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Ahead of the Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC), Adrian Oddi has shared his client strategy with REB, which drives 90 per cent of his business through repeat and referrals.
With over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry, director at BresicWhitney in Balmain, Adrian Oddi, has mastered the art of building long-lasting client relationships, which have been driving 90 per cent of his business over the years.
“Over the years, I have built a strong skill set, consistent execution, and an unwavering commitment to putting clients before transactions, which led me to gain my clients’ trust and drive repeat and referral business,” Oddi said.
“While it seems generic to say, I’ve always had a very high level of respect for my clients, always put them first, and always followed up on what I have said I’ll do.
“If you can do all that, you get to a place where they feel compelled to either use you again in the future, or at least to recommend you to their friends.”
According to the agency director, each career step has led him to learn and master a new skill necessary to build his repeat and referral business model.
When Oddi started 23 years ago, he spent the first few years immersed in the industry, learning the fundamentals of real estate and sales from the ground up.
He then transitioned into a standalone agent role at BresicWhitney for the next six years, building momentum, establishing a strong reputation, and becoming the top agent in his area.
According to Oddi, the key to being a successful agent is to nurture relationships with colleagues and clients alike, especially in the local areas he serviced.
“One of the easiest ways to build trust with your community,” he said.
“At that time, I had to start everything again, and because I had a non-competing close, I couldn’t use the client base I had previously built.”
“So I used the next best strategy, helping people who want to buy rather than those who want to sell,” he said.
By using nothing but an old callback book, Oddi identified about 70 buyers he had previously met and focused entirely on helping them.
He then made a point in developing his client relationship strategy by staying close, offering valuable advice, and suggesting properties, even from competitors.
“I believe agents need to add value to buyers and to give them the right advice, without getting in the way of their decision, but simply by being truthful and transparent.
“This is how I got my first listing at BresicWhitney: I helped them find a new place to live, and they asked me to sell their previous property.”
He said the strategy helped him build trust, leading to his first listing and over a thousand sales since.
“Now, I think the holy grail is for a real estate agent to be called into business that is either repeat or referral, and for it to be uncontested, which means they’re not talking to anybody else.
“I think for people like me, that can be common because I’ve been doing it for so long and there isn’t, you know, a level of trust with the community and clients, but it’s very uncommon for the younger staff because they just don’t have the time in the game.”
“And this is what I would recommend any young agent: to check the callback books; and start with people who want to buy to develop their network and get sales in the future,” Oddi said.
In 2013, he entered the next phase of his career as a business owner, co-founding a new BresicWhitney office in a new market, which he said was an intensely challenging period that tested his leadership and ability to build a team and brand from scratch.
Now the director helps train the younger staff in the well-established BresicWhitney Balmain office.
Oddi said the office’s success is due to the collaboration within his five-person team, which is key to maintaining strong results with a more balanced, refined approach.
While he expects the industry to change, particularly through the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), Oddi said agents should continue to nurture face-to-face relationships with clients while keeping up with technology and be ready to adapt.
“While I can’t predict precisely how the real estate industry will be affected, I believe the pace of technological evolution, especially in AI, which is so rapid and transformative, will reshape industries in ways we can’t yet imagine, creating uncertainty and a sense of urgency.
“Real estate agents should all be paying attention to what’s happening in the background and be ready to adjust or to get left behind.”
To hear more from Adrian Oddi, head to the AREC conference at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, on 25 May and 26 May. Register here.
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