Top takeaways from AREC 2018 Day 2

Be aware of growth killers. These include the addiction to the opinions of others, the addiction to your past and your story, and the addiction to worry. If your website looks the exact same as it did a year ago, you’re addicted to the past.
The four questions you should always ask are –
1. Have you had any thoughts of selling?
2. Are you curious about the NEW value of your home?
3. At what price would you become a seller?
4. Do you know anyone who’s had thoughts of selling?
Take a file of every property address you’ve ever listed and sold and load it into Google Maps. Use this to identify where you’ve previously had success, and farm there.

The importance of a good team – everyone in your team should know their role. Create an environment where people don’t want to leave by recognising their talents and ensuring everyone contributes in a meaningful way.
Hold your team to a standard, and make sure you regularly communicate with them about it. Ensure to eliminate negativity.
One of the most undervalued things in real estate is a good mentor. Dedicate time to those who don’t have as much experience and be consistent.

Turn frustration into creativity. Do things which make you different and set you apart, rather than following the same processes others have done before you.
High impact marketing can get people talking. There’s benefit in delivering things people haven’t seen before.
Hire people with their own personality and creativity, but make sure they can work within the constraints of your brand.

It’s not about making a dollar, it’s about making a difference. Make a difference and the dollar will follow.
Your history is not your destiny. Be on purpose and be your absolute self.
Fight the sea of ‘sameness’. Don’t just data dump, make sure you find your point of difference.

There are three stages to real estate – chase, attract and master. Chasing is about training and building relationships, attracting is building repeat and referral business and mastering involves leadership and learning to let stuff go.
In your career you need to become more than an agent. Become a leader, learn what makes your team tick, and become ruthless about how you spend your time.
Always continue to chase. Never take your focus off the core fundamental activities that create business.

Create more value, move beyond the competition and become the obvious choice. Work out the one problem that you can effectively solve that nobody else can.
Read the clues about what’s coming – change is inevitable. There has never been an example where the disruptor has come out of nowhere.
We already know how the industry will look in a few years – more tech, lower fees, more competition and softer market conditions. The sooner you act the smaller the risk.

Put in the work before you put it on social media. Enough agents are about the flash, you need to deliver more.
Build the name, build the brand, reinvest in your business and the rest will follow. Never make a bad day become a bad year.
The market has changed, it’s not just about hustling for the listing, it’s about hustling for the buyer as well. Provide transparent, clear advice.

75 per cent of people can’t make a significant decision on their own, so it’s important to put them in an environment where they’re comfortable making a decision.
Before negotiation can occur you need to build patronage. Establish wants and needs and what the benefits are of acting now.
A good life needs balance. Happiness will come if you love what you’re doing.

It’s not about the dollars, it’s about giving back and being real.
A well structured week will ensure you succeed.
It’s the little extras that count – make sure you’re giving back to the community that gives to you.

When customers compare experiences they compare them universally, across entire industries, not just real estate.
Expectations are getting higher, we have a need for speed. Everybody is impatient.
Agents who can stand out in 2020 will be those who can personalise. Less than a quarter of people currently feel like they’re getting a personalised service.

Build a database and create trust. When people think of real estate they should think of you.
Routine sets you free – set yourself goals like 10 calls before 10am.
Nurture your contacts, keep in touch with them. Make regular phone calls. People buy energy.

It’s never too late to start a career in real estate – you just need the right training, the right people and dogged determination.
Find good people to work with – hire an assistant who contrasts with you.
Build relationships with everyone – the buyer, the seller and the agent. The relationships are more important than the property.

There can only be one agent in each marketplace who’s the cheapest. If you can’t be the cheapest, what can you do best?
Don’t waste time playing with your competitor. The competitor doesn’t pay you – your client does.
Champions are good at the basics. The biggest problem with most agents is they don’t know how to negotiate.

Your weakest moment can also help you find your strength. Life has a way of putting you where you need to be.
The longer you hang on to anger the worse you feel. Finding compassion and letting go of those feelings of hate or anger feels so much better.
Stop asking why you. Find the gift in the moment. When your mind becomes clouded by negativity, that’s the moment you lose control.