So what is it that drives Eddy, and his boundless energy?
Growing up in Leura, Eddy’s interest in property was piqued by his mother Robyn’s involvement in Blue Mountains’ tourist accommodation and property restoration. He credits this early involvement in real estate for his continued passion.
“Since I was young, Mum and I renovated properties. I liked dealing with agents and real estate since I was 5. What I remember is we would buy a property, renovate it and sell it. Then you have beautiful celebration of getting a good price for the vendors. It’s an epic feeling closing a world-class deal.
“Clients think you’ll get $2 million for a house and with our marketing and work behind the campaign, they all of a sudden get $2.4 million. We can change their lives. I love the celebration with clients, that’s the cool stuff. It’s big energy and it’s fun running our own business with our own team.”
A typical day?
Structure is important in Eddy’s team but he doesn’t like being too regimented. He splits his day into AM tasks, which will be completed in the office with his team and mostly spent on the phone, while the PM is client-facing.
“I’m out of bed no later than 5 am. I’ll do emails in the morning and some kind of training, either a walk on the beachfront or the gym. I’m in the office by 7-7.30am and it’s a key time to get in before anyone else, get some me time and catch up on stuff. Around 8-8.30am I’m on the phone with current clients. It’s too early to be prospecting but they are current clients they are eager to hear from you. We then have a team meeting every morning. We plan the day for Jonathan (Morton, sales associate to Eddy) and Amanda (Hunt, client services for Eddy); it’s important to give them the time because it’s so easy to get busy.
“Then from there is call sessions. In the PM it’s in front of people. We can run appointments on the hour, from 1-6pm or sometimes later. We keep it basic. Saturday is taken with open homes. I try not to work on Sunday. Balance is key. I’ve done the whole thing of working 6.5 days or 7 and I can be there pretending to work, but it’s better for to be there 5.5 or 6 days a week and be there 100% and be engaged.”
Is there ever an “off” switch in this industry?
“It’s such a challenge to switch off. My partner and I try and take july off every year and have a great holiday and go away on a short break every quarter. When I’m on, we are on. A lot of agents take their phone with them on holiday and are doing work, but I don’t work when I am on holiday because I know my team is managing that. On the flipside, it’s hard to switch off when you get home because you’re holding someone’s biggest asset in your hand and you want to do your best. So I’ve gotten better over the years at switching off at home but it’s hard.”
Special tech or tools used to streamline and automate things
“I am a bit about back to basics. There are so many social and electronic things out there. The most important thing is to have great team around you, which I have. People get so over complicated with databases. We keep communication up high with vendors and will text out updates, but other than that I haven’t streamlined stuff.”
What is your career highlight?
“My career highlight would be right now. I started as reception 10+years ago, then went from junior sales agent, senior and now I’m a partner within a business.”
“The thing I love about Stone is the great energy and the relationships. Tim Mumford has been a mate of mine for 10 years. They office and team here are all very similar, all young with energy and doing it together. Everyone is working hard to do the best thing for the vendor.
Goals and inspiration
For now, the focus is around doing what we are doing and doing it well. I want to look after clients and keep growing and get better results. One of the long-term goals is recruitment and getting great people into the brand, there are lots of local guys that are good operators.
Marcus Chiminello from Marshall White in Melbourne is a great mentor who inspires me heaps. Peter Gilchrist, Josh Phegan are my mentors and there are a handful of guys like Gavin Rubinstein that keep me pumped up and inspired.
Where will the industry be in 10, 20 years time?
The industry is changing. The market right now is getting tougher. We need to be more than all over it. Tech in the long term will play a big part but people want what we have to offer, it’s the relationship they want. I see the game changing because of online and digital but I see client relationships and doing good by people trumping that. Younger agents will have an advantage, we can do the big hours and give 100 percent. Energy is key.
