Collaboration shines at The One

Real estate titans Avi Khan and Peter Catanzariti (pictured above) brought together the best leaders in the industry to kick off the year at theOne Conference on the Gold Coast.

CEOs from five major real estate groups inspired some 500 agents who travelled from across Australia to help make 2024 the best year ever.

Now in its second year, Ray White AKG CEO Avi Khan and Ray White The Catanzariti Family Group director Peter Catanzariti built theOne Conference to align their business goals and give agents the resources to thrive.

“This is a collaboration of some of the best thought leaders in our industry to kick start the year,” Mr Catanzariti said.

Mr Khan said the pair had a simple philosophy. “If you win January then you win the rest of the year. We want to go into 2024 with momentum and we want to share that with other Ray White agents and the broader industry. What better way to do it than on the Gold Coast at the start of the year?”

With the industry becoming more combative than ever, the duo felt that by bringing people from across the industry together, they can help bridge that divide.

“It’s about bringing agents and principals from across the wider spectrum of the industry together to elevate collaboration, rather than combative competition. We aim to inspire people to achieve their goals and become better humans.”

Ray White Managing Director Dan White (pictured above), fourth generation leader of Australasia’s largest real estate group, sat down with Peter Catanzariti to talk about how to balance longevity with innovation to remain relevant in the future.

“We owe our success in the company to our members and what they’ve done for over 120 years,” Mr White said.

“But we’ve always had the view that we have a long way to go and are only scratching the surface of our potential. When arrogance seeps in, that’s dangerous.

“Any business that has been around for a while, it’s important to be fresh, innovative and keep improving over time. Businesses fade away but we want to fight against nature and make sure that doesn’t happen.

“The key thing in any business is to be ready to change when things come and be ready for the calls you need to make when the time comes.

“The bigger you get, the more risks you need to take. The biggest risk you can take is to take no risks at all.

“It’s all about competition, to compete you have to differentiate, some people try to be everything to everyone, we have a few things we want to focus on, the best way to differentiate is to be brilliant at what you’re good at.

“The industry is well placed for change, the pandemic showed we are good at adjusting for our customers. Whatever comes we will be well placed. Our 122nd year will be our best yet.”

Top real estate trainer Tom Panos (pictured above) took to the stage to talk about the irrefutable laws of real estate for 2024.

Throughout his 37 year career in the real estate industry, Mr Panos has been responsible for coaching some of the country’s best agents.

He urged everyone in the room to think about what they want their business to look like on December 31, 2024 and work towards it.

“I’m going to tell you why so many real estate agents aren’t reaching their potential - firstly, they are not interested in real estate and not committed,” Mr Panos said.

“They aren’t measuring their business, what you measure, you manage and they don’t use their data - it should be your best friend.

“They personalise things, rejection is not the opposite of success so be Teflon and let it slide off. They are also no good at prospecting and they stick to the nine to five - what you put in, you get out. They also lack structure and a daily plan.”

The ‘famous five’ from Ray White Quakers Hill - Taylor Bredin, Luke Harrison, Marc Haddad, Panal Boustani and Alex Salameh (pictured above) were interviewed by Avi Khan about their huge growth under their unstoppable leader Josh Tesolin.

These five agents collectively write almost $7 million a year and they aim for 80-100 sales a year each. This is an auction only focused business which flipped the switch to the method two years ago. They are well known for outworking their competition.

Mr Bredin worked out early that he needed to appraise 10 houses a week and list 2.5 houses and sell two per week to give him $50,000 in GCI a week.

“That is all I focus on. That is my discipline. I start at 10am each day as I like to see my son in the morning and finish at anywhere from 7pm to 10pm,” Mr Bredin said.

“I know where I want to be in 12 months, I want to hit $3m in GCI. Reward results, not just effort.”

Luke Harrison started in real estate at age 23 and worked for two years as an associate for Taylor Bredin.

“I had the right work ethic and energy and after two years I was ready to become an agent. We are a very strong team and we all have each other’s backs. There’s no offices inside our office, it’s almost like a zoo. We are all best friends, and we like to reward ourselves when we hit our goals. We are also very close to the property managers. Set your goals, and believe in yourself.”

Marc Haddad said he was deeply passionate about his core area of Blacktown. “It’s a big suburb and my team and I target 90 appraisals a month. It’s like organised chaos. Put in 100 per cent, work the late nights and you’ll be rewarded.”

Panal Boustani is on track to a $1 million in GCI this year in his first year of being a standalone agent after three years with JT. “Picture yourself in 10 years, and strive for it.”

“I love being the underdog and I live the fight. I didn't finish school, I was a concreter but I will outwork anyone and I will stay in the fight longer.”

Alex Salameh said he was always inspired by JT and he tried to duplicate what he did. “I have an associate now and it’s been a struggle to find the perfect balance. I now have a system in place for my associate. I like to live in the moment, and the auctions will come.”

Apollo Property Group director Justin Nickerson (pictured above), with 15 years experience as an award-winning auctioneer, spoke about how to win 2024. “I get to see what the great agents actually do. The three traits of great agents are consistency, resilience and building trust.”

“Great agents have the ability to bounce back from a bad conversation. Our industry is pretty level but the good agents can build trust very quickly.”

Buyer’s agents Matt Srama, Simon Loo and Arjun Paliwal (pictured above) - who own 110 properties between them - spoke about the art of the deal.

Former professional rugby league player Matt Srama, who specialises in the Gold Coast, said property was in his blood.

“I changed my career after I retired through injury as I had always put my own money into property. People are time poor, they want to save time and make money. We are niche, and we keep it simple and we live and breathe the Gold Coast. We are also very good at qualifying buyers. A lot of buyer’s agents get blacklisted as they are only one dimensional.”

Domain chief revenue officer John Foong (pictured above) reminded the audience that behind every property was a human story.

Mr Foong credited his grandmother, who had a huge influence on his life, for initially prompting him to get into the property market. His first investment property gradually grew to a portfolio across Australia that allowed him to live and study overseas, leading to opportunities with cutting edge technology companies such as Google and Uber.

“I began buying properties with my grannie in my 20s, I got on the treadmill without understanding it. Being able to invest in property changed my life,” Mr Foong said.

“But being a renter also changed my life, then buying a property to live in changed my life.

“Property changes lives and we are incredibly lucky to work in this industry. We change lives.”

Kollosche Managing Director Michael Kollosche (pictured above) told the conference attendees that the key to being successful in the real estate business was to play to your strengths.

“I have key people in key roles doing their own flame work. We have the right people doing the right things to bring our properties to market. You have to build for scale too,” he said.

“It’s like a streamlined conveyor belt and then everyone gets the same level of service.

“My flame work is that I enjoy putting deals together. I enjoy dealing with both vendors and buyers. I love that part of the process. You need structure and systems to create capacity.

“If you have a team, build it out so you can do more volume, and the client experience is the same for everyone but I understand capacity is a challenge for many agents.

“So always focus on the process and gather the bidders,” said Mr Kollsche, who broke the Queensland auction record last year.at $24.8 million.

“But whether or not it’s a $1 million house or a $24 million house, the process is the same.” The Kollosche business earned $45 million in GCI last year. His own EBU made $11 million.

“I live my life by design. I get up at 4:30am six days a week to exercise as routine sets me free. I get a massage every single Wednesday afternoon without fail. I see the osteo every Friday too. I also have a full time chef too as I have made my life as easy as possible to succeed,” he said.

“I only send out hyper-local relevant content that actually helps people. That is the best way to build a long term business and also if you put the seller's agenda before yours.

“I also have no attachment to the fee and it doesn't even come into my mind when I am negotiating a deal. Also if you leave a listing presentation without asking for the business, you won't win. You have nothing to lose.”

Founding partner and managing director of Place Estate Agents in Brisbane, Paul Curtain (pictured above), said each and every salesperson would like to make 2024 their best year ever.

“You need to make this year better than 2023 and creativity and energy alignment will underpin that goal,” Mr Curtain said.

“You need a purpose. Ours is to help people find their happy place. What are your values? Ours is respect, innovation, community and excellence. What is your mission for 2024? Create a strategy to underpin your mission and the tactics you need to execute that. I would encourage everyone to ask themselves these questions.”

RE/MAX regional office managing director Joel Davoren (pictured above) moved into the group’s corporate office 11 years ago. “RE/MAX is huge, a beast of a business on a global scale and we learn a lot from markets in other countries,” he said.

“But the theme today is reinvention and our business has been through that in an extreme way. There is a cascade effect that comes from the first action and it can be thoroughly rewarding.”

Partner at McGrath West | North West | Hills | Hawkesbury in Sydney Amit Nayak (pictured above) highlighted the importance of focusing on the buyer. “When I entered real estate, I observed the behaviour of all the agents I met out in the industry and those in my office. One thing I found was there was a massive gap in buyer work, sales agents chase sellers because that’s where they make money, but buyers were really frustrated and buyer work is critical in our industry.”

Laing+Simmons CEO Leanne Pilkington has been at the top of her game for four decades since she started selling real estate at age 19.

“We have 57 offices in NSW, and there had been five owners of the brand in my time since 1995. So I felt very lost at the end of 2019 and I was frustrated with the owners at that time.” There are now 15 owners of Laing + Simmons, including Leanne, and they have made huge changes since they bought the business three years ago.

Queensland’s number one agent for volume, Rebecca Cuderman (pictured above), 25, of Ray White Marsden said she has been able to build an effective team to help her work successfully in a high volume market.

“In the last 12 months, I’ve moved to having a buyer’s manager which has worked well.

“The structure now is if I list something, my PA will process it in the back end and once it goes live, any enquiries go to her and she can handle that in the backend.

“Meanwhile, I’m working on hot buyers, closing deals and working with the vendors and my co-agent is focused on getting stock in.”

The conference also featured a specialised property management breakout session dedicated to property managers wanting to upskill and further develop their rental department. The room heard from Kasey McDonald of CoreLogic, Natalie South from Housemark and Ray White AKG head of investment management Bec Turner.

Ms Turner spoke about what motivates her and finding her place in the property management industry.

“It’s been a numbers game for me. Seeing the results and what we have achieved is kind of almost like an adrenaline rush. You get that first management and then it’s kind of like a flow on effect that becomes repeat clients that come back to you,” she said.

“That really motivates me and I’d be sad if I wasn't doing this.

“It’s also about finding that place where you are happy, comfortable, motivated and supported, that definitely does support longevity.”