Million Dollar Agent
Million Dollar Agent
The Mindset & Model for High-Performance Teams in 2025 ️ft. Tony O'Doherty
Tony O'Doherty's results speak for themselves: he has sold over 120 properties in the past 12 months, with an average house price of $1.85 million.
Having established market dominance in a relatively short period, Tony is best known for his “best people, best performance” philosophy.
In this Masterclass, you’ll learn:
- Super Teams: Strategies to foster collaboration and accountability within your team.
- Effective Business Units: The art of aligning goals and metrics to drive team performance.
- Swim Lanes: How role clarity reduces inefficiencies and boosts productivity.
- Mindset Model: The psychology of top-performing agents and how to replicate their habits.
- Marketing Mastery: The secrets to attracting, engaging, and converting leads through effective campaigns.
Okay, the Facebook Live sign is up. The Zoom sign is up. The people are starting to enter in. We're pretty excited. A very unique million dollar agent podcast today. Troy is not joining us, but we have with us Tony Odoiti, and in case you don't know who Tony is, well, you're going to know a lot about him in the next hour.
Tom Panos:But just to give you an idea, tony came to speak at a real estate gym event three months ago at Bowen Hills at News Corp's office, and I remember listening to you for 20 minutes, tony, and I thought to my I told you straight away. I said you've got to speak. I actually didn't hear you straight away. When I went to Melbourne that night. I rang you up that night. I was on the. Actually it was on the plane. I remember sitting on the plane thinking I've got to lock this guy, lock this guy in.
Tom Panos:And I remember ringing you, john, the next day and had never seen a presentation that had the combination of authenticity cut through, that had the combination of authenticity cut through. It was thoughtful, it was humorous, but, most importantly, the crowd that was there said this is as good as we've ever seen. So I thought you've got to get him at ARIC. So, tony, welcome. John. Thank you for joining us again for one of our last podcasts second last podcast, I think, or third last podcast of the year. We'll probably do another one to two more after this Exciting and I know that you're pumped and I know that you've had conversations after that because I know that he's now becoming part of the McGrath organisation. But, john, great to see you and good to see you, tony, thanks.
John McGrath:Tom. Thanks Tony, Welcome Tony. Yeah, it's funny, Tom, because when you and good to see you, Tony, Thanks Tom. Thanks Tony, Welcome Tone. Yeah, it's funny, Tom, because when you said that to me, I said, well, I'll let you in on the confidence that we're actually in quite protracted conversations with Tony about joining our brand and, as it turns out, probably more by good luck than good management. Today, I think, is your first official day with us, Tone, you and John Eyston, your business partner.
Tony O'Doherty:First day, first day in black, and we're excited. Tom, thank you for the intro. I feel as though the people watching can only be disappointed when you sell me highly. The only way is down. Guys, please carve your expectations.
John McGrath:It gets worse every year.
Tom Panos:That's why tip number one. Tip number one everyone don't promise too much and you'll never disappoint.
John McGrath:Yes, yes, yes, We've screwed that up. Tell us with that charming accent of yours clearly you weren't born in Queensland. Give us a bit of an idea, because a lot of people have heard about you but they don't know much about you. So tell us a bit more about how you ended up in Australia, where you came from, how you ended up here.
Tony O'Doherty:John, as we've discussed, I'm a Limerick-born Irishman. I came to Australia in 2011. I would love to say I was a man with a plan and it's all rocked out In reality. I came with my bags on my back for a six-month a bit of a look-see, you know. See what was going on. Um, I was 21 at the time. I'm 34 today, uh, as in, not today, but I am currently 34. So I've been here. I've been here, uh, that length of time. It's been amazing. They don't call it the lucky country for nothing. It's where uneducated men like myself can, uh can, reach their full potential.
John McGrath:So yeah, and real estate. So you got to Australia. You're kind of backpacking. You thought I'm going to have a look around. This is a pretty cool country. Maybe I'll stay a bit longer. How did you end up getting into the world of real estate?
Tony O'Doherty:Like a lot of Irish males, I was stuck in the construction industry. It's like the default position of those of us and for some people it is a great career, but for me it wasn't. It was the default position of a guy who hadn't found his way yet. And I found it by accident and I speak purely on my journey, because construction is a great industry in its own right. I actually got injured I had a bulging disc in my neck, nothing too major, but at the time I needed to re-skill.
Tony O'Doherty:My father owned a real estate company in Ireland, but real estate in construction for a couple of years. I got into real estate in 2015. It's coming up 10 years and it's been amazing. I wouldn't change a thing. You know it's given me so much. But just like you, gentlemen, like let's be honest, it takes a lot. You know you get out of this sport what you put into it. And I put 10 years in and maybe, yeah, the best part of 10 years in where you know, the cadence was high, the work ethic was high, the drive, the determination, the output.
John McGrath:The output has been high and we've achieved phenomenal things um through hard work and dedication yes, I'm gonna ask one more question and throw over to Tommy so early days, because there's some people on here that are, you know, sort of million-dollar-plus writers. There are other people that are where you were when you just described, when you started, tony, sort of you know they haven't kicked many goals yet, they've just started out. They're kind of looking for some sort of a formula they can follow, to kind of follow in your footsteps, if there was any. And you mentioned high work ethic, high, high cadence, which I assume probably means energy and speed at which you're operating. What are some of the other tips you can give for the people that are more of the starting out or maybe have been in it a few years but they haven't yet got into that momentum state? Um, what are some of the things? As you look back, you know a decade ago that you kind of did, and probably still do to this day, that made the difference and got you into momentum.
Tony O'Doherty:Well, I suppose the one big advantage that an agent starting out has over all three of us here today is time. The more successful you become, the more of your time that's just taken away, that's allocated, that's used and when you're on the start of your journey, you have time, and it's something that most people struggle with. We call it discipline. They struggle with the discipline. The other thing they struggle with is the freedom right, because you go and work for any employer right A big company, mcdonald's, whatever it is you're told what time to turn up. You're told what time to have your lunch. You're told what time to leave. You go and join a McGrath office tomorrow. No one's going to be clocking you in and clocking you out. You know they'll look back three months later and see how productive you've been. But I think most people need to be very mindful. There's this myth about time management and you can't manage time because there's a certain amount of seconds and minutes and hours and you can't manage that, no matter who you are. So the word is prioritizing. I think if they prioritize their time, understand what the dollar productive tasks are and park everything else. Get you know, park everything else. So my simple message it's it's not even I wish it was more wise or insightful or revolutionary, but it's simple because it's the one that they're all um, that we all struggle with at all levels. And that is time. And you know, is it?
Tony O'Doherty:Warren buffett describes the way he describes savings. He says our generation they save after they've spent instead of spending after they've saved. And it should be the same with your calendar and your time. You should be blocking out. Here's what I'm doing. I'm doing this now and we know the tasks. We're talking about Prospecting, door knocking, getting in front of clients. You know a lot of people at the start of their career. They're hiding behind computers and laptops and softwares and socials. My view is get in front of more people, talk to more people, change people's lives, but you've got to be bringing value as well.
John McGrath:Sorry, tom no go on again.
Tom Panos:Yeah, I was going to. So the people that watch and listen to this podcast probably are broken up into three groups. The first group I would call as an emerging agent, that's on the younger side. He or she would be happy to do 10, 15 deals. They just want to stay alive, they're pumped, they've got visions of nice cars and they're in the earlier phase. Then you've got a second group who have survived, they haven't quit, they're in the game and they're in growth mode. And then the third group, which you fall in that category, so does your good mate, alex Jordan and a small group of other agents around Australia and New Zealand are pinnacle agents. They're on the map, you know. They're sought out.
Tom Panos:Vendors high quality vendors that are coming on the market right now, will say I'm getting him in to hear his story, they attract business. Getting him in to hear his story, they attract business. At what point do you think it's right for an emerging agent, the one in the earlier part of the career? At what point do you think that they in their head have to mentally sign up for what you're saying? The long hours because they've got the time and often doing the uncomfortable activities because no one's really calling them and they don't have listings to list off, listings, if you know what I mean. How long was that period, if you can recall.
Tony O'Doherty:For me. I was so ambitious. I never came out of that period. I just kept pushing and pushing, and pushing and that's fine. I didn't have balance. The top 1% in any industry doesn't know how to spell balance. They don't coexist.
Tony O'Doherty:And I'm not sitting here saying to your thousands of followers or audience that you should go and be a workaholic and die on your tools. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you should be highly productive. If that means you're getting home to your wife and kids earlier, then fantastic. The only reason for you to write more GCI and to help more families transition in and out of homes is if you want to. You know, if you want to.
Tony O'Doherty:So for some people and the other thing I'll correct you on, tom, to a certain degree I worked all the hours of the day for a certain period of my career and then I started to get clever and started to say no and started to get really productive. So when you're highly productive, you don't need to be in the office all day and all night, because when you're in there, you're on and you notice you guys see it all the time like half the people in the office are in the office, but they're not. They're not. They're not. The output isn't there. They're socialites. They're around the water cooler, they're talking to whatever it is you know. Just be productive.
Tom Panos:I noticed you've been doing a few videos with Alex on social media. They're great to watch and I urge anyone that wants some thoughtful, deep, meaningful conversation and banter between two agents who are in the trenches. I mean, the truth is, john and I we might occasionally go to a listing presentation with a coaching client, or John goes to presentations with McGrath people, but you do that. You and Alex do it. How does the Alex do you compete against? Is that where you met each other, you compete against each other?
Tony O'Doherty:We have never competed against each other at the listing table, fortunately for me. I think there was a time where we competed on the scoreboard. So Alex is currently. He's found another gear and he's kicked on again and he's currently the number one in the state. Probably back in 2021 uh, we would have been very equal in the level of high performance. Um, and he's just. Alex is um, he's a different type of agent. He's a guy who I describe with a higher intellect when people think about real estate agents um, not the general public, because then we know what they think of us.
Tony O'Doherty:But when you know, I'd often have people say to me at home right, and I'm from ireland, um, my original home.
Tony O'Doherty:They'd say oh we always knew you'd make it, you're, you're, you're a great talker, you're a great salesman. But that's not really what an elite agent is to me, a real elite agent is a good listener and can ask good questions and has a high emotional intelligence. They're not just a mouthpiece. And alex is, um, he's hard to keep up with. Uh, he's very across, he's, he's uh, alex is an expert in his field, in an industry surrounded by amateurs, and that's the brutal reality of it. And if you are going up against him, oh, you're in trouble, you're in trouble. Good luck, good luck.
John McGrath:Maybe on an off day you might get a chance, but I don't think so let me touch on that because, uh, aj, who's a dear friend of mine also and all of ours, um, and I know that he was, he's a friend of yours but he's also been a bit of a mentor to kind of help you grow your, your business, and I, I asked him today. I said, said I'm going to be interviewing Tony and Savo. What are your insights, because you've been close with him for a long time. I said why is he successful? He said these are his exact words. I scribbled them down, john. He's highly motivated, he's hungry and competitive. He's a genuine fella that always does the right thing by people.
John McGrath:Tom, this is like the reason I'm going through this is, if anyone's listening now well, there aren't many people listening this is a great path Motivated, hungry, competitive, genuine, does the right thing. He has a good process. He's laser focused on his geography. Therefore, he's built a great reputation and he's surrounded himself with a good team. Well, I mean, that's it, but let me just take you through a few of those and hear your reaction. There, tony, I mean motivated. It's not hard to be motivated for a day or an hour or for a week. It's hard to be motivated for a decade or a lifetime. I mean, what do you do to keep yourself at peak mental fitness, not just physical fitness, peak mental fitness. How do you say strong mentally?
Tony O'Doherty:it's interesting, john, because that's something I've only focused on in the last couple of years. So the motivation and the drive and this is my opinion you gents have worked with a lot more people than me. I think it's something you have or you don't. You cannot motivate an unmotivated human in my experience. So when you motivated, the next step is discipline. It's making sure you're doing the right stuff and the stuff often you don't want to do the daily tasks. To answer your question, only in the last couple of years I've really focused on my behavior off the pitch, as I describe it.
Tony O'Doherty:It's very important for your brand that you are a clean, crisp human. To a certain degree. We all got to live our lives as well, and I think fitness is an important thing. What are you doing for your mental health? I think in our generation we kind of think as though we're entitled to it. You know we food. We should feel great, when in reality you're only going to feel as great as your behaviors.
Tony O'Doherty:So I've I'm not a perfect human. I'm an Irish man with Irish tendencies, and the first couple of years of my career in my 20s, I would be at every function, every gathering. I'd go to the opening of an envelope just to be social, which is all very well and good, but it wasn't helping me before. I think the really good professionals in any game they see themselves as athletes. You know you have to be sharp and in our game, in the areas where I'm operating, there's people that will take those listings if you're not sharp.
Tony O'Doherty:So I have an obligation to myself, to my family, to my current clients who I'm representing. You know if a buyer rings you and you're having a negotiation with them, you've got to. You know you've got to be in good form, you've got to be ready. You've got to be sharp and you've got to know that a family goes to work every. A husband and wife go to work every day to earn on average. You know, let's say the average income in Brisbane is 70, 80, 100, maybe in my area 100, 150,000. They go for a year to work to give half it to the taxman, to try and save a small bit of money at the end of the year. I can make them a year's wage by using my skills that no one else around me. Well, without talking anyone else down, I believe in my team and our process as the ability to give somebody years of their income in a conversation. So how dare I not be ready for that conversation?
John McGrath:you know they hired me for that.
Tony O'Doherty:I need to be better when I'm representing them than I was at the listing table, because a lot of us do that. A lot of, a lot of a lot of dialogue and training from agencies and coaches is based around the listing table. But that's just an opportunity to go to work. Yeah, I get it. It's fundamentally massive. You don't have an industry career without it. But don't be better at the listing table than you are at the negotiation table. That's just selfish and you need to be ready for all of that.
Tom Panos:Yeah, that's well said. I'm curious, the model, your model. You're a director that has got your own pod super team, ebu, whatever term you describe but you're also the owner of a total office.
Tony O'Doherty:So that has recently changed. John Tom, Six months ago I owned a rent role. I owned an agency. I was a high-performing agent and you can only wear and maybe it's me, so I'll speak about myself I was only able to wear one hat very well, and that hat, that job, that role, was assisting a mom and dad get the best outcome for their home. I believe I'm a really good real estate agent, simple, as I wasn't a really good property management leader business leader, john Ison, who is a longstanding friend of mine, has joined our business.
Tony O'Doherty:He is now running the business itself, so making sure that agents have everything they need to progress. We have sold the rent roll for the time being and my only focus is my team around me and the people that trust me with their most valuable assets. So I feel I feel 10 kilos lighter, I feel a few kilometers faster and I just feel ready and vicious. I have nothing but clarity as to what I'm doing, with the backing of John and his wonderful team and network and the global network that they are now we joined today. Today was day one. I had a phone call from from Knight Frank's CEO. They've all reached out just to show their support, and the amount of McGrath principals, heavy hitting, busy men and women that have been on the phone to me today already is overwhelming. So I feel a great obligation to my family, first of all, and to the McGrath family, second of all, to make sure that when my clients are finished with my service, that their lives are better.
Tom Panos:I've just so, so, so well said, and I've got to tell you, john, you must be feeling absolutely privileged to be able to get someone of the calibre as a professional but also as a human, because I know John's got a, a policy he, he, he loves the numbers, but he also likes people that are good people that write the numbers, and he doesn't like people that are bad people that write numbers and he definitely doesn't like people that are bad people that write the numbers and he doesn't like people that are bad people that write numbers and he definitely doesn't like people that are bad people that write bad numbers.
John McGrath:Right, We've always had that view, tommy, antonia, thank you for that, and I'm not surprised people have reached out, because everyone's very excited. Let's look at you. You've mentioned your team and Alex mentioned your team as well, so he has high regard for your team and the fact that you've assembled a great group of people around you, and I think he might have also mentioned swim lanes that you stick in yours, can you? Just without too much minutiae? But what is the make-up of your team? What are their key roles and what is Tony O'Doherty's key role within the team?
Tony O'Doherty:My team has grown in recent years in order to be able to keep up with the scale that we're after and the level of service that we're after. Katie's a co-agent within my team. She's been with me the longest, in excessive seven years, which is most of my journey I spoke about. 10 years is closer to nine. I spent 18 months working in other agents' teams. I did it the old-fashioned way and one of the last to do it that way of jumping in and going hard. Katie's been with me for seven years.
Tony O'Doherty:A trusted member of my team, an experienced real estate agent in her own right. She's my co-agent predominantly in Belimba agent in her own right. She's my co-agent predominantly in Bulimba. She was Balmoral and Hawthorne as well, but she's focusing now on one suburb so that we can really increase our market share again. Ollie's the same. Ollie's been with me, I think, for four, nearly five years. Young guy came to us pretty much straight out of school, maybe a year or two. Hard worker, swam at a good level, going through the school years, which is important as well, because that shows work ethic, you know, and it shows that competitive.
John McGrath:Discipline.
Tony O'Doherty:Yeah, discipline, and these are all good humans. John you said about, or Tom, you gave John a plug, which is highly relevant because you know that's how you keep a brand pure not to tell you boys how to do your job, and you know better than me. But the point I'm making is I'm surrounded by good people. They are good performers, but there's none of them that I wouldn't, you know, sell my house with or or, you know, share my spare time with. They're all good people.
Tony O'Doherty:Um kate was our bdm. She was a really high performing BDM at the highest level. She joined us only six months ago from the BDM role as a co-agent. Bailey's been with me for probably two years. Each of them have their own geographical areas where we're heavily focused on maximizing the return for our vendors, making sure the service is sharp, making sure our list to sell ratio is sharp, making sure we're the best in our field, in our areas, and that's what these guys focus on.
Tony O'Doherty:The backbone of all of these businesses is the men and women in the admin roles. There's nobody more important than them. Ash has been with me for a couple of years. Really sharp young girl in her mid-twenties. Ash has been with me for a couple of years, really sharp young girl in her mid-twenties, brittany's been with us. She came across one other business pretty recently. So that's the makeup of my team. My job as the lead agent is to ensure that multiple things obviously the listing, the listing how do we call it? Because it's ever-changing. It's a responsibility. It's a responsibility to the sellers to show up and be ready. It's the responsibility to the co-agent that got you in the door to make sure you're ready. So my job is to find the net in football terms, and the goals are bringing in the business and optimising the return for our clients. They're my main activities negotiations with buyers, doing my job. What is my job? My job is to bring in business and make sure we sell it for more than anyone else could have.
John McGrath:In simple terms, and Tony, now, now, obviously there's a following. There's a strong following. You've got a great reputation and a strong track record, but you've still got to and so therefore, I guess some of the business is going to find its way to you. You've still got to list it, you've still got to be the best person, but things have changed a bit. But what are you doing proactively? Because I know that you've got strong market share, leading market share in your three key areas, but I also know you want to double that business. So how do you see the growth in terms of how do you find your new clients other than just reputation? Is your team on the phone? Are they door knocking? What are some of the key activities that your guys have been?
Tony O'Doherty:What we're trying to do is so what happens in our industry? About 3% of the market are for sale at any one time, and the catch and kill model is to try and find the 3%. What the better operators are doing is servicing the 100% and waiting for the 3% to come to them. So our big shift in mindset now is just to constantly give, give information, give data, give, give, give.
Tom Panos:I'm going to stop there. I can pretty much tell you that sentence there summarises what this whole podcast you've said, what we try and do every week in our podcast, which is basically say you've got to become their agent before they need an agent. That is the secret. But no one wants to do that. Everyone wants the 3% that you talk about catching fuel.
Tony O'Doherty:Tom. I had a guy. He's outside of the industry and he's been following my journey and he's a good business head and he sees me doing these kind of things and he says how much do you get paid? And I said most of these are just given back and occasionally, if there is remuneration involved, I give it to charity, because I'm happy to have these conversations. And he said have you heard of intellectual property? I said yeah, I've heard of the concept. He said you stand up in front of all your competitors and give them all your IP. Why do you do that? And my answer was and I didn't mean it in a bad way, but I said most of them won't use it anyway. So there's nothing and I'm not discrediting the concept of our sport is incredibly easy, incredibly easy.
Tom Panos:It is so easy, but that's a good point. Like if we know that the blueprint of real estate is become their agent before they need an agent. Then you're on the shopping list when the time's right. There's a reason why don't people do it. It's actually arithmetic. If you think about it, this is maths. If everything in life was maths, we wouldn't have all these deaths that we do. It's mathematics. Why don't people do the maths then?
Tony O'Doherty:Because this equation needs to be repeated every day, Monday to Friday and even more so on Saturday.
Tony O'Doherty:You have to show up. Turn up and have the energy. This sport is brutal. It'll punch you straight in the face and when you've just had a lovely win, someone will pull that rug straight out from under you and you'll hit the ground quicker than you could think. And that's the brutal part. You need to be resilient. You need grit the brutal part. You need to be resilient. You need grit. And every now and then, just like a boxer, you're gonna have to take a belt to give a belt, and that's the part people struggle with. You know, you gotta bite down in the mouth guard and and cop a few. It's as simple as that and he tells us about.
John McGrath:In terms of listing and again, we're not looking for every secret herb and spice, because you do have competitors watching here but in general, are you a organized lister? Do you do a lot of research before? Do you just turn up and listen, as you said? But you know what. What does it kind of feel like if I was experiencing a listing with you or if I was videoing you before, during and after a listing?
Tony O'Doherty:john. Um, if I was to ask you the same about your career leadership over the decades, you would tell me how much you've changed and grown and evolved and I'm the same right now, where I'm in. The guy that's got me to where I am is not the guy that will get me to where I want to be, because the thing about listings is it's psychology and, yeah, there's different brackets and there's different demographics and different personality types. For me, I relied a lot on energy and charisma and things that equate to a certain or translate to a certain personality type. What I've learned through through recent experiences is you need to cater for all. You need to cater for that, for that detail orientated person. So, to answer your question, my best year my team and I my best year was 2021.
Tony O'Doherty:We sold 164 homes to 164 families. I I probably listed 180 homes that year. I went in personally, signed every one of those, negotiated every transaction or every sale. I should say that was all energy. That was all energy. But it takes a lot to rely on energy and the problem with energy is I don't care who you are, you can, you will have off days, you will have off days. So my strengths, my competitors will notice when I'm on. None of them can beat me, but the person that beats me and I've said this recently we got lovely feedback um, I have a high level of accountability in everything I do.
Tony O'Doherty:It's always me. That's just my view. I understand that. I understand it's always me. Whether I want to win or lose, it's me, it's nobody else. But, geez, I can beat myself. I can give my competitors the occasional listing, but I've got very good at not doing that anymore. So energy was the word. If you recorded me through the years, you would see a guy walk in, build his rapport as quickly as possible, care about the other person, have a good process and formula to explain to them and never ask them to sign. I never did what you're telling your clients. Your your clients to do what most, most people are telling them to do. Ask for the business, which is is something I've started doing now, this late in my career. But, john, to answer your question, we're going out of energy alone and into psychology preparation knowing the person guiding them to where we want them to be and where we want them to be is with us, where we can care for them and get them the best we can.
Tom Panos:Brilliant John in that area. There's some serious agents there that know their stuff. You compete against good agents. I'm just curious that you walk in and there's a very good chance that there's going to be maybe two or three other groups of agents or agents doing an appraisal or an audition. I mean, do you seem to go into the property once and ask for the business because you've had this relationship by database and conversations, or do you seem to sort of say I really need to come back here a second time and spend more time there? Is it normally multiple meetings? Is it one meeting?
Tony O'Doherty:Again. Previous years it's been multiple, it's been multiple. I used to always do two. I don't do that anymore. Now I spend more time on the discovery call learning what I need to learn to know what I need to know to to be able to bring the best value to them on the first meeting. Um, so we try to focus on one now, and there's different categories.
Tony O'Doherty:You know it's funny. You know, the one that I struggled with the most and it's it's a weird one was actually referrals. Right, because, just like you did at the start of this time, you gave me this glowing review and my clients would absolutely sing my praises and the people that see me and they'd be like really is this the same guy? They're like who's this tosser? He's nowhere near as good as that guy. So I kind of grow on people. The more exposure I get to them, the more they realize that I actually give a shit about them. And at the end of of a collaboration with a vendor, they're they're often raving fans, and so much so that at the start of my relationship with a new person, they're like fuck, he must have been, you know.
Tom Panos:I want to ask you you know that you're saying that hey, it's sort of moving, you know, towards one meeting and you said I just started asking for the business. What does that sound like and look like? Like let's assume you came to my property and the discovery call and I'm definitely selling and it connected and you felt like the energy's there. I feel like there's good chemistry between us. What does it sound like? Asking for the business? Tell me what that sounds like.
Tony O'Doherty:In two sentences. First of all, you're qualifying to see if they have any questions and what you've just explained to them. So you're saying is there any part of what we discussed today that you want me to elaborate on? Which part of what we discussed today are you most excited about, or is there a part that you're apprehensive about? So you're clarifying is there an obstacle? Once there isn't, and I openly say to them I'd love to represent you are you ready to make that commitment now? Just just just ask the question. You know, and I never asked a question, I never. But and it's you know, I sat with john for a half an hour, an hour, a couple of weeks ago and you know the thing he took away from it and we won't go into too much detail. But sometimes the conversation you're having within can become very, it becomes reality. So if you have a lack of something and you're telling yourself, you know you've got to be careful not to create your what am I trying to say? Your thoughts become your reality.
Tom Panos:You've got to be so careful with your thoughts. Again, you've nailed that I get agents that go in there thinking to themselves. I really hope they don't just, you know, want me to do a low fee. They're going to ask me a low fee, the low fee. You know what I better actually get rid of that problem. I'll just give them a low fee and before we know it there's a loafie on the table with. No one was thinking about the loafie except your own narrative at the time.
Tony O'Doherty:Oh, man and I'm an overthinker by nature. People just have that. But I find the best thing to overcome any of these things is activity. You know, stay busy and stay, but you've got to keep practice. I never practiced, which was I was one of those guys that, despite my success and my team's success, I left a lot more on the table than I should have on the way through because I never aligned myself with a good coach, which is another thing I recommend everybody here you need to have in any.
Tony O'Doherty:This is a sport. This is a sport. If you see it any other way, it's because you're not serious about it. That's. That's a harsh statement, that's an opinionated statement, but I stand by it. For me not necessarily for everyone else on here it's performance. And if you're not, if rafa nadal, who just retired, if novak jokovic is standing with andy murray in his corner and you're not a world number one, but you think you know it all you better hope you're not near a world number one, because they'll wipe the floor with you. And the thing for me is I just want to get better and I know that there's people out there that know so much more than me.
Tom Panos:Well, listen, Johnny's the best coach around. You've got a great brand and, more importantly, you've created a model that allows you now to spend your time not worrying about those other things, because your business partner is doing it. Can I ask you, with all that, I mean, what are you thinking is achievable in terms of, I mean, do you think 250 deals, 300 deals? What do you think?
Tony O'Doherty:Man, we haven't thought that. I haven't. Look, we have 200 is something that is comparable. We're thinking about market share. We know that we can double down our market share and we know that we can have twice the amount of families at the school gate singing our praise and we can have twice the amount of families at the school gate overselling me. So I can fuck it up Time.
John McGrath:We've got about sort of seven or eight minutes, because I know we told everyone we'd sort of go through at about 4.45. This has been amazing and you are very kindly have agreed to speak at ARIC next year, I think, so people can come along and hear more about you. But there's a lot of egos in this business. There are people that have not done 20% of what you've done and what Alex Jordan has done and they've got massive egos and Tom and I just talk about it on this a lot. It's quite embarrassing for our industry. I mean, is there anything within your makeup that's allowed you to keep your feet on the ground as your figures astronomically and just letting everyone know we we think that Tony is the fastest-growing agent in our country's history in terms of hitting a billion in sales. So is there something in your make-up that you say to yourself or you believe in, or your family upbringing, or something that has you Because you are one of the most grounded, as is AJ people I've ever met. I mean, what's behind that?
Tony O'Doherty:people I've ever met. I mean, what's behind that? I think that the real high performers, we focus on what's left to improve upon and that can be taxing. That can be difficult. Like I'm hard on my team, my team have stayed with me through loyalty and love and we've got each other's backs. But and often it's a negative I don't always celebrate the wins. I see the things that I could do better. My score to date in comparison to the industry, comparison to the best in the industry, and the time in which we've done it, is phenomenal. We can stand up for anybody, but it is nothing compared to the future anybody but it is nothing compared to the future. It is nothing compared to what I have in, in what my capacity and capabilities are with the people I have around me. So what keeps me from from getting ahead of myself is I'm aware of my capacity and how far away I am from it. So maybe one day maybe one day, john, I'll look at you and say, fuck it, I met it.
Tom Panos:But I'll tell you what.
Tony O'Doherty:I'm a long way away.
Tom Panos:When you go to Ireland they must think you're Elvis Presley. John, I reckon part of it. I've noticed it. Don't say it, Tom?
Tony O'Doherty:Don't say it, it's not the accent man. I'm a lot more than an accent. Don't say it, Tom. Don't say it, it's not the accent man. I'm a lot more than an accent.
Tom Panos:No, it's not the accent, but I look at it whether it was at the cafe. I always when there's a worker that comes in, you know the ones that wear the Irish uniform, that whole on the streets there. The Irish people are the best to talk to. They make you. You have a good laugh At chem chemo all the nurses were from ireland for some reason. They're all are and they were, and they're fun, I reckon. I think the upbringing and and be honest, like the income that you're making in ireland that puts you in mate like right in switzerland, it puts you at the very top of the food chain hey, one of the things, tom, a lot of people won't know about tony and they won't.
John McGrath:They'll even know it less after this interview because he comes across so eloquently and confidently. But but, tone, you're quite an introvert in a lot of ways and you and I had that conversation and I I am as well, and a lot of people watching it. For them, the shy ones like us, and the introverted ones, they've kind of potentially used that as an excuse. Oh, I'm not one of these gift of the gap people. You know I'm a bit shy and whatever, and and you know, like I said, I think you and I certainly share that in common time. How have you been able to overcome that and go and do what you've done today and what you're about to do, which is, even so, whilst being somewhat of an introvert? Just how have you been able to manage that?
Tony O'Doherty:I suppose the truth of it is I do withdraw as much as I can, but I suppose, if you were to, which is still very little in comparison to how much we have to be out there, I don't emerge myself in the community as much as I should In my spare time I am not going. You know, I am a withdrawn character. I am a withdrawn character. I didn't know I was introvert until very late in the piece. I didn't realize it. You know, funny how I considered myself to be, you know, self-aware, amongst other things. I wasn't aware at all of a key fundamental of myself. Um, I just think, yeah, I'm making work.
Tony O'Doherty:I don't know that being an extrovert is, is an advantage over an introvert. I don't know that because when I walk into a room I'll pick a corner and and I'll be in that corner, but the people will, will come, and when they come I'm probably softer and easier and I'm not confrontational, or that's not the other people who don't, not that they don't gel with me. They probably see too much of the introvert and they don't see the assassin. You know, they need to see that absolute killer that's going to nail it for them and I think sometimes, maybe, maybe that holds me back a little bit, that I am a little bit introverted. But no, no excuses. Uh, I wouldn't change anything. Uh, you know, and I think people at home, just get rid of your excuses because you, if you're not careful, they'll be right. You can make them right, you can make your bullshit accurate or you can make it not a factor.
John McGrath:T someone. If I interviewed 100 of your vendors and they are raving fans, it's become legendary the way people feel about you after you've finished a sale with them. What would be three things that you reckon they would say If I said Tony, what's he like, how was it to deal with him? Give me three words that you think they would likely say about their experience with you.
Tony O'Doherty:Communication is a big one. I didn't want to use it because it's like something that we'd all say, but it is a big one, it is a massive one. We're very high on our level of communication. Voice notes would definitely come in there, and you know like it's a weird thing to say I run most of my business on voice notes. I'm always just notifying my vendors and we chat as much as we need to.
Tom Panos:When you say voice note, does the note get transcribed, or you just send them a voice message? I'm curious.
Tony O'Doherty:We've got 45 minutes into this without somebody taking a piece out of my accent. This was good. It doesn't come up with some subtitles, as many people he didn't say translate.
John McGrath:He said transcribe, it's just verbal, it's just verbal. You send them like a little recording. They hit, play and they listen to what you've said.
Tony O'Doherty:Yeah, on WhatsApp. So we have all our vendors in WhatsApp meetings and it's WhatsApp groups. It's proven, invaluable, just that level. You couldn't provide the level of communication that we do without having a central forum and a method Communication we care, we genuinely care, and that comes across. And team Team is the other one. I don't know, john, if I've answered that right or wrong. It's just three things that came to mind. We communicate at a very high level. We give a shit about the outcome and my team mate they're the same. They're. I have a team full of winners. They're people that turn up, show up, want to serve us, want to be there. Good energy, good attitude yeah.
John McGrath:I reckon I'd say my gut feeling is passion, yes, uh, yeah, that's a combination of energy and giving a damn, and I reckon that that's a energy. You're a high energy guy. Every time I've met you're a high energy guy. Yeah and uh, as aj said, you know you just don't bullshit people. There's a sincerity or a I'd rather use the word genuine sincerity kind of sounds a bit weird, but authentic, genuine. What you see is what you get. There's no kind of sugar coating of who he is or trying to pretend he's someone else. You'll know who Tony is after a 10-minute chat with him. You don't need to try and figure that out.
Tony O'Doherty:My answer is energy, passion and authenticity. That's my answer.
John McGrath:Tell me, aj, you touched there on WhatsApp. Aj mentioned something about urgent versus non-urgent WhatsApp group chat sort of thing. Are you okay to share that?
Tony O'Doherty:Yeah, so what we did is what we find when we've got the amount of properties for sale at any one time. You have to be very careful how you categorize the inbound, and what I did for a very long time was I managed everything. So my phone would ring, I would answer it 16 hours a day, six and a half days a week, and what I described earlier on in our conversation was the obligation you have to your vendor to be as good at the negotiation table as you are at the listing table. Well, I guarantee you you're not doing that if you're taking 100 calls a day. So what I'm doing now is you spoke about energy. It can't be created or destroyed. It can be transferred and moved, and if I give it to the wrong people, I won't have it for the right people. So I have urgent chats. So when I've spent 45 minutes with to you, with you right now, my phone hasn't evaporated. There has been in, there's been work coming in, communication coming in, and my team is dealing with that. When I get off this call, the first thing I'm going to look at is my urgent chat. Is there a buyer trying to buy a home? Is there a deal to be done? Um, then, non-urgent. Is there a teammate that needs assistance, that needs tlc? Um, you is there, yeah, so we categorize in order to prioritize.
Tony O'Doherty:A word I used at the very start I can't, and I did it, and I did it for too long. I did everything. I was the conduit to everything, so my team were always very active and I shouldn't say I did everything. I was involved in everything, which is not. I mean, you wouldn't have 140 offices if you were involved in everything, john, you'd have one office and that's where you would have been capped. You can't do everything, or at least you can't do everything well. So now I do 20% of the job inverted commas. I'm across the marketing from the start, the negotiation. Just I'm running the campaigns. I'm not running myself into the ground trying to answer the phone to the signboard guy when the signboard won't go into the ground because there's a rock there and I'm like you can't do everything, so you have to do what you do very well.
Tom Panos:What proportion? These will be very quick because I'm mindful of time, but I want to extract as as much of this content for our great listeners. What proportion of your business is auction versus private treaty?
Tony O'Doherty:high majority auction. We've sold about 130 homes this year. Uh, by the end of this month we'll have done um 103 or four auctions. So you know 100 out of 130 are auctions. The other 30, they may not be compatible for the vendors or, in some case, properties. So there's people that will tell you and Tom, I don't know what your opinion is on this there's people that will tell you that you know you can auction any property, and that's true by definition, but not, you know, to me, 100 of those 130, we went down that road. I'm not going to spend four weeks persuading a vendor that auction is the best if they have a core belief that it's not, Because if they have a core belief that it's not, how are they going to believe in the result that I got them? So I'm here to navigate what's best for the property and the vendor.
Tom Panos:And 100, that was auctioned, and in the vendor servicing this conversation and these voice memos that you're sending on WhatsApp, are you the only person that talks to the vendor in terms of vendor management, or are there other people in your team that are also talking to them?
Tony O'Doherty:So vendor servicing the whole way through. My team is involved, so there'd be the co-agent and the admin support and they're just. You know, knowledge is power. We say to our busier clients turn off the notifications. You know, we don't want to bother you all day, we just want you to know that everything is done. So if I need you, I'll ring you and answer the call if you can. But other than that, we're about touch points. The more you can give them, the more confident they are that you're doing what you're doing.
Tom Panos:Who does Tony on a first week of a good property, how many groups come through and open for inspection?
Tony O'Doherty:We don't get the flash numbers that are the gate, like if we have a great campaign now, you'd have 50 buyers in the campaign.
Tom Panos:You'd have 17 or 18 at the first open home. Who calls those buyers that come through the opens?
Tony O'Doherty:So they're categorized. You'll find that buyers will tell you who they are. I'm a neighbor, oh, I'm just having a sticky beak, oh, this is above my budget and the way out. So my team calls the I was going to use an insensitive word the buyers that are not of value to the vendors, which, in my experience, is 80% of the buyers. My team communicates with them and tries to move them along to a property that is compatible to them, their budget and their needs, and my job is to deal with the consumers.
Tom Panos:Right. So a bit of a triage service, like a doctor and a nurse. They're trying to work out who's a high priority person. We know that they're here, right yeah.
Tony O'Doherty:Again. I used to do all the buyer callbacks and let's say we've got 20 people through an open home. On average, statistically speaking, four of them will be willing, capable, motivated for that property and by the time you've started speaking to the 16th person to get to the 28th, the best version of you is not dealing with that person. So we try to make sure that we give everybody a great experience and the person that can't afford the property that we're selling, they still deserve our time and our energy and they still deserve our expertise and the team does that exceptionally well.
Tom Panos:Your reserve is set on the day or before the day.
Tony O'Doherty:He's trying to get as much out as possible here. John, let's go. Tommy boy, it depends, often closer than you'd probably recommend to your people. I don't focus too much on reserve and often I tell my vendors feel free to increase the reserve. My reserve is often informed or dictated by the amount of bidders that we have. If I have a good auction, 10 registered bidders, I need to make sure that reserve is not going to cause my vendors an opportunity to miss out on momentum. If I've got one bidder, two bidders and it's going to be a heavy grind, put the reserve up wherever you like. We can discuss it on the way through. So again, trust is built along the way. When you have a high level of trust, your reserve, it sets itself.
Tom Panos:Well, john, I reckon we've got to get Tony on again. I know today's a big day because you've had your brand changed and that, by the way, everyone that is purely coincidental, because this had been put in. I only found out this morning when you told me, john, that today, because I was trying to work out how we introduced Tony, john, I'd love to get Tony on. I'd love to get you also interview you a couple of more times, because I've interviewed you in the gym in person but not on video, and I would love to get you. All the hearts are coming. A lot of people have really appreciated the time that you've given us this afternoon.
John McGrath:John. Yeah, I'm very thankful, and I just think about next year's ARAC, tom, you know and we've had guys like Ryan Serhant and Tom Ferry, and I think about it and to have people like Alex Jordan, matt Steinway, tony O'Doherty in our country is incredible, and our best agents are the best in the world not just the best here and I say that sincerely and hopefully not parochially. I believe it um time. We're so excited to be joining forces. Uh, thank you for joining us. Before we go, though, tommy, I want to shout out firstly to your gym members thanks for all joining. Um, and it's a pleasure I get to sometimes come in and do a little sort of guest presentation. I hope that will continue next year, in 2025. Shout out because I know, tommy, you are right now in the finalisation of your 2025 intake. It's about $2 a day. It's interesting.
John McGrath:I was thinking about this before. If you went to Tony, a financial advisor, and you said, hey, you know, I don't want to risk the farm, but I want something that's going to give me a pretty decent return, can you give me a sense of what that? Boy? You give me some shares in the stock market or property or whatever, and what sort of yield could I get, and a really good, one might say. I reckon I can get you 12 percent right. Something like that double did do pretty good.
John McGrath:I look at your gym membership, tony, and sorry, tom, and Tony said earlier it's all about accountability and if you don't have a coach you're crazy. And you know he said that spontaneously not to back up what I'm saying. But $700 invested sensibly with an agent that's actually prepared to put into practice what they learned from the gym, could turn into a $700 investment, could easily turn into a $300,000, $400,000 yield with a high degree of certainty. You know, we just know that. You know Tony's team is now doing sort of, and so is Alex Jordan's nearly a million a month thereabouts.
John McGrath:So you know it's not a stretch to say someone that's doing $200,000 a year goes to the gym, picks up, they listen to a Tony O'Doherty, they hear a Matt Steinway, you know all these great people and that $700 investment could make them $200,000 or $300,000 without doubt. So I'm a great fan of yours, tom, and your gyms. I know a lot of the McGrath people do it as well. As they do stuff with us, they do it with you do stuff with us, they, they do it with you.
Tom Panos:Um, tell me when? How do people jump in? Just put something in the chat group train so, susan, so it uh, train for free to the end of 2024. I think we copied that off anytime fitness, because they've got that at the moment. Um, uh, train, train, train, train, uh in the gym to the end of 2024 for free.
Tom Panos:And not only only that, johnny, we've put a lot of trouble at getting people's prospecting, marketing, sales framework plans drawn up. So our model listen, I'm really proud of it because it's now 10 years, it's not something that it's a guinea pig, it's a decade and we've learnt and we've got better to try and deliver content and I know most of it is on video. But we do prospecting sessions. We meet up face-to-face at certain times. So they just go to realestategymcomau. Susan's opened it up and you will train for free till Christmas. Train for free till Christmas. And I, johnny, I've got to tell you, matty Steinway, alex Jordan yourself, score incredibly. Over the years You've been the biggest contributor to the gym. My gym members love you. They're going to love Tony, because you think the same way. We're about no commission breath. Build a brand and let them come to you.
Tom Panos:But until that happens you're going to have to work hard and understand and accept that there is no one way. It's taken me a long time. I always thought to myself you've got to get that McDonald's system. I don't think there's a one way. I think what happens is you work to your strengths.
Tom Panos:Now you're listening to a guy who's working to his strengths and that's why I think that he's a happy person, because he's happy, he does good work, the clients are happy, he looks after his staff, his staff look after clients and all of a sudden it ends up being great numbers and that's all it is. But some people's model is some people will do the same number of sales without an auction system, or some people will do it in a total social media way and some people will do it in a total print way. I know that you're not a print person, alex Tony, because I know that when you came to the building that day you said to me it feels a bit awkward here I'm coming into the News Corp building right, or News Queensland, but it's been an absolute pleasure having you here. Congratulations to you both actually both on your relationship and stay well Looking forward to if I don't see you before Christmas. Are you going back to Ireland at all anytime soon?
Tony O'Doherty:I may or may not be surprising some people at home. Hopefully they don't see this, but who knows? Oh wow, Travel safe.
John McGrath:Hey, Tone, I'll speak to you tomorrow. Tom, Congratulations Real Estate Gym. Jump into it for 2025. If you're only going to invest $1,500 in training next year, go to AR Eric and join the real estate gym and that'll take you a long way. Okay, everyone, See you, Tommy.
Tony O'Doherty:Thank you guys. Thank you to everybody for tuning in. Thank you for having me See you guys.