0:00

Dollar agent . The podcast

0:02

. Can you start again ?

0:06

Yeah , you know , we use

0:08

like AI , so all the audio

0:10

gets evened out afterwards anyway

0:12

, No problems .

0:14

Million Dollar Agent , the podcast

0:17

. We're back again . It's that time

0:19

of the week You know why John's

0:21

laughing in the background ? because we've had three takes

0:24

at one sentence , three takes

0:26

at the intro right .

0:29

I still think you got the name wrong . I've never heard it called

0:31

Million Dollar Agent the podcast , but I like

0:33

it . It's got a bit of pizzazz about it

0:36

. It's funny , troy , i was watching you . How many years

0:39

10 years Are

0:42

we still live ? Are we still live , troy

0:45

? there's a podcast in the US . I

0:48

don't know . you call it a vlog . it's on YouTube

0:50

. Yeah , i think it's called Keys'

0:52

World or Keys' World . She

0:55

goes for like three or four hours

0:57

because I know we're always time conscious

0:59

and , yes , we probably should be , but it's interesting

1:01

. They're different . Some podcasts

1:03

go for three or four hours but we actually drive

1:06

people crazy . But nonetheless , million

1:09

Dollar Agent the podcast is back . Podcast

1:12

.

1:12

This is a decade project

1:16

that we've had and there have

1:18

been periods of time where we've gotten

1:20

busy or illness or what

1:22

have you . We've missed out three or four weeks . But we've

1:24

been very consistent of

1:27

late And I'm really looking forward

1:29

to this podcast because I heard some

1:32

great feedback about something you

1:34

did this morning with a greater team at

1:37

McGraw And we're going to talk about that in a moment

1:39

. But , john Troy

1:42

, you both heard

1:45

the announcement of the RBA at

1:47

2.30 yesterday . It was tipped 50%

1:49

. They would raise

1:51

it . 50% said no , they

1:53

would put a pause on it . I'd

1:55

love to get both your view on your

1:59

take on it And , more importantly , how

2:01

does a real estate agent use an announcement

2:03

from a bank to help them

2:05

make more listings and more make more sales ? Because

2:07

I mean , it would be hard to believe that

2:09

an agent wouldn't be talking about it on

2:11

their phone calls about what's going on in the economy . So

2:15

, over the year , i'd love to get your view on how

2:19

to use information from the RBA to help list properties

2:22

or help sell more properties .

2:25

Yeah well , troy , i reckon they've been relentless and

2:28

they've just given a slight reprieve , because

2:30

I wouldn't be expecting

2:32

this to remain status quo . I

2:35

think there's another two rate rises to go , sadly

2:37

, because I think we've already gone two or three too many , but

2:40

I think they're just trying

2:42

to give the consumers

2:45

a slight reprieve for a moment . But

2:47

we're finding , troy , as you

2:49

manage , a lot of the growth in

2:51

the business . We're finding now , tom , a

2:54

lot of pain in pain

2:57

, distressed sellers , and some of them are the banks that

2:59

have taken control of assets . But more

3:01

often , people are saying , hey , my mortgage

3:03

payments have just doubled , some

3:06

cases close to tripled . I can't afford

3:08

it , i've got to get out , i've got to sell my investment property

3:11

, i've even got to sell my home , which is tragic , terrible

3:14

, terribly sad , but it is happening , and

3:17

I think there's going to be

3:19

a lot more of that as these fixed

3:21

home loans come off fixed

3:23

rates and they have to go to variable rates , and some people won't even

3:26

be able to finance and some will

3:28

just find it incredibly stressful

3:30

, because not only is , you know , tom , not only is it

3:32

mortgage rates , it's petrol , it's food

3:35

, it's every damn thing that

3:37

you look at has gone up double . I used to go

3:39

into IGA and you get enough for a year evening

3:41

meal and it might be a couple of steaks

3:43

and some salad , veggies and a couple of

3:45

bread rolls and it'll be $34 . It's now $65

3:47

. It's just the

3:50

cost of living has gone up extravagantly

3:52

. So very sad for us , but nonetheless we've

3:55

all got to . We can't change this , we've got to live

3:57

with it for the moment . Here's

3:59

my thought on it , troy , and you agree

4:03

or disagree if you like , but add to it for sure

4:05

. I think

4:07

right now we are coming to the

4:09

end of what I think has been a terrific

4:12

run of a bull market for property

4:14

, despite the market the overall

4:16

market or the economy being in a very

4:19

sluggish state . The property

4:21

market has ignored that for a long

4:23

time and it's just been thundering

4:26

ahead . I think we're coming

4:28

to the end of that . I think we're about to

4:30

start seeing a plateauing

4:33

and we might well see a correction

4:35

of some description , not major 3

4:38

, 5 , 7% But I think , as

4:41

people that are under pressure come to

4:43

market and have to find a buyer and

4:45

some won't be able to find a buyer immediately

4:48

they're going to have to adjust their price down

4:50

The minute they adjust their price down

4:52

. Everybody else has got it too , because that becomes the new

4:54

market and the comparable sale . So

4:56

I think that we're probably

4:59

what I'd be saying and I am saying to all my clients

5:01

and all our agents If

5:03

you have a property sold as I listed

5:05

, i'd be getting it sold sooner than

5:07

later post-haste . If you've got a listing

5:09

coming to the market , i'd be focused on getting it sold

5:12

in the first 30 days , which should happen anyway

5:14

. But I wouldn't be hanging around

5:16

because I think , as we come into an

5:18

increased volume of stock , which will

5:20

include a smattering , or

5:22

potentially more than a smattering , of properties

5:26

sold under stressful and

5:28

challenging conditions , i

5:30

think we'll see a dilution of prices

5:33

For those two things . Just the pure time

5:35

increase of stock is going to dilute prices

5:37

because it's more to go around by

5:40

. Demand will be diluted . But

5:43

then you're going to have these sales that

5:45

come through at slightly under pressure prices

5:47

and I think that that's going to reset

5:50

the market . So I think right now I'd

5:52

be having that conversation , not because it helps

5:54

us get a sale or not because it helps

5:56

us get a listing more quickly . I

5:58

think you've just got to tell people the way you see

6:00

the market . So if you do agree to

6:02

conversation to be had , because someone knocks back an

6:04

offer of 2.8 today

6:06

because they want 2.9 , guess what ? They might be taking

6:09

2.650

6:11

in two months' time . So that would be what I'd

6:13

be saying , troy .

6:15

Yes , john , i agree . I anticipate listings

6:17

are going to continue to slowly

6:19

increase over the coming

6:21

months leading up until spring . We've

6:23

seen that . We've been doing a lot of research

6:26

around our group and also speaking

6:28

to some of our competitors in the market and they're

6:30

seeing a lot of appraisal rates go up . I

6:32

think people are going to anticipate that and maybe chase

6:34

the market a little bit . While the supply

6:37

and demand in balance has been quite high

6:39

at the moment , people have been seeing

6:41

solid people that open for inspections

6:43

Numbers have been really high . Auction

6:46

clearance rates Tom , you and I were both around

6:48

75% on the weekend . They've kind

6:50

of been high 60s , early 70s for

6:52

quite a number of weeks now . I think

6:54

that's going to motivate and inspire vendors , but

6:56

I don't think we're probably going to see that

6:58

continue . John , i'm in agreement with you . We're

7:01

going to see transactions and people are

7:03

going to be making those transactions to

7:05

try to preempt the danger

7:07

of what it could be in a year's time .

7:11

I mean when it doesn't make sense . there's

7:14

normally a reason for that , and right now

7:16

, for a number of months , the property

7:18

market—and I'll take the luxury market

7:20

out for a minute because those people are not buying

7:22

with mortgages generally , they're

7:25

paying cash . They're trading from

7:27

$10 million to $8 million , or $10 million to $12

7:29

million , or $6 million to $8 million or whatever . At the very

7:31

top end of most markets around

7:33

Australasia . I think that's

7:36

a slightly different story , but

7:38

I do think for the majority of the market

7:40

low , middle and maybe

7:43

up and middle of the market there's going to be

7:45

some new pressure that we haven't seen for

7:47

the last few years And I think

7:49

that that might sober the market up a little

7:51

bit . So my view would be get

7:54

your listings sold , get your new listings

7:56

on the market sooner than later , and

7:58

then , when the other ones come on board , just as , back

8:00

to good , old-fashioned selling . the order taking's gone

8:03

. You can't just turn up an auction and expect

8:05

five , six bidders to register . You're

8:07

going to have to go back to good

8:09

, old-fashioned working the buyers

8:11

, private appointments in addition to your open homes

8:14

, making sure your prices are aligned

8:16

, better communication with buyers and sellers

8:18

, all the good stuff which

8:20

doesn't concern me . it's actually about time

8:22

. I think So . I think , tommy

8:24

. that's where I see the market at the moment .

8:26

Yeah , and I don't think just listening to you

8:28

and I concur with both your views

8:30

it doesn't mean it's . I

8:33

get a lot of direct messages from people

8:35

that are not in real estate , from

8:38

both TikTok and

8:40

main Instagram and a bit of Facebook , And

8:43

one of the most common things comes up is buyers

8:45

say listen , i like this house , i

8:47

want to buy it , but do you reckon I

8:50

should wait till spring ? I

8:53

love getting questions from the public because it helps

8:55

you understand what's on their mind

8:57

, and I actually responded

8:59

back to this buyer today and I said look

9:01

, here's the deal , because he actually

9:03

said to me I do want to buy

9:06

before the bank takes

9:08

my loan away and gives me less money

9:10

, which is a very valid point . If you're a buyer

9:12

and there's a house out there that you like

9:14

, you might not have the option of being able

9:16

to buy this house after another two

9:18

more rate rises and you get re-rated

9:21

and you're given a different borrowing capacity . So

9:24

it doesn't mean that if you're a buyer

9:26

, you stop buying . It means that

9:28

if you haven't seen anything that you like

9:30

and you've been looking for a while , you'll

9:33

probably have more to pick from in spring . That's

9:35

all it means And you might end up getting

9:38

a bit of a bonus . But

9:41

yeah , i agree with what you're saying If

9:43

you're a seller , come on the market sooner

9:46

rather than later . But

9:49

I'm fascinated , troy , tell

9:51

me about the webinar this morning

9:53

. Actually , this is music to my ears

9:55

because I've always thought one of the

9:57

things we never really dig deep enough

9:59

is to how did John list

10:01

and sell real estate , particularly

10:04

like the model was different back then . People

10:07

didn't have an army of sold Some teams

10:09

. Now I was having a training session with a

10:11

guy today and he's got two admin

10:13

PAs , he's got a buyer's agent , he's got a lead

10:15

generator , he's got a business manager . So

10:17

there was five plus in there six people there

10:19

, right , you know it's like a little real estate

10:22

office .

10:23

We were laughing this morning and I'll get to the question

10:25

. but we were laughing because , john

10:28

, you had a fax machine in your car right

10:30

, that was one of the comments that he made this morning . You had

10:32

a fax machine and Tom , mobile phones

10:34

were kind of the size of briefcases

10:36

and that was kind of A backpack

10:38

.

10:39

A backpack , a bag , a bag , a

10:41

uni , then backpack . But here's the

10:43

thing .

10:44

I tell you that , troy , you know just basic things like core

10:46

logic , which is now in the palm of your hand , and

10:48

you punch in sales and what do they

10:50

buy this for ? I mean , you

10:52

used to have to go well , our council

10:55

is where I did most of my business or Waverly Council

10:57

used to have to take a checkbook

10:59

up there and yet to go and wait for the

11:01

counter and ask them to hand this big fat list

11:04

of sales which was a spin

11:06

out or a spit out They did every few weeks and

11:09

pay them $5 to do a search

11:11

and sit there and then transcribe . So things

11:14

have definitely changed a lot . I

11:16

mean , a lot of stuff has stayed the same auctions open

11:18

for inspections A lot of stuff has

11:20

changed the same . Obviously , realestatecom and

11:22

the portals have changed the way by

11:24

a search and that sort of stuff . But

11:27

yeah , i often wonder why

11:30

a lot of people need so many . I mean , i

11:32

get people saying to me oh , you

11:34

know , i'm thinking of getting an assistant . I say , okay

11:36

, what are you writing ? And they say 250 . I said

11:38

how many properties you're selling ? They say 12 . I

11:41

said , dude , why do you need an assistant ? Like

11:44

, let's build some volume here and let's

11:46

work it out , because at 12 sales a year or one

11:48

a month , you actually don't

11:50

have a lot of paperwork . You probably don't , unfortunately

11:53

, have a lot of buyer inquiry even or a lot

11:55

of opens to handle . So I get

11:57

investing ahead of the curve . But when

11:59

I go back , i had a three by five card box

12:01

Tommy , you'd have been the same on my desk

12:03

And when I got really successful , i had three , three

12:06

by five card boxes And

12:08

, once you know , there was a mobile

12:10

phone at one point . But for probably half of my

12:12

career you had to ring up clients and catch them at home

12:15

or work . There was nothing on the run

12:17

, so very different

12:19

. But yeah , now I . How

12:21

did , johnny ? I'm curious , yeah .

12:23

Yeah , got a title . I guess How

12:25

many properties were you selling a month ?

12:29

I was personally selling 10 to 15

12:31

a month and I

12:33

would then have an additional number

12:35

of properties that I was selling

12:38

with my colleagues . So I was very

12:40

much and Troy was my assistant for a period

12:42

there , which was awesome . We were a great

12:45

team . But I was personally

12:47

selling initially myself , then with the

12:49

team that sort of volume . Then

12:52

I'd probably have another 10 , 15

12:54

that are being handed out to agents . That I'd have

12:56

to have some involvement and running

12:58

the team . But yeah , people say do

13:01

you feel it was really busy ? I guess so

13:03

. But I think when you're working 12

13:05

hours and you're fairly time effective and

13:09

you learn to be

13:11

more succinct in your communications

13:13

, sharper in your negotiations

13:15

, better at your listing presentations

13:18

, because you just don't have the time , just

13:21

like a parent that's all of a sudden got twins

13:23

. They didn't have the first kids , they got twins . They

13:26

got to get more efficient of the way they run their life because

13:28

you don't any longer

13:31

have the time to deal with the

13:33

stuff . So I guess it evolved

13:35

. But I never thought of it as

13:37

a chore , i never thought of it as under pressure

13:39

or stress . I just funny

13:42

enough . I just loved the whole thing .

13:44

John , we spoke a lot this morning

13:46

about what were the key things

13:48

that you were focused on in

13:50

the sales business that really made

13:53

you stand out from the competition , and

13:55

I think sharing that and digging deeper with

13:57

the MDA audience would be something

13:59

that I think a lot of people would appreciate . The

14:01

consistency , the attention to detail

14:03

, those types of factors that we

14:07

talk as just the staple of our

14:09

business was something

14:11

that was really differentiating

14:13

compared to the rest of the market .

14:17

Yeah , it's interesting to try . I started when I was 20

14:19

years of age which is pretty

14:21

young today and I think it was certainly pretty young back

14:23

then And most of my competitors

14:25

were double that . They were sort of somewhere

14:27

between 35 and 55 , probably

14:29

they're about . So

14:32

the first thing I had to really do because I was trying

14:34

to figure out it was going to be very hard for me as a

14:36

newcomer to the industry with

14:38

no track record , no real life experience

14:40

. It was going to be very , very hard for me to compete

14:44

with people that were far more experienced in

14:46

every facet of the word . So

14:48

what I did was I built product

14:51

knowledge , which I fear was honestly even

14:53

better than the people that had been in the game

14:55

a long time . I studied the industry

14:58

. I went to every auction I

15:00

could . I went to every open I could . I read every

15:02

book that I could . I studied the architecture

15:04

of the area that I worked in . I

15:07

joined the historical society so I could

15:09

get information and I sort

15:11

of did a hell of a lot of things that

15:14

really good . So I think the first thing is product knowledge And if

15:16

you are lacking in confidence or new to the industry

15:18

, i'd really encourage everyone to swat

15:20

up on that . Second thing is I realized

15:22

I may not be as competent

15:24

at listing for a little time , but

15:26

I knew that I could serve as buyers as good or better

15:29

as anyone else . So I really

15:31

made a fine art of dealing with buyers

15:33

better and more of them than

15:35

any of the competitors . Why did I know that ? Well

15:38

, i ended up selling a lot of properties , but I also got great

15:40

feedback from people that said , hey

15:42

, not only any person that rings us back follows

15:44

us up , but you've been following me up for nine months while

15:46

I've been looking , and

15:49

that seemed to be quite unique at the time . So I

15:51

really made an art of bi-servicing

15:53

, of great open for inspections , being

15:56

developing a set of great questions to ask

15:58

, making sure I was organized to capture

16:00

the feedback so I could serve them better once

16:02

I knew the answers . And

16:04

this was really a great joy for

16:06

me . And I often talk about the late Lawrence

16:09

Hope . He wasn't anyone famous , but

16:11

he used to ride a bike to Opens and it took him five

16:14

years to buy a property And I kept following

16:16

him through and everyone in the office thought it was

16:18

a bit amusing that I was sort of sticking to this guy

16:21

three , four , five years later And I ended

16:23

up selling the property finally on Ocean

16:25

Street , wallara , and

16:28

I remember it was one of my proudest moments because

16:30

I kept sticking to him and kept ringing him and , despite

16:33

other people being a little bit skeptical or cynical

16:35

, it was really good . So

16:37

bi-servicing Troy was

16:39

really , really important . What

16:41

are some of the other key things that I think ? passion , enthusiasm

16:44

. There was no one more passionate or excited . I just

16:46

couldn't wait to get to work

16:48

. Sleep was a distraction for me . I just wanted to get back

16:50

to work and back servicing people

16:52

and prospecting and talking

16:54

to buyers and keeping my vendors

16:56

informed . This was just coming out of school

16:59

and not doing too well Coming into

17:01

this and finding my feet . This

17:03

was just like winning Lotto every

17:05

day getting to go to work . So I think people

17:07

got the passion , the enthusiasm

17:10

, the excitement around what I was

17:12

doing . I think

17:14

they were the sort of core . Yes

17:18

, i was organised . Yes , i was punctual . There

17:20

were some nice little niceities around the edges of those

17:22

, but I was very , very

17:25

committed to those things . Personal growth and

17:27

learning was key . So I used to . Any

17:29

spare moments I got , which were few , i

17:32

would listen to cassette tapes . Tommy Panos

17:34

would remember those cassette tapes , tom

17:36

Hopkins . Go to any seminar that came to town

17:38

. Go to any sales seminar

17:40

. Go to any real estate seminar , of which there were very few

17:43

, but I had

17:45

this great passion to learn

17:47

more . I was a sponge for learning about

17:50

stuff , so that was really important And

17:52

I guess the final thing was just what

17:54

I talk about now when I'm coaching . I talk about

17:56

Remarkable Service , which is service

17:59

that people feel so

18:01

enthralled with that they actually tell others

18:03

about , and building

18:06

raving fans . So I figured I didn't really have

18:08

any money and there wasn't too many channels to market

18:10

yourself in the marketplace

18:13

. There was no social media . You know , an ad in the Wentworth

18:15

Courier was kind of never done and probably too expensive

18:18

to afford . So I

18:20

just figured that you know word of mouth

18:22

, having people really delighted

18:25

with the service I gave the buyers and sellers was

18:28

going to be the fastest and best way for me

18:30

to build a database or relationship

18:32

network . And I did find that , no

18:34

matter where you go , what's up , people

18:37

love telling others about a good story and , of course

18:39

, a bad story . So when

18:41

you really look after them and you

18:43

talk straight and you don't bullshit and

18:46

you follow them through and you do what you

18:48

promise to do and you cross your T's and dot your

18:50

I's . When you do all of that in

18:52

an industry or a market which is actually , that's

18:54

a rarity , unfortunately , people

18:57

start talking about it And this is a big

18:59

decision for people . Agents get a little

19:01

bit used to it and immune

19:03

to the importance of it , but someone that's buying

19:06

or selling a family home , this

19:09

is a massive decision and a massive time

19:11

in their life other than having a child and getting

19:13

married or those sort of important life moments

19:16

. This is kind of right up there . So I

19:18

treated it like an important life moment

19:20

And I found that that really

19:23

went over , went over very

19:25

well and I would deal with , as I said , one , two , three

19:27

boxes full and each one of them had , you know

19:29

, sort of 30 , 40 , 50 , 60 cards

19:31

And I broke them into little

19:33

price brackets and then I just get

19:35

in the morning and I take them out and start ringing through

19:37

, then the next one and then I get a listing . I'd

19:40

sit down and I just ring , ring , ring , ring , make

19:42

notes And it was just such a

19:44

pleasure . And I said last week in our webinar

19:46

internally told me I said one word

19:48

that will change your life . I said , instead

19:51

of saying I have to prospect or

19:53

I have to anything , say I get to prospect , i

19:56

don't have to take the kids to school , i

19:58

get to take the kids to school , i don't have

20:00

to go to the gym , i get to go to the gym . I

20:03

don't have to visit my friend in hospital , i

20:05

get to visit my friend in hospital . And that

20:07

was kind of the way I just lived at Troy and you know

20:10

, you became a very important part of my life

20:12

. You know , sort of midway through my , my

20:14

sales career , and it

20:16

was just a pleasure , honestly a pleasure

20:18

, to be able to serve people . And

20:21

I can't , i could never believe person buys

20:23

a liars and , oh Jesus , i've got

20:25

to keep this person there . I

20:27

keep looking for 12 months , that sort

20:30

of dialogue . I could never fathom

20:32

why people would speak about

20:34

other human beings going through a process

20:36

like that .

20:36

So you're selling John

20:39

, you're selling principle . I mean , that's the other

20:41

side of it . You're a selling principle

20:43

.

20:44

You're running the business And

20:49

the sales manager .

20:51

I mean , i find it really interesting because I

20:53

can relate to it , because I

20:55

worked in that era , and I'm thinking to

20:58

myself how much harder everything

21:00

was in terms of time

21:02

. Like simple things , like chasing expired listings You

21:05

have to go up and down the street

21:07

for 13 weeks to see whether the property was still there . Now

21:10

we do it on a touch of a button , contacting

21:13

10,000 people . We can

21:15

send a video out to people in

21:17

in New Zealand

21:19

, in Greece , in in seconds .

21:21

Now We can have contracts , yeah

21:24

the good thing , tommy , was you and I

21:26

didn't know at the time that there was going to be a better way

21:28

. So we knew was that's

21:30

the opportunity ? three by five , card boxes

21:32

, landlines , that was all

21:35

there was . So you , just , you just use that and

21:37

you didn't complain and you didn't think it was

21:39

going to be easier one day . And Troy

21:41

to your point . You know for principles of sales managers

21:43

, listing I found the best way to coach and

21:45

mentor was do joint listings

21:47

with my agent . So as I , you

21:50

know , started taking on much , much more business

21:52

, you know there was a period there I'd never go to a listing

21:54

without a colleague because one is . I never

21:56

wanted to miss an opportunity to teach someone

21:58

within our team . You know how to handle a listing

22:01

and how to handle objections And the best way

22:03

was not in the classroom or the sales

22:05

room . The best way was in the lounge room with client

22:07

. And secondly , then I

22:09

, whilst I would list it and then sometimes

22:12

work it well , generally speaking , often

22:14

work it with my colleague

22:17

, again best way to coach and

22:19

mentor them . So it was

22:21

a lot of my training and mentoring was

22:23

done in the field , on the spot , at open

22:25

for inspections , at auctions , at pre

22:27

listing appointments , at listing appointments . So

22:30

again , if people say I've got it , where did you get all the time

22:32

to do that ? Well , you know , it's like if

22:34

you have twins , you just got to do it . You can't not feed them

22:36

, you can't not pay them , you can't do it . And

22:38

if you're an agent and you've got 15

22:41

listings but you're also running a business

22:43

and you've got 12 agents that are working under

22:45

you , well , you've just got to find an efficient

22:47

way to motivate , educate

22:49

, inspire , and

22:52

that was kind of for me , just part of

22:54

the fun . Then doing the auction Well , you know , you guys are

22:56

great auctioneers . You know how much fun

22:58

that is . That's one thing I do think people should do more of

23:00

today . Tell me , i think more agents

23:02

should develop the skill of being an auctioneer . Melbourne

23:05

, victoria , in general , i'm very good

23:07

at it , But generally

23:09

speaking , a lot of people leave the auctions

23:11

to be to one other central person . I

23:14

think you should build the skill in

23:16

yourself . Anyway , even if you don't do auction , you should

23:18

build the skill . But so that was . That

23:21

was kind of all . I was pretty simple . It was a lot about

23:23

energy . I'd say it was 75%

23:26

energy and 25% talent or

23:28

skill or whatever , and

23:31

you and you were recruiting .

23:33

I mean , I remember talking who

23:35

I think was Matt LaHood . He told me how you

23:37

you recruited him . You know he said he

23:39

was working for for

23:41

Yeah

23:44

, and he was actually at our webinar , at our seminar

23:46

on Friday . I just saw him there . His name is George

23:49

, Is that not George ? Yeah

23:51

, george he was there . He was there on Friday And

23:54

he was there . He was there And

23:56

Matt was working for him And Matt was working

23:58

then it was interesting because I

24:00

remember at the time there was

24:03

a little bit of there was there was a buzz

24:05

about McGraw , the building that you're

24:07

in , the marketing that you

24:09

were doing . It was let's

24:11

join , join this fast

24:14

growing , new , innovative way

24:16

of doing real estate . So you

24:18

must have been doing also recruiting at the

24:20

time , john , because you recruited a lot of real

24:22

estate agents in a short period of time .

24:25

I think yeah , look , i think I did . And two

24:28

things I actually really prospected

24:30

, which will disappoint a lot of people , but

24:32

I had such a volume

24:34

of business flowing through me and

24:36

I was focused on

24:39

creating raving fans out of my sellers

24:41

and buyers And I would be meeting 60

24:44

, 70 , 80 , 100 buyers every week on

24:46

the phone or in person That

24:48

became . I've never done a door knock

24:50

in my life other than if I had heard someone was thinking

24:53

of selling or if I had a particular buyer

24:55

for a specific house . I've never just gone

24:57

and done the 10 , 10 , 20s or

24:59

the street door knocks . I've never done a cold letterbox

25:02

drop . The only letterbox dropping I did was just listed

25:04

, just sold , and I'm not saying any of

25:06

the other things aren't good . I know a lot

25:09

of agent are very successful , but that was just my way

25:11

of doing . It was creating

25:13

raving fans . And the other thing about

25:15

agents , i think

25:17

it was when you're

25:19

active in your business , you're bumping into agents

25:22

, you're catching up with them , you bump them into them at a cafe

25:24

or you see them after hours somewhere at a restaurant

25:26

, or when you're someone

25:29

that hopefully is a nice person and are

25:31

interested in them and enjoy

25:33

getting to know them about their business , prospecting

25:35

for agents or let's call it recruiting . It's

25:38

kind of like just it just happens almost

25:41

invisibly . Like the prospecting I used to do . I

25:43

didn't go to the office for two hours and

25:45

just prospect . I would follow up on my pipelines

25:48

for a specific time of day and my buyers

25:50

. But same with recruits , i didn't just

25:52

sit down and say , okay , well , i got to start bringing these

25:54

people . I was just active and

25:57

interested and networking

25:59

all the time and networking at whatever events

26:01

I could go to . Real estate institute events

26:03

in those days were kind of the only ones you

26:06

could go to and I'd meet people and I'm interested

26:08

in them and I like them and I'd stay in touch . And it's

26:11

kind of a bit different but it worked quite nicely

26:13

And I think people pick up on your vibration

26:15

, both buyers , sellers and potential

26:18

colleagues or recruits . When

26:20

you've kind of got a good vibe about you and you do

26:22

give a stamp about people and you've got a clean

26:24

energy and you're not being sort

26:27

of narky to people , i think people pick up on that and

26:29

they quite like it . So that was

26:31

how I did . It spun a

26:33

different number of plates in the air and

26:35

it was never seemed stressful to me . It

26:37

was always . I had good systems . To be honest

26:40

, i created good systems , and when you got

26:42

good systems and you got a little modicum

26:44

of discipline , like

26:46

ringing my windows every day , that was just a system

26:49

I created out of thin air . I thought , well , as

26:51

I'm starting to grow the business , if I don't keep in

26:53

touch with these people regularly , call it daily

26:55

, i'm going to get overwhelmed . So I

26:58

did that ringing my A buyers twice a week

27:00

. Most people don't ring buyers

27:02

until they've got a property for them or unless they're negotiating

27:04

or they've been through an open . I used

27:07

to ring my A buyers which was a box

27:09

full of people twice a week because

27:12

I wanted to know what did they look at . I

27:14

wanted to let them know I'm still looking , suggesting

27:18

listings for those sort of things .

27:20

So anyway .

27:20

I'll end the video . Tom the head , great associate

27:23

.

27:24

Say that again , troy , the head great associate's

27:26

working with him as well . 100% That

27:29

looks . John , the one thing

27:31

that I always and I know this

27:33

was a mantra for our team

27:35

was never let perfect get in the way of

27:37

better . And when you talk about systems

27:40

and processes and checklists and the fact

27:42

that you're calling buyers

27:44

multiple times per week , that was

27:46

a really big lesson for me , because after

27:48

every week we'd be reviewing those systems

27:50

and checklists and processes to see how that

27:52

we could make them better in the future . And I

27:54

think that was a really great lesson , tom , because

27:56

so many times you get complacent and I know a

27:58

lot of agents are in that mindset now where they rely

28:01

on their CRM to tell them when to do

28:03

things , as opposed to reestablishing

28:05

the processes that made them successful

28:07

and then enhancing them . They're relying on the technology

28:10

too much and then not doing the human element , which I

28:12

think John , above everyone

28:14

else , did so well for so long .

28:17

I was just sitting here listening . I

28:19

was fascinated with that conversation because

28:21

it brings back memory . You

28:25

like looking back and remember how

28:27

life was back then . But here's my summary

28:29

, troy , and you tell me if I'm reading this right

28:31

, because I'm trying to work out is

28:34

that plan , that blueprint , that philosophy

28:37

that was used ? we're talking about

28:39

the 80s and the 90s is

28:42

that philosophy relevant

28:44

today ? Well , let me go through it . Number one

28:46

I could tell 100% you had

28:48

passion in your paper . Passion was passion

28:51

and energy , so that definitely applies

28:53

. Number two is you

28:55

said that the easiest people to speak to were

28:58

the buyers , and that's still the case in

29:00

2023 . There's

29:02

more buyers that you can speak to than having to

29:05

go do cold doorknocks . The third thing that you've

29:07

said which I find fascinating

29:09

is you

29:11

got to attraction level very , very quickly

29:13

, where they were coming to you for

29:15

various reasons , whether it's your , the

29:18

raving fans and the great service you've given

29:20

a client , and they say it . It's also

29:22

the fact and I don't think you talked much about

29:24

it , but , john , you did take real

29:27

estate marketing to the next level

29:29

. That was the big differentiator

29:31

The average home that was advertised

29:33

. No one was advertised as

29:35

big or as colorful or

29:37

as detailed as the marketing that

29:39

McGraws brought in .

29:42

Yeah , i'll just tell you and we'll finish on this , tom , because

29:44

I know that we're running out of time . But

29:47

I went and I can't remember whether it was

29:49

a cassette or a seminar

29:52

or whatever , but I remember Seth

29:54

got and I think it was actually really his book Purple Cow

29:56

, and that's where I got the whole essence

29:58

of Purple Cow . So be different

30:00

, be prepared to be different . If you just follow

30:02

the person in front , very hard to stand

30:04

out , and so , off the back of that

30:06

, the first thing I did was I started

30:09

getting sketch drawings done of our

30:11

terrace houses rather than black and white photos

30:13

, which is the standard of what most people did , and

30:16

just these little ornate pencil sketches

30:18

seem to make them pop out and stand

30:20

. Then I got someone that

30:23

I sold the property to in Underwood Street , paddington

30:25

, and she went on maternity leave . She

30:27

was out of advertising and I said would you consider

30:30

typesetting our ads ? Because

30:32

, as you know , tommy the Wentworth Courier

30:34

would do typeset everyone else's and

30:36

to stand out with a different font and

30:38

a different , cleaner palette , you had to actually do your own

30:40

. So I started paying Michelle

30:43

once a week to typeset these

30:45

. So all of a sudden the ads were cleaner and

30:47

crisper and they had nice sketches

30:49

rather than photos . Then I started

30:51

using price guides for auctions , then

30:54

we started putting spotlights on signboards

30:56

. So just I talked about it

30:58

this morning the skill stacking

31:00

or layering 1% . There's

31:03

not one thing I think we did that was particularly

31:05

brain snapping , but I think there was a lot of little

31:07

things we did that caught the attention of

31:10

the consumer And , as you kindly said , and

31:12

the real estate community as well . So be

31:15

prepared to be different . That's

31:18

just work out . How can you be different

31:20

? It doesn't have to be your company or brand , it

31:22

can be you . What do you do differently

31:24

that separates you ? So anyway

31:27

, we'll finish up on that , but hopefully that will work .

31:29

So this is a great podcast and I think if

31:32

you're a real estate agent out there that

31:34

is doing three , four sales

31:37

a month and you're feeling overwhelmed

31:39

that I need to bring in a PA

31:42

I mean , john

31:45

, i think there's enough information there And

31:48

there are plenty of case studies where I know people

31:50

that are doing six and seven , eight sales a month

31:52

and they're doing it using the office support

31:54

And they

31:56

just they make it work

31:59

, like if you're a , if you're a divorced

32:01

mum with two kids , you

32:03

make it work . You make work

32:05

what time you have available And that's the

32:07

other thing I got out of that conversation You

32:10

had . There was no option

32:12

B . This is the method , so I'm going

32:14

with it . You know there's no . There was no get out clause

32:17

, put it that way 100%

32:20

.

32:23

I look forward to talking more

32:25

next week .

32:26

Yeah , we'll talk next week And next week

32:28

we'll be having a fight . Next week We'll

32:30

be doing a podcast , i think , around the state

32:32

of origin team . I was actually speaking

32:34

at a conference for energy Fari

32:36

yesterday in the Southeast And

32:40

I was at a hotel called the Crown

32:42

Plaza . I actually saw Paul checker that

32:44

I had a coffee with Paul yesterday too . Yeah

32:47

, actually did more than that . I did a video with him

32:49

on coaching , which is very

32:51

he's very listen , i've got to tell you he's he's

32:54

not a real estate specialist , but for those that

32:56

are listening here , i've got to tell you Paul checker is

32:58

an empathetic person that hears

33:00

you out and can help you

33:02

look at a problem with not

33:04

just your eyes

33:06

, he's eyes . He's very , very good . But

33:09

I was there and the state the New South Wales state of origin

33:11

team was there was about 30 of them rock

33:13

up . They're obviously sleeping at the hotel

33:15

there . And

33:18

I jokingly said to to

33:20

Cyrano Cyrano was there jokingly said

33:22

to Cyrano , if you

33:24

, if you , if you need , if you need anyone to give

33:26

them a good pump up half time , talk

33:28

Cyrano . I said , mate , i'll

33:31

do it for nothing , i'm an ex Tigers supporter

33:33

. And he and he , just he , just , he

33:36

just laughed . He just laughed and

33:38

I was about to laugh back and say , mate

33:40

, i might not be an expert

33:42

, but I'll probably do a better job than the ones that you've got

33:44

at the moment . You know , because they're all running for

33:47

cover now . They're all blaming excuses , brad

33:49

Fittler's , blaming the media . You

33:51

know , they're all running for cover . I think we just got accepted

33:53

. They're a better team and they've got a better coach

33:55

and they're yeah .

33:57

Ultra will find out

33:59

tonight , tonight .

34:01

No next Wednesday .

34:03

Next Wednesday Next Wednesday , ok

34:05

, so that means they're in camp for 10

34:07

days or something . Because they're in camp , they moved

34:09

in .

34:10

They moved into the Crown Plaza yesterday . I saw all

34:12

the bags coming in . You know a bunch

34:16

of people . But yeah , that's interesting

34:18

, they go in and stay at the hotel

34:20

. I

34:23

don't know , i couldn't do that , i thought

34:25

. I thought it very difficult to to sleep

34:29

in a in a room where there's other people

34:31

as well . So I don't know how these footy players

34:33

do it . We'll see what happens next week . Troy

34:35

Malcolm , thank you so much . You're welcome . John

34:37

McGrath , thank you so much started .