The Hot Seat

In today’s Interview we talk to Debbie Palmer of the PPM Group.

Debbie started in real estate industry 30 years ago and around 20 years ago Debbie formed the PPM group. Debbie also runs the PPM conference which is one of the only remaining annual conferences for the Property Management industry and is celebrating it’s 18th year as of 2019.

In our interview Debbie shares Why agencies are moving away from a shop front and more towards home based or a shared work space, How the importance of seamless integration of technology into a business can actually be a disruptor, How your focus on customer service can help you differentiate yourself from another business and Why it’s important to use technology to support and NOT to replace people within the industry.

Debbie has been in the industry to watch it go through wave after wave of change and Debbie shares real word knowledge of where the industry is going in the future, while balancing the foundation of what the real estate industry is all about.

In this interview we talk to ‘Power Couple’ Hallie and Brennan Hill, who run 3 separate Ray White agencies in Brisbane.

They are clients of Affordable Staff and over our time working with them we’ve watched their rapid growth and at the same time their constant adoption of technology into their business experiencing 17 million in sales in the last month and 45-50 new property managements on average every month.

In our interview Hallie and Brennan share How buying habits are changing at a faster rate and how the key to success is around ‘richer relationships’ where they know WHO the real YOU they are buying from, Why you should be able to adapt to every individual clients needs and offer EVERY client irrespective of the size of your business a unique experience, Why you should always give out your ‘GOLD’ and how it positions you as a leader in the marketplace and Why you should always give out your ‘GOLD’ and how it positions you as a leader in the marketplace.

Eva and David interview Tanya Titman who is the director of an accounting firm Consolid8 which recently merged with BDO where Tanya is still the director of Consolid8 and the head of strategic innovation for BDO in Australia.

Tanya comes from a business owners background, has experience in operating businesses outside of the accounting space and uses accounting principles to grow those businesses. In other words, Tanya shares ‘Real World’ knowledge.

In our interview we discuss Why tough times are coming into the Real Estate industry due to a lack of understanding the numbers in a business, How systematizing a business can have a HUGE impact on the value of a Rent Roll, how cloud has impacted the Accounting industry and how that change will impact Real Estate and the steps a Principal can take to start to understand the performance of a business and never be afraid to ask the Stupid questions.

Eva and David chat to the CEO of First National Ray Ellis, where we gain his insights on where the industry is now and where Ray sees it going in the future.

Ray comes from a very varied background running a Casino/ Transportation Company, Managing an AFL club, owned an Advertising agency, Managing Director for Asia Pacific and started off his career in insurance before his role for the last 14 years at First National.

In our interview they discuss why the industry needs to be more adaptive to change and why a defined point of difference is more important today than ever before, The importance of an agency becoming the Lord Mayor of their area, becoming an expert and using that to get more business than your competitors, the change in dynamics in the Australian population, how we’re becoming a rental society and how it’s impacting the industry and so much more.

Eva and David interview Hamish Turner who specialises as a property management trainer, consultant and also sells Real Estate businesses.

Hamish really understands how to identify the true asset value of a Real Estate business with as of September 2018 selling about a dozen Real Estate businesses with Hamish mentioning at the end of 2018 that he’d had a record year. Hamish shares key areas around how the industry is growing and his simple approach to building the value of a rent roll can be applied to any business of any size. After all a rent roll is the asset of a Real Estate business.

It’s a great interview and Hamish is a wealth of knowledge consulting on so many levels with different clients across Australia and New Zealand

Eva and Damien interview Sadhana Smiles who is the CEO of Property Management Harcourts International.

Sadhana discusses The concern of property managers losing their job as the industry changes, Why service is not just about the number of ‘things’ you do for a client and is more about the ‘stickiness’ of the services you provide, How technologies like ‘Google’ will impact a real estate agency in the future, Why your Property Management business is an asset and how you should treat that asset and really so much more.

Sadhana is considered a strong industry influencer and innovator that has real world suggestions and advice on the industry. A great interview!

David and Eva interview Kasey McDonald from Property Management Training Academy on her experience in the industry as a property manager and now consulting within the industry.

Kasey shares her early experience as a property manager, why staffing is one of the biggest challenges in the industry, the best way to recruit and find the right person to work in the PM industry, the repetitive nature of the industry and how it all comes down to service, the fear of PMs losing jobs and how automation and AI are going to disrupt the industry.

One of the benefits of interviewing Kasey is she has worked hands on in the industry but more importantly now works ‘ON’ the industry so she has great insights on what is happening from an overall perspective and a number of great tidbits on how to flourish in Real Estate.

David interviews our very own Outsourcing Specialist, Damien Barnett. Damien started in the Real Estate industry over 18 years ago and transitioned to work with us over 3 years ago.

Damien is sharing his experience as a Property Manager and now a Service Provider to the industry and in this interview we discuss How technology is getting in the way of building relationships, the difference between a Property Manager and Office Administrator and why the industry has too many Administrators, the changing world from ‘One Job’ for life to many jobs in one lifetime, How certain agencies are embracing AirBnB and making a motza and we preview you to the 60 second Hot Seat, which is a heap of fun.

David interviews Karen Coloso who is the GM of operations for Affordable Staff in the Philippines. Karen holds a masters in Accounting, has almost completed a law degree and shares her previous 10 years working for a not-for-profit before a brief stint in a call centre where she was called an ‘Asian Monkey’ on her first tech support call, the difficulties of working with teams in India, why she thinks it’s better NOT to have an Australian GM full time in our office, how to grow a culture of empowerment so you can go on holiday whenever you want to, and the problem with getting people within the Philippines to understand we’re not a call centre.

Damien and David interview Michael Furlong from Rent Roll Maximiser who shares his journey from hospitality to Property Management.

This is a very controversial hot seat where Michael explains why purchasing his first 13 investment properties prompted his career change, Why most PM’s are just rent collectors that don’t add any value to the industry, why most property managers don’t understand Investment, tax, don’t understand how to fill in an authority or how GST works and why this needs to change for the industry to grow. Why PM’s make the mistake of positioning themselves as a replaceable services like Jim’s Mowing as opposed to a real profession like a GP and why you should never cross the path of a chef that is holding a knife.

Michael takes his sharing to the NEXT LEVEL and you can feel Michael’s passion for the industry.