Who (and what) makes Mat Steinwede tick?

REB recently sat down with the sixth-ranked agent to discuss how he has gotten to where he is today, and what’s next for the Central Coast star. 

REB: Can I start with what motivates you as a real estate agent?

Mat Steinwede: I know it might sound weird, but proving myself to John McGrath. Johnny’s been very good to me. He literally helped me change my life. So, every day, I’m always driving to prove myself to him.

REB: In your opinion, being someone who is right up there, what does it take to be a top 100 agent in Australia?

Mat Steinwede: Discipline.

REB: And what are some of those skills associated with discipline that you think are necessary? What can people work on to get into that ranking?

Mat Steinwede: I think a lot of people can have a good year, but it’s really about how do you have a good decade?

To deliver that year on year on year, you have to work pretty hard on yourself first so you can bring the energy every day that you need to go out and do the boring tasks — cold calling, prospecting, door knocking, relentless rejection to find that one opportunity.

It does take a lot to back that up every day. I would say that if someone wants to increase their results in real estate in general, you’ve got to look inside first.

Because when you feel great and you’re living a life that you’re pushing yourself quite hard, I think you attract different results. You almost end up at a different frequency, then you would put hard work on top of that. You’ll increase your results naturally.

Also, the longer I’ve been in real estate, the more I’ve realised that health and fitness is probably more important than dollars written. If you’re really focused on creating a better you, your results will naturally increase anyway.

REB: Where do you dedicate most of your time? What are the things that you focus on in your work to be getting results?

Mat Steinwede: These days, it’s high-qualified leads, so highly qualified appointments.

But for 20 years, it was numbers, a certain amount of prospecting calls every day.

I would do 40 connections every day for years and years and years and years. That meant 40, if it was 40 cold calls or 40 door knocks or 40 [of] prospecting method I was doing, I would make sure the number was 40 every day.

If you do that every day, five days a week across the year, it ends up at almost 10,000 new connections for the year. And that’s how I built so much momentum.

REB: Is that momentum what’s still carrying you now? Like, is there anything once you get to a level, is it all through momentum?

Mat Steinwede: I think a lot of it is, but now I’m probably a bit more keen to spend my time with people who can actually buy or sell. The team around me still builds the momentum, they still prospect and they still do all that sort of stuff, but I do less of that now. More because time doesn’t allow for it. I actually like it now.

REB: You’ve reached a point where I’m sure your reputation precedes you, but you are the only non-Sydney-based agent in the top 10. Why do you think that’s the case?

Mat Steinwede: To be really honest? I think I just worked harder than everybody else up here.

I said to John McGrath 10 years ago, I’d really like to become number one in McGrath.

He said, “Oh, you know, you’re on the Central Coast. And you know, I’m not saying you can’t, but it’s not going to be easy.” And I was like, “No, I’m going to do it.”

I just increased my vision first and then I just executed more than everybody else. It’s not so much the hours I worked — I worked long hours — it was more that I just become like really focused on time management. I just didn’t waste any time. If other people were doing three appointments a day, I would do six, and I think that’s one of the reasons.

It doesn’t matter what area you’re in. It’s really about providing great service. I just look after people the best I physically can. And I think that’s brought a lot of repeat business over the years as well. So not only have I prospected harder, but I’ve been really taking care of people along the way. And it’s just built on itself.

REB: What are your expectations for this year and beyond? What are some of your goals and and how are you planning to get there?

Mat Steinwede: I really want to write $10 million in 12 months. That might take me a couple of more years to do that. That’s a driver for me now. I always wanted to be number one in McGrath. That was a driver for me. Then I did that a couple of times. I think that [the $10 million] would be a really good achievement for the Central Coast. So, yeah, that’s what I’m shooting for.

Ranked sixth in this year’s Top 100 Agents 2021, Mr Steinwede secured 161 listings and 179 sales, resulting in more than $280 million worth of sales over the 2020 calendar year.