ELITE AGENT Issue 01 Sep Oct 2014 [FULL]

VENDORS BEHAVING BADLY PAGE 18

LEARN FROM THE BEST #01 SEPT/OCT 2014 AU$7.50 + POSTAGE

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CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES

DO WE NEED MORE PORTALS? PAGE 24

CAN YOU GIVE A SERVICE GUARANTEE? PAGE 51

PREMIERE ISSUE OUTPERFORMING THE MARKET

Macquarie Bank on why the industry needs to focus on efficiency

Easy techniques to keep your clients happy and build your rent roll

GET THE LEAD, THEN DON’T GET BEATEN! Josh Phegan on winning the listing

HOW CONSISTENT MESSAGING WILL BUILD YOUR BRAND Tom Panos talks Attraction Agent 3.0

David Highland

GEARING FOR GROWTH

Premiere Issue We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has contributed to producing this magazine.

MY REAL ESTATE TRAINING

FROM THE EDITOR POST-IT NOTES. A couple of happy invention ‘accidents’ led to the creation of this muchloved office item by 3M and turned it into a desk drawer staple for those of us with dubious memories, giving us the means to stick important reminders to ourselves under our own noses. Throughout time, there have been many other creative uses for them. Shopping lists. Asking for a date. Marking up changes in a document.

Someone famously once used 12,000 Post-It notes to create a replica of the Mona Lisa.

Jack Berger broke up with my writing muse Carrie Bradshaw on a Post-It. And, if you are familiar with the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, you’ll remember that McDreamy and Meredith exchanged marriage vows on a blue Post-It, sticking it to their hospital locker as a reminder that from that point on they were together forever.

Ah, the romance. But actually, Post-It notes are the ultimate productivity tool.

How? Break up a big task or project into small bite-size pieces, or little micro chunks. Write each task on a separate yellow square and stick them on a wall or a door somewhere. You can put them in columns to signify stages of where you’re at (to-do, doing, done) or even have them arranged where you can group like tasks together. The beauty of this is that it becomes pretty easy to rearrange them into any order you like. When you have completed a task you can move your sticky note to the ‘done’ side of the wall and admire all your handiwork, or with an air of great satisfaction grab it from the wall, scrunch it up and shoot it basketball-style into the nearest wastepaper bin. Either way, it’s a pretty satisfying way to watch something that was once just a seedling of an idea become real and tangible.

Nelson Mandela famously said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Launching a new magazine is a pretty big job. There have been Post-It notes and to-do lists everywhere for almost a year now. Contributor wish lists. Advertiser wish lists. Online ideas. Ideas for ‘the Brief’.

A real estate ‘TV show’ concept. Graphs.

Cost models. Excel spreadsheets. Articles.

Design concepts. Contracts. Fonts. Style guides. Printer quotes. Yes, there have been a lot of Post-It notes in my world for the past year. And all in the name of bringing together a quality magazine that I hope the industry will enjoy, from news and events to learning from the best writers and coaches that the industry has to offer in sales, property management and leadership.

A place to find out about new products, suppliers and services. If every reader can take away just one thing from each magazine, if one person can enjoy flipping through its glossy pages during their lunch hour, it will totally make my year.

What have I learned: There is only one way you can get through that big yellow mountain of Post-Its. And that is to take one step at a time, and to have some really good people around you to help you on the way.

I was at a Business Chicks event a couple of years ago, and Ita Buttrose was the guest speaker. People who know me well know she is my hero. Every now and then when I find myself with a difficult question, just like we girls in the 80s tried to get inside Madonna’s head, I now think to myself instead, ‘What would Ita do?’. Anyway, at this event she said something that has resonated with me ever since and that is, “There is no way I can foresee how many steps it will take me to reach my goal. I will perhaps meet failure at the

thousandth step and yet success may be there, hidden behind the last bend in the road. I will never know how close I am to it if I don’t turn the corner. I will always take one more step. If this doesn’t work, I will take another and then another; one step at a time is not so very difficult. I will persevere until I succeed.”

Sometimes, fear and doubt do make the small steps difficult. There are times I still say to myself ‘Don’t think, just do’! Those close to me will also know that often my phone will buzz with some sort of motivational message that says ‘just keep going’. When that gets annoying (twice daily, every day) I’m really lucky to have some great people in my life, one in particular who showed up at the right time, held my hand when the entrepreneurial nerves hit, at times helped me choose which Post-It note to deal with, and even helped me deal with a few of them better than I could have alone. Then, there were a few high-fives and words of encouragement at the right times which were probably what really got me here. That, and my passion to help people learn in creative ways. So, ET was right, your passion does wake you.

Sometimes, at the oddest times. (And for that I am grateful for coffee!)

To my team: Marc, Herman, Jill, you guys are the best; thank you for your support over the past year. It’s great to have ‘the band’ back together.

To the industry: This magazine doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to you. I truly hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed creating it. Let me know what you think. And remember, no matter what you are aiming for, remember to always to take just one more step.

Follow me on twitter @samanthamclean *Post-It is a trademark of 3M

2 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

eliteagent.com.au eliteagent.tv Managing Editor/Director Samantha McLean samantha@eliteagent.com.au Sub-Editor Jill Boniface editor@eliteagent.com.au Online and Customer Service Manager Hermansyah Asrori newsroom@eliteagent.com.au Art Direction/Design Chorus Design thegoodpeople@chorusdesign.com Commercial and Subscriptions Manager Mark Edwards mark@eliteagent.com.au eliteagent.com.au/shopnow National Marketing Manager Terry Wright terry@eliteagent.com.au Advertising + Media Kit Enquiries advertising@eliteagent.com.au eliteagent.com.au/advertise BASS Publications Pty Ltd ACN 169 805 921 Postal Address: Suite 35, 4 Young Street Neutral Bay NSW 2089 Telephone (02) 8231 6669 Registered by Australia Post/Print Post 100020180

express COMMISSION

Editorial Submissions The publisher welcomes editorial submissions from individuals and organisations within the real estate profession. The publisher reserves the right to edit, modify, reject or contribute to the content of the material provided.

Some opinions expressed in Elite Agent Magazine are not necessarily those of it’s staff or contributing editors. Those opinions are reproduced with no guarantee of accuracy although Elite Agent Magazine endeavours to ensure those opinions and comments are factual. Š Elite Agent Magazine 2014. All rights reserved.

eliteagent.com.au 3

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Contents Regulars

6

EVENTS CALENDAR Dates for your diary – industry conferences and events.

8

UP FRONT News, announcements and new products direct from the industry.

24

TECH IN THE CITY Lisa Tremolada asks the question, ‘Does the industry need more portals?’

25

CREATIVE GENIUS In our new marketing column, Attila Kovacs from Industrie Media considers ways you can develop your ‘brand within a brand’.

4 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

26

LEADERSHIP Our leadership coaches, John and Stephanie McCloskey, take a look at how a softer approach to management can help you build your business.

50

PM MENTOR Our Property Management Mentor, Natalie Hastings, discusses the ways you can keep your trust account safe from fraud.

52

BD MASTERY Business Development expert Tara Bradbury examines the pros and cons of a service guarantee.

64

THE LAST WORD With an ability to mould classic concepts together with ever-evolving technology, Fiona Blayney argues that we really do have the best of both worlds.

First Person

14

GET THE LEAD, THEN DON’T GET BEATEN! Josh Phegan shares his top five tips to beat last-minute resistance and turn a lead into a listing.

16

NEVER LET ANYONE STAND BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMER CEO of LJ Hooker Grant Harrod says you need to remain the centre of the transaction, no matter what the technology.

18

VENDORS BEHAVING BADLY Kylie Davis talks to Andrew Winter of Selling Houses Australia about why homes don’t sell, and what you can do to fix it.

20

STOP CALLING PEOPLE ON FRIDAYS! Chris Chapman from Fletchers discusses why you should focus on certain activities at certain times.

22

THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS Referencing a cautionary tale, Michael Choi looks at how to protect your most important source of income.

Cover

28

DAVID HIGHLAND – GEARING FOR GROWTH Our inaugural cover agent is AREC 14 speaker and codirector of Highland Property Agents, David Highland.

20 28 52 Features

32

OUTPERFORMING THE MARKET This year’s Macquarie survey has found that a strong 12 months have led to increased revenue and profit for residential real estate agents.

What’s next?

34

HOW CONSISTENT MESSAGING WILL BUILD YOUR BRAND Tom Panos explains how the principles of Attraction Agent 3.0 can put you into the ‘elite’ category.

36

HIGH FIVERR Samantha McLean looks at more than 10 different ways you can save time and money on Fiverr.com.

58 38

ARE YOUR PRIVACY POLICY AND PRACTICES UP TO DATE? Ursula Hogben from Legalvision has some top tips for making sure you handle your clients’ and prospects’ personal information correctly.

40

AGENT PROFILE: CHRISTIE LEET We find out what it’s like to list and sell property in the beautiful Whitsundays from Christie Leet of PRDnationwide.

42

AIM HIGH Christina Guidotti discusses why you can’t afford to ‘settle’ if you really want to have it all.

44

FOUR STEPS TO TWICE THE ACCOUNTABILITY Tony Rowe has a four-step process for keeping staff engaged, motivated and productive.

01 September/October 2014

46

LIKE AND SHARE Iolanthe Gabrie, author of Home Truths Melbourne, examines how you can create better content online that won’t bore your audience.

48

BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND Lane Cathcart from Linklearn looks at ways to improve your personal brand.

EPM

52

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS Winner of the 2014 PPM National Property Management excellence award, Tammy Hutchinson from LJ Hooker Port Macquarie discusses her winning formula.

54

SEVEN TOPICS TO KICKSTART YOUR BLOG Blogging is not just for sales professionals, says Loretta Morgan.

56

PM PROFILE: PAUL SIGNORELLI Meet Paul Signorelli from Raine & Horne Marrickville.

58

LIFE-SAVING SAFETY TIPS It’s not all about systems and processes, says Debbie Palmer, we must all be more aware of safety concerns.

60

WHEN SHOULD YOU SELL? Matt Ciallella says it’s never too early to start planning the sale of your business.

62

13 STRATEGIES TO HELP RETAIN YOUR CLIENTS Jo Oliveri looks at how you can unlock a sustainable income stream by following her proven client retention strategies.

eliteagent.com.au 5

Events Conferences AREC 2015 Gold Coast, 31 May-1 June 2015 Ideas Exchange 2015 Sydney, 12 May 2015 Melbourne, 15 May 2015 LPMA (lpma.com.au) LPMA 2015 Conference Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort, 23 -24 April 2015 LPMA West Coast 2015 Conference Duxton Hotel, Perth, 29 - 30 Oct LPMNZ 2015 Conference Novotel Lakeside, Rotorua, 21 - 22 May 2015

International Events NAR Events (realtor.org/events) REALTORS® Conference & Expo New Orleans, 7 - 10 Nov REALTOR® Party Convention Washington DC , 12 - 17 May REALTOR® Party Trade Expo Washington DC, 14 - 15 May

Australian Events REIQ (reiq.com) How To Survive and Thrive in a Deregulated Marketplace Coorparoo, 23 Sept The Sale of Tenanted Properties Redcliffe, 24 Sept - 31 Dec Zone Breakfast - Redcliffe Redcliffe, 24 Sept - 31 Dec Selling Tenanted Properties Caboolture, 25 Sept - 31 Dec Contract Essentials and Conveyancing Coorparoo, 25 Sept The Sale of Tenanted Properties Hervey Bay, 1 Oct - 31 Dec Do’s & Don’ts of Presenting Multiple Offers Bundaberg, 2 Oct - 31 Dec Appraisal Guidelines for Assessing 20 Types of Businesses Coorparoo, 2 Oct

6 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

eliteagent.com.au/industryevents

Property Management Legislation Update Southport, 7 Oct Sales Legislation Update Soutport, 7 Oct The Sale of Tenanted Properties Runcorn, 8 Oct - 31 Dec Identifying Prospects Legally Coorparoo, 8 Oct Property Management Legislation Update Coorparoo, 9 Oct Sales Legislation Update Coorparoo, 9 Oct Experts Guide To Buying Queensland Property Coorparoo, 11 Oct The Sale of Tenanted Properties Jindalee, 15 Oct - 31 Dec REIV (reiv.com.au) Agent’s Representative Course Bendigo, 22 - 26 Sept Power Hour Series Camberwell, 22 Sept Safety Risks in Estate Agency Practice Camberwell, 25 Sept Residential Property Management Refresher Camberwell, 26 Sept Administrative Support Camberwell, 26 Sept Advanced Owners’ Corporation Management Camberwell, 29 Sept Digital Organisation - Evernote® Camberwell, 1 Oct Mobile Devices in the Property Sector Camberwell, 1 Oct Advanced Auctioneering Camberwell, 6 Oct Effective Conflict Resolution Camberwell, 8 Oct Property Management Knowledge Network Event Wangaratta, 9 Oct Being Tech Savvy in the Property Sector Camberwell, 9 Oct Agent’s Representative Course Frankston, 13 - 17 Oct Career Kickstart - Residential Property Management Camberwell, 13 - 16 Oct Managing Stress Camberwell, 14 Oct Digital Organisation - Evernote® Camberwell, 17 Oct Mobile Devices in the Property Sector Camberwell, 17 Oct

Coaching and Mentoring Camberwell, 21 Oct Awards for Excellence 2014 Crown Palladium Ballroom, 23 Oct REINT (reint.com.au) 2014 Awards For Professional Excellence Darwin Convention Centre, 11 - 12 Oct REINSW (reinsw.com.au) 2014 REINSW Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner Doltone House, 2 Oct 2014 Women in Real Estate Conference Dockside, 18 Nov REISA (reisa.com.au) REISA Sales Conference 2014 Stand and Deliver Adelaide Oval, 17 Sep Awards for Excellence in Real Estate The Adelaide Entertainment Centre, 3 Oct REISA Charity Golf Day 28 Nov REIA (reia.asn.au) EAC/REIA NSW Awards for Excellence 25 Sep Australasian REI Auctioneering Championships Auckland, New Zealand, 21 Oct National Awards for Excellence 12 Mar 2015 REIT (reit.com) SFO Workshop 2014 22 - 23 Sept HR Forum 2014 22 - 23 Sept REITWorld 2014 5 - 7 Nov

Trainers Stacey Holt/Real Estate Excellence (realestateexcellence.com.au) Brisbane PM Career Development (4) - Management matters East Brisbane, 3 Oct Brisbane PM Career Development (5) - Ending the tenancy and disputes East Brisbane, 21 Nov

Brisbane PM Career Development (6) - Tribunal East Brisbane, 2 Dec Terri Cooper (terricooper.com.au) The Secret Keys to Business Success Rochedale South, 18 Sept Take the Bull by the Horns Raceview, 23 Sept Gold Coast Free Networking Night Mermaid Waters, 21 Oct Josh Phegan (joshphegan.com.au) Real Estate MasterClass Double Bay, 17 Oct, 14 Nov South Yarra, Melbourne, 19 Sept, 24 Oct, 21 Nov Prospecting School Auckland, New Zealand, 13 Oct Double Bay, 14 Oct South Yarra, 20 Oct My Real Estate Training (myrealestatetraining.com.au) Experienced Agent License Program Melbourne 22-26 September 20-24 October 17 - 21 November Agent Rep Program Melbourne 30 September - 2 October 28 - 30 September 25 - 27 October Bob Walters (bobwalters.com.au) An Introduction to Essential PM Legislation Parramatta, 15 Oct Dealing with Difficult Customers Professionally Parramatta, 15 Oct Tribunal Essentials Parramatta, 13 Nov Active Communication in a Fast Paced World Parramatta, 13 Nov Real Estate Dynamics (realestatedynamics.com.au) BOSS Connect Rockhampton, 15 Oct Townsville, 24 Sept PM BOSS Connect Virtual, 7 Oct Reduce Disputes in Property Management Gladstone, 24 Sept

Newcastle, 8 Oct Cairns, 15 Oct West Tamworth, 21 Oct Mackay, 22 Oct Paddington, 28 Oct Ballina, 28 Oct Think Real Estate (thinkrealestate.net.au) Property Management - Part 2 Carlton, 17 Sept Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Ashfield, 18 Sept Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Ashfield, 19 Sept Trust Accounting Carlton, 19 Sept Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Wollongong, 22 Sept Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Wollongong, 23 Sept

Agency Risk and Legislation Carlton, 24 Sept Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Killara, 25 Sept Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Killara, 26 Sept Sales Day - Part 1 Hornsby, 26 Sept Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Penrith RSL, 29 Sept Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Penrith, 30 Sept Finance Units Carlton, 1 Oct Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Dee Why, 2 Oct Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Dee Why, 3 Oct Auctioneer Accreditation Carlton, 3 Oct

Real Estate Licence Course - VIC Melbourne, 6 - 10 Oct Trust Accounting Carlton, 8 Oct Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Carlton, 9 Oct Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Carlton, 10 Oct Property Management - Part 1 Hornsby, 10 Oct Changing Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Gosford, 13 Oct 4 Day Certificate of Registration Course Bowler’s Club of NSW, 13 - 16 Oct Getting the Business in the First 30 Seconds Gosford, 14 Oct Sales Day - Part 1 Carlton, 15 Oct Challenges for Property Managers in 2014/15 Neutral Bay, 16 Oct

PPM Group (ppmsystem.com) Office Layout Set Up Virtual, 18 Sept Managing Difficult Clients All States, 22 Sept Human Resource Management Virtual, 25 Sept Refresher & New Staff Induction Virtual, 2 Oct Smart Routine Inspection Tips All States, 6 Oct PPMSystem Income And Bottom-Line Virtual, 9 Oct How To Be The Master Of Your Time All States, 13 Oct Office Layout Set Up Virtual, 16 Oct How To Secure The Best Tenant All States, 20 Oct The ABC’s Of Listing Presentations All States, 27 Oct

To view these and more events online visit eliteagent.com.au/industryevents To add an event to the calendar free of charge visit eliteagent.com.au/industryevents/community/add

eliteagent.com.au 7

UPFRONT

LEARN FROM THE BEST – VISIT ELITEAGENT.COM.AU

Homegrown property intelligence nearmap Property brings an alternative to the established players in the property market with a powerful interactive suite of visual and analytical property intelligence tools. nearmap Property features two products, an Agent Reporting Tool called ART and a property add-on for nearmap’s MapBrowser.

ART is a nation-wide CMA Report generation tool, enabling real estate agents to produce instant customised reports, including Estimated Value on any house, with a single click.

Rob C, residential real estate agent at Laing & Simmons, Woollahra, said, “ART was different to any other browser interface I have used before; it is easy to use, it is easy to understand and easy to control.”

The MapBrowser Property add-on is an industry first and enables users to discover unparalleled insights across Australian properties, improving investment prospecting with visual analytics via nearmap HotSpotsTM and nearmap HotPropertiesTM as well as allowing users to cross-check cadastral and property boundaries. nearmap HotSpotsTM uses nearmap’s exclusive layers of geographic property data, such as median sales prices, vacancy rates and rental yields, socio-economic insights and other demographics to accurately pinpoint the most desirable (and profitable) property hotspots anywhere in Australia.

The MapBrowser Property add-on also finds the bargain property opportunities, automatically identifying nearmap HotPropertiesTM where the asking price is less than the estimated value. It also features strata count information. “nearmap Property users get a comprehensive CMA with the most up-to-date, spectacular aerial imagery in Australia, an accurate estimated value, the ability to choose comparables, incredible easeof-use, easy customisation, and tablet compatibility all with blistering fast performance,” said Paul Peterson, Senior Vice President – Product and Engineering, nearmap.

Mr Peterson continued, “We are so confident that nearmap Property will shake the property industry to its core that we are offering all of those tools in a single agent package. We say become the expert, get ahead, have the insight of your local area like no one else and don’t get left behind with old slow data; wipe your competition off the map.”

The data that drives nearmap Property is supplied by Hometrack Australia. Hometrack is the pre-eminent supplier of property analytics and AVM in the UK; it was also the first to be used by the Big Four banks in Australia for property analytics and AVM. Visit nearmap.com/property for more information.

8 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Free trial from The Copy Cat Real estate agents are not often stuck for words, but when it comes to descriptive copywriting for property advertisements it can be quite time-consuming to come up with that elusive phrase that makes a property listing stand out, rather than blend in with the rest.

If you find yourself short of time and resorting to the same old clichés to describe your properties, then The Copy Cat could be just what you need to gain that competitive advantage. The Copy Cat is an online productivity tool that removes the burden of producing professional and creative copy for real estate ads.

With just a click of your mouse,

hundreds of headings and thousands of phrases covering key copy elements such as aspect, setting, view, dwelling, amenities and closings can be easily retrieved from a comprehensive database that lies behind the website. The site can be accessed from any location, at any time, using a username and password.

To assess the value of this website, simply visit thecopycat.com. au, click on the ‘7 Day Free Trial’ button and register. A username and password will be emailed to you so you can freely access the website for a seven-day obligationfree period.

EAC AND REIA NEW SOUTH WALES AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

The Estate Agents Co-operative and the Real Estate Institute of Australia will this year hold the EAC/REIA New South Wales Awards for Excellence, recognising the real estate industry’s top performers from the NSW Affiliate Council Members of the REIA, including Estate Agents Co-operative members, LJ Hooker, Professionals and First National offices.

“New South Wales real estate professionals have not been able to enter the awards for some years now, but with the introduction of the New South Wales awards this situation has now changed,” said David Crombie, EAC CEO. “Like the Australasian Real Estate Institutes’ Auctioneering Championships, these awards provide the winning offices with the opportunity to be recognised at both a state and a national level.”

For more information visit the EAC / REIA New South Wales Awards for Excellence Event Page.

To arrange an interview please contact David Crombie, Chief Executive Officer – EAC.

Welcome to Australia’s home for property investors.

As part of the carsales.com.au family, we have the genuine advantage of being the only property website with cross-network reach to millions of Australians every day. homesales is unique in that we’re dedicated to investors, which means we’re focused on reaching a targeted and lucrative audience for you.

Learn more by visiting agents.homesales.com.au or phone 1300 291 914

‘The realAs price’ has the potential to change the way Australians search for and buy homes. It’s the product of a revolutionary new app that predicts how much a home will sell for (on average, within 5% of actual sale prices) while it encourages buyers to exchange views about homes they have seen.

The app’s core functionality is its learning algorithm that grows more accurate as more people use it. The algorithm has been developed over three years by computer scientists at RMIT University. realAs is backed by a stellar team of investors. Cofounded by Australia’s first buyers’ advocate, David Morrell, realAs has the backing of an impressive board of respected Melbourne identities from across real estate, law, sport, digital and marketing, including Morrell, Andrew Newbold, Jeremy Press and Josh Rowe.

“It’s a very smart algorithm that listens to buyers… it understands what’s a good property, it understands what’s a bad property and it understands what the property value is”, says Morrell.

For investors, realAs provides a critical data point regarding accurate sale price predictions.

For more information visit realAs.com.

Putting local businesses to the test Leading tradesmen service provider, Tradebusters, has launched a new service to help homeowners find the best local businesses – and with only three prime positions available, it has local companies competing to secure a position in its exclusive network.

Tradebusters was one of the first companies in Australia to introduce a personalised tradesmen concierge model for connecting homeowners to pre-qualified tradesmen. Now it is doing the same with Tradebusters Connect by putting local businesses to the test with its invite-only premium listings.

And the Tradebusters difference – only three businesses by profession and area will be listed, meaning the company is committed to sourcing only the best, most reputable businesses as service providers for its online site and profiling them as Tradebusters Premium 3 Connections.

Laorence Nohra, CEO of Tradebusters, said, “Unlike most online directories, Tradebusters Connect does not allow any business to register.

Our goal is to help consumers with three solid, quality choices (and not just a long list of random names) and take away the time, guesswork and 10 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

risk that is normally involved.

“Many market research surveys confirm that consumers value recommendations and that it continues to be the most influential source of advertising,” Ms Nohra said.

“With our business selection processes, it’s like going for a job interview as it includes face-to-face meetings and thorough reference checks. This offers great peace of mind to any homeowner using the service and wanting to connect with one of the listed businesses. Our motto is simple: We don’t accept just anyone!”

The benefit for local businesses of being part of Tradebusters Connect for reputational and credibility value was confirmed at the company’s July launch event, which had over 86 per cent of attendees interested in participating in the new service.

“For established local businesses in property maintenance, real estate and finance, it provides an excellent opportunity to stand out from their competitors and to be valued for the reputable operators they are,” concluded Ms Nohra.

For further information visit www.tradebustersconnect.com.au.

UPFRONT

LEARN FROM THE BEST – VISIT ELITEAGENT.COM.AU

realAs: a new disruptive technology may shake up the real estate industry in Australia

YOUNGER DAVOREN APPOINTED DIRECTOR

Joel Davoren has joined Michael Davoren, Keith Walker and Chris Chapman as a Director of RE/MAX franchise operations in Australia and New Zealand.

“The Board’s decision to appoint Joel is in response to his performance in the organisation and the commitment he has demonstrated to our industry at large,” said Managing Director Michael Davoren.

“The Board recognises the level of expertise and relevance Joel brings to the table as aligning with the new decision-makers who will shape successful franchise groups in an industry that is trending towards younger professionals.”

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) has already called upon the expertise of Joel Davoren, to help guide its future direction through its Young Industry Professionals (YIP) advisory group tasked with helping to shape the Institute’s progression.

Joel Davoren is a third generation real estate professional following grandfather James (Jim), a Gold Coast real estate identity from the mid-1960s to early 80s, and father Michael Davoren.

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13

CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES

E DO WE NEED MOR 24 PORTALS? PAGE

SERVICE CAN YOU GIVE ?APAGE 51 GUARANTEE

E PREMIERE ISSU ING OUTPERFORM RKET THE MA rie Bank on

Macqua why the industrys needs to focu on efficiency

If you would like additional copies delivered to your office or home address you will need to subscribe.

to Easy techniquests happy keep your clien roll and build your rent

GET THE LEAD, THEN DON’T !

EN GET BEAT on Josh Phegan ng winning the listi

HOW CONSISTENT MESSAGING WILL BUILD D YOUR BRAN s Tom Panos talknt 3.0 Attraction Age

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UPFRONT

CENTURY 21 APPOINTS NEW NATIONAL TRAINING MANAGER

Century 21, the largest real estate sales organisation in the Asia Pacific region, today announced the appointment of Alastair Kay to the new role of National Training Manager.

This new role will report directly to the Chairman and Owner of Century 21 Australasia, Charles Tarbey, and will see Alastair responsible for streamlining Century 21’s leading industry training program using new tools such as webinars to ensure world-class training is available to every office in the network.

Born in Melbourne and raised in Cobram Country, Victoria, Alastair Kay really does come from a family with real estate in the blood, having been employed in the family office after school during his early years.

“As a child, I always knew real estate would form a large part of my life and I’ve tremendously enjoyed the opportunities that have been offered to me over the past seventeen years in this industry,” said Alastair Kay. “I’m very excited to be joining the Century 21 network and be at the forefront of the implementation of some exciting new programs moving forward,” concluded Alastair Kay.

12 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Raine & Horne appoints national property manager Raine & Horne has landed a major coup with the appointment of experienced property management ace, Lauren Kirk, as its Business Support and Development Manager.

A second-generation real estate specialist, Ms Kirk, who originally cut her teeth in the highly-competitive residential letting market in London, comes to Raine & Horne with extensive property management, sales and corporate experience.

“Lauren, who joins us from the corporate office of one of our major competitors, worked for a major independent real estate brand in Sydney and an office of another major real estate group located in the Newcastle/Hunter region,” said Angus Raine, Chairman/ CEO of Raine & Horne.

“This is the first time we’ve had a dedicated property management executive and it’s yet another potential service offering to our offices.”

From rookie to star agent – Alex Waters wins major award ALEX Waters, 24, has won the 2014 Changed Agents Award after just 15 months in the real estate industry.

Mr Waters beat 38 entrants, including three other finalists, from across Australia for the prestigious award, which recognises the changes real estate industry leaders have made to drastically increase their sales performance.

A former Arnott’s Biscuits sales manager, Mr Waters admitted when he left Sydney for West Australia he knew nothing about real estate.

“My last boss, when I left, gave me a book by John McGrath and I didn’t know who he was,” Mr Waters said. “I started as a sales agent straight away and it was sink or swim time.

“I have done fairly well.”

Mr Waters joined Crawford Realty Karratha, in West Australia’s Pilbara region, in April last year and immediately made a huge impact.

In his first year as a sales consultant Mr Waters wrote $900,000 gross commission income (GCI),

with $265,000 in October alone.

By the end of the 2013/14 financial year Mr Waters had cemented his position as the region’s highest selling agent and had gained an impressive 41 per cent market share.

“I love everything about the industry, I love the drive and the energy it has,” Mr Waters said.

“It’s changed my life and changed my outlook on things. It’s changed me as a person and introduced me to a positive way of life.”

The award is the brainchild of high performance real estate speaker, trainer and coach, Josh Phegan.

Launched in 2013, Mr Phegan said the award recognised amazing agents who had “gone from zero to hero” in less than a year.

He said the four finalists in the award had 15 minutes at the Real Estate BluePrint Conference in Sydney to present their success stories before their peers judged the winner on August 14.

“It would have been a hard decision as the finalists were nothing short of exceptional,” Mr Phegan said. “Some have had very short careers and have made some massive changes and done a lot of things in a short period of time to grow their sales and grow their incomes. Receiving career recognition of change will encourage them to do more of it.”

As the award winner Mr Waters received $2,500 cash, a day’s training with Josh Phegan and $2,500 print advertising from Domain.

EVENTS

SEEN & HEARD

There have been some huge real estate events in the past 12 months, and the most recent have featured local talent with international superstars. Here are some highlights from Glenn Twiddle’s “Be Phenomenal”, Aaron Shiner’s “Real Estate Recharge” and ARPM14.

Be Phenomenal

Real Estate Recharge

ARPM 14

Be Phenomenal and Real Estate Recharge images courtesy of Industrie Media (industriemedia.tv).

For more event photos visit eliteagent.com.au/septevents eliteagent.com.au 13

FIRST PERSON

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx Josh Phegan

Get the lead, then don’t be beaten!

REAL ESTATE LEADS DON’T turn into listings and property sales

with the wave of a magic wand. Josh Phegan, one of Australia’s leading real estate coaches, has some advice to ensure that agents don’t lose the lead.

SOLID LEADS are both the

lifeblood and the bane of real estate agents’ existence.

When you’re converting leads to listings and sales you feel invincible and suddenly all is right in your property world.

Without leads or without converting leads, you have no listings and without listings you can’t make sales.

The trouble many agents face is avoiding the ebb that follows a flow of listings.

14 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Just like a sapling needs water and sunshine to grow into a tree, agents need to nurture leads if they want more potential vendors signing on the dotted line.

A recent survey I conducted with my clients revealed 28 per cent felt turning leads into listings and listings into sales was the biggest issue in their business.

One agent said listings were down 35 per cent across the

market, another said “no-one is ready to sell yet,” and a third deplored “listings are more difficult than they have ever been and there is very little stock”.

The challenge agents face is overcoming last-minute resistance from potential sellers.

Objections are a natural part of the sales process and potential vendors could bemoan putting their property on the

market for a range of reasons.

I urge my agents to delve deep and discover why their client is selling, where they are going and in what timeframe they are moving.

Clients’ problems could include a birth or a death in the family, a marriage or a divorce, relocation, financial gain or loss and lifestyle issues.

Perhaps a seller has lived in the property for 50 years and is struggling emotionally with the thought of selling, maybe they need to find a new home first or they may have blinkers on when it comes to selling their property at any time other than spring.

Whatever the objection, savvy agents need to know how to jump the resistance hurdle.

These are my top five tips to beat last-minute resistance and turn a lead into a listing.

1. TAILOR MARKETING TO YOUR CLIENT The first step in the process is to identify your client’s needs and then sell the features

and benefits that specifically relate to their situation.

Remember if the customer can’t see the difference they won’t pay the difference.

If a client is shopping around based on agent fees and has been quoted one per cent by rivals then you need to adapt your pitch to suit. The first thing you need to do is book

You should try to book at least one, or preferably three, appointments per day with potential sellers.

4. PROGRESS THE CUSTOMER AT EVERY POINT OF CONTACT Take the client to the next stage of the sales process each time you contact them.

Many clients tell me they

A recent survey I conducted with my clients revealed 28 per cent felt turning leads into listings and listings into sales was the biggest issue in their business. the appointment, as it gives you a chance to sell why you are different and should be their preferred agent.

You can always value-add later.

2. PROSPECT AHEAD OF THE CURVE If you want to sell properties now, don’t wait until the last minute to find them.

If you know that potential vendors become hesitant when they feel uncertain, allow yourself time to reassure them so they feel confident with the sales procedures.

I suggest prospecting two months in advance, so if you want to have a good August, start listing properties in June.

If your client wants to sell and reach settlement before Christmas then the next five weeks is the time to list their home.

3. SPEND YOUR FIRST HOUR EVERY DAY ON MARKETING Prospecting is not a sometimes activity, it’s an all the time activity.

Every day make sure you are doing at least one and preferably two or even three phone call sessions.

You need to measure your calls, how many times you speak with a potential vendor and how many appointments you set up.

only follow up a lead with one phone call and if the client says they’re not ready to sell, they’ve hit a dead end.

The trick is not to give up.

Instead, ask the client what they would like to happen.

This lets you know what you need to do to move along in the sales process.

5. SHOW YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN There can be a big difference in what customers believe is an important step in the sales process and what actually needs to happen.

You need to show them what the next step is as clients have often not sold their home before or it has been a long time since they have done so.

One of my clients had a vendor who didn’t realise they needed the contract of sale prepared prior to taking their property to market, sometimes you just need to guide them through.

Josh Phegan is a renowned coach, trainer and speaker for high performance real estate agents and agencies across the globe. Josh coaches more than 180 real estate agents and more than 60 per cent of his clients write in excess of $600,000.

For more information visit joshphegan.com.au.

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goto.nearmap.com/geeresh eliteagent.com.au 15

FIRST PERSON

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx Grant Harrod

Never let anyone stand between you and your customer THERE IS A NEED for real estate specialists to reposition

themselves as being at the centre of transactions, writes LJ Hooker CEO Grant Harrod.

TECHNOLOGY has transformed

how we live, interact and work. It creates efficiencies in our daily operations and solves problems in real time.

Every industry has been transposed to varying degrees by the advent of new technological innovations. The

16 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

changes which have affected the way the real estate industry operates are obvious.

Our customers have embraced change, become technologically savvy and their expectations have increased as a result.

But while the online world

has offered numerous conveniences, its growth has also worked to disintermediate many industries and the players within it.

An example of this trend of disintermediation is the insurance industry.

With our time poor lives, we

don’t think twice about going online nowadays to secure car insurance. A few short clicks and we can be on our way.

But rather than using the online world to augment their services, the insurance industry allowed itself to be completely commoditised by online transactions and lost its ability to engage personally.

Insurance specialists lost their perspective and appreciation of the needs and preferences of their customers.

And now the insurance industry is forced to pay aggregators to acquire customers. Why? Because the old world of shop fronts was an onerous experience where you’d be forced to wait in interminable queues, fill out exhaustive reams of paperwork and then wait to be ‘approved’.

I’ve been asked whether the real estate industry, with its proliferation of real estate portals, could be exposed to a

similar downfall.

The answer is no. However, complacency and apathy – the failures of any industry – are ever present.

At LJ Hooker, we foster a culture in which our sales people are driven to understand customer service, and the need to go beyond what all our competitors offer.

We make sure our offices are engaging, dynamic and inviting. Their appearance and functionality are part of the benchmarks we have set for customer service.

We must never lose sight of the fact that selling via agents is the most effective channel for all participants. If we become complacent of this fact, we lose our role within the real estate transaction.

There is a key axiom in long term sustainability of business: never let anyone stand between you and your customer.

As an industry, we must constantly reinvent ourselves so we forever remain relevant

ability to personalise our service, and achieve results for all stakeholders.

Our agents live within the communities they serve and utilise this advantage in their daily operations. Their daily interaction with vendors and buyers enables them to understand key emerging trends which are integral in tailoring customised and effective marketing programs to provide superior customer service.

Our training programs ensure our agents respond to the changing needs of a marketplace, improve their own personal standards and, above everything else, understand the intrinsic value they offer to the real estate transaction.

Through this process of improvement and adaptation, and harnessing the full suite of technology to assist us to reach out to consumers and best promote listings, we will be able to build the individual

OVER

900 SALES CONSULTANTS

Technological innovations must never usurp our practice or our value proposition. We can take many learnings from how other industries have failed in this regard. to the consumer, whose needs are constantly changing. We need to be much more than the data we produce.

Granted, within the internet age, consumers will research real estate information online through a multitude of portals, real estate libraries and other offerings. But when they are ready to activate their plan, whether it’s buying or selling, they will always engage a real estate specialist in which they identify value.

Our role within the real estate transaction is much more than listing. Our value proposition is our knowledge, our network of relationships,

profiles of agents and offices, and continue to improve the way we communicate with our clients and customers.

But technological innovations must never usurp our practice or our value proposition. We can take many learnings from how other industries have failed in this regard.

A highly skilled and professional real estate sales professional will always be central to the process of buying and selling real estate, it’s just up to our industry to ensure that it stays that way.

Grant Harrod is the CEO of LJ Hooker.

1300 505 539 industriemedia.tv Sydney I Canberra I Brisbane I Gold Coast I Melbourne I Adelaide I Perth

eliteagent.com.au 17

FIRST PERSON

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx Kylie Davis

Vendors behaving badly

HOME NOT SELLING? Kylie Davis from RP Data talks to Andrew

Winter, host of award-winning television show Selling Houses Australia, about why homes don’t sell and what you can do to fix the problem of vendors behaving badly.

THERE ARE three reasons why properties don’t sell, according to Andrew Winter, host of award-winning television show Selling Houses Australia.

Each of these reasons has a common cause – they are all based on a lack of understanding by vendors, either about the process of selling or about how the market is behaving.

But how do you handle recalcitrant vendors? They are, after all, one of the great and common hazards of selling real estate.

What you need to do is guide vendors towards a greater understanding of the value of their home, the market they are in and the best way to sell it, by presenting relevant, recent data, rather than engaging in an opinion fuelled debate.

Andrew told me about the key ways in which vendors misbehave, and I’ve matched them to solutions to help you empower your next vendor conversation.

VENDORS WHO HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE COMPETITION “Often sellers focus on sales in their area from recent years or even months ago, while many others simply have no idea or clue what else is happening in their marketplace,” says Andrew.

“This is a fundamental error and one we deal with on the show all the time. Selling is all about the competition – what is

18 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

for sale right now, in your area, similar homes to yours and similar price/value ranges.”

What agents can do: The CMA report is a key tool in helping vendors understand what homes like theirs have sold for recently. But equally, agents can provide vendors with a list of homes similar to theirs which are currently on the market and encourage their vendors to go to the open for inspections to get a feel for the competition.

“Being aware of the competition helps vendors understand if and why they need to consider improvements, or how well placed their home is to compete in their market,” Andrew says. “Agents can play a much larger role in making it easy for vendors to get this knowledge.”

VENDORS WHO DON’T TAKE THE MARKETING SERIOUSLY “Good agents know you cannot sell a secret, but still the myth persists in the mind of some sellers that marketing a

Managing vendor expectations is one of the toughest things to do in real estate: vendors traditionally seem to over-inflate local gains in price when applied to their own home, and dismiss price falls on the basis that those factors don’t apply to them.

Agents really do need to have those tough conversations early on with vendors, otherwise it nearly always ends in tears. property is unnecessary if an agent is good; or alternatively that marketing is just so agents can extract more money from vendors,” says Andrew.

“It’s all rubbish, of course.

Agents need to encourage vendors to invest in marketing and be involved with the process. Allow your vendor to read all the ads you prepare for them, read all online content, and proof read everything.”

What agents can do: Showing vendors how properties like theirs were marketed and the result they achieved is a really powerful way to demonstrate to vendors the power of marketing.

Analyse the impact of the different kinds of marketing and how they affect the final price and time on market. Available data shows conclusively that a combination of print and online advertising is the most effective way to promote a home, resulting in less need to discount and a faster sale. This information can be incorporated into your CMA and provides definitive evidence to support a vendorpaid advertising pitch.

VENDORS WHO ARE NOT REAL WITH THEIR PRICE EXPECTATIONS “Most homes sell for market value; many may sell for slightly less if supply exceeds demand, and some may exceed the believed value due to a boom in the market – but huge demand and a very low supply are the ingredients for this pretty rare phenomenon,” says Andrew.

“But hardly ever will a property sell for considerably more than market value, even though this is a dream many vendors firmly believe and cling to. Agents really do need to have those tough

conversations early on with vendors – otherwise it nearly always ends in tears.”

Managing vendor expectations is one of the toughest things to do in real estate: vendors traditionally seem to over-inflate local gains in price when applied to their own home, and dismiss price falls on the basis that those factors don’t apply to them.

What agents can do: There are many tools that can manage vendor price expectations and keep them real.

RP Lister, for example, is an iPad app that allows agents to upload properties similar to the vendors and then engage the vendor in deciding by moving a sliding bar if their property has features that are stronger or weaker than those shown. At the end of the process, a price expectation is generated by the app, giving the vendor a firm outline of a likely value on their home based on the competition and their own assessment.

ACROSS

MORE THAN

300 AGENCIES

Kylie Davis is Head of Real Estate Solutions at RP Data.

She spent nearly four years as Network Editor of Real Estate at News Corp Australia, creating a national desk of real estate reporters across more than 100 titles and training them in the use of data and market journalism. She has a 25-year career in media across News and Fairfax, and as a 20-something was the founder and publisher of hyper-local newspaper The Village Voice.

Follow her on Twitter @RPData_KylieDavis.

Andrew Winter is the host of Selling Houses Australia on Lifestyle. Follow him on twitter @andrewtwinter.

1300 505 539 industriemedia.tv Sydney I Canberra I Brisbane I Gold Coast I Melbourne I Adelaide I Perth

eliteagent.com.au 19

FIRST PERSON

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx Chris Chapman

Stop calling people on Fridays

HIGH-PERFORMING AGENTS can usually reel off the key numbers

associated with their business: appraisals per week, appraisal to listing ratio, average sale price, average commission and listing conversion rate. Do you know which activities work best at what times? Chris Chapman of Fletchers Real Estate says it’s about working smarter, not harder.

ONE OF THE first things I was told when I started in real estate in 2007 was ‘what gets measured, gets improved’. In other words, if you want to make improvements in your business it helps to have a clear and objective understanding of your current position. The most detailed map in the world is useless if you don’t know where you are to start with.

My current position, at that stage, was sitting behind a desk with no listings and no client database. So I started calling people in my area and keeping detailed records of each call.

The numbers on Monday to Thursday were quite consistent – I needed to dial 25 phone numbers to speak with seven or eight home owners and book one market appraisal.

On Fridays the numbers told a different story - I had to dial 100 numbers to get that one appraisal. For whatever reason, people just didn’t respond well on Fridays.

Knowing your numbers is about working smarter, rather than harder; being more efficient rather than working longer hours. I wanted to know the best activities to be doing, and the best times to be doing them. So I stopped calling people on Fridays.

I keep a spreadsheet recording every market

20 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

appraisal I have been to since 2008, tracking details like location, where the client came from and the price range of the property. At one point I noticed that over the course of a year I had done 12 appraisals in one particular suburb (Hurstbridge), exactly none of which I had successfully listed. Either the properties were not progressing to market, or if they were the vendors were choosing another agent.

Knowing your numbers is about working smarter, rather than harder.

Meanwhile over the same period I had done 20 appraisals in my home town of North Warrandyte and listed 12 of them. It made no sense for me to spend time chasing listings in an area that was just not paying off. Since then any leads in Hurstbridge have been referred to someone else and I have focused my attention on getting more leads in the areas where the conversion rate is better.

High-performing agents

can usually reel off the key numbers associated with their business: appraisals per week, appraisal to listing ratio, average sale price, average commission and listing conversion rate. They know which areas of the business to focus on in order to have the biggest positive impact on their bottom line.

Apart from the tangible benefits of knowing the key numbers, the process of recording and tracking key indicators means you are focusing on the important elements of your business. You are working on your business rather than just working in it.

Knowing your key numbers will also give you the building blocks for your business plan.

Many successful agents start with the amount of money they would like to generate in gross commission, and work backwards to map out how they will get there.

For example, an agent wanting to generate $500,000 in commission, assuming an average fee of $10,000, would need to list and sell 50 properties – roughly four per month. From keeping track of her appraisals and listings, this agent knows that for every five appraisals she goes to she will get one listing, so she implements a target of 20

appraisals per month.

She also knows that on average she needs to speak with 15 homeowners, either on the phone or in person, to book an appraisal; so she now has a target of speaking with 300 property owners each and every month in order to proactively generate the income she wants. She also knows that Friday is a terrible day for prospecting in her area and that mornings are twice as effective as afternoons, so she structures her weekly plan accordingly – in the office in the mornings, out meeting people in the afternoons and evenings.

Likewise, you can use KPIs with your vendors to make sure your sales campaigns are successful. Setting targets with your vendors at the start of each campaign can be very powerful; for example, at your

PARTNER

WITH US TO BUILD

THEM

A STRONG

ONLINE

BRAND Success doesn’t necessarily come from working seven days a week or being the last person in the office each night making phone calls. ‘set to sell’ meeting you might set a goal of 15 to 20 buyers at the first open house and at least one genuine offer in the first two weeks. If these goals aren’t met, have a clear plan in place to get the campaign back on track.

Success in the real estate industry doesn’t necessarily come from working seven days a week or being the last person in the office each night making phone calls. It comes from having clearly written goals and a systemised plan

to achieve them. Knowing your numbers will lay the foundation for that plan.

Chris Chapman is a Senior Associate with Fletchers in Melbourne. He was recently awarded the 2013 REIV Residential Salesperson of the Year (non-principal) and also won the Harold Fletcher award for Number One Salesperson in the Fletchers group in 2013. Chris has been the top selling agent within the Fletchers Diamond Valley office since 2011.

1300 505 539 industriemedia.tv Sydney I Canberra I Brisbane I Gold Coast I Melbourne I Adelaide I Perth

eliteagent.com.au 21

FIRST PERSON

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx Michael Choi

The goose that lays the golden eggs MICHAEL CHOI LOOKS at how to protect your most important

source of income.

DO YOU remember the fable

about the goose that laid the golden eggs?

There was once a very special goose who laid a golden egg every day. The couple who owned her were becoming rich because they

could sell the beautiful golden eggs and make a lot of money.

Then it dawned on them that if they killed the goose and cut her open they could have all the eggs at once, making them rich much faster. However, once they had killed her they

Feed the goose sessions were not favored among my team. One year later we have seen results directly related to feeding the goose and my team wouldn’t have it any other way.

22 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

found that she was just like any normal goose. There were no golden eggs inside her, and they had lost their supply of beautiful eggs.

This metaphor relates to so many principles in our real estate lives. Some great

questions to ask ourselves are: In my business, what is my goose that lays golden eggs?

What key tasks produce the majority of my income? How long could I starve those tasks before it affects my business?

I would say most agents know the answer to these questions; yet for some reason they still choose not to feed the goose every day or, even worse, they make the conscious decision to kill the goose.

In my business we have ‘feed the goose’ sessions, which is what we call our team prospecting sessions. We commit to three hours a week outside our normal sessions that we do on our own account. Our team culture treats these appointments as

$20,000,000 appointments.

What I mean by that is that they are precious appointments with ourselves that take full priority and are non-negotiable. We feed the goose that lays the golden eggs so that we can have a predictable income, and we have found this diary discipline has resulted in consistent performers throughout our team.

Who do we call? People in our database who own real estate in our core area.

They don’t have to have any real estate plans; they just have to own real estate.

Our goal is to become their agent before they need one by adding value through our interaction with them. We add value through running fundraiser community events, charity auctions and property market updates.

Everybody is considered a seller, whether it is now, in six months or even 10 years away. They are all selling – they just don’t know it! In fact, if you ask somebody if they are selling they will say ‘no,’ either because they don’t want you to annoy them or because they think you mean right now. The answer to the question ‘Are you selling?’ should always be a ‘yes,’ as everyone will sell one day; you just need to ask the question in a better way. Some key dialogue to find out what people’s plans are is as follows: ‘I know you’re not doing anything right now; however, hypothetically, if you did move later on down the track, would you stay in Xville or would you move out of the area completely?’

‘Would you get a bigger, or smaller, home?’

‘Would you move closer to or further away from the city?’

‘When do you think you might be ready for that?’

The above questions are all ways to ask ‘Are you selling?’

They are aimed at breaking

the barriers of the prospective client and are open-ended questions that need answering by the prospective vendor.

Initially the ‘Feed the goose’ sessions were not favoured amongst my team.

One year later we have seen results directly related to ‘feeding the goose’ and my team wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a matter of not liking the process but loving the outcome, just like waking up early and going to the gym. On average each team member makes approximately 100 connected calls a week, with some members exceeding 150. As much as I’d like everyone to hit the 150-plus mark, I’m a realist and take the viewpoint that consistency and longevity are more important than bursts or sprints in prospecting.

It can sometimes be hard to get inspiration to ‘feed the goose’; however, a concept I call ‘expansion to the ridiculous’ can help. Basically what it means is rather than saying, ‘I can’t be bothered with prospecting’ when it pops up as a reminder in your diary, you think, ‘Would I be happy with the ramifications of not prospecting every day?’ It’s about looking at every decision in your day as a decision for the rest of your life and not just for the moment.

The best time to start feeding the goose was 10 years ago. The second-best time is today.

Michael Choi is a Director, Award Winning Auctioneer, Licensed Estate Agent and REIV Member. Michael’s focus is on helping his team members increase their income every year. He trains, coaches and provides an inspiring work environment where each member can thrive. He is particularly proud of the team culture and career success stories he has helped create.

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If you’d like to know more, contact us on 02 9358 2272 or email thegoodpeople@chorusdesign.com.

To view examples of our work visit chorusdesign.com.

chorusdesign.com eliteagent.com.au 23

Marketing Attila Kovacs

Brand Power All too often the power of ‘brand’ is either under-estimated or overlooked when it comes to building business. As a real estate professional you are actually a ‘brand within a brand’, and before you start marketing you really need to know who you are.

I

N SHORT, WHAT is

brand?

Brand is a lot more than a symbol, a logo or a design.

It starts somewhere much deeper than that, somewhere organic. The foundation of a brand is usually started by the creator, the inventor, the business owner. Their brand will include their unique set of attitudes (whether positive or negative), behaviours (whether energised or lethargic), determination (whether focused or misguided), persistence (whether resilient or defeatist), integrity (whether

listed it will be reflected in the brand negatively. On the other hand, for those who excel at all of the critical aspects of a brand, good things (clients) will inherently follow them.

And therein lies the key.

A strong brand will build a following. A loyal base of clients who are attracted by your business, not just because of your amazing products and services, but because of your people. It’s about the client’s experience and their perception of you and what you stand for. Of course, symbols, logos and design will stem off a brand

Once you own your brand, it will shape your future conversations, market appraisals, networking and referral strategies, as well as the relationships you build with prospective clients, both buyers and sellers, into the future. transparent or questionable)… there are many other variables which ultimately form the philosophy and culture of a brand.

In most cases, the strength of a brand is directly proportionate to the people behind it. For instance, if the people behind a brand are lacking in any of the areas

24 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

but these are only visual cues and signals to try and project a company’s philosophy and culture.

So what does this mean to you as a sales agent? A sales agent who perhaps works under a large company that spends hundreds and thousands of dollars trying to build and maintain their

company brand? Well, plenty.

Ask yourself…who are you?

Have I defined who I am and what I stand for? Have I made it real by writing it down?

Do I live by my definition of who I am? This may seem facetious, but do you even know yourself?

Have you told anyone?

There really is no value in keeping things to yourself.

In many cases, agents will embark on a “I’m going to tell my entire community who I am… one at a time”, “one signboard at a time”, “one DL drop at a time”, “one phone call at a time” or “one blast to the database at a time”. On the contrary, the goal should be to saturate your farm area and your local community hundreds at a time and thousands at a time. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month and so on.

SO HOW DO I BUILD MY OWN BRAND? Firstly, define who you are.

What are your personal attitudes? What are your behaviours? Are you determined? Persistent? Have unquestionable integrity?

If you are unsure of these things, then you need to think about it. Don’t rush this stage, as you will be forming, creating, inventing your own brand within a larger brand.

Secondly, publish who you are. Documenting your definition will make it real.

This will form your personal philosophy and culture by

which you stand and are passionate about. This will be your brand. Once you own your brand, it will shape your future conversations, market appraisals, networking and referral strategies, as well as the relationships you build with prospective clients, both buyers and sellers, into the future.

Thirdly, distribute to your farm area (not just to your database). It is vital that you spread the word by reaching out to markets beyond your database. Remember, your greater community is what you are trying to connect with on a regular basis.

Your target should be not to have a single person in your community who hasn’t seen your face, heard you speak, understand your professionalism, experience your passion or know you exist! There are many distribution channels such as print, internet advertising, database marketing and more recently via web-based video marketing and social media outlets.

The knock-on effect of having a clearly defined brand which is purposeful, trusted and respected is that you may start to reverse the tide from an agent typically being the hunter… to being the hunted.

Attila Kovacs is the Managing Director of Industrie Media.

For more information visit industriemedia.tv.

Tech in the City Lisa Tremolada

Does the industry need more portals?

We don’t need any more marketing portals, says Lisa Tremolada. We just need to start thinking more carefully about how we use those that currently exist.

H

OW ARE YOU

shaping up after the muchpublicised outcry against one of the major real estate portals increasing their fees?

In the last few months, rival CEOs have publicly attacked the practices of their competitors and agents are quietly – and not so quietly – undertaking massive action in their areas. Huge developments are happening nationally within the industry.

We are clearly on the battlefield.

With regard to the war, I want to put the real estate portals aside for a moment and discuss two clear sides that have emerged from within the real estate industry.

Which side of the fence are you on?

The first side are the agents looking for answers; business minds that are actively assessing what they need to do.

They are assessing the situation with business acumen. They are looking to be the change and they are looking to enforce the necessary changes.

Within this same group of agents, there are those looking for a magic pill to be handed to them. They are not looking to be a part of the solution; they just want someone to tell them what to do. They are hoping they will receive an email that says ‘from now on we are all going to move forward in this direction’.

Then on the other side of the fence, we have the agents who run with whatever is thrown at them. They bury themselves

in the actual day-to-day operations of their work, not really looking at the long-term effects of what their lack of action working on their business may mean in the future. They are busy working in their business, not on their business.

If they were truly working on their business, they would be looking at how they can use the thousands of dollars they spend on real estate portals in their own business. They would become the thought leaders.

Now let’s look at the real estate portals. There are two clear leaders: realestate.com. au (News Ltd) and domain. com.au (Fairfax). The two biggest players own the real estate portals and they own the newspapers in the areas they dominate. Their online domination is not a coincidence; for example, The Illawarra Mercury in Wollongong is owned by Fairfax, who also own Domain. Their whole property liftout is dedicated to Domain property portal, so of course the action is going to be bigger for Domain in that area.

So where is all this going now?

In the last few months, out of the woods came some major players banding together, developing another ‘industry owned’ site called Squiiz. They are hoping for massive agent support. Will it work? Let’s see what the site is like. Let’s see how they market to the consumer. That will be the real test. It really won’t be that hard bringing awareness to the site if they can get it right. But let’s not forget how REA began, as

There are those looking for a magic pill to be handed to them.

They are not looking to be a part of the solution; they just want someone to tell them what to do. a bunch of agents doing exactly the same thing, and let’s hope history doesn’t repeat.

Earlier this year, when people saw that REA was under fire from real estate agents, it led some people to think that we needed more real estate sites.

We don’t. Well, not like what everyone thinks we do.

There are many free sites that add little or no value whatsoever. However, in their attempt to resemble Santa at Christmas, agents add their owners’ property to many, many sites, so that they can appear to be covering every inch of the world in marketing.

They are attempting to show that they have their marketing covered globally.

The point I have taken from all of this is what we want and what we need are two very different things.

We have been conditioned to believe that we need a national portal to advertise every property.

That’s what we’ve had, and that’s what we are used to.

This is how the big portals have trained us, to train the buyers on their brand awareness. We have become lazy because there are other easier options, and until this changes nothing will change.

Lisa Tremolada helps agents to become famous in their area.

For more information www. dominatetheinternet.com.au.

eliteagent.com.au 25

Leadership John and Stephanie McCloskey

Bring out their best John and Stephanie McCloskey discuss why a softer and more involved approach to management can lead to happier and more productive employees.

A

S A LEADER, if

you want a thriving business today you must be much more involved in the growth of your people. Engagement and transparency are the new buzzwords where a collaborative team drives the business, based around the agreed vision of the leader. The leader must be the epitome of what the business stands for and the ultimate advert for its values.

Staff no longer want to be told or sold; they want to be shown and grown in their choice of employment. They have accepted that if this particular job doesn’t work out, then they will simply try another. Loyalty is gone; only 29 per cent of the Australian workforce is fully engaged, with the rest disengaged to varying degrees.

EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION TODAY – GET USED TO IT! Expect to be questioned on where the business is going and be prepared to involve your people in that discussion.

The leadership of yesterday was akin to a benevolent dictatorship. This is not the case today; our people are more vocal, opinionated even, but if you meet them in an empathetic manner it will pay dividends in the long run. Great leaders are great communicators. They are able to fine-tune what they say to make a positive impact on their people and move everyone forward.

26 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE Great leaders focus on where the business is going (the vision) and how to get there (the goals and milestones). It is not enough just to talk to our people about remuneration; we must engage them and be genuinely interested in their lives, their hopes and their dreams. If we do not know what is important to them, we have little or no chance of aligning their path with ours. We have to become their coaches, harnessing their strengths for the benefit of all.

THE BEST LEADERS ARE COACHES Coaches bring out the best in their charges. They don’t compete with them, but instead work to maximise the team’s effectiveness through enhancing skills and adjusting attitudes. There is no ego involved; it’s about leveraging your experience through your people, engaging them, growing them and building a business that benefits from you, rather than relies on you. You create an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration, one where people know they can ask for help and are willing to give it.

DON’T COMPETE WITH YOUR TEAM Putting others first is one of the hallmarks of great leadership. That’s not to say you sacrifice yourself; it just means investing time in your people and showing them how to take responsibility for themselves.

When you compete, you undermine your ability to

influence in any way other than in a competitive manner.

Ask yourself: do you want a job or a business? Coach your people to be better than you and you will have a business that gives you more than just money. You may even start to like it when someone breaks the records you set, and guess what? That’s perfect!

Welcome to the world of true

IN THE PAST LEADERS WERE EXPECTED TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS Not so much today. Your people want to see that you are decisive and competent.

However, they also need to be heard. As a leader and coach, you know that the only answer people are interested in is the one they come up with themselves. So what

Coach your people to be better than you and you will have a business that gives you more than just money. leadership! Do what you do well, but focus the results on the control board around the team’s efforts, rather than the comfort blanket of what the boss brings in.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO COACH OTHERS, YOU WILL NEED TO COACH YOURSELF FIRST We are all used to doing SWOT analysis on the business, but how about on ourselves? Great leaders are self-aware: they play to their strengths and work around their weaknesses. Brilliant real estate leaders today who realise that managing people is not their strength bring in another person to fill that void. That way they keep their focus on doing what they love in the business.

you need are great questions to help people come to their own conclusions. That is why coaching is the perfect way to lead your team.

So what makes a great leader today? Someone who can bring out the best in their team; who can create buy-in with the vision or brand and have a genuine interest in their people. A great coach equals a great leader, a great leader equals great success.

John and Stephanie McCloskey run Get Real Estate Training to activate engagement and leadership competencies in agents and provide coaching for real estate business owners. Contact them at getrealestatetraining@ gmail.com.

CHAMPIONS

Australia’s real estate industry is continually shaped by hardworking, high achieving professionals who are passionate about their careers and their businesses. Elite Agent Magazine would like to congratulate all this years award winners on their outstanding achievements. We are pleased to present a small selection of this year’s champions.

For more award winners view the full gallery at eliteagent.com.au/2014champions eliteagent.com.au 27

sales

28 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

GEARING FOR GROWTH DAVID HIGHLAND HAS personally sold more than $140

million worth of property in the last 12 months, with an average of 32 days on market. He is a third-generation real estate agent, and part of the founding duo of Highland Property Agents in Cronulla NSW with his father Peter, a successful property developer. Their business has expanded incredibly from its inception in 2007, having purposely created a team and a culture for growth.

Interview by Samantha McLean.

D

AVID HIGHLAND started

his career in real estate in 1997, beginning in a small boutique agency in the Eastern Suburbs as a leasing clerk. Real estate has been his only career; he confesses that he has never really had a Plan B. “I’ve always had big aspirations and big goals, and been a big dreamer,” says Highland. “I’m 34 years of age, and when I

got into this I was 17. I have always had a very clear vision of where I wanted to be in the industry and I just went for it.”

Starting from a team of six, including his father, in 2007, today there are more than 65 people on the Highland Property team. I first ask David how he approaches managing such a large team. “My week is split up into two different roles,” he says.

“Essentially I’m still a selling principal and I’ve got a business unit around me

consisting of three other people. In terms of running the business, we have different departments which include a property management department, a creative department, and a sales department.

“Our management team now consists of six individuals, including myself, and basically we meet weekly and collaborate on decisions as far as company direction, growth and staffing are concerned. We have gone after some pretty aggressive goals from month to month, and achieved everything we set out to.”

So, a full creative department in a real estate business? “Yes,” he says, “We’ve really gone out there and pushed the envelope as far as bringing everything inhouse – that includes a videographer and photographer. I’ve got a graphic designer and two production assistants, and basically we turn our marketing collateral around internally.”

Highland continues, “It’s really fun; it’s outside of the square compared to your typical real estate office. When we hired our videographer, it was a bit like having a

eliteagent.com.au 29

sales new toy to play with as that was completely unique – I didn’t know of anyone else who had a videographer on staff! But this decision to engage a videographer just naturally followed the decision to have our own full-time in-house photographer.

We just think the direction of real estate marketing is going away from print, and I believe that digital and video features are becoming more and more important every year. One of the things I spoke about at AREC 14 and am very passionate about is the consistency across the brand with video, and one of the things we’re working towards is having 100 per cent of all listings that go online to include a video in terms of their presentation.”

Are you far away from achieving that?

“No, we aren’t that far away. I know a lot of agents are getting into video, and one of the other reasons we have a videographer on our team is that the quality of the video is what’s important to us. We are very particular in terms of our standards and quality; and one of the pieces of advice I would give to other agents is that bad video is worse than no video. With video, you put everything on the line if you don’t get it right. The general marketplace will judge you for better or worse, depending on your look, and your quality, and how well prepared you are. But if you can get it right it’s such an important selling tool, because in most cases people will engage with a video and we are finding that our numbers are dramatically increasing with some of the lower price points out there.”

Do you just use video for property marketing or do you do video blogs as well?

“Both,” says Highland. “If you log on to our Facebook page at any given point in time you may see a marketing report from me from a company point of view, but then our agents do their own market reports which they then send to their own databases. As

30 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

DAVID HIGHLAND’S TOP TIPS FOR SUCCESS 1. Be humble: Keep your feet on the ground 2. Get out of your comfort zone.

3. Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve 4. Culture cannot be copied, so live and breathe your team culture. Share your vision and get buy-in from your staff members. Get involved with the community and get your people excited about shared goals 5. Always play the game with a ‘straight bat’. Be transparent and open with everyone you deal with 6. Success won’t come easy; you need to fight for it 7. A focus on health and fitness will make you both happier and more productive 8. Property marketing with bad video is worse than no video. If you are going to use video get some training and prepare, and practice, practice, practice 9. Overstaff areas that you are not strong in 10. Enjoy the ride!

I think the market will continue to perform well. I think we are potentially in for the biggest quarter that we’ve seen in the past five years.

far as property marketing is concerned, we’ve got a couple of different ‘tiers’ for the videos we use, depending on the price point and how much the owners want to invest in production. There is also a third thing: We also promote our community and some of the things we do on a community level through video as well.”

To achieve the sort of consistency that is in line with the Highland brand, Highland says that he also made a significant investment in training to make sure that the team were comfortable in front of the camera. “We did a comprehensive workshop with the Sky News team; basically it was a crash course on how to do video well. The thing that I have learned is that practice and presentation are absolutely imperative. Take that into account, and then also note that it’s very important that you cater to your market and to your price point. The dialogue and the presentation for a $300,000 home shouldn’t be the same as perhaps a $3 million dollar home. You should be catering to the people that are going to be looking at those properties. You also want to make it short, sharp content that is well delivered and engaging, and in our experience that shouldn’t be any more than a minute and a half in length, depending on the listing.”

There is another special member of the Highland team that you won’t find in just

any real estate office, and that’s a personal trainer that the team has access to once per week. “After speaking about that at AREC I was overwhelmed by the number of people that contacted me,” he admits. “It’s not like I am trying to reinvent the wheel, but we do have a focus on health and fitness and most of the time I’m pretty good with it myself.

I train at least four to five days per week before work, and I find that I’ve got more energy, can better manage stress and just perform better. Our business is all about

consistency and performing at the top level all year round; for me, that means there is a requirement for me to be fit and healthy.”

And it seems that the team have caught the bug as well. “I’ve got a young team so it’s not hard for me to get them interested in some of the initiatives that we have. The personal trainer is just one of those things, but it’s been in place for almost seven years. We also do a run club on a Wednesday where our sales team will run before work. And then on a Friday we do the Highland Boot

myrealestatetraining.com.au national enquiries 1300 155 144 PPM AD.indd 1

Camp, where 16 of us front up to Cronulla Beach – rain, hail or shine. I try to create some healthy competition internally and some camaraderie, and I find if the guys are training together it works on a number of levels. They have a laugh before work, but the obvious by-product of training is that they are healthier and happier people to come to work with.”

What will the market bring in the next 12 months? “I think the market will continue to perform well. I think we are potentially in for the biggest quarter that we’ve seen in the past five years. There is a shortage of stock available with low interest rates. I’ve got a friend who got an interest rate last week of 4.6% so it’s really cheap to borrow money. And I just think at the moment that some pockets are going to perform better than others.

But certainly there are no signs from my point of view of things about to go wrong in the short term.” And for Highland Property Agents? “We are in the process of organising a second office, and you know we just want to create a destination where the ‘best of the best’ want to be a part of it. We try to create the optimum environment where people want to come and work for us.”

MAKE IT YOURS. 26/08/2014 7:44 am

eliteagent.com.au 31

market

OUTPERFORMING THE MARKET

A STRONG MARKET CYCLE over the past 12 months has led to increased revenue and

profit for residential real estate agents nationally, and with it a new sense of optimism across the industry, says Daniel Evans of Macquarie Business Banking.

M

ACQUARIE BUSINESS

Banking’s 2014 Residential Real Estate Benchmarking Report revealed the top-performing residential real estate agencies across the country combine a drive for growth with a relentless focus on efficiency and productivity, concentrating on three key areas to outperform the market: business management, property management and people management.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT In the current competitive market, it is no surprise that companies are focusing more time on business management to protect their profit margins against future softening of market conditions and the ongoing trend of declining commissions.

The report showed that more than three quarters (79 per cent) of agencies’ gross revenues increased over the past 12 months, with Queensland and Western Australia experiencing the strongest growth.

Additionally, more than two thirds (68 per cent) of agencies increased profitability over the last 12 months, with the majority citing revenue growth (47 per cent) or an improved market (43 per cent) as the reasons.

This is in sharp contrast to our last report in 2012, where a significant number of agencies focused on efficiency improvements or cost-cutting. This suggests that most real estate agency principals have tried to capture as many listings or new properties for rent as they can over the past 12 months, rather than focusing on maximising productivity.

However, profit margins have not risen as revenue has increased, remaining stable at 26 per cent between 2012 and 2014. This indicates that costs have risen in line with revenue as additional staff were recruited to capture the growth in listings.

As agencies continue to grow, it is important that they look at business efficiency and productivity to limit their exposure to risk if the market were to turn.

32 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT Staff numbers increased nationally to capitalise on the market boom and meet the growing demand, driving salaries and commission structures higher. The number of staff employed in the average agency rose from 15 in 2012 to 18.5 in 2014.

However, there is intense competition for skilled people and it has been clear over the years that many agencies also need to focus on developing their existing team. This year’s report revealed the main areas agencies looked at to improve people management were setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and conducting regular staff reviews (52 per cent).

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Unsurprisingly, property sales increased nationally, with Sydney and Melbourne leading the country for both the lowest average number of days on market and the highest proportion of auctions.

Despite strong property sales, the research indicates that property management is more important than ever, now accounting for 44 per cent of overall agency revenue. Property management is growing in importance every year, with the report showing the number of properties under management has soared from a national average of 375 per agency in 2009 to 508 in 2014. This reflects the

BEST STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING PROFIT

65%

Rent roll growth and/or acquisition

72% 49%

Retaining quality staff

55% 42%

Maintaining and developing relationships with clients

35% 36%

Excellent customer service

32% 34%

Staff development and training

22%

Increased marketing and promotional activities

26% 24% 24%

Keeping costs as low as possible

34% 23%

Strong financial management Increasing referral sources

25% 14% 13%

2014 2012

closer relationship between property management and sales volume in a market where property investors are playing an increasingly large role – with the same client often being served by both sides of the business.

Property management remains a key driver for agencies’ overall performance, with agents highlighting they are equally likely to attribute increased revenue to a lift in property management income (75 per cent) as to a rise in sales revenue (77 per cent).

By building the property management side of a business, agencies not only create a sustainable income stream, but they also increase profitability, reduce risk and fuel further sales growth in low-volume sales markets.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS? At a time when most sales agencies are doing well, it is important that they don’t get distracted from the fundamentals of good business practice or they risk unnecessarily exposing themselves to future downturns in the property cycle.

Businesses should establish an understanding of what their business does and who is responsible for the strategy. Once they have a clear vision, they should set goals for profitability and breakdown KPIs for revenue and costs for the next 12 months.

Owners should spend time streamlining processes and technology that will help

More than two thirds (68 per cent) of agencies increased profitability over the last 12 months, with the majority citing revenue growth (47 per cent) or an improved market (43 per cent) as the reasons. them to improve productivity for staff, giving them more time to service clients and drive new business. These processes, such as procedures for dealing with invoices or managing leasing appointments, help agencies to build a foundation for sustainable success.

Working in this kind of culture – where success is built by adding value to clients – will help to attract team members who want to work where they are able to meet clients’ needs, provide the service

The overwhelming majority of agencies nationally predict revenue and profit growth will continue over the next 12 months.

that suits their values and where success is celebrated. This can lead to stronger staff engagement levels, helping to raise productivity without having to seek out highly skilled employees in a tight employment market.

OUTLOOK FOR THE RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET Looking to the future, the report indicated that residential real estate agents are highly optimistic. The overwhelming majority of agencies nationally predict revenue and profit growth will continue over the next 12 months.

Agencies will look to maintain momentum and take advantage of the strong market over the next 12 months by focusing on sales, business development and marketing, as well as staff management.

Asked which areas they plan to concentrate on over the next 12 months, agencies again emphasised people management and business development, with some also seeking to drive further back office efficiencies.

Our view is that while the sales environment is currently very strong — and agencies should certainly enjoy their recent successes — market cycles have not been eliminated. Indeed, strong upward

cycles are often followed by equally strong downward cycles. This means it’s important for agencies to continue focusing on efficiency and prepare for potential downturns in the future.

Daniel Evans is the Head of Residential Real Estate for Macquarie Business Banking.

Daniel joined Macquarie in 2010 and has developed a strong understanding of the day-to-day challenges facing small to medium sized businesses.

He is responsible for a team of Relationship Managers who directly manage over 1,500 real estate clients. For more information visit www.macquarie.com.au.

This information has been prepared by Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 AFSL and Australian Credit Licence no 237502 (“Macquarie”) for general information purposes only and is based on statistics and information sourced from the 2014 Macquarie Business Banking Real Estate Benchmarking Survey. Before acting on this general information, you must consider its appropriateness having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs. Nothing in this article shall be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any product, or to engage in or refrain from engaging in any transaction. The information provided is not intended to replace or serve as a substitute for any accounting, tax or other professional advice, consultation or service.

eliteagent.com.au 33

sales

How consistent messaging will build your brand FOLLOWING THE PRINCIPLES of Attraction

Agent 3.0 will put you into the top agent category, says Tom Panos. Much of it can be directly attributed to building your personal brand through consistency of messaging. How dependable and recommendable are you?

34 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

B

RAND IS WHAT they say about

you when you’re not there.

The world has changed. In the old world it used to be about what you said to the market. Today it’s about what the market says to the market about you. Return on investment is being replaced by return of engagement.

This has been fuelled by the accelerated growth of social media.

So the game is still the same (get the listing) but the rules have changed (how you get the listing). Recommendation is very important in business. In fact in a recent Nielson Poll 92% of respondents reported that a positive recommendation from a friend or family member was the biggest influence on whether they bought a product or a service.

Are you recommendable? When people sit at a coffee table at their local café discussing real estate, which agent are they talking about?

TripAdvisor has built an entire business model based on recommendations from normal people. So have Yelp and a host of other online social businesses.

For the last four years my weekly video blogs have interviewed million-dollar agents about what they do that makes them successful. These have outlined to me that for an agent to be sustainable long term he or she must essentially become someone’s agent before that person needs an agent.

You must become brain tattooed on all potential vendors in your market place.

The illustration below shows the components of the Attraction Agent model.

You would not see a Toyota Corolla sitting in a Mercedes dealership. The equivalent in real estate is consistency in message. This is what builds brand.

There is a new buzz phrase in real estate marketing: ‘Make sure your online and offline are in line.’ What we mean by this is that when you have poor photography in a nice advertisement it destroys brand equity in the agent who provides it. When you have a small postage stamp-sized print advertisement for a $2M house it destroys

LARGE PRINT MEDIA

perceived value on the property and sends a distorted message to the market place.

This consistency influences the perception they have of you as an agent – either someone who will ensure the presentation is consistent or someone who lets the details slide.

In the new world we have seen the emergence of the passive seller. We have known about the passive buyer for some time, but the passive seller is someone that doesn’t have regular interaction with real estate agents. In a recent survey people were asked what they thought of when they think of an agent. The results are illustrated below.

Are you recommendable? When people sit at a coffee table at their local café discussing real estate, which agent are they talking about?

Some of you who are currently on my coaching program know the qualities and characteristic habits for transforming an agent from a transactional agent to an attraction agent. These qualities have come as a direct result of question and answer sessions with Australia’s truly elite agents. Here is a summary of some of these qualities: • World class open homes • Ideal week • Crucial conversations • Daily physical exercise • 5am club • 10 before 10 (10 calls before 10am) • Attitude of gratitude • Positive friends/ reference groups • Prospect 1-3 hours daily • Understand and sell vendor-paid advertising.

The Attraction Agent is detached, confident and not desperate. In real estate you should always, in one form or another, tell a potential vendor that ‘It’s OK if you don’t list with me’ or ‘It’s OK if you say no’. This is what we define as detachment.

Occasionally you meet an agent who cares more about helping the client than about getting the business, and then they

UPGRADED INTERNET LISTINGS

SOCIAL MEDIA

will generally get the business. People love that kind of sales person: detached, not desperate to get the deal and more interested in helping the client make a decision that is good for the client. Show up as a positioned authority and they will treat you as one. Show up as a desperate, ‘needy’ real estate agent and they will treat you like that too.

The behaviour of a prospective seller has changed. Have you? Twenty years ago they opened up the Yellow Pages and looked for an agent in the suburb. Today the listing presentation begins when they’re buying a home. Today a listing presentation is

happening every minute of the day. Your Facebook accounts, your car, your open houses, your newspaper advertisements, are all working 24/7. So in fact a listing presentation begins a long time before the listing presentation. If you want to follow success, follow the behaviour of a prospective seller.

Finally I would like to share some personal lessons, which I cover when I’m working with real estate agents in creating a world-class business. Here they are: • Short-term happiness is not worth longterm pain • Things don’t get better by chance – they get better by change • Where you are is not as important as where you’re heading • A bad day does not make it a bad life • The world owes you nothing, it was here first.

Tom Panos is the GM of Real Estate – Sales at News Corp Australia, as well as a leading real estate trainer in Australia/ NZ. He runs a ‘Nine Weeks to your Best Year Ever’ real estate program at tompanos.com.au.

REAL ESTATE MIND SHARE POSITIONING

COMMUNITY SPONSORSHIP

One Agent

Two Agents

Everyone else

8% 16%

76%

ATTRACTION AGENT MODEL

eliteagent.com.au 35

marketing

High Fiverr HAVE YOU HEARD of Fiverr.com? From hiring a

spokesperson to creating a logo, there are many things that you can outsource for just five (US) dollars. Elite Agent Editor Samantha McLean takes a look at some marketing and other tasks where hiring a professional at low cost can make you look amazing.

WHAT IS FIVERR? Fiverr.com (Fiverr) is an online marketplace where people from all over the world offer their services, starting at $5 USD. Service providers, usually called Sellers, set up a profile and create a description of their services called ‘gigs’.

Every gig must start at $5. The Seller can also create ‘gig extras’, which could be something like fast delivery.

For example, there are many writers who may offer to write 200 words for $5.

They may define a ‘gig extra’ to write an additional 300 words for an extra $10, or to provide one-day delivery for $40; you get the picture.

When you land on Fiverr.com you’ll see a menu identifying categories of service. These include Graphics and Design, Online Marketing, Writing and Translation, Video and Animation, Music and Audio, Programming and Technology, Advertising, Business and a few miscellaneous categories. It’s

36 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

worth trawling through the fun and bizarre category as well, where you can find people to interpret your dreams or rebalance your chakras.

It can be quite a bit of fun to browse through the different categories and

their performance. A Seller starts as a ‘New Seller’ and once feedback has been received can progress to Level Two, One and Top Rated. People who have purchased from the Seller can leave ratings and comments, and many of them do.

When you’re choosing a Seller to work with, you can filter the initial list you see according to delivery time, Seller Level and Seller Language. The list can also be sorted by Recommended, High Rating or New. Generally the more experienced sellers will charge more for gig extras and sometimes it’s worth the money (I’ll leave you to decide that one!).

Payment is made when you order a gig.

You will have the option of using PayPal,

If you don’t have a voice like James Earl Jones, you can have a Seller create a voiceover for listing or promotional videos that sound really professional. subcategories. If you’re looking for a specific service, such as ‘logo creation’, you can use the search field to find gigs that meet that your search terms. Once you’ve chosen a category or completed a search, you’ll be taken to a list of available gigs.

HOW TO CHOOSE A SELLER Just like online marketplaces such as eBAY, Sellers on Fiverr are given ratings based on

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and even Bitcoin, if you have some on hand.

THE CAVEAT Just like eBay, you need to be careful when you’re choosing a Seller. Take the time to read the feedback and consider the Seller’s Level. Read the description of the gig carefully and watch the Seller’s video, if one is available.

If you’re not sure if someone is a perfect match for your requirements, you can communicate with them on Fiverr before you buy to clarify your needs and their capabilities. Some of the services may rival those you can get elsewhere and some are far less than what you’d expect.

ONLINE MARKETING Wordpress Wordpress is becoming the standard for small business website design and blogs. You’ll find gigs on Fiverr for setting up a Wordpress website, fixing problems you’re having with a Wordpress website and there are even sellers who can remotely access your computer to make non-hardware repairs.

Facebook business pages Get more out of Facebook with a professional design for your cover photo or profile picture.

SEO Ever wondered how well your website is set up to be ranked by the search engines?

Many Sellers offer SEO evaluations to allow you to take action to help you generate more online leads. Keyword research gigs are also offered.

DIGITAL Listing videos You provide the home photos, contact details and logo. Make sure that

you purchase a video with resolution that is high enough for your use.

Promotional videos You can also use videos to promote your business. You provide photos or images and the content to be combined into a video. Hire a professional spokes model!

Voiceovers If you don’t have a voice like James Earl Jones, you can have a Seller create a voiceover for listing or promotional videos that sounds really professional. The speaker can sound like a native Australian, or someone with a generic accent.

Photoshopping If the only day you could get outdoor photos of your listing was a dull and cloudy one, you can have the sky made blue or the grass changed to its true shade of green. The same holds true for your own photo. While people need to recognise you from your photo when they meet you, touch-ups are common.

WRITING AND DESIGN Logos There are Sellers who will help you stand out from your competition with a logo design.

Board design Find a Seller to design a new For Sale or Sold sign using your logo and branding.

Property flyers A Seller can design a flyer for every house, or create a template for you to fill in for each home. eBook covers Displaying a professional cover for your eBook gives the offer more strength.

Data entry Do you need to get that scribbled list of contacts into a form you can use?

Hire a Seller to do data entry into a database of your choice.

Writing If you don’t write like William Shakespeare or Ernest Hemmingway, let others do it for you. You could outsource things like marketing letters, press releases, even web content or blog posts.

VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE General administrative work General administrative work includes areas like internet research, creating Excel spreadsheets or entering social media postings.

Fiverr can be an excellent resource for low-cost assistance. If you choose wisely, you may end up developing ongoing relationships with Sellers which can really save you time and money in your marketing.

Samantha McLean is the Managing Editor of Elite Agent Magazine.

eliteagent.com.au 37

best practice

EVERY DAY you would

be collecting personal information from prospective purchasers and renters, including names, phone numbers and email addresses.

Of course you want to use that information to benefit your business and your sellers. But is that legal? Ursula Hogben from LegalVision takes a look at how to make the most of the information you collect without breaking the law.

T

HERE WAS A HUGE overhaul

of the Privacy Law in Australia in March this year. The Australian Privacy Principles now govern how you collect and use personal information, including for direct marketing. Do you need to comply? Yes: the ramifications of non-compliance include substantial fines of up to $1.7 million for companies – not to mention the negative publicity for your business.

What do you need to do to comply?

Our five key steps for small businesses are straightforward and easy to implement: 1. Appoint a Privacy Officer Appoint someone in your organisation to be in charge of the steps listed. This can be any responsible person; they do not need to be a lawyer.

2. Do a quick audit Review your business to identify what personal information

38 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Are your privacy policy and practices up to date? you collect, and how you use, disclose and store it.

3. Have an internal system Establish or revise internal procedures so your staff know what personal information they can collect, and how to use, disclose and store it.

If you use personal information for direct marketing, this needs to be disclosed.

4. Add a privacy notice where you collect personal information When you collect personal information, inform individuals of details including your organisation’s name, contact details and the purpose of collection. You can mention the Privacy Policy on your website.

5. Sort out your Privacy Policy This tells people what personal information you collect, how you collect and store it, and the purposes for which you use and disclose it. If you use it for direct marketing, this needs to be disclosed.

If you disclose personal information to parties overseas you need to disclose that. If practicable, specify the countries where those parties are located.

For all real estate businesses, here are seven quick questions to ask yourself to see if your privacy policy and practices are up to scratch.

1. Do people know what personal information I collect and why?

People need to know what personal information is being collected, what you will store, and how you will use it. Each time you collect personal information, you need a Privacy Notice, which should refer to your Privacy Policy.

‘‘

provide their staff with individual logins and passwords to help protect electronic records of personal information.

5. Am I correctly using personal information from a third party?

You can use personal information provided by a third party (for example customer database) for direct marketing if, and only if, the relevant individual consented to that use and you provide a way for people to unsubscribe. If you receive personal

correct anything that’s out-of-date or incorrect. You need to provide accurate contact details so your customers can contact you if they have any questions about the Privacy Policy. These points also need to be included in your Privacy Policy.

If you answered ‘no’ to any of the above, you should look at your internal privacy policy and systems as soon as possible. The ramifications of non-compliance are potentially very

By complying with the law you show your customers that you care about protecting their personal information. information from a third party, you should check their Privacy Policy and Privacy Notice to ensure compliance.

6. Do I have a complaint-making process?

You need a process to deal with complaints about your compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles. This needs to be in your Privacy Policy.

7. Do people on my database know how they can contact me?

You need to give individuals the right to access their personal information and

serious, but by complying with the law you can show your customers that you care about protecting their personal information.

Ursula Hogben is the cofounder and legal practice director of LegalVision ILP, an online business legal services provider. This information is a summary and general overview. It is not intended to be comprehensive and it is not legal advice.

‘‘

2. Do people know how I will use their personal information?

Your Privacy Policy should indicate what you will do with their information; for example for internal record-keeping. You need to state whether you will use their personal information for direct marketing.

3. Can my customers and database unsubscribe from marketing and email communications?

You may only use personal information for direct marketing if you disclose that the information will be used for direct marketing and you provide your customers with a way to unsubscribe.

Each piece of direct marketing should refer to your Privacy Policy and how your customers can unsubscribe from your marketing. Commercial electronic messages must also include clear information about the business that sent the message, a reference/link to the Privacy Policy if possible, and an unsubscribe facility.

4. Do I have a secure way for storing personal information?

After personal information is collected, you should ensure that this information is stored securely. Some businesses

It’s tIme to Improve your wIndow dIsplay communIcatIon

Your window display is your first communication tool. It’s the first contact you establish with your target. And yet, this tool is too often disregarded even though it’s the essential base of your image and your relationship with your customers. As a willing and ambitious real estate agency, your image has to reflect beauty and be top of the range. vitrinemedia, a French company, has brought its understanding and expertise and has launched a concept never before seen in window display communication.

With its led display design and ease of use, VitrineMedia managed to revolutionize the real estate agencies’ environment. Already more than 15 000 agencies are equipped all around the world including almost 100 in Australia.

Indeed, many agency groups in the country have realized VitrineMedia’s potential and have chosen to equip their window display with the VitrineMedia LED Displays. LJ Hooker, Stockdale & Leggo, The Barry Plant Group, and PRD Nationwide are amongst the leading stakeholders in the Real Estate market

that have made the change to these dynamic high-tech window displays.

The results are immediate. In addition to higher image quality, passers-by are instinctively attracted to your window display’s design and will notice your exclusive sales mandate.

to provide you with perfectly adapted solutions to your window display communication needs. The various display designs and the availability of all size formats give you countless layout possibilities. Whilst being useful VitrineMedia also offers you a one-of-akind solution.

Isn’t it time to reconsider how you communicate through your window display. In order to help you, Elite Agent Magazine and VitrineMedia offer you a $200 discount. You will find your voucher code in this issue.

VitrineMedia offers splendid products of high quality, patented and entirely produced by the company. Furthermore, they offer a remarkable service. we have a team of specialists all over Australia and one of them will come and meet you in your agency. You will get an obligation-free bespoke simulation and proposal. VitrineMedia’s mission is to provide you with a unique solution for your window display. Their proposals are completely customized in order

Be remarkable, with our risk-Free 100% satisfaction guarantee Contact :

T 0404 922699 M infoaustralia@vitrinemedia.com W www.vitrinemedia.com.au

eliteagent.com.au 39

agent profile

Christie Leet

PRDnationwide Whitsunday Christie Leet says he is “blessed to work and recreate in the beautiful Whitsundays” and we can’t help but agree! Christie joined the real estate industry by buying a business when he was just 21. Continuing with law and accounting studies whilst managing the business, he watched as some salespeople earned a better income than the local lawyers, and quickly realised he could easily do the same. Between 1987 and 1997 Christie became one of the most recognised salespeople in the LJ Hooker network, and in 1998 purchased PRDnationwide Whitsunday. Having won numerous awards between then and now, Christie talks to Elite Agent about success, swimming and seeking new opportunities.

What was your first job, and what was the most important thing it taught you?

My first position was as an articled clerk in a solicitor’s office, which taught me two contrasting things. Firstly the value of professionalism – procedures, template documents, precedents, and secondly, that I didn’t want to be stuck in a role that was rewarded by my hourly contribution only.

What do you like most about your work now?

My role now is to identify and strategise opportunity.

Whether it be in our people – growing and coaching them, seeing more in them than they see in themselves; or in a site where we can work side by side with our developer clients to create something magical that the market wants.

What do you still find the most challenging about what you do, and how do you deal with it?

Reinventing the wheel – I aspire for my real estate business to have a framework like McDonalds – a fully systemised business that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. We invest enormously in our intranet site, but in some areas it isn’t as current or dynamic as I would like it to be and not always the first port of call for answers to procedural questions.

40 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Define ‘success’ for you personally. What will you have achieved?

Success for me is our business running without me except on a strategic or coaching level, and living our corporate values – all emails and phone calls would have the context of being either an opportunity or a solution, rather than problem-solving.

Describe what a typical day looks like for you.

I’m a full-time single father training to swim the English Channel, so I rise at four-ish, and do our ironing and some chores before swimming from 5.00 to 6.45. The kids and I have breakfast together then off for our day. Work is typically from 8.30 to 4.00. I

I HAVE A VISION FOR THE WHITSUNDAY COAST – CREATING THE LIFESTYLE CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA, AND OUR COUNTRY’S LEADING RESORT WITH ALL OPERATORS WORKING ON A COLLABORATIVE, NOT COMPETITIVE, BASIS. work a two-week cycle – one week in PRD, which is either coaching and training or working on project marketing, and the second week on my own personal development.

I’m not quite fully balanced and remind myself of the 80/20 rule – although PRD does seem to have more of my time than above!

Is there one thing that’s not obvious about you that you wish more people would ‘get’?

I talk too much in headlines and this comes across as not caring – I need to continually remind myself that sometimes people need details, or for me to hear details even though I may already understand the situation. Stephen Covey

speaks about “seeking first to understand then be understood” and I like to go back to this.

What’s your secret skill or superpower that makes you so good at what you do?

Seeing opportunity – in people, business or property. I’m blessed to be able to see things differently then become superexcited and energised about turning an idea or dream into a reality.

What makes you laugh?

I have a sense of humour, which is probably a little too sarcastic!

My friends and I always seems to be able to laugh at each other – we are an outdoor, ‘doing’ group and there is always something to laugh at. I put 130l of fuel in the rod holder of my mate’s boat last week and wondered why it was taking more than the 100l fuel tank!

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received, and why?

At our annual planning day our entire team write anonymous comments about everyone in the office, and these are collated and put on a poster for each of us. ‘Motivating’ and ‘visionary leadership’ come up, but I think the one I value most is generosity. Whilst this can be financial I think I’m also generous with both my time and some of the ‘stuff’ I have for other people to use and enjoy.

Is there anything you’re afraid to do, or you would do if you weren’t afraid to do it?

I have a vision for the Whitsunday Coast – creating the lifestyle capital of Australia, and our country’s leading resort with all operators working on a collaborative, not competitive, basis; where people can recreate with a

short holiday or something more long term. I’ve had this vision clearly for five years and not acted on it, so something is holding me back or scaring me about it!

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Keep your feet on the ground and your ego in check. During the boom times I mistakenly thought we were ‘gurus’ and stopped doing the basics and fundamentals – gradually letting go of the importance of systems, procedures, training and the like, which have all had to be rebuilt since. I’ve recently read The Top Five Regrets of the Dying; there’s no point being at the end of your time

THERE’S NO POINT BEING AT THE END OF YOUR TIME AND REALISING YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR EGO IN CHECK DURING YOUR YOUNGER YEARS. and realising you should have kept your ego in check during your younger years.

What’s next?

My goals are wrapped around finding my next passion – one where I can use the skills and contacts I have made, probably in the area of contribution. Our business almost runs on autopilot and generates a good return.

That’s now hopefully for my key team members and my children to grow, with my guidance more as a Board member. Organisations like the Starlight Foundation resonate with me; youth suicide is also a major issue and saddens me deeply. I’d like to think I could help and contribute in some way to helping these organisations in the future.

eliteagent.com.au 41

mindset for my life • I’m clear about the direction I am going in • I make quality choices on a daily basis • I’m disciplined and productive • I’m moving with purpose towards my destination.

CHOOSE YOUR GROUP Success requires you to decide which group you will belong to. Strive to be the very best you can be and move from wishing to having. Choose Group Having!

Aim high!

You can have it all THERE ARE SO MANY stories of agents climbing the ladder

of success. The definition of success does vary, but as agents we have a lot in common. We want similar things from our lives: peace of mind, good health, meaningful and loving relationships, recognition for what we do, and financial freedom. A real estate career can be the perfect way to achieve this life – when you know how, says author of How To Have It All Christina Guidotti.

M

ANY IN THIS industry work long hours and achievement still escapes them.

It’s not enough just to get things done.

I’ve also met a lot of agents who are high achievers but are not fulfilled. There is often something missing.

Sometimes we are ignoring truths about our real estate career. This story is so common. Many climb the ladder of success to wake up one day to find that their ladder is actually leaning on the wrong wall. Many work hard but with mediocre results, or high achievement but little fulfilment.

A TIPPING POINT Success begins with making a decision not to be passive and not to settle. The decision to live a life of both achievement

42 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

and fulfilment as a real estate agent is the first step to creating and maintaining extraordinary and sustainable success. This is the crucial tipping point - when you move from wishing to having!

Agents divide into two groups: 1. Group Wishing: Agents who remain wishful without taking responsibility.

2. Group Having: Agents who take responsibility to make their wishes come true.

Group Wishing says: • I wish my real estate career was different • I wish I had more time and energy to get things done • I wish I had more listings and sales • I wish I didn’t have to work long hours • I wish I could finally reach the goals I set each year!

Group Having says: • I’ve made a decision to take responsibility

PRODUCTIVITY IS A NECESSITY FOR GROUP HAVING I’ve been in business nearly 20 years and for 12 of those years in the real estate industry – highly successful, personally productive, with highly productive and profitable teams. I’ve always been obsessed with productivity. Being productive was a necessity – for me, my family and as a business leader. In my real estate career I was juggling myself, husband, son, daughter, family, friends, sellers, buyers, team, career all while building and renovating several houses. It was rewarding and hectic.

My team achieved brilliant results and built and maintained an excellent reputation. We won industry awards and recognition. The wealth was also fantastic.

But even with such high achievement I know the challenges we face as agents to maintain all the important areas of life – to try to have it all.

HOW TO HAVE IT ALL As the author of How To Have It All I know for many ‘having it all’ may sound like a high aim. At times in our lives this possibility could appear close; at other times it may seem unreachable. Having it all is about finding achievement and fulfilment across all areas of life. It’s about living with your very best health, wealth and relationships.

BUT WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON? In the Western World, the standard of living continues to improve with better food, clothing, housing, medical services, education, travel, technology, entertainment and career opportunities.

We have so many choices, and we still want more… but in particular we want to be happier. Agents are no exception. Many agents are having it tough – struggling under great pressure from juggling work and life; pulled physically, psychologically, emotionally and financially.

WHAT’S NOT THE SOLUTION? Most work longer hours to try to meet all the commitments or to get ahead. Increased

choice and demands bring increased stress and more conflict between work and family life. This daily ritual is overwhelming.

The World Health Organisation reports on the debilitating effects of depression and anxiety. There is no better investment than you! And to say ‘I don’t have time’ is not the solution. We cannot afford not to take this time now, because as life goes on the pressure compounds and so do the consequences of doing nothing.

THE SOLUTION It begins with taking responsibility by implementing a few steps that will reduce

In my real estate career I was juggling myself, husband, son, daughter, family, friends, sellers, buyers, team: all while building and renovating several houses. It was rewarding – and hectic.

the pressure of life: a bit of short-term effort as opposed to a lifetime of pressure. It’s about delivering on the promises you make to yourself.

Achievement and fulfilment in real estate is about five steps: 1. The Who: taking responsibility for your work and home life 2. The Why: finding clarity around what really matters 3. The What: consistently making the right choices 4. The How: being inspired and driving productivity 5. The Bigger Why: discovering a purpose with high achievement and fulfillment!

LEARN HOW WITH PRODUCTIVITY The major difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is that the former know how. They have learnt to be productive. Life becomes a lot simpler when you know how.

I have seen people who feel strongly about why they want something, but fulfilment escapes them. I’ve also seen people study for years to learn so much; they know the what but then don’t take the right actions. To find great achievement and fulfilment you need to

PLEASE ADJUST YOUR TELEVISION

master all five steps.

The how (step 4) – being inspired and driving productivity – often presents an obstacle when we don’t know how to make success happen. The solution is to learn to be productive. Productivity is a skill that needs to be studied and practised and mastered over time. It is a crucial element of the how.

Without learning to be productive, you are likely to have a bunch of things you want but never quite get. Being productive increases your motivation as you can’t wait to get to work – that is, get to work on your life!

Learning how may be all that’s missing to ignite your inner fire. The fire that’s needed to climb the ladder of success to both achievement and fulfilment!

Christina Guidotti is one of Australia’s leading experts on belief, conviction and commitment in the areas of sales, leadership, productivity, achievement and fulfilment. As a powerful and inspiring speaker, author, and mentor she partners with individuals and teams to create sustainable outcomes. For more information visit christinaguidotti.com.

Stay tuned for a brand new style of industry talk show plus other “must watch” viewing from the industry

ELITE AGENT TV – COMING SOON with thanks to our partners at Industrie Media eliteagent.tv eliteagent.com.au

eliteagent.com.au 43

training

Four steps to twice the

ACCOUNTABILITY WHAT GETS MEASURED gets done! Tony Rowe discusses how to keep staff engaged,

motivated and productive with a simple four-step process for measuring success.

M

ANY, MANY MORE

set out on the path to success in this industry than actually make it. And while in some cases it can be lack of commitment from the person in question, sometimes it is just not their fault. It can also be a case of bad management and lack of accountability from their manager as well.

Having the basic skills to perform the basic tasks allows the skill development that will ensure success at the higherlevel tasks – that isn’t rocket science. And while there is a certain level of discipline necessary in the individual, it is important

for the manager, mentor or coach to be able to encourage and nurture the individual and provide them with the opportunity to be able to acquire the skills, to practise and to hone their performance.

It’s true that not every real estate work task is going to be an exciting, entertaining, thrilling endeavour – and they should not be dressed up as such. Sometimes it just needs to be understood that the particular task is pedestrian, but important.

The more experienced a person becomes at a particular skill, or in a particular role, the more productive that person will ultimately be. But if you are a manager, how do you ensure that these things get done and are practised to perfection?

Not every real estate work task is going to be an exciting, entertaining, thrilling endeavour – and they should not be dressed up as such!

44 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

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 the four steps in a bit more detail.

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 may be in an employment contract, a job description or a work order, but it should be in writing and it should be ‘agreed and accepted’ by both parties.

The agency would not take on a property management or sale without a written agreement. The same should apply to dealing

1

with staff and contractors. 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 performance achievement and allows reward or recognition opportunities to be scientific in their analysis and delivery.

MONITOR THE PERFORMANCE CAREFULLY Any performance review, no matter when it is undertaken (and it should be undertaken regularly and often), will be much more effective if it is based on the actual data parameters agreed in Step 1.

The stage ‘markers’ and performance indicators, if agreed at commencement, provide that independent, scientific information to demonstrate whether the performance has matched the promise.

How many prospecting calls have been made? How many property appraisals?

How many listing presentations? What’s the appraise/list conversion ratio? How many ingoing/routine/outgoing property inspections have been carried out? How many landlord/tenancy issues have been resolved?

2

What’s the tenancy vacancy rate? What are the time-on-market figures? How many sales/ leases have been signed this week/fortnight/ month? What does that represent in cash-flow dollar terms to the business?

These numbers are what matter. Everything else is a means to achieving that dollar-goal.

MANAGE ANY VARIATIONS REGULARLY 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); and it may be that the performance is meeting expectations.

Again, whether it is in the administration, sales or property management areas of the business, being across the performance of the relevant players is critical to the achievement of the business goals.

Knowing the whys and wherefores of the actual results allows the manager to encourage peak performance by the individual and team; to 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.

3

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, bimonthly, bi-annually and annually.

As skill development occurs and capacity to perform against those agreed targets is demonstrated, the need to closely monitor should (and must) lessen. This allows the manager to focus or concentrate on the next stage of skill acquisition.

Responsibility lies with both the individual and the manager, hence ‘twice the accountability’. By following this four step process in setting targets and jointly agreeing them, I am confident that both individual and manager have a greater shot at success in a highly competitive environment.

Tony Rowe is the principal of myrealestatetraining.com. au, specialist providers of Real Estate Training.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION FIND US ON FACEBOOK, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

facebook.com/eliteagentmag

twitter.com/eliteagentmag eliteagent.com.au 45

technology

Like and Share CREATING ADVOCATES IN YOUR COMMUNITY WITH SOCIAL CONTENT SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY management is neither cheap

nor easy, and it cannot be ‘KPI-ed’ into submission with a basic equation of time spent = listings garnered. You need to understand social media content is a reputation tool and reputation is something that can be directly linked to sales outcomes.

S

OCIAL MEDIA IS increasingly

the first point of contact your community of clients will have with you. They’re more likely to research your brand than call you up, gauging your influence, professionalism and capacity via your online storefronts. Many principals still consider social content to be an ‘and/ or’ option, something unnecessary or superfluous. This is usually because they themselves don’t use the medium or understand it – and often don’t respect its power or fear poor customer feedback in an open forum. To minimise costs, they’ll ask a junior staff member to ‘pop a few things on Facebook or Twitter, new listings and sales results’.

46 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

This casual approach to social media is negligent and dangerous to your brand for several reasons. Firstly, the tone and content of your social content needs to be both consistent with your brand voice and values whilst being genuinely interesting. Does your junior have excellent written expression?

Can they use social media appropriately, creating bespoke images to entertain whilst simultaneously branding? Have they used social media as a business tool before, or merely as a personal communication portal?

Do they understand your brand values, and are you happy to have them represent your business at the cold face? Can they transmit messages across various social platforms effectively, as each platform has its own idiosyncrasies, which must be taken into account for maximum effect?

Secondly, a casual approach to social media often results in ugly, boring content which reiterates to your market that estate agents are only interested in talking about themselves – and quite often in poorly crafted, embarrassing ways which make businesses look like ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ corner shops. Your social media must be as impeccable and creative as the best of press releases or promotional collateral.

It must be professional, strong, confident and engaging. Social media is a serious business, so think carefully about who you appoint to be the voice of your brand, your first point of contact. Outsourcing this essential service is worth thinking about.

ENHANCE YOUR SALES REPUTATION Social media content is truly the ‘good fairy’ of your brand. It is reputationenhancing rather than sales-focused.

Clients use social media as a tool for gathering information, for pleasurable relaxation, for entertainment. As with a real-life pal, no-one wants to be friends with a social media brand that talks about itself all the time, creating visually jarring, rubbishy content that gives nothing back.

Our advice? Take off that relentless KPI hat, and think about how you can use your networks to create great outcomes for your

community. By using your social media pages as forums for your community – like carefully-edited pinboards – you’ll not only build fan numbers with greater ease, you’ll be developing real-world advocates who will associate you with kindness and generosity.

Such goodwill can’t be won by crowing about Robbo’s biggest month of commission earning; it is slowly built through ongoing interaction and a sharing of ideas, themes and events that your core market will appreciate. Have a landlord, vendor, tenant or staff member who has a great project, which needs support? Talk about that! Is there a business opening in the neighbourhood? Create feature content promoting them! Be a good citizen, and think about time spent investing in social media as time well invested in the community. Forget measurables and focus on finding out how you can help your online communities.

Concerned you don’t have the time or skills internally to build quality social content? Think seriously about outsourcing your social media and community management to a company that specialises in both your category and in developing bespoke social content.

SEEK ADVOCATES Blogger outreach is used routinely by most consumer brands and is either contra (i.e. an experience in exchange for content involving your brand in some manner), or paid. Incredibly powerful and still very innovative in the real estate milieu, this is a space where you can develop new advocates and fans by thinking creatively about interaction.

Take off that relentless KPI hat, and think about how you can use your networks to create great outcomes for your community.

Have a big auction coming up? Invite influencers you are aware of to attend and cover what it’s like to be at an auction, including a morning in the suburb where your business is located, shouting them a breakfast and a voucher to spend in your neighbourhood. Not only will the influencer help raise awareness about those businesses;

it’s a great way to build natural content and reach new audiences. Seek influencers in your own communities and you’ll soon have real news worth talking about!

Social media and community-building pairs neatly with your essential prospecting activity, as latent tools to remind clients of your brand values, of your very existence, and of your commitment to servicing your locality. It is a way to develop brand advocates in unexpected markets, to entertain and to be a part of your clients’ consciousness in a positive way. As important as print media or any generic newsletter you might produce, agencies who hope to remain influential will need to think deeply about social media and community management in a more holistic fashion as we enter an almost totally digital era of marketing.

Iolanthe Gabrie authors Home Truths Melbourne, which is a unique Melbourne zine covering auction culture (visit it at www. hometruthsmelbourne.com).

She is also a Director of Ruby Slipper Consultants, providing written content for the real estate industry. For more information visit rubyslipper.com.au.

HIGH RES ELITE AGENT W BLEED HABITAT.pdf 1 8/28/2014 4:24:02 PM

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Will your staff appreciate the opportunity to volunteer and help build homes for people in real need?

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Visit habitat.org.au/changelives Call 1800 88 55 99

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personal development

TECHNIQUES FOR BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

AT ANY GIVEN POINT in time, a home seller has any number of choices in a real estate agent.

Lane Cathcart has some tips on personal branding and how you can stand out from the crowd.

T

RADITIONALLY, REAL ESTATE professionals have

commonly held that the more hours worked, the more money they will make. Logically, it makes sense to think that the more hours an agent spends prospecting and networking, the more clients they will contact. There’s the potential that more sales will be made, thus increasing income.

The flaw in this approach is that there are only 24 hours in one day and if milliondollar agents aren’t miraculously finding more hours in their working day, how are they continuing to write one million dollars’ worth of sales year on year?

PERSONAL BRANDING It’s simple; to make more money in real estate you need to work smarter, not harder. Rather than wasting hours a day cold calling and prospecting, successful real estate agents have recognised the value of personal branding. Nothing is more important for a real estate agent than to

create, maintain and market their personal brand. When successfully implemented, personal branding is recognised as the difference between writing $50,000 worth of sales by working 12-hour days, and becoming a million-dollar agent with a healthy work life balance.

Your personal brand is an invaluable investment. People will follow you for your personal brand from agency to agency if they feel connected to it; it has the potential to guarantee that you never have to start from scratch again.

If million-dollar agents aren’t miraculously finding more hours in their working day, how are they continuing to write one million dollars’ worth of sales year on year?

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND 1. Keep your appearance in check Like it or not, appearance matters. People use visual cues to build an idea of who you are, your competence and your trustworthiness. Keeping yourself well groomed and looking sharp will help you build a personal brand that says ‘I’m in control’ and ‘I take my job seriously’.

2. Have an authoritative presence Building a strong personal brand is as much about your presence as it is your appearance.

Practice speaking with authority to increase and maintain people’s confidence in you.

3. Ensure you’re ahead of the pack: become a fully licensed real estate agent Due to an oversaturation of agents in the market, this is one of the first things potential clients are looking for when searching for an agent. In a market overflowing with real estate agents, make the choice between yourself and the next agent an easy one.

4. Once you’ve become fully licensed, advertise it There’s no point being a cut above the rest if no one knows about it. Include your new qualifications in your job title and description, amend your business cards, send emails out, change your LinkedIn profile and spread the word.

5. Keep your social media professional Either ensure your privacy settings are set to ‘friends only’ or get rid of inappropriate posts and pictures. Potential employers often use social media to research and hire, so keep it classy and avoid embarrassment.

Time is money in the real estate game.

Spend your time wisely and you’ll build yourself a reputation that will not only serve, but follow you throughout your real estate career.

With a passion for the property industry, Lane Cathcart has been working as Course Manager at LinkLearn for the better part of a decade, providing nationally recognised, online real estate training to some of the best and brightest real estate agents across Australia. For more information visit linklearn.com.au.

48 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

EPM

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Tammy Hutchinson of LJ Hooker Port Macquarie shares her award winning tips

ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

Natalie Hastings Process equals protection Page 50

Tara Bradbury Can you offer a service guarantee?

Page 51

Tammy Hutchinson Recipe for success Page 52

Loretta Morgan Seven topics to kick start your blog Page 54

Debbie Palmer Life-saving safety tips Page 58

Matt Ciallella When should you sell? Page 60

Jo-Anne Oliveri 13 proven strategies to help you retain your clients Page 61

Property Management Mentor

Natalie Hastings

Process equals protection This year, a substantial amount of agency trust account fraud cases have come to light. And it’s not only the industry that’s taking note of these unfortunate criminal misdemeanours; the media are reporting widely on them, heightening the public’s distrust of the wider real estate community.

P

ROTECTING YOUR

agency from trust account fraud should be a core concern of all principals – primarily to protect your clients’ interest, but also to safeguard your own reputation.

There are several ways to minimise the likelihood of fraud occurring within your own agency. Central to prioritising the safety of funds held in trust is the keen management of your trust account using property management software. If you’re unsure about setting up protective systems and processes around trust account management, reach out to software accounting experts who specialise in real estate concerns.

HOW TO PREVENT FRAUD IN YOUR AGENCY Choose to give staff limited access to bank accounts and trust accounting software.

We suggest you don’t give full bank authorities to staff; you must always have control of payments from trust accounts.

Consider dual bank approval on all trust transfers.

Systematically conduct audit checks on bank account details to confirm payments as legitimate. Trust account fraud flourishes in lax environments without systems, so remain vigilant with your processes without being paranoid. Your trust accounting software

50 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

will allow you to print a report detailing any crucial account change details. Some programs, such as REST, have a ‘notify of sensitive change’ function that emails an agency’s Director when any bank account details are changed.

Do not allow individual staff to enter new creditors into your software system, as they could easily be set up with forged details. Ensure that dual approval is in place when entering new creditors.

Basic safety procedures should be observed, such as lodging all bonds directly with the bond board. Additionally, make it a rule that cash is not

bank reconciliations. Be wary of your trust account reporting as ‘reconciliation successful’ – this isn’t always the case.

Ensure your bank account matches the balance on your bank reconciliation. Note: are there any irregularities such as adjustments or total outstanding deposits? Pay close attention to the legitimacy of any irregularities and be sure to pair them with legitimate transactions or amounts waiting to be banked.

If you sense that trust accounting is not your forte, or perhaps you are pressed for time managing other aspects of your business, outsource

Managing the financial security of your agency is something you cannot afford to just put on the ‘to do’ list. accepted in your business.

Take full responsibility for the crucial trust accounting of your business and do not rely on staff to be expert.

The relegation of this responsibility to core staff who present as trust accounting aficionados is often where fraud occurs. Directors have an obligation to ensure that they have a complete understanding and control of their software system and

this essential function to a reputable trust accounting agency. Outsourcing trust accounting to an expert business enhances the safety of trust account funds for your clients and yourself.

Additionally, outsourcing this key function minimises staffing costs in your business, whilst you directly benefit from the experience of experts-for-hire.

Alternatively, improve your own knowledge and take steps to

engage in Director’s Training to help identify fraud occurring in your agency. Remember, knowledge is power!

WHAT TO DO IF YOU DISCOVER FRAUD IN YOUR BUSINESS Act as soon as you know or suspect fraud has occurred.

Remove the party responsible from your business. Trust account fraud is a criminal act which endangers both your clients and your business, so don’t hesitate to involve the Police in proceedings. Unless charged, you can be sure the offender will continue to breach agency and client trust with trust account fraud for years to come.

Report the fraud to your relevant business licensing authority. Be proactive, completely transparent and present your agency as bestpractice in the face of adversity.

Have a reputable trust accounting company correctly reconcile your account, providing you with a detailed report of findings and the actions you must take to rectify the situation.

Contact your insurer to mitigate your losses. If you do not have fidelity insurance in place for your business, ensure you take steps to protect yourself today.

Natalie Hastings is the Managing Director of Hastings + Co. For more information, visit hastingsandco.com.au.

Tara Bradbury

Business Development Mastery

100% Guaranteed

Are you prepared to pay when a team member makes an honest mistake? Tara Bradbury explains the advantages of having a property management guarantee in place.

H

AVING A property

management department guarantee in place is fantastic for the Business Development Manager (BDM) because they can use it as a selling tool during the listing presentation.

It is now fairly common to see an investor horror story on A Current Affair or Today Tonight. Because of this, many landlords will raise these stories as a concern during the listing presentation. They are not only nervous about renting out the property, but also because no responsibility has been taken by a negligent property manager.

A guarantee in your property management department means you are providing a formal assurance to your investor and you are guaranteeing that the entire department will provide the level of service that is expected of them under the legislation.

I’m sure we will all agree that when we were kids, if we damaged property that did not belong to us our parents would make us take responsibility for the damage we had caused. I even remember having to give up some of my hard-earned pocket money and, trust me, I never made the same mistake twice!

This is why having a guarantee in place, and following through with it, is so important. Your guarantee basically needs to say that as an agency you are prepared to take full responsibility for the entire team’s performance while

managing the investment.

You should guarantee that the department will perform in a specified manner, be responsible for their actions and the agency is prepared to pay for its mistakes.

While the above three points are important, my most valuable suggestion is to focus on the one thing that landlords complain about all the time: Communication. This is an area that is so easy to manage; yet it is an area that receives the highest number of complaints.

A common problem I see occurring is after the BDM has won the business and then assigns the property to the new property manager. As early as five days in, while the property is still vacant, the landlord calls the BDM and says ‘I haven’t heard anything and was wondering if you have a tenant lined up for my property’. The BDM’s blood is boiling but they think fast, give the landlord a small detailed response of what they know and advise them that the property manager will call back as soon as possible.

Then the BDM storms over to the property manager’s desk and says, ‘Why haven’t you called Mr Smith? The property has been vacant for five days and he’s heard nothing!’ The property manager comes up with excuses, which frustrates the BDM even more. Then by the end of the conversation the property manager finally picks up the phone and rings the landlord to give feedback.

Sound familiar?

That was the office I used

Your guarantee basically needs to say that as an agency you are prepared to take full responsibility for the entire team’s performance while managing the investment. to work in prior to having a guarantee in place. Things changed once we had and shared the guarantee with the entire team so that they were aware of what was expected of them on a daily basis.

When writing a guarantee you should consider using some of the following opening lines

to get started: • Our goal is to provide you with a service that you need • We understand the importance of giving the highest possible level of customer service to our clients • Our property management department is guaranteed to maximise the income on your investment property • We will provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis • If you are dissatisfied with our service at any time you can terminate • We will let your property within a maximum period of four weeks from the date listed Now, I know some of these probably put you back in your seat and are a little bit confronting to read. However, having a strong guarantee in place will not only help the BDM during the listing presentation, it will also strengthen positive word-of-mouth in your area. You will find that if you are willing to pay for the mistakes made by your team, this will be spoken about in your local community.

It may hurt the pocket a little bit but I guarantee you will be seen as the agency of choice. If you are prepared to back up the level of service expected from landlords, which in a lot of cases is basic stuff, you will be seen as being miles ahead of your competition.

Tara Bradbury is the Director of the BDM Academy sharing her business development ideas and strategies with property management BDM’s and Principals. For more information visit bdmacademy.com.au.

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ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

Recipe for Success

It was a case of sweet victory for Tammy Hutchinson of LJ Hooker Port Macquarie, who recently won the PPM National Property Management Award for Excellence after years of persistence and continual improvement of the department. Sharing her award winning tips for success, Tammy says that she is proof that “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.”

52 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

I

T ALL STARTED with a dream that came about through attending my first PPM Conference on the Gold Coast with my Principal, Gloria Dekker, in 2008. I watched Debbie Palmer speaking about the asset management team who had received the National Property Management Award for Excellence in front of all the delegates, and I thought, “What does our asset management team need to change to win this award?”

Upon viewing the submission criteria in March 2010, I held a meeting with our team to discuss our application. It took weeks following that meeting to put the submission together, but it was worth it as we were awarded National Finalists. My hunger for our team to win this prestigious award continued throughout 2011 and 2012, when our team was awarded National Finalists again.

The next year, 2013, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our team was made Finalists, with just one point being the difference between the winning team and us. My Principals, Gloria and Tony, our team, my partner Reuben, Michelle Williams of @home property management solutions, Tara Bradbury from BDM Academy and Debbie Palmer all knew I was devastated.

WE BELIEVE IT IS IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT AND RESPECT EACH OTHER, AS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CAN BE QUITE CHALLENGING AT TIMES! Our team had significantly improved our statistics, systems, procedures and valueadded service, but unfortunately that was not enough.

Now fast forward to 22 June this year at Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast.

My Principals, Tony and Gloria Dekker, accompanied me onto the stage with the other asset management teams who were also Finalists. The moment had arrived! I was overwhelmed and very emotional when LJ Hooker Port Macquarie was named by Debbie Palmer as National Property Management Team for Excellence 2014.

On reflection, five points led to our asset management team achieving the success of winning the 2014 PPM Group National Property Management Award for Excellence. These five points were:

1. Team Culture Our asset management team is made up of Tony Dekker, Gloria Dekker, Nerissa Rider, Natalie Sonter, Cody Page, Cheryl Fathers and myself.

We all like to have fun together as a team, whether it be ten-pin bowling followed by pizza or breakfast as a team at Sails Resort overlooking the Hastings River. We believe it is important to support and respect each other, as property management can be quite challenging at times!

2. Goals Following the disappointment of 2013, our asset management team united to set goals in preparation for the 2014 submission. Tara Bradbury was inspirational in keeping me accountable for new management prospecting and networking. Our team targeted the PPM Group’s quarterly awards for ‘Lowest Rental Arrears’ and ‘Lowest Vacancy Rate’, which we won repeatedly.

3. Exceeding Clients’ Expectations Our asset management team continually look for new ways to exceed our clients’ expectations. These ideas can come from listening to podcasts; for example, the interview of Chris Gilmour by Tom Panos. Or they can be little things we leave for our clients, like creating a personalised Santa Letter for children at Christmas, or when Nerissa, Natalie or Cody conduct a routine home inspection and they leave on the kitchen bench a ‘Tidy Room Award’ for the child.

4. Communication We aim to develop a genuine rapport with landlords and tenants so that they are able to trust that we will operate fairly and reasonably. This is often achieved by explaining situations in detail and giving

perspectives of other parties involved so that everyone can understand that they are not the only people who are looking to have their needs met. Doing this creates more understanding and reduces disagreements.

5. Knowledge of Legislation and Training We believe that continual training and being up to date with legislation is a must, whether it be logging into PPM online training conducted by Debbie Palmer or having a someone such as Bob Walters come to our office for training, as he did last year.

As an asset management team we now have our sights set on LJ Hooker’s awards for 2015!

Tammy Hutchinson is a licensed agent with more than 13 years’ experience in the real estate industry, and has embraced overseeing LJ Hooker’s asset management team in Port Macquarie for seven years. She has a passion for real estate, which is shown through working voluntarily at AREC for the last six years. For more information visit portmacquarie.ljhooker.com.

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ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

Seven topics to kick start your blog Using blogging as part of educating and informing your clients and potential customers is a wonderful, cost effective way to market your property management company – and is not just for sales people, says Loretta Morgan of Jam Property.

T

HERE ARE A FEW simple reasons why blogging can work really well for property managers: • It’s a fun and exciting way to captivate and engage your audience • It’s a great way to get your message across and educate your community • You can build trust and rapport with your viewers • You can become an authority in your field and the go-to agent in your area • Content marketing is so important, and video blogging makes your content stand out above your competition • There is such a lack of profile for property managers – what better way to change this than through education and information?

SEVEN SUBJECTS THAT GET YOU GREATER TRACTION AND HELP BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE FASTER Landlords Why not write about how your systems, policies and procedures work in-house? Try telling your clients about ‘A day in the life of your property manager’.

Don’t assume they know what’s going on because they probably don’t! Why not help them understand the ins-and-outs of what you do and why you do it? Your clients will be better informed, and this better understanding will ultimately create a stronger relationship.

Tenants There are so many issues around the relationship with property managers and tenants. This has a lot to do with a lack of communication and therefore understanding about why you do things a certain way. Why not blog out to your tenants about topics that really concern them and educate them on how problem resolution can be easily achieved, instead of in hostility and confusion?

54 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Contractors Do your contractors really know what you require of them? These people can be your biggest fans and have the ability to rave about you. Why not blog about contractor expectations; what they can expect when working for your business, and inform them of what types of standards you have in place which will give them a good idea.

Industry news Keeping your clients informed on the changes in the industry and legislation is the best way to help them understand why you do what you do. How often do we come across clients or customers who simply don’t understand how some things work? Tell them what’s happening, and when so that there are no surprises.

Property market Relevant information on the property market is really great information. Sales people regularly blog to their clients and target market, and property managers should do it to. Medium rents, vacancy rates, recently leased properties, how your area compares to other areas in performance… the list goes on. Clever stuff, and really simple.

Team Tell everyone about your team, who they are, their background, what they do within your organisation and how that benefits the user. People love to know who is in their community, who they are dealing with and what their story is. Share it – they love it!

Case studies What a great way to build trust and rapport! Share case studies in your blogs and show how you handled situations or overcame obstacles.

Everybody loves a story and this really showcases how good you are at problem solving. What better way to promote that you’re up for the challenge; you can handle tricky situations and come out with a benefit to all.

I have to say one of my favourites at the moment is video blogs. These are seriously entertaining and people love them. Video has literally taken over the world; you see it everywhere. It’s extensively used in sales and should definitely be used more in property management. If you’re unsure or need some practice, use your smartphone, practice, play it back and repeat until you’ve captivated your audience. Keep it brief; don’t bore your viewers or ramble

KEEPING YOUR CLIENTS INFORMED ON THE CHANGES IN THE INDUSTRY IS THE BEST WAY TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DO WHAT YOU DO. on. Make it fast-paced and hook them in. Get good content and keep it short, sharp and interesting, or this will not work for you.

There is an endless list of great ways to blog in property management. I recommend a regular blog to your audience in a timely fashion. Once you master the art of the blog and create a following, people will anticipate your next blog and will look forward to reading it.

Just a word of caution: it’s addictive!

Loretta Morgan has more than 17 years experience in the property industry, ranging from managing residential real estate to major commercial and industrial portfolios for private and institutional investors. For more information visit www.lorettamorgan.com.au.

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PROFIT Two of our clients’ favourite words.

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Real

property manager profile

Paul Signorelli

Raine & Horne Marrickville, NSW After completing his HSC and studying Accountancy for a short time, Paul Signorelli received an opportunity to complete some Property Management work experience at a local real estate office. When a junior position became available at Raine & Horne Marrickville, where his sister was working, he jumped at the opportunity and has never looked back. He is now in his seventeenth year, and he says, “Time does fly when you’re having fun.” Paul has won the Raine & Horne’s Outstanding Property Manager Chairman’s Awards a total of five times, and is excited about helping train and mentor the next generation of property managers.

Paul, what made you choose a Property Management Career?

Once I’d decided on real estate as a career path, I looked into the different roles within the office. I felt that with my background in accounting studies, as well my personality, I was best suited to use those strengths in a property management role.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

People in the industry have always said that “time” is a property manager’s worst enemy, and I still believe that to be true in today.

The Internet has dramatically increased the general public’s ability to ask a “quick question”

never boring and no two days are the same. Each day presents new challenges and interesting situations – the role is just so diverse and we get to deal with a broad range of people from all walks of life, from property owners with large portfolios, to tenants looking to rent a property for the first time.

You get to develop long-term business relationships with people and help them achieve their property investment goals. I get a lot of personal satisfaction from being referred to a new owner by an existing client, or helping a tenant become a property owner, or even just being the agent that gives a tenant the

IT TURNS OUT HE HAD BEEN HIDING UNDER HIS BED NAKED THE WHOLE TIME, HOPING TO COME OUT AFTER WE LEFT!

about a property, and therefore we as property managers need to adapt. With this new dimension to a property manager’s role you need to be extremely organised on a daily basis, and be ready to face what each new day has in store for you.

What do you love about property management?

It’s been said so many times before but it’s still true – property management is

56 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

opportunity to rent their first property.

What do you feel is unique about your team/agency?

The property management team at Raine & Horne Marrickville is unique in that we have three full-time property managers, who are all career property managers with a combined experience of nearly 40 years. In our local area, no other office is able to match

this level of experience.

Our agency is also unique as we have had the same stable ownership under Michael and Yvonne Smith for 30 years, while we also benefit from the close collaborative relationship with our partner offices Raine & Horne Commercial South Sydney / Marrickville and Raine & Horne Projects.

What was the most memorable property you have ever managed?

There have certainly been many over the years, but one that comes to mind is the time we had a tenant in arrears and the situation had reached lock out stage with the sheriffs. The sheriffs knocked on the door of the premises, and when there was no answer instructed the locksmiths to open the door. After looking around the property the sheriffs asked the locksmith to change the locks

as there was no one home.

A colleague and I were also in the house for some time, discussing the next move in the eviction process.

We entered a bedroom and I joked to my colleague that he should look under the bed, which he did before proceeding to run out of the room and out the front door, with me in hot pursuit. He had seen a naked body under the bed!

The sheriffs entered the room while we waited outside, and after a few minutes they walked out with the tenant, half dressed by that stage. It turns out he had been hiding under his bed naked the whole time, hoping to come out after we left!

What’s the best advice you have been given?

The best advice I’ve been given is simply to “treat others as you would like to be treated”

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT IS BASED ON LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS AND AS SUCH I REALLY BELIEVE THAT WHEN TENANTS OR LANDLORDS ARE KEPT UP-TO-DATE AND COMMUNICATED WITH REGULARLY, IT MAKES IT MUCH EASIER TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP.

and “don’t take things too personally” – I have certainly combined these two pieces of advice over the years.

What are your most important values?

I would have to say honesty and trust, as I always strive to be honest and up front with people. By doing this you gain their trust and respect, and people tend to remember and refer you on when they know you’re someone they can trust.

These values certainly help in resolving conflicts or when simply advising a landlord on the best course of action to take if a situation arises.

What are the key features in maintaining healthy relationships with landlords and/or tenants?

Without a doubt the key feature of maintaining healthy relationships is communication.

Property management is based on long-term relationships and as such I really believe that when tenants or landlords are kept up-to-date and communicated with regularly, it makes it much easier to maintain a healthy relationship. Also, you need to keep your word – if you say you’re going to call someone, do it, whether it’s good news, bad news or even no news!

Do you have a mentor or someone that inspires you?

My mentors would definitely be the principals of Raine & Horne Marrickville, Michael and Yvonne Smith. They have been in business a long time and have both taught me a lot.

I always say that everything I have learned about real estate

and a lot of what I have learned about life, I owe to them.

Where to from here?

Being a 17-year career Property Manager, it would be great to continue to grow our rent roll and bring in new staff who I can mentor, train and offer my experience to. I’m excited to help bring along the next generation.

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Any predictions for the real estate industry for the next year?

In my opinion, auction clearance rates are always a good indication of how the market is performing. In the Inner West we have experienced incredibly high clearance rates across all property categories. Low interest rates have also seen investors come back into the market which has increased the supply of rental properties.

Astute investors are always actively chasing well-located properties with the prospect of strong capital growth and good yields, and this is why the Inner West has been very popular of late. As long as these factors remain the same, we should see an increase in demand and supply for new properties to the rental market.

What advice would you give someone starting out in Property Management?

Educate yourself on the current legislation and market trends – you need to know your chosen industry inside and out if you want to be successful and taken seriously. Also, always keep things simple and don’t over-complicate things; be a good listener and learn to develop a thick skin!

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ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

Life-saving safety tips The area of staff safety can sometimes be forgotten, as we tend to focus our energy on other issues such as office systems, procedures and new legislation. Debbie Palmer looks at how we must all be more aware of safety concerns.

D

OES YOUR OFFICE have a

procedure for security?

If not, utilise your next meeting to discuss some basic security issues.

As Asset Managers we are very important business people. We deal with landlords and tenants at different stages and times in their lives.

Once you have been in property management for a short while, I am sure you can relate to the many stories where a tenant or landlord is upset, emotional, angry and even excited.

When dealing with safety issues, it is important to understand that different situations in people’s lives can set off different emotions. As a property manager we are often unaware of a tenant’s personal situation. There are a number of circumstances that can affect the tenant’s behaviour, such as: • Loss of employment • Sickness or death in the family • Domestic violence • Mental illness • Schizophrenia • Stress • Involvement in illegal activities • Drug, alcohol or gambling addictions • Relationship breakdown

58 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

The list goes on.

As property managers we need to be better equipped to read situations and people, and put ourselves in their shoes when dealing with irate or difficult clients.

One of the most common situations that can become a concern is when you need to evict a tenant from the property. Some tenants have been known to be extremely aggressive, threatening and on the rare occasion even become violent with staff.

I heard a recent story where a property manager had to evict a tenant that was known as a ‘difficult’ tenant as he always

property manager was quite young, lived alone, and naturally felt a little scared.

To reduce your team’s risk and improve your internal safety procedures, take the time to discuss the following with them: • Ensure all staff have a mobile phone with both the police and office numbers entered into the speed dial function.

Establish a code word or phrase to signal that you are in trouble - i.e. ‘I will meet you at the next appointment,’ or ‘The property address is 4 Blue Street’. (You can brainstorm your own code word.)

• Educate all staff members to call the

THE UNFORTUNATE THING IS THAT WE CAN NEVER BE FULLY PREPARED FOR THE UNEXPECTED; BUT WE CAN PREVENT A LOT OF UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS IF THERE IS A PROCEDURE TO FOLLOW. seemed to be under the influence of drugs or intoxicated. The property manager felt uncomfortable delivering the notice, so they took a member of the sales team with them. When the notice was issued the tenant was angry and agitated and then said, ‘I know where you live, I know what car you drive and I will be watching you’. The

office every hour on the hour to let reception know what properties they have been to. By doing this you can track where all staff members are, in case of an unpleasant event • Keep a log of all inspections in time order • Do not accompany anyone in your car • If in doubt do not enter a property. Listen

to your inner voice or gut instinct • Put all staff through self-defence classes (this could be a great team building exercise) • Never leave a staff member in the office alone • Keep changing the time of day and the route to do the banking, maybe even the staff member.

If you do have a disagreement with a tenant or landlord, make sure you tell your department manager, principal and receptionist. If this person comes into the office to speak with you, your staff will be aware that it may be a good idea for another member of the team to sit in on your conversation. If you are threatened by someone, lodge a complaint with the local police station. It is important to document any serious threats.

The unfortunate thing is that we can never be fully prepared for the unexpected; but we can prevent a lot of uncomfortable situations if there is a procedure to follow.

Additional tips to help minimise the risk within your office: • Personal belongings such as bags, purses and wallets to be kept out of the public eye • Password-protect your computers and be mindful of where you save or write the passwords • Limit cash flow within the office by adopting alternative payment methods for the tenants • Ensure that side or back doors are always locked • Install a panic button.

HOW TO HANDLE AN AGGRESSIVE PERSON The first step is to recognise that a person is becoming agitated. If you don’t spot the tell-tale signs and manage the situation correctly, it can lead to the person becoming aggressive. Once they become aggressive, it is often a lot harder to manage, so try to read the warning signs.

What are the warning signs?

• Pacing • Restlessness • Angry facial expression • Threats or gestures • Delusional behaviour • Intoxication • Loud, angry speech What approach should you take if you find yourself confronted with an aggressive or violent person?

• Ensure that you can get them to an open area, preferably where other people are present • Know your exit points • Know your crisis-management procedure • Alert someone nearby • Avoid prolonged eye contact

• Talk in a calm and confident manner • Emphasise desire to help • Give the other person personal space • Focus on the immediate problem or issue • Ask what action they would like you to take.

If you feel isolated or that the conversation is becoming too confrontational and you are concerned, make an excuse to remove yourself from the situation or conversation and find back-up or help. ‘Do you mind if I go to the file to get some information?’ or ‘Let

RELY ON YOUR INTUITION. IF YOU FEEL UNEASY ABOUT ENTERING A PROPERTY, DO NOT ENTER. me get you a glass of water and we can sit down and talk this through’.

MINIMISE THE RISK OUTSIDE THE OFFICE The main area of concern outside the office is when you are conducting inspections or visiting a rental property.

Tips for Inspections 1. When carrying out inspections ensure that you document the properties you are inspecting and the time of the inspection 2. Let other staff members know your movements and ensure that they are aware of the properties you will be inspecting 3. When carrying out inspections adopt an office policy of calling or texting the receptionist every 30 minutes or every hour to advise of your movements.

If the office has not heard from you, ensure that they call you 4. Always ensure that you have a mobile phone with you when carrying out inspections. Program your local police or ‘000’ into your mobile 5. Always take your mobile phone with you into the property. Don’t leave it in the car 6. When entering a property, take a moment to stand at the front door and assess the internal environment. Do not open the door and walk straight in 7. Rely on your intuition. If you feel uneasy about entering a property, do not enter.

You may need to make up a story that you have left your pen in the car or that you have forgotten something 8. Always know the movements of the tenants when inspecting the property.

Try and keep them in front of you. Use comments like, ‘After you’ 9. When entering the property take a moment to notice where the external door exits are

10. If carrying out prospective tenant inspections, adopt an office policy never allowing tenants in your car.

You can advise the tenant that it is your office policy to meet them at the property as your insurance does not cover third-party passengers during work hours. If the tenant states that they do not have a car, you can suggest that this would be a good opportunity to trial the public transport system to see if it is userfriendly in accessing the property 11. Always ensure that you obtain the prospective tenant’s contact details. Prior to meeting the tenant at the property, ring to confirm your appointment and to verify that the contact number is for the prospective tenant 12. Ensure that you take the time to qualify prospective tenants to allow you the opportunity to evaluate their demeanour.

Tips for Night Safety If you are alone in the office in the evening or on a weekend, take extra precautions to ensure your personal safety.

• Tell a friend or colleague where you are • Keep the door closed and locked while you are in the office • Be aware of your surroundings at all times • Call ‘000’ if you see or hear anything suspicious • Arrange to meet a friend or call someone when leaving the office.

Tips for Fire Safety Does your office have regular drills and an action plan to evacuate the building?

Prevention is the key! The fire authorities recommend every office has a simple safety checklist to prevent injury that could be caused by fire. Check your State fire authority’s website for more information and fact sheets.

With a number of tragic incidents over the last few years occuring while going about day-to-day duties, I cannot stress enough the importance of making personal safety a number one priority for your next team meeting.

Debbie Palmer has celebrated over 20 years in property management and is Managing Director of the PPM Group. Debbie is the author of the PPMsystem®, Scripts and Dialogues Audio Series What to say to have your clients think your way, Standard Letters Made Easy and A Successful Guide to Property Management. For more information visit www.ppmsystem.com.

eliteagent.com.au 59

ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

When should you sell?

When planning to sell your business timing is key.

However, ensuring your business is running well before you sell is just as important. Matt Ciallella looks at how you can prepare the best exit plan for when the time is right.

S

OME AGENTS AND principals I talk to have not considered when might be the best time to sell their business.

There are certainly many considerations before deciding to sell up, and most importantly is answering the question yourself before you make your journey down the sales avenue. By taking some time to plan an exit strategy, you can maximise the sale price of your business and do it for the right reasons.

Reasons for selling your business will vary. You could have had enough of the industry; it could be a declining sales market or a much more competitive property management and sales landscape.

You could have exhausted your options

60 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

to have internal staff take over the business – or it could be the right time to retire. Whatever the reason, it is good business practice to have a succession plan in place so your business is ‘sellable’.

TIPS FOR SELLING Here are my top tips to ensure your business is ready to sell.

1. Start planning early. Have an idea of your timeframe and ensure this matches your personal and business goals 2. Structure your business/company so others can succeed. Have a clear company vision and goal. This will attract employees and sit you head and shoulders above your competitors 3. Think about who will take over the business. This could involve selling to partners, staff, family members or externally 4. Identify key personnel in the business and look to how you can retain these staff through profit share, then ultimately partnerships and shares.

Maintain and strive for quality managements. You can do this by ensuring excellent communication, charging appropriately for service and adopting best practice.

5. Review and standardise all your employee agreements 6. Create a culture of teamwork. This is a culture where all your employees have a respect for each other and your clients, and where you are not creating a culture of entitlement 7. Be engaged in your business. Have a mental attitude that is successoriented. This will shine through to your staff and any future buyers 8. Examine tax/capital gains tax (CGT) implications. Many small businesses may obtain a discount of 50 per cent if they hold the business more than one year. There are also rollover exemptions for deferring a CGT event when the gain is moved to another asset/business.

WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL SALE? I’ve seen many successful sales. These have been sales where vendors have made a conscious decision to leave the business and feel that ‘now’ is the right time. It doesn’t need to be an event or trigger to make this decision. It’s a decision that needs to be made on your terms – not someone else’s.

You need to be reasonable and realistic about price. If you know it’s a great

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START PLANNING THE SALE OF YOUR BUSINESS. THIS SHOULD BE AN ONGOING TASK AND PART OF YOUR BUSINESS PLANNING PROCESS.

business, show the prospective buyers why.

Not just because of your great relationships with clients and owners, but tangible reasons. You also need to open your books and be completely transparent.

It’s never too early to start planning the sale of your business. This should be an ongoing task and part of your business planning process. mc rent roll broking is a specialised rent roll and business broking service for real estate agents, founded by Matt Ciallella.

For more information, visit mcrentrollbroking.com.au.

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www.coreplex.com.au www.coreplex.com.au (02) 8188 8231 1055 1055 (02) eliteagent.com.au 61

ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER

13

proven strategies to help you retain your clients

Client retention is one of the best ways to unlock a sustainable income stream in your property management business. What follows are 13 proven strategies from Jo Oliveri that will help you retain your clients and take you closer to the ultimate end goal: financial freedom.

1

CLIENT INDUCTION: CONSISTENT AND ONGOING Just like you induct new members of your team, you must give your clients an induction too. Property owners, tenants, maintenance contractors – and, in fact, any affiliate service you deal with – must be inducted into your way of doing business, because your way of doing business is what makes you different. The best way to induct your clients is to communicate your policies, procedures and practices before and during your relationship with them. Put simply, you cannot expect your property owners, tenants, and contractors to cooperate with your practices if they don’t know what they are.

2

CONSISTENCY OF SERVICE AND CULTURE: THINK MCDONALD’S When you visit a McDonald’s anywhere in the world you know what to expect – that’s called consistency of service and culture. Do you offer the same consistency of service and culture to your clients? To achieve consistency you must invest in processes, resources and training for your business; all three elements must co-exist in order for consistency of service and culture to be achieved.

3

REPORTING: CONSISTENT AND PROFESSIONAL Reports are the window to your business, so make them consistent and professional. Consistent and professional reporting means all reports have the same layout, design and wording, align with your brand and reputation, contain relevant and meaningful information your property owners require to make informed decisions and are in line with previous reports.

62 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

4

7

MARKET KNOWLEDGE: AREA SPECIALISTS It’s no secret that property owners are becoming savvier and want property management agencies that are considered ‘market area specialists’. Property owners want their agents to provide professional advice about their properties and their respective market areas to help them make informed decisions. To become a market area specialist your team must undertake ongoing and in-depth analysis of your market area and provide stockbroker-like advice to your clients.

5

8

6

COMMUNICATION: REGULAR, PURPOSEFUL, CONSISTENT Property owners, tenants and even prospective clients want regular, purposeful

9

CONSISTENCY OF MAINTENANCE: SET CONTRACTORS Property owners are often frustrated by the fact that multiple tradespeople from various companies carry out maintenance and repairs on the same issue. You, as the business owner, must decide which contractors best align with your business’ values, service standards, brand and culture, and you must then ensure your property managers use these chosen contractors each and every time.

TRAINED TEAM: UPHOLD YOUR BRAND AND REPUTATION Training your team so they represent your brand and uphold your reputation ensures consistency and helps retain your clients. Each team member should receive planned, consistent and ongoing training so they understand your way of doing business and what makes you different from your competitors. Only place your team members in front of your clients once they understand and can uphold what makes your business unique.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND ADVICE: PROPERTY OWNERS ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT The bottom line is that property owners want a professional service and professional advice from the property management agency they engage, and they are willing to pay for it! Investment properties are probably their most expensive assets so they want service and advice that protects, nurtures and grows their nest eggs. To provide this professional service and advice your agency must become a market area specialist.

HONESTY AND INTEGRITY: MAINTAIN YOUR STANDARDS Property owners want to deal with property management agencies that are consistently honest and ethical. You can maintain these high standards by implementing proper systems and processes that ensure compliance and consistency. This ensures you deliver on your promises each and every time, regardless of which team member your clients deal with, so you gain and maintain their trust.

TO ACHIEVE CONSISTENCY YOU MUST INVEST IN PROCESSES, RESOURCES AND TRAINING FOR YOUR BUSINESS.

and consistent communication from their property managers. They want to hear from you via phone calls, emails, letters and SMS. They also want communication about when things go right, not just when things go wrong. With the range of automated programs available such communication is now easy to set up and manage.

10

PROPERTY MANAGERS: ACT LIKE SALES CONSULTANTS Property managers must also be good sales consultants. As the business owner it is your job to ensure that your property managers act, think and work like real estate sales consultants. To do this your property management team must be trained to have the same listing, negotiating, marketing and selling skills as your sales team to ensure they are able to match the right client to the right property and at the right price.

11

FEEDBACK: KEEP IT HONEST AND FACTUAL Your property managers must keep communication and feedback honest and factual so property owners can make the best-informed decisions about their investment properties. Your clients need

LANDLORDS ALSO WANT COMMUNICATION ABOUT WHEN THINGS GO RIGHT, NOT JUST WHEN THINGS GO WRONG. the cold hard facts, not lies. Lies lead to misinformed decisions which potentially lose your property owners money and lose your business clients.

12

MANAGEMENT STYLE: MAKE IT PROACTIVE Sometimes it may feel like your business is dealing with one crisis after another. This is the sign of a reactive management style. Being reactive results in lost clients and managements, brand and reputation damage, and other associated risks. To implement a proactive management style you must put in place proper policies and procedures that measure, monitor and manage your business and keep potentially damaging crises at bay.

13

LOYALTY PROGRAM: REWARD YOUR CLIENTS Your clients want to feel rewarded for their loyalty to your business. Implementing a loyalty

program can make your clients feel special and ensure they have a long-term relationship with you. Rewarding your clients does not mean giving away your services for free (for example, offering free management fees) but instead put in place a planned program that results in win-win for both you and your clients – mutual loyalty.

Using these 13 proven strategies will help you achieve client retention in your property management business and unlock a sustainable income stream that takes you closer to financial freedom.

Jo-Anne Oliveri, CIPS, TRC, Founder and Managing Director of property management business solutions company ireviloution intelligence. She is an international real estate identity who has trained over 500 agencies and thousands of agency owners and property managers worldwide.

Visit ireviloution.com to find out more.

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eliteagent.com.au eliteagent.com.au 63

The Last Word Fiona Blayney

Something old, something new: traditional vs. high-technology With an ability to mould classic concepts together with ever-evolving technology, Fiona Blayney argues that we really do have the best of both worlds.

I

N THIS FAST-PACED, technoaggressive world an app created by three students, which slings wingless birds towards pigs, is worth $8.8 Billion. We measure our fitness not from how far or how fast we can run but by a bangle around our arm that depicts an array of traffic lights reporting on the number of steps we take throughout a day. So why do we find ourselves restoring a method of information delivery that we had believed to be gone forever: the magazine?

As you come to the close of the first print edition of Elite Agent, if you are like me, you have enjoyed the visual elements and been engaged through the tactile nature of turning a page. You have identified quality via the stock of the paper and the level of planning and detail that has gone into the magazine’s layout and design. Perhaps there are some things that will actually stand the test of time, and I for one hope they remain.

There is something warm about turning the pages of your favourite book. I enjoy sitting on my leather lounge in our reading room at home, and the feeling of being surrounded by knowledge in the form of the shelves of our books.

I think about tucking my daughters in of a night. There is the ritual of the bedtime story, and I like that we read from a book and not the iPad. The Oh

64 ELITE AGENT • SEP-OCT 2014

Dear is a pop-up book where the ever-silly Buster attempts to locate eggs on his grandma’s farm; my daughter shouts “Oh dear!” as we open the barn door, look inside the dog’s kennel and so on through an array of farm animals’ homes until finally Buster lifts up a chicken to find the eggs. Would this really be the same if done through technology? Perhaps in some ways it would. Perhaps not.

Currently we really have the best of both worlds – well, from my perspective: an ability

Of course Real+, our online learning system, is the epitome of technology, but really we need to ensure we are still ‘rubbing bellies’ with our clients which we can lose sight of in the online world.

Transversely, in the physical world we can lose sight of the need to keep going with technology. Instead we revert to ‘back in my day’ as our means to maintain our end and avoid change. When you backtrack 10 years you would never have imagined a website could

changing. Have you stopped lately to identify what problem it is you are solving, or are you simply attempting to keep the existing business model profitable?

As you think about your own business evolution, before you embark on the techno superhighway stop and consider the consumer problem you are solving. Then ask yourself how technology will allow you to solve this issue and whether it will add more to your bottom line. It’s fun to throw wingless

Ultimately every consumer across all industries is simply someone with a problem to solve. Have you stopped lately to identify what problem it is you are solving, or are you simply attempting to keep the existing business model profitable? to maintain old-fashioned concepts together with our ever-evolving technology.

We have the option to read a magazine but also jump online and get the most up-to-date discussions, interact with others and do it all in real time.

With Elite Agent online launching earlier this year, I began to think about my own business, my own life, and identify how I could integrate the old with the new. How will my businesses stand the test of technology and time?

replace an agent, a resource overseas would conduct elements of your workplace functions, or a system would allow a tenant or purchaser to select their own appointment times. In 2014 these are not just potentials, these are the reality.

So what will you be doing not just to survive but thrive in the evolving market?

Ultimately every consumer across all industries is simply someone with a problem to solve. Perhaps the mix of tradition and technology is

birds at pigs, but some technology is just a waste of time – and in business you don’t have much of it to waste.

Well, that’s it from me. I must dash; tonight we are not only helping Buster find some eggs, but also taking a trip to Spain….

Thank you, Google. A healthy mix of the new and traditional.

Fiona Blayney is the founder and director of Real+, an industry first Property Management learning platform. For more info visit realplusonline.com.au.

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