Dr Katherine Hunt
Riding the waves of property cycles sounds easy in hindsight, especially for those professionals who have been through many ups and downs. But the reality is, when it feels like the weight of the ocean is pushing you down (as it can feel right now for some of us), it can be a struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel and act accordingly by deepening our client relationships.
As members of REBAA you are in a fortuitous position, because you’ve proven yourself an ethical and professional business operator to be granted membership. This means you’re positioned better than most to ride the waves of property markets, building on foundations of ethical principles, professional values, and ethical growth.
The opportunity at the moment lies in our ability to reinforce those ethical foundations, ethical business practices, how we communicate our value, and strengthen our foundations of organic growth.
Ethics really is the foundation for your future success. Think about this: Say you’re seeking a financial planner for one of your clients and I have two options for you: the best financial planner in Australia; or, the most ethical financial planner in Australia. Which would you prefer an introduction to? Most choose the latter. Why though? You would think with something so important that being the ‘best’ would matter most. But as you’ve likely just shown, you would probably prefer for your client to be looked after by someone who you can trust 100% to act in their best interests, first and foremost.
The same is true for you.
It is your reputation for a deep personal connection, and for advice in your clients’ best interests, that has resulted in you getting to where you are today. Despite all the effort you put in to being the best you can possibly be, your reputation rests on your ethics, not your skills. (or is at least weighted towards your ethics)
The ethical foundations we build on as a membership base include our professional values alongside the principles of client psychology that allow us to truly provide advice in our clients’ best interests. Every single one of your clients wants to feel seen, heard, and like they belong. Now is the time to invest in those conversations (similarly, each of your referral partners also wants to feel seen, heard and like they belong).
When you consider how to deeply connect with your clients following these foundational psychological principles, you very quickly end up reinforcing your REBAA values.
You are in a unique position, because by strengthening your business practices around ethical growth, you will use this current property cycle to cement your business as a cornerstone of the community and the profession.
Your business has three components, if we had to be brutal: Efficiency, the client experience, and organic growth. The AI opportunity lies in using it for efficiency while keeping your true pillars of differentiation (client experience and organic growth) based on human connection, trust, and insights only a human can develop.
This phase of your business is to reinforce your ethical foundations so you can guarantee both your reputation and relationships are ready for the next property cycle wave.
