Ride the Waves.

Growth is exciting; it forces you to freshen up, prevent decay, and drive effortless glide in what you do.

If you do what you've been doing for the next 12 months, what happens? And if you change nothing and keep doing the same for the next 10 years, what happens next?

Business is fast, fun, and frenetic. It forces you to play at your best. Whether it's new competition, market influences, government interventions, or something else, it's time to get back to your best.

Let's surf the waves ahead.

The Election

Shortly, Australia will go to a Federal Election. New Zealanders can tell us that the sun still rises even the day after an election. The secret is to realise that you can change the momentum during election periods.

It's just another delay tactic and objection from both buyers and sellers. If you buy into it, your business will be impacted. What we know is that this is the property election.

Possible policies could include:

1. A change to negative gearing. It may be removed, limited, or kept the same. If it's removed, property investors have little incentive to enter the market. If it's limited, it may increase the supply for first-time home buyers, and if it stays the same, there's no impact.

2. Capital gains tax on the principal place of residence. It's one of the last ways Australians can build their net wealth without the tax department getting a cut. It would be politically dangerous to touch it, but Governments are keen to increase revenue.

3. Removal of stamp duty (a state tax) and the development of a broad-based land tax. Governments love recurring revenue, and the up-and-down nature of property sales volumes see surges and dips in revenue. A broad-based land tax promotes land users to use their land rather than land banks. It encourages land development and reduces the inflationary nature of stamp duty, which could lead to more consistent sales volumes as there are fewer costs to get in and out of real estate. Reliable recurring revenue is attractive for Governments, although it takes a big hit as initial revenue dips from the juicy sugar hit of big stamp duty windfalls. It would also require a tonne of negotiation with the states.

4. First-home buyer incentives, from accessing stamp duty to removal of stamp duty to lower interest rates, are on the demand side of the equation and can assist with getting first-home buyers into the market.

5. Special concessions for essential workers, like paramedics, police, fire, nurses, etc., from removal of stamp duty to higher loan-to-value ratios backed by the Government. Why does it matter? It helps our essential workers get into property close to where they work to ensure the economy keeps moving.

6. Developer incentives. Changes to planning, speeding up development, and removing red tape are critical to getting infrastructure to the right location for shovel-ready projects, which will assist in building the 200,000 new houses Australia needs every year to cope with demand.

7. Changes to immigration. Restricting new entrants to Australia assists in reducing supply but also hampers new talent and skilled workers entering Australia. Removing foreign students could crush the Australian education system and the inner-city rental markets of our major cities. It does reduce demand, which can reduce rental prices and, therefore, affordability.

These are just some of the policy options on the table.

What's really clear is Australia needs a long-term population target, it needs to fund infrastructure well before people arrive, and we need a proper conversation about where the following major population centres will be.

Unfortunately, governments have a track record of looking for sugar hits and popular politics rather than a comprehensive plan for what Australia will look like in 2040. Look to the Dubai 2040 plan as an example of a framework we could adopt to ensure what Government, private enterprise, and Government together with private enterprise could create.

Stay ahead of policy announcements as they occur. They may drive demand, supply, or both. Then, once the Government of the day is elected, know how to pivot.

Better Buyer Work.

Back to business, better buyer work really matters. Most agents rely on marketing to produce the buyers. They launch a property on the major real estate portals, then respond to enquiries and work with the buyers who turn up at the open houses.

How do the good agents move to being the greatest in any market? They think differently. Let's assume that buyer matching in a CRM doesn't work. Buyers move quickly; they change what they want, and it's hard to keep up with. You'll meet 1,000 buyers in a year, but only 50 buy from you. Compound that to 5,000 a year, and 100 buy from you, that's a lot of life admin. So how do we fix it?

We go back to an old-school methodology powered by technology. Stay with me.

When you list a property:

1. Review all sales in the last 24 months. What similar properties has your agency sold that a buyer of a similar type would have walked through? Call every buyer who enquired, inspected, came back for a second appointment, made an offer, or bid. Call them. See if they still have an appetite to purchase, and if so, invite them to a private appointment or the first home (ideally a mid-week) so they return for a second inspection on the first Saturday open house.

2. Now push and review all market appraisals in the price range or property type before. If you've listed a four-bedroom home, review all three-bedroom appraisals, call them, and see if they'd like to see the four-bedroom home. If they do, and they like it, now you have a four-bedroom buyer and a three-bedroom seller. It's super simple, easily overlooked, and helps you with pipeline progression.

3. Then, push one layer deeper. Better buyer work is about realising you have the demand, so why not go and create the supply? When you list the four-bedroom home, call back through all appraisals of a similar type. Tell them about the new listing, that it's similar to theirs and that you'll call them when it sells. Call them when it sells, let them know the sale price and that you have X buyers left over. Ask them for permission to bring the buyers through. This allows the seller time to think about selling, so when the sale happens, they've had a chance to consider the sale — a list where there's demand.

I'm going to give you ten names. Remember these ten names in 28 days, and I'll give you $300,000. Anyone could do it. Yet if I ask you to write out a list of the appraisals you did in October, no one can remember. If you don't know them, then they don't know you — it's that simple.

The easiest way to progress a client is based on their problem.

Let's review the 11 customer types:

1. Growing family

2. Divorce

3. Deceased estate

4. Developer

5. Investor

6. Bankruptcy

7. Job relocation

8. Nursing Home

9. Sea or tree change

10. Aspirational

11. Downsizing

The first 8, when those things happen to you, you have to do something. The last three are massively discretionary in nature. I've seen no CRM that categorises market appraisals based on problem type.

If you're suddenly blessed with twins, you're moving.

How many of those market appraisals are actually buyers? And that's the problem: too quick to do the appraisal, too good to fill out the appraisal form, and not good enough to recognise a buyer when they are in front of you. Slow down and do the work properly.

Rhythm And Routine

How do we tighten up the systems?

Monday - buyer hitlist review. If a buyer does any of these things - 2nd inspection, made an offer, bid, needs to buy by a certain date, already sold or has a clear problem - then add them to your buyer hitlist. All the other buyers stay in the CRM and are handled through buyer searches and digital communications. The hitlist is read every Monday. Who's added, and who's removed? Now you have a business and a great listing tool at the listing presentation.

Tuesday, review the seller hitlist. If a market appraisal shows any of these things—i.e., they need to sell, have a clear problem, timeline, or destination, are getting the property ready, or are looking at something else to purchase—then add them to your seller hitlist. Every Tuesday, read over the list, marrying it to previous appraisals, current listings, etc.

Discipline

Great work requires being stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods. The best people I know stick relentlessly to what they want to achieve but quickly adapt to how they'll achieve it when they see a better way. Most people do the opposite - they cling to their methods even when better options appear. Shane Parish

Shane's quote is a cracker. It makes you think: You must stick to the goal but be flexible in your method of getting there. That's surfing.

What do you want out of life?

What do you want out of your career?

What do you want out of this year?

Show me your calendar, and it will show me your priorities.