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‘Never forget that real estate is a people business’

By Grace Ormsby
15 February 2023 | 6 minute read
mike mccrthy mat steinwede lisa pernell reb vloj3o

A recent network event has offered a reminder that caring and authenticity are keys to real estate success.

With the Melbourne Cricket Ground playing host, Barry Plant recently held its annual Kickstart event for hundreds of its principals, sales agents and property management business development managers.

This year’s focus? Building success for the year ahead.

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The keynote speaker for the event was Central Coast agent Mat Steinwede, whom Barry Plant acknowledged as rarely taking speaker engagements these days.

The McGrath agent offered “a starkly different message to the type usually delivered at these types of events,” Barry Plant COO Lisa Pennell noted.

“While many businesses in our industry are turning their attention to proptech as a means of success, Mat’s message focused on the importance of caring and authenticity when delivering services to real estate clients and really reflected the group’s lived values,” she shared.

As her first major event since joining Barry Plant in December 2022, Ms Pennell said that while she’s attended plenty of these types of events over her career, she had “never seen that level of excitement and genuine enthusiasm for change.”

She acknowledged that while effective technology is becoming increasingly important in the real estate space, as it is across all sectors, “those who want to survive and thrive going forward should never forget that real estate is a people business and that relationships, built on trust, are everything.”

A panel of home-grown Barry Plant agents also anchored the day, with Ghizlaine Digby, Caleb Venneri and Hayley Taufa all taking to the floor.

As inaugural members of the Barry Plant Pinnacle Club — the group’s initiative for high achievers — they have been noted as having “all very quickly built amazing success, but all of them have travelled quite different roads to get to where they are.”

“The Barry Plant team heard real truths from real people and embraced it,” Ms Pennell reflected.

For Barry Plant CEO Mike McCarthy, the event offered tremendous value for agents — simply in hearing from their peers.

Heralding the event as a great success, he believes the lessons learned during the day “will see Barry Plant agents build their market share in this challenging market.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Grace Ormsby

Grace Ormsby

Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.

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