Managing Director of Ready Media Group, Rob Langton, recently sat down to talk with Founder and Executive Director of McGrath Estate Agents, John McGrath. As the leader of one of Australia's foremost real estate agencies, he had plenty to discuss during this 38-minute interview. We’ve parsed through the extensive conversation to bring you some of the highlights.

His sports aspirations were put on hold by a collapsed lung

“As I got into my thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years age groups, you could start to tell who was going to actually excel at sports, and I was one of those guys. You could also tell who was not going to excel in the classroom; I was one of those guys too.”

McGrath grew up an avid sports fan and competitor, with an ambition to play rugby professionally for the Sydney Roosters and then Australia. His plans were cut short by medical concerns before he could get properly started.

“As it turned out, I ended up having collapsed lungs as a late teen, so my sporting career literally finished overnight.”

“I had an operation. At the end of the operation, I asked the doctor how long before I could train again. He told me that I could probably walk in a couple of weeks and jog a few weeks after that... He said that I couldn’t play football again. I couldn’t do anything that could risk impact on my lungs.”

John McGrath - Courtesy of Getty Images

This forced McGrath to take stock of his options, and re-evaluate where he could make a career for himself. At the time, he was selling cars, but he didn’t want to make that his entire life.

“I couldn’t play football, and I got a bad HSC mark because I didn’t really try that hard in the classroom. I was stuck with, “What do I do next?” So, I went to a careers advisory centre... I ended up settling on real estate.”

Given his successes in the world of real estate, McGrath looks back on that moment and views it as an integral turning point that changed his life for the better, even if he struggled to see the bigger picture at the time.

“I’m quite lucky that I had collapsed lungs because it forced me to take another career path.”

It took McGrath six months to sell his first property

After working as a property manager for a number of years, a young McGrath decided that shifting agencies was necessary to fulfill his goal of becoming the best sales agent he could possibly be. But whilst he picked up momentum quickly as a property manager, it took a little longer to get going in the sales world.

“I thought because I had great momentum in property management, I’d just do the same and I’d immediately build great momentum in sales. But it took me six months to sell my first property.”

The slow progression felt counterintuitive to someone who was so used to being able to strong-arm his way into rapid career advancement.

John McGrath during his interview with Rob Langton

“After the first three months I was starting to lose confidence. I was starting to think that maybe I am too young, which my previous boss had said.”

But his dedication and perseverance eventually paid off; after months of struggling, McGrath was able to secure his first sale. The significant was not lost on the young agent, as is evident by the fact that McGrath remembers the exact address of the property in question.

“28 Norfolk Street, Paddington, was my first sale, and I reckon that sale saved my career... because I got a sale, and then I got a second shortly after, and then a third one. I built momentum.”

McGrath consistently refers to “momentum” as one of the chief tenets of his success, and this start in agency is a perfect example of exactly what that means.

He hired non-experienced agents to create a point of difference for McGrath Estate Agents

“At some point – four or five years into my real estate career – I figured I needed to be in an environment that was going to allow me to become the best real estate salesperson I could be.”

Years of toiling away under the guidance of older and more experienced agents had led to McGrath developing a desire to go out and prove himself on his lonesome.

“I figured I had to go and do it myself... so I went and started from the loungeroom, and then I went to a serviced office a few months later.”

“Fortunately, I was naïve enough to not know how much money I should have had to start; how much experience [I lacked], and how many courses I hadn’t done. I just figured that if I was good at selling real estate that’s all I needed.”

Sometimes, the inability to see all the qualities and knowledge you lack when starting a business venture is a good thing; you can throw yourself into the industry without being weighed down by expectations and pessimism.

McGrath Estate Agents' office

For the rest of his team, McGrath wanted to embrace that optimistic ethos entirely. He figured that established agents wouldn’t want to work under a young salesperson who had only just founded their own independent agency, so he reached out to individuals outside of the real estate sphere to fill out his team.

“I started going around to people that I knew that I thought had talent that were not in real estate, and I told them to come and do a few Saturdays with me. So the first half a dozen employees were not in real estate.”

The benefit of hiring outside of real estate was that McGrath could mould these agents into exactly what he wanted.

“I was able to coach them and train them in my way, and they got momentum. And others that were experienced started looking across the garden fence and asking what we were doing.”

This was only a single part of what made McGrath Estate Agents stand out from their competition during their early days. McGrath was always looking for small ways to create a distinct agency that bucks the local trends.

“We used to do things very differently; everyone else was putting up photographs and I used to use pencil sketches, cause I thought that it was different. Everyone else was auctioning in a board room or a meeting room and I was auctioning at the property on-site. I introduced floor plans when no one else had used floor plans.”

“I was trying to do the little things. Still auctioning and selling real estate, but finding little points of difference that were customer advantageous.”

How McGrath manages big egos

As McGrath Estate Agents experienced growth and more offices were opening up, bigger and better agents were taking their talents to McGrath’s agency. With more established salespeople coming onboard, McGrath was faced with the challenge of taking agents with entrenched views on how to approach particular problems, and helping them adapt to the McGrath Estate Agents framework.

“Managing the highest performers is often the most challenging task – whether you’re in a sporting environment or a business environment, people who are elite at what they do... sometimes that comes with big egos, or a sense of entitlement.”

“You will find from time-to-time people’s egos get in front of them.”

The key to getting past a big ego?

“Consistency. Over the years, transparency and consistency [have been instrumental]… We’ve built a framework that people have relied on that is transparent.”

For him, communicating with his agents is an integral part of managing an agency. By staying in touch with every member of his organisation, McGrath doesn’t allow anyone to feel alienated or above the business. Every individual represents another spoke on the wheel, necessary to creating a positive working environment, and he makes sure to remind his agents of that fact.

“I think you’ve got to be on the phone every day. I would spend two or three hours every day on the phone, often to my top franchisees, top-achieving agents, and just checking in.”

An evolving leadership team is crucial to success

When pressed for advice, McGrath immediately highlights the need for a business to consistently evaluate its leadership team.

“A business never outpaces its leader, or leaders. For a business to grow, you need to have a constantly growing, evolving leadership team.”

“Sometimes that means some people out, some people in. Hopefully it means the people that are in stay there but they just keep growing.”

John McGrath (left), with Danny Grant (centre) and Chris Mourd (right)

You can’t just spend your way out of a leadership crisis, says McGrath. Systematic modifications need to be made if progress is to be sustained.

“I don’t think you can just spend your way to more success with marketing. I think the leader and leadership team need to keep growing.”

With that, comes the ability to take ownership over outcomes. A strong leader possesses accountability for both the successes and the failures of a team or project.