March 20, 2024·28 min·Nick Grodzicki, Compass

How Nick Grodzicki built $110 million in career sales in 5 years calling expireds

Nick Grodzicki moved from Michigan to Florida in 2019 with no sphere of influence and started calling expireds 10 to 12 hours a day, dialing 800 to 1,000 numbers. Five years in, he has passed $110 million in career sales, did $41 million in 2022, and now focuses on luxury listings of $1 million and above.

How Nick Grodzicki built $110 million in career sales in 5 years calling expireds
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Key takeaways

  1. Dialed 800 to 1,000 numbers a day from 8 AM to 8 PM in his first year, aiming for at least 1 listing appointment a day
  2. His appointment math is 1 a day, 7 a week, half cancel, and closing 1 of the remaining 3 still means a new listing every week, 52 a year
  3. Prospects only residential listings of $1 million and above, and says luxury deals are easier because sellers often pay cash and stay hands-off
  4. Tells new agents to start in the sector they want rather than working up, comparing it to applying at Rolls-Royce instead of starting at Toyota
  5. Tracks follow-up in Excel instead of a CRM, one tab for emails sent and one for appointments set, because most appointments come on the second or third call
  6. Found his first team by messaging Million Dollar Listing brokers on Instagram, and says to work under a top producer for a year or two regardless of splits
  7. Logs the source next to every closed deal and attributes more than 75% of his $110 million in sales directly to Vulcan7

Transcript

00:00 — Building a sphere of influence from zero

Nick Grodzicki00:00

Coming from Michigan, moving to Florida, not knowing anyone here, the only way I knew to do this business was cold calling via expireds, cancelleds, and utilizing a service with Vulcan 7. So to begin with, 100% of my business was Vulcan 7, and I would still argue 100% of it being from that because of how I built, but indirectly it is, because I didn’t have a sphere of influence here.

00:25How I built my sphere of influence in Florida was Vulcan 7.

Aaron Wittenstein00:29

So let me get this straight. You moved from a new market, right? And within a period of, like, three years, you’re taking a business from zero to upwards of 30, $35 million. Is that correct?

Nick Grodzicki00:41

Yeah. Actually, my busiest year, 2022, I did 41 million in sales.

00:46I was ranked in Palm Beach County, and I’ve surpassed just now 110 million in career sales. The day I started in real estate was March 5th of 2019, and here we are March, what is it, 11th of 2024. So just now five years ago, 110 million in sales. Vulcan 7 has made a difference in my business, so that’s how I’ve built my business, and that’s what I was taught from the top producer that I started off with in the business.

Aaron Wittenstein01:19

What’s going on, everybody? It’s me, it’s Aaron Wittenstein, and we’re here with Vulcan 7 Roadmap. This is how we teach agents across the country, from agents across the country, to take an additional two, three, four, 567,376 listings a week. And we’ve got, I’d like to call it a callback episode, if you will, or rehash, whatever you wanna call it.

01:45My friend, we’ve actually been talking for a little bit. This guy knows what he’s talking about, okay? Nick Grodzicki. Sorry, I just totally butchered his name. Nick Grodzicki from wonderful Palm Beach, Florida. Okay? He was on an episode, what? When were you on, about three years ago, is that right?

Nick Grodzicki02:11

Yep, three years ago.

02:12 — Starting out calling 8 to 10 hours a day

Aaron Wittenstein02:12

Three years ago, and he was just starting off calling expireds, for sale by owners, all that type of stuff. And I watched the video, by the way, just so you know this. This guy would get on the phone and call for upwards of what? 8, 10 hours a day, is that right?

Nick Grodzicki02:29

Yeah, that’s how I started.

02:31That’s right.

Aaron Wittenstein02:31

So tell me, from eight to 10 hours a day, three years ago. What are you trending for this year? What is this year’s production going to look like?

Nick Grodzicki02:40

Yeah, I would say this year I’m on track to do about 25 to 30 million. That first year, I would start off calling about 10 to 12 hours a day.

02:49Basically when you could legally start at 8:00 in the morning till about when you can legally stop at 8:00 PM. I was hitting about 800 to 1,000 numbers a day, with a goal of just getting as many listing appointments as I can a day.

Aaron Wittenstein03:04

All right, so let me ask you this. From where you were then, okay, you’re green, you’re green behind the ear.

03:09Okay, you’re doing 12 hours worth of calling, which, if you guys don’t realize that, doing that on a regular basis without burning out is something amazing unto itself. Do you need to put in that same production right now time-wise, or are you much more streamlined with what you’re doing, where you could do the same amount of work in a less period of time?

03:28 — Streamlining from the whole coastline to Palm Beach

Nick Grodzicki03:28

I would say definitely more streamlined now. And I’m also more focused now. The more focused, the more business you start to get with your referrals and everything like that. But three years ago when I was on the show, I was newer to South Florida.

03:45I moved to Miami in 2019 from Michigan, without knowing anything about real estate, to join a team down here and learn the business, and this was their guidance, to get on Vulcan 7. But at first, I had Vulcan 7 set up from South Miami all the way to Jupiter, the whole coastline of South Florida.

04:03And as I gained more and more business, to streamline it, I kept shrinking it to where I wanted to focus and where my sales were, which ultimately led me from Miami to just really hyper-focused on the Palm Beach market.

Aaron Wittenstein04:17

So let me get this straight. You moved from a new market, right? And within a period of, like, three years, you’re taking a business from zero to upwards of 30, $35 million.

04:28Is that correct?

04:30 — $41 million in 2022 and $110 million career

Nick Grodzicki04:30

Yeah. Actually, my busiest year, 2022, I did 41 million in sales. I was ranked in Palm Beach County. And I’ve surpassed just now 110 million in career sales. The day I started in real estate was March 5th of 2019, and here we are March, what is it, 11th of 2024.

04:51So just now five years ago, 110 million in sales.

Aaron Wittenstein04:55

That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So let me ask you this. With doing the expireds and the for sale by owners and all that type of stuff, how much, what’s the word I’m looking for here, discipline came from utilizing the system, Vulcan 7, and all that type of stuff?

05:09Where did that discipline come from? How much of the current business that you have coming in right now is from those disciplines that you put yourself in place of, calling for eight to 12 hours a day and having those systems in place?

Nick Grodzicki05:23

I mean, to be honest with you, coming from Michigan, moving to Florida, not knowing anyone here, family, friends, the only way I knew to do this business was cold calling via expired, cancelled, and utilizing a service with Vulcan 7.

05:40So to begin with, 100% of my business was Vulcan 7, and I would still argue 100% of it being from that because of how I built. Obviously it’s not all direct Vulcan 7 now, but indirectly it is, because I didn’t have a sphere of influence here. How I built my sphere of influence in Florida was Vulcan 7. And now those referrals, coming from that sphere that was ultimately built from Vulcan, is now coming from them.

06:08So honestly, obviously I put in the time and hard work and the effort, but I owe my success to the data and the accuracy that Vulcan provides. ‘Cause there’s a lot of service providers out there. And I tried a lot of different ones the first couple years in the business. I’m not gonna name competitors here, but I tried a lot of them, and Vulcan 7 hands down had the most accuracy for data.

Aaron Wittenstein06:36

And see, I think that’s very interesting, ’cause what people don’t realize is when you’re a prospector by nature, you then get the referrals that come from the prospecting that you do. Right? And a lot of people don’t think about it that way whatsoever.

06:51So let me ask you this. I’m gonna venture to guess… Call reluctance, was that ever a thing for you?

06:57 — Why call reluctance was never an issue

Nick Grodzicki06:57

No, never. Before I got into real estate, I had three internships throughout college, and every single one of them, it wasn’t all the same product, every single one of them was cold calling for some different service.

07:10So at first, that first summer freshman year of college, I hated cold calling. At that point… It’s always been a bit natural to me to pick up the phone and dial, it’s always been my nature, but still, you learn to like it and you learn to get good at it. But it definitely comes with putting in the time.

Aaron Wittenstein07:30

So I mean, there’s a lot of agents and people in the Vulcan 7-iverse, that’s a good one, Vulcan 7-iverse, that have that fear of calling, that have that call reluctance. What could you share with them that may assist them along in the process a little bit further?

07:45 — Sales is a numbers game, stop overthinking

Nick Grodzicki07:45

I mean, to be honest with you, sales is a numbers game, so stop worrying about what you’re gonna say, how you’re gonna say it, and just pick up the phone and dial.

07:54At the end of the day, the only way you’re gonna get better and really practice is by calling, firstly. And secondly, you can’t say the wrong thing to the right person and the right thing to the wrong person. So pick up the phone, call. You’re gonna connect with people. There might be 6,000 other agents calling or whatever it is in your market, but they may connect with someone that you don’t, and vice versa.

08:18So just pick up the phone and call. Stop overthinking it. There’s so many agents that just overanalyze. “Well, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna say? What if they say this?” Just do it. And like I said, I was calling 800 to 1,000 numbers a day. You wanna ask, “Okay, how many appointments were you setting?”

08:35If I set one, I was happy, because then in seven days a week, obviously that was the goal, at least one every day. And I was always getting at least one, but I think the most I got in a day was five or six. But if you got one, that’s seven in a week. If half of them cancel, that’s three. And if you only get one of those three, 33%, that’s still one new listing a week.

08:58That’s four a month, 52 in a year. So it doesn’t sound like a lot when you’re calling that many numbers, but you’re not having to manually dial them. I use the dialer that Vulcan provides, and you can be doing other things while it’s dialing, and then when it clicks over, click on the tab and look at what the property is.

09:17And you don’t have to overly research the property either. I feel so many agents, even in my office, when they do this, they wanna research every expired for five, 10 minutes beforehand. You don’t need to do that. You might not even get ahold of that person. Just dial it, and when they answer, do as much quick research as you can, know what you’re gonna say, and set the appointment.

Aaron Wittenstein09:37

It’s funny, when you rambled off those numbers… You’re a man after my own heart, by the way, because my numbers are very, very similar, is the best way to put it, is the way that I think about it over that way. So, like you said, I think you stuck on a good point there.

09:53It comes to knowing what to say, okay? Do you have a particular script that you utilize on a regular basis, or are you kind of flying by the seat of your pants, or what are you doing right now?

10:03 — His expired call flow from plans to appointment

Nick Grodzicki10:03

No, I mean, I would say when I first get them on the phone, my goal is to make sure that it’s the right, it’s the decision maker.

10:11I’m talking to the homeowner of the property. And obviously they’re aware their property is no longer on the market, if you’re calling expireds and cancelled, so they know it’s not for sale. So I’m very clear with, “Hey, I see your property is no longer for sale,” because I don’t want them to say, “It’s not for sale” and then hang up.

10:26“I see your property’s no longer for sale. I’m looking to get in contact with Mr. Smith”, or whoever the homeowner is. And then my first goal is to really find out what plans do they have with the property moving forward. Why was it on the market? What are they looking to do with the property?

10:42What plans do they have? And then secondly, I like to kind of reiterate the fact that I heard them. I kind of repeat a little bit what they said, show them that I’m listening, and then I’m trying to find out what motivation do they have. What is the real reason? So I find out first what plans they wanna do with the property, and second, why do they wanna have these plans?

11:02Are they downsizing? Is it a different job? Is it for the kids’ school? Whatever it may be. Then I give them a little pitch on Compass and myself, but not too long, and I kinda interrupt myself, stop, and say, “Hey, why don’t we do this? Let me get your number or let me get your email.”

11:19I’ll send you some brief information on us. Right now I’m just a stranger to you, but let me send you over some information, what houses we’ve sold in the area. And if you don’t have any houses that you’ve personally sold in the area, send them some that your brokerage firm sold in the area.

11:34And then I go into, all right, I’ll send you over an email. Why don’t we do this? I’m actually gonna be in the area tomorrow. Does 2:00 or 4:00 PM work better? I’d like to swing by and put a face to the name. And to be honest, most of the time, don’t get discouraged for those of you who are listening, most of the time they don’t agree to an appointment on that first cold call that you make to them.

11:56It really comes down to the follow-up and staying organized with that. Because if you’re calling 800 to 1,000 people a day and you have no system or structure in place for the follow-up, you’re really just spinning your wheels and hoping that you’re gonna get one that day. But most of my appointments came from that second or third call.

12:13I like to think of it like you go to the arcade, you’re putting those coins in the machine. Those first 10 coins you put in aren’t falling off, but eventually they build up enough and then 10 drop off, and that’s how you hit those days with six appointments.

Aaron Wittenstein12:29

So I know from what I looked at, you have a little bit of a higher price point. Is that kinda what you’re looking for right now? Or what does that look like?

12:40 — Focusing on the luxury market above $1 million

Nick Grodzicki12:40

Yeah. So my largest sale so far was 14.7 million. I focus on residential real estate, anything a million dollars and above.

12:53Obviously, if a family or friend calls me and says, “Hey, can you help out so-and-so?” I’m not gonna turn away business. But when it comes to utilizing Vulcan 7, prospecting new business and really focusing where do I want to grow my business, it’s definitely the luxury market, a million and above. Time is money, so there’s more money behind the million dollar deals.

Aaron Wittenstein13:14

So let me ask you this, because I think there’s a lot of people that get nervous. They see seven numbers and they kinda tremble a little bit over that way. From your experience, is it an easier phone call or a more challenging phone call to call those higher priced properties?

13:32 — Why higher-priced listings are easier deals

Nick Grodzicki13:32

To be honest with you, I think those deals in general are easier from start to finish. A lot of agents call me and say, “Hey, I wanna get in the luxury market. How’d you do it?” And I say, “Well, look, I was 24.” They’re like, “Well, I think I wanna start with selling the 100 and 200s, the 300s, then work my way up.”

13:52And I always tell them that that’s the wrong approach. From the beginning, even if it took me a little longer to get that first deal, that’s the better approach. If you wanna sell Rolls-Royce, don’t start off selling Toyotas and then work your way up in the dealerships. Go to Rolls-Royce and get the job, and if it takes you a few months longer to get the job, start there, and then that’s what you become known as.

14:11Once you’re known as the two, three, $400,000 guy, then their friends and family are gonna be two, three, $400,000 home buyers. And then you’re kinda stuck in that market, and it’s hard to kinda get out of that and creep up. So I definitely say start off in the luxury. And as far as the easiness of the process, I found it to be easier, because they don’t have problems qualifying for a mortgage.

14:39Most of the time they’re paying cash only, or they’re more hands-off because this is their third home they’re selling and they have a big business in New York that they’re running, and they’re like, “I don’t wanna deal with it. You’re the professional, handle the property.” As opposed to the $300,000 seller, where they wanna know every little detail because it’s their biggest prized asset that they live in.

15:01Even showing the houses when you’re representing a seller. When they’re in New York, they’re just, “Hey, handle the project.” Obviously you have to be respectful and give them any and all feedback, as much showing notice as possible, but they’re not living in the house day to day a lot of the time.

15:17So I find it to be easier.

Aaron Wittenstein15:19

And see, that’s, like I said, from my experience, from making phone calls, the more expensive, the easier they are, because number one, and number two is, I would venture to guess they’re not getting as many phone calls as some of the lower priced ones, right?

Nick Grodzicki15:33

Right. Exactly. Because more people are scared to call them, so they’re not getting hit as much. Also, some of these higher price points are buried in LLCs. So you gotta kinda dig a little bit more to get to the property owner. But yeah.

Aaron Wittenstein15:45

Interesting. So let me ask you this. With high-level people, I always like to role play a little bit.

15:52Would you be game for a quick role play? Would you be open to calling me? All right. Cool, cool. I won’t be super difficult, but I’ll be moderately difficult with you. Okay?

Nick Grodzicki16:07

Gotta get on my sales hat.

Aaron Wittenstein16:08

There we go. Put the hat on right now.

16:10All right, man, give me your best, okay?

Nick Grodzicki16:16

All right. All right, ring, ring.

Aaron Wittenstein16:18

Hello.

16:18 — Role play of an expired luxury call

Nick Grodzicki16:18

Hi there. This is Nick. I’m looking to get in contact with Dave.

Aaron Wittenstein16:21

Yeah, this is Dave. Are you a realtor?

Nick Grodzicki16:24

Hey, Dave. Look, I’m actually giving you a call. I saw your property here on Sesame Street, 123 Sesame Street, recently come off the market, and it’s no longer for sale. I was just giving you a call to see what plans you have for that property.

Aaron Wittenstein16:38

You know, I think right now, it was on the market with Sally Mae, and we’re just gonna sit on it for right now until the market maybe, I don’t know, picks up a little bit or something.

Nick Grodzicki16:49

Okay. So you were originally looking to sell the property, and you had it listed with an agent.

16:54Just out of curiosity, what’s the reason that you’re looking to sell the property?

Aaron Wittenstein16:58

It’s a second home, and we’d like to cash out eventually and invest it into crypto.

Nick Grodzicki17:06

Okay. It’s a good move a couple of years ago. No, a lot of clients have done that. So you’re looking to cash out essentially the property and put it into some alternative investment.

17:19Where do you currently live, just out of curiosity?

Aaron Wittenstein17:23

We live in New York.

Nick Grodzicki17:24

Okay. Okay, great. No, it’s a beautiful home. I mean, look, I’m calling you today ’cause ninety percent of the properties that I look into that fit the criteria that we’re looking for, I have them in contract within the first ninety days.

17:39Now, obviously, I can’t guarantee you that, but your property does fit that specific criteria that we look for. And here at Compass, we are the number one brokerage firm in the nation with the most closed sales volume, not only in the state, the county, but also the country. And with your property fitting what we look for to represent, we’d love to have the opportunity to discuss it a bit further with you.

18:00Why don’t we do this though, Dave? Obviously right now I’m a random phone call. You’ve never met me. I’ve never met you. What’s the best email for you? I’ll send you over some information highlighting some properties we’ve sold in your neighborhood.

Aaron Wittenstein18:11

Aaron@nick.org.

Nick Grodzicki18:15

Okay. So it’s Aaron@nick.org?

Aaron Wittenstein18:18

Yeah.

Nick Grodzicki18:18

Perfect. Well, look, Aaron, I know you’re up in New York. Typically, I am gonna be in the neighborhood tomorrow, actually, showing a few buyers some properties there. Typically, I would like to meet you in person, see the property. Given that you’re in New York, do you have a time that you’ll be back in town?

Aaron Wittenstein18:32

You know, I think we’re gonna be back in like a month or so. If you like, you can just give me a call back then and go from there.

Nick Grodzicki18:40

Aaron… or Dave, why don’t we do this? Is there any access? Do you have, like, a property manager or a cleaner that tends to view the property?

Aaron Wittenstein18:48

Well, one of my children live there right now.

Nick Grodzicki18:54

Okay. Would you be okay with, I’ll be in the area tomorrow, I’d love to swing in, see the property, just so, you know, prior to us meeting, I can give you an idea of pricing, where it fits in today’s market, and give you an idea of how Compass would go about marketing this property to ensure that we actually get it sold this season.

19:10Would tomorrow at two or four work better for me to swing by?

Aaron Wittenstein19:13

Yeah, two’s fine.

Nick Grodzicki19:14

Okay. Well, I’ll go there tomorrow at two o’clock. I’ll get you over that email today, and then I’ll put together a report, and then we’ll be back in touch with all the information. And I look forward to having the opportunity to work with you.

Aaron Wittenstein19:27

Thank you very much. See, you’re smooth. You know what I mean? I can tell that you’ve done this before. It just came off very smooth. It was very pleasant to listen to. And what I loved was, see, you’re smiling when you’re using the we.

19:40The we, not the I, because we all know the I is about you, the we is about us.

19:47And I loved how you said that all the time.

Nick Grodzicki19:50

Oh, thank you. And honestly, like I said, you can say the same thing and sometimes you get hung up on, sometimes you don’t. It’s just about repetition, continuing to get down your pitch, and also just the more people you say it to… if you throw enough at the wall, some of it will stick.

Aaron Wittenstein20:07

Stuff, right? Okay.

20:08One thing I wanna bring back to, that we talked about in the beginning, that I made a note of here that we didn’t: your follow-up. Because a lot of people get kind of bogged down in the follow-up. Do you have a system in place for that? Or what does that look like?

20:23 — Tracking follow-up in Excel instead of a CRM

Nick Grodzicki20:23

Yeah. So that’s a good question. Honestly, old tried and true, I use Excel spreadsheets. I find CRMs to be great for an overall storage of all of your contacts, for email blasts and for just having them as references. But when you’re cold calling 800 to 1,000 numbers a day, I don’t want 800 to 1,000 numbers a day added into my CRM, because then my sphere of influence will just be watered down.

20:51I won’t even know who’s the right… I mean, obviously you can use tags and whatever, but I find what’s easiest is when you make that connection… I have two different Excel spreadsheets, or tabs in the same thing. I just have it like Grodzicki Group deals. I have one for emails that were sent out and one for appointments that were set.

21:12And essentially the emails that are sent out are ones that haven’t committed to a meeting with me yet. But it’s the day that I sent them the email, their property address, their name, their number. I have a column for all the notes that we’ve talked about, the days we’ve spoke, and then, like, a follow-up column.

21:27So essentially, when I’m done calling for the day, I can go through that right column and see everyone that I have to follow up with, and scroll over and see what the notes were and what the past conversations were. And same thing goes for the listing appointments. That way those top opportunities are right in front of me on a spreadsheet and easy to follow up with.

Aaron Wittenstein21:45

So basically what you’re saying is it doesn’t matter what system you have, as long as you have a system in hand. Is that right?

Nick Grodzicki21:50

Yeah. Honestly, do what works for you. I mean, I feel like as realtors we’re getting sold more than we’re selling properties. There’s always a new software out, always a new program out.

22:00There’s always someone trying to dig their hand in your pocket. Find what works for you and stick to that. Just be consistent with it and don’t look elsewhere. ‘Cause I’ve done it, and I’ve ultimately come back to everything that’s worked and continues to work.

Aaron Wittenstein22:17

Beautiful.

22:18All right, my friend. So a new agent, okay, walks past your door, knocks, and is like, “Nick, give me one piece of advice to make my real estate career successful.” What is the one piece of advice you’re gonna give them?

22:33 — Advice for new agents, find a mentor

Nick Grodzicki22:33

So when I was starting off in this business, and I found it to be really helpful, I had listened to a podcast interview similar to this, and an agent at the time, he was one of the biggest agents in Miami Beach.

22:43They asked him that same question, they said, “What would you recommend?” And his recommendation was go join a luxury… It doesn’t have to be luxury, but whatever sector of real estate you’re looking to get into, whether it’s commercial, non-luxury, luxury, residential, whatever it is, go join a team that’s doing exactly what you have, and go learn from them for a year or so.

23:05Even if you have high splits, don’t even worry about that. Go work for them for a year or two, learn all that you can, and then ultimately either stay with them and negotiate a higher split at that point, or go off and create your own. But follow those who have what you want. If you do what they say and do what they do, you’re gonna eventually get what they get.

23:24So go learn from someone. Find a mentor.

Aaron Wittenstein23:26

So go find a mentor. And that’s what you did in the beginning. And I think it’s called real estate college, right?

23:36And how would you suggest they go about finding somebody?

23:41Just go to the office, or?

Nick Grodzicki23:43

To be honest with you, for me, I looked at Million Dollar Listing, and I was reaching out on Instagram to all the top Million Dollar Listing brokers from that TV show, which is who I ultimately ended up working for. But another good way of doing it is if you go to realtrends.com and you look at all the top producing agents, by teams, individuals, they break it down.

24:04So maybe you wanna be on a large team, maybe you wanna work with one or two people. But look at, in your market, who the top agents are for what you’re looking to do, and then reach out to them. I mean, realtors’ numbers and emails are blasted over everywhere, so you can easily find their contact information.

24:22And what they wanna see, these top producers, is, like, follow-up, because you’re not gonna be successful in real estate if you can’t follow up. Everyone can send that initial email. Everyone can send that initial call. They wanna see that you have the rhino skin to keep following up and calling back, even if they’re ignoring you.

24:39Some of them do that intentionally, just to see, hey, is this guy gonna be able to follow up with the leads that I’m paying for and handing over? And know what you want from a team, too. Do you wanna join a team that’s gonna give you guidance? Do you wanna join a team that’s gonna give you leads, but the top guy’s never gonna be there?

24:55For me, I wanted to be close with the top person and really be the right-hand man to really learn the industry. I didn’t care about being given leads. I was willing to put in the work. I just wanted direction, ’cause I think there’s so many directions in real estate how to get started. I mean, I talk to people all the time that have said, “I’ve never made a cold call.

25:15How do you do it?” And then I talk to other people that say, “I’ve never done an open house. How do you do it?” So there’s so many ways to do it. For me, I always have found the most successful way for my personality and for time and the highest ROI has been calling and utilizing the Vulcan 7 system.

Aaron Wittenstein25:34

Beautiful. Beautiful. So let me ask you this then. How has Vulcan 7 made a difference in your business?

25:40 — Logging the source of every closed sale

Nick Grodzicki25:40

Vulcan 7 has made a difference in my business by, I mean, everything. Like I said, I’m not trying to sell Vulcan 7 here. It just truly… I’ve always put in my Excel spreadsheet, I have a list of running closed sales from my first rental transaction to my last deal.

26:01I’ve always been adamant about making sure that’s always accurate. And also, next to the sellers or buyers or whoever I’m representing, I put the source. How did I get this lead? When you look at that, Vulcan 7 is literally more than 75% of them, out of the 110 million in sales. And if it’s not that, like I said, it’s either a referral by someone I met through Vulcan 7, or a past client who I originally got from Vulcan 7.

26:30So that’s how I’ve built my business, honestly. And that’s what I was taught from the top producer that I started off with in the business.

Aaron Wittenstein26:37

I love it. All right, my friend. So let’s say someone is moving to Palm Beach and they wanna get in touch with you because they know you’re amazing and they wanna give you that business.

26:48What is the best way for that agent to get in touch with you for a particular referral?

Nick Grodzicki26:53

I would say call, text, email, whatever their preferred contact method is. But I would say definitely by phone or email, as opposed to social media. But I do that too.

Aaron Wittenstein27:05

So what do you say?

27:06They just Google your name, get your number, and then get in touch with you, right?

Nick Grodzicki27:11

Yep, exactly. And for those that are listening, 561-888-3774. Yes. That’s the best way to contact me.

Aaron Wittenstein27:20

There we go. There we go. All right, my friend. Well, here’s the thing, man, is what you have done in three years is amazing.

27:25I am looking forward to interviewing you again in three years, which would be 2027, okay? We’re gonna redo this in three years, all right? And you’re gonna be doing like a billion dollars in business. All right? And other than that, man, thank you so much for being here. I genuinely appreciate it.

27:41You’re… I can’t even think of the word I’m looking for here. I’m so excited. What you’ve done is amazing. Keep up the good work, and like I said, there’s so many more things coming for you. Thank you so much, Nick.

Nick Grodzicki27:55

Aaron, Dave, whatever you go by, it’s been a pleasure to be on the show again, too, and it’s been fun to grow my business alongside Vulcan 7 and to be able to come back and re-share what I’ve learned and be on the show again.

28:12So thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it, and looking forward to continued success and doing business together.

Aaron Wittenstein28:18

All right, my friend. Take care. Thank you, everybody. Bye-bye.

Questions this episode answers

How many calls a day do top prospecting agents make?

Nick Grodzicki dialed 800 to 1,000 numbers a day in his first year, calling from 8 AM, when it is legal to start, until 8 PM. He used a dialer so he was not manually dialing, and his goal was at least one listing appointment every day.

Is it harder to cold call luxury homeowners?

Grodzicki says higher-priced deals are easier from start to finish. Luxury sellers usually pay cash, so there are no mortgage problems, and many are hands-off owners selling a second or third home. They also get fewer calls because agents are scared to dial them, though some numbers are buried in LLCs.

Should a new agent start in the luxury market or work up to it?

Start where you want to end up, Grodzicki says, even if the first deal takes longer. Once you are known as the two-to-four-hundred-thousand-dollar agent, referrals stay at that price point and it is hard to creep up. He compares it to applying at Rolls-Royce rather than starting at Toyota.

How should agents track cold calling follow-up?

Grodzicki uses Excel rather than a CRM so 800 to 1,000 daily dials do not water down his sphere. One tab logs emails sent, another appointments set, each with name, number, property, notes and a follow-up column. He says most of his appointments came from the second or third call.

How do you find a real estate mentor?

Grodzicki messaged top Million Dollar Listing brokers on Instagram and ended up working for one. He also suggests looking up your market’s top producers by team or individual and reaching out directly, then proving yourself with persistent follow-up, since top agents sometimes ignore you intentionally to test it.

Guest

Nick Grodzicki

Compass · Palm Beach, FL

Nick Grodzicki started real estate in March 2019 after moving from Michigan, and has passed $110 million in career sales in Palm Beach.

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