The Order Takers Are Disappearing

The world is in chaos. You don't have to be. Focusing on the controllables. And let him go of what you can't control. How top performers choose to block the noise. 

Also touch on that there's a little bit of negativity but good real estate agents are winning in all markets whether it's facing headwinds or having winds behind you good Real Estate agents adjust. 

And many grow their business businesses and times of chaos

Transcript

Controls Not Concerns

Tom Panos 0:00

John Panels, John McGraw, Troy Malcolm, the three are on. We come on Night's Weeks, Million Dollar Agent, the podcast. Summer's gone. Autumn started. The world is in chaos, but we don't have to be at Million Dollar Agent. Because we don't have to, we don't have to worry, we don't have to worry about it. Because the bottom line, so I'll never, I'll never forget I had a I had a beautiful, I had a beautiful team my nurse that used to give me this metaphor. She said, I want you when you're in here, she goes, things fall into two categories. Concerns, controls. If they're concerns and you can't do anything about them, we don't even spend any time about it. We don't think about those. We don't ruminate on them because there's nothing we can do. Then she goes, on the other hand, the controls, there are things we can do about it. She goes, example. You know, today she goes, we're struggling to get a button because you didn't drink three liters of water, like I told you. You had control of that, right? But you didn't do it. So right now, like, let's think about it. We got the noise with the capital gains, negative gearing, we've got interest rates, we've got the war, we've got all of that. Yet when you look at your best agents at McGrath and all that all the really good agents around Australia, they seem to just be focused on this repeatable behavior. They still got to have these vendor conversations. They still got to be making sure that they're bringing in people through their pipeline, they've still got to make sure that they go into their listing presentations and price right. And I don't think there's any such thing as a bad market. I think it's either good for the buyer, it's good for the seller, but it's always good for a good real estate agent. Um, so boys, over to you. What are you seeing out there in the conversations you're having out there in the marketplace?

John McGrath 1:46

I spoke to Karen Terry this morning. I was speaking to True earlier, and I know you know Karen well, Tom.

Tom Panos 1:51

And uh, if you can come closer to the mic.

John McGrath 1:54

Sorry, is that any better?

Tom Panos 1:56

Not is it better, Troy? Good for me. Yeah.

Wheat From Chaff In Today’s Market

John McGrath 2:00

You can hear me, Troy? Yeah, but sorry, everyone. Um, I was talking to Karen Terry this morning, and she's a good friend of all of ours, and she's just done a half million dollar month, just under and uh dominating her market and doing extraordinarily well. And um she said, I really love the market because this sorts the wheat from the chaff. This is where people that really know their stuff can be outstanding. And she said, We've come out of an order taker's market where anyone could turn up and sell a property and probably get three offers at the first open. And uh so she actually loves it. So I I agree with you, Tom. It's this is about um not being negative on the market because everyone's in different markets around Australia, but um properties are selling everywhere. Now, prices might have adjusted, you might have to sell them two or three times. Uh there might be a few more challenges, a few more pass-ins to get to the sale. But um, yeah, but basically, you've just got to Dr. Fred taught us years ago, True, you remember, in a market. He said the only market that matters is the market between your ears. Don't worry what's in the newspaper, what don't worry what's all nowadays on online, don't worry what's on the six o'clock news, just worry about your thinking. And we saw that with when COVID hit, when Maddie Steinwaite, he was our very first guest on our daily COVID uh webinar we did. And Maddie just said, you know, we just rang up all the buyers and we said, Do you still want to buy? And he said, half of them said no, we're a bit freaked out. We're gonna wait, and the other half said, Yep, we still want to buy. And he said, Then we rang all our sellers, and the same question, you still want to sell? And half of them said, Oh no, we don't know what's gonna happen, we'll wait. And the other half said, Yeah, yeah, we're happy to sell. And he said, We just concentrated on those that wanted to buy and wanted to sell. And I think, Tom, when you look at that as just a very simple um process, there's plenty of people want to buy, plenty of people want to sell. Um, just focus on the process, not the outcome. Make your calls, have real conversations with your vendors. Um, you know, just know your product and you'll get there.

Troy Malcolm 4:07

I think one of the biggest things that we're seeing, John and Tom, is the most successful agents right now, they're following their formula for success. They have a process to everything they do, and they're not letting anything slip through the cracks. In a great market and where it's really buoyant, and you mentioned audit takers, you can let things slide. You don't have to be as uh diligent with your buys, you don't have to dig as deep with them. But in this market right now, this is where the very best come to the top because of the habits that they created in that good market that are continuing through. Trust me, everyone that's successful and seeing success right now until the end of this financial year, it's the work they did in September, October, November, December that's allowing them to have success. It's not, oh my God, quick, let's fix everything last week. This is habits that were set in the tail end of 2025 that have seen the success in 2026.

John McGrath 5:01

And Tommy, I know last week you met up with Amit Nayak and Amit, I think he did 16 sales in February. Um you know, he's just a great example of someone who refuses to be distracted. He has a team who's like a it's like a Ferrari pit team, you know, they all know exactly their role, they do it efficiently. So it's interesting that um you know, other people in his market, I'm sure, are struggling and saying how bad it is, and he's too busy just getting deals done.

Process Over Outcomes

Tom Panos 5:32

So let's talk about him for a moment. So last year he did 216 sales, and I want to remind everyone we're talking about Amitna Yak, he's at McGrath Parramatta, and I don't know whether it was 10 years ago or around that. He was working as a chef in a restaurant, right? He was working in a chef as a restaurant. Around that table on Friday at the Parramatta office, Ritesh, his brother, and the other three team members, and I said to um uh Amit, I said, Can I ask you, what will success look like for you in the next two years? And he said, Tom, we got to get to 400 sales. This is a guy that's saying, I'm at 215, I want to get to 400 sales. And he goes, we will look at everything, whether it's our processes have got to get better, whether we've got to put on more team members, whether we've got to go to marketplaces where there's more volume, we will explore it because we know what we clearly want. We're gonna find a way to do it. And John, you know him well. So do you, Troy. You know him well. You were at head office when he was there, and I know that you're very close with Conn. Amit Nayak, I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna say it. And I I mean, uh people know that I'm close with you guys because of the podcast that we do and Eric, but you've got a number of team members in there that have shown you can be a good person and be really successful. You don't have to be a person that rips people off, that is bullying with people, that is playing the shifty game. The names that come to my mind is Steinway, Jordan, Nayak, those three there. Those three there.

John McGrath 7:24

I thought you were gonna call that I thought you were gonna call out the shifties. Yeah.

Tom Panos 7:29

John, I saw John, John, John's eyes lit up. You couldn't see that. John was digging his.

John McGrath 7:34

I looked up and I thought, my God, I went there. Where are we going?

Tom Panos 7:37

He brought the shame files at million dollar agents.

John McGrath 7:40

You're right, Tommy. No, look, um, and that's probably the greatest legacy we'll ever leave, or I'll hopefully I'll ever leave one day. Is you know, I always tested the theory that, oh, you know, to be real estate, you've got to be sleazy. You've got to drink too much, you've got to be sleazy, you've probably got to take drugs from time to time and tell lies. And, you know, obviously that's the polar opposite of what we do. And when you see people like Amit, uh, who's just a quality individual, family man, great brother, great father, great sibling, great, great husband.

Habits That Power Results

Tom Panos 8:12

Um, yeah, I think by the way, my phone, my phone, I got my phone blocked. The only call that comes in is mum my mum, right? Um, and what happened is the phone call came through in that coaching session, and I said, Oh, there. And I said, Oh, look, it's my mum, I'll give her a ring back. And Mitt goes, no, please take it. Please take it now. Because that's the sort of guy he is, right?

John McGrath 8:32

The big family man.

Tom Panos 8:33

I remember his parents came to Harry. That was one of that was one of my highlight moments, watching his uh tribe of family members. There was about 10 or 12 of them there. They all got and they all got they all got dressed up. They didn't come in with the Bill of Bong shorts, they were all dressed up because Indian people, they really formal occasions, they really, you know, dress up for them, they highly value them, and they believe that presentation is important. But um, gentlemen, I want to ask you this question. Right now, if you're a real estate agent and you're sitting there and you're thinking to yourself, Hang, man, interest rates are gonna go up. Well, there's a good chance that they probably will now. Um, interest rates are gonna go up, you know. Um, there's this going on. We got the war, you know. Some guy at the airport saw me. I couldn't believe it. Some guy came up to me and goes, Tom, what am I gonna do? I won't have petrol in 30 days. And I listened to that comment and I thought, that's like really dramatic conversation, you know. I'm not gonna have petrol in 30 days, right? I think a lot of people, they catastrophize, right? And you know, there is a strong possibility that in two weeks we're not talking about the war.

Case Study: Amit Nayak’s Rise

John McGrath 9:44

Yeah, and you're right. You rather than being an amplifier, you've got to be a diminisher of bad news and and sensational um and ter and terrible things that are happening, and there are some terrible things happening, and it's atrocious. Um but I think the best in most cases, I mean it's different if you're a politician or you're a billionaire philanthropist, maybe there's something you can do to help those that are challenged overseas. But right now, I think the best thing most of us can do is be extraordinarily good at what we do, live our lives with integrity, and influence people in positive ways. And the real estate market, you know, we're seeing our top agents have not missed a beat in terms of their performance. Um they've seen this come and go before. They know that all you've got to do is adjust your sales by a few percentage. You know, you need to maybe communicate a little bit more with your vendors than you had to three to six months ago. You might have to sell a property two or three times to get it sold because one or two nervous, nervous dropouts might occur. But so be it. So be it. That's that's part of the deal. And you know, there's see you you just talk about seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and and and winter. And there are seasons of the sales cycle. There's boom markets, there's flatter periods, there's dropping markets. But the real thing, and Matt Steinway talks about this a lot. He said, you know, I don't want any external influences to impact my ability to perform at my peak. So he said, I've just taken control of all the things I can take control, most importantly my mind and my mindset. And I just deal with that. And and he doesn't watch the news, and we recommend that as well. I mean, just cut yourself off as much as practicable from from all the negativity and the distractions, not just news, it's social media and a whole range of things that can get in the way. You're better off to do an extra hour prospecting or an extra hour speaking with your vendors and encouraging them. And here's where you've got to be, Tom, you've got to be really good now at uncomfortable conversations because the days of telling your vendor you've got 12 registered bidders tomorrow are probably, you know, there's not so many. That'll happen sometimes. Um, it's more likely you you might be having a conversation, there's no bidders, your buyers falling over, uh, there's one registered bidder or whatever. So, you know, you just have to calmly take it.

Tom Panos 12:05

Johnny, out of curiosity, you know, when you were listing properties as the listing agent and an auctioneer, and you got there on the day and you get to Hargraves Street, um, I I say that no, it was Liverpool Street, the one I was bidding with uh that you were there, and just imagine you go to Bendor, you get there, and you you realize we've got no one here. I just want to ask you, what's the approach, the the mindset and the way that you uh um approach the conversation with that owner? Because you're giving them bad news, but you've got to do it in a way that is bearable. You've got to do it in some in a positive sort of way. How would you approach that conversation?

John McGrath 12:48

At the worst point uh of the the cycle, I had seven auctions on one day, and I didn't have a bidder turn up for any. And that was the not not a not a there was in those days you didn't have to register bidding at the or this particular period of time. Um so no one turned up, and and I was I've told the story before to Troy. The first auction, which was in Kensington at 9 a.m. in the morning, and I have him every 45 minutes. The vendor didn't even turn up, he was so depressed. I rang I rang him up, I said, Where are you? He said, Oh I knew no one was gonna come. So I'll go around having breakfast with my wife around the corner. So it got so bad that even vendors didn't bother turning up to their objects. Um I mean, all of the and and by the way, we sold most of them within two or three weeks later. Um if you follow the process and if you have if you have a good process and you're having quality conversations, now guess what? Most of the vendors know that there are uncertainties around the globe that interest rates you know are going the wrong way, that buyer sentiment's gone a little bit towards a negative, that prices might have dropped three, four, five, six percent. They know it. A lot of the education is already done by you know social media and Green Tech News Core doing that. Yeah, yeah. So I I think for me, my my goal was there were never any surprises. So you wouldn't turn up to an auction with no buyers and the vendor was expecting buyers. I would have told them very clearly um what the feedback was, who was interested, who wasn't interested, if no one was interested, why they weren't interested. And I found that just by having that, people just felt so in tune they didn't get upset, and also you've got to reassure them, you know, Tom, we're gonna get this sold. It's disappointing for me as much as it is for you that we're sitting here at the auction day and we haven't had anyone show interest at this stage, but we will get there. You know, and when what are the levers? We might have to adjust price, we might have to pump up marketing, we might have to do some presentation work. But um, I think it's really key that there are no surprises, and that's through constant communication.

Character And Integrity In Sales

Troy Malcolm 15:00

So I think I think go on, Troy, go on. I was just gonna say it's the work throughout the campaign that actually sets that conversation. Um and Tom, you know, when we walk into a a room before the auction, we're talking with the agent and the auctioneer, and we've been fully briefed the day before. When we walk in, we are exactly what John said, presenting the property in a way that and creating reassurance that this is part of the process. Um, you know, a lot of a lot of our team right now are looking at if the property isn't gonna sell at auction, what is the clearance rate for the next five to 14 days post-auction? And who are the buyers that we're gonna reintroduce? And what's the actions we're gonna do? So they're already setting up and resetting those expectations at the auction. So the offer obviously the owner is motivated and also understands that we have a plan. Reassure them that you have a plan and you have a process.

Tom Panos 15:55

Just like your staff need to know what the next one, two, three years in the progression might look like. I think a vendor needs to know. Hey, I want to let you know it's actually not abnormal a property not being sold at option. I want to let you know what most likely happens, you know. Uh a portion of property sold prior, some sell on the day, and then the others sell after. There's maybe one in 10 that aren't gonna sell. I don't think your property's in the one in 10. So, based on that, you should have a sale in around two weeks, you know.

Troy Malcolm 16:28

We always say, what's a great market? What's a great clearance rate on an auction day? 70, 75, 80. You know, what market are we in right now? 60. Yeah. It's not a big step change. The process remains the same.

Tom Panos 16:43

Troy, I'm not joking. I'm listening to John talking about John. Do you remember that the years that you said those seven auctions? Was it roughly around 1990, 91?

John McGrath 16:53

Uh, I don't recall, Tommy, but you know, it could have been around then. It was certainly a long time ago.

Diminish The Noise, Lead With Calm

Tom Panos 16:58

So I look as an auctioneer, I look around on a Saturday and I see plenty of people around hanging around properties. I remember after that 1999, 89 boom, for around two, three years, like you could literally be at a campaign for a month and there was not one person, right? Because at the time when interest rates were 18%. So if you just think about that concept, 18%, like there just wasn't buyers at all, right? I think there's buyers that are cautious now. I think there's buyers are cagey. I think some buyers drop off, but there's buyers, right? And one last thing I'll say, I've got to, in a market like this, I always say this to vendors at the start at an auction. I'll say, can I ask you, have you guys been tracking the market and tracking the media in recent times? And they'll say yes, most of the times. And I'll say, is what's your understanding of it? I've got to tell you, nine times out of ten, they tell you the truth. Occasionally, you've got one, we'll say, Oh, that's all bullshit. Our house is in the best street. But the majority of people via social media on their phone are getting educated at a faster rate than ever before.

Troy Malcolm 18:13

Yeah.

John McGrath 18:14

I think I just I just text uh had a look back, and yeah, certainly that was the period, January 1990, when interest rates peaked. So interest rates are 17.5% to 18.5%. You bring that into today's context and you uh overlay, you know, let's say a one and a half million dollar property, which for most certainly the big capitals in Australia would not be outlandish and uh and well above that. So you you would be looking at close to $300,000 in interest only in today's dollars. So for those people that weren't around when like we were in in 90s and are trying to try to compare it, imagine taking a mortgage today for just an average property, not a glamorous property, and your interest-only bill was $300,000 a year. Of course, no one was doing anything, no one was borrowing any money at all. Guys, it's pretty simple. Um focus on what you can control, focus on the process more than the outcome. Have real conversations, honest conversations with clients. Um don't worry about all the drama that's out there and the and the things that are in the news. Shield yourself from them and just focus on the things that that you are able to control. And you will find, like Karen Terry and like uh Amit, Nayak, and many others out in the marketplace, you'll find that this can be the best year of your life because the order takers are gonna disappear and the cream will rise to the top.

Tom Panos 19:40

Okay, now on the 24th and the 25th, did I get that right now? 24th and 25th of May. Yep. 24th and I actually just spoke before we got on. I spoke to Izzy, who runs um ARIC, and she's told me we're in the thousands now in tickets. Like we haven't even really pushed it, right? So it's obvious that it's gonna go off. There's no question about it. And um, to me, right now, the confirmation of the number one real estate agent in the whole world will be there. Can I confirm, John, he's there in person. It's not he's in person. This is the number one real estate agent in the world, right? Uh GCI. Uh John, do you want to share a little bit about him? Um, well, there's two examples. Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom Ferry, Tom Ferry, um, yeah.

Hard Conversations With Vendors

John McGrath 20:31

Yeah, so um Tom Ferry, I I you and I, uh Tommy are very good friends with Tom Ferry. He's the top coach in America, and I always go to him when we're talking about Aric and saying who are the best breakthrough speakers and agents in the country. And this year he just said, well, there's only one. He said um Tim Smith, and we'll be announcing Tim in a couple of days officially, but happy to share it here on our podcast and to your members, uh Tommy. Um Tim Smith, he said he does six hundred and seventy-five million.

Tom Panos 21:03

Um in uh I think it did go out on a a brochure yesterday, John.

John McGrath 21:08

Right, thank you. Sorry, I wasn't sure it had hit yet. Um we should be starting to announce. Orange County, John. Orange County, yeah, Los Angeles. Extraordinary. And he did speak in Eric about 15 years ago, and he was what you might have called a rising star. Tom Tom had identified him at that point. He said, This guy, I reckon, will go right to the top. And he said he's doing well. I think back then he might have been writing about a million dollars in fees. But he said, You watch this guy, and of course, you know, he his numbers today are extraordinary, you know, in the tens of millions of GCI per annum. And uh a hell of a cool guy. I mean, he relate well to us because he's uh he's uh West Coast um America, Orange County. It's a lot like many parts of Australia. It's coastal, it's relaxed, very similar market, similar biodemographics, similar sellers. So uh he is confirmed. And we'll be confirming over the next week. All of the others, because we're locking them all in as we speak, the final ones. And we have our nine keynotes being signed, our ninth being signed up tonight. And then we'll start releasing them all each day over the next two weeks.

Tom Panos 22:16

Perfect. And he's not, by the way, he's not the only uh super high profile mega goat agent from the US. There are another two that are amazing. But uh all you've got to do right now is do what I did yesterday, and that is rule off my diary from 2 p.m. on that Saturday, because I'm heading over there. I'm gonna be there by 5 p.m. on Saturday night. I'm actually made up my mind I'll stay there on till the Tuesday and do uh an implementation uh session on my own for myself on the Tuesday while things are fresh. So everyone, I think, John, this is the year that we can hit 5,000 plus. I'm confident, right? I'm really confident this is the year we're gonna do 5,000 plus. So everyone, uh, they're up and they're running. Real estate gym members, don't forget you get treated very well at ARIC with your ticket. So you've got that code. I'm gonna sign off now. Thank you, John. Thank you, Troy. And I'm gonna be looking on Friday night. I want to see your two teams thrash it out. The big game, South Sydney, the Roosters. Now, this is gonna be a close game because South Sydney are looking good.

John McGrath 23:32

I went to the Early Crown this morning. I was told Troy, I said the over, Souths are taking over. I have to go the early crow because it might only last one game for the Rabbits, but let's see. We'll see you next week.

Tom Panos 23:43

All righty. See you everyone next week.