I had the pleasure of attending my 7th AREC and I wanted to share with you some of my takeaways from some of the speakers, so you may think about how to use them as property managers, BDMs, leasing consultants or owners of property management businesses.

It is a conference that features quite a few motivational speakers and sales agents sharing their tips, stories and ideas, but the process of selling a property is no different to the process of leasing and listing a new management, or managing a client and their biggest asset. You have to have the right mindset, plan and tools to demonstrate value and provide an amazing experience to your landlords and tenants.

MC for the event, Tom Panos framed it well for the delegates as he opened by saying, “Never let your past dictate your future”, and “All of us in this conference room, are an ecosystem of learners, so learn, think big and then bigger!”

Tom Ferry is considered by many as the #1 real estate coach in the world. He kicked things off on Sunday morning and got us all in the AREC mood with his energising and entertaining delivery. His theme, ‘Out market and out innovate your competition’ had us really thinking about the basics when it comes to being an agent, but also how to think bigger in terms of planning growth and increasing market share.

• Cast a larger net when thinking about where your next listing is coming from.

• Don’t think of one or two ways to get listings – think of 10 or more ways. Have you mapped out all your lead sources for new managements, both internal and external to your agency?

• Are you a Flintstone or a Jetson? Do you use technology to innovate and create efficiencies in your business? Are you still handwriting inspection reports or sending paper-based newsletters to landlords as opposed to using technologies like Inspection Manager for inspection reports and Mailchimp to send an e-newsletter that includes video.

• The better you get, the better the competition, so always practice at being better. Are you role-playing your listing presentations with others in the office? Are you practising how to educate a landlord on what their starting price should be to find a new tenant when their property comes up for re-let?

• Have a plan for your day, week, month, and year! Are you writing down what’s urgent and important? If you fail to plan you plan to fail!

Next was Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur, author of the international top-selling book The 4-hour Workweek, adviser to businesses such as Facebook, Uber and Evernote, and listed on Forbes’ “Names you have to know in business”.

Tim shared his thoughts on eliminating disruption and ways to adapt to a forever-changing market place.

• Information is power, but question is king. What questions are you asking your landlords to customise their service experience? Are you in fact asking questions or are you just stating the usual spiels and therefore being same-same.

• How have you simplified the process? How easy are you making it for your clients to do business with you?

• Delegate or automate anything that doesn’t contribute to you being dollar productive.

• Test the impossibilities – try and see what you think might not work in the marketplace, because in many cases you won’t know until you try.

Les Brown, a worldwide motivational speaker, delivered a very heartfelt account of his story – how he created his wealth from zero to millions. Les talked about how to meet challenges, create impact, and doing it all by communicating from your heart.

• Most people fail because they aim too low and HIT! Not because they aim too high and MISS.

• Get really good at telling your story – how many people know why you do what you do? What’s your belief? How do you go about establishing trust if your clients don’t know your story?

• People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. People can smell commission breath, so don’t just go out and get another listing as BDM, or call your landlord with a repair because it’s your job as property manager. Do it because you care and you show it in every way you communicate.

• What’s your energy signature? When you speak to a landlord or tenant, are you exuding your passion, showing how much you love what you do, and knowing it’s all backed by a good systems and processes? Are your clients feeling secure with having their property with you after they leave you or get off the phone to you?

I always come away from AREC with lots of ideas but the key to any conference or any learning that you have is to go back to the office or at home and implement! So here’s to implementing and to making this year the best year of your life!