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A candidate sits down for an interview and tells you the plan: make a million dollars in GCI. It sounds ambitious. But what have you actually learned about the person you might be bringing into your business?

That is the test Samantha McLean puts to John Cunningham in Track 06 of The Edit. Playing an eager new recruit, Sam has the income target ready. John acknowledges the ambition, then turns the conversation towards something the number cannot tell him: the life that person wants to build.

John, managing director and co-founder of Cunninghams on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, joins Sam and Chris Hanley to discuss trust, recruitment and the behaviour that shapes a real estate business. Their question is practical: can you develop trustworthiness, or does it have to be there before someone joins?

Look for the foundation

Chris puts a firm position on the table. His approach to trust starts with recruitment and the reasons a business chooses its people. John allows room for development, provided there is something solid to build on.

“The trust levels and that character can be developed.”

John adds that there has to be a foundation. For him, finding the goodness in someone comes first. Training and experience can build on that foundation, but a leader needs to understand what a person falls back on when things become difficult.

Sam connects that to pressure in an office. When people are stressed, the choices they make can reveal more than the values they describe when conditions are comfortable. The discussion places responsibility with leaders to pay attention to those choices, including their own.

Give clients guidance

John describes an agent’s role as helping people move from uncertainty to informed decisions. Whether a client is deciding to list, consider an offer or take another step, the work is to help them understand their options.

“And that is our primary objective, to bring people from the unknown to the known so they can make decisions.”

Chris picks up on the word guidance. He argues that replacing the familiar language of seller feedback with guidance changes how an agent approaches the conversation. It asks the agent to contribute experience and interpretation, rather than simply passing on what someone else has said.

John also describes his OIC rule: observation, initiative and creativity. The sequence starts with noticing what is changing, then deciding what to do about it. He applies it to client conversations, the work the agency takes on and how the team uses its time.

A GCI goal starts the conversation

When Sam’s imaginary recruit announces the million-dollar goal, John does not dismiss it. He acknowledges that the candidate has thought about a business objective, then asks what sits around it.

“Now let’s discover more about you.”

John asks candidates whether they have considered writing a business plan for themselves, with a life plan as part of it. What do they want to achieve over the next few years? What will they contribute? Are they willing to learn?

He is also watching for rehearsed answers designed to please him. A candidate who can explain their own direction gives him more to work with than one who repeats the language they think he wants to hear.

Consider what a recruit gives to the team

Chris challenges the idea that one personality type has a monopoly on success in real estate. He points to people who combine strong sales performance with a willingness to share their time and energy with others.

“Their path might be different.”

For a principal, that broadens the recruitment decision. The candidate’s own production matters, but so does the effect they have on everyone around them. Chris sees people who give to others as valuable contributors to culture and to a business over time.

Neither John nor Chris suggests that experience makes a leader immune to a poor hire. Both acknowledge mistakes. The lesson is to examine the person carefully and remain willing to recognise when the fit is wrong.

Define the role and look for potential

John’s closing advice is to be clear about the job before judging the candidate. Someone can be wrong for a particular vacancy and still have something valuable to offer the business.

“So go into that knowing what you need, but also look at the person, what their potential is.”

Chris adds persistence and evidence of overcoming challenges to the qualities he looks for in a salesperson. He calls it their motor: the capacity to keep going through the years of work that sit behind a successful sales career.

What you’ll take away

  • Why the foundation of trust matters before development and training begin.
  • How guidance changes the purpose of a client conversation.
  • Why a business-and-life-plan discussion can reveal more than an income target.
  • How a recruit’s contribution to other people affects the whole team.
  • Why defining a role clearly should still leave room to recognise potential.

For your next recruitment conversation, write down what the role needs before the candidate arrives. Then ask them to describe both what they want to achieve and what they want to contribute. The useful part is the conversation that follows the target.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube or listen or watch on Spotify.

This is The Edit

The Edit is Elite Agent’s real estate mixtape – a series of practical, honest and occasionally uncomfortable conversations with the voices and hard-earned wisdom worth paying attention to.

Each track begins with one hard question facing agents and principals now. Samantha McLean and her co-hosts stay with it long enough to get past the easy answer.

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Explore every episode of The Edit.