We Are Selling with Lee Woodward

Trust, Preparation, And The Art Of Closing with Di Calder

• Lee Woodward • Season 1 • Episode 195

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We share how Di Calder went from car sales to Port Macquarie luxury real estate, proving that preparation, trust, and empathy compound into market-leading results. From pre-market inspections to solo-agent control, the system eliminates surprises and wins premium outcomes.

• dealership lessons in closing and confidence
• property development contacts translating to early stock
• pre-market building and pest to reduce friction
• solo-agent accountability with fast offshore support
• luxury client expectations and calm communication
• trust built through reviews and repeat appointments
• street presence, DLs, signage, and social proof
• leave-behind print to show track record
• availability while travelling and rapid callbacks
• serving buyers and sellers to secure results
• embracing simple tech that shortens feedback loops




Hosted by Lee Woodward Training Systems

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome back to the podcast We Are Selling. My name's Lee Woodward, the author of the Complete Salesperson Course. Today we are crossing to the very competitive marketplace Port Macquarie, New South Wales. We are recording at Patterson First National. The business has been acquired by Jason Partridge and his incredible wife, Nikki. The business is going through modern transformation. The rent roll has doubled. Over 1,000 PM doors have now been claimed in the town. In sales, our agent of interest is Di Calder. Di started her real estate career at 60 years of age. As a solo agent, she is doing, on average, 50 transactions a year. She has now been in real estate 16 years and doing some of the greatest luxury sales, normal sales in Port Macquarie. She joins us now. Welcome to the program. Well, thank you very much, Lee. How does it feel when I'm going through that? You've done so many things, and your story is gonna be amazing for our listener. And we might start with that. What was your first gig what was your first job?

Speaker:

Yeah, sure. My first job was when I was only a youngster, obviously, um, at McEwen's hardware store in in Melbourne. So that was where I started, and that's where I I guess learnt my skills.

Speaker 1:

Skills are everything as you go through life, and 14's a young age to be office work, hardware. Now, interesting enough, no one thing happens in isolation. Your son ended up becoming a very famous builder in the area. Absolutely. And everything we do connects somewhere. So, 14, you go into the hardware world in office. You did do a spell in a real estate business, though, as reception.

Speaker:

Yeah, correct. I did right back down in those early days back in Melbourne, yes, just for a short time, which was really good.

Speaker 1:

When did you turn into a sales professional? Because the next part of your journey, your husband and yourself owned a Subaru dealership here in Port Macquarie. Take us into that time.

Speaker:

Yeah, sure. No, we moved here in 1980 from Melbourne. In 82, we actually bought the Subaru dealership and we did work together successfully for 19 years. And I guess those were the days when I did start my sales skills because I knew the product, had the faith in the product, and I could see the boys weren't doing the job as well as they should have been. So I actually took over and started to sell cars, and that was where I started my confidence to be able to do what I do today.

Speaker 1:

When did you realize sales is a transference of feelings? And I'm just going to unpack something you said there. The boys weren't closing those deals. And I believe you used to walk in the office when you could see someone not closing a deal and say, I'll take over this.

Speaker:

Absolutely. I would see the boys say to the person, Well, you know where to find us, and then let the person walk out of there. So that's when I decided that I could do this better.

Speaker 1:

Interesting point. Someone's prepared to let someone walk away. Call me if you wish. What would you do to convert that or close that off?

Speaker:

Oh, obviously, I need to be able to demonstrate the benefits of the product. That was and because I had so much confidence in the product, it was an easy process for me to be able to convert that across and to be able to obviously sell the motor cars.

Speaker 1:

The time came to sell the d dealership, which is quite a big moment. You've spent a lot of time, you've learned a lot of things there. Take us into that time and what got you into real estate?

Speaker:

Yeah, I guess we did some property development after that, with our son having been a builder, as you said, a moment ago in town. Um, so it was a natural progression, I guess, to go from doing some developments and and having, I guess, all the contacts that you need to have in real estate too. Like I know all the solicitors, all the conveyances, I I knew the terminology. That was just sort of like a natural progression, I guess, from going from the property development into real estate. I challenged myself at a later stage of my life just to see where I could go, and um I'm delighted.

Speaker 1:

Brendan, your son, has built most of the stunning properties on the canal here at Port Macquarie, which has become your specialty area of the luxury market. The connection between those two from developing the adjacent space of meeting the solicitors, understanding the building trade, that would have played for a very unusual knowledge background to come into luxury sales.

Speaker:

No, it did. It actually already gave me some stock as well. So when I first approached an agency to take me on, because I was only a newbie, obviously, on this on the on the block, I already had some of the listings of our own properties, so and had confidence from other folk as well who were giving me the listings of their properties. So that was kind of my my step up into real estate, really, because I had the contacts, but I also had the listings. So then I had the confidence from the owners of the small agency that took me on to start with.

Speaker 1:

This brings us into the time of today. You're 16 years in real estate. Correct. Incredible results, averaging 50 deals a year, but in the luxury market is big numbers. And just for our listener, you do that by yourself. Yes. There's no leverage agents off you, where, as you know in interviews that I do, there could be three, four in those teams. You are the dedicated solo agent. You use some international administration because fill out the form, get it back. Take us into that decision of why you like the solo agent.

Speaker:

Oh, I guess I'm a bit of a control freak to some extent because I like to know that everything's being done. Uh so I'm available seven days a week versus people who obviously don't have that luxury. So, from my perspective, it's about me being able to control everything from the time I first meet the client right until the day I sell the property. And I continue to have that relationship after I sell the property, which is really important.

Speaker 1:

Now, Di, I speak to people every day of the week who are considering coming into real estate and they may have run a cafe or a restaurant. Uh, running a dealership is full-on. And I can seven days to you would just be, well, that's life. And when you own a dealership and it's got to be delivered or it's got to be done, it's a responsibility in life. It's not even a time management thought, it's just a commitment uh that I'm playing the game properly, I'm playing first grade. But you came into real estate at 60 years of age, just explain that to me because I love it. I got these people saying, Oh, I'm 45, I'm too old for it. Go, okay, listen to this interview. No, take us into that.

Speaker:

You're never, you're never too old for it. I think it's just about the passion and challenging yourself. Um, you know, it was something that I felt that I needed to do because I've just been languishing. I needed to to put the put the gear on, put the clothes on, and and feel important and um get out there and be known. So that's why I I made the choice. And I think it's a good choice for any age group, providing you've got the confidence to do it and an understanding of what you're going into.

Speaker 1:

Let's just go into a deep dive of the wonderful world of DAI, because I've been working with you over the last day or so. We got to do a training session yesterday where I get to see what you're doing, and and and we were sharing some things with you about what's going on, but you're very fast on efficiency things. So if I can get that done quicker and my client gets that finished, you're excited by efficiency. Has that always been the way you've you've been?

Speaker:

Yeah, I guess so. More so, I guess, through my real estate career. Yeah, definitely. I like that efficiency. And I I like to work with people who are efficient as well. Um, and um, I also like to cover my bases, making sure that I have everything prepared. So, you know, when I enter into the sales process of a home, I like to have my pre-sales building and pest inspection report done. I like to have uh strata information, I just like to be prepared. And I just think that just makes my job easier and it makes the buyer's decision easier and quicker as well.

Speaker 1:

Now, for a lot of our national listeners, they wouldn't understand that you're running like an information memorandum on residential real estate uh with your webbooks system. And again, I have people say to me all week, you don't need to worry about the building report, the press report, the buyer can do it. You do. At your level, there's you can't be a sales prevention officer.

Speaker:

No, absolutely. You need to know everything about you don't want any surprises. Like I've got a property coming to market in the next few days, I already have the building and pest inspection report. I've already gone over it. I need I know if there's anything that needs to be done prior to going to market. So I don't like surprises. I'd rather be dealing with it proactively before an issue might come up.

Speaker 1:

Di, a lot of agents work the normal real estate market and they look at the luxury market and think, oh, that'd be easy. You get paid so much to to work at the top end. There's one part of that that people miss, and it's who the customer is at that level and their expectation of you. Now you've got bigger expectations of you than anyone, and I think this would be a magnet to someone who well, running a dealership, how many staff would you have had there?

Speaker:

It was only a small dealership, so we probably only had around about a dozen people. We didn't have a large dealership.

Speaker 1:

But a dozen people with that you've got to manage and be efficient with. And really, although you're a real estate professional, you're actually a professional project manager that gets the deal done.

Speaker:

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And there's lots of moving parts. I've just been through your listed to settle process today as part of a training and operations exercise. And you've got all these wonderful forms that you have to fill out to get the request done. And Ricca, is your support on the other side of the world there? How is it adjusting to that? Because you do love control, but you you you're good at if that comes back quick, it's working.

Speaker:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

Doing the work yourself. It's not that you need to do the work, you need to get the outcome. Explain that to us.

Speaker:

Oh, I guess it's just that I we're obviously working on a time frame too, in regards to, you know, backwards and forwards. So Rick has been very good. She we obviously, you know, um mark something as urgent if that's the case, and she does come back to us quite quickly. Also got a backup if I need to within the office as well. So um, you know, I find it works quite well. So it's good.

Speaker 1:

Take me into the listing conversation in Dye's world. You're going into these properties, and there's a lot of agents competing who want to be at that level. Why do people pick you?

Speaker:

I guess it's about the trust. Um, that's the major thing. Uh I'm rated with Rate My Agent currently in Port Macquarie is number two. There's 109 agents in Port Macquarie. Not all subscribe to Rate My Agent, but I am at the moment number two, and I'm always rated in the top five over the last seven years. So I guess they'd choose me because of my understanding, my history, but also my knowledge of the area two in particular. But look, I'm not limited just to luxury property, it'll just depend on what comes my way. Um, but with luxury, people do trust me. I've got 407 reviews with Rate My Agent, and I think there's probably about four that are four-star. So I've got four hundred and three, which are five-star, which means that I'm doing my job.

Speaker 1:

Very good. When you take a property on, and this is one of those hard to explain parts of a dedicated professional, some people will say, that's all right, it's good enough. You're not like that. What's the key parts of a campaign for you that you keep under control so the vendor doesn't get out of control?

Speaker:

Uh look, I I guess it's the preparation you put in beforehand and continuing that that continued um relationship um conversation is important. Um, you know, I don't really have problems with people becoming out of control, to be honest with you. I find that I I've got a mediocre, not mediocre, but kind of like I've got a quieter person persona, and so I find that translates across to the owners too. But the trust.

Speaker 1:

A well-informed owner is easy to manage, and the future belongs to the prepared. That should be our pickup for our listener there. Now, Di, you love your travel, but when you travel, you still you don't fight this work-life harmony bit. You're on and you're just in a different location. You've just negotiated some very good properties under palm trees. Take us into that.

Speaker:

Yeah, no, absolutely. I go to Fiji twice a year. It's my reward for what I do. Um, and I don't put a recording on my phone purposefully because I don't want to miss anything. Uh, I ring people back as soon as they make contact with me so it doesn't cost them so much. But yeah, I can be under a palm tree, I can have a cocktail in my hand. People don't need to know where I am or what I'm doing. The main thing is I'm available to them.

Speaker 1:

And that's your commitment back to the client. You've got good support here in the company you work for. And how long have you been with First National?

Speaker:

First National? Um, coming up to four years.

Speaker 1:

Wow. And when you look at your career today and you're still passionate about what you're doing, you're enjoying it. What's got you excited about what you do to stay in contact with the established clients? How are you keeping that love alive with this return business that you're receiving?

Speaker:

No, look, I I'm in contact with the with the folk that have actually purchased through me and sometimes they've moved down interstate, sometimes they're in Melbourne or whatever, and I'll just give them a call and have a chat. It's just about continuing that way. I drive my area too. Um, if I find someone's out the front and I'm going to have a chat, I'll just stop the car and go across and have a chat. Then I'm seen in the street, obviously, by people, other people in the street as well. So it's about just continuing with that relationship. It's the phone calls, it's the odd text message. It might be someone I haven't spoken to for six or eight months, but I send a text message and bingo, the relationship's back there again. So as I said, the driving, the the the phone calls, the text messaging, and just yeah, just being seen is important.

Speaker 1:

When we look at anyone's career, anyone business uh anyone's business, there's lead generation, lead conversion, client fulfillment. Client fulfillment has seemed, and correct me if I'm wrong, seems to be one of your best listing streams.

Speaker:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

Why is that?

Speaker:

Um, well, I I guess because I get them the best result I possibly can, and they trust me for that as well. So yeah, it's about that rapport and trust. That's the most important thing.

Speaker 1:

Take us in the lead generation, other than referral, what do you do there to keep business coming in for future business?

Speaker:

Yeah, sure. We circulate DLs, obviously, no just lists and just sold, that kind of thing. Obviously, my signage helps that as well. Um, on the websites, you know, Facebook, all those kind of things, the social media are all part of the lead generation. Um, and yeah, I just find it comes naturally. I think the harder you work, the the luckier you get. And and obviously, you know, you make your own luck.

Speaker 1:

In the actual listing presentation, words, dialogues, connection, you you've got your own natural way of doing that. Uh yesterday we were discussing possible leave behinds that may show that work. And and quite interesting, I didn't think that would be something of interest because someone at your level's got your own groove, you know what you're doing. What attracted you to that technique of doing something like that?

Speaker:

To leave something behind. Yeah, look, I think it's important for people to see what you've done, and particularly in hard copy, I think that's a really important thing as well. Um, I've had great history in some of the streets that I actually specialise in. I've sold 15, 20 or so, some I've sold three and four times over. So even though they know me, it's still nice to reinforce it in print copy. Um, so that's what I just what I like to do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we were discussing this yesterday when we looked at sold stories without a date. You know, you've been appointed for some significant properties, but if I'm a seller today, I wouldn't know you were appointed on all those properties. And that is the true track record of people saying, well, all those owners appointed you. It's not even that we sold all those properties, it's the fact that we were shows. Yeah, and that brings that through. Absolutely amazing what you're doing now. And at this time of your career, how do you feel at this stage of your career for the next part?

Speaker:

I'm still excited about it. So no, I think it's a great thing. So I'm looking forward to next year and the year after and the one after that as well.

Speaker 1:

Very good. Final question for you. What's one thing you are passionate about that you want to bring into your career to further progress it moving forward?

Speaker:

Yeah, look, I think it's about the new technology and the methods that are going to become available as we go too. We discussed Yabba yesterday, which I think is a fabulous tool. So those sort of things I think continue continue to progress mine and and and the agency's um sales records.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when we were discussing that yesterday, I saw you light up and I thought, oh, this would be interesting. But then during the interview today, it all makes sense to me of your voice in your client's mailbox and them calling you back, is actually a perfect sequence for you because it's not somebody else, it's not AI, it's you, your record, your relationship, and then they're calling back. Oh, I missed your call, die. I just want to let you know that we've got a record sale on the canal, and your connection rate goes up, which gives you that time back to and I was discussing this today with Jason, your principal, that when we get time back, you get time to think creatively, like going to Fiji and thinking different for a moment could be the best creative thinking you have versus doing the same thing each day.

Speaker:

True, true. Yes, no, I agree.

Speaker 1:

Now I did say that was my final question, but I've got one more. Oh, go ahead. For anyone coming into the real estate industry now, regardless of age, like you started your career at 60. You know, 16 years in real estate to be doing what you're doing today is absolutely incredible, and I salute you for that. You inspire me. For anyone coming into real estate at any age, what would be your advice to bed themselves in and be be in this long term versus unfortunately, Dave I don't think this is going to be easy. And it's not easy, it takes an amazing amount of commitment and effort. What would you give?

Speaker:

Look, I think it's about people skills and understanding people's needs and being and empathy. That's really important, I think, in real estate. But also understanding your product in regards to when you're going to list a property, just making sure that you know everything about that property, that you can then translat that to the buyer. But then working with both parties is another really important thing that I find successful. If I don't work for for both parties, I don't get a result for either. So I think someone coming into it needs to realize that you're not just working for the buyer on I'm sorry, not for the buyer, for the seller, um, because the seller pays you, but the seller's not going to pay you unless you get the result. So you that's where you need to handle both sides. So I think from someone coming in, they've got to realize that they actually need to work with both and have a really good, clear understanding of it, be very honest.

Speaker 1:

And you and I are just chatting off air before coming onto the microphones, that the purchasing community is the customer, and the vendor invests in us to get the customer to agree to buy it so they can release the asset, which is exactly what you're saying. But I think a lot of people miss that. They think, oh, the buyers are everywhere, who cares? No, you should care because this is their life. They're purchasing something off you, they're not buying it. You know, people say that all the time when I was selling real estate. Oh, do you sell real estate? No, no, I help people buy it. There is a difference uh in those two things, and I can see how that's sent great signals into the marketplace for you. But I want to thank you for appearing today. You didn't know until yesterday that it was going to be today and contributing your story. And I think many people will get a lot out of this interview. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker:

Excellent. Thank you, Leah. Appreciate it.