We Are Selling with Lee Woodward
We Are Selling is a weekly podcast about real estate, business and tackling life's challenges. Hosted by renowned real estate industry coach, Lee Woodward, learn from experts in their field and maximise your life.
We Are Selling with Lee Woodward
180 - From Hospitality to Real Estate Empire
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Spiro Drossos shares his remarkable journey from a hospitality worker to a real estate empire builder, growing from a young solo agent to leading a team of 170 staff members managing 7,000 rental properties.
• Transitioning from hospitality to real estate, leveraging people skills and customer service experience
• Building effective business units and teams to multiply efforts and results
• Lead generation as the foundation of real estate success with a target of 60 leads daily
• Phone calls still generating the highest number of quality leads despite technological advances
• The evolution of listing presentations from printed documents to interactive visual experiences
• Importance of clear communication and belief transfer in vendor management
• Strategic integration of property management and sales operations
• Creating nurturing pipelines that convert over months and years rather than immediately
• Speed to market as a critical currency in today's competitive environment
• Leadership skills for guiding clients through the decision-making process
If you're considering a career change into real estate, Spiro recommends discussing with someone in the industry and spending a week in an office to see what it's like, especially if you're coming from sales, hospitality or retail roles with transferable skills.
Hosted by Lee Woodward
Proudly brought to you by Lee Woodward Training Systems.
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Hello and welcome back to the podcast we Are Selling this week. I have a journey story. Many, many years ago there was this wonderful young man, top salesperson in his area, very young in the business and appeared on Real Estate Hot Topics the audio Today, still doing very, very well, and has grown into a real estate brand and a business that is one of the best we've seen in the Melbourne marketplace. I'm going to reveal the name and bring him in, please. Welcome to the studios Spiro Drossos. Hey Lee, how are you going? You've grown up in front of my eyes. I certainly have. It's been a long time, hasn't it? How old were you when you first appeared on the program?
Speaker 2:I would have been 27, 28., 27, 28.
Speaker 1:You'd just come in from hospitality working massive hours. Yes, what was it like to land in real estate.
Speaker 2:Oh look, initially it was very daunting but also very exciting at the same time, Coming from hospitality, working millions of hours a week, coming into real estate and not really knowing what to do. But I quickly found my feet because I found a lot of synergies between hospitality and real estate in that it was all about people and customer service, so there's a great synergy there.
Speaker 1:Now you see lots of things in hospitality. There's things going on in the bathroom. The stakes are burning. What did you learn about?
Speaker 2:that I certainly did. There was a lot happening in hospitality and you get to meet so many different people all walks of life. You're working in a gaming room, restaurants, nightclubs, and you experience so many things at such a young age and all different facets of life. And that springboard into real estate meant that I was dealing with people in hospitality. You deal with them in the living room a lot of similarities. Everyone's got a story.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to add to that story. When you were a young man coming into real estate and you worked for the original Barry Plant Barry himself You're in that office that's right In East Doncaster and you're one of the first people to understand effective business units and putting a team around you. What were the results back then?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that was what I really strived for was to build a team around myself. When I spoke to Barry initially, he spoke to me about leverage and about expanding my business and multiplying my efforts through other people. So that was my first grounding and first teaching of growing a team. Back then we did really well. Within a couple of years we were writing 1.5 million in gross fees and back then the average sale price would have been $350,000. $350,000.
Speaker 1:Imagine that now Lee In the Doncaster bread and butter marketplace.
Speaker 2:Turning over a lot of real estate back then and really putting on a team around me to be able to support me to do that. And, interesting enough, those two assistants that were with me during that journey are now my two key business partners in the Eastern Group, barry.
Speaker 1:Plant. This is such an interesting part of the story and I just want to bring it to our national attention, especially for my principals out there that know this next part of a business that you acquired. So when you were there at Barry Plant I was across the road training at Philip Webb's. It was one of my big assignments. They had agents everywhere. It was the big business of Melbourne, very famous, and Phil did some incredible talks around the country. Well, of late, and you can take over the story, you've acquired Phillip Webb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have that's correct Myself and my business partners. Yeah, we purchased Phillip Webb Real Estate At the time. Back then they were our biggest competitor, great business doing some really good things in the area, and just by the opportunity that it was time for Phil to retire, we were in the marketplace, so it was perfect for us to step in and do that deal.
Speaker 1:Quite a big run from the 27-year-old kid who did well as an EVU. Where is the group up to now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've now got five locations that we service in the eastern suburbs. We're opening up a new office as well now one in Ivanhoe, and also opening one up in Ballwyn also. We've got close to 170 team members on our team now across our offices 170 team members. That's some EBU, it certainly is. It's grown significantly from three back then and we manage close to 7,000 rental properties Unbelievable.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of doors that you've claimed yes, and congratulations on the journey. You are not that old and I look at this journey and this is why I brought you in today when the producer said Lee, we've got a lot of agents out there. They're 25, 35, 45, 55. And what is it you need to do to become a professional agent? And I know you're building your own training programs right now to get people from bench to field as quick as you can. From that journey of from there to now, you've experienced and observed so much. If a 25, 35, 55-year-old agent whatever age somebody decides they want to be successful came into you now for advice, what would you step them out to do to become the best they can be?
Speaker 2:It's a great question, lee, and over the years I've been able to experience. Agents come into the company and I've seen the ones that have made it and the ones that haven't, and there's definitely a skillset there that's required and that seems to compound and it seems to work for each agent as well. I think the first part to anything is that they've got to have a desire and willingness and commitment to whatever goal it is for them personally. So I think that commitment, I think, is very important to begin with for themselves, to create a brand for themselves in the marketplace, to have very strong customer focus and customer service skills as well, and have the ability to do the basics in our business over and, over and over again.
Speaker 1:When you first came in. What struck you looking back in time there, of skills you could adapt over Because you hadn't been in real estate that long, but you were doing numbers four or five times everybody else. What was the breakthroughs? What did you realize about your skills that were making you one of the best in the area?
Speaker 2:I think the main thing Lee is in relation to working with people, and this is a people's business. It's about connecting with people in all walks of life, in all different scenarios, and, having come from hospitality and we find people now that have come from retail, customer service or hospitality they have got an advantage because they have got that skillset to be able to adapt very quickly to another person and identify their needs. So I think that's paramount being able to deal with people.
Speaker 1:What about the connection to training, but then the activation and implementation? Like, I can speak to you and we might be having a chat about something and you'll say, oh, just how does that work? And then the next thing artwork's done. You've built the lead behind or you're passionate to get that done. What's been your speed to market, and has that always been something that's served you well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's correct. Speed to market is very, very important to be able to take something, an idea, and act on it very, very quickly. And I think the speed of delivery is very important, but it's also again, speed back to a customer is just as important, or speed back to after an appraisal and how quickly you get back to somebody. So I think speed today is a currency in itself. It's very, very important that someone has that ability to be able to implement very quickly, and only through action can you lead your business. You can have all the ideas in the world, but if you can't put them to action, then nothing's going to happen.
Speaker 1:Leadership is an interesting topic and even when I speak on a program like we Are Selling or I'm at the Complete Salesperson course, you mentioned the word leadership and people think you're talking about a CEO or something like that. But a leader is someone who can lead a decision and that could be the owner deciding to invest and go with you. And then they're on the market and then we've got to lead them to understand what the market's prepared to pay for the property and then we're coming up to auction day, what the reserve is or the final offer. There is a skill in leadership and you did it in your own career. You're able to lead to the results that you got, but, more importantly, you've led a whole group of people now. Hence the purpose of being on this audio today, that leadership moment I think salespeople need to understand. You do need some leadership.
Speaker 2:You certainly do, and that comes through clear communication. So to lead a vendor into the next steps, you need to be able to communicate with them effectively and plan out their next steps so they feel safe and they feel secure. It also provides clarity that I'm going to choose this person. I feel safe and it's clear my journey ahead with this person. It's no different in leadership with leading a small team in EBU or leading 170 people. Clear, consistent communication is paramount. To be able to lead, People need to feel safe and know where they're going, whether it be a team member or whether it be a vendor.
Speaker 1:Now we just had your entire team, along with the Barry Plant Group, locked down for two days going through the full complete salesperson course experience and, as you know from being at that course, lead generation, lead conversion, client fulfillment. When you look at all the agents you've led and assist today, and even in your own coaching programs that you are putting together, when it comes to lead generation, what are those key moments where the agents who you've had succeed do really well, be it claiming doors? What's your observation in lead generation, what they had to do to cut through and not just be another agent? You've absolutely nailed it, lee.
Speaker 2:How long have I got? I've got two hours to talk about this. I'm in the zone now. We're right in it. Absolutely paramount Lead gen, lead generation, pipeline management and being able to stay in contact with people that you've appraised or people that you've met in the community.
Speaker 2:They don't always have to be an appraisal, but people you've met, you've database and we refer to it as also claiming doors.
Speaker 2:Now, back when we worked together, we had a lot of success around creating a pipeline, where back then we spoke about unsigned commission and looking at a pipeline a lot differently and telling that up, which certainly changed the way I ran a pipeline. I still train my team around the same concept, but it's paramount. Anybody that you bring on needs to have the ability to chase leads, lead generate and create a pipeline. So before we do anything at all, at the start of our journey with a new person, they have to identify, they have the ability through training and development, of course, from ourselves that they can create the basics and create them well, which is lead gen. Once you've got that right, everything else can be taught so easily after that. But you've got to have the leads to be able to convert. So it's the main item for us and it's our main indicator in our business. Across my offices Every single day, I get a tally at the end of the day on how many leads we've generated for the day, and it keeps me on track with how we're going.
Speaker 1:What's a good day of leads for you? A good day for leads is 60 across our offices, so 60 leads, and when we look at the listing streams or the opportunity streams, what's working best across your offices?
Speaker 2:In listing streams. Phone contact is still the best. So, going back to the basics, open for inspections. A huge lead source for us as well. Social media is playing a bigger part for us now, direct mail and direct email marketing also generating leads, but phone calls is still generating the highest amount of leads for us.
Speaker 1:Now, I was working with some people the other day and actually Danny Grant was on this one with me and we're talking about visually prospecting, where you've got two jars, you put 100 marbles in one and every time you get a connect you put it over to the next one because someone's got to be keeping count. What's a good day of connects for your agent and for the agents listening, thinking how many do I do a day? Probably don't even know how are you counting them and what's a good day of connects?
Speaker 2:We have our different lead sources, so we're still pen and paper with our leads and we cross off as we go, as we circle, the ones that we've connected. So if we're going to make a hundred calls for the day, we're likely to connect to about 40 people. We want between two and three appraisals from each prospect every single day.
Speaker 1:What phone calls work better now versus then. So we've all got our favorite phone calls that we're making, but what's working best in your business?
Speaker 2:So first, and foremost, I think our database calls are working the best because these people are already in our database and we're staying in contact with them frequently, bringing them to a list. Apart from that, open for inspections are a very good lead source for us. Street marketing exceptional. The 10 by 10 by 20s around solds around our solds around our competitor's solds are generating good leads for us as well.
Speaker 1:Some things just don't change. Everyone was waiting for this shortcut app. There is no shortcut and I just released to your team the ultimate agent, the Matt Steinway one. Yes, and the biggest thing that came through in Matt's work was the nurturing process. Like every day, he makes a phone call, it's not about finding a listing today. Can I just start that process? Can I put them through my sequence? Can I warm up the data so that when it does come time, I'd be the obvious choice, but I think people prospect to list versus meet to nurture, to convert later on. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And again it comes down to a pipeline. A pipeline that is not coming on the market today but coming on the market in six months or 12 months or two years. And there's a huge difference in agents that are able to nurture those relationships, in adding value to the relationship, not just calling and saying, are you selling, but actually providing a service of what's happening in the market at the moment. I think the other part, lee, that I was saying to my business partners the other day had we had those tools when we first started, we could have doubled the amount of money that we were writing. Today it's easier to access the information where previously we would have to go on to all the different sites. It takes a day just to get the actual data to call, so we're eight hours of collection of data.
Speaker 2:But today you've got programs that will give you all that information of what's sold and who's on your database and these are the people you should call. So you get up in the morning. Today those lists are already in front of you. You don't have to go looking for them anymore. But nothing changes. It's still a contact sport, it's still a human being to human being business, and the more involved you can be in that, the better outcomes you'll have. You can't outsource technology, I think, for your prospecting. You can outsource it for your leads, but you still have to communicate with someone. You can send out newsletters, you can send out mail drops, but they still need a phone call from you to connect the dots.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Warming up the data is where the first part happens, but we're never going to take away, thank God, that human connection and commitment to providing knowledge and helping people progress. Let's move on to lead conversion. The listing presentation you did versus the listing presentation today what's changed?
Speaker 2:What's changed with the listing presentation is it's become a lot more visual, it's become a lot more interactive as well, and you've got access to a lot more opportunities for exposure, for being able to promote that property to more buyers, to promote it more to more offices, where back in the day, it was a Word document that you go and you print out. Today it's a lot more sophisticated. You've got your digital versions as well. You've got ChatGPT also, so it's a lot easier, I believe, to make things more bespoke, and so it's a lot easier, I believe, to make things more bespoke, and they also look a lot better today.
Speaker 1:Why do you think an owner still makes that decision to engage an agent today, regardless of technology? What's that final commitment? Energy?
Speaker 2:clarity communication, a clear plan for the property. That's an interesting one.
Speaker 1:Stage marketing a clear plan for the property. That's an interesting one Stage marketing a clear plan for the property. How much time do you want your agents spending on that?
Speaker 2:Well, you want them really reviewing it. You don't want them spending all day on it, but you do have to have a plan in place in terms of what the next steps are and explain that correctly to a vendor.
Speaker 1:Now you sort of came through as a natural lister. Coming from hospitality, you knew how to read the play. You were used to dealing with all different types of people, so applying the real estate process is easier than learning the people process. What would you advise our agents now who want to get better at that listing, conversation, the use of questions and so forth? What are you building into your own training programs to make them better presenters?
Speaker 2:Today the use of an agenda. So where's this conversation going and what can a client expect from the meeting? I think that's really important, that they have a good understanding, because often, still today, potential vendors are still a little bit skeptical around that particular meeting and what are they going to get sold to. So having a clear agenda, I think, is very important, and also structure a structured listing presentation that covers the main points that the owners want to know.
Speaker 1:Do you still get a chance to go out into the lounge rooms? I do, indeed, and is that to keep you match fit? What's the reason? It's a bit of both, really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, past clients of mine and also helping out agents as well.
Speaker 1:And what do you find when you're back in there? For me, nothing changes. There's still humans looking for direction. But what have you noticed from when you started to now and in assisting the other agents?
Speaker 2:That's another great question. What hasn't changed is the ability to be able to connect with the client, provide a lot of energy, a lot of certainty and clarity in relation to the next steps. Belief transfer is extremely important. They've got to believe and trust in the process that you are providing. What's changed is that I believe today vendors have more information than they've ever had before. They know just as much as what we do in terms of information, comparable sales. They know I'm better than what we do when we go in. They know which ones we should be providing them. So the visual side of things as well has also changed. We can provide them a lot more visuals for them to have a look at as well Case studies, case studies but they're wanting the edge. They're saying, okay, when I'm looking at an agent, what's the difference between one agent to another? Because I've got all the information and it comes down to strategy.
Speaker 1:What do you believe is the difference between a Barry Plant agent out in the marketplace that you're putting through the streets compared to the standard offering?
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the differences is the fact that we're very well trained on how to present, how to build connection with people and get understanding of different personality types, and our strategies that we adopt are very bespoke to each situation. So one of the differences is we don't go in with a one size fits all approach. It's really based on the circumstance and what's right for the client, and we work with our agents every single day on how to approach every different scenario.
Speaker 1:When you came through, there would have been a lot of role play going on to make that work. Is that still a consistent thing or the agents moving away from that?
Speaker 2:It's a good question, lee. It's not as rehearsed as it used to be. There's the ability now to go online and learn, which we didn't have back then. So I'll look at the agents today and the things that we're rolling out with you. I mean, they're state of the art today to be able to train and learn when you're at home having a cup of the art today. To be able to train and learn when you're at home having a cup of coffee.
Speaker 2:The day's finished. You've just done an appraisal and you can go on to two modules that you want to improve on and, by the morning, almost learn them. So that's a big difference today compared to what we had. We didn't have the YouTubes or the amount of trainers that we have today, but also the sophistication that comes along with this training with the visuals and the way you learn today is a lot different. Previously, again back in the day, you'd have to get up in front of everybody and do a role play, which was very daunting, especially as a young guy coming through. So now you can learn differently. And that's with some of the work that we're doing with you in relation to creating these modules for training and development.
Speaker 1:They're state of the art and you can go back to it. You and I were chatting in the structural design of your own, one of evaporation. You know we had some of your senior agents come through the course and they're thinking I used to say that I senior agents come through the course and they're thinking I used to say that I used to do that, why have I stopped doing?
Speaker 2:that and that evaporation is something everyone needs to bring on their radar. Yeah, and that can happen. As you get busier and you're doing appraisal all the time, you forget to include things that were working. And there's also the other thing too, lee what do you have to stop doing? Some things aren't working anymore and you've got to redefine so these training modules. And you're right, my senior guys, they were so pumped after that session because they were enlightened again on things they were doing, but new things that they can be implementing now in today's day and age.
Speaker 1:Client fulfillment is our final and most important part of this agent journey and our agent will go back through this audio and as they go back through this audio, this is designed for you to take actions of. I need to do that. I need to give that thought. Do I have one of these? Do I have one of those? And don't do too much at once. I think people go way too wide Pick something, get it going. Pick something, get it going.
Speaker 1:But when we come to this vendor management process, it's the grand finale of the entire real estate sales process and, as we often discuss, attract, engage, commit. You've attracted the owner, they've engaged, they sign that authority. Now the commitment side comes in, that they'll commit to the pricing and the final information that transacts a sale. No different to us putting a property on the market attract, engage, commit it's the same sequence. What can you share here that you've seen people really break through? I'm going to give you someone to visualize Todd Lucas, one of your great agents and now partners. Yes, I met him when he was like 15 or something. Great guy, great guy, known him forever, but really good at that sensitive, caring part for the owner. Very different to your typical real estate agent. What's been the observations? How do we get better at vendor management?
Speaker 2:I think today, lee, you almost have to reverse engineer what we were taught all those years ago. Engineer what we were taught all those years ago how things have changed transparency, ongoing contact with the vendor in relation to what's happening in a campaign, because we have got more data to look at. Today we know what's selling real time almost. We can keep people up to date very, very quickly with what's going on with their program. We can make comparisons around benchmarking and how we're comparing versus other similar types of properties. We can make comparisons around what other buyers are looking at. They're walking through this particular property, but they're also looking at these other properties as well. We didn't have that data all that time ago Well, now we do properties as well. We didn't have that data all that time ago, Well, now we do.
Speaker 2:But I think fundamentally, one of the main aspects to vendor management is to review, preview. It's to discuss what's happened, let's say, for the last week in vendor management with the property rather, and then discuss what the next steps are. So I say to my team I have an agent system, spiro. You know we had a great open floor inspection with 25 people through, and I'll sit down with that agent and say that's fantastic, how can we get 35 people through next week? So, even if it's going well and that's how I taught Mark and Thea when they worked for me and now significant business partners in the Eastern Group but I'd always get them to think even though it's going well, how can we still do better? And if it's not going as well, what are the next steps? So we've got to keep providing the owners that again, communication and clarity around, strategy around. This is what we're trying to do to get you sold, not just hey, this is what people don't like.
Speaker 1:Very powerful and that's that leadership moment again. And I urge salespeople to study leadership, because it's not that you're leading an organization, you're leading 100 vendors to transact, but leadership is about using the right words, communicating with the right tools, and then you learn. This vendor management could be your number one listing stream, because in every established client, one sale generates five. If you've done a good job and if they felt you were really there. And I think, more than ever now in a world of AI and coldness, people really pick up when you do care and you've done that one little extra thing that you didn't have to do but you did, and they notice that.
Speaker 1:And that's when the biggest success part of anyone's career is that method of introduction onto the next person in the community, which brings about an amazing question. You've got a lot of doors out there, like 8,000 plus property managements. That's a lot of doors because the 8,000 rentals are all owned by 8,000 landlords that live residential somewhere, so no one lives too far away from their property unless it's an interstate one. But then for the group now, what's the target for a year of sales? What's a good year of sales?
Speaker 2:We're averaging between 1,100 and 1,200 sales across our group now. Our target is 2,000. Wow, that's a lot of doors. It certainly is. But we've got the capacity to do that across our catchment areas and through the use also of our property management department and the landlords and connections to that side as well. So it's certainly real impossible over the next five years for us to reach that target.
Speaker 1:Now, traditionally, property management data and sales data were two separate ponds with an iron curtain between them. Today, blending that together and having the salespeople interact with the landlords not about their investment property, but how much the investment property is progressing, Do you want to expand your portfolio? What's been your learn on that in blending doors?
Speaker 2:more than ever before, lee, the importance of having that connection. You've got so many customers that sit in that portfolio I mean what we would do to reach them in one year and you've got them sitting there to be able to service them effectively and create a strategy for them of buying more property and creating a full circle program for them to transact with us and then us look after their property on the management side of things as well. So the opportunity is absolutely huge. But the connection is very, very strong and previously and that's one of the reasons I've worked so hard to get into the property management space, because there's such a big future in property management in Australia and Victoria as well it will come back and having that connection between the sales and property management is very, very important and all the data connected together. So it's not off the table for anybody. We're there to service it. They're a client.
Speaker 1:It's interesting Real estate. Traditionally we're going back a long way in time now, even before I came into real estate. But your original real estate agent did sales and property management because the consumer said I've got a house, I don't even need to sell it or rent it. Over in the UK they still do both of they'll sell it and rent it and they put a big focus on it. Not saying that's right or wrong, but the customer likes to know it's just real estate. You're going to look after it for me and bring that to our team's attention. That it's not as if my division, your division, no, that the customer owns a piece of real estate. Their kids own real estate. The family's about to buy more real estate. We are the real estate agent and I think a lot of people lose sight of that. And congratulations on falling in love with property management. A lot of sales leaders missed it and just were so focused on sales that that was just this hassle over there. What got you passionate about property management?
Speaker 2:There were a few things, lee. The first one is that I saw a huge gap, in particular in the Melbourne marketplace, with property management. Like you said, property management is always just a poor division of a sales company, yet it serves as an enterprise value. So when we want to sell our business, that is really what we're selling. The sales business does have a component, but nothing like the side of property management. So as a business owner, I wanted to create a business. I wanted to grow something that was scalable but also sellable at the right time. But on the property management side, I felt that the tenants and landlords weren't receiving what they needed to be receiving, as someone that owns a property, that sophistication of an investor and working through an investor for bigger and better things, an investor and working through an investor for bigger and better things. How can we work together with somebody and grow their asset? How can we get someone to own multiple properties?
Speaker 2:I ran an investor night last year and people just wanted to sell and I stood up on stage and said, look, let's just go through the next year before you just decide to sell your investment property. I sell enough properties in sales. I don't need everyone else selling as well, because these regulations and laws that have been brought into place they're affecting the mom and dad. These people have worked hard, they've inspired, they've bought a second property, they might've bought a third property and that's generally inescapable for their children, and now they're saying it's too hard, I'm going to sell. Well, we've just got to hang in there. We've got to be the people there to hold their hand and take them to their journey, because they'll look back at five years and say I'm glad I held that property and I'm a lot better for it. So that's where sales plays a big part, because we should be educating on the values of these properties and where they're going to go in in the next five years.
Speaker 1:If there's a coachable moment and there's been many today one of them there was Spira your interest in property management is what makes you a complete agent. Whereas I think sometimes we study one thing that's not mine. Some of the best agents I've ever worked with in sales came from property management. That's correct, because they learned to negotiate very early. They understand the process and then coming into sales is a big transition, but not because they've done a more difficult part. So if you're a real estate sales professional out there or you're wanting to become a real estate sales professional, have an interest in property management. Check in with your property managers. What's going on in the marketplace, what are investors upset about? Because that depth of knowledge we've got to be our own mechanic where you understand everything going on. You can't just leave it to others. That expansion of knowledge is so important. Final question for you and fascinating to see your journey. Actually, for time of recording, how old are you today? 48. 48.
Speaker 2:Wow that's a long time?
Speaker 1:It certainly is. We both just keep turning up. We certainly do, and I think that's a skill. You know a lot of people say that's it, I'm out, I'm going, and then you do that five times. How many jobs have you had, versus you got to keep turning up?
Speaker 2:And I think when you love what you do, Lee, and you're passionate and you've got the energy, you can keep going Very much. So you know, I've got so much energy and I've got so much to give.
Speaker 1:Well, that's our big wrap-up question. So, for the agents, how many actual real estate agents do you have with you now? 38. 38. Where do you want that to be 50. So 50 is the magic number, 50 plus their associates.
Speaker 2:So with their associates we're close to 60, but we've got 38 agents and their associates. So we've got a lot in the system and training program. Who will come through? And we monitor that on a quarterly basis. Who's that next person ready to come through and are they ready and how do we get them ready?
Speaker 1:Now there's people going to be listening to this audio right now that are in another job, always considered real estate, don't know if they can transition over. They get worried about all the things they hear. What would be your advice for those people that are considering that transition to come over If?
Speaker 2:someone's considering coming over to real estate, I think it's definitely worth a discussion with somebody actually doing it, getting an idea of what it's about, especially if they're transitional types of roles, if they're coming from the sales role, if they're coming from hospitality or retail, to definitely have a look at that, even if they did a week in an office to see what it's like and see if it's grabbed their interest. But it's such a rewarding career and transferable skills to be able to double and triple your income.
Speaker 1:Well, sparrow, a fantastic story, and congratulations to everything you've achieved there and what you're doing moving forward, and we look forward to having you on the program again. Thanks for having me, lou.