Welcome to Episode 75 of our podcast, Courageous Conversations, hosted by Leanne Pilkington.
In this episode, our guest is Leanne Druery, Sales Consultant at RE/MAX Results Mackay. She talks about why she entered the real estate industry at 40, what she learned from her career break trip around Australia, her transition to sales, how to hire a PA, how the pandemic impacted her, what she experienced during Elite Agent’s Transform program and her tips for dealing with your own courageous conversations
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or Google Podcasts.
00:30 – Leanne’s previous experience in project management, teaching, aviation and finally entering real estate at age 40.
01:15 – Why Leanne pursued real estate in the first place; ‘why not have a go’ as a motivating philisophy
02:25 – Starting real estate in 2013 when the market was crashing; starting as a personal assistant to learn how the industry works; transitioning to sales from there
03:40 – Travelling around Australia during a career break; what motivated Leanne to take the journey
05:00 – Taking the kids on the trip and using it as their way to learn and experience life
06:00 – Learning not to delay from the experience when her late husband was diagnosed shortly after with pancreatic cancer
07:00 – How Leanne made the transition to sales and what it was like
08:00 – Making the decision to hire a PA and hiring the right kind of person; reflecting on Tom Panos’ words, “if you don’t have a PA, you are the PA.”
09:00 – Using DISC profiling to hire staff and recruiting based on attitude
10:00 – From 25 sales in her first year to 103 during COVID; how the pandemic affected Leanne’s business activities and carrying through new strategies formulated during COVID even today (e.g. Zoom meetings, more video content, more social media)
12:15 – Looking at the two types of agents who use social media; think about the message you’re sending to others if you want to be a change agent
13:30 – The biggest challenge in real estate; everyone wants everything now.
14:00 – Winning Elite Agent’s Transform program; what it was like, how it impacted her – particularly being so soon after her husband passed away; ‘a degree in 3 months’
16:30 – Leanne’s focus is to be an elite agent for her community; not to have the highest numbers. From there, everything else falls into place.
17:20 – Leanne’s community work and experience, including taking part in runs.
18:20 – Atomic Habits by James Clear
19:00 – How long it took to train to be able to do a half marathon; using accountability to reach your goals and make the experience fun
21:00 – Who keeps Leanne accountable and what’s next for her
22:25 – Leanne’s tips for approaching courageous conversations with herself and/or others
23:30 – Being able to deal with tough conversations is a trained skill, and preparation is key