Broker-Talk Podcast Day 50 Your Million Dollar Year. To further promote our Agent One program of training agents individually to master their specific skills for sales in real estate, we go on air with our first Broker-Talk. The podcast is dedicated to honest and open conversation about the life of a real estate agent.It was originally designed to follow the hugely popular NPR show Car Talk. Sadly one of the brothers died and so the show is in just reruns now. Many people believe that agents are more than happy to sell their soul, to live in the grey areas and to not be truthful for their own gain. I am hoping if one of us dies to be a beloved a show as Car Talk on NPR, it will be Jim Lowenstern, Founder, CEO of Castles Unlimited® my partner, but don’t tell him that.
On the show today we had a call in RedFin agent from NY, we called him Guido Sarducci. Guido explained the philosophy of Redfin as being customer focused on delivering real estate services through their portal/app. As a Buyers Agent he gets paid to show houses to people who are looking in his/her/their area. The Redfin agent work for Redfin that is structured as a team. Whoever is available can be assigned to the client. This is very different than a traditional model of trust in your agent for their knowledge, experience and insight. The client is left on their own to gather all the information they need from the portal/app.
You can go through the whole process through your phone, the hand held personal computer that you sometimes talk to people on, but mostly just text with. From beginning to end the process is on line and on your phone. Broker-Talk Podcast Day 50 Your Million Dollar Year
Rule 1 Keep Learning Day 48 Your Million Dollar Year. The constant learning in real estate is a daily occurrence and yet some professionals aren’t paying attention. That is on them, the good and great agents know that no matter how long they are in this business, each day delivers another opportunity to learn. While many people think of the buying and selling of a house is something that is easy and straight forward are missing, or do not want to comprehend the complexities. This group of people will always under or over value their properties. They will often use sales methods and techniques that are outdated.
The desire to learn and to be open to learning is a joy. Understanding some new aspect of the process that is presented to you gives you that much more power when it comes up again. The component parts of a purchase and sale of a home require knowledge in sales, marketing, construction, legal paperwork, town or municipal codes, human nature, plumbing, electric, carpentry, materials and systems. Yes, their is something to be learned every day.
The person who doesn’t anticipate new learning is not always open to that learning. They will depend on what they learned, or experienced before rather than allowing the specifics of the transaction to determine the best outcome for those involved. Experience does allow you to have a bigger range of solutions for the specifics of an issue when it comes up and, armed with a professional approach, will help you move through the specifics no matter what the differences may be but experience doesn’t always give you what you need. A life long learner will always be open to new ideas and nuance and allow the personalities of the transaction to put their mark on the process. Be open, continue to learn and grow.Rule 1 Keep Learning Day 48 Your Million Dollar Year
You are the prize Day 46 Your Million Dollar Year. Mindset is everything when you are in a sales job and make no mistake, real estate is a sales job. Not only are you selling and buying houses for your clients, you are selling yourself, your insight, your best practices, your price/value every single day. If you think for a moment before you make that first call to the expired or canceled listing person you already know far more than that person about why the property did not sell. You are the one with the information, insight, techniques and process for selling and buying property. You are the prize.
So many agents start the day hoping and wishing for an outcome from a place where they are not thinking of themselves as the solution but as an annoying person calling a mad and not informed person for the most part. This is the wrong mindset. When you realize you have the answers and you are the prize, they you feel differently about that call. It makes no difference if the person is rude, or disbelieving, or disillusioned, you know how to make it better for them if you can make the emotional connection with them.
Making an emotional connection with anyone is always more about that person than it is you. You have to listen and comprehend where they are. You need to ask the right questions to keep them talking until you break through the strong barriers built from the failure of the previous agent. Frankly, the problem with the sale may have little to do with the previous agent because the prospect you are calling has need for the most cash and is ignoring the facts that the market will not give it to them. Making these calls you have to be of a mindset that you are the prize, you hold the information and ability to get done with the transaction. You need to know enough about their situation to assess if you are the right person. Great agents move on from bad prospects and clients because we are the prize. You are the prize Day 46 Your Million Dollar Year
Your Million Dollar Year Day 45 Half Way to Somewhere. The goal is to start out my new year at a new agency doing all the things that should be done to make me successful. In these first 45 days I have done considerable and this success has only made me realize there is so much more to do, that can be done. I have aligned myself with top agents who have shown me their daily routines; they have shared their mindset and this has helped a great deal. Surround yourself with the best agents you can and listen, learn and apply.
At one of my former agencies I had many friends who I went out of my way to assist. I always answered their calls and emails. I shared tips and techniques, I taught classes and wrote marketing materials to help them. I left that office because they hired third toxic manager who had never closed any significant deal of any sort 13 closed sides in 9 years is not really a good agent. This “new team leader” came in to make her mark and her mark was the dissemination of the culture. I left and many others followed. She was fired and now they are on their fourth manager.
Your Million Dollar Year Day 42 Circle the Wagons. When meeting with clients do you let them know of the pitfalls that can and usually do happen with each transaction? Do you give your clients a sense of what will come before it gets there? I explain it this way, “Along the way to closing this transaction (buy or sell) we are going to experience 3 uh oh moments and perhaps 1 jump off the cliff moment.” This brings them to attention. “I don’t know exactly what will happen because it is always a twist and turn related to the parties involved and since no parties and no houses are the same, what we experience will be slightly different. What I do know is that I have had great experience with solving these issues. I know when they are coming and I know how to handle them. So when I call you to tell you we are in an uh oh moment you will know we will have solutions.”
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