Property Point

Ange Postecoglouis a good example for anyone in sport or business or someone trying to get ahead in life - that perseverance, consistency, effort, self-belief, discipline and culture create success.

The Tottenham Hotspurs Manager (coach in our world) has gone from playing football (soccer in our world) for South Melbourne then coaching in Australia, Japan and Scotland before taking over one of the English Premier League’s most famous clubs.

He took over the Spurs after massive success over several years at Celtic in Scotland and arrived at a time when Tottenham seemed to have lost direction. Just before the season kicked off, the Spurs’ most famous player and highest goal scorer, Harry Kane, walked out.

But Ange just did what he had always done. He stuck to the brand of football he believed in, he created a culture at the club where the players believed in him and supported his positive, attacking style of play.

And, with some early success, the fans got on board. I don’t think the fans expected their team to be Premier League Champions this year but they were encouraged by ‘Angeball’, with its attacking intent and were blown away by early season success. They started singing songs about him.

Now Ange’s team won’t be winning the league this year. They are sitting fifth on the table and at the time of me writing this they had suffered several losses in a row. It’s a pretty tough comp that is dominated by a handful of massively rich clubs.

So, I would have thought fifth is pretty good in your first year. The challenge for Ange will be to maintain the level in the second-half of the season.

But he has given hope to fans and brought out the best in his players. And I’ve noted a few things: He doesn’t get too excited about a win (let’s maintain some equilibrium), he keeps it simple and uncomplicated saying he is doing nothing different to any other club he has coached because the philosophy and game style are the same. And he is humble.

So, for me, it all applies to working in business and real estate. Be consistent with your effort, maintaining the standards of communication and other key elements that are vital for doing the best thing by the sellers I work for.

Have a strategy, a game plan that works. A lot of sellers say: ‘you only need one buyer’ and that is true but the key thing is that one buyer needs to see that there is competition for the property, that they are not going to be able to steal the damn thing. The marketing, the data base of buyers, the team work within the agency creates competition.

And you need to work with a business that has a culture of success. One where everyone in the organisation understands what we are there to do. The client needs to be at the centre of everything.

Like Ange’s players, Gardian people enjoy the work but the enjoyment only comes because the work is being done and the results are there for our clients. Oh, and we’ve got a song, too, but we don’t expect you to sing it when we get you a good result.

Contributed by David Fisher

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