should be on your landing page. Make it easy to find and easy to interact with.

DO INCLUDE A PHOTO We live in a digital world, but you’re a professional who still works face to face. This ad might be the first time your client is ‘meeting’ you, so a photo helps that relationship form.

DON’T USE A SELFIE Yes, iPhone cameras are amazing – but that doesn’t mean you should

use it for your brand.

Don’t stand in front of the bathroom mirror, don’t use a photo from your last vacation and please don’t use a selfie stick!

DO TEST DIFFERENT MESSAGES Mix up your marketing message every quarter or so. Perhaps make it seasonal. Change up your focus. See what resonates with your audience, but make sure your landing page reflects the change in messaging.

DON’T CHANGE YOUR AD TOO OFTEN With the idea of testing in mind, changing your ad every week will prevent the power of repetition to kick in. You want to build up a familiarity, without creating fatigue in your audience.

MAYBE THINK ABOUT GETTING A CUSTOM AD Find a local graphic designer, or you could use an online service like Fiverr. com, 99Designs or find somebody on freelance sites like Upwork. That way your ad truly stands out and reflects you.

MAYBE TRY MOBILE ADS IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY Adwerx web ads get you all over the web for users on laptops, but most of us take our smartphones everywhere we go. Mobile ads are important if you want to target millennials in apps and on mobile Facebook!

RENET – REIMAGINED In March this year, software solutions provider ReNet released the final update for their ‘nextgen’ software. Along with the full contact and calendar sync with mobile devices, and the Touchpoints Manager™ open home app, ReNet has also upgraded the interface for desktop users.

During 2016, every function and process was rebuilt, based on feedback from thousands of clients and the company’s 17 years of experience with real estate CRMs. Upgrades also include executive salesperson accounts if you are looking for a standalone CRM for a sales business, along with integrated salesperson websites. For more information visit renet.com.au.

NEGATIVE GEARING TWEAKED BUT NOT SCRAPPED With much talk about negative gearing in the lead-up to the 2017 Federal Budget, no doubt many real estate agents are pretty happy to see negative gearing has only been tweaked and not completely scrapped.

Gone are the days when you could say your trip to Noosa was to inspect your rental property! The proposed changes remove any entitlement to deductions for travel costs (including motor vehicle deductions) relating to inspecting and maintaining your residential rental property.

Quantity surveyors are going to be kicking up a stink too, because they have also scrapped the ability to claim depreciation based on a quantity surveyor’s report for items like dishwashers, curtains, ovens and hot water systems where you are not the original owner. The changes will only impact properties purchased after budget night (9 May 2017).

At this stage, it looks like you will still be able to claim a deduction for the 2.5 per cent building allowance, meaning all is not lost for quantity surveyors. One possible way around this may be for developers to offer furniture packages.

For more information on the impact of the budget on real estate agents check out eliteagent.com.au/budget2017. eliteagent.com.au 15

FIRST PERSON

Josh Phegan

Solving the 10 pain points of prospecting

TOP PERFORMANCE COACH Josh Phegan explains how to

identify and avoid fail points in your business before they happen – so you can build the best business possible.

Your greatest asset is your ability to learn. There can never be a day that you’re not learning something new; if that day comes it may be the beginning of the end. You need to have a lifetime of hunger, to push yourself beyond what you think you’re capable of, to allow failure and keep going.

It’s not rocket science; you can tell if people love what they do.

The best become great students of the game. They are hungry to learn and even to fail, because failure is the greatest teacher.

Attitude shapes your life, and the way you work is the way you run your business. How you take feedback determines just how fast you grow. Systems are put in place to help you avoid making mistakes in the first place.

Let’s look at 10 ways you can get ahead of failure and practically solve the pain points in your business.

1

BUILD SOCIAL PROOF You need to become a brand in your area and put yourself in a position where you’re placed where the action is – that’s at open homes, auctions and enquiring online. There’s no doubt that speed of response counts; remember that convenience trumps loyalty, so

16 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

if you’re good at what you do, and you’re there, it’s the perfect recipe for success. Whoever has got the signboards up with Sold stickers wins the market.

You meet most of your future sellers first as buyers.

People love both the underdog in every market and the high achiever. Not many strive for the middle-ground agent.

no matter where they’re stored – social media, phone contact list or database – is a future referrer, buyer or seller. Why call people you don’t know when you can call people you do? The secret is to move from one-off prospecting to consistent actions that build relationships through relevance over time.

3

THE BASICS MATTER Champions are good at the basics. The core of your business must be great before you start adding in the layers or the icing. How you run your diary is how you run your life. Plan ahead,

Start with buyer appointments, progress to market appraisals, end up just doing listing appointments.

Measure what happened last week; it will keep you honest about your success and effectiveness on the phones.

4

DON’T LEAVE PROSPECTING TO CHANCE Know where your leads come from, so you can adapt to what’s working and brush up on your skills for what’s not. Three great places to start are just-listed or just-sold calls as they happen, to nurture your database; open for inspections for new lead generation, and key referrers to drive your referral business. Get clear about how you acquire your customers. You need three lead generation sources, ideally open homes – people bring tradeins; key referrers – people who know people – and a strong lead magnet, like video, that people love and refer to others.

5

KNOW YOUR MARKET Know what’s listed, what’s sold and the state of play so you can negotiate for your owners with potential buyers.

You’ve got to want to own your market. To do that your market needs to know who you are and others who want to move to the market need to

Why call people you don’t know when you can call people you do?

Relationships are built over time.

2

LEVERAGE YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK Too many people chase new leads when they haven’t done anything with the existing people they already know. To build a business fast, you have to leverage every relationship you’ve got. Consider that your database is your community.

Every person you’ve ever met lives somewhere. Every contact,

work the time you’ve got, put in all your commitments.

Make sure you work when you work and holiday when you holiday. Nothing happens in business until a sale is made, and the first sale that’s made every day is booking an appointment. Think 3:15:60 – three appointments a day is 15 a week, which is 60 a month. Hit that, and you’ve got a business.

get recommended to you. The important thing is to choose a market that is big enough for your aspirations. Average sale price, fee and volume are critical to you achieving your goals.

Too many take on the industry dogma of 1,000 homes, but never look to see the ten-year average of the number of those homes that turn every year, regardless of market conditions.

6

GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT Show me your diary and I will show you what you value.

You’re in control of how you’re spending every minute of your time and, at the end of the day, you will be the one sick, tired and run down if you don’t take care of yourself. You will be the only one at the end of your life who will have to deal with a lifetime of regret.

For me, it’s very simple and straightforward. I use three factors in prioritising my time: 1: Health; 2: Family; 3: Career.

Why? Because if you don’t have excellent health you can’t be great in anything else, so that’s the first appointment in the diary: exercise, sleep and diet.

Family comes next because they’re your first line of support, then career third. If you put the other two first, your career will be amazing because you will be primed and ready to crush it.

7

STOP PROCRASTINATING Stop the stop-start in your business and get consistent.

We all believe we are capable of doing far more than we can with our current level of capacity. Focus on the three things you do all the time that make your business move – that’s prospecting, listing and directing your team. So what are your big three? And why are you doing anything else? As a sales agent, if you just did those you’d have a great business.

8

TIMING ON YOUR SIDE A great agent understands that they are more powerful in the mornings. Prospect in the morning and book appointments in the afternoon.

Work in 45-minute sessions and be clear about the number of calls you need to make to get the appointments in the diary.

9

BUILD YOUR BRAND Marketing positions the brand and the brand positions the fee, so what you do when

you serve the customer is to set the brand experience. To do that you have to be clear and intentional about what you do and don’t do in serving buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords. What are the steps you take from when the appraisal call comes in until you turn up at the appointment?

From using a market appraisal form to cover the essential questions – so anyone in your team can become great – to communicating who you are, what you do and how you help through a video or pre-meeting information pack to speed up the consumer decision-making process. Then there’s the detail of the SMS or calendar reminder, sending your correspondence in a branded or non-branded envelope; that’s the kind of detail high-fee agents pay attention to.

10

KNOW WHERE THE CUSTOMER HANGS OUT Do you know where your customers hang out well before they need you? Open homes can be a major lead source, but they are not the only one; there’s also your personal network, buyer conversion, past clients, market appraisals and key referrers, including your mum. The key is to always work at least three lead sources at any one time, so if one dries up you’ve still got plenty coming in.

You have to know how the customer thinks and acts if you want to anticipate their needs, fears and aspirations. The challenge I see are too many one-off actions; individual calls, door knocks or letterbox drops that are random acts of prospecting.  Josh Phegan is a high performance real estate speaker, trainer and coach to some of the best agents and agencies around the world.

For more information visit joshphegan.com.au.

eliteagent.com.au 17

FIRST PERSON

Simon Whale

cheap, low service model was something that wouldn’t appeal in a market that deals with highvalue assets. Three years on, Purplebricks are now the third biggest estate agent in the UK and causing a tide of change.

Agents should see this as an opportunity to evaluate their service offering and consider what more they could be doing to add value to their service and combat a future threat from online disruptors.

Reapit have launched RPS Digital Solution, designed to help traditional agents compete against online agents. It’s an end-to-end

facilities for appraisals, digital signature technology for signing contracts and 24/7 visibility of marketing.

Then we have our Lead Importer, automatically importing leads from the likes of realestate.com.au, Domain and your own websites, saving time and effort rekeying buyers into the CRM system and giving you the best possible chance to impress a buyer – who of course may also have a property to sell not yet on the market – by your speed of response.

Complementing this is our autoresponder on steroids called Property Pulse, providing instant professional responses to email inquiries to create a great first impression before anyone else does.

As the eagle-eyed among you will no doubt have been ranting throughout this article, I concede that me giving oxygen to the online agents kind of defeats my own original point.

As such I’m out...

We will be showcasing our client tools at AREC 2017 – or visit reapit.com.au/unifiedcrm to find out more. 

solution for selling property online that is fully integrated with our RPS CRM system. It complements your existing service model, so you can use it to give customers access to key information about their property transaction anywhere, any time – in the same way that online banking works.

The key features of the online solution include live booking

Simon Whale has been in the PropTech industry for 20 years.

He is the Sales & Marketing Director at Reapit, one of the world’s leading providers of CRM software. Working with some of the best agents around the globe, Reapit blends agents’ own personal service with technology to create an unbeatable combination.

Purple Pain

COULD REAL ESTATE AGENTS actually owe a debt of gratitude

to online disrupters? Property technology specialist Simon Whale from Reapit in the UK explains why he’s in a love-hate relationship with Purplebricks.

I’m thinking of going on Shark Tank and asking for $50m for a unique timemanagement tool that would save real estate agents many hours of their lives, whilst offering only 2.7 per cent of equity. Of course I’m a Pom, not inherently stupid. Brilliant in its simplicity, I’d have them all lined up to invest, when I would suggest that all agents need to do is not talk endlessly about Purplebricks.

A billion monkeys typing on a billion typewriters for a billion years still couldn’t create the same volume of guff either spoken or written about the likes of Purplebricks. We’re three years further down the curve in the UK but there’s barely a meeting between two real estate agents that doesn’t inevitably descend into a debate, critique or threat of war against the online menace.

I don’t hate them; I absolutely love Purplebricks. Hello? Anyone still there? I’ve said it. I’ll forever be known as the guy who outed himself as Purplebricks-friendly.

But more specifically: • Do I like their low fee structure based not on success but just on winning the listing? No • Do I like the local experts seemingly based in a different time zone? No • Do I like the way they handle their review sites? No • Do I like their lack of transparency over their own success figures? No • Do I like some of their tech?

Hell, yeah

18 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

The reason I love them is that they have forced agents the globe over to truly start to understand what it is that they do so well in justifying their fees to vendors. Finally, the time to be clear in our message to the vendor has never been more necessary because online agents have forced our hand.

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

It doesn’t matter that Darwin never actually said this oftenquoted sentence, because it still hits the nail on the head.

At a time when consumer service expectations are at an all-time high and agency competition is stronger than ever, traditional models are

All agents need to do is not talk endlessly about Purplebricks. coming under scrutiny. To successfully acquire and retain customers, agents must recognise these new dynamics, adapt and evolve to become more flexible and responsive.

Real estate is a people business and always will be, but that doesn’t mean new technology shouldn’t be embraced. In the UK, agents were quick to dismiss online disruptors because their

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FIRST PERSON

Julie Davis and Neil Williams

Breaking the recruitment cycle

IF YOU ARE LOOKING to hire new staff you need to offer a

career path and not just a seat in the transit lounge. Careful recruitment and a good training program will ensure you attract and keep the best people, as Julie Davis and Neil Williams explain.

One of the questions we hear most often from the folk we work with is, ‘I’m looking for more salespeople or another property manager. Do you know anyone?’ It is the eternal issue faced by a lot of business owners, with real estate right up there with hospitality when it comes to team turnover. So why is it so difficult to get good people who see real estate as a career and not just a transit lounge?

Let’s start by having a quick look in the mirror. A lot of us came into the industry as a bit of an experiment to see if it suited and to see if we could make a quid. Nothing wrong with that; some of the most successful agents around started as a result of circumstance. Just because a lot of us started that way, though,

doesn’t mean that we should recruit using the same method.

It wasn’t so bad prior to 2010 when salespeople worked commission only; the door could keep revolving and, with the passage of time, the system would self-filter until you ended up with a good team. With the Real Estate Industry Award in place, we can no longer afford to keep hiring till we get a ‘good one’.

Property management tended to operate the same way. Many a PM team has been built from our own family members, friends or, in some cases, our tenants.

Once again, nothing wrong with that, as long as they are the right people with the right set of skills.

We know of no other industry where the opportunity for reward is so high that recruits via the ‘Do

you know anyone?’ method.

We recently worked with an agency in Sydney who are rebuilding their sales team.

Focusing on finding a career candidate, we advertised a structured sales traineeship on a minimum wage. The position comprises 12 months on the front desk, providing sales and admin support, followed by 12 months seconded as a PA to the principal. The trainee has a task book that details all the functions required and expected

By providing a more structured career path we are telling our team we believe they are worth investing in. of a salesperson and is signed off by the principal on the successful demonstration of each competency. The expectation is that on completion of the two-year traineeship the trainee will fly solo and become a valued member of the team. We had 76 applications and at the end of the interview and profiling process got a cracking candidate.

Although there is never a guarantee of success, by providing a more structured career path we are telling our team that we believe that they are worth investing in.

20 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Everybody needs to feel like they belong and are valued.

There are some really progressive agencies and franchises who are breaking the cycle and becoming more careerfocused, providing a pathway for team members to progress to business owners. Our experience is that they are the ones who are attracting the best candidates.

We often have a bit of a chuckle when we hear a principal say, ‘Why waste your time training them when they’re only going to leave you one day and open up down the road?’. This level of thinking is short-sighted and self-destructing.

There won’t be a lot of kids sitting in classrooms today saying, ‘I’m going pursue a real estate sales career when I finish school’ or ‘I want to embark on a career in property management when I get my HSC’. We need to ask ourselves why that is.

As an industry it is essential that we continue to adopt a more professional, career-based approach to recruiting, lest we continue to reap what we sow. The two most important elements to success are

commitment and skill. Look for the first element when interviewing and then instil the second element via training and accountability. 

Julie Davis is one of the country’s top female real estate coaches. Neil Williams is a qualified coach, trainer, licensed real estate agent and workplace assessor. Together they use their skills to assist individuals and teams to create their optimal business development pathway. For more information visit agentdynamics.com.au.

People Partner Alison McGavin

Company values: What do they mean to you and your business?

A healthy culture within a workforce is much like a relationship; you have to work on it day in and out because without attention it can sour very quickly. Alison McGavin explains how to make your company values an intrinsic part of your business culture.

A

s I’ve touched on in the past, culture within a business is everything. It is the number one reason people leave a workplace, and the number one reason people choose a workplace. Yes, even more so than money!

The backbone of a company’s culture boils down to the values that are in place. If you think about any large company, or even any school for that matter, they all have a vision statement. It’s a clear way to identify what is important to the establishment and what values they work towards.

It’s almost like having a little rule book; something to remind you of your purpose and culture, and to keep you and your team guided should you get offpath, as well as an invaluable tool to use when recruiting. I often wonder how people know whether someone suits their business without having any values to compare them to, and vice versa. Having clear values in place can be a huge selling tool and advantage in securing an excellent candidate.

Here at Real+ we live and breathe our values. We were recently off site for a teambuilding event, completing an exercise whereby we all placed up three Post-It notes each on what we valued most about

22 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

working at Real+. Each member of our entire team had ‘the people’ as their number one choice! The coaching company facilitating the event said that they had never seen this happen before. It was a proud moment and one that we want to share with everyone. I hope that you too can one day have the same thing happen with your team.

So, today, I’m going to share with you our company values; what they mean and how we incorporate this into the way we do business and interact with each other and our clients every single day.

2

360-DEGREE HEALTH Maintaining a healthy mind, body and spirit are all key in living an ultimate life.

We support choices which reflect the achievement of these. We encourage leave, health days, family interaction, personal and professional development.

3

QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS Honesty, integrity, effective communication and putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes are all elements of a quality relationship. We live these in every transaction,

Everyone can have their say, but of course, not everyone can have their way.

1

TRANSPARENCY We speak openly from a place of authenticity, love and care. There are no hidden agendas, clients or candidates.

With the context of ‘need to know’ we ensure not to mislead or lie. We do not allow transparency to be a guise for venting or negativity.

A voice exists in everyone in the search for business and personal improvement.

Everyone can have their say, but of course, not everyone can have their way.

every interaction, every service and product we deliver.

4

RESULTS We are employed to support our clients in getting results. Without results there is no business. We work tirelessly with our clients,

candidates and each other to identify and reach goals, big and small, shared or personal.

When we set a goal we take ownership to achieve it.

5

PASSION We love people and seek to ensure they achieve a level of choice in their lives. We choose to specifically help those in the real estate industry through learning and development, coaching and consultancy and people services.

We bring energy to our office, desk, phone, email and each other. We look for the good in every situation and the word ‘can’t’ is not in our vocabulary; there is always a solution.

Our values are displayed visually in our office – we all have them on our screensaver. We speak about our values regularly and incorporate them into our everyday life here in the office.

They form an important part of our induction process and, being the most important aspect of our business, we dedicate over an hour on the first day to explaining and demonstrating our values to our new starters. What are your company values? Do they truly represent what you want the culture in your business to be, or is it time to look at them again?  Alison McGavin is a Senior Recruitment Consultant with Real+. For more information visit realplus.com.au.

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Mindset Corner Jet Xavier

Is real estate killing you?

Most of us know about stress. You’ve probably been too busy to eat properly, spend little time with your loved ones and lie awake at nights fretting about work. Is that the price of success, or are you heading for burnout?

I

worked with a client once who was a very successful agent. However, he was on anxiety medication, dreaded driving to and from work every day, never saw his family and had little balance or time for his own health or interests. He believed the only way to success was to work harder and sacrifice everything.

Another successful client came to me who had actually been hospitalised twice due to burnout. He also suffered from the same lack of balance. At the extreme end I have even had a principal I worked with call me wanting to end their life.

All eventually recovered in time to realise that the life and working model they were using was wrong and they had to change it. The sad thing is these agents were lauded as the poster children for success in the real estate industry, yet their lives were a mess.

There are two sides to the real estate industry; I see it firsthand every day.

The first is the ‘glitz and glamour’ side of success and the amazing opportunities it offers with its flexibility, uncapped income potential and autonomy to create the life of your dreams.

Then there is the other side that is littered with many time-poor agents with no work/ life balance, little time with family, strained relationships, bad health and little choices or control around freedom and

24 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

lifestyle. They are always on call, suffering from the pressure and unrealistic expectations, dealing with burnout, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, stress and increasing pressure to succeed.

The challenge is the latter issues are certainly not on the agenda for discussion because

many industries. The Australia Institute think tank found that the balance between work and life is deteriorating for four in 10 people. The OECD Better Life Index showed evidence that suggests long work hours may impair personal health, jeopardise safety and increase stress. “Anxiety

not helping – but this will change. I believe that what is making it hard, though, is the unquestioned and unchallenged industrialised work practices of the past, coupled with the societal pressure and expectation placed on people to achieve at all costs for the future,

There is no discussion in the industry about how to address these issues as it is usually seen as weakness on the part of the individual.

it is usually seen as weakness on the part of the individual. If talked about they are met with a swift ‘harden up’ message of ego and bravado, and literally swept under the proverbial motivational one-liner rhetoric of ‘just do it’.

It is clear from research around the world that these issues are prevailing across

and depression are the cause of six million lost working days each year in Australia, resulting in 12 million days’ worth of reduced productivity,” according to the Mental Health Foundation Australia (MHFA).

This is billions of dollars lost in productivity.

These and similar findings are why countries like Sweden are rethinking work/life balance and as a result are moving towards six-hour workdays. Workers will able to do more in less time, so they have more energy and time to enjoy their private lives.

Toyota in Sweden started it in 2002 and reported happier staff, lower turnover, fewer sick days and higher profits.

So is real estate killing you?

Well, probably not. It’s not the vehicle that is the problem; it’s generally the driver. Real estate, however, is probably

laced with the assumptive beliefs around self-worth and what success actually is in the present.

We need an overhaul in our belief systems around work/life balance, and a new understanding in regard to life and work efficiency and effectiveness measures. We need the conversation on the agenda and seriously addressed.

And don’t forget to check out revive2017.com.au, the first-ever wellness, wellbeing and mindfulness event for agents, principals and property managers. 

Jet Xavier is one of Australia’s leading mindset coaches for real estate sales professionals.

Jet is an accredited EDISC human behaviour consultant, NLP practitioner, and motivational speaker. For more information visit jetxavier.com.

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Business Depot John Knight

To sell or not to sell?

Like some of the great rivalries in the movies, there are a few debates in the real estate industry that never die. One of those is the contention around whether you should focus on being a selling or non-selling principal. John Knight looks at the pros and cons.

S

ome say that if you are ‘working on the business, not in the business’, then you cannot be a selling principal. I disagree.

Selling-principal businesses are still a ‘business’ that you need to work on – they just have a different business model behind them.

WHAT THE DATA SAYS When I analysed the data, I found that selling-principal businesses typically make more as a percentage of income than non-selling principals. Yes, this is a result of leaving commissions in the business, but the dollars speak for themselves.

From observing the results of these rivals over many years, you can also say: • Selling-principal businesses tend to be smaller in size, both when comparing team size and total income • Non-selling principal businesses need to be bigger, but bigger teams mean a bigger cost base • Selling principals have very few variable costs on their

personal sales so they keep a greater share of every dollar that comes in the door – more money to the bottom line • Non-selling principal businesses need bigger rent rolls – bigger costs need bigger rent rolls to take the risk out of the business • Selling-principal businesses spend less on marketing and advertising; they rely on the profile of the principal and often are better at getting VPA • Non-selling principal businesses benefit from referrals from the larger rent roll, but this only happens when the divisions are working together as one.

principal sales the business would hardly make anything at all. A simplistic view of this would imply that no business exists without the principal selling. That is not the case – it’s just a different business.

RELIANCE ON PRINCIPAL The biggest of all differences, though, is simply the reliance on the principal. Although sellingprincipal businesses may make more money, it is somewhat of a short-term game – often principals simply cannot sustain the pace they work at and sooner or later lose their mojo.

Often what happens next goes one of three ways: 1. They keep selling but delegate more of their roles,

BREAK IT DOWN When we look at the results of a real estate business we like to break profit down into the different divisions of the business. One of these is the ‘Principals’ division. This is so we can see how much of the profit (or loss) is the result of the principal’s selling efforts.

Often people are surprised when they see that without the direct profit contribution from

Why did you go into business in the first place?

If it was just to grab a greater percentage of the sales commission then often you will burn out and struggle to grow.

26 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

like PM, sales support and administrative duties 2. They transition to being a non-selling principal and stop selling themselves 3. They shut up shop and maybe get a job as agent for someone else again There is no right or wrong answer, but selling principals absolutely must get the balance right sooner or later. This may mean sacrificing some profits to keep their sanity.

TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL? The question as to whether you should be a selling or nonselling principal has no black or white answer. We see both models work very successfully, but the drivers of what is right for you are probably more internal than anything.

Why did you go into business in the first place? If it was just to grab a greater percentage of the sales commission then often you will burn out and struggle to grow.

When starting a business it is hard to resist the idea of selling – this brings in big licks of cash and reduces the time it takes to reach break even. In my opinion, this is a good strategy, but where it goes wrong is when you lose sight of the big picture and get stuck selling.  John Knight is the Managing Director of businessDEPOT, a team of energetic accountants and advisors.

For more information visit businessdepot.com.au.

Data Insights Eddie Cetin

Build it and they will come: 10 ways to grow your database Modern real estate practice is about agents being more proactive by marketing wisely to an audience of potential vendors and buyers. Eddie Cetin lists 10 ways to help you grow the database that drives your business.

Y

ou don’t have to be a geek to know that having a clean, accurate database matters. Accurate, relevant data is power – so you’ll need to become committed to adding new clients into your prospecting pipeline.

Unfortunately, many real estate agents struggle to build their databases, limping by with old client lists on their phones, notes in Outlook or (worse still) relying on their memory for a prospect list. Such an ad hoc approach to building

your database can only lead to frustrating peaks and troughs in monthly earnings – ultimately rewarding yourself with extinction if you neglect to grow your database with new clients.

1

PAST AND PRESENT You’ve always got a reason to call your database: whether leveraging office activity and sharing news of a hot new listing or amazing sales result, or going through past prospective vendor enquiries. Call to update your farm area on the latest news, and ensure your database is complete and accurate.

2

DATABASE CLEANING Go through old call lists and campaigns, checking in with past buyers to see if you can be of service. Grab those emails and mailing addresses, and don’t be afraid to delete prospects who are no longer relevant.

3

EXPIRED LISTINGS An oldie and a goodie, literally. Keep in touch with potential vendors with expired listings by reaching out in the most appropriate way for your market: calls, SMS or letterboxing. Ensure there’s a call to action if it’s

introductions, considering them old-hat. You know better: you build that database on bravery and reaching out.

5

FOR SALE BY OWNER Dare you enter the lion’s den? We say yes! Look to popular ‘for sale by owner’ websites for potential vendors in your farm area. Approach them with a helpful attitude: they’re trying to save money, unaware of the data and expertise you can offer them. Make a gentle introduction and let them know you’re ready to help them if going it alone fails to pay dividends. Examples of

Many agents struggle to build their databases, limping by with old client lists on their phones, notes in Outlook or relying on their memory. a passive communication – whether that’s a newsletter or an eBook.

4

DOOR KNOCKING AND COLD CALLING Technology can’t replace oldschool prospecting favourites: try door knocking and cold calling on for size. Many agents neglect these direct

28 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

these sites include • Forsalebyowner.com.au • Buymyplace.com.au • Facebook Marketplace.

6

CORELOGIC AND LEAD GENERATORS Take advantage of lead generation products from CoreLogic and similar. Focus on areas surrounding recently sold

properties, and keep vendors in the area up to date on sales and rental results.

7

LINKEDIN Build your database with professional connections too; LinkedIn allows you to search for directors and those in management positions, which might be useful for mentorships and referral relationships. Think to include trusted advisors who work in your category, such as financial advisors, accountants, lawyers and conveyancers. Also take time to connect via LinkedIn with those already on your database, observing those in their wider circles of influence. Be creative and find reasons to spark up conversation and connection.

8

TARGETED FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ADVERTISING Very few agents take full advantage of targeted Facebook and Instagram advertising which feeds directly to their prospect lists. Using a Quantium /CoreLogic data link, you’re able to target prospects of your choice; for example, people with kids who’ve lived in houses within a chosen price range for over five years. Adding prospects to your database using such targeted demographics can be very rewarding.

9

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Walk the talk, and commit to your community! Choose to donate time and energy to community

groups that you connect with, whether they are Rotary Clubs, business organisations, sports clubs, libraries or schools. Charity events, fetes and local theatrical productions – there’s myriad ways to connect with new people.

10

DEVELOPERS AND BUILDERS Concentrate on building relationships with the construction industry in your farm area, keeping them up to date on local sales results in the area and making you their go-to agent. CoreLogic can assist you with such data, as can local councils. Dig a little! Once they’re safely in your database, send professional emails to this list to let them know about suitable development sites.

Make it your priority to build a clean database, rich with real clients and not dead potential. This hard-won data will be the foundation from which you’ll dominate your market. Commit to nurturing your clients – you’ve got to be the agent who makes the most calls in your market!

By undertaking these 10 database-building efforts, you’ll soon enjoy more time in front of prospects convinced of your value, a buzzing referral network and an enviable position as the ‘must call’ agent in your community. 

Eddie Cetin is the founder of Agentbox. For more information visit agentbox.com.au.

Knowing your team is great!!

Truly understanding what makes your team tick is a game changer!

“I was fortunate enough to have Julie and Neil work with me and my Property management team recently and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Understanding what gets your team excited, what drives them, how they might react in certain circumstances and most importantly they now have a better understanding of me. I am now expanding this though my entire business.”

Trent Shorland, Harcourts Want a winning team culture that get’s results?

Call us today and realise your profitability and business goals.

Contact Julie on 0412 752 366 or julie@agentdynamics.com.au or learn more at agentdynamics.com.au

eliteagent.com.au 29

WINNER

30 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Mighty MACKAY

Leanne Druery F AFTER WATCHING one of

Tom Panos’ famous Sunday night rants, Transform 2017 winner Leanne Druery took on board his fivesecond rule of decision making. At the time she had been contemplating returning to her career as a sales consultant after the tragic loss of her husband three months earlier.

Feeling there was nothing to lose and everything to gain, Leanne entered the competition and has proven there is no substitute for heart and courage, as well as a community that is behind you all the way.

irstly, Leanne, tell us why you applied for Transform 2017?

Straight after one of Tom’s rants, I noticed an email from Elite Agent promoting the Transform Challenge. After losing my husband, Tony, to pancreatic cancer in December, I decided to apply because I needed a new focus and purpose. I felt it was time to go back to the job I loved, but I also knew there would be so many new challenges ahead. I had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. I was driven by this great quote of Dr Seuss, “You’re off to great places. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”

What were you thinking as you created your application video?

I was really nervous making the video because I felt so vulnerable and raw. To share my darkest hour with complete strangers who didn’t know my journey was a huge leap of faith for me. The voice in my head kept saying, ‘Leanne, give it a go. Imagine the

opportunities...’ When I go back and watch it, it still brings tears to my eyes.

How did you feel after that first session with John McGrath?

I felt very honoured to hav sat opposite John, who is such a humble man. He spoke about what we needed to do to get to the ‘Promised Land’; that we needed a vision and should not be afraid of dreaming big. We needed to plan our trip, which involved strategies and discipline, and finally he taught us our road map to success is dependent on certain behaviours. And that sometimes we may need to cut mooring lines if they are holding us back.

Do you start with ‘why’ now? What is your ‘why’ and how do you find it motivates you?

I have three strong ‘why’s’ which drive me on a daily basis and they are the fire in my belly.

Financial Security My parents divorced when I was 16, so I decided that I would always be financially independent. This desire led me to support myself through

eliteagent.com.au 31

WINNER university. Now a widow at 44 years old, I am glad I know how to stand on my own two feet!

Family First Both my babies were 10 weeks premature and both weighed just 1,500 grams. They had really tough beginnings. My daughter Grace had a very bad brain bleed and as a result our neonatologist thought she may never walk or talk. However, she survived and defied the odds. I have a polaroid on my desk that a nurse took ‘just in case she didn’t make it’. Every morning I see it and it reminds me not to sweat the small stuff. Family must always come first.

Choice and Legacy My final ‘why’ has come as a result of losing my husband. Now more than ever, I understand the importance of

to try and achieve your yearly goal in 30 days, so I had a crack at 8 km and did it.

What I’ve learnt is you can’t run and cry at the same time and any exercise is the best therapy. I even run in the rain now!

Mentally and emotionally, I fully appreciate that a lot of our success is based on our mental strength – 80 per cent mindset and 20 per cent skill. As Tanja puts it: turning on ‘Soul FM’ and turning off ‘Shitty Ego AM’ and not letting disempowering thoughts get in the way of us achieving our potential. I am now mentally and emotionally stronger than ever before.

As a full-time agent, a mother of two teenagers now doing it on my own, daughter, sister, auntie and friend, I’m not sure if I’ll

I have gone from someone who was vulnerable and sad to a woman on a mission. choice and legacy. Life is full of obstacles and we can choose to play victim to our circumstances or we can choose to “get up, dress up, show up and never give up”, as Samantha [McLean] pointed out. I want to be a great mum and role model to my teenagers and the legacy I leave is perhaps about helping others in their darkest hour to see that we all have the ability to turn the light back on.

Sometimes from our darkest hours can come some of our brightest moments. I can’t achieve that sitting on a couch, eating chocolate, wearing black and feeling sorry for myself!

Reflecting back on your journey from where you started, how far do you feel you have come and what specifically is different now?

The transformation has been phenomenal for me. I have gone from someone who was vulnerable and sad to a woman on a mission.

Grief throws all sorts of emotions at us; however, with the support and teaching of my coach Tanja [M Jones], I have come to accept this is my new chapter in life. I’m allowed to revisit the previous pages for a while, but I’m not allowed to get stuck there because I have new chapters to write and I am in control of my masterpiece.

Professionally, I have loved learning from the experts in our field and every day I am implementing their teachings to be an elite agent. The program has been like a Master’s degree delivered by the best trainers and coaches in Australia. I still pinch myself that the ‘girl next door’ was chosen to be a part of this incredible ride.

What does your usual day now look like?

I am now part of the 5am club. I have learnt to jog since Transform and set a personal goal of 5km. Tom said in one of our sessions

32 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

ever have balance. Samantha [McLean] advised me that balance is more about ‘tilting’, and that’s a better analogy for me.

We tilt in the direction that’s needed the most on a particular day, and that’s OK.

How has a listing consultation changed for you now?

Some parts of my listing consultation I haven’t changed. I’ve always presented my marketing presentation with a beer, wine and chips and a note to say, ‘My shout whilst you take a look at the information within’. I fully appreciate that my clients are selling their biggest asset with me and I want to acknowledge this. I personally like giving before I receive also.

My very first appointment in the sales appraisal is when I build rapport and ask lots of questions. By nature, I am inquisitive and I love learning about people and what they are trying to achieve. It is really important for me to build a connection, so I make this consultation about them, not me.

How did you feel at the end of ‘Challenge Day’ and the listing presentation with Monika and John?

I will admit just before I was about to sit opposite Monika and John for my consultation, I became extremely nervous.

I had to walk away from everyone and play my song by Silverchair – Walking in a Straight Line. This was the tune I chose throughout the challenge to keep me on track, to remind me to trust my wings and do things Leanne’s way. Sometimes it’s not easy when you are sitting across from someone with 25 years’ experience in real estate, like Darin [Butcher]!

However, when I sat with Monika and John, I showed them that I genuinely wanted to help them, that I know the blueprint to success in Mackay, that I won’t discount my commission because I believe in my value. It was one of the most memorable 15 minutes of my life.

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What are your specific goals now?

In all honesty, I am still navigating a part of my own Transformation. After sharing over 22 years with Tony, and creating some wonderful future plans together, it would be fair to say that I am still re-adjusting the sails.

However, in the next 12 months I would like to be the ‘Elite Agent’ of Mackay and be a great mum. To do this I’m aiming to expand my team to include a full-time buyer’s consultant and a full-time PA. Leaving the Transform classroom, what do you think your biggest challenge will be in the future?

The juggling act has been a challenge at times, so it’s really important for me to prioritise and accept that I can’t always move mountains in one day!

Also perfection is something I have always strived for, but I have since learnt from Transform that it is better to just start. One step in the right direction can be the step that changes your life.

What advice would you now give to someone starting in real estate?

Be authentic, build relationships in every part of your community and never stop learning.

Find yourself a good mentor or coach who can help you achieve your potential and who makes you accountable. We all have the ability to succeed, but it comes back to how much we want it (the work ethic) and controlling the mind (do you have a positive attitude or one of fear or excuses?) It’s also important not to let real estate control you, because if you let it, it can be all-consuming. Make sure you continue to invest in your health and your personal relationships – because a million bucks can’t buy this back. 

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SALES

A GAME J OF INCHES IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE TRANSFORM 2017

challenge, John McGrath told our #Supersix that “listing is a game of inches” and “you don’t get paid for second place”. What better way to challenge our transformers this year than by asking them to present to him alongside Monika Tu of Black Diamondz in the roles of ‘Mr and Mrs Vendor’.

Week 10 mentor and Elite Agent regular Jet Xavier caught up with them just before the start of the challenge to find out from these two industry greats what really gives an agent the edge in a listing presentation.

34 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

et Xavier: What makes a world class listing presentation for you both?

Monika Tu: For me, it’s all about preparation. And professionalism.

I want to see the agent absolutely keen and somebody I can have a really good rapport with.

John McGrath: I agree. I think when you present to someone, you want to move them. They’ve got to feel something, because everyone today in real estate is going to be probably somewhere between good and exceptional – just being a good, confident agent doesn’t cut it any more. You need to be able to move people and excite them to want to work with you.

I think the other thing for me is authenticity. There’s too many wind-up robots. That’s one of the things, Monika, I’ve always loved about your approach. It’s so natural and authentic, which is I’m sure one of the great reasons you’re successful.

And yet, so many agents I see, they’ve kind of ... They’re like robots.

Jet: Is there some sort of process or sequence that makes a good listing presentation?

Monika: I believe so. I think there’s always a process and a sequence. That’s what we’re talking about – preparation. So ‘Why are you different from other agents? What is

your strategy? What’s the best price you’d give me as a vendor?’ You know, so there’s always a process.

John: I think that there needs to be a structure and a process, and it should feel invisible. It shouldn’t feel like it’s a clunky, segmented meeting. It should flow, but I think you need to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Listening is key. Too many agents, all they want to do is tell you how good they are. You need to bring out from a vendor what are the important elements so you can know how to sell to them.

Jet: On that note, do you have any tips on building rapport?

Monika: Like John said, I think listening. I listen, and I really try to understand where the person is coming from. Why they want us to be here. I think that’s my key for winning a listing.

John: Yeah, I agree. Active listening.

It’s not just waiting to speak, which a lot of people think is listening. It’s really checking, re-summarising. ‘So, Jet, when you say that, do you mean…?

What more can you tell me about that?’

Digging deeper. Getting really into the conversation, genuinely, authentically. Ask

“Just being a good, confident agent doesn’t cut it any more.”

– John McGrath meaningful questions, and listen, not just to the real answers but the body language.

Because you might ask a question and get a verbal response, but the body language might not be consistent. And I think just being likeable, you know. Being a nice person. If you’re authentic, I think people genuinely like you.

Jet: What do you notice first about an agent?

What usually stands out?

John: It sounds obvious, but first impressions. Have they arrived organised?

How do they look? What’s their demeanour? What’s their body language?

I think, whether we like it or not, we all make judgements based on the things we see – some of which, to be quite honest, Jet, are fairly superficial. It doesn’t mean they’ve got to look like a Hollywood movie star, but it tells you whether or not they’re organised and they look after themselves.

If they can look after themselves, then maybe they can look after your sale.

Monika: For me, first impressions are

really important as well. Again, you know, it’s about the person’s attention to detail.

The way they dress, and the way they are prepared. Are they really keen to have my listing? That it’s not just one of many listings they are managing. How much effort will they make for me?

John: It’s all about energy. What is the energy of the person? And it doesn’t have to be over the top. In fact, I don’t think it should be over the top, but there needs to be a certain energy that feels confident, relaxed, calm, enthusiastic.

Jet: You bring up a good point. The first impression tells you a lot about the rest of the presentation, doesn’t it?

John: I think the challenge, Jet, is that if you screw the first impression up it’s very hard to come back from there.

Because a lot of people switch off, and they’re just waiting. ‘How quickly can I get you out of here without feeling too rude?’ Whereas, if the first impression is ‘Wow, they’re punctual, they look good, they look organised and the first few things they say feel good,’ you’re on a really good track. Then they want to like you more. But if you do or say something initially that puts them off, it’s hard to come back.

Jet: Once the listing presentation’s over, when do you think an agent should follow up?

Monika: I think the agent should follow up straightaway. Just say, ‘Hello, thank you very much for letting us through your door.’ I feel like a lot agents are really pushy: do a quick deal, close the deal and move on. So just show appreciation. If you can afford it, send a bunch of flowers or a personalised card; this is what we’re seeing in the market.

It’s a personalised service. Another mistake people should avoid is never criticise another agent. Let the vendor judge who is the best person to represent their property.

John: I think speed of follow-up is important. If someone’s met four agents, and then they get a handwritten card dropped in their mailbox overnight saying ‘Thank you’ and the same agent texts them the next morning saying, ‘If you have any other questions I’m available till 10 am.’...

You can email, you can text, you can call, you can drop a note. A handwritten note is always nice. Or a gift, as Monika said.

There are so many different ways. You don’t want to appear overly aggressive, so it has to be done stylishly. Speed is important, because that might put you ahead. This is a game of inches, nowadays.

“For me, it’s all about preparation. And professionalism. I want to see the agent absolutely keen and somebody I can have a really good rapport with.” – Monika Tu Jet: When is a good time in a listing presentation to discuss the commission?

Monika: Anytime is a good time. For us, it’s on the second time we go through the door, because commission is really important for the agent and the vendor will appreciate that. [They’ll realise that] the way you negotiate your commission promptly is the way you negotiate their selling price.

John: Yeah, I think most vendors don’t want to jump into that straightaway, because they want to know more about you; and to be quite honest, if they’re not going to see you, they probably don’t even need to go there. So I think there’s generally a natural point in a listing presentation where you get through it and it looks like you’re in the running and you start closing. You say, ‘Well, Jet, how does that feel to you? Do you feel like this would be a plan that you’d like to work towards with me?’

And yeah, don’t hide it, I agree – but I don’t think you need to make it upfront.

[Don’t] punch them on the nose and say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m two and a half per cent’, because you probably haven’t earned the right at that point.

Jet: If you had 15 minutes each for a listing presentation, what would be the key things you would focus on?

Monika: Fifteen minutes for me is really short, because I can talk forever!... Probably present yourself. Who you are, why you’re different from others. I think that’s enough for me to win a listing, because you have to [show] why you’re different from other agents, not just talk about it.

John: It would depend on how much I knew already. If I didn’t know much I’d be wanting to start with, ‘Tell me a bit how you’re feeling,’ so they know a bit about the process. But assuming that we’ve already been through that and I had a limited pitch time – yeah, points of difference.

Because there’s no point going through the same stuff that everyone goes through.

What is your unique selling proposition?

Something you offer that probably they haven’t heard yet. And that really should be a separator. 

eliteagent.com.au 35

Q&A ASK THE COACH – Claudio Encina Top coach Claudio Encina is back to answer some of the final questions from the Transform 2017 #supersix concerning managing vendor expectations in a slow market and how to get sales targets back on track.

Q.

What are some tips for helping and educating buyers in a slow and falling market, while still keeping their experience as positive as possible? – Nikki Horner, Willow Tree Realty Working in a market such as Perth in Western Australia can be challenging as the market slowed down recently, and managing the vendor’s expectations is critical to still provide a positive experience.

Begin by being empathetic, as this will help you stand out from the other dozen salespeople.

Show that you are here to help, not to make a sale.

Many agents use heavy and aggressive vendor management by bashing them down on price, which can leave a stale experience. Remember, it’s how you make the vendor feel, not what you say. Provide the framework for vendor management during the course of the sales process. Start with a vendor management expectation meeting a few days prior to the first open home. Discuss the benchmarks that are set in the first week after the first open home; for example, we would expect x amount of buyers at the first open home, x amount of contracts requested, x amount of buyers requesting a second inspection for the following week, price feedback between x and y, and about x amount of buyers making an offer.

These benchmarks ensure that you are on track with the sale of the property or any necessary changes to the strategy of the selling process.

The agents who give their vendors an amazing experience

36 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

The agents who give their vendors an amazing experience are able to be ‘caring and candid’. are able to be ‘caring and candid’. If you are too caring, you develop a dysfunctional relationship with your vendor; on the other hand, if you are way too candid with your vendors they may resent you.

The more you show empathy with their plight, the more trust you will build. Don’t underestimate the power of empathy in this regard.

Lastly, I would say you want to be aware of your own emotions on the matter. Do you want to make this sale? Yes, absolutely!

But that is short-term thinking.

Long term would be helping the client and building a lasting relationship.

Q.

If you are behind your monthly target in the first week, what should you do? – Darin Butcher, Wiseberry Heritage Gorokan Firstly, put things into perspective; if you are only a week or two behind your target - don’t panic! Sometimes we place huge amounts of high expectations and pressure on ourselves and we become overwhelmed with the numbers.

Stop stalling and decide – You have choices to make every day, so stop with the analysis paralysis. When you feel overwhelmed you freeze and start to analyse everything.

Socrates has a wonderful

saying: “To move the world, we must first move ourselves”.

Each of us has an inner voice that guides our decisions. Take that step forward and look at your goals with what actions and activities you need to focus on. For example, ‘Get on the phone and have 30 conversations per day’– easy to do and easy not to do.

Quit wasting time –We all have 1,440 minutes in a day; it’s what we do with those minutes that allows us to reach our potential, and that’s why some people succeed and others don’t. It’s the little things that seem insignificant in the doing, yet when compounded over time yield big results.

Finally, don’t over think things.

Focus on what matters most; everything else is a distraction. 

To have your question answered email askthecoach@eliteagent. com.au. To connect with Claudio visit claudioencina.com.

MARKETING

LINKEDIN STAND OUT AND

GET MORE LISTINGS PERSONAL BRAND IS EVERYTHING in real estate, and

one of the best (and underused) ways is to launch, grow and amplify your profile through linkedin.com. LinkedIn is the largest directory of professionals in the world, with over 3.6 million active users in Australia. Colin Anstie of Raging Digital explains how you can make it work for you.

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LinkedIn is an excellent way to reinforce your personal brand. Here are 10 steps to ensure your LinkedIn profile is noticed for the right reasons.

The best-performing photos are professional shots, smiling, that capture mid-chest height upwards. Wear exactly what you would wear to meet a new client; if you normally wear glasses and a tie, make sure you wear those for your photo.

You are 76 per cent less likely to be found on LinkedIn if you don’t have a photo.

YOUR HEADLINE

You only have 120 characters to impress your audience, so pay close attention to your headline; it’s one of the first things people will see. Think of it like a front page article in a newspaper that’s all about you. What would it say?

The person viewing a search result containing your profile needs to be able to understand immediately what it is you offer, how you can help them and where you service. Here’s a great example: Leading Real Estate Agent | Sales Consultant & Auctioneer | Servicing Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs

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YOUR SUMMARY Your LinkedIn summary section has an enormous 2,000 characters.

38 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

The contact and personal info section of your LinkedIn profile is now your digital business card and it influences how your profile ranks online. LinkedIn considers profiles with contact information, a physical address and website to be more legitimate than those without. Make sure you include your work email address, work phone number, work physical address and website address.

5

Imagine there are 100 people lined up outside the door to your office; each one is your absolutely perfect client. Write them an open letter which includes the pains or needs of your target audience, your value proposition, expertise and experience, details of your organisation and a strong call to action with your contact details.

I recommend writing your summary in the first person; it will perform much better. Inject your personality into your summary with personal achievements, interests, volunteering, hobbies and memberships.

CONNECT WITH ALL RELEVANT PEOPLE

The number of connections you have is the one of the most important factors that influences how easily your LinkedIn profile can be found. The quickest way to grow your connections is to add everyone you know.

Check your phone contacts, email contacts, business cards, existing clients, suppliers, colleagues, family, friends and anyone else who is relevant to your real estate business.

6

REATING A GOOD profile on

ADD A PHOTO

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4

YOUR NEW DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD

LINKEDIN SEARCH: A GREAT PROSPECTING TOOL

We all use Google to find websites; LinkedIn is the way to find humans.

LinkedIn Search is one of my favourite tools on the planet and is the core value of LinkedIn. The tool offers a phenomenal ability to search for precise people and organisations that you’re looking for, in exactly the geographical areas you’re looking to target, making it a wonderful tool for identifying prospects.

You can search for people based on their job title, company, location, school, first name and last name, among others. Once you find your perfect clients in your target area, go and connect with them using a nice personalised connection request, such as: “Hi Rob, Hope you’re well. I came across your profile and noticed you’re the CEO at Icon Water. I also noticed we are mutually connected to Mike Weller and Peter Holding. I’m a leading real estate agent in Canberra. I’d like to connect on LinkedIn. Regards, Holly.”

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SHARING AMAZING CONTENT

Always think about your audience first; this is the key factor that determines what is considered amazing content.

Imagine you’re giving a presentation to a room filled with your ideal clients. What would you speak to them about? What would you tell them? Consider if you only had their attention for 10 seconds, 30 seconds or one minute, would your message change?

Recent changes to creating, posting and sharing content on LinkedIn include the ability to see how many people have read your posts, allowing you to measure the success of your attempts to reach your core

DOWNLOAD YOUR LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS

Yes, you can get the name, email address, job title and company name of each of your connections! Download them now by: 1. Click the Me icon at top of your LinkedIn homepage.

2. Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown.

3. Under the Basics section of the Account tab, click Change next to Getting an archive of your data.

4. Then select Fast File Only, and click the button Request Archive If you’re ready to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level, go to ragingdigital. com to arrange a hands-on LinkedIn training session. 

Example Profiles: linkedin.com/in/hollykomorowski/ and linkedin.com/in/melissafoggin/ audience and adjust to suit.

The best-performing content for real estate professionals centres on statistics, trends, new infrastructure, new ways of selling homes, sales success and being the known expert in your geographical area on topics such as schools, shops and transport.

Colin Anstie is the CEO of Raging Digital, a leading digital training agency. If you’re looking to turbocharge your digital presence, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit ragingdigital.com to book your training.

DIRECTOR OF SALES

> Youthful, dynamic and energetic! > A creator not care taker with a growth focus > Minimum 4/5 years of Real Estate sales experience > Sales Management experience preferred > Strong leadership, creativity & analytical skills

> Strong experience in sales training, coaching and team development > Strong interpersonal, organisational and time management skills

eliteagent.com.au 39

PRODUCTIVITY

IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE ALAN STEVENS IS KNOWN AS ‘The Celebrity Profiler’ and is recognised as a leading

authority on ‘reading’ peoples faces. During Transform 2017, Alan taught the #supersix some of the basics to building rapport using facial profiling. In this exclusive, he tells Sarah Bell about some of the tell-tale signs we all carry around with us.

U

1

SING A face-reading

technique called Rapid Trait Profiling combined with analysis of facial expressions and microfacial expressions, as well as NLP techniques, Alan is very quickly able to determine someone’s personality and emotions – even if that is something they are trying to conceal.

“I clear rooms,” said Alan on the topic of what ‘exactly’ he does. “Often people are afraid that I will see the worst in them, but what I do isn’t about character; it’s about personality and communication styles.

“You can have two people with the same traits – one good and one bad. It’s about creating enhanced relationships and understanding the people around you.”

In a business where first impressions count and the X-factor of ‘rapport’ will win and lose deals, being better placed to read and understand what people want is the ultimate competitive advantage.

According to Alan, face-reading can be done by “looking at the ridges and crevices that form through repeated muscle action”.

A person’s face then tells a story of how they like to take in information and how they prefer to act.

“Physiology and neurology are linked, so your face is an archive of your thoughts and it leaves marks over time. This is different from a facial expression or a micro-expression, which can give away the way people really feel in the moment,” he explains.

Alan says that there are 68 traits on a person’s face that he uses in combination to work out their characteristics. Some traits are passed down genetically – nature traits – whereas nurture traits change all the time.

So how might having this skill to read faces work in practice? Let’s try it out with a few questions.

40 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

HOW MUCH PERSONAL SPACE DO PEOPLE LIKE?

How much space someone requires depends on whether the eyebrows are set high or low. Those with highset eyebrows (think Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio or Nikki Horner from our #supersix) like their space to be respected. They are as friendly as the next person once they feel comfortable with someone, but they like a little bit of space and time to make decisions – they are more discerning. Alan suggests, “When meeting them, step up, shake hands, then step back and allow more space between the two of you, and wait for them to initiate closer contact.”

Those with low-set eyebrows (think Lily Collins, The Bachelor Sam Wood or Darin from our #supersix) are more approachable. Alan suggests wearing softer colours to help soften perceived formality and you will appear more approachable.

Being better placed to read and understand what people want is the ultimate competitive advantage.

2 Alan Stevens

HOW MUCH INFORMATION DO PEOPLE LIKE?

An individual’s eyelids will let you know how much detail that person likes.

Those with exposed eyelids are big-picture thinkers (think Jared Leto, Mila Kunis or Lukas from our #supersix). Alan says that these people ‘want you to get to the point’. and will tend to interrupt you or finish off your sentence for you. By contrast, those with concealed eyelids (think Renee Zellweger, Prince Harry or Michael from our #supersix) “tend to over-analyse situations and things.

Be prepared for lots of questions.”

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HOW TOLERANT ARE THEY OF OTHERS?

According to Alan, the distance between the eyes indicates how tolerant a person is. Wide-set eyes (think Kate Moss, Will Smith or Leanne from our #supersix) are considered more tolerant. “It takes them longer to react than those with closeset eyes, but it also takes them a long time to let go of issues.” Those with closer-set eyes (think Sarah-Jessica Parker, Liam Hemsworth and Ben from our #supersix) don’t like to be interrupted as they become “very focused on tasks”, according to Alan, and while quick to react, they are also “quick to let things go and forget”.

Alan says that even just mastering these three traits could help set you apart from your competitors, helping you to connect and build rapport with potential clients by matching your presenting and communication with their level of space, information and tolerance. ■ SARAH BELL

IN A FINAL CHALLENGE FOR ALAN, WE ASKED HIM TO ‘READ’ OUR THREE TRANSFORM COACHES. HERE’S WHAT HE SAW WRITTEN ON THE FACES OF TOM, TANJA AND CLAUDIO, JUST BY LOOKING AT THEIR LINKEDIN PROFILE PICTURES. TOM PANOS • Tom is a ‘big-picture’ guy • It is best to allow Tom to select which detail is relevant • Prefers thorough documentation, will see errors easily • High tolerance of others • Self-reliant • High confidence • Likes to be in charge • Likes to debate • Has a dry sense of humour • Might like to bait conversations – cheeky • Prefers variety.

TANJA M JONES • Analytical and discerning • Likes space to be respected • Can make decisions rapidly, doesn’t need alternatives

• Good at organising people and events – mechanical thinker and good with detail • Would always be dressed immaculately and house proud • Neat and tidy – wherever the focus is • Design mindset • Highly visual • High level of authority • Natural leadership • Good emotional expression • Highly self-reliant and capable • Gives a lot of herself and her time.

CLAUDIO ENCINA • High level of confidence • Good verbal expression • High level of self-reliance – highest of all the coaches • Has a nose for news • Highly affable • High level of tolerance • Analytical but quick to action • Loves to travel – adventurous and tries new things • Gives a lot of time, money: runs the danger of giving more than he receives at times • Laughter lines indicate that he values fun.

eliteagent.com.au 41

SALES

THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP OF

Auctioneer and Agent

THE AUCTION IS A MINI-THEATRE, full of performance and artistry. It is also a machine of

many moving parts – the synchronisation of which requires an understanding and trust between agent and auctioneer. Sarah Bell caught up with Gavin Croft of BresicWhitney Auction Services in Sydney to frame up the strategy and the showmanship of highperformance auctioneering. past 16 years mastering the craft of the auction from the perspective of both the agent and the auctioneer. Communicating a highly advanced level of knowledge and confidence in all aspects of auction, Gavin is both auction coach and auctioneer of choice to many of real estate’s leading agents.

“Timing, decision-making and strategy in an auction are all subjective. But these elements – and how an agent executes them – can vary the sale price by five to ten per cent. When I work with agents, we aim to develop critical thinking skills around the auction so that the right course of action can be taken during the execution of a call,” says Gavin.

“Executing an auction is a public event and agents are on show to potential vendors. I’m aware of that, and so the relationship between the agent and auctioneer has to be geared towards demonstrating an outstanding process, as well as a result.”

For agents seeking a competitive advantage in the marketplace, an auction listing is leverage to discover listing opportunities. It provides the consumer with the confidence of a highly skilled process and outcome, compared with a traditional letter box drop stating that the property sold above reserve.

As Gavin succinctly puts it, “For potential vendors, actions speak louder than words.”

The actions that Gavin refers to are skilled tactical manoeuvres that can be learned in theory but must also be honed in practice.

Gavin’s method and the relationships he develops with agents continue after an auction event to build knowledge, build trust and build instinct between the two.

“All auctions are videoed and critiqued

42 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

“Agents must prevail upon buyers that it is their responsibility to get themselves into a position to bid on an unconditional basis and in a competitive environment.” with an agent afterwards so that we can see and understand the impact of our decisions,” says Gavin. “If we are to develop a superior understanding of the auction craft and how to execute in the heat of the theatre that is an auction call, we need to reflect on all aspects of the auction.”

The aspects of an auction for review include, but are not limited to, engagement, rhythm, control and flow of bidding, handling objections, use of the vendor bid, entertainment ability, and understanding and execution of the auction legalities.

The agent and auctioneer have different roles on the day, but the responsibility of representing someone’s biggest asset is not to be taken lightly. Much of the success of any auction depends on the pre-game.

PHOTO: BRESICWHITNEY

G

AVIN CROFT has spent the

“An agent needs to understand that the buyer and the vendor have responsibilities on auction day too; one of the most important roles that an agent has in preparation for the day is to qualify that the buyers and the vendor each understand their position in the process.

Based on the insight from the marketing agent, we confirm our strategy for the auction with the vendor in the week before the calling,” says Gavin.

“Throughout the campaign, agents must prevail upon buyers that it is their responsibility to get themselves into a position to bid on an unconditional basis and to prepare themselves mentally and financially to do so in a competitive environment. Once I, as the auctioneer,

arrive at the property, I like to mingle before the auction and introduce myself to the registered parties. I need to be acutely aware of who they are. Their body language at this introduction is often indicative of their behaviour at the auction.

“My introduction to the crowd is short and punchy, and most importantly introduces the sales agent. I get down to business quickly, but carefully plant three or four unique benefits of the home in the minds of prospective buyers.

“Next, I will harness the energy of the room. I ensure bidders are gathered round like Christmas carollers and everyone can see one another. This is important for later when things heat up.”

Auctions are a show, but they are also serious business and a matter of grave importance to the parties hoping to transact. Auction day is an artistry of weaving visual imagery, likeability and candour through the control and strategy of competitive psychology.

At the thousands of auctions that Gavin has attended from the vantage of an agent, auctioneer, buyer and seller, he says, “It is an emotional experience, and there are key moments in the proceedings when the timing is the difference between zero

and an extra $50,000 – like stating when the reserve has been reached, bidding on behalf of the vendor if necessary to maintain control and making quick decisions about which rises to accept when a bidding war erupts.”

High emotional intelligence and overall likeability are important. So is the rhythm and momentum of the auction.

“The key to unlocking extra value in a property can be clocking that pair of eyebrows up the back.”

During an auction call, according to Gavin, the agent’s role is to stand slightly behind and to the side of an auctioneer so that they can take a survey, read their buyers and take action or show restraint, depending on the course of the auction.

“Securing the premium result is about understanding competitive psychology and reading the mood of the room effectively.

It’s about unlocking potential in rapid time – most auctions run for less than 15 minutes,” says Gavin.

“The key to unlocking extra value in

a property can be clocking that pair of eyebrows up the back, sensing the rolledup piece of paper springing into the air again and then letting nature take its course when two bidders go at it with stiff determination.”

The symbiosis of agent and auctioneer is at the forefront of vendor scrutiny and, to place their faith in agent or auctioneer, they need to sense a relationship of absolute trust.

“During the campaign, I take the time to meet with the vendor and understand their needs. Every vendor is different and needs to be treated accordingly. The sale of a property is often an emotional time for the vendor, so I am sure to support the feedback and marketing progress of the agent as well as to discuss my role as auctioneer, the process and the different strategies I might adopt during the auction,” says Gavin.

The understanding and trust in the agent-auctioneer dynamic will give a vendor the confidence “to ‘let go’ and know that, no matter what happens, we have a plan that will ensure the highest possible price”. As Gavin explains, “the cake has been baked over the last four weeks [of the campaign]; it’s my job to put the icing on it”. ■ SARAH BELL

1300 000 220 | WWW.COCOREPUBLIC.COM.AU | PROPERTYSTYLING@COCOREPUBLIC.COM.AU

eliteagent.com.au 43

WRAP-UP

WHAT CAN WE LEARN

from this year’s Transform #supersix? At the conclusion of the program Tanja M Jones identifies the three core ingredients most essential for personal transformation.

O

VER THE PAST twelve weeks,

as one of the head coaches alongside industry greats Tom Panos and Claudio Encina, I have had the privilege to witness six human beings take on the extraordinary challenge of personal evolution in a public real estate arena during the Elite Agent Transform 2017 program.

It’s hard to believe it’s now over and that the winner is pictured on the cover of the magazine you are now holding. Take a look: that glowing person on the front cover, just over twelve weeks ago, courageously followed in the footsteps of Sir Richard Branson and said to themselves, ‘Screw it, let’s do it’, and do it they did!

The immersive program stretched each participant by providing a steep learning curve where they found themselves implementing foreign systems and processes, attending weekly conference calls, filming their personalised video tips, glamming up for photoshoots and diving into must-do daily prospecting – all whilst navigating the discomfort of selfpromotion and the vulnerable landscape of public voting.

Let’s not forget this was all achieved alongside running a business and meeting their personal and professional responsibilities whilst maintaining meaningful relationships with their families and loved ones.

I know there were times when the transformational cocoon felt considerably tight for each of them and the thought of quitting threatened to feast on their dreams. Yet, true to their word, with their accountability coach in their corner and the entire Transform team by their side, each of the #supersix has emerged bolder,

4 4 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

HUSTLE AND HEART WILL SET YOU APART

brighter, and a little bit lighter than when they began.

The pioneering program swiftly elevated their individual skill set across a multitude of real estate service standards, systems and strategies. However, more importantly, it tested their willpower; it challenged their ability to rise above what would normally stop them in life, leaving them now unrecognisable to themselves in many ways.

As I reflect upon the attributes the #supersix demonstrated during the course of the program, three core transformational ingredients arise.

The application of the following elements is vital if you are someone keen to grow, enthusiastic to prosper and fulfil your potential – which may currently be simmering just below the surface or lying completely dormant deep within.

to taste more for yourself; you have to hunt.

By that I mean that you’ve got to rummage deep within yourself and seek out that which feeds your soul, fuels your flame and satisfies your quest for success. You’ve got to be hungry to go beyond mediocre, to taste the sweetness of your wildest dreams and pounce with all your ounce!

win, yet they each ensured they took care of one another, fluffing one another’s feathers when they needed it and celebrating everyone’s success along the way.

HUSTLE “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle” – Abraham Lincoln

HUMBLE “Lose yourself in service of others” – Gandhi

HUNGRY “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life” – Muhammad Ali A common denominator for each of the #supersix was that they demonstrated a hunger to evolve and they backed themselves. They didn’t just think about entering Transform; they took the time, fronted up, dressed up and looked down the barrel to declare their intention to become more than they were that day.

This is a beautiful and bold act; it takes courage to put yourself out there, especially when the public can influence the outcome.

Consider that many of us think about daring to do something: writing that book, shooting that video, knocking on that door or calling that auction, but most of us are swiftly stopped by the handbrake of our subconscious mind, worried about what people will think of us.

To transform and succeed in both business and life, you must have an appetite

In a world of social selfies, Snapchat stories and ‘it’s all about me’ moments, the true heroes in my eyes are the ones who show a modest approach and use their energy, platform and resources to shine a light on those they are committed to serve or contribute to.

One of the greatest characteristics often displayed during the competition was

Many of us think about daring to do something, but most of us are stopped by the handbrake of our subconscious mind, worried about what people will think of us. humility. When the contestants went beyond themselves and made it more about their vendors, buyers, team or even their entire town, as with Leanne Druery’s ‘Mighty Mackay’ Campaign, that’s where the magic truly began.

This was certainly a theme that all coaches and competition contributors emphasised.

There was a unifying belief that being of service, putting others first, standing for something bigger than themselves would yield the greatest returns.

This was not easy to achieve at times because, let’s be honest, it was a competition; there was a prize at stake, a set of Mercedes-Benz keys to claim and the honour of being cover agent on the line. All of the #supersix were clear they wanted to

Now this word ‘hustle’, I believe, is one of those confetti real estate words like ‘Uber’ and ‘disruption’ that gets thrown around everywhere. We hear it all the time. It conjures up ideas like arrive early, stay late, do whatever it takes, outrun the competition, be first, be the best and never give in.

All very motivating qualities for sure.

However, I truly believe that the greatest element we need to hustle is ourselves, our willpower or grit, gumption and drive, for there will always be days where we don’t feel like it and things won’t go to plan.

Consider that when we put our hand up

for greatness we have to jostle, bump, shove and shoulder our own egos and this, for most of us, is a daily battle. If you don’t get this sorted your external hustle will land as disconnected and heartless, making the hunt that much harder and the competition way more attractive.

Thanks for the lessons, #supersix class of 2017. Here’s to your continued success! 

Tanja M Jones is a Leadership, Mindset and Peak Performance Specialist. Her clients are usually real estate COOs or GMs who want up to 40 per cent more time to grow their business. For more information visit tmjcoaching.com.au.

THANK YOU TO OUR TRANSFORM 2017 SPONSORS

eliteagent.com.au 45

WRAP-UP SPECIAL

STEVE CARROLL Robots, driverless cars and the need for speed

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, in the future, when you get home from work, who would

you rather have cook your dinner... your partner, or a robot programmed by Jamie Oliver? This was one of the opening questions from Steve Carroll in his keynote at this year’s Momentum events across Australia. Elite Agent’s Samantha McLean took notes and has unpacked some of the topics raised during the events.

J

ARVIS IS A virtual assistant Steve

Carroll from realestate.com.au has brought along with him for the presentation today. Robots are a super-efficient way of performing repetitive and mundane tasks such as managing your diary, talking to you about traffic and more. In other industries we already have robots stacking shelves, doing aerobics, and possibly even taking over the cooking at night. But this is no reason to think that your job is finished, because of the human factor.

“You know what’s great about the human factor? The human factor enables us to do three things that technology and Jarvis will never do in 100 years. And there are three things that buyers and sellers want from real estate agents in 2017 in abundance: the ability to respond really quickly, the ability to build interpersonal relationships and the ability to adapt to changing situations in a world that’s just moving at 100 kilometres an hour.

talked a lot about driverless vehicles and how much progress has been made in the space, including testing driverless buses in Perth and Darwin. “The experts think that driverless vehicles will be part and parcel of our lives in Sydney in the next couple of years,” says Carroll.“One of the companies putting a lot of money into it is

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR WAITING

When you combine the very best of the human factor with the very best of technology, you are in such a powerful position to dominate.

“It’s the human factor. If we master the human factor, we are in such a powerful position. When you combine the very best of the human factor with the very best of technology, you are in such a powerful position to dominate as a real estate agent in 2017.”

GOOGLE AND THE DRIVERLESS CAR Carroll acknowledges that last year he

46 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

advertising and make more money....”

What would you do with four and a half years of your life back? You might spend more time on your mobile device. You would probably have more time to shop. You might educate yourself more.

Thought to ponder: If we (humans, consumers) are going to be more educated on the whole, it is likely that the agent of the future will be way more educated and up to speed on the world around them than is currently the case – so to stay competitive get out there and start learning.

Google. Why would a technology company as profitable as Google be interested in the automotive industry?

“From what I can see, Google are obsessed with having your undivided attention in a car when you’re travelling from A to B. What’s in it for Google? Well, Google have figured out that we spend four and a half years of our lives driving. They’ve figured out that if they can free up that time, they can send us more

Using Uber as an example, Carroll says before they were around, “we would wait half an hour for a taxi in the rain.” Now it’s quite different; if you see that your Uber is three minutes away via the app, then all of a sudden it’s five due to traffic then we all start to panic and get angry.

“We’ve now got zero tolerance to wait for a service. It’s the way your buyers, your sellers, your renters are now behaving.”

And there are other examples of speed equalling great service, like Domino’s app to order a pizza, or facial recognition speeding up passport queues in airports. But the most stark demonstration Carroll gave was to do with Amazon’s new service Amazon Go, where you can go shopping, be identified by your phone, and your Amazon account is charged for your purchases all without the checkout queue. What if Amazon Go decided to open up Amazon Property?

Thought to ponder: As the consumer’s need for speed is only going to intensify, what can you do to speed up the consumer experience in communication, at open homes and more?

How can you simplify the complicated process that is real estate, and what tools are available or becoming available to assist with this?

My personal feeling is a couple of things will happen here, for example push notifications throughout the contractual process; companies such as PEXA and Lawlab are already working on this. Also, who will really create a ‘noninvasive’ open home app that can send relevant push notifications to the user as they are walking around the property, with things like additional information, history and more?

THE NEED FOR PERSONALISED SERVICE “We, as consumers, are over being treated like a number,” says Carroll. “Look at Spotify, Netflix, Pandora. How personalised, how good are they?” Which leads to the question of how we as agents might personalise the real estate experience for our customers.

Using the example of a trip he recently went on with his family, Carroll described a travel agent in Los Gatos who personified making things easy. After explaining what he and the family wanted to do while in LA, the agent, took care of everything in the time it took to buy a coffee. The impressive bit, Carroll says, was when they got back from the trip; the phone rang and it was the travel agent checking they had a great holiday, and

“We’ve now got zero tolerance to wait for a service. It’s the way your buyers, your sellers, your renters are now behaving.” at the same time asking if he had a photo of everyone enjoying themselves for their ‘scrapbook of happy customers’. Carroll says he sent her the photo and half an hour later they had a video back of their holiday, which was set to music and shareable on Facebook and other social media. “Three teenaged kids, my wife, myself… between us over 5,000 connections or friends on Facebook, and the message went along the lines of ‘This is what we have been up to for the last two days. If you ever go to America, check out Travel Advisors of Los Gatos, because they rock.’

“It was like a digital souvenir, and so timely. If they had sent that after my kids had gone back to school and my wife and I had gone back to work that moment would have been lost.”

Thought to ponder: How can you create

socially shareable digital souvenirs for your clients? Could it be a series of photos for your buyers made into a video to show their friends where they are moving to? Could you do the same for sellers to share on their Facebook pages to let their friends know they are selling? (Make sure you get them to tag you in the process!)

THE DIGITAL INTERVIEW IS 24/7 The consumer behaviour trackers at realestate.com.au have some news for you. “The amount of hours being spent by sellers checking out agents online has gone through the roof... we’re talking tens of thousands of hours per year,” says Carroll.

“I have some other news for you: every single one of you today will be digitally interviewed, some of you at least once. Some of you might be digitally interviewed 15 or 20 times between 8.30am and 12pm.”

Carroll has one simple piece of advice on the topic: Google yourself. “Just put your name into the browser and see what happens in the context of real estate, and score yourself out of 10. If you want to compare yourself, compare yourself to Gavin Rubinstein, who is a definite 10 out of 10 and completely dominates social media.”  SAMANTHA MCLEAN

eliteagent.com.au 47

WRAP-UP SPECIAL

TOM PANOS Commissions are in the community, not in the office “‘HI. HOW’S THE SALE OF your place going?’ One of three things will happen when

you say this. People are going to say to you, ‘We’ve already sold.’ Some people will say to you, ‘We don’t have a property to sell.’ Some people will say to you, ‘It’s not on the market yet.’ Bingo.” This is one of the classic scripts super coach Tom Panos shared in his Momentum keynotes across Australia. In this wrap-up Elite Agent’s Samantha McLean covers Tom’s best tips for new agents to secure listings, what prospecting really means, and why you need to focus on the things you can control.

T

HE OUTER MARKET AND THE INNER MARKET

“One of the things I want you to focus on,” says Panos, “is the way that you look at the real estate market.

“To me, the real estate market is composed of two things. You’ve got what I call the outer market. It’s what Steve was talking about so beautifully, what’s going to happen in the years to come. So, when we look at the outer market, what do we think of? Disruption. Interest rates. The economy.

Hybrid models, like Purplebricks, FSBO, ratemyagent. Competitors.

“You have no control over that marketplace, yet most people participate in that marketplace. They spend their energy

in that marketplace. You want to talk about disruption? Disrupt yourself, which is the inner market. The inner market is pretty much the story you tell yourself every day, every week that you are alive on this planet.”

PROSPECTING FOR CONTACTS, NOT LEADS “Everyone wants to speak to someone today and get a commission today, and feel like prospecting works. Prospecting doesn’t work. Prospecting gets contacts that work one day,” says Panos.

“Right now, if you don’t have a listing, you know what your problem is? Your problem is seven months ago, not now.

Everyone wants to play the short game.

“Number one: move from ‘always be

“Prospecting doesn’t work. Prospecting gets contacts that work one day.” closing’ to this, ‘Always be educating’.

Always be educating the client about the marketplace.

“How do you do that? Really simple. If I have a property that is sold in my farm area today at three o’clock, by four o’clock my team and I are ringing our database saying, ‘Hi, it’s Tom Panos here. I’m letting you know that number 56 Forbes Street Newtown has just been sold. Would you like to know the new value of your

48 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

home?’ By the way, you don’t have to just ring around your own sales; you can ring around your competitors, because what you want to do is to become the ‘Google’ of the marketplace. Be the source of information.”

IF YOU’VE BEEN IN REAL ESTATE FOR LESS THAN A YEAR If you are completely new you need to demonstrate energy because your clients “will get that”, says Panos. “What they’re buying is your energy and your ability to work hard.”

If you have been in real estate for less than a year, work on your rapport-building skills first, and demonstrate your ability to listen and react to clients’ needs. Then, says Panos, you say this: “Mr and Mrs Vendor, I want to let you know that I have only been in the marketplace for less than a year, but my office has been here for 25 years and collectively we have 115 years’ experience.

When you use me, you’re using my whole team. Mr and Mrs Vendor, right now I only have two listings on my board that I’m spending my time and energy on.

“The minute you appoint me, all my energy then starts focusing on you as well.

If you go with a competitor you’ll probably find that they’ve got 10 or 15 properties that they’re working on. What it means, Mr and Mrs Vendor, is when you hire me, I’m working 24/7 for you.

“The other thing I want to let you know, Mr and Mrs Vendor, is this. I do not have a conflict of interest trying to work out which of the 15 properties I need to be spending

more time on. The reality is, I can handle three properties and treat them as if they’re my own properties and I was selling my own home. Mr and Mrs Vendor, whilst I’m relatively new, if I’m given the opportunity to represent you it will be a privilege. Some other agency in Penrith, they will feel like it’s their right. I’m going to let you know I’m going to work harder than any other agent in Penrith. When can I get to work for you?”

‘By the way, Mr and Mrs Vendor, your home is on the market in competition, not in isolation, and these are the homes that you’re in competition against. Let me run through them. By the way, my team and I have inspected every one of them, and we know the weaknesses of all these homes.

The minute you appoint us, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to educate the buyers that yours is better for the

BECOME THE KING OF PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

“When was the last time that you read through a whole contract and you actually knew what the terms were?”

The marketplace does not want sales people who look a million dollars without having any substance, says Panos; your clients want people to add value. What you need to do is move from being a commodity to a value-added provider.

“Ask yourself: when was the last time that you read through a whole contract and you actually knew what the terms were? What ‘covenant’ meant? When was the last time you were able to sit in front of a vendor and say, “Mr and Mrs Vendor, I want to let you know that the three best designers in our marketplace are these’?

“What I’m saying is be the product knowledge person. When was the last time you sat in front of a vendor and said,

following reasons. When you appoint us, you’re appointing people that know their marketplace inside out.’

“When I talk about product knowledge, I’m not talking about knowing where the church is and where the schools are, and whether it’s in the catchment area. That’s basic stuff. I’m talking about being able to go to a vendor and say, ‘This house that’s on the market with another agent has got dog

smells in it because they’ve allowed pets in there. Your home is going to beat that home.’ We’re talking about having super product knowledge, which is critical.”

WRAPPING UP “What we know now is real estate is all about you, working your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.” Panos goes on to advise the crowd on much more: the need to build an incredible brand, how to structure your days and how to execute.

“One hour of prospecting a day is going to change your real estate life. Two hours of prospecting a day is going to change your whole life.”  SAMANTHA MCLEAN

Momentum is a series of free events for real estate agents presented by realestate. com.au and News Limited. Momentum will continue across various regional areas in the second half of the year; check the website agent.realestate.com.au for the next event in your local area.

If you are a NSW agent and were at Momentum Sydney and need CPD points, visit eliteagent.academy. Certificate and Assessment fee applies. CPD points via RTO 41529.

The smart way to get your Professional Indemnity Insurance.

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eliteagent.com.au 49

The Leadership Issue

THE STATE OF INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AT A TIME WHEN PROPERTY prices are at record levels

and home ownership values are followed as closely as football scores, CoreLogic in collaboration with TMJ Coaching set out to gain a deeper understanding of whether real estate agencies were simply riding the wave of growth, or embracing the real change needed to make their businesses stronger for leaner times and disintermediated markets. The resulting data shows that there is plenty of work to do.

Kylie Davis

50 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Tanja M Jones

R

EAL ESTATE has typically

been a self-made industry, with low financial and educational barriers to entry and dominated by big, street-smart personalities who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to make themselves successful. But research shows a new breed of business-educated and managerially savvy real estate agents are starting to make their mark. These new agents run tighter ships that are more profitable, have better employee engagement and are more transparent around process and client management.

The research identified: • Two-thirds (66%) of real estate agents identify the quality of leadership within their organisation as good (45%) or excellent (21%) compared with 12 per cent who say it is poor or non-existent.

• Nearly 40 per cent of all those surveyed – and 31 per cent of principals – have received no formal business training at all.

• In fact, 82 per cent of principals feel qualified to lead their business but are keen to learn more, while five per cent feel completely unqualified.

• The higher the education levels, the greater the likelihood of financial success – 47 per cent of businesses experiencing negative growth and 44 per cent of those experiencing flat growth had no formal business training.

• Coercive leadership styles are the least likely to achieve results – 17 per cent of those surveyed whose businesses were experiencing negative growth described their boss as ‘just do as I say’, compared with just six per cent of those who were experiencing growth above 10 per cent.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO KEEP GOING IN YOUR OFFICE? Answer Options

Response %

Weekly team meetings

54.6%

Could definitely do more here

40.2%

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS? HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE QUALITY OFexistent LEADERSHIP Non2.1% BUSINESS? WITHIN YOUR Poor

Excellent Non- existent 10.4% 2.1% 21.3% Poor Excellent Average 21.3%10.4% 21.3% Average 21.3%

Fun and engaging social activities

37.3%

Casual coffee catch-ups

34.2%

Reward and recognition programs

30.8%

Team incentives

26.4%

Stretch targets with bonus structures

21.4%

Weekly one-on-ones

18.3%

Daily ‘rev-ups’

14.1%

Group huddles when things are not going to plan

14.1%

44.9% 44.9%

Structured gift and incentive schemes

11.7%

We are not encouraged at all

11.7%

61.2%

Good

We attend the corporate annual awards

44.3%

We measure our prospecting activity to see what produces the best results

38.0%

5 or 35.9% fewer 5 or 35.9% fewer

38.1% 6-15 38.1% 6-15

• The leadership style (see definitions below) used by the most financially successful agents is Affiliative, with 29 per cent of agencies experiencing growth higher than 10 per cent identifying this style, followed by 22 per cent Coaching.

• The research shows that despite record property prices across most states, 29 per cent of those surveyed were experiencing flat or negative growth in their businesses, while 43 per cent were experiencing growth of up to 10 per cent and 28 per cent were experiencing growth of 10 per cent or higher.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT The Real eState of Leadership Report canvassed the insights from 508 real estate agents in an online survey run from January to April this year. Of those who participated in the survey, 27 per cent were principals, 49 per cent sales agents, six per cent property managers and 18 per cent worked in management roles with franchise or boutique groups.

Most (46%) had worked in the industry for more than 10 years, while 19 per cent had five to 10 years’ experience and 35 per cent had less than five years’ experience. Most (48%) worked within agencies belonging to a major franchise (defined as more

13.8% Complete Obtaining my Not qualified qualified qualifications Response % at all 8.8% 8.0% 13.8% We share our results in a Obtaining my 62.5% qualifications weekly meeting 8.8%

Answer Options

We have a whiteboard in the office

WHAT THE SIZE 100+ 50-100 IS OF YOUR TEAM? 3.0% 2.6%

15-25 12.7%

HOW WELL QUALIFIED Complete Not qualified HOW DO YOU MEASURE AND MANAGE FEEL TO BE Aqualified LEAD at all PERFORMANCE IN YOUR BUSINESS? 8.0%

Good

WHAT IS THE SIZE OF YOUR TEAM?

25-50 7.7% 100+ 50-100 2.6% 3.0% 12.7% 15-2525-50 7.7%

HOW WELL QUALIFIED FEEL TO BE A LEAD

“My boss likes to think he is Affiliative, but in fact he expects people to do as they are told,” wrote one respondent. than 30 offices) while 22 per cent worked in boutique agencies, 24 per cent were independents and seven per cent worked within corporate offices.

The survey also shows an industry dominated by the over-40s with 31 per cent aged over 50, 27 per cent aged 40-50 and 25 per cent aged 30-40. Just 17 per cent of respondents were under 30.

The survey found that 39 per cent confessed to having no formal business training whatsoever, while a further 39 per cent had undergone short courses in business and 16 per cent had completed a university degree. A further six per cent had undergone postgraduate training in the form of an MBA (Master of Business Administration).

It further found an ‘Affiliative’ style of leadership – where emphasis is put on team members to build morale and make them feel good about working together as a team – is the style of leadership most

We have individual performance appraisals We measure listing conversion rates To be honest, I believe we can do this better – it’s been inconsistent

69.4%

Qualifie 69.4% a there’s more to Qualifie there’s a more to

WHERE ARE YOU BA TAS

New Zealand

1.2% ARE YOU BA WHERE 6.2%

36.3% SA/NT

5.8%TAS New 1.2% Zealand 6.2% WA SA/NT 33.8% 7.3% 5.8% WA QLD 21.6% 33.8%7.3% QLD 21.6%

We monitor what our competitors are doing weekly

24.7%

41 16.1% VIC 16.1% VIC

We monitor what our competitors are doing monthly

22.9%

We hardly ever evaluate.

We’re too busy getting through each day

12.8%

favoured in real estate, with 23 per cent of respondents identifying the behaviour of their boss (or themselves if they were the boss) in this way. This was closely followed by an ‘Authoritative’ style (21%) where the leader sets goals, but lets team members decide how they are going to get there and be self-directed.

“My principal is quite agile and responsive to the market. He opens the table for discussion and is willing to improve,” wrote one respondent.

PRINCIPALS VERSUS SALES AGENTS The research shows that a typical principal of a real estate agency today is likely to have undergone some kind of formal business training, with 45 per cent stating they had undertaken short courses in business (other than their real estate licence training), 16 per cent having a university degree and eight per cent having an MBA. It found close to a third – 31 per cent – had no formal training at all.

This is in comparison to 44 per cent of sales agents who claim to have had no formal training at all, 36 per cent who have undergone short courses in business, 14 per

eliteagent.com.au 51

41

The Leadership Issue

cent who have a university degree and eight per cent who have an MBA. The greatest proportion of principals were aged over 50 (47%) with 29 per cent aged 40-50 and 24 per cent younger than 40. This compares with sales agents who are fairly evenly spread across the age groups.

Principals were consistently more likely to have completed training on topics such as managing people (61%), dealing with conflict (55%) and understanding personal strengths and weaknesses (53%). This compares with just 42 per cent of agents who had undergone managing people training, 44 per cent who were trained in dealing with conflict and 44 per cent who understood personal strengths and weaknesses.

Principals are most likely to describe their own leadership style as Affiliative (32%) WOULD YOU YOU RATE RATE THE THE WOULD where emphasis is put on building morale ITY OF OF LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP ITY within the team by making them feel good IN YOUR BUSINESS? IN YOUR BUSINESS? about working together. This was followed Non- existent existent Non2.1% by 27 per cent who said their style was 2.1% or Coaching, where the leader loves to help or Excellent othersExcellent improve their habits. Not a single 10.4% 10.4% 21.3% 21.3% principal identified their leadership style as Coercive, based on ‘do as I say’ and orders. % % Interestingly, this self-assessment was not backed up by sales agents, with only 16 per cent Gooddescribing their bosses as 44.9% 44.9% Good Affiliative, and 11 per cent identifying their leaders as Coaching.

In the eyes of the followers within real estate, however, the most dominant leadership style is Authoritative (25%) which is a goal-led style with team members being WHAT IS IS THE SIZEself-directed and needing to decide WHAT SIZE OF YOUR YOURTHE TEAM? how they will achieve their goals. This was OF TEAM? followed by 16 per cent who identified their 100+ boss as Affiliative and a telling 14 per cent 0-100 100+ 0-100 3.0% 2.6% 3.0% 2.6% who said their boss was Coercive.

“My boss likes to think he is Affiliative, but 7.7% 7.7% in fact he expects people to do as they are 5 or or 5 35.9% fewer % 35.9% told,” wrote one respondent. % fewer “We are abused if we are not in the office enough, and then we are railed against 38.1% if we don’t get six appraisals a week by a 38.1% boss who himself has a team of three and yet rarely does more than three a week,” 6-15 6-15 wrote another who captured the theme of consistency. “I don’t mind being told what to do – as long as it’s consistent and the rules are equal across the board.”

EDUCATION VERSUS SUCCESS One of the key findings of the survey was the importance of formal business training in the success of a real estate agency. The survey found that none of the businesses where agents had undertaken an MBA or university degree had experienced negative growth, while 48 per cent of those with negative growth had had no formal training.

52 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ENGAGEMENT PRACTICES DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR BUSINESS? Answer Options

Response %

We invest in regular training by industry experts

48.3%

27.3%

We send staff to conferences

43.0%

13.8%

We have individual performance plans

36.5%

We have created a safe space to make mistakes

34.5%

We listen to podcasts and industry video blogs

33.3%

Best practice is shared with the team by encouraging top performers to facilitate specific training

30.3%

Everyone has a clearly defined WHY and knows what it is

29.5%

We have weekly one-onones

23.3%

We don’t do anything in this space

8.8%

Annual awards

51.3%

Formal induction program

39.8%

Monthly team meetings

31.0%

Weekly one-on-one meetings Other (please specify)

HOW HOW WELL WELL QUALIFIED QUALIFIED DO DO YOU YOU FEEL FEEL TO TO BE BE A A LEADER? LEADER? Completely Completely Not Not qualified qualified qualified qualified at all at all 8.0% 8.0% Obtaining 13.8% Obtaining my my 13.8% qualifications qualifications 8.8% 8.8%

69.4% 69.4% Qualified Qualified but but there’s there’s always always more to learn more to learn

WHERE WHERE ARE ARE YOU YOU BASED? BASED? New New TAS TAS Zealand 1.2% 1.2% Zealand 6.2% 6.2% SA/NT SA/NT 5.8% 5.8% 41.9% 41.9%

Response % 63.8%

80.8%

7.3% 7.3%

Answer Options People are free to bring ideas that improve service, systems and strategies to the table

Weekly team meetings

WA WA

HOW ARE PEOPLE EMPOWERED IN YOUR BUSINESS?

NSW/ NSW/ ACT ACT

QLD QLD 21.6% 21.6% 16.1% 16.1% VIC VIC

The survey showed a coercive leadership style was least likely to achieve results; 17 per cent of those surveyed whose businesses were experiencing negative growth described their boss as ‘just do as I say’ compared with just six per cent of those who were experiencing growth above 10 per cent.

Agents who have MBAs or university degrees are more likely than those with no formal training to have more structured staffing management systems.

The survey found that tertiary-trained agents were significantly more likely to

have created ‘safe spaces’ and tolerate making mistakes (54 per cent of MBAs compared to 25 per cent of those with no formal training) and were more likely to invest in regular training by industry experts (50 per cent of MBAs compared to 41 per cent with no formal training) or send staff to conferences (43 per cent MBAs compared to 38 per cent no formal training). MBA and university-trained agents were also more likely to hold weekly one-on-ones with their staff (29 per cent compared to 16 per cent) – although this activity was conducted by less than a third of the industry across the board.

“I think some leaders are excellent and others need work - but this comes with time and experience,” wrote another.

“The biggest issue is when a leader tells you to do something after hearing about it in a seminar, but when it is put into a real-life situation you are admonished for it by your peers or more experienced agents. You also see the successful sales agents who do their own thing and are not pulled into line but are called out by the same management for being successful – so there is a clash of cultures and mixed

messages about how success behaves.”

The research shows real estate agents are a self-motivated bunch when it comes to training, with 32 per cent of those surveyed saying they had paid for all their own training and a further 22 per cent stating they supplemented the training paid for by their company with their own funds.

LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND HOW THEY ARE DEMONSTRATED The survey showed that across the board leadership skills were rated as good with the skills of vision and strategy for the business (25%) and empathy and making time for people (27%), two of the top skills most likely to be rated as excellent.

The skill most likely to be average was administration and management, while work/life balance was the skill most likely to be average (31%) or poor/non existent (19%).

Team building was another skill that ranked poorly, with 19 per cent claiming it was poor or non-existent in their business and a further 25 per cent saying it was average.

Performance is measured mainly through sharing results in weekly meetings (63 per cent of respondents) while the good old office whiteboard (61%) is also a vital management tool.

“There is never a discussion about why are the numbers good or why are the numbers bad – it’s just simply ‘are the numbers good?’” wrote one respondent.

Interestingly, only 34 per cent said they currently measured listing conversion rates and 38 per cent said they measured prospecting activity to see what got the best results. A further 34 per cent identified that they needed to measure and manage performance better, while 13 per cent stated they were too busy getting through each day to measure properly.

“Balance sheet and profit and loss are basically the only measurements in our business. There is never a discussion about why are the numbers good or why are the numbers bad – it’s just simply are the numbers good?” wrote one respondent.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BETTER The survey identified that a significant proportion of real estate agents are crying out for better quality leadership within their organisations, and help in staying motivated and positive.

While 61 per cent of respondents identified that personally staying positive in changing

times was the most important challenge their business faced at the moment, few businesses know how to achieve this.

The survey shows that while 63 per cent of offices held weekly team meetings, their motivational effectiveness dropped off, with 55 per cent of respondents claiming that they were used to inspire them to greater performance. More than a third of respondents said fun and engaging social activities (37%), reward and recognition programs (31%) and team incentives (26%) were used to keep staff inspired.

“The reward and recognition from my peers and boss are encouraging,” wrote one respondent. “You spend a lot of time at work and have to enjoy what you are doing – and I do – plus it helps if it pays the bills too!”

But, somewhat alarmingly, 40 per cent said more definitely needed to be done, while 12 per cent of respondents said they were not encouraged at all, identifying that the leadership challenge for real estate is yet to be conquered. 

eliteagent.com.au 53

The Leadership Issue

Lawlab set to Rundl the World LEADING THE WAY IN digital transactions, Lawlab is

speeding up the process of property settlements via the Rundl platform. This enables an end-to-end digital journey for all parties to the transaction which happens quickly and simply by bringing them together securely in the cloud.

N

otwithstanding that Lawlab are the inventors and innovators of the Rundl collaboration platform, they also happen to be a team of experienced property lawyers and legal professionals who are among the most recommended conveyancers in Australia. The transition from local lawyers to a national conveyancing powerhouse began as an attack strategy against disruption.

“What we saw, through things like fax and the beginnings of digitisation and disruption, was that players from outside our region were starting to come in and take customers from us. We just thought, ‘We need to build something that enables us to go back out and offer our services out of our geography’. That’s sort of how the journey began,” says Richard Bootle, one of the founders of Lawlab.

“Nothing is more certain than if you do not digitise your service someone else will, and that will appear on someone’s iPhone.

You will lose your clients to that new provider if you’re not on someone’s iPhone,” says Richard.

Shares have been trading electronically for around 30 years and internet banking via websites has been around since the early 1990s. In 2017, however, property transactions are still often the result of paper documents and cheques being driven around in cars. “Disruption takes away that distance altogether, and the only relevant distance essentially is between a person and their iPhone, and the service that’s sitting on that iPhone,” explains Richard.

Lawlab were early movers on disruption and, by creating Rundl, they are a perfect example of what is possible for agents, or

54 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

anyone offering professional services in the digital age.

Rundl is a platform where parties in a transaction can communicate, share documents and transact securely in a sophisticated but oh-so-simple way. A Rundl is a secure meeting room in the cloud, hosted by one of the parties in a transaction. For example, Lawlab might host a Rundl in the purchase journey for a property buyer.

As the buyer’s legal representative, they will then invite the buyer and vendor, the vendor’s legal representative, the agent, the broker, the banks, building inspector, property manager and anyone else who might help assist in the exchange.

The journey of each person and each transaction through the Rundl is fully customisable, meaning that the steps of each transaction can be configured to exactly what you would like them to be. The parties involved in that particular Rundl will only have access to documents, and be notified of

the information and steps, that are relevant to their role and necessary for their part in the collaboration.

For example, the contract of sale is shared among many parties in the transaction while private documents given by the buyer to their finance broker can be restricted so that only the buyer and finance broker can view them.

Where an agent is hosting a Rundl, it presents with the agent’s branding and can be configured to host any phase of the selling process, or to project manage the entire customer journey from listed to sold.

On the theme of collaboration, Lawlab uses DocuSign for functionality that enables electronic document signing and a streamlined experience from appointment to contract. At the final stages of settlement, Lawlab being a PEXA subscriber means that financial settlement and lodgement can be undertaken electronically, thanks to PEXA’s integration with the different government land registries, lenders and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

“Now that subscribers can complete financial settlement and lodgement in PEXA this enables end-to-end digital property transactions – for example, last year saw the first fully paperless property exchange on PEXA. We’re seeing the emergence of businesses that challenge old paper processes and existing business models. PEXA is encouraged to see Lawlab bringing consumers a better experience.

As these digital providers flourish, PEXA looks forward to working with them. They are welcome to come onto the exchange,” says Mike Cameron, PEXA Group Executive, Operations.

In 2017, property transactions are still often the result of paper documents and cheques being driven around in cars.

In a space where there are varied and rolling threats of ‘uberfication’, it is a tool like Rundl, powered by Lawlab, that gives real estate agents the power to inoculate against disruption and to make the switch from analogue to digital – easily.

“The best way to experience a Rundl is to refer a matter to Lawlab and discover a new, digitally enhanced experience for you and your client,” says Richard.

To experience a Rundle transaction visit the links on our website: eliteagent.com.au/rundl.  SARAH BELL

“The nbn™ network helps us deliver exceptional customer service .”

Lauren Allingham, Mayfair Property Management

Check when your business can switch nbn.com.au/business Experiences depend on network technology, your equipment and arrangements with your service provider. Genuine opinions of an nbn™ network user, compensated a small fee for her time. © 2017 nbn co ltd. ‘nbn’, ‘bring it on’, ‘Sky Muster’, ‘gen nbn’ and the Aurora device are trade marks of nbn co ltd | ABN 86 136 533 741.

BWMNCO0556/275X205/MAY

The Leadership Issue

LEADING WITH

most entrepreneurial, talented agents and franchisees. For instance, we offer agents a percentage of ownership of any property management assets they refer to the business, instead of a one-off fee – a wealth creation tool that I believe will change how the real estate industry operates.

INTEGRITY 2 DRAWING ON YEARS OF EXPERIENCE in managing

businesses both in and outside the real estate industry, Stone Real Estate Founder and CEO Peter Mumford explains why he would like to create a new ‘norm’ in real estate leadership.

F

At Stone our goal is to ensure all new franchisees and agents are offered clear mentoring and business guidance. Much of our leadership focuses on broadening a newcomer’s outlook and pinpointing opportunities. Many people don’t realise what is actually possible for themselves or their businesses.

For this reason we developed a comprehensive training program using Stone’s exclusive business growth manuals.

There is virtually nothing like this program elsewhere in the industry and newcomers are truly embracing it. Run by internal and external coaches, newcomers are shown precise steps that will take their businesses to levels they either did not think possible or know how to achieve.

3

OR MANY YEARS I have thought

the property industry needs more ethical leadership and integrity, starting right from the top. This urgent need for a better way forward has arisen, in my opinion, from so many businesses not offering agents and franchisees the chance to fulfil their true potential.

I started my first business, The Blue Rock Catering & Events Group, from home. Within five years it was the largest boutique caterer in Sydney, with more than 1,000 casual personnel staffing dozens of events across the city.

Crave Coffee Plantation and Coffee Roasters was my next venture. Here I learned about branding, adapting to change and how to handle major challenges, such as finding all our 33,000 coffee trees dying of frost – on my 40th birthday – and having to start all over again.

Real estate caught my attention about three years later, when I rebranded Charles Park Insight Real Estate and then opened up McGrath’s first franchise, establishing the business on the Northern Beaches. I grew agent numbers from three to 30 in only two years, plus opened multiple offices. Any business is a long journey; I saw the great benefits in regularly reviewing each aspect

56 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

of your operation, while caring for your team and looking for ways to lift and inspire those with whom you work. It instilled in me the importance of scalability, performance and leading from the front.

Every place you work teaches you something amazing. You have to be open to this and take the best parts of each experience.

FIRST CLASS TRAINING AND COACHING

PROVIDING REAL BENEFITS FOR THE CONSUMER

Our sole database will eventually be Australia-wide, providing a superior system for our agents, principals and especially the consumer. In property management, for example, you can have one relationship manager look after all your landlord’s properties right across Australia. Consumers benefit by streamlining all the different conversations with different property managers. No more multiple phone calls

Every place you work teaches you something amazing.

As a leader, you must look after your people.

Over the years I have witnessed many situations where people have been let down.

This made me determined that my own agency, Stone, would operate differently.

They say if you think you can do a better job, you should. My new goal is to shift ‘the norm’; we aim to unite franchisees rather than divide them, encouraging them to collaborate and share information through a centralised database where it’s possible to have exclusive and/or larger territories.

1

GATHERING THE RIGHT TALENT

One size doesn’t fit all. Stone has offered from day one a variety of attractive equity and ownership models – some unique to us – to recruit the best,

from agents! The benefit to the franchisee is the opportunity to expand their rent roll beyond the geographic area they would normally be able to service.

Stone Real Estate aims to provide a fairer way of doing business, one that’s more rewarding and ultimately more profitable for franchisees, agents and consumers, while opening minds to new possibilities. 

Peter Mumford is the Founder and CEO of Stone Real Estate. Peter is an inspiring entrepreneur and true visionary, with a great talent for creating and transforming businesses.

For more information about Stone Real Estate visit stonerealestate.com.au.

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The Leadership Issue

THE CYCLE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT NO MATTER WHO it is you are leading – an assistant,

sales team, PM department or the whole agency – you have a critical role to play in the success of others, which of course impacts your own bottom line. Tony Rowe from MRT outlines his four step process to ensure top performance from everyone.

A

LL TEAM MEMBERS who

play a part in a business almost always rely on the directions given to them by those further up the tree. As a leader you also need to recognise that a certain level of engagement in the task at hand, and in the business as a whole, is important to avoid boredom and detachment.

Managing performance to KPIs is important. The more skilled and experienced a person becomes in a particular role, the more they will need to remain engaged; so it’s important that as a leader you understand where everyone is and where they want to go.

What I’d like to suggest as a way of ensuring engagement by the staff is the following four-step process: 1. Set and agree task targets 2. Monitor the performance carefully 3. Manage any variations regularly 4. Review, revise and reset those targets as required Let’s look at each of these steps in a bit more detail.

1

SET AND AGREE TASK TARGETS

Whether we’re talking about the star salesperson, the trainee property officer, receptionist, tradesperson or contractor, the specific job performance expectations should be clearly understood and agreed. This could be in an employment

58 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

contract, job description or a work order, but it should be in writing and must be agreed and accepted by both parties.

Your agency would not take on a property management or sale without a written agreement, and the same should apply to dealing with staff and contractors. Of course, there’s room for negotiation in any such arrangement to meet individual requirements.

Clearly understood and agreed task targets provide measurement parameters for subsequent steps. This then leaves no room for disagreement over

provide that independent, scientific information to demonstrate whether the performance has matched the promise, and these are the numbers that matter for both you and your employee.

3

MANAGE ANY VARIATIONS

Whether the agreed targets are met, exceeded, or missed, it is important to understand the reasons for that result. It may well be explainable and justified; it may require the targets to be adjusted up or down.

Knowing the whys and wherefores of the actual results allows the manager to encourage peak performance by the individual and team, take any remedial action that may be necessary to assist skill development at either individual or team level, or simply to recognise, applaud and reward results.

Opportunities for skill development should obviously be identified at this stage, and action plans put in place for the improvement which can be planned and agreed as part of this phase.

4

REVIEW, REVISE AND RESET THOSE TARGETS

‘Review, revise and reset’ should be a manager’s mantra when it comes to targets for individuals and teams within the business, as well as for the business itself. It’s a numbers game and the targets should be consistently and constantly under review – daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, biannually and annually.

Statistics should be what drives a real estate business. There are, of course, other factors

Your agency would not take on a property management or sale without a written agreement, and the same should apply to dealing with staff and contractors. performance achievement and allows reward and recognition opportunities to be scientific in their analysis and delivery.

Some examples of targets might be prospecting calls made, property appraisals, listing presentations, appraise/list conversion ratio, inspections, landlord/tenancy issues resolved, time on market, sales completed and leases signed, to name a few.

2

MONITOR PERFORMANCE CAREFULLY

Performance reviews should happen regularly and often – and be based on the parameters set in step 1.

The stage markers and performance indicators, if agreed at commencement,

in the success of a property business, but the numbers provide the foundation for the rest of the functions.

Understanding motivation and skill levels of employees is a lot like knowing the motivations of vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants – they are all different. Being able to capture the motivations and encourage the excitement for the benefit of the business is well worth the effort – all the way to the bottom line! 

Tony Rowe is the Principal of MRT, a key compliance solution and training provider for property sector businesses.

For more information visit myrealestatetraining.com.au.

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The Leadership Issue

HOW TO BUILD A SUPERTEAM A SUCCESSFUL AGENCY depends on strong leadership and support, but this doesn’t

always come naturally to real estate principals. New CEO of The Agency, Matt Lahood, who has spent over two decades transforming careers, building super-teams and mentoring more than 200 agents, shares some of his leadership secrets.

T

HE BIGGEST mistake I see leaders

make is being complacent, thinking the business is going to run itself. The leader disappearing and not being visible is a big problem.

Your team needs to know you are in the trenches with them – how can you make a clear judgement or decision about a situation if you are not in the field?

My view is that you can never become too big for your role. For example, I attend listing presentations, open homes and auctions and I hold one-on-ones with the agents.

The ability to provide strong leadership does not boil down to some enigmatic secret or undefinable charm. It is about providing structure and, frankly, giving a damn about others, your team. This is how I break down the key leadership components.

1

USE EMPOWERMENT

Leaders empower their team by looking at both their strengths and their weaknesses. First of all you have to play to your team members’ strengths and push them to the maximum. Next, you identify weaknesses and work to develop them into strengths.

I’ve developed a lot of people over the years and some of the most successful people are those who’ve said to me, ‘I don’t

60 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

think I can do this job’. I’ve pushed them and repeated to them my favourite line – I’ve got your back. I won’t ask anyone to do anything I haven’t done. I won’t say ‘run through that brick wall’ if I haven’t done it already. They can see my scars.

I focus on giving my team confidence that they can do the job. Whatever we do in life, there are times we get knocked down.

Ninety per cent of what we do is having confidence, getting up, turning up and being there for people.

2

BE ACCESSIBLE

To make empowerment happen you must be available to your team, and that means being highly organised.

Every Monday I meet with my management team. It’s more to assist them with what they are tackling; they’ll often ask me to critique what they are doing to help them grow. Great leadership is all about growing people. There are only two states you can be in: growing or dying.

I won’t say ‘run through that brick wall’ if I haven’t done it already.

They can see my scars.

I’m only interested in people who really want to grow their careers. It doesn’t matter if you are at the front desk or working in our marketing team, I get excited about helping people grow.

3

HAVE A VISION

Great leaders must possess a laser focus around what needs to be done.

They need to have a vision and then set that vision into a plan. The execution of that plan involves clearly outlining everyone’s roles and responsibilities. You put the best people in those roles and they will follow the plan.

4

DON’T MICRO-MANAGE

There is nothing worse in real estate than micro-management. I delegate and completely trust my team to deliver on the plan.

Building a super-team is reliant on putting the right people in place and understanding whether an agent has leadership capabilities.

Not every agent makes a good leader; some agents may prefer to run a small operation rather than scale-up their business. You need to empower agents to work in a way that best suits them and identify this early on.

5

ESTABLISH TEAM STRUCTURE Most owners of property today love to see an agent who has a proper

structure behind them. In my view, to build super-teams it’s good to have a senior agent, an agent who is 2IC, a marketing and administration person and then potentially two other agents who can develop under the senior agent.

An example of a super-team I have worked closely with is Ben Collier’s team. Ben started off doing around 20 sales a year and earning a GCI of half a million. Now, over a four-year period, Ben and his team are selling 60 properties annually and earning a GCI of $5 million. Our goal is to develop Ben and his team be the first to reach $10 million and hit 100 sales, while offering the same level of service.

The by-product of having a great team, aside from your income growth, is the quality of service you can offer. Owners today are much more focused on their client experience and service experience, so the more people you have in your team that’s sustainable, the more contact and service can be offered. The owner is going to be much more satisfied.

6

START WITH A WHITE PIECE OF PAPER

With the teams I have turned around it started with a white piece of paper. We scratch out where someone wants to be in

their life. Not everyone wants to work in a team; some people want to be their own agent and have an assistant, earning a nice living out of real estate. I am passionate about building super-teams because it gives people scale. It gives the agent longevity – not only professionally but personally as well.

If you are doing everything by yourself in this business, it’s an unforgiving industry.

It’s six days a week and you are going to burn out if you are the only person who has to do everything. Building a super-team gives you freedom and flexibility.

7

ENERGY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

People who are passionate about what they do, I buy into their energy.

Your colleagues will want to work with you if you’ve got the right energy; it empowers them. You’ll pick up referral and repeat business off your colleagues and this energy will also feed into client relationships.

Real estate is all about energy. When you walk into someone’s house, they get a feeling about your energy; whether you are interested, connected and committed to achieving them a result. When you are standing in an open home, buyers get a feeling as to whether you are excited and enthusiastic about the property.

8

FOCUS ON HAPPINESS

If people are genuinely happy and secure in their environment, they are getting out of bed and want to be at work.

But the worst thing about a negative team member is not just missing a buyer enquiry or putting a buyer or seller offside – it’s negatively infecting the rest of the team.

I spend my entire day, every day, trying to make people happy around me and I think I’ve been succeeding at this for the last 20odd years. I’ve worked to put my vendors in that position, my home life is like that, my work life is like that. And the secret to getting people happy around me is to make sure I’m happy.

Why am I still skipping to work after 28 years? I know I can empower others and change their lives, which is key. People working in my team now have said, ‘You’ve changed my life’. This is something you can’t buy in a shop. 

Matt Lahood is CEO of The Agency Australia. After almost three decades working as a prominent sales director in real estate, Matt Lahood is now steering The Agency in its nationwide expansion. Visit theagency.com.au.

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eliteagent.com.au 61

The Leadership Issue

TRADITION AND INNOVATION TOOP&TOOP REAL ESTATE, one of South Australia’s leading real

estate agencies, has been recognised with three major awards at the 2017 Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) National Awards for Excellence in Canberra. From humble beginnings, this family business has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 1985. Sisters Suzannah Toop, CEO of Property Investment & Finance, and Genevieve Toop, CEO of Sales & Marketing, talk to Elite Agent in this exclusive interview.

What was your first job and what did it teach you?

Suzannah My first ‘real’ job was scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Before that I was working on our family farm on the tractor, chopping wood and picking grapes. As a teenager, I loved having parttime jobs; it felt like being an adult and that I was part of the real world.

Genevieve My first job was at Subway when I was 14 years old. The biggest lesson my first job taught me was the value of money. Experiencing how much work you put into one hour, to be paid at that time $5, made me respect and start to understand how hard you need to work for success.

Tell us what got you started in real estate.

Suzannah Our parents started their real estate business in 1985, so it’s been in my blood all along. Being a family business, our conversations around the dinner table revolved around real estate, which I loved.

Genevieve I put my first Sold sign up when I was three years old. Real Estate has always been a huge part of our lives and growing up I was lucky enough to be able to experience all different facets of our

62 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

industry. It wasn’t until I moved to London that I realised how much I missed real estate and how infectious it is.

What do you think is unique about your area in South Australia?

Suzannah I see the Adelaide property market as unique for two main reasons – the lifestyle it offers and its affordability. Having been away from Adelaide for 11 years (living in Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Sydney) I’ve seen first-hand that you really cannot beat the ease and convenience that Adelaide offers, as well as the beautiful wine regions so close to the city and of course the premium homes… just to name a few.

Genevieve There are not many places in Australia that offer homebuyers what we can here. We have some incredible character homes in the Adelaide Hills on acres of land, yet only a 20-minute drive into the heart of the CBD including peak hour! We also have absolute beach front homes on large block sizes with tennis courts and swimming pools… it’s an amazing place to call home!

culture for over 32 years. Our entire team embraces change rather than resisting it, and this can be intimidating to other agents. It’s our innovative culture and collaboration [to turn] new ideas into reality that provides our team with new tools, and [will] continue providing our clients with an unmatchable service.

you and to bring them on the journey of where you are going.

We have some big plans ahead of us at Toop&Toop and to share that with our team and how they will each play a part in taking our business there – we believe is important.

Leadership styles are changing. The days of ruling with the iron fist seem to

What makes Toop&Toop stand out from the competition?

Suzannah We are a 32-yearold family business that has entered phase 2.0. so we have a unique mix of experience and energy. We’re lucky enough to work with some of the best minds across the country in sales, investment management and technology through to finance and HR. Creating new ways of doing things, thinking differently and delivering an

“I PUT MY FIRST SOLD SIGN UP WHEN I WAS THREE YEARS OLD. REAL ESTATE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE PART OF OUR LIVES AND GROWING UP I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE ALL THE DIFFERENT FACETS” - GENEVIEVE TOOP unmatchable client experience is at the core of our business.

And the most enjoyable part is seeing our team recognised as national leaders in areas such as marketing, communications and innovation, [scooping] awards such as the 2017 REIA Awards for Excellence in March this year.

Genevieve We have six offices across South Australia with 123 people in our team. One of our biggest differences is that we have a deep and thorough understanding of innovation, and this has been core to our

Describe your style of leadership.

Suzannah Leadership styles across different professions and industry sectors are so varied. I believe it’s about finding the right one for you and your business. For us, we believe it’s important to create a culture of collaboration, high work ethic, exceptional performance and [keeping] our customer at the centre of everything we do. We see a large part of any leadership role is to inspire those around

be numbered. That’s not to say that the hard calls aren’t needed – but trusting your team to perform and backing them is essential. There are now four generations in the workforce and we are seeing that one approach to a situation will create different responses in a team. Awareness of this is proving to be important. As a Gen Y myself I can share my experience first hand... you ask us to do something, the next question is highly likely

to be ‘why’? If you can harness this curiosity, I believe, you will have a very engaged and motivated team.

Do you have a mentor or someone who inspires you?

Suzannah I’m lucky to have a core group of business people who are there as a sounding board to bounce things off if needed. It isn’t a formal arrangement, but certainly an incredibly important aspect of being in business. Often we can have real estate blinkers on, so it’s good to put your head up every now and then to see what’s happening more broadly in other sectors. We’ve found some of our biggest innovations have come from looking to other industries, so having this outside influence is vital.

Genevieve I have a number of trusted people within the business world that I turn to for advice and bounce ideas off. I think it’s important to surround yourself every day with people you respect, can learn from and can be challenged by. If you surround yourself with driven and successful people from all different fields they are passionate about, it’s extremely inspiring and infectious.

What’s the best advice you’ve received?

Suzannah This is a hard one.

Over the years I’ve received some really valuable advice from a range of business people from all different backgrounds.

The saying that resonates most with me and our approach in business is ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome’. We have really driven the business >>

eliteagent.com.au 63

The Leadership Issue >> forward based on this principle. Thinking differently is at the core of our business.

It’s what we believe will ensure businesses are sustainable into the future.

Genevieve Always be openminded and curious, because you can learn something new from every single conversation you have.

What’s the one thing that you would have done sooner if you could go back in time?

Genevieve Read more books.

I wish I knew ten years ago how much you can learn just from reading books on leadership and business.

Learning the insights from other entrepreneurs and ultrasuccessful business people’s experiences and mistakes is invaluable!

Suzannah Learn computer programming. This is a goal for 2017. I’m sure our IT development team will appreciate this! There will be fewer stick-figure drawings in our Innovation Lab – where we collaborate and create new products and tools for our team (in both sales and property management). We currently have four full-time IT programmers on board, but the team is ever expanding.

Innovation has always been at the core of what we do at Toop&Toop. It is such an important part of our business and we believe using technology to deliver even more value to our customers is the way forward for real estate. Thinking differently and challenging what’s possible in our industry is what we are known for; this stems back 32 years to when Anthony Toop, our dad, first started the business. For us, launching the Innovation Lab was the next progressive step.

Our Innovation Lab has been recognised for national award-winning platforms such as the ToopVault (2017 Winner of the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) Innovation Award) and ToopFIX (2016

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“WE BELIEVE IT’S IMPORTANT TO CREATE A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION, HIGH WORK ETHIC, EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE AND [KEEPING] OUR CUSTOMER AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING WE DO” – SUZANNAH TOOP Winner of the REIA Innovation Award). We have been able to achieve unprecedented results for our clients through the use of technology and we’re excited at what the future holds in this space.

What other goals would you like to achieve?

Suzannah Lift the profile of the property management industry. My goal is to provide higher-level investment training to our team and move away from a business that ‘just collects the rent’.

We have already started this transformation within our own business. By creating significant efficiencies through innovation we’ve been able to reduce workloads, focus on investment training and improve our value-add proposition as well as deliver vastly improved results to our clients.

Genevieve This year we ticked one of my big goals off the list, winning the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s Large

Agency of the Year [award].

Competing locally to win this award at a state level is very difficult; to then be up against the best agencies across Australia and to win that is such a huge honour and something Suzannah and I really wanted to be able to achieve, so we were blown away at the awards. In terms of goals for the future, one I am really looking forward to that isn’t too far away is helping one of our fast starters, who started in the industry only two years ago, become a million-dollar agent! Being able to help our team achieve their goals is one of the best feelings there is.

What are your predictions for the real estate industry this year, especially in South Australia?

Suzannah Looking ahead, I see inefficiency as one of the biggest hindrances of growth for our industry. Keeping up with the growing consumer expectation is not only

important, it’s a must, or we risk becoming irrelevant. We need to be able to switch to ‘value-add’ mode as quickly as possible, all whilst ensuring our team are supported to pursue exceptional performance and results.

Genevieve The real estate industry as a whole is going to need to step it up another notch again in 2017. Global companies like Airbnb, Facebook and Google have made it known that real estate is an interesting space for them so, regardless of who or what might be coming, it is a huge opportunity for our industry to look at how we disrupt ourselves and provide an even more valuable experience to our clients now.

Innovation and efficiency will be the key enablers for us to be able to do this. In terms of our South Australian market, demand is still far outweighing supply so we expect to see the mid-range and luxury markets continue to rise with steady, consistent growth. The Adelaide market is drawing the attention of an increasing number of Eastern State buyers, as it truly is fantastic value for money.

What advice would you give someone starting out in real estate?

Suzannah Embrace it. It’s a lifestyle, not just a job. If you pour yourself into it, you’ll truly understand why it’s such a rewarding industry to be a part of.

Genevieve Take the time to research the agencies in your marketplace and make sure you are also interviewing them. You want to make sure you choose a company that’s going to provide you with the best tools and resources, and to provide your clients with the best possible service and experience.

A career in real estate involves building your own brand (personal brand) within a brand (agency brand), so it’s really important to work with a company that aligns with your values, beliefs and vision. 

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The Leadership Issue

BECOMING YOUR OWN BOSS

IF YOU DREAM of opening your own

agency one day, you may be wondering what’s in store for you. Cameron Nicholls recently went through the transition from agent to owning his own independent agency, and shares some of what he learned along the way.

S

ome of us have already done it; many more are toying with the idea. If you dream of opening your own agency one day, what would you need and how would you go about it?

HUNGER

If you asked me how to go from agent to owner, in one short answer I believe you must be hungry. Hungry to achieve your true potential, to bring your own visions, ideas and working style to life. Yes, you have to be a proven performer and most definitely possess an entrepreneurial spirit, but the hunger has to be there to steer your own ship and better represent your clients in the marketplace.

EXPERIENCE The second short answer I would use when asked how to go from agent to owner is through experience. It doesn’t happen overnight.

I started my real estate career as a receptionist – the office junior. From here I moved into property management and then on to sales. This was over the course of years, not months – in fact, just shy of 10

66 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

years. I studied first for my Certificate of Registration, then my real estate licence, as well as numerous industry-specific courses along the way. Knowledge is power and I have a thirst to learn all I can to stay ahead of the game.

Advances in technology have completely changed the face of real estate and it is extremely important to stay abreast of these changes. Be knowledgeable on the latest platforms and applications available to you as an agent and, more importantly, as an owner.

UP FOR A CHALLENGE It is hard, very hard. The first 12 months of owning your own business is thankless, unforgiving work. The long hours and minimal return will most certainly push you to your limits. This is where hunger comes back into play. If you are hungry, you push on.

These 12 months are crucial – it is when you will build the framework of your business and lay the foundations for its success. Get this part right and things will get easier from here, I promise.

way, since my very first day in real estate.

Nothing is more powerful than having people believe in you and cheer you on.

Quite frankly, you need this.

Network with like-minded professionals and people who share common goals.

Align yourself with positive influences.

It’s a harsh truth that people can bring you

The hunger has to be there to ‘steer your own ship’ and better represent your clients.

SUPPORT Surround yourself with good people. I am thankful to have an incredible mentor who has been with me every step of the

down, but people can also lift you up and help you succeed. Find those people; it is empowering.

SHOULD I TAKE THE RISK? As an agency owner, I can now bring an entirely new level of service to my clients – a highly personalised service where they are dealing directly one-on-one with the principal. It is my name on the door and I have a vested interest, now more than ever, to see the business succeed. I believe this translates to a profound level of care and a weighty incentive to achieve premium results.

I started my own business to take control of my future – one that is bright and knows no limits. This is terribly exciting.

So what are my top five things to remember when taking the plunge?

1. What’s the worst that can happen? If for some reason it doesn’t work out for you, you will be hired again.

2. Decide whether you want to create your own brand or become a franchise. If it’s a franchise, make sure you read the finer details and know your responsibilities.

3. You don’t need a fancy office to launch – most of us started working out of our own living rooms.

4. It won’t happen overnight, but hang in there as you will get there, as long as you’re prepared for some extreme highs and lows along the way.

5. Look for mentors to help guide you through the process, such as your old boss, family or friends who have successfully started their own business, or a combination. 

Cameron Nicholls is the Founder of Nicholls & Co Estate Agents – a vibrant new boutique agency in Abbotsford, Sydney.

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eliteagent.com.au 67

The Leadership Issue

Top 50 Industry Influencers 2017 THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY is full of colourful, interesting and hard working

personalities that continually shape our industry for the better. In this special leadership issue of Elite Agent we would like to acknowledge the contributions of these 50 influential leaders who inspire action, change the game, motivate others, break new ground and positively move the industry forward.

LEADERS INSPIRING ACTION DANE ATHERTON Managing Director and Head of Harcourts Coastal, Qld A true leader in every way, who continues to help to create many other leaders in the industry. “He runs a great business where people come first.”

JOHN CUNNINGHAM Managing Director, Cunninghams, current president REINSW

THOMAS LE HOANG CEO, Wiseberry Thomas is described as a big picture thinker and ahead of the curve as far as leadership goes. For a long time he has been a private man, building a franchise. But that may be about to change with him about to feature on Foxtel’s Industry Leaders. Watch this space.

JOHN MCGRATH Executive Director, McGrath Estate Agents John McGrath was the original ‘game changer’ in real estate creating a business based on integrity and transparency and world class service delivery. Today, he

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

– John Quincy Adams One of the great pillars of the industry for many years, and likely many more to come.

Friendly, personable and passionate about everything and everyone he touches.

PHIL HARRIS Managing Director and Founder, Harris Real Estate Phil Harris leads with action. A superb craftsman of real estate practice, Phil has emerged as an industry leader with an equipoise and wisdom that is normally the domain of a much older person.

remains at the top of the list of sought after trainers and coaches for his deep knowledge and passion for the industry.

EWAN MORTON Managing Director, Mortons In the industry for many years, Ewan is another who continues to win the hearts and minds of others. “Ewan Morton is one of those leaders who tells it how it is but at the same time has a keen mind and is always looking for ways of doing things better and more efficiently.”

ALEX OUWENS Director of Ouwens Casserly Real Estate and current president of REISA One half of a $10 million turnover business and the youngest president of REISA, Ouwens says of his role, “ensuring the real estate profession is looked after as best as possible is something that I feel is critical.”

SUZANNAH AND GENEVIEVE TOOP Co-CEOs of Toop&Toop Real Estate Known for innovation in projects across technology, finance and marketing dimensions in their successful SA business, the duo are also leaders in the wellness movement offering staff access to a 24 hour gym and a nourishing pantry to boost both productivity and positivity.

BRIAN WHITE Third Generation leader of the Ray White Group and Joint Chairman After being told in 1972 at age 31 by his father “It’s all yours to run. Be a good leader”, Brian White continues to live up to that legacy successfully at the helm of Australia’s biggest residential real estate group with over 1000 offices in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and Atlanta in the US. SHANNAN WHITNEY Director, BresicWhitney Sydney group BresicWhitney lead the way in pretty much everything, from marketing to PM, auctions and more. “Shannan is the outside the box thinker who is always a few steps ahead of everyone else.”

* LISTS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AND EXTENDED INFORMATION IS INCLUDED ON ELITEAGENT.COM.AU/INFLUENCERS2017 68 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

GAME CHANGERS AND RULE-BREAKERS FIONA BLAYNEY Founder and CEO Real+ There is no one in the industry that enjoys “breaking stuff” and then putting it back together better than Fiona Blayney of Real+. “Fiona has been around the industry for a long time, but that doesn’t stop her reinventing her own business and also helping others reinvent theirs.”

MELINA CRUICKSHANKS Marketing Director, Domain “A rallying cry for the enfranchised”. If you haven’t seen Avalon Now you haven’t lived.

Content marketing at its finest and most hilarious.

MATT LAHOOD CEO, The Agency Matt is that phenomenal mix of veteran and enthusiasm. Having experienced sales and organisational leadership through varied markets, Matt has stepped up as

“If you obey all the rules, you’ll miss all the fun” – Katherine Hepburn CEO of The Agency with nothing short of a revolution in mind for how property will be transacted in the future.

MARK MCLEOD Chief of Growth, Ray White A true industry thought leader that is also not afraid to tell it the way it is. “It’s only when we understand and acknowledge where the pain points for our customers are that we will have any opportunity to meet disrupters head on.”

TIM MOLLOY CEO, Console New to the industry, Tim was handed the task of moving to the cloud in double quick time. “It’s time for property managers to stop being happily dissatisfied; we want to make them happy,” says Tim. PETER MUMFORD Managing Director, Stone Real Estate Peter Mumford opened the first McGrath franchise on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and is continuing to blaze a trail starting his own franchise group, Stone Real Estate.

KATE STRICKLAND Director of Marshall White, Bayside Kate is a champion of doing things her way, working in “sprints” of 12 weeks and then taking plenty of time off to maintain worklife balance; at the same time mentoring and encouraging young agents to be the best they can be.

TONY WILLIAMSON Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Cairns Tony Williamson is a principal that is not afraid to call a spade a spade. Is there a doctor in the house? Yes there is. While he used to be an accountant by trade, he has made a very successful real estate career out of ‘listen, diagnose, prescribe”.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS Director, @home Property Management “If you’re looking for a quick fix for rent roll growth you won’t find it”, says Michelle.

Instead of calling it ‘customer service’ we should call it ‘business growth’. “No amount of marketing or listing presentation skill will outweigh word of mouth around service, particularly with the various social media platforms available today.”

LEE BAILEY Growth and Transformation Director, Lawlab With complex paperwork still being one of the major pain points around property transactions, Lee Bailey is looking to change all that with Lawlab via Rundl; enabling a full digital journey for vendors and purchasers that simplifies and speeds up the process.

FOLLOW THE LEADER STUART BENSON Corporate Sales Manager Domain Group and Director, Benson Auctions Wearing double hats is never easy, and now we can add celebrity TV commentator into the mix as Stu is now a regular guest on the Channel 7 sunrise show. While his calendar looks like it must be pretty full, he still manages to captures the interest of the crowds on social media with his no-nonsense, quick witted posts that gain serious engagement.

DANIEL IRWIN aka“AGENT DAN” Sales consultant at First National Altitude If you haven’t seen Agent Dan’s Facebook video montages, you have been missing out on a unique and hilarious mirror of the real estate industry. Dan’s take on buyers, open homes, competitors in the

videos and shows all real estate agents that if you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right.

GAVIN RUBINSTEIN Sales Consultant, Ray White Double Bay Top agent in Double Bay and the undisputed king of Instagram, Gavin continues to show what it means to lead the pack when it comes to excelling in the digital interview.

KYLIE DAVIS Head of Property Marketing, CoreLogic Australia At CoreLogic, Kylie is the “chief sensemaker” responsible for cutting through the jargon of complicated data analysis, understanding the stories property data can tell and communicating them to the business and the industry. In the last two years she has tirelessly worked to create thought leadership material on vendor perceptions, buyer perceptions, ‘Big Data’, Affordable Housing and Industry Leadership.

HAYLEY MITCHELL Director of Mitchell PT and curator of the National Property Management Community The PM community on Facebook chiefly curated by Hayley Mitchell has grown to almost 7,000 members to be a place of learning, growing, and sharing and a safe place for PMs when it’s been a rough day.

TOM PANOS Coach, Trainer, Auctioneer, Speaker On Sunday nights, Tom Panos regularly gets more views than 60 minutes and there’s a reason: his common sense, nononsense authenticity coupled with a deep knowledge the industry and human behaviour continue to help agents develop stronger mindsets and smash their goals.

JOSH PHEGAN Coach, Trainer, Speaker Speaking at more than 208 events last year across the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia, Josh is one of the truly global “go to” trainers in Australia.

GLENN TWIDDLE Coach, Trainer, Speaker Different strokes for different folks and there is no denying that Twiddle has a large and faithful tribe who swear by his training. While he looks tough and hangs out with Arnold Schwarzenegger, rumour has it he is actually a big softie.

“Leadership is not about a title or a designation.

It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.” – Robin Sharma

* LISTS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AND EXTENDED INFORMATION IS INCLUDED ON ELITEAGENT.COM.AU/INFLUENCERS2017 eliteagent.com.au 69

The Leadership Issue MONIKA TU Owner, Black Diamondz Group Monika was recently featured on China Central Television as an influential person in front of an audience of 1.3 billion, talking about her home and business in Australia.

BEN WAKELY Partner at Urban Property Agents Ben Wakely is an agent in Brisbane (Bardon) who is doing excellent work with social media as a tool to educate his market. His weekly ‘Facebook Lives’ are very popular among both agents and consumers.

SMART IS THE NEW COOL STEVE CARROLL Director of Sales, realestate.com.au, Speaker When we are talking about the future of real estate and how consumer behaviour is changing, we want to be talking to Steve.

EDDIE CETIN CEO, Agentbox A software CEO that sees the value in integrating with the outside world from a single pane of glass… why do things in multiple places, when it can be done from the one app?

NERIDA CONSIBEE Chief Economist, REA Group One of Australia’s leading property experts, Nerida is always looking at the trends and data to provide up to date content for SkyNews plus a range of media outlets (including Elite Agent) across digital, print, television and radio.

JOSH COBB CEO Stepps and host of The Real Estate Pros Podcast “What Josh has shared through his

“Never try to be a thought leader. There’s no value in that. Just try to add value.”

– Chris Brogan. services, his podcast and his workshops has raised the bar of the industry as a whole.”

NIGEL DALTON Chief Inventor, REA Group As chief inventor at realestate.com.au, the world always wants to know what’s cooking in Nigel’s kitchen.

GREG DICKASON CTO International CoreLogic Innovation and thought leader, Greg invented and managed the nationally used media maximiser product

which correlates advertising spend to selling success for real estate agents.

Recently he’s been involved in another groundbreaking bot project with Kylie Davis, to be released soon.

TIM LAWLESS Head of Research, CoreLogic Australia Tim’s expertise across property markets has positioned him as one of the country’s most experienced and popular property market analysts and commentators.

ALISTER MAPLE-BROWN CEO, Rockend Alister is a forward-looking CEO, having taken the reigns of an organisation with many years of history in the industry. Not content with leaving good enough alone, Alister’s team helps businesses grow and evolve with a constant eye on the future and technology trends.

JO-ANNE OLIVERI Founder, Ireviloution Always looking for the next game changer and how the bar can be raised in property management, Jo is regularly called upon to consult and comment both here and overseas.

BEN WHITE Director, Apmasphere Ben, through Apmasphere, has been assisting to change the property management industry for the past 10 years. With the introduction of Halo, Ben continues to be at the forefront of the PM industry.

CHAMPIONS OF SERVICE NICHOLA BYRNE AND ISABELLA LUCAS Event Managers, TRET If you’ve attended AREC, ARPM or an inhouse McGrath event in the last couple of years, then you will have experienced the spectacular work of these two ladies who pretty much do the work of two people each, always with big smiles, of course.

DAMIEN COOLEY Managing Director, Cooley Auctions Known for being one of Australia’s top auctioneers, Cooley is also a champion of the homeless; last August, the inaugural Real Estate Sleep Out raised almost $135,000 for Youth Off The Streets.

ANDREW CORONIS CEO, Coronis Andrew Coronis has grown his father’s one office into a wholly owned, end to end property group, while doing much good in the local community, supporting many charities including the Princess Alexandra Foundation, Leukaemia Foundation, Diabetes Queensland, Tour De Office, and more.

GLEN COUTINHO Director, RT Edgar Boroondara If the industry could define a “good guy” it has to be Glen Coutinho. Clearly a devoted husband and father of five, Glen’s ability to give of himself and his joy in seeing joy in other’s make him the ultimate service champion.

STEFANIE DOBRO Associate Director, Caporn Young WAs ‘Trusted Advisor’ in real estate, Stefanie Dobro has a full trophy cabinet and looked up to by many. Often known to just

“Heroes are ordinary people that make themselves extraordinary” – Gerard Way call someone out of the blue to say “great job”, Stefanie sets the ultimate positive example for women (and men) throughout the industry.

CLAUDIO ENCINA Coach, Trainer, Speaker Perhaps one of the ‘quieter’ coaches, Encina probably has the biggest heart of them all which is one of the things that sets him apart. If anyone needs help to Transform their career we know who to call.

CHRIS HANLEY OAM Principal, First National Real Estate Byron Bay Chris Hanley is a leader of leaders and has won the respect and affection of so many within the industry due to his generosity and central tenant that ‘good works’.

STACEY HOLT Founder, Real Estate Excellence Stacey Holt is a relentless guardian of property management best practice and compliance services. Serving as a front line property manager and office manager for over a decade, Stacey has walked the walk and her message resonates with many property managers who are on that line.

TANJA M JONES Coach, TMJ Coaching For Tanja it’s always about the people and being of service. While she is still fairly new to the industry she made a big splash as a head coach in Transform this year, gaining a myriad of new followers of her ‘Soul FM’ radio.

JET XAVIER Mindset Coach and Trainer Jet Xavier is one of Australia’s leading mindset and elite performance coaches who, in 2017 through his wellness survey is causing a shift towards a more balanced perspective of success. 

* LISTS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AND EXTENDED INFORMATION IS INCLUDED ON ELITEAGENT.COM.AU/INFLUENCERS2017 70 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

The Home Straight Mark McLeod

Spot the disrupter It’s only when we understand and acknowledge where the pain points really are for our customers that will we have any opportunity to meet disrupters head on, says Mark McLeod.

T

here is an image I saw recently of Fifth Avenue, New York, in 1900. The photo shows a busy street, full of horses and carts. The caption reads, “Spot the automobile”. Next to this photo is another image of Fifth Avenue. It’s the exact same shot, taken on the exact same day 13 years later. Now the caption reads, “Spot the horse”.

In just 13 years the landscape of New York traffic changed dramatically.

In recent times I have watched on social media as many agents wax lyrical about how disruption in our industry hasn’t occurred, and more than likely won’t ever happen. As late as yesterday, I followed a thread of agents mocking disruption.

At a recent conference I heard Dominic Thurbon speak. He made a comment that has never been truer: it is not the disruption itself that causes

the problem. What causes the problem is people who don’t think tomorrow will be any different.

Now when you cast your mind back to the New York photo, you can just imagine those businesses that built and sold the carts the horses were pulling saying, ‘This isn’t happening’ as automobiles started to appear on the streets.

What causes the problem is people who don’t think tomorrow will be any different.

You see, the word ‘disruption’ only applies to the last gasps of change, when invariably change was happening around us for years. In fact, Uber started in San Francisco long before anyone in Australia had heard of it.

Easter morning 1900: 5th Ave, New York City.

Spot the automobile

72 ELITE AGENT • JUN - JUL 2017

Our industry has already been disrupted; it was disrupted by ourselves – by those of us who refused to accept that our industry, and more importantly our customers, have changed.

We are receiving more digital inquiries than ever before, but our research shows that as an industry we still have little to no understanding of how to service these customers. Our findings

from as late as last week show that 20 per cent of digital inquiries are given no response.

Already we have seen big banks investing in the lead generation houses; if you follow the logic of that, the big banks have changed their

Easter morning 1913: 5th Ave, New York City.

Spot the horse

positioning on where they sit.

In a traditional turn of events the banks would be positioned at sale day. Now many are positioning themselves as early as the lead stage.

The opportunity exists for us as an industry to understand and acknowledge where the pain points are for our customers. It’s only in that recognition that we will have any opportunity to meet disrupters head on. People go to the lead generation houses because they haven’t had a relationship with any agent. They go to other sources because their digital experience is poor. They feel cynical about us as an industry because, when they sold a house three years ago, we took their money and haven’t spoken to them since.

Particularly in the east coast major city markets, we’ve seen a huge number of inquiries and huge numbers at open homes.

Our inability to service these people at any length continues to invite disrupters into our world.

For those of you who don’t think that disrupters are a problem, in a strange and weird way you are correct – because in actual fact we are the problem. 

Mark McLeod is the Ray White Group’s Chief Executive of Growth. He works alongside both agents and businesses across Australia, helping them reach their ultimate potential to achieve success.

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