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Structure and discipline are two keys to success as a real estate agent according to Ray White’s number one sales agent Gavin Rubinstein, speaking at REINSW’s Young Agents Networking Event in Sydney.

Last year Gavin, still only 28 years old, was awarded the number one salesperson for the Ray White Group worldwide, beating off competition from over 13,000 agents in nearly 1,000 offices. He has also been awarded Ray White’s number one salesperson in NSW for the last three years.

Gavin started his career in real estate as a Personal Assistant, and says part of the reason he has been so successful is down to discipline and structure.

Gavin said: “Most agents fail because they don’t have structure. So one of the things I did at the beginning was to write up and implement a plan.

"To be successful you also need the discipline to stick to the plan, which is what most agents lack. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment and if you’re not disciplined, why aren’t you?

For the first five years of his career Gavin said he was a ‘glorified telemarketer’, and he would not leave the office until he had made 30 connections a day.

“It is more about the people than the bricks and mortar, and if you work that out you save yourself a lot of trouble,” said Gavin.

“Frequency builds trust. I would nurture my contacts relentlessly, and because I would check in so often the frequency built trust which changed the game for me.”

But to stand out from the crowd and be successful, Gavin says you have to know the reasons behind what you do – what is the “why”.

“Every agent out there is doing the same thing, so you need to think about what you can do which is different and how you can create interest.

“You have to identify what drives you and work out the reason why you do the job. For the first three to five years it is a tough game but I can promise you that it only gets better.

“When I was growing up my household was riddled with debt and my “why” was that I didn’t want to have to worry about money.

“As a young agent if you don’t understand the “why”, you’re going to have a problem.”

Gavin has three people in his team, and is looking to recruit a fourth team member soon. What does he look for?

“I look for hunger because I don’t want to give time and effort to people who don’t want it.

“There are so many pretenders in this game and to work in my team they have to want it, because I am not there to hold their hand. I need people to be responsible.”

Last month (May 2016) Gavin and his team achieved record sales despite a lot of people in the industry saying that stock is tight.

He said: “I think people who say stock is tight use that as an excuse because real estate is a mind game.

“We see it as an opportunity and if you can control your mind to be positive you set yourself up in this business.”