Danny Grant, John McGrath, Amber Werchon, Organising your way to success
In his book, The Seven
Habits of Highly Effective
People, Stephen R
Covey identifies particular
characteristics of people
who are successful. An
ability to plan, prioritise and
execute important tasks
every day was one habit.
Another was the ability to
achieve a balance between
work and rejuvenation.
Australia’s most effective real estate
agents do these things every day. They
understand the relationship between
being organised and being successful
and know that in order to sustain a
burgeoning business you have to
nurture yourself and the things and
people you love.
In this article, some of the top agents
in Australia share their tips on how
to maintain the balance between the
personal and professional and share
some of their winning organisational
strategies.
John McGrath
John McGrath is an industry superstar and one of
the most influential figures in the Australian property
industry. In the last financial year his company sold
$5.7 billion in residential property in Sydney.
Mr McGrath’s top tips for getting organised are:
- Write everything down and divide and organise every aspect of your life, including your personal life.
- Review your life daily and weekly. He said, “I spend about an hour on my own at the beginning of every day and I run through what happened yesterday, what’s happening today, where the projects are at, is there anything that’s off track, is there anything happening in my non-real estate life that I need to attend to.”
- Have a CBFDFO (Come Back File or Due from Others) file. It’s very useful. Mr McGrath said, “If I delegate something out to someone whether it’s to my PA or a Sales Agent and I know that I need to follow that up to check that’s been done or I’m expecting them to come back to me with some information, I file it there.”
- Surround yourself with the best possible people you can.
- Allocate a short period of time for a meeting. Have a sense of urgency, a specific agenda and encourage straight talk. Say, “What do we need to decide here in the next 15 minutes?”
- Have the courage to cut things that are no longer working or are heading down a dead end.
- Don’t let perfect get in the way of better.
Danny Grant
From Ray White
North Shore in
Sydney, Danny
Grant is one of
the most successful Auction
agents in Australia with
astounding clearance rates.
Mr Grant’s top tips for getting
organised are:
- Find time in your week to review what happened over the week.
- Create what he calls a Small Notebook Big Ideas book to capture thoughts, diagrams, articles and advertisements that have caught your eye. He said, “I clip things that I think reflect my brand and so on. For example, I may have seen an ad for something that reflects my brand and has wording that I kind of like, so I’ll clip it, write it down and use it.“
- Think about your branding and what kind of agent you want to be and what kind of life you want to have. Develop a brand and a way of working that reflects the kind of life you want.
- Develop a prospecting plan. Work out what it is. Work out who’s going to do it, what’s the investment of funds, how often you are going to do it and what sort of return you want out of that and how you are going to monitor that return. Work out a timeline.
- Develop a personal marketing plan. Time is money. Work out what’s really profitable and what’s not and what produces the greatest returns.
- In real estate you have to have a longterm view. Biggest is not always best. Real estate is about service. It gets a lot easier when you’re servicing people very well. It’s your best prospecting tool and that’s what you’re known for.
- When you are starting, you have to be organised, start small and then work your way out. Stay true to yourself. Don’t try to be somebody else that you’re not. Stick to your style and do it effectively.
Amber Werchon
Amber Werchon is one of Australia’s most successful
real estate agents. She bought her first investment
property when she was 16, and became one of the
youngest female principals in Australia when she
opened her agency at 25 years of age. Six months
ago, she gave birth to her first child, Max.
Ms Werchon’s top tips for getting organised are:
- Write your great ideas down whenever they strike. She said, “I live with my iPhone. Whenever an idea comes into my head, I send myself an email. If there’s something that I haven’t done or need to do, I just send myself an email and then I categorise all of my emails according to when I’m going to do that or in which meeting I’m going to cover it or whether it’s in my to do list.”
- Preparation is crucial and it requires a lot of time and effort. “I never feel like I can perform without good preparation. Even though I could probably wing it, I never want to run the risk of winging it because I just don’t have that same calm and confidence about me, so I always make sure I’m prepared,” she explained.
- You can’t do everything yourself. Outsource – it’s the only way to survive. Ms Werchon said, “Outsourcing costs you money and there is an element of trust involved, but I strongly believe people burn out in this industry because they don’t outsource enough.”
- Sort your emails into 5 folders in your inbox, one for each day of the week. “I prioritise according to what I’m going to do on which days,” she said.
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