August 25, 2025 • 20 mins
This episode explores the evolving dynamics of the real estate industry, highlighting the impact of technology and shifting regulations. The discussion begins with a reflection on community and longevity, before moving into how agents can adapt their practices to meet modern challenges.
With cold calling increasingly restricted by privacy laws and digital screening tools on iOS and Android devices, agents are encouraged to pivot towards building more meaningful client relationships. The implications of the Do Not Call register are examined, alongside practical strategies for moving away from transactional approaches and focusing on long-term value creation.
Key themes include leveraging technology such as AI for smarter lead generation, enhancing efficiency, and positioning agents as trusted advisors rather than direct marketers. The conversation underscores a future where relationships, trust, and genuine value stand at the heart of real estate success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom Panos (00:01):
Tom Panos, john McGrath, troy Malcolm and the
eighth wonder like Carte Ovalhas been saved.
That's our head scoop.
So, gentlemen, we'll get thefooty out of the way.
I went home depressed,obviously, with the result,
because we're out of the semisnow.
But I woke up this morningfinding out that great colleague
(00:21):
of yours, john, mr Richardson,had been working away quietly in
the background, and theyparticularly used yesterday or
this morning as theirannouncement to say that the
West Tigers will keep thatspiritual home of Leichhardt
Oval going to 2041 with fundingof $110 million.
Brilliant, so well done to Rico.
(00:42):
He's a good operator, isn't he,john?
Oh?
John McGrath (00:45):
the best.
He's very good, isn't he, john?
Oh, the best, he's very good.
He polarises people becausehe's very opinionated and he's
very black and white generally,but, geez, he gets shit done,
and that's what you need.
We need Rabbitohs, need it,everyone needs it.
But I felt your pain yesterday,tommy, because I was watching
the game and I thought we had itthere with 13 minutes to go and
yet it was stolen from us.
(01:05):
But there's always next year,as we say in the Rabideau's Cat.
We've got you to say there'salways next year, drewie.
Well, the Roosters, they mightbe out too.
They might just scrape in.
They might just scrape in, yeah, touch and go.
Troy Malcolm (01:19):
They should have won on the weekend, but they
went down as well, so anyway.
Tom Panos (01:29):
Got a few injuries, but this is a very important
podcast because we've had realestate agents contact us
increasingly over the last fewmonths saying, with all these
iOS updates and Android callscreenings becoming more and
more prevalent but in additionto that, we were speaking off
camera.
I mean.
The reality is there is a donot call register that has been
there for quite some time and Ithink, with privacy and
(01:50):
transparency, we're moving intoa world where real estate agents
might not be able to do 200cold calls, get 550 connects,
get three appointments and we'repotentially moving into even
more a model that has got to dowith attraction.
Ai is obviously impacting it.
(02:10):
We know that there are morereal estate agents now that are
being called out because vendorsare going onto their mobile
phones and saying who are thethree agents I should call out.
So I just want to talk a littlebit and get both your views on
what agents can be doing,because, whether we like it or
not, we're going to be in anenvironment where you're going
(02:31):
to have to have deeprelationships with a tribe
that's got your vibe in yourcommunity, and just interrupting
strangers who don't want totalk to you is probably not
going to be the go-forward modelfor real estate agents in
Australia or anywhere in theworld.
John McGrath (02:46):
Yeah, In fact, Tommy, I think you know, as
we've seen with junk mail beingalmost legislated out or
virtually legislated out, and donot call register Troy.
You know I'm not that familiarwith it, but I know it's a
similar concept that you can nowregister your name and stop
people like agents or anyonereally that you don't want to
call to calling you.
Stop people like agents oranyone really that you don't
want to call you're calling you.
(03:08):
So I think what this says to meis things are changing.
People are more protective thanever over their security, their
cyber security, their privacy,their private time.
They don't want agents oranyone ringing them up trying to
to sell them something you knowafter hours, during hours,
before meetings, when they'rebathing their kids or their pets
(03:29):
or whatever.
So I think that it's about nolonger about database.
It's database is importantbecause I think, Troy, it's good
to have the details of peoplein your community, even if
you're not actually able to orringing them, but it's good to
know who's in what property.
But I think it's about now,relationships, because
(03:51):
relationships If you come acrosssomeone in your job as an agent
and you do a magnificent job,Troy, people are going to want
you to call them and then, whenyou call them, you add value and
you give them good advice andyou listen to them.
When you're doing that now, Ithink what's happening is the
people whose lives arethreatened in this space when I
say lives, their commerciallives are threatened those that
(04:13):
are ringing up saying, hey, MrPanels, you think you're selling
.
I mean, you know XYZ Realtyaround the corner and we're
looking for listings and thatsort of nonsense, mumbo-jumbo,
harassing people, shouting atpeople.
Those days, thank God arenumbered.
The people that actually listento you and meet you at an open
and ask well, could I send yousome information and update you
(04:34):
with the market and arerespectful about the times they
call you and, most importantly,Troy, who actually has your name
, who's taken the trouble tosave your name, so when your
name comes up they actually wantto take the call, rather than,
at the moment, these privatenumbers that come in and most
people let them go.
I think the number's like 20%time at the moment, Most agents
(04:55):
I talk to they're saying I makea hundred calls, I get 20
connects.
Half of those hang upimmediately saying don't want to
talk to you.
So there's a lot of effort toget a relatively low connection
rate, and I think all you've gotto do is just be building real
life relationships, not cyberrelationships, not artificial
(05:16):
relationships.
Tom Panos (05:21):
So, john, can I just interrupt for one second,
because on my social media, whenI posted about this, I've had a
comment come from a Jamie B andI think it's a beautiful
response.
In fact, he's had like about 30or 40 people that have liked
his comment.
He says, tom, it's not the end,it's only the end for agents
who don't have relationshipswith their database.
Big old databases becomerubbish.
The best agents look for NVA,minimum viable audience, not the
(05:47):
biggest audience, and I thinkwhat he's talking about there is
exactly that.
There is no point having 73,000people in a CRM system that you
don't have a deep relationship.
I mean, quite frankly, Iwouldn't be surprised, troy, if
some of the people that peoplehave got in their databases are
people that might not even bealive.
They're not living in thecountry.
(06:07):
I mean so, and the amount ofduplicates.
Troy Malcolm (06:10):
Tom and John, the duplicates, the Donald Duck, the
Mickey Mousers all of thosenames that are in there with
wrong mobile numbers.
It's pretty scary.
We do the exercise so oftenabout the quality of data and if
you do the average number ofpeople that you have in your
database and times that ordivide that by the years you've
been working in real estate,there's quite a lot of people
(06:32):
that have been in the businessfor 10 years plus that haven't
really been adding or buildingor creating those relationships
with their data.
But there's so many differentlayers to this to then transfer
over.
So how do you become attractionagents right now is very
different to just dialing andsaying you've got something for
it.
Tom Panos (06:49):
I reckon we're going back to the McGrath days of 30
years ago McGrath, good Hope, upthere on Oxford Street where
what it was all about is gettheir attention, add value, stay
in touch with people, make surethat you're there ready for
them when they need you to be.
A lot of marketing, a lot ofbranding work and good
(07:11):
conversations on an ongoingbasis with people.
And, john, I don't think youneed 70,000 people.
I think if you've got a tribeof 500 to 1,000 people that like
to get stuff from you, thatthink that they're that's my
agent and if you assume 1,000,5% of those probably turn over
(07:32):
each year.
That's 50 deals there.
So could we narrow thisconversation on?
What do you think are some ofthe things?
And, john, maybe you can makereference to some of the things
that you were doing back thenwhen we weren't having that cold
call approach, how you stayedclose to potential sellers and
(07:53):
people in your community.
John McGrath (07:55):
I've never made a cold call in my life, Tommy.
I've never knocked a door thatdidn't want to be knocked.
I've never rung a phone thatdidn't want to be rung.
Tom Panos (08:03):
That's a quote of the year.
I reckon I've never made a coldcall or knocked a door in my
life.
John McGrath, that's the quoteof the year.
John McGrath (08:09):
Well, I don't have any problem picking up the
phone.
If I've heard that Tom and Sueare panos, I think of moving.
Oh, I'm happy to ring up, and Idid that all the time, in fact.
It was interesting.
I met a lady by the name ofBianca Field today.
I actually met her again.
I've met her before.
She's very impressive.
She runs a buyer's agency inthe US called Bought.
Tom Panos (08:28):
B-O-U-G-H-T.
I know them, I see them at myau, uh, and I know she's got
blonde hair, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah, super impressive uh, x-ray white.
John McGrath (08:38):
She was working for ray white.
She's now gone over to the buyside.
Anyway, the reason I tell youbecause it's relevant to what
we're talking about.
I said to her you know who arethe agents that you know you
work well with, you knowwhatever.
And she was telling me about anagent in the inner west and she
said she'll call them on amonday morning.
And look, I had one of mybuyers miss out on an auction on
the weekend under bidder.
(08:59):
They're ready to go.
Here are the five streets theylove.
They've got to be north facingblah blah, blah, blah blah.
And she said this terrificagent.
She said by Friday he'll havethree homes sorted and ready to
be inspected.
And she said we do tremendousbusiness together.
Wow.
Now I peek behind that curtainand I say well, what he's doing
(09:19):
is he's ringing for a purposethat's real, authentic and a
genuine opportunity for someone.
He's not ringing up pretendingthat he's got buyers that he
doesn't have.
And so, by the way, I think, ifyou're agents, that, troy,
avoid buyer's agents ordisregard buyer's agents or
don't return their calls beyondme, because if I was in the
(09:41):
selling field today, that'd bethe first calls I make, because
they're working with qualifiedbuyers and we each have a common
goal is to find their client,the right property and get them
in there as soon as possible,but anyways.
So with regard to that, tom, Ithink it is totally appropriate,
if you have a genuine reason,to reach out to someone in your
community, in your farm area, inyour jurisdiction, and either
(10:04):
give them an update because youknow they're interested you've
met them in an open, you'veasked permission, they've given
you their number.
I think that's totally fine.
In fact I'd encourage that.
As for just going on ID for meand ringing street after street
of people at 6.30 at nighttrying to have a chat to them
about listing their home withyou, I think, yeah, those days
(10:26):
are numbered, man.
They're not going to be aroundfor much longer and either
people just slamming the phonedown or legislation's going to
stop you from calling them soon.
So I think, again, it's aboutvalue add.
It's about focusing on peoplethat want to work with you, that
have a genuine interest in thereal estate market in the area,
that want to hear from you, thatare contemplating perhaps
(10:47):
selling and following them upprofessionally.
So I just use that.
It was Hudson McHugh, by the way, was the guy, james and David,
and she just she raved about himand she just said, you know,
like of all the agents I dealwith, they would be probably the
best buyer services around.
And I thought, well, well doneto the boys, they do great work.
So, anyway, I think it's.
(11:09):
Yeah, that's what you got to beaiming in on.
Is what?
And funny in the same breath,she tells me often she rings up
other agents about theirlistings, trying to introduce a
client or looking for a client,and she doesn't even get return
phone calls.
So the same people that areharassing people that don't want
to be called to are probablythe same ones that are ignoring
the calls from agents and buyers, agents and customers that do
(11:32):
want to be called.
So I think it's just a matterof refining and recalibrating
where you're putting your timeand effort into.
And recalibrating where you'reputting your time and effort
into, because if you don't,you're going to be up against
the legislation, troy, I assume.
Tom Panos (11:47):
I mean I'm going to go to this general court.
I want to just quickly put anasterisk there.
I'm pretty certain, but I wantthe real estate agents to
actually do their own duediligence.
Many agencies subscribe tothings like ID4Me CoreLogic RP
Data.
Now, most of these businessesare supposed to filter the DNC
(12:08):
right, so they should be fine,but I would suggest that they
talk to ID4Me CoreLogic RP Dataor any of the other data sources
that.
You're right, john.
Telemarketers must check theregister and not call numbers.
There are heavy fines that arenow being applied.
I think Troy talked about itbefore.
We jumped on right.
(12:29):
If you breach this and I meanpeople simply like to get on the
do not call register there's anactual process.
You go on there.
We've looked it up.
Donotcallgovau Not that we'resaying that you should.
It's up to you whether you doit or they can do it by phone.
But the point is we are movinginto an environment where,
(12:50):
basically, people do not want tobe spammed, harassed, and what
you've got to start doing isbuilding a real estate model
that's got good, deeprelationships, and I can't help
it.
I just really think that agents, that I think social media will
benefit out of this becausesocial media allows people to
(13:10):
come in and out as they want toget information from people.
What do you think, troy?
Troy Malcolm (13:16):
100%.
You've got to capture theaudience that wants to engage
with you and really get to thatlevel of attraction, tom, and I
think that's where the very bestagents are going to really set
themselves apart, especiallyover the next 24, 36 months.
I think that time is upon usvery quickly and you can already
start to see it now.
If you're looking at contentduring the week from some of our
(13:36):
top performers in the industry,but also those on the weekend,
it's becoming obvious who thoseones are that are really
becoming attraction agents outthere.
John, do you think?
Tom Panos (13:45):
the gap is going to get big between the good agents
and the bad agents.
John McGrath (13:49):
As part of this, Well, yeah, I do think so,
because I think there's been askew towards people that just
hit the phones and just makethousands of calls and, to be
fair, there is a skill in that,just the skill called resilience
and persistence and focus.
But I think this industry needsmore value-add people that
listen to briefs, think about it, respond to briefs, give people
(14:12):
intelligent feedback andrecommendations.
That's where I think goingforward, because part of the
reason people hate agents is wetend to operate like backyard
operators and just harassingeveryone until we eventually
wear someone down to letting usin their home, and I think we
should be more like trustedadvisors, like accountants and
solicitors, and giving peoplegood quality advice when they
(14:34):
need it.
That's in their interest, notin ours.
So, yeah, I think so.
By the way, just I don't want tosound rude, but while you guys
were talking, I went under thedo not to call register.
It took me 60 seconds and I'vejust set myself up for the not
call.
It's not hard and if that's allit is and if people get so
annoyed about it, it's going tohappen more and more.
So, yeah, please make sure yourdatabase is true.
(14:56):
Saying is washed and you're notdoing the wrong thing.
Don't try and find a loopholearound it, because if you're
ringing someone that doesn'twant to be rung, you're just
going to annoy the hell out ofthem.
You know, go for deep.
You said before we werechatting, tom, yeah, go for deep
relationships, not wide.
I'd rather have a hundredraving fans in a community than
3000 people on database that Iharass and avoid my calls.
(15:20):
So it doesn't mean that thegig's over.
It just means that you need tonow be speaking to people who
want to speak to you and addingvalue and being more respectful
of people's time.
Tom Panos (15:33):
I have to say I look at my own life.
I did it today once.
I said to someone like you'vecalled me two, three times, just
send me a quick text message.
So I actually feel that you'regoing to need a multi-channel
touchpoint incorporated intoyour work.
That's probably going toinvolve SMS with WhatsApp, with
(15:53):
very short base text messages.
I think we're going to see emailand video, which did get a bit
of resurgence.
There was a lot of real estateagents that would use a video
and an email and they'll usethings like Loom and send things
out.
And I think social DMs which Ibelieve are not covered as part
(16:15):
of this legislation, where youcan reach out and do social
reach outs on your Insta,linkedin, facebook messenger I
think you should probably umincorporate that.
But I really do feel that, uh,the agents that become the
source of information in themarketplace, where people feel
(16:36):
trusted people are going toreach out to them.
And so, by the way, guys,winter's done, winter's done.
We've got six days and you knowwhat it's like.
September, october, november andthe first two weeks of December
are, in fact, the real estatestate of origin season.
(16:57):
That is where a lot of realestate's done Before we finish
off today.
Can I ask what's the feedback,john and Troy, you're getting
from the McGrath Group on themarketplace?
And I know that you'rerepresented in most parts of
Australia, predominantlyQueensland, sydney, victoria,
new South Wales and Queensland.
(17:18):
What's the feedback you'regetting about the marketplace?
John McGrath (17:22):
What we're finding at the moment is there seems to
be a sort of a surge of sortsof listings and I think the wet
weather and winter and so forthhave been held some property off
the market.
I think now, as spring hassprung interest rate reduction
people are feeling it's going tobe a good market from now until
Christmas.
Having said that, I have spokento some people that said they
(17:45):
found it's still a bit trickythat buyers are needing more and
more coercion and influence tokind of get them comfortable
with making a decision.
Where's that coercion andpositive influence is probably a
better way of putting it, butmy gut feeling is we're going to
have a very good, active, busy,positive heading into Christmas
(18:08):
.
If in November, if the firstweekend of November, we get
another rate reduction, that'llprobably be a little bit of a
catalyst for anotherpre-Christmas bump.
Tom Panos (18:18):
So yeah.
John McGrath (18:18):
I think it's pretty good Taree you're finding
that way.
Troy Malcolm (18:21):
Yeah, I am.
I am very consistent, john.
Out there there's activity, tom.
On the weekend there was activebids.
There was no auctions wherethere was no bids, and that's
always a pretty good sign ifpeople are confident to place
the first bid very quickly afteryou call for an opening bid or
offer.
I always find that's a prettygood market indicator about the
confidence.
And then there's competitionnormally straight away after
(18:44):
that.
I don't know whether you'refinding the same, yeah normally
straight away after that.
John McGrath (18:47):
I don't know whether you're finding the same.
Yeah, Tommy, one of your dearfriends, Alex, and mine and
Troy's Alex DiMaggio ASB, has 35auctions listed as we speak and
is in the process of launchingthem or getting them ready to
launch.
That's as phenomenal as I'veseen from an agent I heard for a
long time.
So credit to Alex ASB.
By the way, we need to get herspeaking at Aric.
(19:09):
She is phenomenal.
Tom Panos (19:10):
Yeah.
Well, I've got to say I'm gladwe're finishing with that
comment, because people need tohear that there's a lot of
people out there that are saying, oh, there's not enough stock,
there's no stock, there's nostock, there's no stock, there's
no stock.
Well, there's a person inElwood that's got 35, in Elwood
that's got 35 auctions signed,ready to go.
(19:34):
Okay, job Troy, I want to thankyou again.
We will catch up tomorrow, butin summary, I'm just going to
say that we've got to accept, ifyou're, I think, in summary, we
(19:56):
are moving into an environmentwhere you can't just rely on
cold calling.
If that's what you've beendoing, and you're going to have
to actually look at combining itwith other forms of outreach,
whether it's social media,whether it's you doing community
blogs, whether it's supportingit by text.
(20:18):
You're going to need amulti-channel approach and I
look forward to seeing you bothnext week, and I think next week
we're probably going to be inspring.
Troy Malcolm (20:29):
Correct, we'll be.
See you, tom.
John McGrath (20:31):
See you guys.
Take care everyone.
Bye.
Tom Panos, john McGrath, troy Malcolm and the
eighth wonder like Carte Ovalhas been saved.
That's our head scoop.
So, gentlemen, we'll get thefooty out of the way.
I went home depressed,obviously, with the result,
because we're out of the semisnow.
But I woke up this morningfinding out that great colleague
(00:21):
of yours, john, mr Richardson,had been working away quietly in
the background, and theyparticularly used yesterday or
this morning as theirannouncement to say that the
West Tigers will keep thatspiritual home of Leichhardt
Oval going to 2041 with fundingof $110 million.
Brilliant, so well done to Rico.
(00:42):
He's a good operator, isn't he,john?
Oh?
John McGrath (00:45):
the best.
He's very good, isn't he, john?
Oh, the best, he's very good.
He polarises people becausehe's very opinionated and he's
very black and white generally,but, geez, he gets shit done,
and that's what you need.
We need Rabbitohs, need it,everyone needs it.
But I felt your pain yesterday,tommy, because I was watching
the game and I thought we had itthere with 13 minutes to go and
yet it was stolen from us.
(01:05):
But there's always next year,as we say in the Rabideau's Cat.
We've got you to say there'salways next year, drewie.
Well, the Roosters, they mightbe out too.
They might just scrape in.
They might just scrape in, yeah, touch and go.
Troy Malcolm (01:19):
They should have won on the weekend, but they
went down as well, so anyway.
Tom Panos (01:29):
Got a few injuries, but this is a very important
podcast because we've had realestate agents contact us
increasingly over the last fewmonths saying, with all these
iOS updates and Android callscreenings becoming more and
more prevalent but in additionto that, we were speaking off
camera.
I mean.
The reality is there is a donot call register that has been
there for quite some time and Ithink, with privacy and
(01:50):
transparency, we're moving intoa world where real estate agents
might not be able to do 200cold calls, get 550 connects,
get three appointments and we'repotentially moving into even
more a model that has got to dowith attraction.
Ai is obviously impacting it.
(02:10):
We know that there are morereal estate agents now that are
being called out because vendorsare going onto their mobile
phones and saying who are thethree agents I should call out.
So I just want to talk a littlebit and get both your views on
what agents can be doing,because, whether we like it or
not, we're going to be in anenvironment where you're going
(02:31):
to have to have deeprelationships with a tribe
that's got your vibe in yourcommunity, and just interrupting
strangers who don't want totalk to you is probably not
going to be the go-forward modelfor real estate agents in
Australia or anywhere in theworld.
John McGrath (02:46):
Yeah, In fact, Tommy, I think you know, as
we've seen with junk mail beingalmost legislated out or
virtually legislated out, and donot call register Troy.
You know I'm not that familiarwith it, but I know it's a
similar concept that you can nowregister your name and stop
people like agents or anyonereally that you don't want to
call to calling you.
Stop people like agents oranyone really that you don't
want to call you're calling you.
(03:08):
So I think what this says to meis things are changing.
People are more protective thanever over their security, their
cyber security, their privacy,their private time.
They don't want agents oranyone ringing them up trying to
to sell them something you knowafter hours, during hours,
before meetings, when they'rebathing their kids or their pets
(03:29):
or whatever.
So I think that it's about nolonger about database.
It's database is importantbecause I think, Troy, it's good
to have the details of peoplein your community, even if
you're not actually able to orringing them, but it's good to
know who's in what property.
But I think it's about now,relationships, because
(03:51):
relationships If you come acrosssomeone in your job as an agent
and you do a magnificent job,Troy, people are going to want
you to call them and then, whenyou call them, you add value and
you give them good advice andyou listen to them.
When you're doing that now, Ithink what's happening is the
people whose lives arethreatened in this space when I
say lives, their commerciallives are threatened those that
(04:13):
are ringing up saying, hey, MrPanels, you think you're selling
.
I mean, you know XYZ Realtyaround the corner and we're
looking for listings and thatsort of nonsense, mumbo-jumbo,
harassing people, shouting atpeople.
Those days, thank God arenumbered.
The people that actually listento you and meet you at an open
and ask well, could I send yousome information and update you
(04:34):
with the market and arerespectful about the times they
call you and, most importantly,Troy, who actually has your name
, who's taken the trouble tosave your name, so when your
name comes up they actually wantto take the call, rather than,
at the moment, these privatenumbers that come in and most
people let them go.
I think the number's like 20%time at the moment, Most agents
(04:55):
I talk to they're saying I makea hundred calls, I get 20
connects.
Half of those hang upimmediately saying don't want to
talk to you.
So there's a lot of effort toget a relatively low connection
rate, and I think all you've gotto do is just be building real
life relationships, not cyberrelationships, not artificial
(05:16):
relationships.
Tom Panos (05:21):
So, john, can I just interrupt for one second,
because on my social media, whenI posted about this, I've had a
comment come from a Jamie B andI think it's a beautiful
response.
In fact, he's had like about 30or 40 people that have liked
his comment.
He says, tom, it's not the end,it's only the end for agents
who don't have relationshipswith their database.
Big old databases becomerubbish.
The best agents look for NVA,minimum viable audience, not the
(05:47):
biggest audience, and I thinkwhat he's talking about there is
exactly that.
There is no point having 73,000people in a CRM system that you
don't have a deep relationship.
I mean, quite frankly, Iwouldn't be surprised, troy, if
some of the people that peoplehave got in their databases are
people that might not even bealive.
They're not living in thecountry.
(06:07):
I mean so, and the amount ofduplicates.
Troy Malcolm (06:10):
Tom and John, the duplicates, the Donald Duck, the
Mickey Mousers all of thosenames that are in there with
wrong mobile numbers.
It's pretty scary.
We do the exercise so oftenabout the quality of data and if
you do the average number ofpeople that you have in your
database and times that ordivide that by the years you've
been working in real estate,there's quite a lot of people
(06:32):
that have been in the businessfor 10 years plus that haven't
really been adding or buildingor creating those relationships
with their data.
But there's so many differentlayers to this to then transfer
over.
So how do you become attractionagents right now is very
different to just dialing andsaying you've got something for
it.
Tom Panos (06:49):
I reckon we're going back to the McGrath days of 30
years ago McGrath, good Hope, upthere on Oxford Street where
what it was all about is gettheir attention, add value, stay
in touch with people, make surethat you're there ready for
them when they need you to be.
A lot of marketing, a lot ofbranding work and good
(07:11):
conversations on an ongoingbasis with people.
And, john, I don't think youneed 70,000 people.
I think if you've got a tribeof 500 to 1,000 people that like
to get stuff from you, thatthink that they're that's my
agent and if you assume 1,000,5% of those probably turn over
(07:32):
each year.
That's 50 deals there.
So could we narrow thisconversation on?
What do you think are some ofthe things?
And, john, maybe you can makereference to some of the things
that you were doing back thenwhen we weren't having that cold
call approach, how you stayedclose to potential sellers and
(07:53):
people in your community.
John McGrath (07:55):
I've never made a cold call in my life, Tommy.
I've never knocked a door thatdidn't want to be knocked.
I've never rung a phone thatdidn't want to be rung.
Tom Panos (08:03):
That's a quote of the year.
I reckon I've never made a coldcall or knocked a door in my
life.
John McGrath, that's the quoteof the year.
John McGrath (08:09):
Well, I don't have any problem picking up the
phone.
If I've heard that Tom and Sueare panos, I think of moving.
Oh, I'm happy to ring up, and Idid that all the time, in fact.
It was interesting.
I met a lady by the name ofBianca Field today.
I actually met her again.
I've met her before.
She's very impressive.
She runs a buyer's agency inthe US called Bought.
Tom Panos (08:28):
B-O-U-G-H-T.
I know them, I see them at myau, uh, and I know she's got
blonde hair, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah, super impressive uh, x-ray white.
John McGrath (08:38):
She was working for ray white.
She's now gone over to the buyside.
Anyway, the reason I tell youbecause it's relevant to what
we're talking about.
I said to her you know who arethe agents that you know you
work well with, you knowwhatever.
And she was telling me about anagent in the inner west and she
said she'll call them on amonday morning.
And look, I had one of mybuyers miss out on an auction on
the weekend under bidder.
(08:59):
They're ready to go.
Here are the five streets theylove.
They've got to be north facingblah blah, blah, blah blah.
And she said this terrificagent.
She said by Friday he'll havethree homes sorted and ready to
be inspected.
And she said we do tremendousbusiness together.
Wow.
Now I peek behind that curtainand I say well, what he's doing
(09:19):
is he's ringing for a purposethat's real, authentic and a
genuine opportunity for someone.
He's not ringing up pretendingthat he's got buyers that he
doesn't have.
And so, by the way, I think, ifyou're agents, that, troy,
avoid buyer's agents ordisregard buyer's agents or
don't return their calls beyondme, because if I was in the
(09:41):
selling field today, that'd bethe first calls I make, because
they're working with qualifiedbuyers and we each have a common
goal is to find their client,the right property and get them
in there as soon as possible,but anyways.
So with regard to that, tom, Ithink it is totally appropriate,
if you have a genuine reason,to reach out to someone in your
community, in your farm area, inyour jurisdiction, and either
(10:04):
give them an update because youknow they're interested you've
met them in an open, you'veasked permission, they've given
you their number.
I think that's totally fine.
In fact I'd encourage that.
As for just going on ID for meand ringing street after street
of people at 6.30 at nighttrying to have a chat to them
about listing their home withyou, I think, yeah, those days
(10:26):
are numbered, man.
They're not going to be aroundfor much longer and either
people just slamming the phonedown or legislation's going to
stop you from calling them soon.
So I think, again, it's aboutvalue add.
It's about focusing on peoplethat want to work with you, that
have a genuine interest in thereal estate market in the area,
that want to hear from you, thatare contemplating perhaps
(10:47):
selling and following them upprofessionally.
So I just use that.
It was Hudson McHugh, by the way, was the guy, james and David,
and she just she raved about himand she just said, you know,
like of all the agents I dealwith, they would be probably the
best buyer services around.
And I thought, well, well doneto the boys, they do great work.
So, anyway, I think it's.
(11:09):
Yeah, that's what you got to beaiming in on.
Is what?
And funny in the same breath,she tells me often she rings up
other agents about theirlistings, trying to introduce a
client or looking for a client,and she doesn't even get return
phone calls.
So the same people that areharassing people that don't want
to be called to are probablythe same ones that are ignoring
the calls from agents and buyers, agents and customers that do
(11:32):
want to be called.
So I think it's just a matterof refining and recalibrating
where you're putting your timeand effort into.
And recalibrating where you'reputting your time and effort
into, because if you don't,you're going to be up against
the legislation, troy, I assume.
Tom Panos (11:47):
I mean I'm going to go to this general court.
I want to just quickly put anasterisk there.
I'm pretty certain, but I wantthe real estate agents to
actually do their own duediligence.
Many agencies subscribe tothings like ID4Me CoreLogic RP
Data.
Now, most of these businessesare supposed to filter the DNC
(12:08):
right, so they should be fine,but I would suggest that they
talk to ID4Me CoreLogic RP Dataor any of the other data sources
that.
You're right, john.
Telemarketers must check theregister and not call numbers.
There are heavy fines that arenow being applied.
I think Troy talked about itbefore.
We jumped on right.
(12:29):
If you breach this and I meanpeople simply like to get on the
do not call register there's anactual process.
You go on there.
We've looked it up.
Donotcallgovau Not that we'resaying that you should.
It's up to you whether you doit or they can do it by phone.
But the point is we are movinginto an environment where,
(12:50):
basically, people do not want tobe spammed, harassed, and what
you've got to start doing isbuilding a real estate model
that's got good, deeprelationships, and I can't help
it.
I just really think that agents, that I think social media will
benefit out of this becausesocial media allows people to
(13:10):
come in and out as they want toget information from people.
What do you think, troy?
Troy Malcolm (13:16):
100%.
You've got to capture theaudience that wants to engage
with you and really get to thatlevel of attraction, tom, and I
think that's where the very bestagents are going to really set
themselves apart, especiallyover the next 24, 36 months.
I think that time is upon usvery quickly and you can already
start to see it now.
If you're looking at contentduring the week from some of our
(13:36):
top performers in the industry,but also those on the weekend,
it's becoming obvious who thoseones are that are really
becoming attraction agents outthere.
John, do you think?
Tom Panos (13:45):
the gap is going to get big between the good agents
and the bad agents.
John McGrath (13:49):
As part of this, Well, yeah, I do think so,
because I think there's been askew towards people that just
hit the phones and just makethousands of calls and, to be
fair, there is a skill in that,just the skill called resilience
and persistence and focus.
But I think this industry needsmore value-add people that
listen to briefs, think about it, respond to briefs, give people
(14:12):
intelligent feedback andrecommendations.
That's where I think goingforward, because part of the
reason people hate agents is wetend to operate like backyard
operators and just harassingeveryone until we eventually
wear someone down to letting usin their home, and I think we
should be more like trustedadvisors, like accountants and
solicitors, and giving peoplegood quality advice when they
(14:34):
need it.
That's in their interest, notin ours.
So, yeah, I think so.
By the way, just I don't want tosound rude, but while you guys
were talking, I went under thedo not to call register.
It took me 60 seconds and I'vejust set myself up for the not
call.
It's not hard and if that's allit is and if people get so
annoyed about it, it's going tohappen more and more.
So, yeah, please make sure yourdatabase is true.
(14:56):
Saying is washed and you're notdoing the wrong thing.
Don't try and find a loopholearound it, because if you're
ringing someone that doesn'twant to be rung, you're just
going to annoy the hell out ofthem.
You know, go for deep.
You said before we werechatting, tom, yeah, go for deep
relationships, not wide.
I'd rather have a hundredraving fans in a community than
3000 people on database that Iharass and avoid my calls.
(15:20):
So it doesn't mean that thegig's over.
It just means that you need tonow be speaking to people who
want to speak to you and addingvalue and being more respectful
of people's time.
Tom Panos (15:33):
I have to say I look at my own life.
I did it today once.
I said to someone like you'vecalled me two, three times, just
send me a quick text message.
So I actually feel that you'regoing to need a multi-channel
touchpoint incorporated intoyour work.
That's probably going toinvolve SMS with WhatsApp, with
(15:53):
very short base text messages.
I think we're going to see emailand video, which did get a bit
of resurgence.
There was a lot of real estateagents that would use a video
and an email and they'll usethings like Loom and send things
out.
And I think social DMs which Ibelieve are not covered as part
(16:15):
of this legislation, where youcan reach out and do social
reach outs on your Insta,linkedin, facebook messenger I
think you should probably umincorporate that.
But I really do feel that, uh,the agents that become the
source of information in themarketplace, where people feel
(16:36):
trusted people are going toreach out to them.
And so, by the way, guys,winter's done, winter's done.
We've got six days and you knowwhat it's like.
September, october, november andthe first two weeks of December
are, in fact, the real estatestate of origin season.
(16:57):
That is where a lot of realestate's done Before we finish
off today.
Can I ask what's the feedback,john and Troy, you're getting
from the McGrath Group on themarketplace?
And I know that you'rerepresented in most parts of
Australia, predominantlyQueensland, sydney, victoria,
new South Wales and Queensland.
(17:18):
What's the feedback you'regetting about the marketplace?
John McGrath (17:22):
What we're finding at the moment is there seems to
be a sort of a surge of sortsof listings and I think the wet
weather and winter and so forthhave been held some property off
the market.
I think now, as spring hassprung interest rate reduction
people are feeling it's going tobe a good market from now until
Christmas.
Having said that, I have spokento some people that said they
(17:45):
found it's still a bit trickythat buyers are needing more and
more coercion and influence tokind of get them comfortable
with making a decision.
Where's that coercion andpositive influence is probably a
better way of putting it, butmy gut feeling is we're going to
have a very good, active, busy,positive heading into Christmas
(18:08):
.
If in November, if the firstweekend of November, we get
another rate reduction, that'llprobably be a little bit of a
catalyst for anotherpre-Christmas bump.
Tom Panos (18:18):
So yeah.
John McGrath (18:18):
I think it's pretty good Taree you're finding
that way.
Troy Malcolm (18:21):
Yeah, I am.
I am very consistent, john.
Out there there's activity, tom.
On the weekend there was activebids.
There was no auctions wherethere was no bids, and that's
always a pretty good sign ifpeople are confident to place
the first bid very quickly afteryou call for an opening bid or
offer.
I always find that's a prettygood market indicator about the
confidence.
And then there's competitionnormally straight away after
(18:44):
that.
I don't know whether you'refinding the same, yeah normally
straight away after that.
John McGrath (18:47):
I don't know whether you're finding the same.
Yeah, Tommy, one of your dearfriends, Alex, and mine and
Troy's Alex DiMaggio ASB, has 35auctions listed as we speak and
is in the process of launchingthem or getting them ready to
launch.
That's as phenomenal as I'veseen from an agent I heard for a
long time.
So credit to Alex ASB.
By the way, we need to get herspeaking at Aric.
(19:09):
She is phenomenal.
Tom Panos (19:10):
Yeah.
Well, I've got to say I'm gladwe're finishing with that
comment, because people need tohear that there's a lot of
people out there that are saying, oh, there's not enough stock,
there's no stock, there's nostock, there's no stock, there's
no stock.
Well, there's a person inElwood that's got 35, in Elwood
that's got 35 auctions signed,ready to go.
(19:34):
Okay, job Troy, I want to thankyou again.
We will catch up tomorrow, butin summary, I'm just going to
say that we've got to accept, ifyou're, I think, in summary, we
(19:56):
are moving into an environmentwhere you can't just rely on
cold calling.
If that's what you've beendoing, and you're going to have
to actually look at combining itwith other forms of outreach,
whether it's social media,whether it's you doing community
blogs, whether it's supportingit by text.
(20:18):
You're going to need amulti-channel approach and I
look forward to seeing you bothnext week, and I think next week
we're probably going to be inspring.
Troy Malcolm (20:29):
Correct, we'll be.
See you, tom.
John McGrath (20:31):
See you guys.
Take care everyone.
Bye.
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