4 things the best agents are doing amid COVID-19

Speaking on the What’s Making Headlines podcast, which aired on Facebook Live on 23 April 2020, Mr Panos and Phillip Tarrant discussed the latest affecting the real estate and mortgages market, with a big focus on trends arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Mr Panos and Mr Tarrant, there are four things agents can be doing, if they’re not already, which will help them survive and thrive both now and in the future.

1. Build your brand

Mr Panos said the restrictions being enforced by state and federal government mark an ideal time for real estate agents to think about the image they’re portraying to their target market.

“What you should be doing is using that opportunity by not reaching out and trying to flog things, but reaching out and saying, ‘Here, I’m actually giving you value’. Then what happens is, when the sales take place at a later time, you’ve positioned yourself as, ‘Hey, this is the company that was there when things were tough’,” Mr Panos said.

2. Shift your mindset

Rather than thinking about what you’ve lost or are going to miss out on while the pandemic is in place, Mr Panos and Mr Tarrant encouraged those operating in the real estate space to make the most of opportunities arising.

“I was scheduled to do 213 talks; I had done 40 until March the 10th. I was on track to do those, but I’ve already factored in my head that there might be a possibility where I don’t do any of those remaining. There’s a possibility that conferences won’t physically happen for the calendar year 2020, so what I’ve done is focused on: what is my opportunity?” Mr Panos said.

“I’ve lost the auctions, I’ve lost the speaking [events]. Instead, I’m going to focus on the online. I’ve gone in and done a big overhaul and rejuvenation on [my online platform] the Real Estate Gym [and] I’ve launched a few online products that are coming out next week. So, you do what you can.”

Mr Tarrant added: “For many people, there’s a revenue pivot in COVID, but for more people, it’s a mindset pivot and what you said just then about prioritising the things that you normally wouldn’t prioritise as a result of this situation, it resonates absolutely with the real estate industry.

“It’s at this point in time where you can affirm your brand across your marketplace. Real estate is very localised, so it’s a lot easier to do that on a broad spectrum across Australia.

“When you look at organisations like Coles and Woolworths right now, they’re building corporate memory right now, during this period of time. And even industries and organisations which are in a massive state of flux, and I think about Qantas and Virgin, for example… So, you’re seeing this at a corporate level. Real estate can learn a lot from this right now.”

3. Realise the value of tech

With a raft of technology companies and providers servicing the Australian market, Mr Panos and Mr Tarrant said agents should be thinking about adapting by moving mundane, administrative tasks out of their everyday and utilise the tools on offer.

For this, the pair referenced a story published on REB last week which centred on LJ Hooker’s Neil Goswell commenting about COVID-19 creating an opportunity for agents to embrace technology further.

Mr Goswell said traditional agents spend approximately 30 per cent of their time listing and selling, 30 per cent on lead generation and 40 per cent on administration tasks.

“Most agents spend 40 per cent of their time on admin when most of that can be replaced by tech,” Mr Tarrant said.

“So, if you’re not thinking that way right now, you’re probably not going to be one of those companies that emerge out of it.”

Mr Panos concurred, noting that platforms like Zoom are opening agents’ eyes to the realm of possibility that technology creates.

“John McGrath said to me the other day that it’s becoming obvious that ‘we should be doing Zoom sales meetings. Why drag people around all over the place?’” Mr Panos said.

“It’s becoming obvious to me that we should be having our training sessions being done through Zoom. It’s becoming obvious now that you can actually go off and potentially create availability through online auctions, to buyers, that might choose to be working and can participate in the auction and not be there. That’s being fast-tracked.

“Artificial intelligence — it’s obvious to me that maybe someone doesn’t need to have a personal assistant going through a database when AI can actually go in there and say, ‘High probability: Here are the people you need to speak to’.”

4. Maintain active referral relationships

Finally, Mr Panos and Mr Tarrant said keeping your referral relationships front of mind is key to what the best agents are doing.

“Any good agent is highly engaged and connected across a referral network: mortgage brokers, accountants, their property management areas, buyer’s agents,” Mr Tarrant said.

Mr Panos added: “The most intelligent agents pick up their business from a lot of what I call ‘connectors’ and ‘spheres of influence’. They simply don’t just rely on a single entity or a single mum and dad to contact them.

“They know that there’s a mortgage broker that might have a thousand clients in their portfolio and they also know that mortgage broker is having conversations with those clients.

“Some of those conversations with those clients right now would be, ‘Hey, can I ask you what the situation is here? We might have to sell; we’ve got a six-month freeze on our loan. What does that mean afterwards?’ The conversations they have will help the mortgage broker know who is a potential client for an agent in the future.”

The referral relationship between agents and mortgage brokers has improved significantly over the last few years and is set to grow stronger as both adapt to the “new normal’, according to Mr Panos.

“What we clearly know is the collaboration and partnerships between agents and mortgage brokers has improved and has increased over the last few years to the point where often a real estate agent will take a mortgage broker to a listing presentation,” he said.

“They will actually say to a vendor, ‘Mr Vendor, I’m letting you know that the reason I’ve brought the mortgage broker along is that when we have a buyer, we’re going to make sure that mortgage broker is aware of the buyer. They might actually have a relationship and we’re going to be able to work out how much they can borrow and help them borrow as much as they can because the more they can borrow, the bigger the chance that they’re going to be able to put in an offer at the higher level on your property’.

“Real estate agents have got to do things to differentiate themselves in a very competitive marketplace, and the relationship with a mortgage broker has certainly been one thing that people are using to stand out.”

For those real estate agents and mortgage brokers looking to further their referral relationships, Mr Panos said the solution is simple.

“What you should do is use the most basic of basics forms: it’s the mobile phone,” he said.

“You pick up the phone and you say, ‘Hey, Bernard Desmond… I’d like to sit down with you for 15 to 20 minutes and have a cup of coffee. I want to find out what’s going on in your world and I want to share with you what’s going on in my world’.

“It all starts with a conversation. Nothing happens without a conversation in business, and it appears the people that have the most conversations with the most relevant people, and regularly, are the people that seem to do better in business.”

Disclaimer: Phillip Tarrant is an executive editor of real estate and director at Momentum Media, the parent company behind REB.