When market conditions tighten and things get tough, the instinctive reaction for most real estate agents is to simply ramp up the volume of their activity. They hit the phones with renewed urgency and immediately sign up for extra training, operating under the assumption that sheer exertion will pull them through the slump. It is an understandable impulse, but according to Callum Hogan, Ray White NSW Head of Performance, it is usually entirely the wrong move.
“A lot of people think, to perform better, I’ve got to do more training and coaching,” he says.
“And they often forget about the fact that there are simple and repeatable processes at the core of everything that deliver outcomes.”
His philosophy for navigating a changing market strips back the noise of the industry, offering advice for success that is ultimately much simpler: “Divorce the goal completely, marry the process.”
It is a deceptively straightforward concept, but it is one built on a diverse career spanning residential sales, commercial property, general management, and now a senior leadership role within one of Australia’s largest real estate networks.
That breadth of experience has shaped Callum’s core operational mantra: processes first, people second.
Where the vast majority of real estate operators rush to hire talented individuals and figure out the administrative systems later, Callum says that reversing this sequence is what actually delivers sustainable results.
“I’ve always been a believer in processes first, people second,” he says.
“Whereas business typically goes, I will put the people in and then we’ll figure out the process around the people. And I think that’s probably a big pitfall of a lot of people that try and scale businesses.”
He believes that plugging high-performing individuals into fundamentally broken systems is akin to applying a temporary Band-Aid to a much deeper issue; while raw talent might mask the underlying dysfunction for a while, it rarely survives the pressure of scaling or the friction of a tightening market.
This belief in structural integrity over quick fixes dictates how Callum approaches leadership itself; when entering a new business environment, he intentionally resists the urge to immediately spot problems and dictate solutions, relying instead on a strict three-month rule.
“You’ve got to be in a business for at least three months before you can really understand where the deficits are,” he says. “In the first three months, I tried to do as little as possible and just tried to be a fly on the wall for as many conversations as I could be.”
This deliberate patience serves two distinct purposes: it prevents superficial diagnoses that miss the root causes of underperformance, and it builds the foundational buy-in necessary to execute meaningful, lasting change.
“If you just come in and go, ‘this isn’t working, this is how we’re going to fix it’ – you don’t get buy-in, and you’re probably just doing a Band-Aid fix.”
During this observation period, Callum also challenges the widespread industry assumption that tenure equates to insight, preferring to source perspectives from all levels of an organisation.
“Some people that have been in the industry for five minutes can give you as much gold as someone that’s been in it for twenty years,” he says. “Everyone can probably see different gaps and opportunities.”
If there is one immediate, systemic action Callum believes agents should take right now, it is a complete reconsideration of how they manage their buyer relationships.
“We’ve been very complacent with buyer relationships, and we’ve probably taken that for granted,” he says.
“As much as sellers are the people that give us the business, buyers are the people that keep our business alive.”
Current market uncertainty, he argues, creates a genuine competitive edge for agents who are willing to systematically invest in these relationships. While buyers are currently plagued by anxiety, the prevailing conditions are often working heavily in their favour – they simply require an advisor to help them see it.
“When there’s uncertainty in the market, typically buyers are the winners, but it doesn’t feel like that when you’re a buyer.”
Ultimately, rather than demanding dramatic operational overhauls or frantic bursts of cold-calling, Callum advocates for incremental, daily improvement built entirely on systematic foundations.
“Being able to be 1% better than what you were yesterday is how you ultimately win,” he says.