Million Dollar Agent
Million Dollar Agent
The Decline of Cold Calling: Is the Era of Attraction Agents Here?
This episode explores the evolving dynamics of the real estate industry, highlighting the impact of technology and shifting regulations. The discussion begins with a reflection on community and longevity, before moving into how agents can adapt their practices to meet modern challenges.
With cold calling increasingly restricted by privacy laws and digital screening tools on iOS and Android devices, agents are encouraged to pivot towards building more meaningful client relationships. The implications of the Do Not Call register are examined, alongside practical strategies for moving away from transactional approaches and focusing on long-term value creation.
Key themes include leveraging technology such as AI for smarter lead generation, enhancing efficiency, and positioning agents as trusted advisors rather than direct marketers. The conversation underscores a future where relationships, trust, and genuine value stand at the heart of real estate success.
Tom Panos, john McGrath, troy Malcolm and the eighth wonder like Carte Oval has been saved. That's our head scoop. So, gentlemen, we'll get the footy out of the way. I went home depressed, obviously, with the result, because we're out of the semis now. But I woke up this morning finding out that great colleague of yours, john, mr Richardson, had been working away quietly in the background, and they particularly used yesterday or this morning as their announcement to say that the West Tigers will keep that spiritual home of Leichhardt Oval going to 2041 with funding of $110 million. Brilliant, so well done to Rico. He's a good operator, isn't he, john? Oh?
John McGrath:the best. He's very good, isn't he, john? Oh, the best, he's very good. He polarises people because he's very opinionated and he's very black and white generally, but, geez, he gets shit done, and that's what you need. We need Rabbitohs, need it, everyone needs it. But I felt your pain yesterday, tommy, because I was watching the game and I thought we had it there with 13 minutes to go and yet it was stolen from us. But there's always next year, as we say in the Rabideau's Cat. We've got you to say there's always next year, drewie. Well, the Roosters, they might be out too. They might just scrape in. They might just scrape in, yeah, touch and go.
Troy Malcolm:They should have won on the weekend, but they went down as well, so anyway.
Tom Panos:Got a few injuries, but this is a very important podcast because we've had real estate agents contact us increasingly over the last few months saying, with all these iOS updates and Android call screenings becoming more and more prevalent but in addition to that, we were speaking off camera.
Tom Panos:I mean. The reality is there is a do not call register that has been there for quite some time and I think, with privacy and transparency, we're moving into a world where real estate agents might not be able to do 200 cold calls, get 550 connects, get three appointments and we're potentially moving into even more a model that has got to do with attraction. Ai is obviously impacting it. We know that there are more real estate agents now that are being called out because vendors are going onto their mobile phones and saying who are the three agents I should call out. So I just want to talk a little bit and get both your views on what agents can be doing, because, whether we like it or not, we're going to be in an environment where you're going to have to have deep relationships with a tribe that's got your vibe in your community, and just interrupting strangers who don't want to talk to you is probably not going to be the go-forward model for real estate agents in Australia or anywhere in the world.
John McGrath:Yeah, In fact, Tommy, I think you know, as we've seen with junk mail being almost legislated out or virtually legislated out, and do not call register Troy. You know I'm not that familiar with it, but I know it's a similar concept that you can now register your name and stop people like agents or anyone really that you don't want to call to calling you. Stop people like agents or anyone really that you don't want to call you're calling you. So I think what this says to me is things are changing. People are more protective than ever over their security, their cyber security, their privacy, their private time. They don't want agents or anyone ringing them up trying to to sell them something you know after hours, during hours, before meetings, when they're bathing their kids or their pets or whatever. So I think that it's about no longer about database. It's database is important because I think, Troy, it's good to have the details of people in your community, even if you're not actually able to or ringing them, but it's good to know who's in what property. But I think it's about now, relationships, because relationships If you come across someone in your job as an agent and you do a magnificent job, Troy, people are going to want you to call them and then, when you call them, you add value and you give them good advice and you listen to them.
John McGrath:When you're doing that now, I think what's happening is the people whose lives are threatened in this space when I say lives, their commercial lives are threatened those that are ringing up saying, hey, Mr Panels, you think you're selling.
John McGrath:I mean, you know XYZ Realty around the corner and we're looking for listings and that sort of nonsense, mumbo-jumbo, harassing people, shouting at people. Those days, thank God are numbered. The people that actually listen to you and meet you at an open and ask well, could I send you some information and update you with the market and are respectful about the times they call you and, most importantly, Troy, who actually has your name, who's taken the trouble to save your name, so when your name comes up they actually want to take the call, rather than, at the moment, these private numbers that come in and most people let them go. I think the number's like 20% time at the moment, Most agents I talk to they're saying I make a hundred calls, I get 20 connects. Half of those hang up immediately saying don't want to talk to you. So there's a lot of effort to get a relatively low connection rate, and I think all you've got to do is just be building real life relationships, not cyber relationships, not artificial relationships.
Tom Panos:So, john, can I just interrupt for one second, because on my social media, when I posted about this, I've had a comment come from a Jamie B and I think it's a beautiful response. In fact, he's had like about 30 or 40 people that have liked his comment. He says, tom, it's not the end, it's only the end for agents who don't have relationships with their database. Big old databases become rubbish. The best agents look for NVA, minimum viable audience, not the biggest audience, and I think what he's talking about there is exactly that. There is no point having 73,000 people in a CRM system that you don't have a deep relationship. I mean, quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised, troy, if some of the people that people have got in their databases are people that might not even be alive. They're not living in the country. I mean so, and the amount of duplicates.
Troy Malcolm:Tom and John, the duplicates, the Donald Duck, the Mickey Mousers all of those names that are in there with wrong mobile numbers. It's pretty scary. We do the exercise so often about the quality of data and if you do the average number of people that you have in your database and times that or divide that by the years you've been working in real estate, there's quite a lot of people that have been in the business for 10 years plus that haven't really been adding or building or creating those relationships with their data. But there's so many different layers to this to then transfer over. So how do you become attraction agents right now is very different to just dialing and saying you've got something for it.
Tom Panos:I reckon we're going back to the McGrath days of 30 years ago McGrath, good Hope, up there on Oxford Street where what it was all about is get their attention, add value, stay in touch with people, make sure that you're there ready for them when they need you to be. A lot of marketing, a lot of branding work and good conversations on an ongoing basis with people. And, john, I don't think you need 70,000 people. I think if you've got a tribe of 500 to 1,000 people that like to get stuff from you, that think that they're that's my agent and if you assume 1,000, 5% of those probably turn over each year. That's 50 deals there. So could we narrow this conversation on? What do you think are some of the things? And, john, maybe you can make reference to some of the things that you were doing back then when we weren't having that cold call approach, how you stayed close to potential sellers and people in your community.
John McGrath:I've never made a cold call in my life, Tommy. I've never knocked a door that didn't want to be knocked. I've never rung a phone that didn't want to be rung.
Tom Panos:That's a quote of the year. I reckon I've never made a cold call or knocked a door in my life. John McGrath, that's the quote of the year.
John McGrath:Well, I don't have any problem picking up the phone. If I've heard that Tom and Sue are panos, I think of moving. Oh, I'm happy to ring up, and I did that all the time, in fact. It was interesting. I met a lady by the name of Bianca Field today. I actually met her again. I've met her before. She's very impressive. She runs a buyer's agency in the US called Bought.
Tom Panos:B-O-U-G-H-T. I know them, I see them at my au, uh, and I know she's got blonde hair, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, super impressive uh, x-ray white.
John McGrath:She was working for ray white. She's now gone over to the buy side. Anyway, the reason I tell you because it's relevant to what we're talking about. I said to her you know who are the agents that you know you work well with, you know whatever. And she was telling me about an agent in the inner west and she said she'll call them on a monday morning. And look, I had one of my buyers miss out on an auction on the weekend under bidder. They're ready to go. Here are the five streets they love. They've got to be north facing blah blah, blah, blah blah. And she said this terrific agent. She said by Friday he'll have three homes sorted and ready to be inspected. And she said we do tremendous business together. Wow.
John McGrath:Now I peek behind that curtain and I say well, what he's doing is he's ringing for a purpose that's real, authentic and a genuine opportunity for someone. He's not ringing up pretending that he's got buyers that he doesn't have. And so, by the way, I think, if you're agents, that, troy, avoid buyer's agents or disregard buyer's agents or don't return their calls beyond me, because if I was in the selling field today, that'd be the first calls I make, because they're working with qualified buyers and we each have a common goal is to find their client, the right property and get them in there as soon as possible, but anyways. So with regard to that, tom, I think it is totally appropriate, if you have a genuine reason, to reach out to someone in your community, in your farm area, in your jurisdiction, and either give them an update because you know they're interested you've met them in an open, you've asked permission, they've given you their number. I think that's totally fine. In fact I'd encourage that. As for just going on ID for me and ringing street after street of people at 6.30 at night trying to have a chat to them about listing their home with you, I think, yeah, those days are numbered, man. They're not going to be around for much longer and either people just slamming the phone down or legislation's going to stop you from calling them soon. So I think, again, it's about value add. It's about focusing on people that want to work with you, that have a genuine interest in the real estate market in the area, that want to hear from you, that are contemplating perhaps selling and following them up professionally. So I just use that.
John McGrath:It was Hudson McHugh, by the way, was the guy, james and David, and she just she raved about him and she just said, you know, like of all the agents I deal with, they would be probably the best buyer services around. And I thought, well, well done to the boys, they do great work. So, anyway, I think it's. Yeah, that's what you got to be aiming in on. Is what? And funny in the same breath, she tells me often she rings up other agents about their listings, trying to introduce a client or looking for a client, and she doesn't even get return phone calls. So the same people that are harassing people that don't want to be called to are probably the same ones that are ignoring the calls from agents and buyers, agents and customers that do want to be called. So I think it's just a matter of refining and recalibrating where you're putting your time and effort into. And recalibrating where you're putting your time and effort into, because if you don't, you're going to be up against the legislation, troy, I assume.
Tom Panos:I mean I'm going to go to this general court. I want to just quickly put an asterisk there. I'm pretty certain, but I want the real estate agents to actually do their own due diligence. Many agencies subscribe to things like ID4Me CoreLogic RP Data. Now, most of these businesses are supposed to filter the DNC right, so they should be fine, but I would suggest that they talk to ID4Me CoreLogic RP Data or any of the other data sources that. You're right, john.
Tom Panos:Telemarketers must check the register and not call numbers. There are heavy fines that are now being applied. I think Troy talked about it before. We jumped on right. If you breach this and I mean people simply like to get on the do not call register there's an actual process. You go on there. We've looked it up. Donotcallgovau Not that we're saying that you should. It's up to you whether you do it or they can do it by phone. But the point is we are moving into an environment where, basically, people do not want to be spammed, harassed, and what you've got to start doing is building a real estate model that's got good, deep relationships, and I can't help it. I just really think that agents, that I think social media will benefit out of this because social media allows people to come in and out as they want to get information from people. What do you think, troy?
Troy Malcolm:100%. You've got to capture the audience that wants to engage with you and really get to that level of attraction, tom, and I think that's where the very best agents are going to really set themselves apart, especially over the next 24, 36 months. I think that time is upon us very quickly and you can already start to see it now. If you're looking at content during the week from some of our top performers in the industry, but also those on the weekend, it's becoming obvious who those ones are that are really becoming attraction agents out there. John, do you think?
Tom Panos:the gap is going to get big between the good agents and the bad agents.
John McGrath:As part of this, Well, yeah, I do think so, because I think there's been a skew towards people that just hit the phones and just make thousands of calls and, to be fair, there is a skill in that, just the skill called resilience and persistence and focus. But I think this industry needs more value-add people that listen to briefs, think about it, respond to briefs, give people intelligent feedback and recommendations. That's where I think going forward, because part of the reason people hate agents is we tend to operate like backyard operators and just harassing everyone until we eventually wear someone down to letting us in their home, and I think we should be more like trusted advisors, like accountants and solicitors, and giving people good quality advice when they need it. That's in their interest, not in ours. So, yeah, I think so.
John McGrath:By the way, just I don't want to sound rude, but while you guys were talking, I went under the do not to call register. It took me 60 seconds and I've just set myself up for the not call. It's not hard and if that's all it is and if people get so annoyed about it, it's going to happen more and more. So, yeah, please make sure your database is true. Saying is washed and you're not doing the wrong thing. Don't try and find a loophole around it, because if you're ringing someone that doesn't want to be rung, you're just going to annoy the hell out of them. You know, go for deep. You said before we were chatting, tom, yeah, go for deep relationships, not wide. I'd rather have a hundred raving fans in a community than 3000 people on database that I harass and avoid my calls. So it doesn't mean that the gig's over. It just means that you need to now be speaking to people who want to speak to you and adding value and being more respectful of people's time.
Tom Panos:I have to say I look at my own life. I did it today once. I said to someone like you've called me two, three times, just send me a quick text message. So I actually feel that you're going to need a multi-channel touchpoint incorporated into your work. That's probably going to involve SMS with WhatsApp, with very short base text messages.
Tom Panos:I think we're going to see email and video, which did get a bit of resurgence. There was a lot of real estate agents that would use a video and an email and they'll use things like Loom and send things out. And I think social DMs which I believe are not covered as part of this legislation, where you can reach out and do social reach outs on your Insta, linkedin, facebook messenger I think you should probably um incorporate that. But I really do feel that, uh, the agents that become the source of information in the marketplace, where people feel trusted people are going to reach out to them. And so, by the way, guys, winter's done, winter's done. We've got six days and you know what it's like.
Tom Panos:September, october, november and the first two weeks of December are, in fact, the real estate state of origin season. That is where a lot of real estate's done Before we finish off today. Can I ask what's the feedback, john and Troy, you're getting from the McGrath Group on the marketplace? And I know that you're represented in most parts of Australia, predominantly Queensland, sydney, victoria, new South Wales and Queensland. What's the feedback you're getting about the marketplace?
John McGrath:What we're finding at the moment is there seems to be a sort of a surge of sorts of listings and I think the wet weather and winter and so forth have been held some property off the market. I think now, as spring has sprung interest rate reduction people are feeling it's going to be a good market from now until Christmas. Having said that, I have spoken to some people that said they found it's still a bit tricky that buyers are needing more and more coercion and influence to kind of get them comfortable with making a decision. Where's that coercion and positive influence is probably a better way of putting it, but my gut feeling is we're going to have a very good, active, busy, positive heading into Christmas. If in November, if the first weekend of November, we get another rate reduction, that'll probably be a little bit of a catalyst for another pre-Christmas bump.
Tom Panos:So yeah.
John McGrath:I think it's pretty good Taree you're finding that way.
Troy Malcolm:Yeah, I am. I am very consistent, john. Out there there's activity, tom. On the weekend there was active bids. There was no auctions where there was no bids, and that's always a pretty good sign if people are confident to place the first bid very quickly after you call for an opening bid or offer. I always find that's a pretty good market indicator about the confidence. And then there's competition normally straight away after that. I don't know whether you're finding the same, yeah normally straight away after that.
John McGrath:I don't know whether you're finding the same. Yeah, Tommy, one of your dear friends, Alex, and mine and Troy's Alex DiMaggio ASB, has 35 auctions listed as we speak and is in the process of launching them or getting them ready to launch. That's as phenomenal as I've seen from an agent I heard for a long time. So credit to Alex ASB. By the way, we need to get her speaking at Aric. She is phenomenal.
Tom Panos:Yeah. Well, I've got to say I'm glad we're finishing with that comment, because people need to hear that there's a lot of people out there that are saying, oh, there's not enough stock, there's no stock, there's no stock, there's no stock, there's no stock. Well, there's a person in Elwood that's got 35, in Elwood that's got 35 auctions signed, ready to go. Okay, job Troy, I want to thank you again. We will catch up tomorrow, but in summary, I'm just going to say that we've got to accept, if you're, I think, in summary, we are moving into an environment where you can't just rely on cold calling. If that's what you've been doing, and you're going to have to actually look at combining it with other forms of outreach, whether it's social media, whether it's you doing community blogs, whether it's supporting it by text. You're going to need a multi-channel approach and I look forward to seeing you both next week, and I think next week we're probably going to be in spring.
Troy Malcolm:Correct, we'll be. See you, tom.
John McGrath:See you guys. Take care everyone. Bye.