How Al Abdullah did 60 or 70 deals his first solo year calling expireds and FSBOs

Loida Velasquez00:00

So in regards to transitioning from being a buyer’s agent to a listing agent, because there might be a lot of agents that are in that position right now,

00:10when did you know that it was time to make that switch, and how did you start to make that switch?

Al Abdullah00:18

When my brother was going on so many appointments.

00:21He’d go on one appointment, and he’d meet them one time for an hour or two, whatever, and that was it. And I was running around the world showing 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and just keep going, you know?

00:34And that was one client, and I’d do that with many clients. And then I was like, “Wait a second. I’m running around like a monkey, and he’s getting paid

00:41for just going on one appointment? No, no, no.” Then, you know, I was a big Mike Ferry, Tom Ferry, Matthew Ferry, the Ferrys, you know? I was a big real estate coach sponge, events, seminars. I started from Floyd Wickman, too, from back years ago. So for me, it was all of them, all the real estate coaches: “Listings is the name of the game.

01:06List to last,” this and that. And I was like, “All right, if they’re all telling me that, what do I need to do to be that? What do I need to do to be that?” And it was very simple: learn the scripts, learn objection handlers, learn the dialogue, and learn how to mirror and match, which is extremely powerful, when I learned that 15, 20 years ago, whatever.

01:26So I started doing that, and I’m like, “Oh, wow, that was easy.” You know what I’m saying? And I just kept on role-playing my scripts and dialogue, you know what I’m saying? But I teach and preach and mentor, coach my agents how to prospect, how to smile and dial, make a pile.

Loida Velasquez01:57

What’s going on, everyone? Welcome back to a brand new episode of Vulcan7 Coaches and Mentors, a show where we bring you some of the top agents and coaches in this industry, and they share with you some of their tips and strategies so that you can implement them in your business right now to take it to the next level.

02:14Now, with that being said, today we’re gonna talk about expireds, for sale by owners, and objection handling. So with that being said, I wanna welcome today’s guest, Al Abdullah. So Al, welcome to the show.

Al Abdullah02:26

Hello, everybody. Hope all is well. Thank you for the introduction, Loida. I appreciate the invite, and super excited about this.

Loida Velasquez02:35

Yes, we’re super excited to have you. So for everyone that’s watching that maybe is not too familiar, can you go ahead and give us a little bit about your background and your story?

Al Abdullah02:44

Sure. First of all, I’ve been in the business for 27 years. I was with Century 21 for 22 years, and with eXp Realty for five years now, and I was on a team with my brother, who’s one of the number one agents in the state of Michigan, and was with him together.

03:02You know, we built this… I’m a street smart guy, he’s a book smart guy. He’s a college guy, I’m a high school guy, and I was also a professional drummer, traveling around the world, and then we also owned a restaurant. So between the restaurant, the drumming, I always knew that I wanted to get into real estate, and I always knew I’d be a realtor, and I always saw my brother doing what he did.

03:21He had a University of Michigan finance and marketing degree. All of a sudden he went into real estate. My dad was like, “What? You’ve made me pay for all this college, and then all of a sudden you get into real estate? Why?” You know? So I always knew, in high school and elementary and middle school, drawing cars and drawing houses during class, not paying attention to the teacher, I knew I was gonna be a realtor.

03:42And then, 27 years ago, I joined my brother. He was a solo agent doing about 120, 130 deals on his own. Had an assistant. Then when I joined, it was full steam ahead, and he was listing like crazy, prospecting for sale by owners, expireds like crazy, and I was getting all the sign calls and doing all the showings and selling those leads.

04:05Then it got to a point where I was so busy, I didn’t know my clients anymore. I was so confused with everybody that I told him, “Hey, we gotta add on more people, or I can’t do this anymore.” You know what I’m saying? So that’s kind of the short story of it, or long story of it, I guess.

04:20I don’t know.

Loida Velasquez04:21

Okay. Awesome. So then right now, what does your business currently look like?

Al Abdullah04:26

Right now, so when I moved to eXp, I was a solo agent for two years. The first year I was doing like 60 or 70 deals, and I moved to eXp. When I moved to the company, I didn’t take any of my business from my old broker, so I had to learn fast how to pick up business.

04:48And why I’m sharing this is, okay, I’ve been a Vulcan7 dialer. I had to learn quick how to move this business as quick as possible, and the way I did is by getting on a dialer and calling expireds, for sale by owners, like I was before. And what better way to crank business, Loida, you can agree,

05:04better than calling expireds and for sale by owners and conditional withdrawals? At the end of the day, that’s where the true bread and butter in business is, and I was really good at expired scripts and dialogue and personality styles and objection handlers, that, for me, it was like, okay, start from fresh.

05:23Start over again. It’s time to get on that dialer.

Loida Velasquez05:26

Oh, okay. And that’s awesome. I’m glad that you’re sharing that, because I feel that there’s a lot of agents possibly that are listening to this that are in that situation, where maybe they have left a team or they’re starting fresh, and they’re kind of like, “You know, the market’s changing.

05:40Interest rates. How do I even tackle this?” So the fact that you’re saying, “I had to buckle down and go the extra mile,” I think this is a real important thing for agents to listen to and pretty much write down. So can you share what that schedule looked like for you?

Al Abdullah05:57

7:00 AM, I was…

06:00So 7:00 to 7:30, I was just cleaning up some of my emails, some of the stuff from the night before or whatever. 7:30 till 12, I was… So 7:30 till about 9, I was calling the new expireds. And then from 9 to 10, I was calling the old expireds. And then 10 to 11, I was calling the for sale by owners.

06:23And then 11 to 12, I was lead follow-up. Now, I used to call before everybody. I used to make sure I was first in line. And you know how you get the hang-ups, you get the, “It’s too early.” You get all these objections. “You’re the 10th person, the 50th person.” Nothing that I haven’t heard before.

06:45And then you get the ones that hang up, and you call them back, tell them, “Sorry, I think we got disconnected,” and just keep going.

06:52So that was basically my schedule. Then 12:00 to 1:00 I was grabbing a bite. 1:00 to 8:00 PM I was on listing appointments. I was going on two to three listing appointments per day.

Loida Velasquez07:04

Awesome.

07:05That’s awesome.

07:06Yeah. And so how many calls were you making every day? Or did you have a goal for appointments that you wanted to set daily?

Al Abdullah07:14

I just knew that in the afternoon I need to be on listing appointments, ’cause I was a listing machine. So I was a buyer’s agent for many years in the beginning of becoming a realtor, shifted to a buyer and seller’s agent, then shifted to 100% seller’s agent.

07:28So I know listing is the name of the game. List to last.

Loida Velasquez07:31

I like that. So in regards to transitioning from being a buyer’s agent to a listing agent, because there might be a lot of agents that are in that position right now,

07:39when did you know that it was time to make that switch, and how did you start to make that switch?

Al Abdullah07:46

When my brother was going on so many appointments, he’d go on one appointment and he’d meet them one time for an hour or two, whatever, and that was it, and I was running around the world showing 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and just keep going, you know?

08:02And that was one client, and I’d do that with many clients.

08:05And then I was like, “Wait a second. I’m running around like a monkey and he’s getting paid for just going on one appointment? No, no, no.” Then, you know, I was a big Mike Ferry, Tom Ferry, Matthew Ferry, the Ferrys, you know? I was a big real estate coach sponge, events, seminars.

08:25And I started from Floyd Wickman, too, from back years ago. So for me, it was all of them, all the real estate coaches: “Listings is the name of the game. List to last, this and that.” And I was like, “All right. If they’re all telling me that, what do I need to do to be that? What do I need to do to be that?”

08:42And it was very simple: learn the scripts, learn objection handlers, learn the dialogue, and learn how to mirror and match, which is extremely powerful, when I learned that 15, 20 years ago, whatever. So I started doing that, and I’m like, “Oh, wow, that was easy.” You know what I’m saying? And I just kept on role-playing my scripts and dialogue.

09:03But I teach and preach and mentor, coach my agents how to prospect, how to smile and dial, make a pile.

Loida Velasquez09:09

I like it.

09:11So let’s talk a little bit about what you teach and train your agents.

09:16So the dialogue. So let’s say an agent reaches out to you after this interview today.

09:23They want more information, they want you to coach them. What is the first step that you take with them to analyze their business, or maybe how you can help them the best way?

Al Abdullah09:32

First of all, you have to think about what is your goal, okay? So when somebody’s getting into the real estate business, first, the question I’m asking them: “Okay, are you married?

09:41Are you single? What’s your monthly expenses? Is it 5,000 a month? Is it 10,000 a month? What is it a month? Are you the only breadwinner,” whatever you wanna call it? “Yes.” “Okay. So you need to make 5,000 a month.” Or let’s just say 10,000 a month to break even between house, car, and everything else.

09:58Okay. The first two years in the business, it’s gonna be college, okay? ‘Cause when you get a college degree and you graduate, you don’t make millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands right away. You gotta go to college to make the money. So the first two years in the business is college.

10:13So I tell them, “Okay, you need to sell this many homes to break even every month, meaning close one home per month. If your average sales price, let’s say, is 300,000, that’s $9,000. 3%, $9,000. So let’s just say your expenses are 9,000, to keep it simple. You need to sell one $300,000 house per month just to break even.

10:35That’s not gonna do it. So if you’re not gonna get on the phone calls, you’re not gonna door knock, you’re not gonna prospect, you’re not gonna do the dialer and call these, don’t get in the business. Don’t even start. I’ll tell you right now, just give me your license, let me shred it, ’cause you’re not gonna make it.

10:51You’re gonna be a part of the 80, 90% that fail after a couple years, and you don’t wanna be that number, do you?” “No, I don’t.” “Okay. So are you willing to do what I tell you? Are you willing to put in the work, and are you willing to learn how to do it?” “Yes.” “Okay. Then we’re on the same page, ’cause you can take a horse to the water, you can’t make him drink, right?”

11:08So some of the agents, I take them to the water, I take them to the water, I take them to the water. They don’t drink, they don’t drink. I just say, “You know what? This business is not for you.

11:16Go back to your regular job, and you’ll make more money.” It’s not for everybody. So I’m very strong and harsh and brutal and transparent with anybody that joins my group, because I want them to win.

11:32I don’t want them to lose. So it’s more about what’s in it for them, not what’s in it for me.

11:39And I’m not their boss. I’m just the guy that brought them into the company and help them make money and succeed.

Loida Velasquez11:46

Yeah. Yeah. And I like to say, at the end of the day, there is no magic bullet.

11:51There’s no shortcut, and unfortunately, a lot of agents, it’s almost like they struggle to either pick up the phone or make the calls or knock on the doors, or even just do it consistently and be disciplined with their schedule. A lot of times I hear, “You know, I made calls for two weeks, it doesn’t work.”

12:08Well, how many people were you talking to? And in two weeks you can’t really determine if you’re gonna get success on the phone. So for those agents that are listening to this, they’re ready to buckle down and take on 2024 as a listing agent, what would be the first step that they have to take when they’re taking a look at their business as they’re preparing for next year?

Al Abdullah12:33

Okay, let me grab something.

12:45So since you asked that question. These are called script boards. These are from 27 years ago, okay? You can see they’re old, it’s raggedy, it’s destroyed, it’s like a dog ate it. One’s for expireds, one’s for for sale by owners, and one is for lead follow-up. And these are little sticky notes that I put, of different objection handlers that I’ve heard or came up with, or

13:13one-liners, whatever, and I just put them as a trigger. First of all, you need a script board. You need to know what to say, how to say, when to say, number one. How do you get that? Vulcan7 has them. Whoever your coach is coaching you has them. They’re all over the internet, YouTube scripts or whatever, Google scripts, but Vulcan7 provides them right in your platform,

13:35which I’ve seen, right? Okay. So it starts there. If you’re a Vulcan7 client, that’s a perfect way to start. Watch these videos like the ones we’re doing right now. YouTube, how do I call for sale by owners and expireds? Forget Al Abdullah and Loida. That’s just for example, right? If you don’t wanna watch me or watch her, watch somebody else that you can connect with better.

13:56If you wanna role play this out real quick. Now, I’ve kind of tweaked it to my personal touch, right? Ring, ring.

Loida Velasquez14:03

Hello?

Al Abdullah14:04

Yes, hi. I’m calling about your home that was for sale. You know, I noticed it… Let’s say, I’m calling about your home that’s for sale. Is this the owner, for example, right?

14:14Loida, right?

Loida Velasquez14:14

Yes. Yes, it is me.

Al Abdullah14:15

And I don’t usually say the name, because sometimes the name is not always… the name matches the whatever. Hey, just calling to see. I noticed it came off the market, and I was just wondering, when do you plan on putting it back on the market?

Loida Velasquez14:27

You know, as of right now, we’re probably gonna hold off, especially because the holidays are coming.

14:32So maybe we’re gonna do something next year.

Al Abdullah14:35

Oh, next year? Okay. I mean, it seems like a really nice house. I’m actually really surprised that it didn’t sell. Where were you guys thinking of moving to if you did sell?

Loida Velasquez14:44

We were actually gonna be moving to Miami.

Al Abdullah14:47

Miami? Whoa.

14:49That sounds like a lot of fun.

14:51It’s actually one of my favorite hotspots to go to. And how soon were you guys wanting to move to Miami?

Loida Velasquez14:59

Well, ideally, we wanted to be down there for Thanksgiving, but since that didn’t happen, we’re just gonna stay the holidays here in the really cold winter in Michigan. That’s why we’re thinking maybe in January we’re gonna

15:11explore the options again.

Al Abdullah15:13

Okay. Loida, by the way, this is Al, I’m a realtor. So I noticed that it was on the market for about two months or so, and I noticed you guys dropped the price a few times. Did you guys get any offers or anything?

Loida Velasquez15:24

We did get an offer, but then the buyer ended up backing out.

15:28And then I guess the interest rates went up high. The agent said maybe the interest rates were kind of having people scared, so after that we decided, you know what? Let’s take it off and see what happens next year.

Al Abdullah15:40

Right. And I’m sure, Loida, I’m probably like the 20th or 30th or 40th caller, right, that called today?

Loida Velasquez15:45

Yeah, I mean, I don’t understand. You guys have been calling me since like 7:00 o’clock in the morning.

Al Abdullah15:49

Yeah. No, I totally understand where you’re coming from. And did your last agent tell you you’re gonna get all these calls today, or no?

Loida Velasquez15:56

No. No, they didn’t. I mean, I wish they did, because that way I wouldn’t have answered any of these calls.

Al Abdullah16:02

Yeah. No, I totally understand. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, of course. What do you think stopped your home from selling? I mean, I’m looking at it, it looks like a really nice house.

Loida Velasquez16:10

I don’t know. I really think maybe it’s just the interest rates, and people don’t wanna buy right now.

Al Abdullah16:14

It’s interesting you tell me that, Loida. You know, there’s a lot of homes selling. There’s over 5,000 homes selling every single month, you know, and when I hear somebody tell me that, if that was the case, then how are we selling all those homes? So buyers have gotten past the interest rate conversation, Loida, and the market and all this stuff.

16:34And the good news about selling now, Loida, is there’s very little competition of sellers competing with you, and there’s buyers that are ready, willing, and able and that need to buy now, but they don’t know about your home because you’re off the market. And I know when you were on the market you were like, “Where were all these realtors when I was on the market?”

16:53Well, all these realtors were selling their listings, like myself. People hire me to sell their property. I call all the realtors, I social media market all the people, all the buyers, everybody that’s involved, that’s looking for a house, for your property, so that we can get maximum exposure.

17:10And I don’t know if the last realtor you had did that, and that’s what I personally do. So let’s do this, Loida, with no obligation, just a conversation, okay? Let me come by, take a look at your home, tell you realistically why it did not sell, what I can do differently, and exactly if it’s…

17:27If we’re able to sell your house right now or not able to sell your house right now. One of three things will happen: either you’ll like what I have to say, Loida, or you may not like what I have to say, or I may feel, “You know what, Loida? You’re absolutely right. We should stay off the market until the spring.”

17:44So Loida, let me ask you. If you knew that by waiting until next year, spring, or whatever it may be, you’re gonna have a lot more sellers competing with you, and more buyers, I can agree, with the market, with the spring weather or whatever. But if you knew that buyers had a bigger selection, a better selection every day, would you wanna wait until springtime, where you have more competition, maybe less money?

18:06Or do it now, even though it didn’t sell with this current realtor, but what if we have a different way of getting it sold? What sounds better to you, now or waiting till later?

Loida Velasquez18:18

Well, now sounds much better, especially if you’re telling me that I can probably get a lot more money. But I would have to talk to my husband first, just to make sure that he’s on board.

Al Abdullah18:29

And that’s exactly right, because if my wife did something without talking to me, Houston, we have a problem, right? So how does your husband feel about it, by the way?

Loida Velasquez18:41

You know, he was ready to be down in Miami also for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I mean, I don’t think he would be opposed, but we were already changing our mind about spending the holidays here.

18:54So I really don’t know if he’s gonna wanna start packing and doing all of these things now, or be okay with just waiting.

Al Abdullah19:02

You know, Loida, I totally understand where you’re coming from. It’s a big decision, and you already tried it, and you got the house ready, and showings and everything else, then you got the holidays coming, and then you got Christmas coming, then you got New Year’s coming.

19:14I don’t know if you know this, but homes show the best during the holidays, and a lot of sellers don’t know this, because of the Christmas lights, the Thanksgiving decorations and whatnot. So what we can do is we can even put the home back on the market with different marketing, different strategy.

19:31And then from there, you can hold off on showings on certain days and certain times because of the holidays, et cetera. And I don’t know if you know this, Loida, but the buyers that buy during the holiday months, or Christmas, or fall, are have-to-buy buyers, or else they won’t be looking during that time.

19:49So you get the more serious buyers, as opposed to just lookie-loos.

19:54I know there’s a lot of information, Loida. Let’s just do this. I don’t know you, you don’t know me. I just can be another guy just calling you like everybody else that called you, but you obviously stayed on the phone probably longer with me than others, right?

Loida Velasquez20:06

Yeah. This one, I feel like I know you already. But again, I don’t want you to come and waste your time, because I do have to check with my husband.

Al Abdullah20:14

Okay. So let’s do this. I’m gonna be showing houses this afternoon, and I’ve got a closing right after. This evening I might be in your area. Let me come by for 10 or 15 minutes.

20:25I’m gonna pencil it in. Tell your husband, “This guy called me, he kept me on the phone forever, and he sounds different than everybody else.” Let me come by, take a look at your home. And again, whether you list it, hire me or fire me, or don’t do anything at all, let me at least just take a look at your home, give you some helpful tips, whether you do it now or you do it later, but let us have that face-to-face, old school conversation and see if it’s the right time or the wrong time, or if I’m the right agent or the wrong agent.

20:50And then from there you guys can make a final decision. But let me at least pencil it in. So would 6:00 or 7:00 PM this evening work better?

Loida Velasquez20:58

Probably 7:00.

Al Abdullah21:00

Okay. And just let your husband know we’ll be by. If anything changes, just let me know. So I didn’t get into pre-qualifying. I didn’t get into the heavy script questions, you know?

21:10My main thing is getting in the door. Like, what we expect from the next agent you choose, some of the other questions in the scripts, let’s just say. But I would continue on: “Loida, before I come out, let me just ask you a few more questions. Can you describe your home for me?

21:25I mean, I see it’s a three-bedroom ranch house with whatever you have. But can you tell me more information about it so I can be more prepared before I come out?” And then you’ll describe the home. Now, you’re describing the home, that’s my way to find out if you’re an analytical, driver, expressive, or amiable.

21:38I’m trying to figure out what personality style you are, to know how to prepare myself. And so, “Loida, now let’s just say, assuming that what I say makes sense and you and your husband felt comfortable and confident with me when I come out tonight, would you guys consider listing your home with me if everything made sense?”

Loida Velasquez21:55

Perhaps. I mean, we would have to think about it.

Al Abdullah21:58

Okay. And what is it that you maybe would be thinking about that would stop you from doing it?

Loida Velasquez22:05

Just kind of the logistics of what the move would look like if we did it now, during the holidays. I mean, is there any way that we can sell the house now and move until, like, January?

Al Abdullah22:18

Yeah. So we can work on that. We can even put a delayed closing or delayed occupancy. That’s the easy part, Loida. And again, let’s just say the rates go lower later on, right? What do you think is gonna happen to the market if the rates drop? You’re gonna get more buyers, right? And when you get more buyers, you get more sellers, right?

22:35So I would rather pay a higher rate, right, and get top dollar for my money and my house right now, and pay maybe less for the house I’m buying because of competition, but have a higher rate. So I wrote this down actually. It was my group call today, and I said this, and it came out, and I just said it, and I posted it.

22:55And I said, “Waiting for the rates to go down, it will save you money on the payment,

23:08but it will cost you a lot more for the house.” Because if the rates go down, there’s gonna be a lot more floodgates open up, more buyers, more sellers, which creates multiple offers, which creates more money for that house.

23:20So if you pay a higher rate and higher payment right now, or would you rather get a lower rate and pay more?

Loida Velasquez23:28

Yep. Exactly.

Al Abdullah23:31

So if we can come to an agreement, and everything makes sense, and you and your husband feel comfortable and confident that I’m the right person and it is the right time, would you consider putting it on the market tonight?

Loida Velasquez23:43

Yeah, possibly. I mean, if we could come up with a game plan, I don’t see why not. We do wanna make the move anyway.

Al Abdullah23:51

Okay. And you don’t have no appointments scheduled with anyone else, right?

Loida Velasquez23:54

No. No. No. I mean, you’re the only one that I’ve spoken to this long.

Al Abdullah23:58

Okay. Well, I appreciate that. So I’m pretty comfortable and confident that I can get the job done, and I’m pretty comfortable and confident that you guys will like what I have to say, and what you may have to say.

24:10But at the end of the day, Loida, if it doesn’t make sense for me, you and your husband, I lose, you lose, he loses. You don’t want that, right?

Loida Velasquez24:20

No. No, I don’t want my time wasted again.

Al Abdullah24:23

And you wasted your time in the past, right?

Loida Velasquez24:25

Yeah. Yeah, with this last agent.

Al Abdullah24:27

Okay. How did you pick that agent, by the way?

Loida Velasquez24:30

It was someone that was referred by a friend of ours.

Al Abdullah24:35

And the results were, I’m calling you.

Loida Velasquez24:38

Yes, exactly. I mean, they didn’t deliver. They helped my friend buy a house, but maybe selling a house is different, so I don’t know where the ball is.

Al Abdullah24:48

100%. It’s a different animal on the listing side compared to showing homes on the buyer side.

24:53Well, look, Loida, I’m super excited to work with you and meet with you and look at your home, and I’m really looking forward to tonight. If you have any other questions, I’m gonna text you my card, my information, my YouTube page, my client video testimonials, so you can know exactly who this guy is that’s coming over before I come over.

25:10And do you mind if I send that to your husband, too?

Loida Velasquez25:13

Oh, no, please. We can do like a group text or something like that.

Al Abdullah25:16

That’s what I’ll do. So I’ll send you my information. Just text me your husband’s number, and I’ll do a group text, and then we’ll go from there.

Loida Velasquez25:22

Okay. Fair enough?

25:23Sounds good. All right. Thank you.

Al Abdullah25:24

All right. See you later, Loida.

Loida Velasquez25:27

Okay. Awesome. That was great. I’m glad that we did this role play, because I was gonna bring it up also. And I wanted to do it regarding the holidays, because I know that that’s what agents are gonna be hearing now as they’re making the phone calls.

25:40But what I loved about our role play session, and just kind of how you took the conversation, is that it sounded very conversational and very natural. You didn’t sound salesy, or you didn’t tell me, “I can sell your house right now.” It was just more finding out.

25:57I’m number one.

26:00And I feel like that’s a mistake that a lot of agents make, especially in the beginning. And I say, first figure out what their situation is, because you wanna come from the sense of being a problem solver, because many people still don’t wanna move, but they just haven’t…

26:14They don’t have the right agent, the right approach. And yeah, no, I think that that was a great role play session. For those of you that are watching or listening, make sure to rewind and watch this two or three more times, because you’re gonna learn a lot from Al and just kind of

26:30everything that he said, and your tonality. You brought that up earlier, the tonality. And even as we were role-playing, I said, “I feel like I know you.” And it did feel like I was talking to a friend.

Al Abdullah26:42

Yeah, and we don’t know each other, by the way. Loida and Al don’t know each other.

26:45This is our actual first time talking or video.

26:49Maybe we’ve heard of each other, but this is our first time talking to each other, and that’s what it’s all about. See, the phone call’s gotta be all about the client. Not about you. “I’m number one, I, I, I, I.” Like I told somebody when I was having lunch right now, and he was telling, “I this, I this, I this.”

27:07I said, “You know what? Anywhere that says I, I, I, I, I don’t care.” You know what I’m saying? So don’t be all about, “And I’m this, and I’m that.” My whole phone call, if you notice, and the whole role play, was all about them. And I didn’t say Al Abdullah, eXp Realty, I’m a realtor, until halfway through, if you noticed, if you caught that.

27:28So I didn’t even say my last name. I didn’t say my company. I just said, “This is Al. By the way, this is Al. I’m a realtor. This is Al. I’m a realtor. This is Loida. I’m a realtor.” Not local, not this, not that. They don’t give a shit. They don’t care what company. They don’t care what your last name is and who you’re from and what country you’re from.

27:43They just care… You have to disclose you’re a realtor in the phone call. But I believe when you start off, “This is Al Abdullah with eXp Realty,” boom, guard up, shut it down.

27:55That’s not me.

Loida Velasquez27:56

Well, what I was gonna say actually about you in this role play session, something that I caught, and you probably did it on purpose, but there was a pause at one point, right before you said something regarding the money.

28:10And I thought that was great because, and this goes back to communication and tonality for agents to become very good at objection handling, when there’s pauses, it builds some type of anticipation, and you kind of left me like, “What is he gonna say?”

Al Abdullah28:23

Yeah, I wonder what he’s gonna say next.

28:24And what those pauses are, so on the script there’s dots, okay? Those dots, Loida, you’ve learned them, I’m sure, the dot, dot, dot, right? “Hi, I was calling about the home that’s for sale,” dot, dot, dot. That’s a pause. So the pauses that I do are to get you to know that, hey, I’m listening and I care.

28:46As opposed to just, “Well, you know, you’re trying to save the commission, but if you pay a commission, let me tell you why you should pay a commission. If you pay a commission…” Commission, commission, breath. That’s what it is.

28:56Stop, you know? Just remember, you’re talking to your friend when you’re prospecting.

29:01You’re talking to your cousin and your family. How do you talk to your family, friends, and cousins, whatever, right?

29:06You talk to them comfortable.

29:08Stop worrying about how you sound 100%, and stop thinking that you gotta sound so perfect. I’m not sounding perfect. I sound like I sound perfect.

29:18It’s because I’ve done it for 27 years and 100,000 times.

29:22But when I first started, it didn’t sound like that. It sounded like, “Hi. This is Al Abdullah with eXp Realty. I’m sure you figured out your home came up on our computer as an expired listing. And I was just wondering, when do you plan on interviewing agents for the job of selling your home?”

29:47“Who’s this? Sorry. Bye.”

29:52You know? I mean, we all sounded like that.

Loida Velasquez29:55

Yeah, exactly. So to wrap this up, share with us where agents can find you if they are looking to maybe find out more about your coaching, reach out to you. Tell us where all your links are.

Al Abdullah30:08

Sure. So on Instagram, it’s AlAbdullahEXPRealty.

30:12My business page on Facebook is EXP Realty Dearborn. On Snapchat, it’s AlAbdullahEXP. On LinkedIn, I think it’s AlAbd… just Google, YouTube, whatever. Just go to alsellsit.com.

30:24That’ll give you everything.

Loida Velasquez30:25

There it is.

Al Abdullah30:25

That’s it. There it is. Yeah. That’s everything, yes. And if you are looking for anything, or any advice, or any help, I’m in Dearborn, Michigan.

30:33I do handle statewide, I do handle nationwide, and I’m also a probate expert. I do a lot of probate, statewide, nationwide. That’s my niche. Aside from expireds and for sale by owners, my probate and estate world, I’m really heavy on that, so that’s my other special niche.

Loida Velasquez30:51

That’s awesome.

30:53Well, Al, this has been great. Thank you so much for these role play sessions. I think it’s gonna help a lot of agents. The expireds, the for sale by owners. Everyone, you’re probably gonna have to watch this episode, because I’m glad that we went into depth with each role play session, and it wasn’t something short.

31:08Because I feel like exactly what we said is what agents can expect over the phones, and I think just listening to you and your tonality and the questions and how you frame everything, they’ll be able to hopefully implement that as they’re making their calls, and hopefully get listings in the next couple weeks before the year is over.

Al Abdullah31:25

I miss doing it. I miss doing it so much. Sometimes I get on a dialer just to screw around, and sometimes get appointments. But look, there’s also the lead follow-up, the follow-up one I didn’t really dive into, ’cause just the time. I’m trying to give you everything

31:37as much as I can. But in general, just keep practicing and rehearsing with different agents and different family members, and just make them the seller, make them the buyer. Whatever it is, just keep practicing readings, role-playing scripts. Go on YouTube, watch all these videos. Watch Vulcan7, by the way, all respect to all the dialers.

31:57I’m still a Vulcan7 guy. For me, this dialer, this company, it’s not just a system they give you. They give you data and some other stuff. And so I’m a big fan of them. Shout out to you guys, for sure.

Loida Velasquez32:09

Awesome. Thank you. So there you have it, everyone. Thank you, Al, once again for being here, and we’ll see you all on the next one.

32:15Bye.

Al Abdullah32:15

Thank you very much.