William Vaea is New Zealand’s Changed Agent for 2016

FIREFIGHTER turned real estate agent William Vaea is New Zealand’s 2016 Changed Agents Award winner.

Mr Vaea, of Ray White Manukau City, beat out entries from across the nation to take the prestigious title at the annual real estate Blue­Print conference held in Queenstown on Wednesday, September 14.

His journey from saving houses to selling houses has seen him increase his gross fees commission by 115% to $559,784.94 in the last financial year and with a new level of confidence he has set a target of $800,000 for next year.

Mr Vaea’s family and staff were in attendance to see him win the award voted by more than 90 of his industry peers at the two­day conference.

“I’m pretty stoked. I was just happy to be there and to win is amazing,” an elated Mr Vaea said.

“It’s great exposure and the messages of support from everyone in the room telling me that they voted for me was flattering.

“I’ve even had a phone call from the CEO of Ray White New Zealand to congratulate me.”

Mr Vaea’s career as an agent started after nine years in the fire service, where he says he first found an enthusiasm for connecting with members of the public.

As an agent, Mr Vaea has said he has used his passion for people in being able to provide a personal service, guiding people through the buying and selling process.

He believes keeping it real is the key to his success. “You have to have that connection and be able to relate to people and just be genuine. People can see through those who fake it. If you genuinely care about people you’ve got a chance of making it,” he said.

The Changed Agents Awards win caps off a successful year for Mr Vaea who has won several internal accolades at Ray White including the company’s Executive Award, National Premier Member Award and National Elite Member Award.

First launched in 2013, the Changed Agents Awards is the brainchild of real estate speaker, trainer and coach Josh Phegan and recognises agents who have gone from “zero to hero” in less than a year.

Mr Phegan said four Changed Agents Award finalists had 15 minutes to present their success stories before their peers judged the eventual winner.

He said the quality of entrants was a testament to the strength of the industry in New Zealand.

As the award winner, Mr Vaea received $5000 cash, a one­on­one full day consulting session with Mr Phegan and $5000 in advertising from Property Press.

Backing Yourself In

It’s better to live a life of discipline than a life of regret. In my Coaching Tip today I’m talking about backing yourself in, standing up for yourself, and having the courage to make those crucial decisions.

Part of being a great agent is the ability to listen and be consultative with your clients. But there comes a time to be firm where it counts. You need to have a plan for how you intend to get that property sold and be able to validate that plan. You must have an informed answer to whether or not your client should accept an offer. And no matter what happens in the marketplace, you need to know what to do next in every situation. This is how you become the trusted advisor.

You’re also setting an example for your junior associates, assistants and agents, and helping to progress their careers. You must stay current with the marketplace and maintain clarity with your team about how to negotiate, how to prospect, and what you’re doing to become a better agency. Operating with clarity not only makes you a more attractive agent, it also makes it easier for you to make the decisions that determine where you’re going and whether you will succeed in getting there.

First you need to know what success looks like to you. Determine where you’re at now and what you must do to develop the strength, courage and confidence you require to achieve that success. Getting clear about what you want to do and purposeful in your actions you’ll gain that confidence you seek.

Time is a limited resource. Use it wisely by backing yourself in, going for broke and becoming the agent you’re capable of being.

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

Ep 69 — The Role of an Executive Assistant

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on the role of an executive assistant and how that differs from an assistant position. Alexander lists responsibilities and leadership tasks you want an executive assistant to perform, and both discuss compensation. Josh notes the importance of demographic matching and employing someone who is better than you at performing essential tasks. Alexander details how his executive assistant has helped his business achieve exponential growth, and emphasises the necessity for trust in your executive assistant’s competency.

Josh tells how your executive assistant compliments your leadership by making sure your requirements are met and tasks are completed by the rest of the team. They detail ways to find the best person for the job, and encourage the decision to hire.

Are Farm Areas Still Relevant?

Farm areas are dead and it’s agencies that killed them. But, are farm areas still relevant? In my Coaching Tip today I’ll explain why farm areas aren’t working and how to fix that failure.

Traditionally, active farm areas have been mapped, sectioned and assigned to primary agents. New agents are then issued areas that no one else is working, and given no information about customers or leads for that area. The thing that prevents farm areas from working is a core mistrust and lack of communication between sales teams and property management teams inside of individual agencies.

It’s important to understand the relationship area and the knowledge area. A relationship area pinpoints every single person you know and where they live inside your area. Building a knowledge area involves mapping local businesses, schools, restaurants and other resources, as well as knowing about competing agent stock, other homes on the marketplace and current price points. Agents must have this knowledge to build those important relationships with people in their assigned area, especially past clients and landlords.

It’s time to ask, are farm areas still relevant? If so, we must think differently and have a better conversation about how to become that full service firm. The agency needs to look after the geographical area, whilst individual agents are given the support they need to become knowledgeable experts and build critical relationships in their assigned areas.

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

Ep 68 — Building Your Market Profile

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about building your market profile, establishing differentiation and branding yourself. Discussion begins with Alexander on presentation through quality marketing, and Josh continues with knowing and addressing the basic factors that drive consumers. Alexander continues with positioning, longevity, and understanding market forces for building credibility.

Alexander explains why he uses a simple brochure rather than a lengthy multi-page piece for multimillion-dollar homes, and Josh emphasises using the marketing elements that present a property at its best.

Modernising Your Marketing

The shift from newspaper to digital is changing the way we do marketing. Today my Coaching Tip is about modernising your marketing using social media communities like Facebook to expand your audience.

There are two Facebook tools you want to be using called Facebook Pixel and Facebook Custom Audiences. Facebook Pixel is a piece of code you embed into your website that notes when a customer visits your website, then finds their Facebook account and targets your advertising to them there.

Facebook Custom Audiences is even more sophisticated. It allows you to load your entire customer database into it and serve marketing content to those people specific to their situation. You can basically create specific content, such as video, for each of your database categories, and Facebook Custom Audiences will serve those specific videos to those custom audiences. From there you can link them back to corresponding landing pages at your website. It’s a powerful way to stay relevant to those people you already know.

You can also take an integrated approach to multiple social media sites like Instagram and LinkedIn, which have their own sets of tools and capabilities and often connect to each other. So if you can connect with a client at one site, you’re then connected to them at all the sites they visit. It’s all about retargeting so that once the customer has interacted with you they will continue to see your ads and can then reconnect with you when they need your services.

What you’re doing as an agent is changing. Modernising your marketing assures you’ll really get through to your end consumer on a regular and consistent basis. Make the decision now to become a great agent by getting good at digital.

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

Making Time for Talent

If your vision is big enough then you know you’re always going to be hiring new talent. In this Growth, Leadership and Management tip I’ll show you why making time for talent is crucial, and how to stop missing out on your best hires.

Too often potential new hires looking to work with an agency are simply sent away when there’s no current job opening. But then when an employee leaves, that agency suddenly has to scramble to try to fill the vacancy. It’s a good idea to gather information on those interested in your business and keep them on your talent bench. Then when the inevitable vacancy occurs, you’ll have a ready list of quality talent to call.

Really, everyone you’ve met has the potential to work inside of your company, but you’ll never know if you’re not having those conversations and thinking ahead. If you think you don’t have time for that, consider how much time it takes to find a new hire that’s a great fit when you’re trying to fill an open position as quickly as possible. Every individual in your organization has an expiry date, including you, and each of them will leave someday. Wouldn’t it be great to have a ready list of potential talent to start calling immediately when that happens?

Taking time now to do some long-term planning can save you significant time and urgency in the future. Keep in mind it’s your people who maintain momentum and grow your business, so you want the best talent. And you want to bring in new talent regularly to keep your organization fresh and progressive. Part of that is having a training platform and career progression in place so you can onboard new employees quickly and often as part of your expansion model.

You want to build the kind of company that attracts great talent, places them into dynamic roles, and realizes consistent growth as a result. As growth requires expanding positions with more people to fill them, making time for talent now will benefit you for years to come by bringing all the right people into your organisation.

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

Ep 67 — How to Break Into a New Market

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on how to break into a new market where there are already established agents – especially if you’re a new agent – beginning with points to consider around timeline to get started and matching demographics. Alexander details the work involved, with examples from his own campaigns. Josh shares a case study to demonstrate the importance of a winning mindset. Alexander tells how to present to a customer who is also consulting with a dominant competitor and win the listing.

Josh notes the importance of confidence and initiates a discussion around maintaining long-term momentum and excellence. Josh adds the importance of knowing the lifestyle of the area, and ends with the intent to own your new market.

Are you living a life of regret?

Your future can and should be bigger and brighter than your past. In my Coaching Tip today I’m talking about living a life of discipline rather than regret. But in order to do the things you want most to do in your life, and to become the kind of person you want to be, you have to know what that looks like.

First, you need to be financially secure and that takes planning. Balancing assets and liabilities is more important than profit and loss. Most people tend to raise their expenses to meet their revenue, but you need to be investing in valuable assets and really thinking about what you spend. Wealth is not just about having money, it’s more about what you do with your money and the short term decisions you make that impact your long term reality.

Health is the next key consistency, because if you lose your health you have nothing. Staying fit is easier than getting fit, and getting fit is much harder the older you are. Maintaining fitness and energy is crucial in your life and your business, and doing the things that keep you performing at your best is a decision you make every day.

Discipline is about knowing where you want to go in life and setting a path to take you there. Too many people never think about how their lives should look in 20 years, and then they end up someplace they don’t want to be and wish they had done better. People also let daily obstacles or trigger events from the past affect their lives in negative ways. You can take charge of your outcomes by setting some simple rules for yourself now around finances, health, knowledge and capabilities.

Really start to think about the time you have and the time that’s passing, especially at the incredibly fast pace we live in today. Realize your time on the grid determines the off-grid time you get for yourself. Your future will be bigger than your past if you make it that way through making good decisions and living a life of discipline.

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

Ep 66 — Primary and Secondary Markets for Career Growth

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about primary and secondary markets for career growth. Josh describes how these markets differ and Alexander talks about how to choose the market you should target. Josh notes advantages of matching age, profile and demographic of agents and clients, and they discuss the concept of growing with your clients.

Alexander talks about gaining market knowledge across multiple price ranges and why you should be willing to handle properties outside your usual range. Josh talks about working a campaign file properly and ends on working trade-ins.