Ray White TMG owner and selling principal Matt Micallef says a decade spent building relationships, coupled with heavier communication and continued investment in his team, is paying off as changing conditions put greater pressure on agents to demonstrate their value.
Reaching Ray White Premier status just six weeks into the financial year might suggest something has suddenly clicked for Matt Micallef – but he sees it differently.
Rather than attributing the result to a new strategy or a particularly favourable run of sales, Matt believes much of what is happening in his business now is the product of work done over the past decade – particularly the relationships he has built and a willingness to be increasingly selective about the clients he represents.
“I don’t think anything has changed. I think everything that I’ve done in the past is starting to really serve me well now … the style of real estate that I’ve done serves me well and complements in a changing market,” he said.
“And what I mean by that is I do my transactions and choose my clients based on relationship, and my ability to trust and actually connect with them.”
That idea of ‘choosing’ clients is central to Matt’s approach. After 10 years in the industry, he says his business has reached the point where the traditional listing dynamic has effectively been reversed.
“It’s completely flipped in my world. So we choose them. They don’t choose us.”
His listing presentations begin not with price, marketing or an appraisal figure, but with what he describes as an alignment of values. Before proceeding, he wants to know whether there is enough trust and compatibility for the agent and vendor to work together through what can become a difficult campaign.
Matt says he looks for three things: synergy between the parties, complete transparency and an understanding of the professional differences he brings to the campaign. If the first meeting indicates those things are missing, he is prepared to walk away.
He had done exactly that on the morning of the interview.
“I just said, look. ‘I’m being completely honest with you. I just don’t feel there’s energy and synergy there. I wish you the best of luck, but unfortunately, I can’t look after you’.”
The vendor was subsequently referred to another agent within his office.
It is an approach that would be difficult for an agent without a strong pipeline to replicate, but Matt’s figures illustrate why he has the ability to be selective.
At the time of the interview, he said TMG had 22 live properties on the market, had completed 11 sales the previous month and another six during the current month, with a further three or four listings expected that week.
There is also a substantial repeat-and-referral engine behind the business; Matt said 43 per cent of his business was currently generated through referrals, a figure he believes has taken the better part of his career to build.
“43% is big. So arguably, it’s taken me ten years to get it to that level right now.”
The lesson for other agents, he says, is that the relationship cannot finish at settlement and some of his strongest relationships have been built by spending time with clients when there is no transaction attached.
“A lot of my clients for life, I’ve spent time outside of their transaction,” he said.
That could mean dinner after settlement or a housewarming rather than a conventional database touchpoint.
“There’s no ulterior motive other than to understand them, share stories, create memories, have a laugh, maybe share some lessons in life with each other.”
For Matt, however, relationships are only the first part of the equation. He breaks his current approach into three areas: connection, work ethic and skill set.
And it is the second of those – work ethic – where he believes a changing market demands considerably more from agents.
Rather than pulling back when transactions become harder, Matt argues agents need to increase communication and become more deliberate about explaining what is happening throughout a campaign.
“If you’re just sending text messages and not actually taking the time to pick up the phone, chat to them about different measurables and what’s happening with their campaign, how many people are coming through, what does that mean reading the play and actually guiding them through?” he said.
“The work ethic, you really have to lean into this. A lot of agents will lean back into this market, but it actually requires more effort and energy.”
For newer agents, Matt says one of the simplest ways to build trust with vendors is to communicate consistently throughout the campaign, even if that means picking up the phone every day.
“It takes no skill to do that. It’s just the willingness and the want to be able to guide them through and just keep that communication high with them.”
Those conversations, he says, should be built around evidence – buyer numbers, feedback, campaign performance and what those indicators mean for the next decision.
Matt also plans several moves ahead. Rather than treating auction day as the only endpoint, he maps out alternative strategies before they are required.
“I’ve got, like, plan Ds. If strategy doesn’t A doesn’t work, we’ve got plan B, plan C, plan D.”
One of the central conversations in the current market is what he describes as the “delta” between a vendor’s expectations and the price buyers are prepared to pay. Instead of simply concentrating on one side of that equation, his team looks for ways to close the gap and create a transaction.
“We’re not we’re not too focused on either end of that scale. We’re focused on the middle number.”
Matt is also conscious of the cost of allowing campaigns to drag.
“The reason why transaction times matter is the longer that something’s on the market, the more psychological depreciation happens,” he said, with buyers beginning to question why a property has failed to sell and often returning to price as the explanation.
Investing when others pull back
Perhaps the more instructive part of Matt’s strategy is what he is doing with his cost base.
While he says some agents and businesses are cutting expenses, he has added a sixth team member whose job is focused specifically on generating buyer traffic through open homes.
“I think, the great ones and the ones that will get through it will actually lean into it and invest more. So I’ve chosen to go down that path.”
The new team member works through buyer lists, identifies people who have not yet purchased, matches them against suitable stock and encourages them through inspections.
“That is a fundamental key in getting through this market as well.”
The same philosophy applies internally. Every Friday, Matt trains his sales agents and associates, covering mindset, objections, case studies, lessons from campaigns and the team’s priorities for the week.
Importantly, he says the sessions are not simply about dissecting wins.
“We work through the losses together as well. Like, the losses are actually the most important thing,” he said.
“Getting amongst ourselves and unpacking it and understanding how to deal with that makes the next loss a lot easier to handle and overcome.”
For agents struggling to convert opportunities, Matt believes the starting point should be the listing presentation – and specifically shifting the focus away from winning the business at all costs.
“I would strongly encourage them to change the way that they do their listing presentations. And don’t think about the business. Think about the person. Think about their situation and think about your ability to connect with them and provide solutions to their problems.”
His next line perhaps best sums up the philosophy behind the business.
“Don’t think about the paycheck at all. I think if you can put the person before the paycheck, that’ll do most of the heavy lifting.”
Matt’s next target is broader than his own sales numbers. He wants to move Ray White TMG into the top 10 offices in Queensland within the Ray White network.
The business is also preparing to relocate to a new headquarters later this year, which Matt described as being in “one of the hottest suburbs on the Gold Coast” and “custom built for performance, efficiency, and culture”.
For now, though, he sees tougher conditions not as a period to wait out, but as an opportunity for agents and businesses willing to do more while competitors retreat.
“It’s the best time. You build profile, you build exposure and tou build relationships,” Matt said.
“Through this, you build raving fans. And then when the market does turn and things are selling quickly, it’s game over.”