BEST PRACTICEElite AgentOPINION

Bianca Denham: why agent energy matters more than ever

What I have loved about this industry since the first moment I learnt about it, is that success is attainable.

The formula for success isn’t complex, and is shared readily to anyone who is willing to listen.

‘Follow the bouncing ball’ and the rewards will follow.

The thing that has always puzzled me however is, why aren’t there more elite agents and why do we have such a high turnover rate of people in our industry?

To put it as simply as I can, in my opinion, it falls down to two factors – energy and discipline.

Let’s take a very simple sales funnel; firstly you need leads or people to speak to which translate into appraisals and listing opportunities, which leads to stock, which eventually results in sales.

A very simple, easy to follow series of events that create a viable career and, in some cases, a fantastic income.

So what’s the problem?

What the boom taught us is that as an industry we aren’t afraid of hard work….when it shows up for us.

Bianca Denham

The greatest challenge in real estate sales, the great barrier between those who can and those who can’t, is the ability to apply discipline and energy to the creation of opportunities.

In a seller’s market, when vendors are literally throwing their listings to the nearest available option, it’s not hard to find the work.

When things normalise though, as they have over the past twelve months, it’s a totally different game.

While many agents have fallen with the same velocity as they rose in the boom, not all are following the same trajectory.

Who is bucking the trend?

Those who maintain a focus on discipline around the nurturing of relationships over the long-term and provide exceptional value to their customers.

This requires a plan, picking up the phone and simply asking, “Do you have any real estate needs” will almost always result in the same answer today – “No.”

Moving to the other end of the sales funnel, processing sales, this too is requiring concerted effort as the market is no longer creating the sales.

With an average national drop of 5 per cent on capital city pricing, it is now the agent energy, and guidance of their vendors that will be creating the sale.

Interestingly, as soon as prices began to fall, so did our auction market share.

Meaning that as soon as the market didn’t provide organic buyer activity and bidder registrations, we decided that the auction method was no longer relevant.

Those that understand however, maintain the process and control their sales opportunities rather than letting the market control whether a sale is made or not.

With the complexities in our wider economy, high inflation, rising interest rates, increased migration, low housing supply and rental property crisis, there isn’t going to be a ‘one size fits all’ solution to what your market and your clients need right now.

What our best agents are acutely aware of, is that agility and energy is required across the whole sales funnel right now, from acquiring stock right through to making a sale.

Remember, all markets are in a constant state of flux, including the property market.

This is normal. Normality requires energy and discipline. Normality is hard.

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Bianca Denham

Bianca Denham is the Head of Performance and Recognition for the leading property group Ray White