How confidence, knowledge, and ethics shape agent success

With the industry seemingly moving further away from integrity over the past couple of years, Pennell said agents needed to keep ethics at the forefront to build trust with sellers and maintain balance in their work.

“Without that anchor, it is a two-legged stool. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't have ethics, you're not going to provide a good service,” she told REB.

“You can have all the confidence in the world and no knowledge, but without ethics, you'll just make up the answer.”

Honesty furthers knowledge

Pennell said that, as in any profession, real estate agents must have deep knowledge of the subject they specialise in, but should also have the humility to admit when they don’t know the answer.

“I've never felt like I'm the expert in anything, and so my confidence has always been tempered by my belief that I don’t know everything.”

She said that if property professionals didn’t know a certain topic, they shouldn’t simply lie to protect their reputation; instead, they would do their best to find a solution.

“You’re going to find the answer because it will be important to you to get it right, which is where ethics and honesty and truthfulness become the anchor.”

Learning at every step of your career

Pennell said that experience and continuous learning were invaluable for acquiring knowledge, including spending time in the field with the right mentors and developing practical skills.

She said that as long as agents had confidence and put in the time to gain skills, age wasn’t an issue when it came to experience.

“I would hire a 70-year-old person if they had youthful energy, or I would hire a 20-year-old who had patience. I don't see age as the issue.”

Pennell said one young agent in the network recently stepped out on his own after being mentored by a seasoned principal for years, reaping the rewards of his work.

“I don't see age as the issue – I see the attitude and confidence.”

Awareness of your environment

While having mentors and learning from other team members will ensure agents develop their knowledge, Pennell said the wrong crowd can harm a career.

She advised agents to carefully discern where they were spending their time and who they were surrounding themselves with, to avoid getting caught up in wrongful behaviour.

“You'll become like your environment. So the very first thing you need to consider is the environment in which you choose to work and the people that you choose to work with.”

“It's very easy to go along with groupthink. It is a bias.”

She pointed to high-profile agents who had let cockiness go to their heads and lost their licences for misconduct.

“Those were the same people who were on stage. Those were the same people who were the aspirational figures.”

“We have to be really careful about where we choose to spend our time. [Building trust] comes down to each and every individual in each and every moment.”

Knowing how to protect yourself

Pennell said one of the key lessons she learnt early on in the industry was that she needed to protect herself from those who were being inauthentic.

“In my early career, I believed that everyone was presenting as authentically as I was.”

“I got caught out quite a few times by people that were just acting out, who almost had impostor syndrome, and where politics came to play.”

She said instead of being too open and vulnerable in every interaction, she realised she needed to set boundaries to ensure she wasn’t being taken advantage of.

“I've always had a strong ethical bent – I've probably not been very good at playing political games.”

Confidence, yes; cockiness, no

Pennell said that while agents have been expected to be experts in their field, there has always been a fine line between confidence and cockiness.

She said that agents should have genuine confidence, not ego-driven confidence, and that it should be about being honest and having a desire for real connections with clients.

“It is not scripts, it's not dialogues, it's not pre-prepared answers. So it's a genuine exchange between people without an excess of manipulation.”

She said that while a certain level of confidence was required for any salesperson to strive for high results, the industry had an excess of confidence, making agents egotistical.

Pennell said that a strong ethical background was essential for balancing agents’ egos and ensuring they were in the “sweet spot,” rather than overconfident.

She said agents should be self-aware of their cocky behaviour and be empathetic towards others and their feelings.

“Ask, ‘Am I being a good person? Am I being a good leader? Am I being a good friend, partner, mother, father?’ Check yourself. Look at the impact that you're having with people.”

“If you can see other people as the same as you, if you can have true empathy for other humans, then that will temper confidence automatically,” she concluded.

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