Patrick Cosgrove has been in real estate the better part of a decade, and cut his teeth in the competitive arena that is Double Bay.
He made the move to TRG only a few months ago after discussions with Gavin began mid last year.
“I left my previous agency on really good terms,” he notes.
“But after seven or eight years, I needed a change.
“You get complacent and need to realign yourself.”
Still, it was eight months after initial talks that Patrick became part of the TRG team.
“It was a slow courtship,” Patrick concedes.
“At that time, it didn’t feel quite right. I was having a slow point in my career and didn’t want to be that agent who makes a move because they’re having a lull.”
With a series of wins under his belt in the latter part of 2019, Patrick knew the time had come, and since taking up residency at TRG in March, he hasn’t looked back.
“The culture here is just incredible,” he says.
“Everyone’s young, hungry and dynamic.
“It’s like brotherly, friendly competition.
“You walk into the office at 7.30am and there are already two or three people here and everybody’s like, ‘good afternoon’.
“If you get up to leave at 7pm, they’re like, ‘where are you going?’ I love that.
“It’s incredible and it drives you.”
Patrick’s no stranger to hard work.
He is described on the company’s website as “one of the hardest working agents in the industry,” and he’s now in good company as part of the TRG team.
He relishes a work environment that offers a fluid mix of autonomy and accountability.
“Gavin gives you great accountability,” he says.
“You probably speak to Gavin six to seven times a day where he’s asking what are you up to? What do you need me for? How much have you listed? How much have you sold?
“It keeps you so focused on the inches, and when you put those inches together at the end of it, that’s where the real difference is clear.”
Patrick also appreciates that each agent in the TRG team offers their own personality and style.
He describes Evan as the gentleman of real estate, who has built his business on referrals, Oliver as the guy who follows through, and Cae as “big on the phones”.
As for Patrick, his secret weapon is his database.
“I have a database of 6,000 to 7,000 people, and there’s no-one on that list who would go six months without hearing from me,” he says.
“I sit down and make 100 calls a day, including 100 calls on Saturday and 40 to 80 on a Sunday.”
Those weekend calls are key, he notes, because they allow him to understand whether a campaign needs fine-tuning, and also give him the opportunity to show people through a property on Sunday.
“I try to speed the process up and make more quality touch points than any other agent,” he explains.
Effectively this means Patrick works seven days a week, and he does this in 11-week stints, before then taking a week off.
It’s hard work, he concedes, but that’s what’s required at this level of the game.
“Yeah there’s no talent here,” Patrick claims.
“We’re just incredibly hard workers.
“For example, Gavin makes everything look seamless and like it comes together so easily, but people only see the last two to three per cent of the work he’s actually put in.”
And when it comes to lessons learned from each other, Patrick says working with Gavin has taught him you can’t have the same approach to everybody.
“First, you need to identify who you’re dealing with because the conversation will be different,” Patrick says.
“Also, you don’t always need to be closing. You can set it up for a future conversation.”
Meanwhile, Patrick has taught Gavin what it’s like to be a novice again, and he’s done so through his passion of boxing.
Several members of the team, including Gavin, share regular training sessions as part of an office-wide commitment to fitness.
“I’ve reminded him what it’s like to start all over again with him being involved in a new sport, so I guess it gives him an understanding of the frustration of starting out as a young agent,” Patrick reflects.
As for his best tip for new or upcoming agents, Patrick says it’s about figuring out what you stand for, finding a formula that works, and consistently sticking to that plan.
“What works for me or Gavin, may not be what works for them. Everyone’s different. They’ve got to figure out who they are,” Patrick says.
PREVIOUSLY: Cae Thomas
