Million Dollar Agent
Million Dollar Agent
Your Reel Won’t Sell A House, Your Calls Will
What actually stops most agents from hitting seven figures? In this episode, we strip away the fluff and go straight to the real levers — belief, identity, environment and daily execution. You’ll learn why goals must force growth: aiming from 32 to 42 sales changes nothing, but aiming for 75 requires a full upgrade in tonality, questions, energy and systems. We also break down why warm prospecting beats vanity content every time. Past appraisals, neighbours around new listings, local buyers and owners you spoke to 6–24 months ago consistently outperform random cold dials and reel-heavy branding that never asks for the business.
We also tackle the environments and compliance realities that most agents ignore. Your culture matters — big office buzz, boutique focus or tight EBU — and the wrong one will quietly cap your growth. We unpack the three circles that hold agents back (situation, other people and self) and why the self is usually the true bottleneck. Plus, with underquoting under the microscope and AI monitoring campaigns, we outline the simple habits that protect trust: document conversations, update guides as enquiry shifts and deliver transparent vendor reports. If you’re ready to stop playing small and operate like a genuine million-dollar agent, this episode gives you the blueprint.
John Panos, John McGrath, Troy Malcolm, Million Dollar Agent the Podcast, your weekly fix on everything real estate. It's unstructured, it's all over the shop, it's chaotic, but you keep listening to it and it's free. Right?
John McGrath:So that might be the secret. Might be the secret. How are you, Cody? Very good, very good, JM. So we still have lots of time to go left this year, but we are getting ready for next year. And I think today, shortly, we're going to be talking about Tommy some of the stuff that you might want to switch in your own mind and maybe change a few habits because I think the three of us share the view that those people operating at 15-20% their potential. And we don't want to be doing that in 2026 for sure. So New Year's resolution time, which I must mention, I was talking to uh young Ethan He, who I think you and I both agree is got to be one of the top agents the country has ever seen. Um he is our franchisee uh down in Victoria, one of our franchisees down in uh Clayton, Victoria. Anyway, he was mentioning to me, which you were just talking about off air, Tony, you've got a new program. Is it a black belt program, mastery program?
Tom Panos:Yeah, so what I did, John and Troy, I've sat down and I've spent a lot of time thinking and planning through, and I look at what other people are doing overseas. And I actually did speak to a lot of the coaches in the US and also people that are in coaching outside of um the real estate industry, and there's no question about it that having an online, face-to-face hybrid version is far more effective than just online only. So as of 2026, Black Belt, a program that involves four quarterly catch-ups. We go into lockdown, very similar to what we did in Byron Bay um uh a few months ago. So every quarter, two days locked in a room, small group of people, and then every month at the end of the month, there's an accountability one-on-one session. In addition to that, there's an application that they put in and send their figures in. So we're measuring their numbers. In addition to that, John, you've been very kind enough. I'm gonna bring those people over to your office on the 24th of March. We're gonna host them and you're gonna be in that room there with me. We're also gonna show them some of the best EBUs. You've got the best EBUs in the country, John. Your business at McGrath's and uh it's great.
John McGrath:I look, I I just uh Ethan was pumped when he when he was telling me about it today. And um, I know I've been encouraging you to kind of slightly change your format because I think you get on too many planes and race around in too many parts of the world, and I think at some point, you know, it'd be great for you and great for your clients too. Just maybe less is more, and so I'm really delighted that you might be uh focusing a little bit more on your uh on your VIP clients.
Tom Panos:And that's so it's it's basic, it's basically less clients but deeper with them. We're gonna have 40. It's only uh you can only have an area and be the only agent. I don't feel comfortable having two agents that go to listing presentation against each other, sitting in a room two days at a time. I don't feel it's right. So um wherever you listen to your podcast, we're gonna have a link for you to actually um apply. And I want to let you know you can't just sign up. So when you press that link, it doesn't get take you to a payment because I also got to feel like you're gonna benefit out of it. And I also got to feel like if I'm gonna be in the room and our team and the people we've got, they they they everyone gets on better if the people are the same style of people. And I get the impression, I know there are different types of agents. You got, you know, uh high flies, and various coaches have got their own genre and own group. For me, I just want to feel comfortable that the person's gonna benefit and they're our style of people, and it's gonna mean I'm gonna have a quick phone call just to find out a little bit about you. We've already given um our first uh 15 spots have gone to our existing members, so we haven't actually marketed um as yet, John. So you only would have found out by me and talking to you about Ether.
John McGrath:Yeah.
Tom Panos:Right? So check it out. It'll be all over my socials over the next month, stout January 1. And Susan has just actually sent me a link there as well, and I think the link that she's got is called realestategym.com.au forward slash black belt. So we'll make sure that it's on your Spotify. But enough selling, enough selling, because that's what I've just done. John and Troy, today's topic. Like I got asked this morning by a guy that doesn't work in real estate. He works in photocopies. He says, I want to get into real estate and become like all these other thousands of million-dollar agents. I said to him, What makes you think there's thousands of them? And he goes, Oh, well, you've got a podcast called Million Dollar Agent. I said, Well, it doesn't mean that there's thousands of it. And he goes, right, he goes, Yeah, but he goes, I get the impression most people are million dollar agents. I said, No. I said, I haven't done the numbers, but I would say they'd be lucky to be 90%. John, you probably would go think they'd be lucky they'd be lucky to be 10%. You probably think to yourself, I don't know.
John McGrath:I think I think in the greater you know environment across Australia, um, whilst you know, you we're we're used to, I guess, you know, both our teams and go to ARIC and you know, sort of getting to know quite a few of the high performing agents. But I think most agents, the number, the stat that I read once was was like they earn 100,000 a year, and that that might be well be gross, who knows? So for sure, there is is m there's a long tail of of great potential in the industry. And I think we're going to focus a bit on how do we unlock that potential, or how do you unlock that potential in 2026, right?
Tom Panos:Yeah, so I think a good topic is why do 99% of real estate agents never write a million dollars? And I think what we should do is all do a deep, deep dive, and look at look at the mindset, look at the traps, look at the excuses, look at the behaviors, look at some of the skills. And, you know, essentially, I know that we've all had a view, and I know John, you've been heavily shaped that a lot of people uh have got self-limiting beliefs. A lot of people have also got a view in life that, hey, I can't do it, I may sabotage their success. Example, I had someone say to me, Tom, I'll write more, but I don't want to destroy my family. Or I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll various stories that people have, which is it's often if I do this, I can't have this. It's it's thinking like that. So, Troy, John, why do you think most real estate agents, nearly all real estate agents, bar 1%, never get to a million dollars in fees?
John McGrath:So let's start the conversation with the premise that everyone can. And which I think is pretty true. You might say I'm from a town, there's only 20 sales a year or something. I mean, there might be the odd person that actually is just not in a market that would yield that. But most people are in a market where if they had 15, 20 percent market share, they're doing seven figures in most parts of of Australia. So it should be there for uh very achievable for each and every one of our listeners. I think first thing, Tom, is they don't aim for it, which kind of leads to the the LinkedIn second question or or proposition that they don't believe they're capable. Now, maybe we're talking to the wrong group because most people that are listening to this do have a a different set of beliefs and they do think a bit bigger than the average. But yeah, my my whenever I'm coaching people, you know, I'll say how many sales did you do last year? And you know, oh 33. Okay. How do you feel about that? Oh, I think I can do better. What's your goal next year? 42. And I say, Well, what why not 75? And then they look at me as though, you know, like 75. I say, Yeah, why not 75? If you can do 32, you can do 75. So that for me in my coaching is often the beginning is trying to get someone to stretch their thinking about what they're capable of. And then, as you mentioned, the you know, the concept of mooring lines, Tom, then try and work out, well, why is it up until this conversation have you not believed you can do a million dollars or 75 sales? By the way, 75 sales in most parts of Australia is probably going to be way more than a million. But um, and then then you know, one by one, I kind of snip off at at at the core, you know, well, I don't want to be more stressed. Well, what if what if 75 is less stressful than 32? Because 75 represents momentum. 75 you can hire a team, 75 you can do money, spend money in or invest money in social media marketing. Um, yeah, 75 you can hire, 75 sales, you can hire a coach like Tommy Panels. I mean, there's so many things you can do as you grow, I do believe. So, but you know, it's no good me believing that. The person that I'm coaching has to believe it. So I think then it's about identifying for the individuals what is it that holds them back, Troy. And I I think that belief, um, not thinking big enough, which is often attached to belief. I think identity, which is often attached to belief. Oh, I'm just not that guy, I'm not a I'm not a you know, a great a gung-ho salesman, I'm I'm you know, like I'm never gonna make those numbers. When you stop telling yourself that self-limiting story and start asking the question, well, what would it take? Who would I have to become? What would I have to do? And then I can guarantee you the same person that's writing 32 ain't gonna be the same person that's writing 75 sales. So then we need to try and work out what's the gap. What do we have to change so we can get you, Jenny Jones, who's writing 32, up to 50 or 75 or 100, whatever number you want to pick. Um, but it ain't gonna be the Jenny Jones 1.0, it's gonna be Jenny Jones 2.0. So I think that's the kind of and I th that's the exciting thing for me is the change is not the daunting part, I think it's actually the exciting part. It's like, you know, who who could you become if you start getting more comfortable in uncomfortable conversations? Who could you become if you start actually believing that you are an elite salesman, an elite mother, father, whatever? So I think Troy, that'll be my starting premise. Well, I mean, you you've been around the game a long time. What what are you? Under Troy?
Troy Malcolm:Yeah, sorry, the alarm's just going off here, and it's probably going off for a few people on this topic as well, to be honest. Um, but John, I I 100% agree with you. I think um people get into that mindset that comfort uh is is where they want to stay. They're not prepared to do those things that make them uncomfortable, to make them grow. Most of the time, growth happens not because of success, growth happens because of failure. And so when you go through those learning experiences, you're going to open yourself up to what's possible. The other thing that I notice a lot with uh people that are not willing to go that next level and maybe limiting what they can achieve is the fact, John, that they constantly make excuses. They find a reason not to do the activity or the work to get them back in front. It can be market, it can be technology, it can be their database, it can be they're too busy, they're not busy enough, the market conditions of a specific type of product they're trying to sell. And so when you take away those excuses and you realize that there's others in the market that are performing, then you're right. It's a hundred percent a process, and it's a process that you need to follow and be consistent with that'll get you to that next level.
John McGrath:Simplifying it too, Troy. I, you know, I'm I love Hormosy at the moment, Alex Hormosy, and and I I think he's just got some really great, great concepts. And one of the yeah, one of them I've shared, I think, on this podcast before, which is if you want to achieve greatness, you need um unreasonable goals, you need a plan, and you need not enough time. Yeah, unreasonable goals mean, you know, seriously, I reckon you've got a better chance if your goal is to go from 200,000 to 2 million than it is from 200,000 to 400. Because you're gonna have to do some serious soul searching and serious reinventing to get there. Uh, and then once you start the the ball rolling, it gets mega exciting once you start really ramping up your numbers. Um so I think that's really a a key thing. The other thing he said that I heard too just a few days ago, and he said, if you're not if you're not making enough sales, you're either not saying the right things or you're not saying them in the right way. So you think about sales, you know, prospecting, listing, selling, prospecting, pick up the phone, anyone can do that, dial a number, someone answers. So what do you say then? And how do you say it? So what's the energy, what's the you know, tonality? And you can sound like a telemarketer and you won't get very far, or you can sound like an interesting human being who's interested in their situation and love to share some ideas with them, and with some good energy attached to it, and all of a sudden people are going to want to stay on the phone and talk to you. Um so I think it's about you know it's a process. It's a process. If anyone listening to this hasn't been prospecting and decides to pick up the phone for an hour a day, five days a week for in 2026, right the way through the year, and with a good energy and and a good and a good pitch or a good opening statement, and you want to do it all day, every day for the whole year, Monday to Friday, you're gonna double your business. I will guarantee you. But you've got to do it. You gotta do it.
Tom Panos:So I've got a Troy and John. Murdoch once had sent us a video at the start of the thin year to all the managers, you know, wishing us all the best. Thank you for everything you've done, another thin year. And then in the video, he says, It's your job as a manager to get the current people that are stuck unstuck. And I clearly remember he said, generally speaking, if someone is at A and they want to go to B, there are normally three circles that are the blockages. He says, it's one of three. And I uh for some reason it just came up into my mind now. He said, These are the three. He said, the first one is it's a situation. There's a situation, and that situation is causing a block. The second one is it's another person, an external person. And the third one is it's the self. That person has an issue, and that person needs to change the view of the way that they look at things. And then he went on to say 90% of the times it's the self. 90% of the times he goes, it's the self. And it's your job as a manager to help that person come up with what is wrong with the story that they have, right? What is wrong with it, right? But then he also did say there is a possibility that there's the other two, which is a situation. And I remember someone asked the situation, and he he says, Look, they might actually be working in something that they don't love, you know, and that to me could be an example. Like we had a salesperson that was an inner city person that lived in in lived in Darlinghurst, and I don't know, we had them selling print advertising out in Penrith, right? And what happened is as soon as we moved that person to work into the city central where they had clients that they used to hang out with, right? They were that kind of uh um uh the the demographic suited that person, right? And I can I can picture that sometimes you got you could be working in it in a wrong environment. That does happen, right? And there are there are times, and we've got to accept it. There are, I have a lot of my gym members who talk to me privately, they wouldn't do it like publicly, where they say, I'm so unhappy about these things in my office, and it drains me on a Sunday night. And there are situations where you've got to change the environment of that person, it's not suited to that environment. I do, and I am mindful, this is this is the time of year that there is environment changes. If you notice every November, December, you notice a group of people start moving and they're looking at that. What are your what are your views on the with your view on those three circles? And and the other with the big being another person, it could be you've got a person that's not, I don't know, they're not supporting you, they're not guiding you, they're not making you feel happy about yourself. What are your views on those three circles?
Troy Malcolm:Troy, over to you and I'll continue on. I think first and foremost, Tom environment is so important. You've got to be an environment where you don't have to be best friends with every single person in your environment, but you do have to feel as if you're supported, you're nurtured, and you are actually in a kind of place that you can do your best work. Now, for some people, that's a really large office and they do have a lot of social things. For others, that might be a really quiet office, a little boutique agency where they can just go about their business, have a couple of key core members that are working with them on a daily basis, and people like that. Um, the second one you mentioned, situationship and that kind of environment that you see. Sometimes there is conflict, sometimes there is, you know, uh in the old days we used to call them a gorilla, um, you know, a really big performer that seemed to dominate the workspace. Um, you do get into that situation, and sometimes that is a really bad environment to be in. And so taking that person and reallocating them somewhere or getting them to focus somewhere else can make a big difference. But Tom, where I always come back to is a lot of agents right now, they're stopping going to the next level because they're forgetting what really matters. They're forgetting about the fundamentals of what we do. They get caught up in tweaking their database till it's perfect. They get caught up in the script and the dialogue, or they need to go and do another course, or they need to listen to another podcast, or they need to do a social media reel. When really, when you strip it right back, like John said earlier, genuinely connecting with people, having deep and meaningful conversations with energy and tonality that really resonates with them, and being consistent around prospect list, negotiate, sell, you are going to get to that 1% club very quickly.
Tom Panos:So, John, before we go on, I want to talk about I I posted a video, uh, posted, it wasn't a video, I posted a post about a guy who walked slowly through a social media advert, and this actually happened, right? And I said to him, I said, mate, that looks like you're doing an ad for some cologne, right? And he goes to me, mate, he said, I spent a whole day with a videographer doing that video. And I said, I need you to know we get paid to sell a property. Explain to me how this video, like, do you think this video is gonna get someone to pick up the phone and say, I saw the way you moved in that video, and I want you to come to my house and I want you to list my house. And do you think it's gonna do that? Right? I said, because right at the moment, you need to get a listing and make a sale. Like, what's the plan for that? Right. And I think you're right, Troy. I mean, at the end of the day, if you just have a look at it, what should we be doing on a daily basis in real estate? Talking to our next listing that's gonna come on, that's called your chase list. Talking to your current vendor, giving them service and help them understand the reality of the marketplace, and talking to hot buyers because we get paid a lot of money to put deals together, right? We get paid handsomely to do that. Yet you're right, there are so many other people that move away from those, you know, three main conversations. And I think a lot of people want to be wannabe celebrities. I think a lot of people sort of, you know, like they lose track of this whole thing.
John McGrath:Yeah, Reese Withersman was talking about that a few years ago and Eric about you gotta think who your audience is, what's interesting to them and what are they looking to you for, and then compare it with your output. I'm I I look at a lot of social media real estate agency stuff as you guys do to keep a keep a track on things, and and there's a lot of people I don't think have ever asked themselves that question. It's more about ego. So I think it's really critical. Just going back to the environmental stuff and getting unstuck too, Tom. Funny, I yeah, I was coaching someone in the last few weeks, and we yeah, we had a really good session and went through and gave him some advice and stuff. He rang me um a couple weeks ago on the weekend and he said, Um, how would you deal with this? And uh there was some tension in the household. And it kind of just reminded me, you know, and it was it wasn't it wasn't divorce or the territory, but it was uncomfortable, and probably both parties, by the sound of it, would being irritating, were irritating each other. And yeah, so it's funny that it's not just in the work environment you've got to look. You might have issues elsewhere, you might be hanging out with the wrong people. Um, you know, your your famous uh saying, I mean, you know, if you don't want to slip over, don't go to slippery spots.
Tom Panos:Um, better one if you don't want to if you hang out with four dickheads, you'll become the fifth. So you've got to avoid both the dickheads and the slippery spots. They're normally they're normally in the same area, but generally Totally true.
John McGrath:Uh and also, you know, there could there can be issues, tension, conflict within the within the uh the relationship. So um, you know, I just said to him, man, just yeah, no, the the worst time to try and solve an argument's in the middle of it. Um, so you know, try and just work out what what's what's the cause of the tension, and then when things are better, the environment's better, and you've got a bit more privacy, have a productive chat uh about that. So, yeah, I think it's just um you've got to look at all parts of your life and work out what's holding me back. Where am I stuck? Um, where w what are the things that frustrate me, upset me, um, how do I deal with those? And and usually the way you deal with them, you've got 100% control, you adjust the way you deal with them. That's yeah, that's really the key thing. You you adjust the way you see them, you deal with them. Um, yeah, someone said many years ago it's only a problem because you think it's a problem. Um yeah, if you didn't think it was a problem, it would it would cease to be one. And uh, I think that's really, really true. So yeah, this is the time, you know, and I know we've still got plenty of selling to go between now and Christmas, and so maybe I'm referring to over the break when you've got a bit more personal space and time. You know, decide who is who do you want to be in 2026? What is the stuff you want to leave behind in 2025? You know, what are the habits, the thoughts, the mindset, the uh you know, the mooring lines, as we call them, that you want to leave in 2025? Because 2026, man, you leave all that stuff behind in 25, you tweak your habits, your processes, your dialogue, a few, you know, little little degrees either way, you are in for your best year of your life. And 2x could be 4x, could be 6x over the next few years.
Tom Panos:Johnny, I got off the phone call with Robbie Christiano, who you've met. He's an Indonesian guy from uh Brisbane. Yeah, he's just finished, he's just clocked 2 million GCI, been in real estate for two and a half years. Two million GCI. I said to him, You're gonna is that your is that your best? He goes, It's not finished yet. I said, What do you mean? He goes, I'm launching six properties today. And I said, What for Boxing Day launch? He goes, No, no, no, I'm launching six. And he goes, mate, he goes, the market's hot here in Brisbane, six properties. He goes, I go, how many are you gonna sell? He goes, Well, I've I'll sell all the six properties, like I'm launching six there. And then I go, You serious? He goes, Yeah, absolutely. And just talking to him, I mean, some simple tweaks with his team, they were getting they were struggling with calls and getting connections. All it was was a shift, they were calling random numbers, very cold lists, outdated appraisals, and old open for inspections, and they switched it up to doing past appraisals, buyers who are local, started working buyers who are local, started calling neighbors around new listings or recent sales, whether they're theirs or other agents, and owners in their database that they appraise between six months and 24 months. And he says, Man, work starts coming in. So sometimes it's the approach, and I see this happening a lot. I see a lot of agents sitting there, the Manila call center approach, ringing strangers who don't want to talk to them. Wow, we got an owner, they're not a tenant. Wow, they might listen to my story. I mean, it's better than doing nothing, but not much better. Like if you look at it, it's not, it's not significantly better. Like calling warmer people, particularly in a world that we live in now, which I've got to say, I think John, you've gone on the do not disturb list. I saw you do it while we were on our podcast only about a month ago. It takes 30 seconds.
John McGrath:Yeah. Yeah, no, I think I think yeah, that's that world is definitely changing. As is, and we're we're not gonna get bang on about too much today, underquoting, but it's certainly been in the news, uh, up and down the east coast of Australia, in fact, around the country. So um, you know, we're gonna be getting as close to this as we can to kind of give you as much guidance, but please don't delude yourself that it won't be you. Nowadays, it's every transaction, every agent, whether you do one sale a year or 250, you are going to be monitored by AI bots. They're gonna know every time you quote, um, and uh, you know, you're just in strife. And it's the greatest change. Please don't regret it or say, Oh, I can't stand this. No, this is what the industry's needed: transparency, integrity, uh, openness, uh, accurate guidance, better conversation because this is gonna lead, Tom, as you know, better conversation with vendors because you're gonna have that conversation up front, otherwise, you're gonna be quoting the wrong figure and you're gonna be losing all the buyers or missing all the buyers. So I think I think it'll be a great thing for the industry.
Tom Panos:So I don't I think I think Troy and John, you said to me, John, off-camera once, the real estate industry needs to operate in this new world of AI, video cameras, and everything that's going on with the authorities with a view that everything you're doing, like there's a speed camera every 50 meters. And the reality is uh they've got the ability, and I believe that this is probably the process that a bot is going into the back end, is having a look at what price you put it on, it's then looking at what price did it sell for. And then, I mean, only last week there was a lot of agents right across New South Wales requested to hand in files. And I believe those files were all the properties that there was a variance of sole price and what was on the back end on the portals, and they've asked for the files. Now, you don't have to freak out. If you've done the right thing and you got a good result, there's no problems. They understand that. What they're looking for is the systemic, frequent flyer behavior of people that have an operating rhythm of quote them low, watch them go. That's what it is. I don't think people have to freak out if, oh, I'm worried, I don't know what this is worth. What if it goes off? Man, as long as you do things legit, right, you've got nothing to worry about.
Troy Malcolm:Totally. I mean the other thing is, John and Tom, during that process as well, as long as you have documented notes and you're leaning into the process and making sure that you're updating clients, that's what they're looking for. Um, you know, we we don't know what the price of a property will go to and get at day one of a campaign. But if it is starting to get a level of in interest at a higher level, then we have to have the documentation that reflects that. I think it's a very simple process. And those smart agents out there right now are very being very diligent with the notes they're taking, the updates they're providing, the vendor reports, the way they're engaging with buyers, because they know the process is far more important than the outcome in many ways.
Tom Panos:Well, very true, very true. We'll we'll make sure that uh we will use this platform in any information that we feel that we can help, uh, whether it's education or there's influence and we've got to nudge people. We think it's very, very important. We understand that uh buyers, sellers, and agents form the three stakeholders in the equation, and transparency between all three is what it's all about. John Troy, thank you. Great time. It's that time of the year, that's spring turning into summer, right? It's all good. We'd love to watch a few NRL games on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We don't have that, but we can go for walks out there. The weather's great, life is good. We'll see you all then next week. We're gonna best to go right to the end.