How Paul Domenech turned one FSBO call into five more listings

Paul Domenech00:00

If you are not understanding the conversations that are going to be had on the other end of this phone, and you’re just picking up the phone and dialing, you are setting yourself up for failure. There is some work that is involved in using the tool. This is just a tool, and you can’t just use it any way.

00:20You have to use it the way in which it is built. So if you’re an agent right now and you’re going, “Man, I don’t know how to have those conversations without getting burned,” here’s what you do.

Loida Velasquez00:36

What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to a brand new episode of Vulcan 7 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. Now, if you haven’t caught up on our previous episodes, make sure to check them out.

00:54You can watch them on YouTube or listen to them on your favorite streaming platforms. So with that being said, today I have a very special guest. I’m gonna go ahead and bring him on, Paulie Domenech. Welcome.

Paul Domenech01:07

Thank you so much for having me. What is going on?

Loida Velasquez01:12

Absolutely. So for everyone that’s watching that maybe is not familiar with you, go ahead and share with us a little bit about your background.

Paul Domenech01:20

Okay. So my name is Paul Andreas Domenech. I am in Destin, Florida. I’ve been in real estate for about eight years, and consistently in the past five years, I’ve been doing about 100 transactions as a rainmaker. My team is built up of administrative assistants, and then we have a showing agent, or a buyer’s advocate, that helps me transact those transactions to get to that 100, and that’s pretty much it.

Loida Velasquez01:45

That’s awesome. You know, I’m so excited to have you on here. I have heard a lot about you. I know that our team spoke to you, and they were like, “You know what? You gotta ask Paulie about his for sale by owner story, because it’s so awesome.” So before we get to that, I want to ask you, what did your prospecting look like?

02:03And then I know that Vulcan 7 also has been a big part of your business, and how maybe that changed, and where you’re at now.

Paul Domenech02:10

Yeah. And so my prospecting before was very much old past customer-based, database prospecting. See, the way that I look at it is, whenever I’m calling an expired or a FSBO or something like that, I’m calling to get them into my network.

02:28But I truly prospect within my network to get the business, and that mentality makes it very easy for me to just pick up the phone call and not really be looking for an answer of a yes or a no, but just get them into understanding what I am and who I am. Because if they don’t know you exist, you’re not gonna be an option.

02:50So this is an opportunity to reach out to those people that you don’t know, that are not in your sphere, to let them know that you exist, so that you can be an option when that option does come for them to list their house and/or sell it with a real estate professional.

Loida Velasquez03:03

Mm-hmm. Exactly. No, it’s all about doing that.

03:06So as of right now, I know you mentioned you have a team. Tell us about this for sale by owner. I wanna hear all about it.

Paul Domenech03:14

Yeah. And so one of the things that I was doing in between all of my prospecting and talking to my database is, whenever I have a down moment or I don’t have an appointment, I’ll get on Vulcan 7 and I’ll just start phone calling people.

03:29And then my approach is from the approach of getting to know the market. And so when I call, I give them a script, I guess, if you will, but truly it is coming from curiosity. “Hey, so I see that your home is on the market, and I’ve also sold a few houses in that area, and I was wondering, how is your showings going?

03:52Are people calling to see the house? Because some of my listings are getting some action and some of them aren’t, which is indicating that the market isn’t really going that fast. So I’m just kind of wondering, are you getting any traffic?” And that opens up the door for them to go, “Oh, I haven’t.” And then I can go into what I’m doing.

04:11Maybe we can collaborate and do an open house. Are you doing open houses? And kind of start to give my value proposition of what I can do. And so I was doing that, and I had sold two townhouses in that complex, and the for sale by owner came up. And when I gave her a call, I asked her, “Are you getting any traffic?

04:31We just sold those two. I see that you have it at this price, but we sold those for this price. I would love to show you how we do it, because if you sell your home for less, it’s going to hurt the market value for future customers in that townhouse and in that complex. So would you be open to visiting with me, so that I can get you the most for your home?”

04:59She said yes. And when I was standing there, I could tell she was just kind of standoffish. Like, “I’ve heard this before. I’ve gotten so many calls from you guys. What do you got going on?” And she was kind of leaning back.

05:13And as I started doing my presentation, I kind of saw her start to lean a little bit forward.

05:19And then when I was done, she stood there and said, “You know what? I just sold a home in this area, and I didn’t wanna use the agent again, because I just felt that she overpaid for what she did. So that’s why I decided to do this as a for sale by owner. But I love what you’re doing. I see the value that you’re doing.

05:42Not only do I have this, but I have these other five homes as well that we will be selling within the next year. So here are the addresses. Let me know what they’re doing, and let’s get those listed, too.” And I ended up with five more listings off of one.

Loida Velasquez05:59

That’s so awesome. And, you know, I’m glad that we’re talking about for sale by owners, because I feel like those leads are the type that a lot of agents are scared to go after, because they think, “You know, they’re never gonna hire me as an agent.”

06:10But here we are seeing you, you got the listing and you got five more, and I’m pretty sure now this is like a long-term client, friend probably, and they refer you more business.

Paul Domenech06:21

Yeah, absolutely. And actually, she’s calling all the time, and recently I was in a few races and I’m doing things, and she’s contacting me, “Oh, how was the race?

06:32How is things going?” Like, she’s really engaged with me, because I think that what she was looking for was some level of professionalism, because she herself is a professional. And so when she created this relationship with me, it wasn’t a seller-agent relationship. It turned into more of a professional-professional relationship.

06:55Like, “I found the guy now that really knows how to do this. I’ve experienced what it was like before. You guys all have to talk to this person, because he’s the professional to get it done.” And so now she’s creating a relationship with me, because of now seeing all of my marketing stuff in the community, going, “You know what?

07:18I wanna tie into this person as well and be used as an asset for him in networking for our community.”

Loida Velasquez07:27

Exactly. Exactly as it should be. So with this client in particular, you had a conversation with them. How many conversations did it take for her to finally give you a shot, or to convert and have her as a client?

07:40One. One.

Paul Domenech07:42

One. It was one. It was one. Listen, here’s the thing. If somebody is scared to call a FSBO, or somebody is scared to call an expired, okay? It’s not because they’re afraid of the answer that they’re gonna get on the other end of the phone. What they’re afraid of is their value proposition is not strong enough to get a yes on the other end of that phone.

08:11So I would say that if you feel like, “I’m nervous,” it’s really because you are not confident in your value proposition or your skill set. Because when I’m calling somebody, I know my value, so it’s okay if they do not go with me. That’s fine. But I will be on that phone to get the no, so that I know. Like, just give me the no so I know, so I can take you out of my database and know that you’re just not gonna list with me, and that’s okay.

08:43I’m good with that, so I can get onto the next. It’s that simple. So if you are wondering, and you’re feeling that anxiety, it’s your value proposition. And we often as agents really focus on this. We focus so much on being known. Oh, our social media, and how many followers do we have, and how many postcards do we send out that just say, “Just listed, just sold.”

09:13And that’s okay, but here’s the problem with that. You got to focus on being worth knowing. And when you’re worth knowing, then you’re gonna let everybody know who you are, and you’re okay when you get the no, because then you’re telling everybody. Because here’s the thing, if you’re not talking about it, they don’t know you exist, and because you’re worth knowing, you’re confident to talk about it.

Loida Velasquez09:41

Exactly. For everyone that’s watching this, you might need to rewind and replay this section again. Before you start your calls, you just gotta listen to Paulie. Just get on the phones, do it, demonstrate your value proposition, and people are gonna like you or they’re not, and it’s okay if you get a no.

Paul Domenech09:59

Yeah. Listen, the time it takes to convince somebody to work with you, you could work with three other people that actually get it.

10:11So stop trying to chase and put somebody in a choke hold to work with you, because not only is the transaction gonna be difficult, and they’re constantly gonna be on you about why this and why that, it’s gonna drain you.

10:24It’s gonna drain your why. It’s gonna drain your why power, because you know why you’re doing it. “I’m helping you. I’m doing all this because I want to help you. That’s why I’m doing it.” But when they start chipping away at that, you know what? Our willpower is sure to show up, but our why power keeps us going every single day, even when it’s tough.

10:45When you got somebody you gotta convince, you start wondering and start questioning, like, “Why am I doing this?” And if somebody’s messing with your why power, they got to go.

10:55Automatically, they gotta go.

Loida Velasquez10:56

Exactly.

Paul Domenech10:57

So I get the no.

Loida Velasquez10:59

Yeah. And I can tell you, even from my experience, the better that I got, the more conversations that I had and phone calls that I made, it got to the point that there were certain clients that I’m like, “You know what?

11:11I’m good on this one, because it’s gonna drain my energy. They’re not worth my time. I’m not worth theirs. So you know what? I’m gonna focus on the people that wanna work with me. They’re gonna value what I bring to the table, because then they’re gonna be my biggest fans, sending me their friends, family members, and other people, and we’re just gonna build that way.”

Paul Domenech11:31

Absolutely. And you know, the name of the game in real estate is, it’s easy to get, but you’ve got to keep it, and keeping it is where you truly find the success. These 100 transactions that I’m doing a year are not all new customers. 87% are repeat referral customers, 100%. But here’s the thing.

11:57There are still a group of people that don’t know I exist, and I know I can help them out in the best way possible. So it’s actually my duty to reach out to these people. And where do I find these people? Where can I reach out to them and not have to scour for their phone number? And that’s simply Vulcan7.

12:17Thank you so much. You’re putting it on a silver platter for me. Let’s go. Like, just make the phone call.

Loida Velasquez12:25

Mm-hmm. Doesn’t get any easier than that. No. You don’t actually have to pick up the phone and have conversations.

Paul Domenech12:32

Correct.

Loida Velasquez12:33

So with that being said, if you’re up for it, I would love to do a little role play, a for sale by owner.

12:39I’ll be the for sale by owner, you’ll be the agent, so that agents can see kinda like how the conversations flow.

Paul Domenech12:45

Absolutely.

Loida Velasquez12:46

Okay.

Paul Domenech12:49

Ring, ring.

Loida Velasquez12:50

Hello?

Paul Domenech12:52

Hello, Loida.

Loida Velasquez12:53

Who is this?

Paul Domenech12:55

This is Paul Domenech with ERA American Real Estate and, uh, John Williams.

Loida Velasquez12:59

Oh, I’m not looking for an agent.

Paul Domenech13:01

Oh, okay. Well, here’s the thing.

13:03I’m only calling right now for a market update. I’m listing a home down the street, and I was just wondering, are you getting any traffic for your home, or any calls?

Loida Velasquez13:13

Um, I’m getting a lot of calls, mostly agents, you know, just like you, some investors. I have it online, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist.

13:22So yeah, I’m getting pretty good activity, I would say.

Paul Domenech13:26

Okay. And so are people actually coming to see the home?

Loida Velasquez13:29

At this point, no. Haven’t arranged really anything.

Paul Domenech13:33

Yeah, so what we’ve done is we’ve put it on the market. We’ve done a lot of that stuff also, but it seems to be a slow market, so I’m just trying to get the feel for the market.

13:42I am gonna be doing an open house on Saturday, and so I would like to know, would you be open, that if I were to find somebody, I would be able to show them your house? Would you be open for that?

Loida Velasquez13:54

Um, yeah, as long as they pay your fee.

Paul Domenech13:57

Okay. Yeah, that’s not a problem. But I would also like to see the inside of the home.

14:02Could I set up a private appointment just to see the inside of the home, so that I can get a feel for what it’s worth? And also, I wanna kind of show you what I’m doing to get extra traffic to my listing, because your listing is super important, and I’m not even trying to list your home, but the one thing that I do wanna make sure is that you get the most value for your home.

14:23Because if you don’t get the most value for your home, what ends up happening is it’s gonna affect my listing. So it really is in my best interest to help you get the most money for your home. So when I stop by, would it be okay if I brought you some information to show you what we do to get your home sold?

Loida Velasquez14:41

Um, yeah, you can just drop by, give me some info, but like I said, I’m not looking to list my house. I’ve already gotten, like, 20 agents telling me the same thing. It sounds like you guys are following the same script or something.

Paul Domenech14:54

Yeah, yeah, no, I completely understand, and this isn’t actually a script.

14:58I’m really truly trying to find out what the market’s doing, because I wanna get that house sold. And not to mention, if somebody is seeing your home, they might wanna see my home, so it would be good for us to exchange numbers, because if they don’t like my home and your home fits, I’d be more than happy to try to get them into your home.

15:17Because at the end of the day, my goal is to find somebody a home, and if they’re one of my customers, I’m gonna sell it on the back end anyway. So it’s a win-win for us all the way around. So would today at 5:30 or tomorrow at 6:00 work for you?

Loida Velasquez15:32

Um, I guess if you put it that way, I mean, doesn’t hurt for just some information.

15:36Um, probably tomorrow.

Paul Domenech15:39

Okay, cool. I got you down for tomorrow, and I will see you then.

Loida Velasquez15:42

Okay. Thank you.

Paul Domenech15:43

Have a great day.

Loida Velasquez15:44

Awesome.

Paul Domenech15:45

I mean, it’s that easy, right? Like, they’re gonna say, “No, no,” but here’s the thing. I’m telling you the truth. You’re trying to throw me with, “Oh, you know, oh, I’ve heard this script.”

15:58This isn’t a script. I’m really truly trying to find out market value, because if you sell for less, it’s going to hurt my listing. And then also, if I get a buyer and I know you, I can bring them to you. But what did I do? I also left my information, and I’m gonna work a deal while we’re there, saying, “Hey, look, I’m gonna give you all this stuff.

16:19I’ve got no problem giving you all this stuff.” And you’re going, “Well, why are you giving this to me for free?” I’m really not giving it to you for free. What I’m doing is I’m gonna give you this to help you, and if a buyer comes by, or an agent calls you and they’re not interested in your house, if you don’t mind giving them my information, or calling me to let me have their information, I will give you all my stuff for free, so that you can take a shot at selling your home.

16:46Is that a deal?

Loida Velasquez16:49

I love it.

Paul Domenech16:49

Like, it’s truly from contribution. This is not a script. It is truly from contribution. And let’s be real. Let’s be real. Any agent listening to this should be doing this anyway, to know what the market is doing in your area. You should be looking for FSBOs. You should be calling them, asking them if they are getting traffic, if people have been stopping by their house.

17:14Are they doing open houses? Can we collaborate in some sort of way? You should be doing that for who? Your customer whose home you are selling somewhere else. This is something that you should be doing so that you can be the market specialist. Now, here’s another thing that adds to all that. Now they know you exist.

17:38All the other real estate agents were phone calls. They weren’t trying to find out what was going on with the market. And when you truly come from that place of contribution, and that authenticity comes out, and they know what’s going on, you can now call them. “Hey, I had a great open house. Has anybody swung by your house yet?”

17:55And you can follow up with them and tell them what your home is doing. “Hey, here’s the deal. When my house sells, I’ll let you know exactly what it sold for, so you can make sure that you’re in the right place when it comes down to pricing, and know what your home is going to be worth.” So now I’ve created this back and forth conversation.

18:11“Hey, Paul, what’s going on?” Too easy. This is what we should be doing anyway.

Loida Velasquez18:17

Yeah. And even the way that you’re saying things, you generally sound concerned to want to know, you know, what has the activity been like, or, my listing is gonna also be affected by your listing and what happens there.

Paul Domenech18:31

Right? And so here we go, right? This is a value proposition in your listing presentation. So one of the things that I do is I actually call the FSBOs in the area, and I poll them to see how busy they are, because one of the things that really can affect us is if a FSBO sells for less. So what I’m going to do, because you list with me, is I’m gonna offer them an opportunity to try to collaborate, to make sure that they are on the same price as we are, and they’re not trying to undercut us.

19:03So that’s something that I do that’s a little bit different as a listing agent than some other agents would do. They would go after the business for a for sale by owner. I’m actually trying to make sure and help them to ensure that they’re not gonna drop the value of your home. That’s what I do whenever I call and contact for sale by owners.

Loida Velasquez19:21

And I’m sure-

Paul Domenech19:22

Your listing presentation.

Loida Velasquez19:23

Yeah, absolutely. And I’m sure, as you’re having these conversations, it gets to the point that they might be like, “You know what? Maybe I should just hire Paulie, ’cause he sounds like he knows a lot more than I do.”

Paul Domenech19:31

Lily did it, and I got five listings. She did it. It was so easy.

19:38It was so easy because I knew what my value proposition was. I had clarity on that. When you gain clarity, you gain competence. When you gain competence, you gain certainty. And when you have the certainty of what you’re doing, that the information can be transferred very easily, you get the confidence to stand out and say, “Pick me.

20:01Hi, my name is Paul Domenech. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is why I’m calling. I’m here to help you. No? Okay, great. Yes? Okay, let’s meet.” So using Vulcan7 is phenomenal also if you’re a newer agent. Listen, we are always looking for leads. We’re paying all of these other lead sources, and if you really budget it out, and you look at your dollar… The thing is, you have to connect somehow.

20:33Door knocking is a great thing to do when you have very little money in your pocket to connect. Open houses are a great thing to do when you have a little bit of money. And getting somebody on the phone that has already raised their hand is the next best thing. I would rather follow up with those people than the Mickey Mouse leads that come from other lead sources.

21:00Just saying.

Loida Velasquez21:01

I agree. I love it. And let me ask you this, this is the last question. Let’s say there’s a newer agent, maybe they’ve been in the business two years or so. They’re like, “Man, I wanna get to Paul’s level of, like, that confidence. What do I need to do?”

Paul Domenech21:18

Easy. The mother of success is consistency.

21:23Consistency. That’s it. Somebody asked, like, “Paul, what’s more important for success? Consistency or intelligence?” And I went, “Well, you could be very smart at anything, right? But consistency in itself will give you the experience and turn you wise.” And so by being consistent, you will have stories of what works, what doesn’t work, because people don’t really care how smart you are.

21:55They wanna know that you’re gonna get the job done. Right? And effort in itself is not what’s going to turn you into success either. Execution is going to. So even when you fail, that’s okay, because it’s just failing forward. And if you remain consistent, it’s just another story for you to talk about how you had to pivot or change, or, “I was doing this, and this is what happened.

22:29We expected this, and this is what happened.” But you have to be authentic with it, right? That’s the thing. “Nothing is neither good nor bad,” so Shakespeare says, “only thinking makes it so.” And if you come from a true place of authenticity, and it doesn’t go the direction that you’re anticipating it going, and you pivot, it’s okay, because you truly put the right effort in to execute.

22:55You didn’t just show up to an open house and nobody came, right? I often tell people, “Why are you doing open houses?” “Well, I’m getting them for buyers.” No, you should be doing it to get the referral. If you’re doing it to get the referral, and you’re impressing the seller at how you put together the open house, you know who’s gonna come?

23:13The buyers. The buyers are automatically gonna come, but you’re just opening up the door and expecting them to walk through. Same thing with Vulcan7. If you’re not understanding the conversations that are going to be had on the other end of this phone, and you’re just picking up the phone and dialing, you are setting yourself up for failure.

23:31There is some work that is involved in using the tool. This is just a tool, and you can’t just use it any way. You have to use it the way in which it is built. So if you’re an agent right now and you’re going, “Man, I don’t know how to have those conversations without getting burned,” here’s what you do. You find scripts.

23:51You find the scripts, you read the scripts. When you read the scripts, you look at what the objection is and think to yourself, “How will I handle that?” And then when you role play, don’t worry about role playing with an agent or a partner. Role play in the conversation that’s going on when people ask you, “Hey, Paul, you know, seems that there’s a lot of for sale by owners right now.”

24:19“Oh, yeah. You know what? Yeah, there is a lot of for sale by owners, but the problem with the for sale by owner thing is that they only net about 87% of what the true market value is, because they’re only reaching a certain group of people. And as an agent, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna blast it all over, and we’re gonna make sure that we’re getting as many eyes on it in the time that it’s listed, and that’s what truly raises the value of the home.

24:44And I’m talking about 13% more. So if I’m getting 6% and they’re making 13% more, it’s a no-brainer.” But people have to learn the hard way, you know what I mean? And that’s kind of what’s going on with the FSBO situation. So use the script when somebody’s asking you what the market’s about.

25:02Role play with the person in real time, not just, “Oh, well, interest rates are this, and how is the market?” No. Do your scripts, role play, and what will happen is people will turn around and go, “Man, this guy is worth knowing, ’cause I didn’t even think of that.”

Loida Velasquez25:20

Yeah. There you go. So for all of you watching or listening, you’re gonna have to watch this video two, three times, and like I said, you’re gonna have to probably favorite it and save it.

25:29Whenever you don’t feel like calling, you just need to listen to Paulie. ‘Cause even right now, I feel like, you know, let me just start calling for sale by owners and set some appointments. So as we wrap this up, Paulie, let us know where people can find you, any events you have coming up. Give us all the things.

Paul Domenech25:45

Yep. So you can find me @PaulDomenech on Instagram. And then also, you can find me at the Referral Summit we have that’s coming up on October 27th in Atlanta, with Michael Maher and The Seven Levels of Communication, and also at any Glover U event. Love those guys. They’ve got some really good stuff that you can learn from.

26:07If you go to their website, you can download their scripts, and their scripts are really great stuff to start with. And then obviously do some research, hear how different people are saying things. Come up with your own. It’s not so that you can repeat what people are saying, but so you can understand. And if you don’t understand what’s going on, seek coaching, or seek some of these seminars that they have online, so that you can gain the skill to understand, and then gain the clarity, competence, and certainty to give you the confidence to make the phone calls.

Loida Velasquez26:45

Awesome. All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for tuning in. Paul, thank you so much for being here today. We’ll see you all on the next one. Bye.