How Chuck Coit’s relational FSBO approach turned one call into 20-plus properties

Chuck Coit00:00

I can usually set two or three or four appointments out of 40 contacts. If you’re wanting to get some business and get up and running as fast as possible, you’ve gotta get on the phones. You’ve got to make the calls, and you’ve got to carve out some time each and every day, especially new agents, because what else are you doing?

00:2080% of for sale by owners at some point are going to hire an agent. It’s really like digging for gold.

Loida Velasquez00:28

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Vulcan 7 podcast, where we bring you some of the best agents and coaches in the industry, and they share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement them in your business immediately. With that being said, if you haven’t caught up on the previous episodes, make sure that you do so.

00:52You can watch them on YouTube, or you can listen to them on any of your favorite streaming platforms. Now, on today’s episode, we’re gonna be talking about a topic that you are probably very familiar with, and that is prospecting. But we’re gonna be chatting with an agent who’s gonna be sharing with us how the strategy has gone, how it started, where it’s going, and then I’m also gonna ask him about something really cool he’s doing on social media that I think you’re gonna like, and hopefully you’re gonna be inspired to do or even tune in.

01:23So with that being said, Chuck Coit, welcome.

Chuck Coit01:27

Hi, Loida. Thanks for having me.

Loida Velasquez01:29

Yes. So for everyone that’s tuning in, go ahead and just share with us a little bit about your background, maybe how long you’ve been an agent. That way we can get to know you a little bit more.

Chuck Coit01:40

Sure. Yeah. I’ve been in real estate full-time for… this is my 16th year.

01:49And I have a lot of referral business that I enjoy. As a matter of fact, I’m working with a client this week. They’re coming back from a cruise, but they wanna sell their house. I’ve sold them, I don’t know, four or five different houses. So it’s nice having that type of client to work with.

Loida Velasquez02:21

Awesome. Something that I love to ask all of my guests is, what did you do before real estate? Because I feel like everyone has a different story. They had a previous career. And how did you fall into this business?

Chuck Coit02:37

Well, my mom was like, “Chuck, you should go into real estate.” And that was a long, long, long time ago, because we have a family friend in the town that I live in who has been successful for twice as long as I’ve been in real estate.

02:55And he’s a great guy. But I didn’t do that. I didn’t listen to my mom’s advice, unfortunately, at that time. So I was a firefighter, EMT, and I had an opportunity to start a business in the pharmaceutical industry. So I left the fire department and started this business, and it was a great business.

03:22It was a compounding pharmacy, completely unrelated to real estate. So anyway, we grew the pharmacy for about seven years and then ended up selling it to one of our biggest competitors. And then my wife and I were sitting around for a year or so trying to figure out what was the next chapter, and a friend of mine came up to me who was a manager for a national builder, and he said, “Hey, why don’t you come and work for me?”

03:58Because I had built a sales team and trained a sales team at the pharmacy. And so I was like, “Yeah, that will make my mom happy.” So I did that. I got into new construction. Lasted in new construction for right around a year. Didn’t really care for model minding, and so wanted to be out doing more and having a little bit more freedom in general real estate.

04:30So that’s where I’ve been. So that’s kind of a little bit of my background.

Loida Velasquez04:36

That’s awesome. So do you feel that your experience in sales when you worked at the pharmaceutical and you building the team, do you think that helped you when you came into the real estate industry? Was it what you thought?

04:50Was it very different? Anything that you could relate?

Chuck Coit04:54

It was completely different, but from a business standpoint, being an entrepreneur and bootstrapping a startup from day one to building it to four or five million in sales… We didn’t have very expensive product that we were selling.

05:14Our prescriptions were like 2 and $300 a piece. So we were doing high volume, licensed throughout the country, all of that kind of thing. But there were parts of it that related to being in the real estate industry and business marketing, prospecting,

05:37B2B-type sales. So that was a good crossover for me.

Loida Velasquez05:45

So you did the new construction for about a year or so, and then what did you transition to after? What did that prospecting, or what type of leads, or how did you start to generate business?

Chuck Coit05:57

I really just started into prospecting for sale by owners, honestly.

06:03I left the builder and went to Keller Williams, and was trained there by a bunch of great people. They’re very, very big on making your phone calls and holding people accountable, and that’s what I needed at the time. But I just got into a rhythm with the for sale by owners that I’ve just been able to continue to develop and-

06:35Then I came into understanding dialers and how that worked, and the Vulcan 7 program. Your whole program is just perfect. I do a single line dialer. I get for sale by owner and expired listings, and that’s what I’m calling.

Loida Velasquez07:02

So the for sale by owners was and is probably your top favorite, right?

07:07Lead source to go after. So currently, what does your prospecting look like on a day-to-day basis?

Chuck Coit07:16

Well, I don’t do it every day, just because my day drags me in different directions sometimes. But on the days that I have set out for prospecting, I will usually start in the afternoon.

07:35I prefer the afternoon session to the morning session, and you’ll find that there’s a lot of people out there who prefer mornings. But I just prefer the afternoon session. I think people are a little bit more willing to talk, or at least willing to answer the phone.

08:01And so yeah, that’s what I do.

Loida Velasquez08:05

When you mention afternoon, is there a specific timeframe? Is it, like, after 4:00, or is it just, like, early afternoon?

Chuck Coit08:14

In that 3:00 to 5:00 timeframe. Yeah. If you can catch someone, people are willing to get on the phone towards the end of the day.

08:24I think in the beginning of the day, you see more people more focused in on what their job is, and their availability seems to be a little bit better towards the end of the day. So catching people on their way home and talking to them tends to work pretty well.

08:46I can usually set two or three or four appointments out of a session of calling maybe 40 contacts

09:0040 contacts in a session.

09:06So I don’t do the monster sessions of just hours of calling like that, because I’m a single agent.

09:17I’m not really looking to grow a team or be the rainmaker. So these leads are really a commodity to me. And so I don’t need to blast through my whole list in one day. I like to just break it out into small segments and do it that way.

Loida Velasquez09:46

Yeah. And I’m glad that you brought up for sale by owners, because I think that lead source is one that a lot of agents are afraid of, whether it’s calling them or just fear of rejection. So for you, when you first started calling for sale by owners, was this a lead source that you were told, “Hey, these are the lowest hanging fruit for listings.

10:09Make sure to talk to them.” And what was that like in terms of your mindset, to make sure that you prepared yourself for the objections and actually going to set appointments?

Chuck Coit10:22

Well, to me, for sale by owners, these are people who I think ultimately are trying to sell it on their own because they wanna save money, and that’s-

10:33And that’s it. And as a human being, I get that. I mean, I understand that. So my philosophy when I’m making these calls and talking to people has always been, I’m not trying to slam dunk you into a listing over the phone. That’s not what I’m doing. My tactic and my strategy is really relational.

10:59So I wanna build a relationship, because I know in my head that 80% of for sale by owners at some point are going to hire an agent. And so I kind of look at it as, like, as you’re walking through the mall and you have all the kiosks out there, and there are folks selling whatever it is that they’re selling, and they approach you. People don’t generally like to be approached like that.

11:34So I don’t like to come on super strong to people. Like I said, I’m more relational. It’s a relationship. And that takes follow-up at that point. So follow-up is huge. But yeah, that’s my strategy and my approach.

Loida Velasquez11:58

I would love to do a short role play if you’re open to it, where maybe I’m the seller and you’re the agent, and we could do just a for sale by owner so agents can kind of hear.

Chuck Coit12:12

Sure.

Loida Velasquez12:13

Okay. Sure. Okay, let’s do it.

Chuck Coit12:15

Okay.

Loida Velasquez12:15

Okay.

Chuck Coit12:15

Hi, Loida, this is Chuck. I’m calling with Charles Rutenberg Realty. Listen, I know your phone is ringing off the hook, but I’m calling because I saw your home is for sale by owner, and I want you to be…

12:28I wanna be clear up front, I’m not calling you to try and pressure you into a listing. Quick question, though. I wonder, are you selling on your own because you want full control, or because you don’t trust agents? Did you have a bad experience? What’s the reason you’re selling for sale by owner?

Loida Velasquez12:48

Well, pretty much, I did sell a home about six years ago, and I was able to sell it very quickly. And at the end of the day, I do wanna walk away with the most money and save myself on hiring an agent.

Chuck Coit13:05

Gotcha. Yeah, completely understand that. And let me ask you this. How long has your house been on the market?

Loida Velasquez13:13

We just posted it on Zillow about three weeks ago.

Chuck Coit13:17

Three weeks ago. And how has your activity been?

Loida Velasquez13:21

Well, you know what? I’m just getting a lot of calls from agents. I also have gotten a few investors, but they give me, like, really low offers, and I’m just not interested in any of those.

13:34And that’s just kinda how it’s been. But I’m gonna be doing another open house this weekend. I’ve been doing some open houses and trying to get people to hopefully buy it.

Chuck Coit13:45

Well, good. And so look, can I ask you, how are you gonna vet your buyers? How do you know that they’re qualified buyers?

Loida Velasquez13:52

I figured they’ll give me a letter.

Chuck Coit13:58

Okay. From a lender?

Loida Velasquez14:00

Yes.

Chuck Coit14:01

Okay, gotcha. Well, let me ask you this, Loida. How long do you think you’re gonna try and sell the house on your own? What’s your timeframe for selling?

Loida Velasquez14:15

Well, this house right now, it was an investment property.

14:19The tenants just moved out about a month ago. I just wanna cash out. But again, I’m not gonna give my house away. So as soon as I get an offer, if I get a good offer, I’m ready to sell it now.

Chuck Coit14:35

Did you know, Loida, that utilizing an agent typically will net you between 10 and 15% more than selling for sale by owner, which more than compensates for the commission that would have to be paid?

14:53You would still come out making more money without having to do any of the work.

Loida Velasquez15:01

But how would that even be possible?

Chuck Coit15:04

Because of the way that we market and the way that we know how to negotiate. We are just in a position to reach a lot more people and a lot more offers.

15:20Also, we have better pricing strategies. We understand what’s happening with the market. We understand what’s happening with the economy. And so there’s a lot of pluses to using an agent. And you don’t have to answer the phone call. You don’t have to go meet a complete and total stranger in an empty home.

15:44So there’s a lot of really good reasons to use an agent.

Loida Velasquez15:48

Hmm. Okay. Well, do you have a buyer?

Chuck Coit15:51

I don’t. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that I have a buyer right now, Loida. But I do work with a lot of buyers. I get calls every day from buyers looking in different areas for different types of homes.

16:10Let me ask you this. You said you were gonna be doing an open house. Is that this weekend?

Loida Velasquez16:16

Yes. Yeah, Saturday and Sunday, all day.

Chuck Coit16:19

Saturday and Sunday? Okay. Super. Will you be there?

Loida Velasquez16:22

Yes. Yeah, I’ll be here.

Chuck Coit16:24

Okay. Well, would it be okay for me to swing by and just introduce myself to you and bring you a little bit of information that is my gift to you?

16:37It’s just a market analysis that will give you a ton of information on strategy and kinda what’s happening in your community. And then if the time ever comes where you just get too busy or you just get too frustrated and you don’t want to continue trying to sell it on your own, maybe I can throw my hat in the ring as someone who you might hire.

Loida Velasquez17:06

Okay. Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be here Saturday, Sunday from, like, 9:00 to 3:00 PM.

Chuck Coit17:13

9:00 to 3:00? How about I swing by? Maybe expect me around 10 o’clock.

Loida Velasquez17:18

Okay. Yeah, that works.

Chuck Coit17:19

On Saturday.

Loida Velasquez17:21

Okay. Yeah, yeah, I’ll be here with coffee.

Chuck Coit17:25

With coffee. All right. I’m definitely coming then. I’ll bring my cup.

Loida Velasquez17:29

Yes.

Chuck Coit17:29

Thank you, Loida. I appreciate your time. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it.

Loida Velasquez17:34

Okay. Thank you. See you Saturday.

Chuck Coit17:36

You bet. Bye-bye.

Loida Velasquez17:37

Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Bye. I really appreciate you doing that. Sometimes I put the guests on the spot and it’s like, okay, what is Loida gonna say?

Chuck Coit17:46

Yeah.

17:46No problem at all. Yeah, I enjoyed doing that. And again, my strategy is not to really put high pressure on there. It’s really more relational, because I’m gonna rely on that statistic that 80% of sellers at some point are going to hire an agent when they surrender.

18:11And so that’s where I wanna be. I wanna come in after that. And if they’re able to sell it on their own, God bless them. Good for you. You saved a little money. Hopefully you won’t get sued, but hopefully you cross your T’s and dot your I’s.

18:32Yeah. But anyway.

Loida Velasquez18:34

Yeah, no, that was awesome. And for anyone that’s listening that’s maybe wondering, well, Chuck, how often do you end up following up with these for sale by owners? If, let’s say, they’re not doing open houses or anything like that, what does that kinda look like?

Chuck Coit18:50

Yeah. I’ll follow up probably on a weekly basis.

18:53So what I’ll do is, as I’m making the calls, I will end up printing out the lead. As a matter of fact, I have one around here somewhere. But I’ll print the lead out right off of the Vulcan database, and that’s my notes. Then I’ll jot down whatever notes that I need to take on there and when to follow up, and what the person’s first name is, and if they have a dog, kind of the highlights

19:28of what our conversation was. And I keep those notes on there, and then I’ll refer back to those notes when I do the follow-up. And sometimes it takes multiple follow-ups and trying to overcome multiple objections. So a quick story for you. It’s been probably three weeks now, maybe a little bit longer.

19:55I was on a phone session. I reached a for sale by owner. She answered the call, and she had a very strong European accent, and she was dead set on, “No, I’m trying to sell my house. I wanna sell my house. I’ve done it before. I can…” And so I kept overcoming all of the objections that she kept throwing at me, and I kept her engaged in the conversation, instead of, like in the early days of me prospecting, I would surrender really, really easily.

20:35It’s like, “No, I’m really wanting to just sell the house on my own.” “Okay, well, thanks for taking my call,” and I would hang up. But I kept pressing in, not too hard, but just keeping her engaged in the conversation and just trying to find out what was going on. Well, that one lead ended up in… that was an over an hour long conversation I had with this lady.

21:02But it ends up that she’s much older. She has, I wanna say, I think it’s 20 to 30 condominiums, she’s a landlord, that she wants to sell. So I now have the listing for the house that she wanted to sell that I originally called on, which was a single family home, and I’m getting ready to list a second condo, and then I’m packaging up 17 other condos to sell and present to an investor buyer.

21:45So if there are any investor buyers out there and you’re looking in the Tampa area, I’m gonna have 17 condos for sale here very, very soon. I’m just trying to get all the numbers together so I can package it up correctly. But that’s what’s out there in these databases.

22:04That’s who these people are. You just never know who you’re gonna get, who you’re gonna talk to, what position they’re in.

Loida Velasquez22:16

Mm-hmm.

Chuck Coit22:17

But if I was a pushy, salesman-y kind of a guy, she would’ve hung the phone up, or the conversation would’ve ended quickly. But because I was kind and I was just kind of prompting her along and not letting her shut me down, it led to this whole thing. And now I have a whole entire file, and I’ve only got just a portion of her listings done at this point.

22:43So it was a great opportunity, great call. And I wouldn’t have had it without Vulcan7.

Loida Velasquez22:50

Yeah. That’s so amazing. And I’m so glad that you brought up that story. I have an agent friend, she’s out in California, in San Diego, and I remember when she was a brand-new agent, I was mentoring her on going after for sale by owners, and she ended up getting someone in the exact same situation just like you, where the owner was an elderly lady.

23:12She had 11 properties. And this agent, her name is Anna, I think at this point she has already sold 10 of them. And if it wasn’t for her picking up the phone and getting out of the comfort zone-

Chuck Coit23:24

Yep.

Loida Velasquez23:25

Like, you would never come across these people. So hopefully, for anyone that’s listening to this, this will motivate you to pick up the phone and call for sale by owners.

23:33Because imagine if you have just a handful of these homeowners that have multiple properties. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving, and then they’re probably gonna refer you more people, and it’s just business.

Chuck Coit23:45

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s literally like digging for gold. This prospecting thing is really like digging for gold. You just never know what you’re gonna get.

Loida Velasquez23:58

Exactly, yes. And before we started, you were mentioning to me that you also do some stuff on social media. So I want you to share with the audience what it is that you’re doing, because I think it’s really cool. Not a lot of people have the guts to do this, so go ahead and tell us what you’re doing.

Chuck Coit24:17

Well, I don’t know if it takes a whole lot of guts, but yeah, like everybody… the real estate market is changing. Building your own personal brand is super, super important now. So social media is the least expensive way to reach the most people. So I have a Facebook business page, but I’m mostly on Instagram and TikTok, and I have been doing some TikTok Live sessions doing prospecting sessions.

24:55So I’ve been doing TikTok Live prospecting, without exposing people’s names, and trying to keep as much privacy for the clientele as possible. But letting people kind of hear how the conversations go. Then you say, “Well, Chuck, who is your audience?”

25:18My audience isn’t necessarily other agents. My audience is really buyers and sellers. But at least the people who follow me, or buyers and sellers, can see that I’m actively out there prospecting for business, not afraid or ashamed to be prospecting for business like this. And it’s kind of fun.

25:45So I have maybe 40, maybe 50 people that jump on and watch at a time, which is a lot more than I ever thought I would. And I’ve only done it a few times, but it’s been a pretty cool experience. So it’s just another way to build more followers and just grow your social media.

Loida Velasquez26:10

Yeah. And I’m sure if you ever did have any clients that would ask you, “Chuck, do you prospect? Do you actually do it?” you could probably send them a link to one of your videos or your live streams and be like, “Yes, you can tune in and watch me if you want.”

Chuck Coit26:26

That’s right. Tune in and watch.

26:27Yeah, I haven’t gotten it down to where I’m doing it, like, every day, so that at like 4:30 I’m going live every-

26:37But yeah, if you follow me on TikTok… and don’t even ask me what my TikTok handle is. I can’t even remember what it is. But, I don’t know, Chuck Coit Realtor, I think is what it is.

26:54You’ll see it come up.

Loida Velasquez26:58

Yes. Yeah. Just search Chuck Coit on TikTok.

Chuck Coit27:01

That’s right.

Loida Velasquez27:02

And you’ll see Chuck on there. Yeah.

Chuck Coit27:04

Yeah.

Loida Velasquez27:04

Yes. No, this is awesome, Chuck. As we’re ready to wrap up this awesome episode, really appreciate you sharing all of your tips and advice when it comes to for sale by owners.

27:15If there are any maybe newer agents or agents that want to tap into FSBOs, what would you say are three tips that you would give them to maybe get out of their head and get out of their own way and just prospect these?

Chuck Coit27:33

Well, yeah, again, like I mentioned earlier, it’s been a tough market this last year, at least it has been for me.

27:42And I’m 16 years in the business full time, so I have a lot of referral business that I lean on, and the majority of my business is referral business anymore. So in the early days, I did have to build my business and build a foundation somehow, some way. And how else are you gonna do it other than prospecting?

28:06So you’re just not going to have a whole lot of business unless you’re prospecting, unless you’re big on social media. And honestly, with social media, I get some business from it, but it’s not enough to really tout.

28:30It’s not a whole lot of business. I know there’s a lot of agents that do a lot of business off of social media. Me, not so much. But I do try, and I do try and grow that. But really, if you’re wanting to get some business and get up and running as fast as possible, you’ve gotta get on the phones.

28:55You’ve got to make the calls, and you’ve got to carve out some time each and every day, especially new agents, because what else are you doing? What else you got to do?

29:10Get on the phone and make calls. And the best way to make these calls, honestly, is with Vulcan. The leads have always been good.

29:20They’ve just gotten better and better over the years. The technology with the dialer, I mean, you can run two, three line dialers, however much you wanna do it. I do a single line dialer with the for sale by owners, and it’s fine. ‘Cause like I said, I’m a single agent.

29:40I’m not trying to grow a team. I’m just trying to keep… I don’t wanna work that hard.

29:45You know what I’m saying? So.

29:47So I just keep it in that lane right there.

Loida Velasquez29:53

Awesome. Now remind everyone where it is that you’re located, in case they have referrals that they wanna send your way.

Chuck Coit30:01

Yeah, absolutely. I’m born and raised in Clearwater, Florida. I live here in the area, in the Tampa area, so if you have any West Central Florida referrals, I’d be happy to take care of them for you.

Loida Velasquez30:17

Awesome. And a phone number or a website, or what would be the best way to reach you?

Chuck Coit30:24

Best way to reach me is gonna be just through phone, 727-641-4819. And I’m in the middle of redoing my website, so my website is down right now. But you can find me on Instagram and TikTok, Chuck Coit Realtor. And yeah, reach out. If you have any questions, I’m happy to help anybody who needs some help, whatever I can do.

Loida Velasquez30:56

Awesome. Well, Chuck, thank you once again for coming on the podcast. It was a great time. Role playing, I know I put you on the spot. But really appreciate you and everything that you’re doing.

Chuck Coit31:09

Yeah, appreciate the opportunity, Loida. And I was not expecting the role play, so you got me good.

Loida Velasquez31:18

I bet.

31:18Yes.

Chuck Coit31:18

I’m glad I-

Loida Velasquez31:20

All right. Well, thanks again, Chuck. And everyone, we’ll see you on the next one. Bye.

Chuck Coit31:26

Bye.