Alexander Phillips

Alexander Phillips is a Principal with Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, an independent boutique brand in Sydney. In this interview he remembers how he started out in an agency’s back office and 12 years later has his own agency with 2 partners. Alex is intense and always prospecting, but also makes sure he has substantial time off twice a year to regroup.

Phillips Pantzer Donnelley always has substantial sales because they adapt to the market constantly. Alex is known for selling properties in a very short time. Alex calls their approach “compression selling” and most of their buyers come from their database. The brand’s reputation is what sells properties to clients they have a strong relationship with and they maintain those relationships actively. Phillips Pantzer Donnelley holds 18 to 20 open for inspections each Saturday with possibly 360 buyers coming through, and he follows up by calling all of them beginning the Sunday after and continuing through Monday. Taking time and not rushing through makes sure no potential buyers are lost, and Alex is on the phone all the time.

The core of his business is connecting with people he already knows. Alex’s business grows significantly every year because their team is structured, focused, and dedicated. Putting an expert team together is really the defining point between amateur and professional, because being a pro means focusing on what’s really important. The key is in getting face to face with clients and making more of the calls that count.

LSN18 Special Edition – What To Do For What’s Ahead

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips live at LSN 2018 discussing what to do for what’s ahead. Alex talks about how his new year has already started, and how he’s progressing clients and getting people on the market sooner than the competition. They discuss lining up listings for this year and planning around elections and holidays next year. Alex notes the benefits of going on holiday with several listings in your top drawer when you get back. He also explains how fears around the upcoming election can be used as a driver to get people to make timely decisions.

Alex advises getting mentally prepared to adapt and change ahead of the market, details the kinds of calls he and his team are making and the numbers around that, and tells how agents are actually driving down fees. He ends with advice on thriving in the year ahead.

What’s Ahead For 2019

The new year is a great period where incredible agents make even more money. In my Coaching Tip this week I’ll give you a forecast of what’s ahead for 2019 with tips for navigating through these first months. The most important part is that you start thinking now about getting plenty of listings on for next year.

April will be a big month with Good Friday, Easter, Anzac day – and my birthday – all within a 9-day timeframe. You won’t be launching campaigns around auctions or opens during that period. There are also Super Saturdays ahead, and an election in March or May.

To get ahead of these slow months you’ll want to finish earlier and come back earlier. There are only 6 or 7 quality auction weekends in the first quarter of the year, and you need to write good numbers in January and February ahead of the upcoming elections.

If you don’t have momentum in January it will be 6 months before you can really get going. That’s half your year gone. Get those listings in place now and begin selling before January so you’ve got momentum through February and a good start on the year.

By planning ahead you’ll know exactly what to do to get the transactions you need to be able to write the income and get the results. There will be opportunities around expired listings, so re-sign those agency agreements and avoid losing your own listings to expires.

Don’t let yourself be swept away by market conditions you didn’t see coming. Knowing what’s ahead for 2019 will put you in a position to get the listings and get the sales from the start.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next year.

Maintain The Margin

As the market changes you have to adapt if you want to produce more income. In this month’s Growth, Leadership, and Management Tip I’ll show you how to maintain the margin that will bring in the profits you need to really grow your business.

If you look at it, a great market can actually mask poorer fees, so as the market comes off even a small drop in your percentages will put you in big trouble. This makes a great case for charging higher fees since you’ve got to get that income.

The customer will pay for results, so find out the upper echelon of what the customer is willing to pay while still feeling like they’re getting a good value. Then decide what you’re going to do around setting your fees.

I want you to have that conversation about how you price your services to make sure there’s clarity with the people inside of your business, because getting clear around pricing is the number one thing that will take you to super profits.

It’s important to understand that selling your services for less than what it costs you to provide them can lead to outcomes you don’t want. You must maintain the margin in order to produce a profit that you can then invest in your business and allow it grow.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s Growth, Leadership, and Management Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next month.

Ep 169 – Planning For the Numbers

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on planning for the numbers you need. Alex tells how his team uses calendars for timing and building confidence. Josh notes the importance of understanding the rhythm of your business and how your customer base works, and he describes using that understanding to plan for taking time off. And Alex explains how he gets customers to list ahead of the curve by using fear.

Alex tells how to have smarter conversations to get the vendor thinking ahead, and Josh outlines a typical 12-week timeline from listing to settlement, and details how to use your calendar to get clarity around getting your campaigns in where they need to be.

Driving Buyer Urgency

One of the best tools you can use to get consumers to act is fear. In my Coaching Tip this week I’ll show you opportunities for driving buyer urgency around fear of limitation, a need to move quickly whilst there are buyers, or changes in tax legislation.

For example, elections can often facilitate changes in the property industry. Some of those changes could offer a window of opportunity for investors as well as for owners of properties those investors would want to buy – but only if they act quickly within a defined timeframe.

This is where you get on the phone and have a conversation with those people, explain the upcoming market conditions to them, and get a flurry of action happening before the election.

Fear will make people move really fast, so how do you use fear for driving buyer urgency? Remember, markets create markets. Find the opportunity in a current situation to create a market. Do that and you give people a reason to make that decision. And that’s what a great agent does.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

For the Love of Tech

Eric Shinseki said it best, ‘if you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less’. The last 10 years have radically reshaped the way we live. The adoption of mobile phones, the socialisation of our relationships and the amplification of remote work has changed the way we work.

What’s the future of work?
Software is eating the world. What was once done by a team of people is being automated, forcing fewer people in the process to deliver the service. It’s changing job roles to be more human, personalised and intimate.

We have all the information we need at our fingertips thanks to Google, meaning that consumers don’t need another market report, update or agent in their street today. Instead what they need is someone who’s prepared to ask the questions around their dissatisfaction and vision, to help the customer make the first steps.

With the adoption of tech, we’re making appointments faster to build rapid rapport and helping customers to make decision face to face.

It’s forcing the industry into a corner. In our rush to be amazing on social, we’ve forgotten the basics of what makes a business move. To be successful in business you have to make sales, and the first sale that’s made every day is booking the appointment. No one’s asking what happens when we get to the point of digital saturation? We’re already here. More and more effort for less. Before I put in any technology, I ask ‘what’s the problem we’re trying to solve?’. Plenty put in tech, or go all in on social, before they ask the question, and even define if the problems worth solving.

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What the savvy agents are doing is building out the tech to automate the workflow to deliver on their customer experience. And this where you need to start. Define your brand. It’s not a logo; it’s a set of customer moments that are either carefully curated or not. Think in moments, then see what technology you can use to automate and improve them for the customer. In the UK, online appointment booking is a massive driver, yet it’s hardly taken off here in Australia.

Most of the offshoring we’re seeing happen in the property management and sales administration spaces will end up onshore again as automation makes those roles redundant, or the consumer forces a more human experience for the fees we demand.

One thing that’s certain is that technology doesn’t recognise booms or recessions; it just makes progress. In your business, I’d be surprised if you didn’t already have 20-plus applications in what’s called your app stack. It could be as simple as Dropbox for file storage and Slack for team communication. Your app stack is allowing your workforce to be more remote, yet the evolution of the workplace with global workplaces like WeWork suggests we actually want to be together to do our work. What we’re building is flexibility, and a mobile-first approach to make working on the road between appointments even easier.

How can you automate your workflow?

The app stack that you’re using today is great for now, but what other parts of the workflow process can you improve? One of our clients has automated the listing process. When he enters the appointment in his diary using LAP at the start of the appointment title, that triggers in Zapier to start a process in Process St, which then also triggers a direct message in Slack to his administrative assistant to prepare the recent sales data. It’s simple but shows you how you can improve workflow.

User adoption still matters.
People hate change when it happens to them, but they love change when they are apart of it. Think, before you bring that next app to the sales meeting, ask some simple questions:
1. What’s the problem we’re trying to solve and is it worth solving?
2. What’s the vision for what it will look like fixed?
3. Who will it impact? And how do we champion their passion for the problem?
4. What’s our action plan to implement?
5. Do it.

This is a profoundly human business amplified by the use of technology that works. It should speed you up, not slow you down. Clunky systems are just that. Design from a mobile-first approach, and watch your business thrive.

This article first appeared on Elite Agent: https://eliteagent.com/josh-phegan-what-problem-are-you-solving/

Ep 168 – Prepare Now for 2019

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips project on how to prepare now for 2019 and what’s ahead in the new year. Alex notes features in the current marketplace that are different from past years, and those things that will make the marketplace harder in the new year. They discuss ways to be prepared ahead of time and activities you can do to make sure you’ll have listings in February. They also examine changing market trends and what to expect going forward.

Josh lists challenges at the first of the year like consumer moods, holidays, and elections, and Alex comments specifically on how the elections will affect the market. Josh ends with ways to reduce anxiety and commitment to maintaining your work routines.

Ep 167 – Referrals and Lead Generation

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on referrals and lead generation. Alex begins with a look at how referrals have impacted his career, and why paying a commission to another agent for their referral is like paying any other vendor. They each explain why they give referrals and why that needs to be reciprocal. Josh also notes that you have to earn those referrals by being really good at what you do.

Alex explains why communicating with referrers and maintaining a good relationship with them is so important, Josh says you should also let your referrer know what’s happening with that process, and remember that referrals are a major lead source for your business.

Ep 166 – How to Increase Your Output

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on how to increase your output, particularly around getting your call numbers up. Alex suggests ways to increase your call output and get better results, noting mental toughness and being informed as top qualities. Josh tells why you should follow a routine around your call sessions, and they discuss how to get past those days when you’re really reluctant to make those calls.

Alex lists the benefits of getting an early start on your day and your phone sessions. They discuss preferences for landline vs. mobile phone, and Josh emphasises having the right equipment, being in the right environment, and always having a call list with you.