Jul 11
21

Go Gecko…..GONE Gecko

41 Comments

The first major casualty in this market. Yeah, we’ve seen a bunch of agents leave the industry and that is sad, but completely inevitable. And so was this.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/life/homesproperty/gecko-chief-ousted-as-agencies-teeter/story-e6frequ6-1226098631961

The individual agents we have seen leaving the industry (hell I saw a few of them leave my seminar yesterday) are leaving for very obvious reasons. They talk a better game than they live. You want to tell me how good an agent you are, show me your bank account.

Same as a brand. If your economic model does not support success, if you are going to live on price you are going to DIE on price. You become the first and most affected in recessionary times.

I must say, from a business perspective i hope this market stays this way for years. Never before have we seen the differential between a skilled agent, who is actually worth their money, and an idiot being supported and sustained by a bouyant property market, never before have we seen that differential in skill so obvious, and so valuable for sellers.

So you who are currently wondering whether or not top invest in some training, in skilling up, in getting better….best make that decision NOW. Without tooting my own horn, I’m proud that I am creating #1 agents in areas across the state and even a few in other states, and the MORONS who are saying ‘unsubscribe me Glenn, I signed up to your email list, and you have some really good ideas, but you can’t spell…..’ well, I gotta say, suck it up princess, and say Hi to the recruiter at Coles when my guy, who is now your competition, kicks the hell out of you financially.

‘Tigers starve last in the jungle’

and let me just say right now, the tigers who I am working with right now, are making me prouder every single day.

….UNLEASH HELL !!!!!

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Posted in Brisbane business success Glenn Twiddle real estate real estate agent real estate sales sucess real estate training by Glenn Twiddle 41 Comments

41 Responses to "Go Gecko…..GONE Gecko"

  • lance baxter says:
    July 21, 2011 at 11:07 am

    I have no remorse for commission discounters like GO GECKO, go gecko started a BAD discount culture and was selfisly making it even harder to earn a living from the Real Estate industry. Lets hope this foolishness stops.

  • Randolph Rossi says:
    July 21, 2011 at 11:17 am

    This is an indictment on the ACCC forcing the industry to drop standards of trainning by virtue of allowing licencees to practice from a TAFE certificate without the previous 2yrs compulsory experience in the industry, as was previously the norm.
    I am suprised that there has not been even greater issues arising from this.

  • Greg Vincent says:
    July 21, 2011 at 11:25 am

    The writing was on the wall for Go Gecko. No wonder they say that Common Sense is Uncommon.

    “Turnover is vanity profit is everything.” You can’t survive without making a profit.

    From one of the fastest growing franchises in BRW and now to the administrators.

    Cost cutting is not the answer. Providing Value through Marketing, Skill and Knowledge is the way to succeed.

  • ian chambers says:
    July 21, 2011 at 11:27 am

    thanks for the info glenn cost cutters do more harm than good for the industry ,unfortunately some vendors regret signing with them cheers Ian

  • HI Glenn says:
    July 21, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Mate cost cutters..ha. We signed a seller last night, they had not even had a phone call from their Geko agent for 2 months. phone calls cost too much.
    DAVE

  • Alex Petrovansky says:
    July 21, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Glenn, I think this analysis is a bit premature, it is a corporate restructure, and there are still about 50 good franchisee’s operating independantly under the Go Gecko brand,who are running and will continue to run successful business’s even in this climate.This is just another hurdle to overcome. Cheers Alex

  • Roger J says:
    July 21, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Not surprising, with volumes so low, across Queensland, and a quote in today’s Courier, ” some 5 percent of agencies closed” more like 20 percent from my perceptions and research.

  • John L. Farrell says:
    July 21, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    Well said Glenn, agree with your statement 100%. As the old adage goes, “You Pay Peanuts You Get Monkeys”. Ian Chambers is also right, so many vendors regret signing with these self proclaimed ‘champions of real este’!

  • Lori Collins says:
    July 21, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    The usual applies. You only get what you pay for and if you are paying peanuts you get monkeys! You need to be worth what you get paid and be able to justify your credentials or let you experience and reputation speak volumes for you.

  • Sharnelle James says:
    July 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    I agree with you Ian. Yes I also agree that a few vendors regret when they actually understand the full marketing and the motivation for a full commission agent to achieve great results for them.Cheers
    Sharnelle

  • Jac says:
    July 21, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    It’s all about service, and everyone knows you only get what you pay for. It will be interesting to see how the commission deregulation goes in this market. Especially small companies versus the large franchises.

  • Brenda says:
    July 21, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Thanks for the info Glenn. Very powerful and very true comments made by yourself. Bring on the skilled agents I say!

  • Graeme says:
    July 21, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    Hey Glenn,
    Keep up the good work. I learnt a lot from your enthusiasm..gee hope I spelt that right….and positive attitude. It works for me too and I am having my best year in my short 4 yr career and my bank balance has never been better. Cheers mate

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 21, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    and hey Alex, I agree mate, there a few Go Gecko franchisees, like yourself, who I feel deserve to be charging more for their services. John King up in Cairns, what a class act… !!!!

    I guess the brand as a whole took on full service agents, and I believe that quality and skill, yours included, when embraced and attended to, should be rewarded. If I was selling a property, I choose the best value agent, and if that is you or John King, then I go with Go Gecko. It just turns out that on a % basis, the feedback I got from people who ghave used a discounted agent, felt they weren’t as happy as with some of my fully skilled, full fee charging clients.

    Cheers for the comment though mate, keep on rocking,

    Glenn

  • Gavin Jackson says:
    July 21, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    Glen, I guess there are some people who’d rather be right than happy (and wealthy)

  • John Poulton says:
    July 21, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Hi Glenn ,out of the 8 people who came from our office 2 left at smoko both were from our commercial dept they have no motivation,felt they know everything and dont like being sold to,strange seeing they are in sales.As for the remaining 6 we all had a great time got tremendous amount of learning from the day i signed up for Mel Emery and you and i am very excited about the future in real estate.If you spent no money at all yesterday apart for your entrance you would have to have been asleep not to get something fantastic from you 3 excellent presenters cant wait to buy my new Harley

    John Poulton l j Hooker Miranda

  • Geoff says:
    July 21, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Hi Glenn,
    There motto says it all , ‘If you use us , you deserve us’
    Cheers Geoff

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    I gotta say, I have been ‘anti G’ for a while for a few reasons.

    1 – I knew 2 buyers were following around a GG agent, and other GG agents, buying properties because they KNEW he was good at getting sellers to accpet ridiculous prices. I just wished he’d used those same skills to market and get buyers to pay more, as he is paid to do.

    2 – Most of my clients were up against them, so I had to come up with strategies to beat a very good USP. I mean, we all like a good deal, so do the sellers.

    I do really hope that the franchise owners, who paid whatever they paid, probably $100k or more, I don’t know, but I hope they aren’t the ones who pay for this error from the top. Either way, we are in a survival of the fittest market right now, and if there are any GG people out there who are ready to rock, I know some agencies that would take them on board, but boy, they better be just as good at pitching why sellers should pay full comm, in exchange for surgically precise negotiation and marketing prowess.

  • Christine Sutherland says:
    July 21, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    Glenn, I happen to admire a lot of what you do and teach. However to refer to people in the industry who are not making money as “idiots” is completely unfair and unwarranted. There are no more under-performers or even “bad apples” in real estate as there are in any industry. Most agents are professional, knowledgeable, well-organised, disciplined, smart and hard working. Most agents are not making money, and a large proportion are in negative earning mode right now coughing up more in costs than they are making.

    If you look at the number of house sales, and divide that by the number of agents in the industry, you can see immediately that the industry is currently massively over-supplied, despite 10,000 already leaving in the last 12 months.

    Certainly if agents follow what you teach, or at least some of it, they’ll have an advantage over others and they’ll have a better chance of surviving this crisis, or if they’re lucky and have great networks, even thriving in it.

    But even if 100% of agents followed your lead, the majority would still be going broke right now.

    I can understand that you took it personally when people walked out of your seminar, but making good people feel like rubbish for not succeeding in an impossible industry is just plain wrong. So if you insulted the people paying you good money because they were hoping to learn from you, you got what you deserved. Obviously some people voted with their feet.

    I don’t know where you got the idea of kicking off your seminars by kicking your audience in the teeth, but it is uninformed and unvalidated. People coughed up the money because they were already in pain. They were already “sitting on a nail”. Watching the video, I couldn’t understand why someone didn’t get up and call you on it.

    I thought that old style “rip ‘em down and build ‘em up again” was well and truly out of trainers’ amamentarium. But obviously you’ve seen some old dinosaur still carrying on like an ill-mannered minor deity and thought that was the way to go. Not cool.

    While I agree that money is generally a pretty good “report card” that is absolutely not the case right now in this industry.

    Glenn you’ve got some good stuff. But your modus operandi as a trainer has a long way to go if you hope to build your reputation further and avoid more walkouts.

  • Ian Thompson says:
    July 21, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    Heah Glenn

    Every seminar I have been to from yourself and the speakers you have brought with you has not only added value to our business, but has broaden the horizon to what we actually do as professionals. You are country miles in front of the others out there and the money I have paid to be in your training is pittance to the results we have gained from implementing only a fraction of the strategies we are planning to implement….

    I love this market : >

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 21, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    Wow, Christine, thank you for your very indepth post and I am going to address it as the effort you made deserves response and is much appreciated even though we may not agree on everything, nor should we, lots of ways to be right, and what’s right for me, may not be right for others.

    CS –
    Glenn, I happen to admire a lot of what you do and teach. However to refer to people in the industry who are not making money as “idiots” is completely unfair and unwarranted. There are no more under-performers or even “bad apples” in real estate as there are in any industry. Most agents are professional, knowledgeable, well-organised, disciplined, smart and hard working. Most agents are not making money, and a large proportion are in negative earning mode right now coughing up more in costs than they are making.

    GT –
    We look at the industry through our own set of experiences Christine. I am looking for where I used the word ‘idiot’ but if you mean ‘Morons’ then yeah I guess that’s a close enough synonym, and here’s the thing. I don’t judge people. I judge behaviour, double standards and incongruence and I admit I am an emotional creature and in some areas of my life I am just as moronic as anyone else. In fact I’ll address this at your judging how I ran the seminar (note – it wasn’t my seminar though I did appear at it, and did invite my database to it, but I was not the promoter).

    But when you say ‘Most agents are professional, knowledgeable, well-organised, disciplined, smart and hard working.’ …no they are not. I recently secret shopped 109 agents, and yes there is the SLIGHT possibility that I picked the worst agents in the state, spanning hundreds of kilometres, from Browns Plains the Gold Coast, all over Brisbane to Caloundra, and I just happened to run into the ones who are very probably nice people, who are probably very conversational around a party, but in their professional lives, they are performing behaviours that I would describe, in the most loving way possible as ‘moronic’ please refer to my results of my various posts on this secret shop exercise. So we see the world through different perspectives. In my experience, most agents are not as you describe, and I adore working with the ones who are however.

    CS-
    If you look at the number of house sales, and divide that by the number of agents in the industry, you can see immediately that the industry is currently massively over-supplied, despite 10,000 already leaving in the last 12 months.

    GT –
    Agreed 100%. There are more casualites coming, and whilst sad, it is inevitable if the skills I have witnessed in the sample I did, are indicative of the whole state.

    CS -
    Certainly if agents follow what you teach, or at least some of it, they’ll have an
    advantage over others and they’ll have a better chance of surviving this crisis, or if they’re lucky and have great networks, even thriving in it.

    GT – Are you saying they can’t thrive in it unless they’re lucky or have great networks? Please listen to this mp3 then tell this agent he is lucky.

    http://glenntwiddle.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/michael.mp3

    CS-
    But even if 100% of agents followed your lead, the majority would still be going broke right now.

    GT – Agreed, and I am simply commenting on how low the bar is set. If the bar was set higher and we didn’t have people talking a better game than they are living, then the stars would have to innovate to be even better.

    CS –
    I can understand that you took it personally when people walked out of your seminar, but making good people feel like rubbish for not succeeding in an impossible industry is just plain wrong.

    So if you insulted the people paying you good money because they were hoping to learn from you, you got what you deserved.

    GT –
    I challenge one person who WAS THERE and SAW ME, to say I insult anyone. I probably care more about these folks careers than THEY do and that is the problem.

    The leaving was a small amount and the speaker was Mal Emery not myself.

    CS –
    Obviously some people voted with their feet.
    I don’t know where you got the idea of kicking off your seminars by kicking your audience in the teeth, but it is uninformed and unvalidated. People coughed up the money because they were already in pain. They were already “sitting on a nail”. Watching the video, I couldn’t understand why someone didn’t get up and call you on it.

    I thought that old style “rip ‘em down and build ‘em up again” was well and truly out of trainers’ amamentarium. But obviously you’ve seen some old dinosaur still carrying on like an ill-mannered minor deity and thought that was the way to go. Not cool.

    GT –
    Well I admire great behaviour in droves. Despite what you think, without networks or luck, or a great area, there are great agents absolutely kicking butt, and I praise and encourage others to model that success. And I certainly am not going to have a positive thinking. have a hug, style seminar and make people feel good about the mediocre sales careers they are living, when they don’t WANT that. If they wanted that I would celebrate it with them, but they want something better, so my job is to make them uncomfortable. So they would do anythign to get out of that discomfort.

    CS –
    While I agree that money is generally a pretty good “report card” that is absolutely not the case right now in this industry.

    GT –
    Yes it is. If that is the score card by which one gauges their success, and I don’t know even one real estate agent where the success barometer is not dollars.

    CS –
    Glenn you’ve got some good stuff. But your modus operandi as a trainer has a long way to go if you hope to build your reputation further and avoid more walkouts.

    GT – I appreciate the feedback, but there are enough people who like my style to keep my reputation growing and improving. I challenge anyone to show me a sales trainer who has grown more in success, reputation, turnover (dollars not clients) and ‘net improved dollars earned per client’ over the last two years than me.

    I say this not because I’m any genius, but I am a phenomenal student of the best mentors in the world, and I have interpreted their teachings into what’s worked for me, my clients and given the overwhelming support seen even in this thread, I would say my building of reputation is ok. In fact, if I tried to be ‘Mr Professional’ wear a suit and all that, tighten up my ‘low brow’ language, stop being so outrageous, then a) it would be fake and b) there’s enough of them who are better at it than me. But there’s NO ONE better at being ME than ME and my reputation since being ME has grown from two years ago, complete obscurity, to now, nipping at the heels of some of the people I model, admire, respect and have learned from, and I’m proud of that success.

    I’m proud of the 4am til midnight work days I put in for my clients.

    In closing Christine, I am ripping them down and calling them on their behaviour being that of an idiot. (see Larry Winget’s book, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It’. And yes, I’m the biggest idiot of them all. I use myself and my weight as a metaphor for their careers.

    I weighed 116-122 kgs for the last 6 years or so, and I knew EXACTLY how to weigh less, and I SAID I wanted to weigh less. I talked a better game than I lived, and I consider that behaviour idiotic. And I wish someone would have had the BALLS to call me that. I had to wait 6 years before I went, ‘Holy Crap, I’m an IDIOT.’

    So I’m on a mission, and the people who I help are thankful for it, and those who are not, can happily go to another seminar and that’s more than ok with me.

    I hope this extraordinarily long comment (or comments, from us both) are of some help to someone in understanding lil ole me.

    But thanks Christine, it is nice to have behaviours challenged, and my oh so flawed behaviours, and oh so emotionally charged commentary is not excepted from that.

  • Chris Gilmour says:
    July 21, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    sorry that 1st comment????- mate should of stayed to the end thats all i got to say about that.

  • Chris Gilmour says:
    July 21, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    tell me glenn an office with 9 listings total – would you say that is doing pretty well?

  • Nathan Haynes says:
    July 21, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    Maybe you can also help me with my spelling too mate…my post was riddled with spelling mistakes!!! Sorry

  • Mark Noble says:
    July 21, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    Hi Glenn,

    In my area we are experiencing a bit of a stock shortage. Everyone is feeling it to some degree. I am relatively new to the industry so I don’t know if it is a good market or a bad market; all that I know is that it is a market. Someone once told me that the market is between your ears. I keep that in mind.

    I just keep to my prospecting and doing what I do. I find many people planning to sell for many and varied reasons. There is a thread developing in my conversations though; the media is telling them that times are tough and the market is down. This creates hesitation in sellers. We have more buyers than properties, so you would think that supply and demand should mean that prices should be stable or go up a bit.

    I find it a bit ironic that the very media that depends in large part on Real Estate advertising for its income appears determined to run the industry into decline. I would have thought that they could benefit from supporting their advertisers.

    Glenn, I have attended a number of event where you have been a speaker. Your message has always resonated with me. I must say that I have had to “suffer” through some other presenters sessions, but as they say you have to crush a lot of rock to win a little gold. I have always found a nugget somewhere in every presentation that I have been to. If your mind is closed you will miss these nuggets and you just might miss the very one that gets your thinking out of a rut.

    Christine, just because there are bad apples in other industries doesn’t mean that we should not strive to lift the overall professionalism of our industry. I must say that in all of my dealings with Glenn, his overriding concern is thst we ALL lift our game and as a consequence our reputations.

  • Shane says:
    July 21, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    well said Glenn

  • Nathan Haynes says:
    July 21, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Whoa…things are getting a little hot in the comment area!! Deep breaths everyone!

    Firstly regarding Go Gecko-i have never been a fan of cost cutting/discounter agencies. When your business model is low cost commission and low or no profits…its the not the best model to have.

    Secondly in my defense to Glenn Twiddle. I have been training with Glenn since late last year and I have to say that i owe my career to him. I was ready to walk away from real estate…i would have been one of those 10,000 agents that walked away. I have flown to Brisbane twice and will be flying again next month for training. I have trained and utilised material from other trainers and frankly everyone of them are different in their own right. But Glenn you are up their with the best of the best of real estate trainers in Australia.

    I was present all day at Sales Boot Camp yesterday and i didn’t see one person walk out on you yesterday…Yes people did walk out after Mal and I feel sorry for them that they missed out on what you, Chris, Maya and John had to present. Frankly if they couldn’t see the power in Mal’s message and the new way of doing business well i dont know what to say.

    After training with you my income has exploded, my confidence has soared and my relationships are also great….and how do i guage my success…from looking at my bank account. By training and utilising Glenn’s training i owe my career to him.

    We need more people like GLENN TWIDDLE to bring back professionalism in our industry. My market place is full of ‘muppets’ who pass themselves off as professionals but they are not. It’s embarrasing that they call themselves professional.

    Glenn dont you dare change mate…you encourage agents to get out of their comfort zone and go kick some butt and get results. It’s people like you that demand professionalism in our industry and make agents accountable for their actions.

    Glenn i will always support you because i owe you heaps mate.

    Nathan Haynes

  • Brett says:
    July 21, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    When you create the foundation of a business model on price alone your clients just like any junkie become addicted. “Price junkies” will rush in for a quick hit, but will also rush out again when the hit is better somewhere else. After a while the only way to get your customers back is offer a lower price until eventually you become a Gecko!!! Lets get back to basics and focus on “Why” we are in business and maybe throw in a few morals and ethics.

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 21, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    Deep breath taken…..

    I’m going to bed, hey Nath, you got a tear out of me bud. Thanks so much, forever indebted for helping me at the end of a nicely challenging day !!!!

    As of tomorrow morn, 4am, watch out Real Estate world, marketing for QREAS…Unleash HELL heats up, and you think it’s been controversial so far…..

    It’s gonna get ugly !!!

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 22, 2011 at 1:54 am

    Copywriting Masterclass, are you ready…..

    Dear ‘Prospective Glenn Twiddle Coaching Client’

    [insert Nathan Haynes comment here]

    Regards,

    Glenn Twiddle
    Free Real Estate Training

  • Neil McFadyen says:
    July 22, 2011 at 4:18 am

    Impossible Industry ?? comment by Christine ?

    Herd mentallity : find the majority consensus and go along with that so you remain unchallenged.

    The flat world thinkers have left the building.

    The market is the market it goes up down , get over it get on with it.

    Markets don’t stop , give up or think its impossible….. people do

    I’d suggest the precious nature of the spectators who found somewhere else to be has something to do with why they chose to go back to the pity parties and not the content , style , or assistance available on the day from the presenters.

    Maybe the magic bullet is at the next seminar waiting for them.

    CS- Most agents are professional, knowledgeable, well-organised, disciplined, smart and hard working.

    Thats great none of which pay you a penny.

    And the people that defend this type ignorant behavior have just enough guts to pipe up and remove all doubt as to why.

    The next bill i get I will have to call the company up and let them know how smart I am and that I’m a professional wearing a suit and I wear one every day.

    Glenn next seminar charge more please your worth it as is Mal and Chris.

    I bet it cost Chris more than anyone else to attend since he is earning so regular in his agency.

    Glenn I hope to present like you one day please don’t doubt yourself or adjust one degree for people not ready to hear the truth.

    One small concern though please don’t limit your training to real estate or Australia the world needs you !

    Finally To Christine your defence of whoever your defending against Glenn Apparently “tearing down” or labelling Is in now in fact you tearing down and labelling Glenn How’s the IRONY !?

    From reading your rant I’d hazard a guess you were not really there for the whole day If at all and your second hand info shows up to a keen observer ;)

    The only kick off I remember was a GREAT ONE with TIMOMATIC performing.

    Rock On !

  • Marie says:
    July 22, 2011 at 11:15 am

    Good Morning Glenn,

    Should this email read Go Gecko Corporate owned offices Gone, franchised offices trade unaffected as run separately? I just want to point out that this information has been sensationalized and will not see the end to Go Gecko offices in our area. Glen, what I don’t understand is this….the addition of these office only create choice in the market place and customers always have and always will want choice in the market place (the discounted agent has always been available via independents, definitely not new). These agencies only affect the agents/agencies that are unable to negotiate a good reason why they are worth the extra commission etc. These are the same people etc that will suffer when QLD commissions inevitably become de-regulated.

    I’m not a Go Gecko advocate having always worked happily in a large mainstream franchised agency with independents and other franchises for competition; I just believe that everyone has a place in the market and every client has the right to choice. At least with Go Gecko I know exactly what I am up against in a listing however the private independent offices are not so obvious regarding their fees and charges etc.

    Lastly, I have since encouraged some agents that work under the Go Gecko model to attend your QREAS seminar (the whole team is booked to attend), so the QREAS comment is somewhat disheartening as I didn’t notice in the advert for QREAS that discount agents are unwelcome.

    Finally, I would recommend that your information be researched properly.

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 22, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    Yes, points well taken Marie. In fact I have sent personal emails and called one of my GG clients personally to explain my position. I have for many years, expressed publicly, the same sentiment that you have, and in fact, I have applauded Go Gecko’s ability to get the market share it did so quickly. And any agent that lost market share to them DESERVED to lose it because they had failed to give the sellers a reason to choose them at a higher rate, and if they could not demonstrate that value, then they didn’t deserve to be paid more.

    And definitely the GG teams are more than welcome, in fact, I spent the day with John King, who runs the Cairns GG office, and he is a smart guy, good operator and came and spent a day with me to learn. I absolutely applaud that attitude and would any day refer a client to him. If I was his business coach however, I would recommend he sell his GG office and go full fee because he could get it….PERIOD.

    I also condemn the fact that it seems head office mistakes, mismanagment etc (and I don’t know this, it’s just the unconfirmed word on the street, but seems to be congruent with the ‘kick the CEO off the board’ action that has occurred), but those guys actions costing people jobs, hurting the brand (which it no doubt has), selling franchises knowing there was finalcial strife ahead, all of these things are not the fault of the bloke on the street and IU would welcome each and every one of them to any of my events or coaching, that being said, I will still be training how to get the highest fee possible, and if someone like a John King, an Alex Petrovansky, even a relative new comer like Caroline Leach from Ipswich, asked for my personal career and coaching advice, it would be to get paid as much as you could, and if that involved working for a pay structure conducive with that skill, then that would be my advice.

    Yes, my headline was designed to be provactive and attention getting, like any headline should, and it was NOT to offend individuals….it was to condemn the behaviour that has resulted in people getting hurt, but to celebrate the fact that short term, many of my full paying clients will have a smile on their face….

    But it should be short lived, because if Refund Real Estate play their marketing cards right (and who knows if they will), then full fee agents’ problems are just beginning. They better get good, and quick.

    Hope this makes sense Marie and thanks for your considered and well thought out comment

  • Nick says:
    July 22, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    I would just like to let you all know that a few of the Corportate Offices that are run by head office are being restructured. They are under a separate umbrella to franchised offices. For us and the majority of offices, we are individually owned, we’re all going strong and it’s business as usual.

    Regards

    Go Gecko Caloundra

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 22, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Understood Nick, we’ve discussed that in previous post, but all good. And I really hope the press and controversy surrounding all this doesn’t hurt the individulas like yourself who invested in good faith in the franchise without knowledge of corporate’s policies.

    In fact, in my last post, the GG agent out of all of the agents I visited up here after leaving the beach on the way home, was the pick of the bunch on the day. So congrats and all the best !!

  • Hami says:
    July 22, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    Glen as trainer you should know better about relishing in the demise of a person or company.
    I have trained with some of the best trainers such as Mike Piagno, Irene green, Mike Green and so on, they take on positive storeies such as mother on pension now turnover $300k a year. By bagging the demise you are bagging the people who area still actively working under the GG banner. they are not only copping it from the media they are copping it from you and others. imagine how they are feeling at the moment. maybe you need to door knock GG offices and ask them are they ok. The part of a good trainer is learning and studing from other people mistakes and what they did to turn them selves around, and how to use that and turn it around into a positive, and not gloat. OR say look at what i predicted. whether or not GG cuts commission I can bet you that some of the best agents have cut their comm just to get the the listing. we have all done to compete. those who say they have not are full of crap.
    By the way I am not a GG agent and never been one.

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 22, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    Understood Hami, and in previous comments I have explained my position in as much detail as I possibly could. I have also spoken personally to Go Gecko people in the last 24 hours and even set up a position for someone already.

    I have not edited my original post, even though it was written hastily, and yes, it was written with controversy and ‘attention getting’ in mind, and was never meant to target individuals, but to comment on a philosophy that having a point of difference being price, is valid, but dangerous and in this case, it has proven to be a valid argument.

    It certainly was not meant to gloat, and if you read the comments above you might get a hint of the heart behind the bravado. For someone with absolutely NO loyalty, connection or asociation to Go Gecko, I’d suggest I have probably done more for those few agents I have set up with interviews, than other ‘non related’ parties.

    People are into me for commenting without knowing all the facts, and I take that on the chin. I’m getting a little of the same myself.

  • Gem says:
    July 23, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    I have been following the comments for your blog ever since you posted it so I thought I would just throw some of my thoughts.

    All of the agents around us are jumping the gun thinking that Go Gecko is at an end. It may come to a surprise to them when they realise that the Go Gecko around the corner from them is a franchise not a corporately owned office.

    The media always fails to explain the full story and its a shame that this could potentially hurt alot of honest working/owners of Go Gecko Franchises.

    I am very disappointed at the way Go Gecko have handled the situation. With being an eye witness to the destruction of so many jobs in an instant with only 10 minutes notice via a phone call from Head Office saying Sorry in Advance but Administrators are on the way they will explain everything. Administrators show up and hand a letter of termination, and say no sales staff or admin staff are going to be paid for the previous fortnight, you can stay and finish your work if you like or leave. This happened to several corporate offices in Brisbane.

    So many good people have been affected by this and to prey on the weak (so to speak is a low blow – this being aimed at alot of the agents that are having a gossip frenzy giving them more ammo to throw dirt on the Go Gecko brand)

    Go Gecko will pick themselves up and start over again. Many bad choices have clearly been made by the previous CEO, and now with a new CEO in place and a full re-structure of the company happening, Go Gecko will slowly but surely recover from the fall with time.

    Glenn you would know you have alot of Go Gecko people as your supporters and 95% of the Go Gecko people are agents/admin from a previous real estate.

    You were one of my trainers at REIQ in 2008 and I thought you owned it!! You were so inspiring, out of all of my trainers you were the one that stood out to me the most, and it is no surprise that you are where you are at now.

    To be honest when I saw your blog I was a little disappointed, being an employee of Go Gecko, I did take it to heart as it felt like an attack on not only the brand but of the people who are apart of it.

    I heard that you offered a very good friend of mine an ex-Go Gecko agent a contact for a position in another company, so that redeemed you :) Continue being awesome! Thanks Glenn

  • Gem says:
    July 23, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    And to the guy above… Go Gecko have taken on other agents listings with the same complaint. “The Agent has contacted them in months!”

    So to direct that comment towards Go Gecko as a whole is a bit of a long shot. You can get that problem with ANY low performing agent at ANOTHER agency.

    IT would make more sense to aim that comment to that particular agent! Not Go Gecko as a whole.

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 24, 2011 at 11:55 am

    Yeah, none of this was directed at the innocent victims of this. Yes, I am often called upon to come up with ways to go up against Go Gecko, so I guess I have been a little ‘anti GG’ but I am also the only trainer who every single time I spoke on the subject of GG (and I’m on multiple CD and DVD training programs on the record as saying this) wwho was applauding Go Gecko’s success. In fact, I was condemning my clients (in a loving way of course) that if they were losing market share to any discount agency, or any agency at all, that it was their fault and they needed to improve, and GG were to be applauded for marketing better.

    I certainly though believe that we all should be paid as much as we can and there were certain GG people who, even before all this, I would have set up interviews and opportunities for them to join agencies where their skill could be rewarded a little better. (only from what I have heard, I have heard the remunaration at GG was quite low even for a performer, understandably so, given there’s less to play with and as we have seen, tight margins means it’s hard to run without volume)

    I hope this all makes sense, another lesson to be learned here, is that controversy is a very powerful sales tool. Yes this comment was written without investigation, and merely a response to the Courier Mail article….but think about how this lesson can apply….Look at the comments and visitors to my site becuase of this article.

    How can you get visitors to your site by being a little ‘out there’, a little controversial, it pays off, even if you cop a little flack for it.

  • Glenn Twiddle says:
    July 24, 2011 at 11:57 am

    and certainly any GG people are more than welcome to contact me, and if I know anyone in their area, I will certainly arrange an interview or something for them, if they are the right person for the position, then certainly I’m sure theprocipals will consider how they can work together, but as others have said, this isn’t the end of the brand, just the Corporate owned stores.

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