The Only Constant

Back in the 80s, MC Hammer was uber cool in his hammer pants. At the same time, shoulderpads were huge and if you were selling hairspray and hair gel, you would have made a fortune from men and women alike.

Today’s cool, in our game at least, looks more like beards and no socks for the guys, or maybe a pair of blinding white sneakers - definitely blinding white teeth for everyone with perhaps some other enhancements thrown in.

Time will pass and these things too will become de rigueur - relegated to a past that’s now outdated and amusing to the next generation. As we know, the only real constant is change. 

The way real estate is transacted and managed has changed too, although that has played out differently in different groups. For Coronis, having gone through a brief Jenman phase in the mid 90s that lasted about six years, it’s a source of constant amusement that we’re still branded with that brush in the minds of many in the industry, even though it’s now 20 years on. 

Yes, back in 1995, we did have a strict dress code our people had to follow. Yes, we did have rules about achieving certain metrics before team members could leave the office at the end of the day. Yes, we did only allow people to remain in the business if they hit our relatively high targets - and there was no room for movement on the numbers that had to be achieved. Yes, it probably did seem from the outside a bit like a cult.

But despite popular opinion, none of these things are true today. We have room for all levels of performers in our business as life has changed and people want flexibility in their careers. We don’t mandate how or when our people work. You’ll also see even the leadership team dressing down when appropriate. We’ve changed along with the times.

Our approach for 1995 is now clearly outdated, but the foundation we built back then has left us with a valuable legacy - a high performance culture that remains true today. What we’ve kept throughout is the high level of support for our people and our proven training program, which ultimately still results in an average number of transactions per salesperson that is more than triple the industry average.

No doubt other groups have also changed their approach. Excitingly, we have the opportunity to all learn from each other as we strive to become better at serving our customers.

And of course, remembering the only constant will always be change.

All the best,

Craig Gillies