REIP Inside Real Estate – 20 September 2023 - Real Estate Industry Partners

Last week, I attended the Business of Real Estate Conference on the Gold Coast. It was one of the largest attendance numbers for the conference to date and was the first time we had the top three franchise group heads on a panel. Dan White from Ray White, Mike Green from Harcourts and Christine Mikhal from LJ Hooker.

Collectively they have significant market and agency share across the country, and these were the key takeaways from their talks:

The business will never outperform the leader and the success of a business is often a reflection of the leadership.
As leaders, we need to be very clear on our purpose and at the same time stay connected to our teams, the market and communities. Staying relevant and supporting our front-line leaders is also critical.
We need to clarify our goals and how we’re going to get there. Share aspirations with your teams so they can come with you on the journey and work together towards a common outcome. Role model your values by walking the talk and living the company values.
As a leader, you need to understand where you are on your journey. Leadership isn’t a skill set we are born with; it is a skill set we need to work on constantly.

Also discussed was the importance of technology being a critical enabler for us to become more productive and efficient. However, what we are experiencing is a larger number of new tech companies emerging that are stand-alone and focused on solving a niche issue.

For real technological ROI, it was agreed that solutions with the ability to integrate with each other can provide a better ‘whole of business’ solution that delivers greater efficiency, better productivity and helps keep our ongoing operating costs to a minimum.

Another important viewpoint that was shared (and I agree with) is that to date, we have been a fragmented industry and that collaboration is the key to our future success.

I believe that as leaders we need to work together, share insights and leave the competing to our agents in the field. If we don’t do this, then we are at risk for further fragmentation and a reliance on external parties to operate our businesses.

To wrap the conference up, each of the leaders was asked to share their best leadership advice which included:

Dan White (Ray White) – You don’t need to be the guru or have knowledge of everything to step into a leadership role
Mike Green (Harcourts) – If it’s to be then it is up to me
Christine Mikhal (LJ Hooker) – Treat everyone how you would like to be treated.

Lastly, a sincere congratulations to Michael Sheargold and the team behind the Business of Real Estate Conference. It was a fantastic event and an inspiring look into what our industry’s future could look like.

Until next time.

Stay connected,