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More than 150 of Ray White’s emerging Elite agents gathered on the Gold Coast for a two day session of learning and networking designed to help elevate their business further.
The theme of the day was all about changing your mindset and keynote speaker Ali Hill (pictured below), psychologist and CEO of Pragmatic Thinking offered the audience two key tools to help change their mindset.
“The first tool is that the type of mindset you have matters and the greatest mindset is that of possibility. It’s the belief that things can get better. The second tool is to engage your power stories because the things we say to ourselves and others are incredibly powerful,” Ms Hill said.
“Change the picture and you change the result. The small things make a fundamental difference to what’s in front of us.
“Individuals and teams who get stuck and find it hard to navigate through uncertainty have either lost sight of their purpose or have stopped making progress.”
Ray White Drummoyne principal Mario Carbone, Megan Acutt of Ray White Rosewood and Reece Pilgrim from Ray White Norwood (pictured above) all have one thing in common. They have locked down the formula for business growth in a challenging market. They joined Ray White head of performance and recognition Bianca Denham on stage to talk about how they were able to succeed when others around them were declining.
“My wife and I own the business and we wanted to make sure the culture was right, we knew what we didn’t like as employees so we made sure we didn’t replicate our experiences with the new team,” Mr Carbone (pictured below) said
“Our team has really complemented where we are, we’ve focused on growth and started growing a new generation of agents. Everyone is walking in a straight line together achieving a common goal.
“And if you want to create opportunity, you need to throw your hat in the ring because then you’re in with a chance, if you don’t then you won’t get the listing anyway. We realised that volume of appraisals was the thing you needed to lean into - we had to change our mindset.”
Ms Acutt (pictured above) works in a market which has seen significant hardship with several devastating floods over the past 10 years but has been able to create a solid reputation in the area.
“I’ve made a name for myself and if people want to know how much a house will go for or how the market is looking, they know they can come to me because my door is always open,” she said.
“Since I joined Ray White, people come into my shop daily just for a conversation, it’s word of mouth and I’ve invested in my area. I’ve been consistent for years and they are supporting me in return.”
Reece Pilgrim (pictured above) began in real estate several years ago and has already created a well structured business.
“I have a few different structures to help protect my time so it’s not just jumping around with my day,” Mr Pilgrim said.
“I try to protect my Monday, I try not to book appointments because there’s nothing worse than if you have buyers to call on Monday and you’re rushing those conversations.”
Ray White chief strategy officer (real estate) Mark McLeod (pictured above) began his session about market proofing your business by urging the audience to be part of the 10 per cent of the group to action something from his talk.
“One of the things I’ve learned is that if you want to do something new, then you have to stop doing something old. The only thing more difficult than starting something new in a business is stopping something old,” he said.
“I’m going to talk about things you’ve already heard before and I hope we get that 10 per cent to 30 per cent of you.”
Mr McLeod brought Ray White Macarthur Group Chairman’s Elite agent Ibrahim Merjan to the stage to talk about how he was able to create a highly successful volume business.
“What happens when the market flattens is it sucks your energy and you don’t do anything, you tell yourself that the market isn’t good so you don’t have to do as well,” Mr McLeod said.
“People who don’t have volume in their business have 100 per cent declined. Volume is the key. Ibrahim makes more calls, he gets more appraisals, does more opens, so he wins.
“You don’t list homes, you list people. This is where it’s at, the dining rooms of Australia and New Zealand. If it doesn’t lead to someone’s dining room table then you have wasted your time.
“And NutureCloud says that if you do an appraisal and get to the dining room table, you have a 400 per cent chance of listing that home.”
Within 12 months of starting with the Macarthur Group, Mr Merjan (pictured above) had built his business to the point where he was able to put on his first assistant because of consistency levels in listings.
“Everything I did, except the listing appointment, is what I got them to do. It’s a 360 degree role. I was able to increase the volume of my business to succeed,” Mr Merjan said.
“And in a volume business, days on market are important so I turned to auctions. My auctions are just three week campaigns. Lower days on market gave me more time to prospect and more stock to the market.”
Bianca Denham (pictured above) hosted a case study learning session with the audience, focusing on Ray White Upper Coomera’s success in the auction space.
“Brad got onboard with the auction process but opted for the online auction method. But what is your opinion of Brad and the teams’ decision to take their auctions to being 100 per cent online? Should he change his focus on auctions?,” she asked.
Answers from across the room varied, with some members saying he should embrace a hybrid approach, while others were firmly onboard with either on-site or online auctions.
Mr Wilson (pictured above) said he thought online auctions were better for both buyers and sellers.
“The sellers can log on and see what’s happening in their market,” he said.
“We tried the hybrid method but it got messy. We had buyers from all over tune into our online auctions, someone from America, another from WA - he was a truck driver and was back on the road driving 10 minutes later. That type of environment is super easy and upfront for buyers, everything is there.”
Ray White Junee sales agent Jason Barrett (pictured above) was excited to be able to attend a networking event after four years with the leading group in which COVID-19 lockdown measures halted many industry events.
“I think all the information today has been valuable. What stood out was the reminder to focus on those important things like appraisals. We can be busy but it’s about doing the work that counts,” he said.
“It’s great to know that we’re part of a bigger network and we’re able to meet with likeminded people at events like this.”
