Russell Quirk · Property commentator and entrepreneur
Always Have a Plan B
Summary
Property commentator Russell Quirk on the collapse of his online agency eMoov, rebuilding with Proper PR, why failure is the path to success, the case for the self-employed agent who keeps most of the fee, and why you cannot digitise empathy.
Ross's Reflection
Russell has failed bigger and rebuilt faster than almost anyone in our industry, and he is honest about both. His challenge on fees is one I make in Worth Every Penny. Stop apologising for the number and start building the worth that justifies it.
Ross D'Aniello, host
Key Quotes
Always have a plan B.
Russell Quirk · 14:55
Ross: Optionality is oxygen. Build the alternative before you need to breathe it.
Stop making excuses on fees and do something about it. Stop blaming everybody else.
Russell Quirk · 41:08
Ross: The fee debate ends when the service argument is won. That is the whole of Worth Every Penny.
If you're on seventy percent of the fee, you're financially bought in. So you're going to be better.
Russell Quirk · 45:06
Ross: Ownership of the outcome changes the standard of the work. Our Partner Agent model is built on exactly this.
You cannot digitise empathy.
Russell Quirk · 1:00:08
Ross: The most defensible skill in the industry costs nothing to practise.
Reels From This Episode
Transcript
Always have a plan B. My plan B was the PR agency. I needed a backup, because although I was still fighting hard, I had to have an alternative.
Failure leads to success. You can't really get to that success without pushing the envelope and knowing how failure feels and how it manifests itself.
We've got to stop moaning that we only get one percent. Stop making excuses for the fact that we're not very good at service, and do something about it. Stop blaming everybody else.
If you're on seventy, sixty, fifty percent of the entire fee, you have an incentive to do the job much better. You're financially and emotionally bought in.
You cannot digitise empathy. A big part of what a good PR agency, or a good agent, does is empathy and context, and you can feel that in the work.
Related Episodes
EP 1 · David Lindley
Building a Premium Property Brand
EP 2 · Clare Yates
Service, Empathy and the Art of Listening
EP 3 · Simon Gates
Consistency, Execution and the Fee Question
EP 4 · Heather Staff