One of the keys to long-term success is sacrificing short-term sales, according to one advertising expert.
News Corp’s director of real estate advertising, Tom Panos, said brokers need to embrace “delayed gratification” and treat their career as a marathon rather than a sprint.
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Mr Panos said relationships should be built without any assumption of financial return and that clients should be referred to rival brokers if that was in the client’s best interests.
“It’s the broker that helps the most people that wins,” he told The Adviser.
“The way that benefits you is that in the short term you might lose on a deal but the amount of raving fans you create because of your approach will come back to you many times over if you want to treat this as a long-term career.”
According to Mr Panos, the internet has made business more transparent and changed the way customers regard brokers.
“In previous years, brokers were keepers of information. Now, because of the internet, the information is out there. So the role of the broker is to be an authentic, trusted adviser who helps people and who isn’t just an information provider,” he said.
“You’ve got to accept that success in business in 2014 is about doing work now and getting rewarded later.”
Mr Panos spoke to 400 brokers last week at the Melbourne leg of the Better Business Summit, a road show initiative of The Adviser that is currently touring the country. His next presentation will be in Sydney on February 27. Click here for more details.