We Are Selling with Lee Woodward

Selecting Your Farm Area for Success with Zali Reynolds

• Realtair • Season 1 • Episode 48

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We outline the career and approach of Zali Reynolds, from agent to business owner and social contributor.

• started in WA at 18, moved to Melbourne to grow experience
• used one-to-one lead generation via letterbox drops and price drive letters
• achieved 69 appraisals in one month, building a strong database
• scaled with administrative support and a high-performing team
• focuses on the mid-range market ($1.5–$4M) and aligned client tribes
• manages 80–100 properties annually with systems-driven efficiency
• personally engages on social media to connect authentically with clients
• mentors and structures onboarding for new agents to build performance
• integrates philanthropy via Shelter, building homes for homeless families in Cambodia

A practical example of career growth, systems, and purpose-driven real estate leadership.



Hosted by Lee Woodward Training Systems

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Lee Woodward:

Hi everybody and welcome to another edition of We Are Selling. When we look at our sales career, it's a journey. And those moments along the line of the journey, there's certain milestones that allow you to propel into the future. However, as everyone's changing so much, there's also those foundational moments that make some of our best real estate professionals. And joining me today is one of those. Please welcome to our program, Zali Reynolds. Zali, welcome aboard.

Zali Reynolds:

Thank you, Lee. How are you today?

Lee Woodward:

Zaley, I am very well. I'm very excited to have you on audio because you've been listening to audio for so long.

Zali Reynolds:

I have, yes. I'm a big podcast audio fan.

Lee Woodward:

You started in your auntie's real estate in WA, you were 18 years of age. What happened after that?

Zali Reynolds:

I made the decision that I wanted to kind of see the world and move to the big smoke. And uh so I moved to Melbourne and then got a job in real estate there with a small agency, was there for a couple of years and then joined um a larger firm. And after being with a couple of firms, I now have my own real estate business.

Lee Woodward:

What an amazing journey, and we'll get to where you've landed today. But when we look at some of those big firms, big Melbourne names, Alice Craig, Marshall White, you did very, very well in your position in those companies. But just at the start of that, you were 21. And uh you'd listen to some of the audios. I think back then we had the Matt Steinweight system live, the Real Estate Hot Topics program was live. Yeah. But you got hold of one very simple lead generation system. Tell us what happened.

Zali Reynolds:

Yeah, well, um for the younger listeners, uh, they probably wouldn't know what a uh a discman was, but I had my little discman and I used to clip it onto my onto my pants, and off I'd go walking in the morning, uh, letterbox dropping and uh letterbox dropping the price drive letter and listening to the Matt Steinweight system and all the hot topic CDs. And um I did that. I had a uh I guess a farming plan is essentially what it was. Uh and I broke up the area into different zones, and then I just focused on getting as many people um in those zones onto my database uh through letterbox dropping and door knocking and calling.

Lee Woodward:

So that claiming doors going one-to-one, you were doing in that fashion, but you had an incredible result out of that price drive letter. What was the first set of results you got out of that?

Zali Reynolds:

Yeah, so it was pretty crazy. I the letter that I used was pretty much just word for word out of the complete salesperson's course, which was uh back then in a book, which obviously now you can do online. I dropped it in uh my whole patch. Uh well not my whole patch actually, it was just over one month that was just kind of half of the patch, and I got 69 appraisals in the one month, and it was just crazy. I just didn't even know how to fit them all in. I don't think anybody had really been doing a lot of letterbox dropping in the area, and so it was, yeah, just uh just a really kind of kind of crazy result and helped me add heaps of people to the database.

Lee Woodward:

Do you know how interesting? Like today we've got this whole world of digital and price updates and claiming doors, which is where we are. But the approach I really like this about this interview was it's one-to-one. The way that was written was very, if you would like, I will be available then. And it wasn't over-the-top marketing, whereas I think lots of people pushing out stuff in into the world of digital today or the mailbox, but it's very ego-based. It's you know, is it ego or info? Where in that approach that never changes that genuine owners want to know the current value from a real transparent real person. And I think you're just locked into that beautifully. The career launched, you then went on to be a director, uh, one of the top female selling people in those brands. What was that journey like going from, okay, I'm door knocking, I'm doing my price drive led us to now suddenly I'm sell selling some very incredible homes in the area. What did you have to do in that period of time to become a top form a top performing female agent?

Zali Reynolds:

Yeah, so I pretty quickly hired my first PA. I think it was um on one of your interviews, I'm pretty sure it was with Matt LaFord that I was listening to. And Matt said, if you are, if you don't have a PA, you are a PA, or you might have even said it. And I like that really stuck in my brain. And so as soon as I could afford to pay someone out part-time, I hired a an administration assistant for two days a week. And that she only lasted a month before we became so busy that I really needed someone full-time. And so then we then I hired a full-time assistant and really started to build the EBU. You know, I that's what it was called then. I know some people call them pods now or teams, uh, and so really started to build my build out my EBU. That's was really then where it kind of became more of a business, and I looked at it as a business more so than just you know me selling houses.

Lee Woodward:

Yeah, and what an interesting part of your journey that you can see the bigger picture of the people around you, and we call it like the leverage agent that that works alongside you today. Let's step into today. You've now got your own real estate firm. Uh both yourself and your husband are running the company, but his background's totally different to yours. Take us into that.

Zali Reynolds:

So he's been in corporate for a very long time. So he was actually um in the digital space, and his last job was at Australia Post, and he decided he was going to take a sabbatical and and took some time off, and then uh I managed to convince him to help me start the business. That was three years ago, and he's still there, so he's not going anywhere. But it's been amazing for me because my love and my passion is selling, and I think that once you start to get all of the added pressure of running a business, I don't think it's possible to become be a high performing sales agent and do the accounts, the payroll, the HR, the marketing, all of that type of stuff. So we run a really good team. You know, I do the the the selling the day-to-day, and he gets the weekends off, but I say he does all the boring stuff.

Lee Woodward:

Very good. So good example of front-end back end.

Zali Reynolds:

Absolutely.

Lee Woodward:

We'll talk about the salespeople you've got in a moment, because I believe you're at a team of fourteen now.

Zali Reynolds:

Yes.

Lee Woodward:

Excellent. Let's look at your role. You're a selling principal, you're passionate about selling. What type of property are you representing out there in the marketplace today, and why do you feel people are drawn towards you?

Zali Reynolds:

Yeah, so I'm really positioned myself in the um I I'd call it the mid-range market, and that's probably, you know, uh it really for our marketplaces anywhere between, say, one and a half and four million. I know that's probably not mid-range for some of your listen listeners, but um that for the area I work in, that's kind of mid-range. So I don't we don't have a lot of the over four million stuff sell, and it's not my bread and butter, and we don't do a lot of apartments. And I think that's been really good for me just to be in that mid-range because that's the the the the market that turns over. So even when the market's slowing down, when there's not as much stock available, when prices are down, which is all something we're we're dealing with at the moment, people still have to sell. There's always, you know, there's always divorce, unfortunately. You know, there's always people that need to move because they need more space. And so really that mid-market has been very, very effective for me.

Lee Woodward:

How how many properties would you carry at a time, given your commitments as a principal as well? What what's a good stock on hand for you?

Zali Reynolds:

It ranges depending on the season, because Melbourne, the Melbourne market is very, very seasonal. So in spring it's much higher than say January or or July. Uh but I tend to sell anywhere from about 80 to 100 properties a year. I have a team that work directly with me to assist that. So it's not just me selling that that many houses. I also have co-agents that work with me.

Lee Woodward:

Very good. And with the other agents of the business now, that those that have come attractive to join you and be part of your business versus the many options in Melbourne, uh, Melbourne's not short of a real estate business anywhere, and there's a lot of independence and some of the bigger brands down there now as well. Your life's come full circle. That 21-year-old girl who turned up to a very famous brand and has to crack her own way to get through, you're now that leadership role looking at people coming in. In your life experience of an agent and as a professional, and by the way, that's an enormous amount of deals you're doing per year. Congratulations. What's your advice back to the agents now to get them started? What what's the sequence or rhythm that's going to allow them to progress and have a professional career with yourself?

Zali Reynolds:

The key is really finding your market. So I that question was crucial that you asked. And, you know, I've always positioned myself not only in an area, but I also position myself in a price range, and I'm also attracted to uh certain tribes. So, you know, my tribe is mainly female, it's not all female, but I'm, you know, I tend to attract more women as clients. Uh and you know, I prospect through different networking means, different networking groups, sorry, you know, local schools and things like that. And so I think my key advice when you're starting out is really choose your market and choose the type of people that you want to deal with because if you get on well with them, they'll get on well with you and they'll want to work with you. So choose a choose a demographic and an area. But when you do that, be careful that it's not an area that is already dominated. It might be saturated. I don't have a problem with saturated because there's not very many markets in the world today, no matter what industry you're in that's not saturated. You know, if it's saturated, that's okay. If you've got something unique to offer and you're um good at your job, you can get cut through. But if it is dominated, that is very hard. So if there's one dominant agent who is in the suburb who has more than, say, 50% market share, you've got a very, you know, very slim chance of b being able to cut through in that marketplace.

Lee Woodward:

When we look at this work that you're doing, one of the big advices that a lot of people ask us questions on now is social. Everyone's got their own take on it. Some people do it well, some people don't. What have you learned about social and and and what are you bringing to the table there?

Zali Reynolds:

Probably what I've learned about social, which is still very annoying to me, is that you can't delegate it. I've tried to delegate it, and you can delegate it to a certain extent. Sorry, I won't say you can't delegate all of it, but you you can't delegate all of it because people only um connect with you and react to you if you are you. That's the hard thing. So trying to get my PA to do all of it never works. I you know, she can do certain amounts of it, so she can, you know, take the video of the new property of the new listing. People don't just want to see your properties, they also want to feel connected to you and they want to know who you are as a person. I I still have to have that involvement. That's probably the biggest thing that I've learned is that you can't delegate or pay for it. But it doesn't take that much effort. I think nowadays we're all on our phones anyway. So it's uh it's easy to just upload stuff and you know put a bit of personality in.

Lee Woodward:

The video explainer has become an interesting part of real estate where you're showing some footage and this wall over here, their concrete filled Bessablock walls, that's giving you the installation. I just happen to be in a commercial building as I said that then. You know, people want to know the detail of that versus it looks stunning. Final questions for you. But what's next on your learning manual? What's next on your focus list that you want to bring into the business now?

Zali Reynolds:

What is really next for me? I would really like to create a more structured system for onboarding my new agents because I think there's some awesome people out there who are potentially really good at real estate who, you know, the old days, and it does still happen unfortunately, where you you know, pick an agency hires a real estate agent and they get a phone and a desk or you know, go do some opens. And I think that that there's a real missed opportunity with some people who uh could be really great. So I'm in the process of building that system, you know, that three months to 12 month system where we take someone from you know not being in real estate or not being a performer in real estate to being a performer. And that's probably what I'm really enjoying at the moment in terms of growing people, you know, taking them to the to the next level. So yeah, that's probably the focus for the next little while. Oh, and finish building my houses. My my goal is to build the reason we started shelter was to build houses, and so um I'm at 52 and I want to get to 100. So that's my next one.

Lee Woodward:

So just just explain shelter to us.

Zali Reynolds:

So every four houses we build we sell, every four houses we sell at shelter, we build a house. So we currently work with a um a charity called Global Village Housing, which is based out of Cambodia, and um we build houses for um homeless families over in in that country, all over the country. So that's just my way of giving back because I think that you know, in this absolutely blessed industry that I have been lucky enough enough to find myself in, uh, I think that uh we have a responsibility, a social responsibility, and everybody has a different passion, whether it be climate change or animal rights or whatever it is. Um but my passion is housing, that's what I love. So, yeah, so that's what I'm I'm aiming to finish building a hundred houses.

Lee Woodward:

Absolutely love it. But I want to thank you for joining us on the program and sharing your story with us.

Zali Reynolds:

Thank you for having me, Lee.