How Daniel Harnsberger sold 56 homes in 2024 with morning calls and role play

Daniel Harnsberger00:00

I’m busier than I’ve ever been. I’ve closed 14, but I have 16 pending. I’ve got five active, seven coming soon, six pre-signed listings and more in the pipeline. Real estate is a contact sport, but remarkably 90% of agents really avoid calling. It just comes down to having more conversations.

00:21It’s an unavoidable part of the business if you wanna grow.

Loida Velasquez00:29

What’s going on everyone? Welcome back to a brand new episode of Vulcan7 Coaches and Mentors, where we bring you some of the best in the industry to share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement in your business immediately. So with that being said, on today’s episode we’re gonna be talking about objections, objection handling, and the personality styles that you need to know in order to have better conversations.

00:52So with that being said, I’m gonna go ahead and bring on today’s guest, Daniel Harnsberger. Welcome Daniel.

Daniel Harnsberger00:57

Hi, nice to meet you. Nice to see you.

Loida Velasquez01:01

Yes. For everyone that’s tuning in that’s watching this episode that maybe is not too familiar with you, just go ahead and share with us a little bit about your background.

Daniel Harnsberger01:11

Okay. Well, as far as real estate goes, I’ve been an agent, it’ll be eight years in just a couple months here. And I got into coaching about two years into being an agent, and that was the best decision I ever made, ’cause it really just changed the trajectory of my career. Was a hard worker and had hustle, but I didn’t have a refined presentation.

01:38I didn’t have a prospecting schedule. Nothing about my business was duplicatable, replicatable, where I could build upon anything for the following year, just the way I was working prior to coaching.

Loida Velasquez01:52

Awesome. So a question I love to ask all my guests is what did you do before real estate? Because I feel like we all have so many different paths that we’ve been on.

Daniel Harnsberger02:02

Sure. Yeah. Definitely. I think that’s one of the cool things about the business. For me, I was in logistics before. I was a regional manager for a pharmacy courier company, so I managed independent contractor drivers that use their own vehicles to transport anything from over-the-counter medications to type 1, type 2 narcotics, to nursing assisted living facilities.

02:31And before that, I was routing trucks as a distribution manager for a furniture rental company. So that actually helped me learn how my market was laid out. I got real familiar with ZIP Codes and everything. I think a lot of the things I did prior to and then getting in…

02:52I actually was investing in real estate before I ever fathomed becoming an agent. So all these things ahead of time really helped me hit the ground running a little bit as an agent.

Loida Velasquez03:04

So was there something that happened in your career that made you decide, “You know what? I just wanna go into real estate and actually be an agent now”?

Daniel Harnsberger03:13

Not exactly. So I had seven rentals at this point, and somehow I felt like that made me qualified to start a property management business because I was self-managing seven rentals. Of course, I’m well qualified and experienced to manage other people’s. But I believed in that dream, and so then I found out you had to be licensed in order to do something with someone else’s property for a profit, even if it was just property management.

03:45So I wanted to be legit, so I got my license. This is in 2017. I mean, it was a very different market then. And because all I really knew was the investment side of things, I was like, “Well, I probably should sell some stuff because, one, it’s an opportunity to make money, but two, they probably won’t keep me around if I don’t sell something.”

04:06So I was just selling to justify keeping my property management business, and I grew that, but then I started growing my sales business because I expanded from just selling $60,000 little two bed, one bath bungalows back eight years ago to where I started branching out into more residential resale, representing a lot of buyers like a lot of agents do to start.

04:35And then two years in, I went to a Mike Ferry East Coast retreat. It was three or four days, and at that time, where my brokerage was at, it seemed like the glass ceiling was 40 sales. Like 40 sales, you were a rock star. And I was at this event and people were selling 100, 125 homes or more, and I didn’t believe them.

05:06Like, I didn’t think that was fathomable, possible. And I got into coaching because all I wanted to do was be the best in my office. I mean, that was my reason. I was like, “Well, if I spend this money and it gives me an edge, if I do two more deals, I’ll more than have made my money back.” So I got into coaching just out of pure vanity of wanting to be the best in my office.

05:32I didn’t know where it would take me from there.

Loida Velasquez05:34

That’s awesome. So fast-forward to now, what does your business look like?

Daniel Harnsberger05:39

Right now, I’m busier than I’ve ever been. In 2024, I sold 56 homes, but I don’t believe in pace in real estate because you have to keep putting in the work to get results.

05:55But where I’m at now, it’s not a long shot that I’m gonna blow last year’s numbers out of the water. Right now we’re not quite a third of the way through the year. I’ve closed 14, but I have 16 pending. I’ve got five active, seven coming soon, six pre-signed listings and more in the pipeline, and I’ve got a couple leads as well, and appointments set for this week.

06:29So business is good, but I want more.

Loida Velasquez06:34

So right now, is it just you? Do you have a team, or how many people are involved in everything going on?

Daniel Harnsberger06:40

Right now, I just added a second virtual assistant, and then I have a transaction coordinator who also works as an assistant as well.

06:53The two VAs live in the Philippines, but she lives next state over. She used to live in the area, but she moved. So I have three people. I use a showing agent so that I’m not out in the car with buyers. They’re there for the showings, the inspections, the walkthroughs. So there’s a lot of times on the buyer side where I’m selling a house and never walking into it.

Loida Velasquez07:23

That’s awesome.

07:23So when it comes to your prospecting and your lead generation, obviously we see you have the headset on. What does that look like for everyone that’s watching?

Daniel Harnsberger07:33

Yeah, so eight to 11 for cold leads, for the most part expireds, FSBOs, last circle prospecting, calling around my listings, ’cause I owe that to the seller, and it also helps me generate new business.

07:50Doing that and then like an hour of lead follow-up, or circling back. And that might just be calling database as well during that time.

Loida Velasquez08:04

That’s awesome. One of the things that I know I mentioned earlier when we started this was personality styles. And obviously I think you’ve mastered that with all of the calls that you’ve done.

08:13I mean, let’s begin with that. How important is it to understand who you’re talking to?

Daniel Harnsberger08:19

Well, I think mastery might be a stretch. I appreciate the compliment, but I’ve come a long way with it, from being like, “Oh, do I need to really know this?” To like, “Okay, I really need to know this.

08:34This makes sense why.” To having a pretty firm grasp of, when I’m talking to somebody, which of the four personality styles I’m talking to. And knowing that, or at least thinking you know it, gives you an idea of not only how to present information, but also when to present. If I’m talking to an analytical or an amiable, I wanna go last.

09:01An amiable personality type might just say yes to you because, if you’re last, that prevents them from having to have said no to the other people that they interviewed prior. An analytical, now they have all the information, and if you present and give them everything they’re looking for, then they’re gonna sign with you.

09:26There’s a high probability of doing so. Drivers and expressives, you wanna go early in the process ’cause they’re quick about it.

Loida Velasquez09:36

So when it comes to these four, which one do you think is the one that most agents struggle with in terms of just communicating or even getting through?

Daniel Harnsberger09:46

You know, that’s hard to say.

09:47It’s hard to say. For me, amiable is kind of tough. That’s probably the toughest for me. The personality styles, there’s four personality styles. Each makes about 25% of the population. I in turn think that probably means that 25% of the people you would ask would agree with me, amiable’s the toughest.

10:19Others would say the driver. If I was to guess one, I’d say driver just ’cause they’re more aggressive. They just want the information. And a lot of agents, I think, have a hard time doing that.

10:36Yeah. Just short and to the point. Whereas I actually asked Mike Ferry, who I call the king of drivers ’cause that’s his personality style.

10:46I asked him, I said, “Hey, how can I modify the presentation to present to a driver?” He gave me a tip for that, and I mean, that was worth its weight in gold.

11:00It made me really comfortable with presenting to him.

Loida Velasquez11:03

Yeah. And I think for any agent that’s watching this that’s maybe wondering, “Dan, how can I get better at figuring out the personality that I’m talking to?”

11:14What tip would you give them?

Daniel Harnsberger11:16

I think you could study and read up on them all day, read the bullet points of the characteristics of each, but it’s gonna come with practice and talking to a lot more people. And real estate is a contact sport, but remarkably 90% of agents really avoid calling.

11:39And then how do we make our calling better? The biggest thing for me beyond personality styles is learning to handle objections, and that comes with implementing practice into my schedule. I do role play at 7:30 AM and then specifically objection handler role play at 11:30 AM, most every day of the week, most weekdays.

12:03And that’s been huge ’cause it’s not that you’re saying anything so compelling when you’re handling an objection, it’s the fact that you have something competent and say it confidently.

12:15And you’re not stuttering or have a deer in headlights look when you’re answering or responding.

Loida Velasquez12:22

So what are some of the typical objections that you’re hearing right now? Maybe let’s say when it comes to expireds.

Daniel Harnsberger12:30

Expireds, I would say it’s one typical one. I mean, all objections… First of all, what’s an objection? It’s instead of the seller asking you a question, they’re posing it in the form of an objection because they don’t wanna look vulnerable to a salesperson.

12:50So I think that’s key to know, number one. And any objection, it’s gonna fall under three categories: service, price, or commission with what we do. I mean, that’s most of it. Service, how is your marketing plan any different? What are you gonna do differently? That would be a chief one you hear

13:11from expireds. A lot of times listings expire or are cancelled because it didn’t sell, and it’s because of price. So I would say those are the main two that you’re gonna wanna be on top of and know how to handle.

Loida Velasquez13:25

How about for for sale by owners?

Daniel Harnsberger13:28

I think that’s commission and what are you gonna do for it, and it’s price, commission, all of the above.

13:35It comes down to money most of the time.

Loida Velasquez13:39

Yeah. So at the time of this recording, I’m hearing the real estate market is different in so many different places. In some places it’s a buyer’s market, in some it’s a seller’s market. Can you kinda share how it is where you’re at and what you’re seeing?

Daniel Harnsberger13:52

Right. For us, we’re seeing the average sales price continue to go up, but then you’re seeing the total number of sales, pending sales, go down from year to year. Looking at just the last couple of years. So it tells me there’s, even though we have, I mean, we have less than a two month supply, and to be in a buyer market, or a more fair market, you wanna have like a five month supply.

14:21So we’re far from that. And as a result, you can still create a bidding war, but you want to really proactively price. It’s not 2020 or 2021 where you could just throw it up for a higher number and there were so many more buyers out there.

Loida Velasquez14:42

How about for buyers that are currently in the market?

14:45Are you seeing maybe some of them hold off, giving you the interest objection, or we wanna see what’s gonna happen with the economy and things like that?

Daniel Harnsberger14:56

Right now, I don’t prospect for buyers anymore, and let me explain. I work with buyers. I’m happy to… It keeps my showing agent fed.

15:09But if you prospect for sellers, which is how you’re always gonna stay in the game no matter what the market is, if you prospect for sellers, you’re gonna find buyers ’cause they’re gonna move. Or as a result, if they’re not moving here, I have more outbound referral business this year alone than I have at least the previous couple years combined.

Loida Velasquez15:32

That’s so awesome. Yeah, referral business. Obviously, the focus is on listings, and then the buyers naturally come, and it sounds like when it’s that way, these are buyers that are already serious and actively looking instead of giving you objections about what’s going on, right?

Daniel Harnsberger15:47

Right. I mean, you have…

15:49If you have more signs in the yard, more people are gonna find you, and you’re gonna have a greater online presence also.

Loida Velasquez15:55

Yes. Yeah. So for someone that’s watching this that is like, “You know what, Dan, my year has been really slow. I wanna make sure that I crush it. I’m still early in the year.”

16:06What are five things or three things that agents need to be doing right now that you would say?

Daniel Harnsberger16:12

So it just comes down to having more conversations. And if you’re having a lot of conversations and a lot of contacts and you’re not converting, then it comes down to skill.

16:25No matter what your skill level is, the more conversations you have, the more deals you’re gonna convert, the more money you’re gonna make. But I think you can have the best of both. Work on your skills so you have more efficient and productive prospecting time, so you convert more calls into appointments and more appointments into listings.

16:50That’s the whole game. If you can handle objections and you have good energy, then you’re gonna be fine. And most people just won’t take the time. I mean, I’m doing it for not even an hour a day of practicing skills. But I mean, it pays off immensely. We have the ability to get paid at a level of professional athlete, certainly more than doctors and lawyers and everything, and all we have to learn is some basic questions to ask people.

17:23Whether scripts or just… I mean, if you don’t believe in scripts, then hopefully you at least believe in asking open-ended questions and only asking closing questions to close. But beyond that, again, it’s just being able to handle objections. ‘Cause I don’t care who you are, if you just work within your database and you get referrals from that database and repeat clients, you’re still gonna have to learn how to handle objections.

17:50It’s an unavoidable part of the business if you wanna grow.

Loida Velasquez17:54

Yeah. Yeah, no, I love that you’re saying that because that’s exactly it. We see agents all the time, they say they wanna make X amount of money and be top producers, but sometimes they don’t wanna put in the work to better their skills or actually do the thing.

Daniel Harnsberger18:07

Yeah, I mean, it’s like anything else. Everyone wants the results. And I think one trap too is, one of the most dynamic real estate professionals I ever met, he’s at a place in his career where he’s working on the business more rather than in the business, but still within real estate.

18:28He leads a big team, has a huge downline, and he does a lot of social media promotion. And people see that, and they’re like, “Well, he’s amazing. I wanna be at his level, so I’m gonna do a lot of social media.” And he didn’t go from A to Z.

18:50It is a process, but he was in the trenches, and he got to that level.

18:56The great thing about real estate, there’s no one way to do it. There’s no one trajectory. So you could be a brand new agent, and there’s nothing that says you can’t become a social media superstar, I guess. But to me, real estate social media is as saturated a medium as anything else.

19:16As YouTube fitness. I mean, there’s tons of fitness influencers. You can go to your local gym, there’s some person with a tripod filming their workout and doing whatever. But to me, real estate social media, I mean, who watches that the most? It’s other agents.

19:36So I think unless you have something very unique about you, whether it’s your look or your presentation, which falls under look also, or just how you present information or speak or whatever, I mean, you’re just kidding yourself. ‘Cause my business isn’t built on likes and the edification you get from the comments on social media.

20:03It’s a way to remind people you’re in the business, and you may get some from it, but for the majority of us, it’s just not gonna be the way. You’re just kidding yourself.

20:17The time you take to film, edit a video, even if you’re not editing it yourself, you could spend that doing two hours of solid

20:27calling and lead generation. But it’s not as sexy and it’s not as fun per se. I mean, I think it’s fun, but I’m a sick man.

Loida Velasquez20:36

No, I get it. I agree, I agree. So as we wrap this up, for anyone that’s watching that maybe does have a referral for you or wants to get in touch, what’s the best way that they can connect with you?

Daniel Harnsberger20:47

Yeah, buddy. So if you have anything in Virginia, like you have someone who’s buying or selling in the state of Virginia, call me. Do I service all of Virginia? No. But if it’s not my market, I’ll be the first to tell you and refer you to someone who does work that market. ‘Cause I’m gonna give good service, and if I don’t know the area, it’s a little more difficult to do that.

21:12So my number is 804-380-1190. Feel free to call me if you wanna talk to me about eXp. I don’t know if that’s kosher to say here. But if you wanna talk to me about joining my line, where I can provide coaching and mentorship, then feel free to call that same number, 804-380-1190.

Loida Velasquez21:33

Awesome. Well, Daniel, thank you so much for hopping on a couple minutes with us here at Vulcan7.

21:38We really appreciate all of the gems that you dropped. We’ll make sure to put all of your info in the description box below. And with that being said, everyone, we’ll see you on the next one. Bye.