How Lauren Norris protects a 9 to 12:30 call block after 20 years in the business

Lauren Norris00:00

So I’ll be going on 20 years actually next year. And I’ve been in Mike Ferry coaching for 20 years, and I have a coach. And I mean, their number one thing is prospecting. And we’ve been with Vulcan for, oh my God, probably 15 years.

00:16So it’s just been a part of the dialing system.

00:20I mean, once you do it, it’s just… If I don’t have that headset on and hit start dial session and hear the clicks, then I know I haven’t fulfilled that section of my day that’s gonna make me money. So it’s a have to. I mean, we don’t get a choice.

00:37We don’t get an hourly wage. And our hourly wage is in knowing that if we don’t make those calls or do what we need to do, then I didn’t make any money. You know? I got fired and nobody told me. The saying is, in real estate, if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, or you know you’re supposed to do, you got fired and nobody told you.

Aaron Wittenstein01:15

Hello everyone. It’s me, it’s Aaron Wittenstein, and I would like to welcome you all to Vulcan 7 Roadmap. This is where we talk to agents across the country to learn how to take an additional two, three, four, 567,336 new listings a week. Okay? And we have a new guest here today, Lauren Norris from Tucson, Arizona.

01:37See, I told you I wouldn’t mess that up, Lauren. Lauren, how are you today?

Lauren Norris01:41

I’m good. How are you? It’s a beautiful day.

Aaron Wittenstein01:44

Oh my gosh. So okay, so I’m in Florida, you’re in Arizona. And you have a dry heat. How hot is your dry heat right now?

Lauren Norris01:51

We’re at about 109 was yesterday, so we’re thinking 110 today.

Aaron Wittenstein01:55

Is that like actual 110, or like real feel of 110?

Lauren Norris01:59

Both. We have 0% humidity. No humidity.

Aaron Wittenstein02:04

So it wouldn’t mess up my hair like Florida does. I see how it is.

Lauren Norris02:08

Nope, dead straight. Yeah.

02:10Yeah, no, it’s a dry heat, as they say.

Aaron Wittenstein02:14

Yeah. It’s like 97 with a real feel of like a billion outside right now.

02:19Yep. Okay, well, enough about the weather. I could shoot the breeze about the weather all day long. So when we were talking before, I’ve heard words out of your mouth that I have yet to hear out of a real estate agent’s mouth in a very long time, okay? You said that you enjoy and you’re passionate about the structure.

02:40Did I hear that right?

Lauren Norris02:42

You did, yes.

Aaron Wittenstein02:43

Okay.

02:44I don’t get… Like, what is that? What

02:48does that even

02:49mean? What does that mean exactly?

Lauren Norris02:52

So real estate was one of those things, you know, you kinda go into thinking, “Oh, I can just go sell real estate. It’s easy-peasy.” Quickly realize that it is not.

03:02And if you don’t have scripts or systems into play, or know what to say or know who to call, then you’re just gonna be lost and floundering in a big, big sea. So I think one of the things that I love about real estate and coaching and prospecting, and using Vulcan and having the different sources to call, is that I just love a schedule.

03:25I run by a schedule, wake up at the same time, get in the office at the same time, call my sources out of Vulcan…

Aaron Wittenstein03:35

Okay, can I stop you there for one second? Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but I think everybody wants to know, what does your schedule look like?

03:50Like, can you block it out from, like, 7:00 o’clock in the morning till, like, 5:00 o’clock at night? I mean, can you do that or no?

Lauren Norris03:57

Yes. And funny enough is, actually, in my phone I set alarms that physically go off at these times. Funny, so 5:00 a.m. is wake up. Workout’s finished by 5:45.

04:13Get ready is 6:30. In the car by 8:00 a.m., in the office by 9:00 at the latest, and then 9:00 a.m. is, funny enough, Prospect Vulcan every day. So it is literally blocked out in my schedule. I also have a written schedule. So it says, in Vulcan I have to do expireds, then I do FSBOs, then I do just listed, just solds, which is an amazing tool, because you can just go around and do the neighborhood search.

04:47And so the good thing that I love about my 9:00 to 11:30 is that I am just on the phones hitting my contacts, calling through Vulcan. Then I hit COI and database. I’ve also exported, funny enough, my database into Vulcan, which is a cool new tool I actually just learned about. And I prospect them from 11:30 to 12:30.

05:12So as long as I hit my 9:00 to 12:30 daily, then I can take my lunch break, do admin. I don’t check emails until 12:30. So I have everything on just a schedule, to keep life sane. And then, you know, you realize the more you are on that schedule, the more business you get from it, you know?

05:34It’s trackable, instead of just kinda wondering, “Okay, what am I gonna do today?” So I love a schedule, and it just makes me feel sane and accomplished in a day.

Aaron Wittenstein05:44

So two words that you said, I don’t even know if you realize that you said it. You said, “Have to.”

05:51You said, “You have to do this,” okay?

05:53And at least I think, and I hope you agree with me, people are like, “Well, if I… Can I? Maybe I…” But you’re like, “I have to do this.” So it’s ingrained in your brain at this point that when you’re not running your schedule the way you expect to run your schedule, your morning’s in shambles, I’m gonna assume, right?

Lauren Norris06:18

It is. And then you kinda get this mindset of, “I fell behind,” or, “I didn’t do what I was supposed to.” And then, by noon, “Oh my God, I didn’t hit my numbers,” or, “I didn’t get through my just listed or just sold calls,” or, “I didn’t even call expireds today.” And then you kinda have this mindset of, “Okay, a chunk of my day that I was supposed to do is completely gone, and now how am I gonna make it up?”

06:45And the reality is, you know, if you have kids, which I do, you can’t make it up. So you have to either have the mindset of chalk it up, you messed today up, and then just hit it hard again. Just get back on schedule. Or you don’t, because you have to keep the momentum going of your schedule. ‘Cause if you don’t, you’ll allow yourself to kinda guilt trip yourself into going, “Oh, I failed.

07:09I didn’t do it.” You know? So it’s a good indicator of knowing what you have to do in order to hit your numbers, in order to succeed and sell the amount of real estate that you wanna sell.

Aaron Wittenstein07:20

So I’m gonna venture to guess you’re kinda like me. Like, I’ve been prospecting expireds for 11 years straight.

07:25Expireds, for sale by owners, just listings in general. And when I don’t do it, I feel like I did not shower that day, because it’s so important. Right?

Lauren Norris07:34

Yeah, it’s so a part of the system. So I’ll be going on 20 years actually next year. And I’ve been in Mike Ferry coaching for 20 years, and I have a coach.

07:44And I mean, their number one thing is prospecting. And we’ve been with Vulcan for, oh my God, probably 15 years.

07:51So it’s just been a part of the dialing system. I mean, once you do it, it’s just… If I don’t have that headset on and hit start dial session and hear the clicks, then I know I haven’t fulfilled that section of my day that’s gonna make me money.

08:08So it’s a have to. I mean, we don’t get a choice. We don’t get an hourly wage. And our hourly wage is in knowing that if we don’t make those calls or do what we need to do, then I didn’t make any money. You know? I got fired and nobody told me.

Aaron Wittenstein08:25

Can you repeat that real quick for those in the back, please?

Lauren Norris08:31

Yeah. The saying is, in real estate, if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, or you know you’re supposed to do, you got fired and nobody told you.

Aaron Wittenstein08:39

I love that. You got fired and nobody… I love that. I’m stealing that, by the way, now.

08:47That’s gonna be called a Laurenism right there. I think that’s phenomenal. I love it. So you’re prospecting a couple different areas right now, okay? I’m gonna ask you two parts to this question. Number one, which area has become most successful for you?

Lauren Norris09:08

Definitely expireds. Expireds, and the for sale by owners are starting to come back. So I would say consistently,

09:15again, it’s part of my schedule. Consistently I’ve been successful in expireds,

09:20just listed, just sold. And now the FSBOs and for rent by owners are really starting to come up, ’cause they have a ton of equity.

09:27So, yeah, those are probably the biggest sources.

Aaron Wittenstein09:31

Okay. Got it. And I mean, what part of your production do you think you’re most proud of? Like, what part you’re like, “Oh my God, I did this,” or, “I did this over the last month or year,” or whatever. What would you be most proud of?

Lauren Norris09:41

I am most proud of probably really honing in on my database and really recapturing expireds.

09:49Because, I mean, as everybody knows, we haven’t had expireds since 2020 and 2021 happened. I mean, there just wasn’t such a thing. So now that they’ve come back on the marketplace, just trying to be… You know, a lot of new agents got into the business, and so these old school tactics of prospecting that everybody thinks is, you know, dinosaur ages.

10:08Being the ones that are first in front of the line calling these people again, I think I’m the most proud of, because it’s like an old craft or skill that I forgot about, and I’m excited to hone back in on it. And it’s interesting when you hear other people go, “Yeah, a few other agents just called this morning.”

10:26And my first response is, “Great. Sounds like other agents are actually doing their job too,” you know? So it’s that. I think that the expireds and my database are what I’m the most proud of, that I’ve really honed in on in the last year or two.

Aaron Wittenstein10:41

So you’re calling a bunch. You’re calling expireds, FSBOs, for rent by owners,

10:44just listed, just sold, you know, your SOI. I would love to hear you do a role play, if you’d be game for that.

Lauren Norris10:51

Yeah.

Aaron Wittenstein10:52

Okay. All right, we’re gonna pick a number one through five, which I’m writing down on my handy piece of paper right here. Hold on. Okay. All right. Pick a number one through four.

Lauren Norris11:10

Four.

Aaron Wittenstein11:10

For rent by owners.

Lauren Norris11:13

Oh, okay, great.

Aaron Wittenstein11:14

Would you be so kind as to call me, as I am a rent by owner?

Lauren Norris11:18

Oh, for rent by owner?

Aaron Wittenstein11:20

For rent by owner, yes.

Lauren Norris11:22

Yes. Funny enough. See, I’m a very script-based person. So even though I’ve known these scripts for years, I like having them on hand, because it’s just about as easy as easy gets.

Aaron Wittenstein11:37

I agree.

Lauren Norris11:37

Okay. So let me know when you’re ready.

Aaron Wittenstein11:40

I’m ready when you are.

11:40Ring, ring me whenever.

Lauren Norris11:42

Okay. Ring, ring.

Aaron Wittenstein11:43

Hello.

Lauren Norris11:44

Hi. My name is Lauren with Long Realty, and I’m calling about your property on Banana Street, and I was wondering, when do you plan on selling that home?

Aaron Wittenstein11:53

You know, we have it rented actually right now. Or it’s being rented. It’s vacant right now, and it’s going to be rented as soon as we can get a tenant.

Lauren Norris12:03

Perfect. So with the market being as strong as it is right now, would you consider taking any offers?

Aaron Wittenstein12:11

For rent or for sale?

Lauren Norris12:13

For sale.

Aaron Wittenstein12:14

I honestly haven’t even thought about it.

Lauren Norris12:18

Okay. Well, how long have you owned that property?

Aaron Wittenstein12:20

We’ve had it for 36 and a half years.

Lauren Norris12:24

Wow, okay. Well, I’m curious, how did you happen to purchase an investment in this area?

Aaron Wittenstein12:28

It was my wife’s property when we got married. And then we just kept it, ’cause it’s been a cash cow.

Lauren Norris12:35

Absolutely. It sounds like it. So if you were to sell it, would you do a 1031 exchange, or would you want cash out?

Aaron Wittenstein12:42

I haven’t even thought that far ahead yet. I mean, what do you mean?

12:48Like a 10… I’ve heard of it before, but what exactly is it?

Lauren Norris12:52

Well, essentially, it’s just what you wanna do with the cash, right? So it sounds like you have quite a bit of equity in the home. Is that accurate?

Aaron Wittenstein12:59

Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s pretty well paid off. I mean, we’re making, you know, 13, $1,400 a month right now.

Lauren Norris13:05

Great. Well, you also have other investment opportunities, so you could also… Have you considered taking cash out of it and potentially purchasing another investment property?

Aaron Wittenstein13:12

Yeah, it’s something that’s ran past our brains there. I mean, how much do you think it’s worth?

Lauren Norris13:19

Well, I’d love the opportunity to show you, ’cause it sounds like you have quite a few financial gains and opportunities that you could have.

13:26So I’m actually available tomorrow to swing by and take a look at it. Would you be willing to meet me, so that we could see how much you could get for it, or what other investment potentials you could have?

Aaron Wittenstein13:36

Yeah, you can swing by. Like I said, I’m not looking to sign anything, but

13:40you’re more than welcome to swing by.

Lauren Norris13:41

That’s great. But if you can make a lot of money for it right now, I’d love to be the one to give you the information. Would that work for you?

Aaron Wittenstein13:48

Sounds good.

Lauren Norris13:49

Great.

Aaron Wittenstein13:49

Thank you. That was really good. ‘Cause we gotta keep in mind, I think the point I wanted to get across is that, Lauren, by the way, I’m a pretty hard scripter in general.

13:58You know what I mean? Like, with expireds, FSBOs, I’m gonna beat you up pretty good. But the for rent by owners, you don’t get a lot of attitude very much on that, do you?

Lauren Norris14:08

No, because again, they’re investments. So they either have it locked up and they know their financials on it, or they go, “You know what?

14:15Honestly, yeah, let’s see how much I could actually get out of this, and would it be worth me selling it?” Just because everybody’s got so much equity in their homes right now, or they have an opportunity to take a lot out if they haven’t already and reinvest. So most of those calls are pretty easy, because, again, they’re already in the mindset of, “I’m already making money,” or,

14:36“How can I make more?”

14:38And that’s what we’re here for. We’re the professionals to help them with that, right?

Aaron Wittenstein14:42

I totally agree. And like I said, people don’t know what to say, and I think your script was great. That was a really nice script that you just did right there.

14:49I really enjoyed that a lot.

Lauren Norris14:51

I’m willing to share it if you want it.

Aaron Wittenstein14:52

I want it. Email it to me. You have my email address. Please email it over. I’d greatly appreciate it. Because mine is not so, what’s the word, not so well-spoken, if you would. That was very well put together.

15:05Yes, I would love that. You have my email. Please send it over.

Lauren Norris15:08

Well, I am a Mike Ferry agent, and they are Mike Ferry scripts. So again, there’s a lot of good ones on there, but yeah, I can sell them.

15:15Or send them to you.

Aaron Wittenstein15:16

That’d be great. And then also, I guess here’s the second part that I was thinking, when we take it back to the schedule, okay?

15:25You’ve got, like, your morning routine figured out, okay? What happens after 12:30?

Lauren Norris15:34

After 12:30 is a little bit of a mindset break. Just get up, check your emails, kinda get back into, okay, here’s what admin I have to do. And that could take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, right?

15:48Just depending on if you have a listing to input, or if you have a BINSR or inspection period to go through. But sometimes I’ll actually pick the time to do that, like when I’m sitting at karate with my kid, because I would rather do income-producing activities during my schedule.

16:05So if I don’t have an appointment set, after 1:30, from 1:30 to 3:30 is when I’ll either get back on the phones or do admin that I have to do at my office. If I can do admin or paperwork and take it with me and do it at home, like while I’m at soccer practice or karate, I do it then, and then I’ll choose to continue my calls at the office through the day.

Aaron Wittenstein16:27

Got it. It’s just amazing, you know, when you’re so boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I’m gonna venture to guess that you don’t work 60, 70, 80 hours a week, right?

Lauren Norris16:36

No, I don’t.

16:37I’m considered a part-time agent, right? Like, I’m a mom, I do all these things, but the benefit of the conversations that I’ve had with my coach, and the consistency of the schedule, is I can be more efficient in a shorter window than not knowing what the heck I’m doing for seven hours in the day and being all over the place.

16:59So I’d rather condense and just hammer it out and know, okay, I’m done. It’s like a workout, right? Like a 30-minute, hour workout. Okay, it sucks, but after you’re done, man, do you feel good knowing, “Hey, I did it. Can’t breathe, but I feel better that I did it,” versus sitting on the couch and going, “Ugh.

17:17All right, well, I’m eating my breakfast burrito right now and I didn’t work out.” You know? So I look at it like it’s gonna suck either way. You’re either gonna beat yourself up and dislike the choice that you made and know you should’ve done something better, or it’s gonna suck doing it.

17:33So which version of this sucks do I prefer?

17:36And that’s the choice, right? In the schedule that I choose to make.

Aaron Wittenstein17:40

So do you work, like, nights, weekends, stuff like that? Or…

Lauren Norris17:44

If I have to. Yeah. I mean, if I’m home and something happens and a timeline gets jacked up or…

17:51I mean, duty calls. But usually, for the most part, again, if I’ve already pre-qualified the buyer, or I know it’s a solid listing, high motivation, gotten through the pre-qual script and I know they’re gonna typically sign with me, yes, I’ll go out on a weekend. You know, I love money, so I’m not really gonna say no.

18:09But if it’s unqualified and just eh, then no, I don’t have the time in my business for that, which is why I really make sure I pre-qualify and use my scripts.

Aaron Wittenstein18:21

It’s funny, like, I feel like I’m talking to myself right now, because I run my day very similar to the way you run yours, right?

18:32Because the thing is, once we obtain a schedule that works for us and our family, it’s like freedom, and then you have the ability to, like, I need to grab a night shift to go on a hot listing, I do it when it’s qualified. I’ll never work a Sunday, but a Saturday morning,

18:51you pull in a prospecting shift, I bring my kid to work. It’s just… It’s funny, I feel like I’m talking to myself right now.

Lauren Norris19:01

Well, and that’s what I like about Vulcan, is that it has so much information for you so quickly and easily that if I have a number of contacts that I need to hit, I know I can log into that system and do any one of my sources and hammer it out within my scheduled time zone.

19:18So I work with Long Realty, I’ve worked with other brokerages. I’ve had other platforms and CRMs. But, you know, kudos to Vulcan for making it, honestly,

Aaron Wittenstein19:32

Thoughtless…

Lauren Norris19:32

the possibility for me to do this, because it really is as easy as it can be, with max potential. So I think that is probably the biggest help in my day, is that Vulcan 7 dialer and the information.

Aaron Wittenstein19:48

And here’s the thing, though, it’s easy because you’ve made it easy over the 20 years you’ve been in there. So don’t cut yourself short on something like that. You put in the time, you put in the effort, you put in the structure, you fell in love with the structure. And because of that, you’re living the life that just makes sense, right?

Lauren Norris20:09

It does. And it makes it easy, and then it makes me feel like a good mom and a good wife, because in this job we are lucky to be able to make our own schedule, right? So I am blessed to be able to say that I’ve been able to be the mom I’ve wanted to be and also the real estate agent I’ve wanted to be because of this schedule.

20:31So, back to the beginning, I said I have to, right? I mean, if I don’t do it, then everything else just kind of doesn’t fall into place the way I would like it to, for my success and my happiness. So schedule, and just make it easy.

Aaron Wittenstein20:44

So the moral of the story, people, I’ll say it really slow.

20:50Schedule. Okay? Schedule.

Lauren Norris20:52

Dumb it down.

Aaron Wittenstein20:53

There it is. Yeah. It’s not rocket science. So all right. So let me ask you this. I ask every agent that I chat with here, okay? A new agent, I know your answer already. New agent knocks on your door and says, “Hey Lauren, hi. I’ve heard amazing things about you.”

21:09What is one piece of advice that you could give me?

Lauren Norris21:14

Set a schedule and learn your scripts.

Aaron Wittenstein21:17

So you gotta make it so easy. I knew you’d say that.

Lauren Norris21:23

That’s really all there is to it.

Aaron Wittenstein21:25

I’m sitting here, I’m like, what do I need to…

Lauren Norris21:27

Set a schedule and learn what to say in this business, and you can make a lot of money.

Aaron Wittenstein21:35

I knew you would say that. See, we’re mind-melding right now, by the way. Totally mind-melding. So, all right. So we’re gonna wrap this up in a nice little bow. Okay? So what are your final last words for Vulcan 7 Nation?

Lauren Norris21:51

I would say, if you can consistently just use it for an hour a day, your life will change.

22:01And, you know, start with an hour, even if you’re not consistent. Be consistent with just an hour. I mean, you can scroll through your phone for an hour easily, you know? So I would say that’s how I started, is just start with an hour. Set a timer and just get through some calls, and an hour will become two hours, and then before you know it, you’ll be setting appointments and it’ll just become a part of your process.

Aaron Wittenstein22:23

100%, I agree with that 100%. All right, so let’s say someone in my neck of the woods, in Florida, is looking to move from the not so humid heat to the regular heat, in Tucson, Arizona. How does one get in touch with you for all the referrals?

Lauren Norris22:39

Yes. So I’m in Tucson, Arizona, and I’m at Long Realty. My cellphone’s 520-304-3610.

22:50So you can look me up, Lauren Norris, Tucson realtor, and you’ll see me at Long Realty.

Aaron Wittenstein22:55

Beautiful. All right, Lauren, thank you so much. This is great information. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Lauren Norris23:00

You’re welcome. I appreciate the call. That was fun.

Aaron Wittenstein23:02

Yeah, no, this was amazing. And, everybody, do me a favor.

23:05When we’re all done with this, take what she said and go make some money. Take care of yourselves. Thanks again, Lauren. Okay?

Lauren Norris23:11

Thank you.

Aaron Wittenstein23:12

You’re welcome.