S1 E5: Improving 1% each day

Ren Jones (00:01):
Alrighty. It’s that time. All right. Welcome to Roadmap. It’s an exciting show. Every seven days we interview somebody that is taking two, three, four listings. And we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today. We’ve got a lot of material to cover, so hopefully a lot of you out there, maybe you’re only taking two or three listings a month and you want to get it to a week, and we can get you there a lot faster by being very specific, covering a lot of material, and then you can use the copycat principle. And that copycat principle works pretty darn well. So let me introduce my co-host from San Diego, Carly Hathaway. How are you, Carly?

Carly Hathaway (00:49):
Hi. How’s it going? So glad

Ren Jones (00:49):
Good. How’s the real estate business in San Diego?

Carly Hathaway (00:54):
Amazing. It’s amazing.

Ren Jones (01:00):
Good. That’s carleyhathaway.com. Good. So as we always talk about the Vulcan7 challenge, the Vulcan7 challenge is … Well, you know the Vulcan7 challenge. What’s the Vulcan7 challenge?

Carly Hathaway (01:12):
The Vulcan7 challenge is a really great way to shadow some great agents that are doing a million dollars a year. What the goal is, is to find a different agent that’s using this program. Go shadow them for one day. Listen to all their calls, maybe even a listing appointment with them, and just learn as much as you can and plan on just following up.

Ren Jones (01:34):
Just do one a month. You have to drive four or five hours to a different market. You may have to get on an airplane, but within 24 hours, one day a month, you go fly there that evening, have dinner with them, understand their mindset, because if you’ve been watching on the show, that’s a big piece.

(01:51):
Get a real understanding. And then follow their morning schedule, taking notes, recording their calls, the way they do what they do, how they do what they do, their approach, their tonality, their mindset, and then have lunch with them and go head on home. Do it once a month. At the end of a year, you’ve got a dozen people, they’re doing it so much more than you are, but guess what? Within that year’s period, you’ll move up to that level real fast.

(02:18):
So I don’t know another way to get there that fast. You can go see things on stage, you can have a coach, you can have all these things. You can read about it, you can hear about it. But when you see it, when you see it, something happens in our head that gets you there so much faster. That’s Vulcan7 challenge. So let’s introduce, every week we have a great, and this is no exception, we have a great, great, great guest today. Let me introduce from the Greater Chicago area. Kari Kohler. How are you, Carly? I mean, Kari. I got to get-

Kari Kohler (02:54):
I’m doing great, Ren. How are you?

Ren Jones (02:56):
Good, good, good. Welcome to the show. And if they have referrals for your market in Greater Chicago, what’s your website? Maybe that’s the easiest way.

Kari Kohler (03:06):
The kohlergroup.com.

Ren Jones (03:09):
The kohlergroup.com. The K-O-H-L-E-R, group.com. Good. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. So we’re going to have a lot of fun. And I mean, hopefully we’ll have a lot of fun. And then if every thought we all have on this is what little idea can we give them, how many great ideas that they can write, and I see a lot of them writing and I see six people just sitting in there with their hands folded, come on guys, you’re going to need to record this down in one way or another.

(03:39):
So write this stuff down because if you’re not taking three listings a week now, there’s something to be benefited from being on this call. So let’s jump in and talk about your business. Now you take a lot of listings. How many did you take last month?

Kari Kohler (03:56):
I took 12 last month.

Ren Jones (03:57):
12 last month. So there you go, three a week. That works. And what’s interesting is she’s got a good price point. What’s an average listing?

Kari Kohler (04:10):
Average price point is 450000.

Ren Jones (04:14):
450. Good. And I know you do some million twos and things like that, if I’m aware of that. So congratulations. So you’ve been doing it. That is exciting. So, any questions, Carly? Golly, name similarity.

Carly Hathaway (04:33):
The Carly and Kari thing is going to be hard, but we can do it. So let’s kind of start with maybe kind of your morning schedule and what your morning looks like and how you kind of start your day, what time you start calling, things like that.

Kari Kohler (04:47):
Sure. Well, I have two high school boys that I get off to school. They leave at quarter to seven. So I get to the office at seven and I role play five days a week for about 20 minutes. And that’s before my calls. I do some affirmations and touch up on any last minute details to prepare for my calls.

(05:11):
I look at my call list and I try to do top down, especially with the expireds, they’re fresh out of the oven. I want to get the high end first. Or if there is an expired that’s close to a listing I just sold, I want to get them first. So I just review all my calls that I’m going to make. And then I’m on the phone at eight o’clock.

(05:33):
And I go solid for three hours. And I’m going to up that to four hours as I’m moving forward here because I need to close out the year with a real good closing number. And so 30 contacts a day.

Ren Jones (05:55):
30 contacts a day.

Kari Kohler (05:55):
Yes.

Ren Jones (05:55):
Awesome.

Carly Hathaway (05:55):
So you’re kind of talking about role playing and stuff like that. Do you have an accountability partner?

Kari Kohler (05:59):
I do. I have an accountability partner that I text when I begin my prospecting and then I text when I finish. We talk about how many contacts we had, and if we set a qualified listing appointment, which is the goal of every day. My goal of every day is to set a qualified listing.

Carly Hathaway (06:18):
That’s great. So what do you mean by qualified? How do you qualify them?

Kari Kohler (06:23):
Well, I follow the Mike Ferry scripts and I use the pre-qual for the Mike Ferry pre-qualification script. Sometimes when you’re making the expired calls, you can roll right into that pre-qual. But certainly before I get off the phone I ask some substantial questions and then I schedule another pre-qualification appointment.

Carly Hathaway (06:44):
Wonderful.

Ren Jones (06:45):
What’s a typical pre-qual question? What are you asking before you go out there?

Kari Kohler (06:51):
I ask them if they feel comfortable and confident with me. Are they planning to list their home with me? I go over where they’re moving to, what their timeframe is, what they want to list their home for, what their mortgage balance is.

(07:07):
I ask them to describe the home for me, both positive and negative. And I ask them if they have any questions and confirm that all the decision makers are going to be there. I’m careful in how I … But I do make sure that all the decision makers are going to be there. Because that’s been a challenge in the past when you show up and the wife is there but the husband isn’t. If we’re missing a decision maker, it’s a key component.

Ren Jones (07:33):
Wow. By asking those questions in advance, I mean about if they’re asking you questions and you kind of find out what’s on their mind, how does that help you?

Kari Kohler (07:48):
It’s incredible to me. It’s absolutely critical that I have that information. I’m not perfect in that arena, but I certainly try. I feel like I have a 10% error rate and sometimes maybe I hurry through the questions or I just feel that I didn’t do a good job, I didn’t ask all the questions. But my goal every day is to ask every single question on this script so that I have all the answers and it prepares me.

(08:18):
Then I know where do they want to price it? Are we going to be on the same page? How quick do they need to move? It tells me exactly what their motivation is. And I have learned that motivation, knowing the seller’s motivation is absolutely key in the entire process of having the home on the market because you can always go back to their motivation, press on that and try to get the outcome that everybody’s trying to achieve, which is a sold property for the highest dollar amount in the shortest amount of time.

Ren Jones (08:49):
So closing with their motivation, they tell you what they’re trying to accomplish and you keep closing with that?

Kari Kohler (08:55):
Correct.

Ren Jones (08:56):
Are they getting a pre-listing package of any type? That you send over anything in advance?

Kari Kohler (09:01):
Yes, they do get a pre-listing package. I have lots of sources for how I get that delivered. And somebody just recently said, which I thought was a fabulous idea, is to hire an Uber driver to deliver your pre-listing packages, which I thought was such a great idea.

Ren Jones (09:19):
Wow.

Kari Kohler (09:20):
Isn’t that a neat idea?

Carly Hathaway (09:21):
Yeah.

Kari Kohler (09:22):
Because I usually try to have my high school son do it, but that doesn’t always go so well. So having a Uber driver I thought was a great idea. Although my son does do a good job, I want to plug him on that. He does. So in the pre-listing package, I have personal references, people that I’ve sold before that the sellers can call if they choose to.

(09:46):
They almost never do. A copy of my plan of action, my selling plan of action. I put a complete CMA in there, a completed net sheet, a completed contract, and then all the local disclosures.

Ren Jones (10:02):
Wow. So when you get there, they already know what you’re going to do to sell it. You’ve already gotten all this information, you’ve already taken all that in, so you’re not spending a lot of time doing that. Now an average real estate agent in your market and others, take a couple hours at the house. I don’t know what they do in two hours. Let’s say you, how long are you there?

Kari Kohler (10:24):
My goal is 30 minutes or less. Last night I did take a listing in less than 15 minutes, I just closed right away.

Ren Jones (10:33):
You were in the door and out in 15 minutes, is that right?

Carly Hathaway (10:38):
Nice work. That’s exciting.

Kari Kohler (10:38):
And it was a $1.1 million home, so that worked out very, very well at a good price too. Thank you.

Ren Jones (10:44):
1.1 million, 15 minutes, people are like, oh, I could never do that. I could never do that. I could never just spend 15 minutes with them. Well, I would almost think the seller’s got to be happy about that.

Kari Kohler (10:56):
A lot. Especially, well, I shouldn’t group that. But it depends on the personality style. I mean, I can group it into, if it’s a driver, they want you in and out of there quickly. You’ve already given them the information, you’ve given them in your pre-qual opportunity to ask any questions that they may have.

(11:14):
So they want you in and out and they want you to be dressed professionally, show up on show time and just answer their questions in their personality style and get out of there is the object of the game.

Ren Jones (11:33):
Awesome.

Kari Kohler (11:35):
But it does typically take me a half hour. Sometimes it goes longer than that, especially when they want to give you the tour of the home. I try to always go solo in that department, but I’ve learned that if I ask more than twice to try to go solo, it kind of offends them. So I’ve learned there’s a balance. There’s some personality styles, expressives, what have you, that definitely want to give you that tour and show off every little nook and cranny.

Ren Jones (12:05):
Gotcha. Awesome. That’s fantastic. That is exciting. You said you call top down. I heard that earlier when you were talking about who you … And I’ve heard that. I’ve heard someone mention that the other day. So starting with the most expensive house first and move on.

Kari Kohler (12:20):
Yes.

Ren Jones (12:21):
Makes sense.

Kari Kohler (12:25):
Unless it’s like I just sold three homes down and then I’m like, I want to get that person before somebody else does. But typically start highest price range and then down.

Ren Jones (12:36):
Good. Carly, there was a couple questions about accountability earlier. So you have role play partners, but when I talked to you the other day, you were talking about you had like the Brady Bunch on with you. You had two Google Hangouts with all those little matrix of people doing what you’re doing all across the country. Two, not just one, but two sets of Google Hangouts with bunches of pictures of a whole bunch of you making calls.

Kari Kohler (13:04):
Yes. And it’s so much fun. There are people from across the country, there’s the bunch of Chicago people on there, which is fantastic. And then there’s people from across the country all coached by different coaches. So they all have a little different perspective on how they answer objections and how they go through their scripts.

(13:22):
But what’s so much fun about it is I can hear their objection handlers and then I can just scribble it down and I can use it. I can modify it. It’s also a way to keep the energy flowing because if you’re gone from the screen for more than five minutes, somebody’s going to be like, Kari, Kari, Kari. And I can hear them when I’m walking through the office screaming at me to come back to the screen.

(13:48):
And then if we’re not on there, they’re calling me or texting me and saying, where are you? So it’s a major accountability and a major learning experience. And then if I get a seller on the phone and I don’t want to have that background knowledge, I mean all I have to do is mute it for three minutes and then jump right back on.

(14:05):
So it’s an awesome way. That has been one of the components that has really helped me this year. And I just started doing it. I don’t like looking at myself on the screen, but I’ve gotten beyond that because I want to learn and I want to do my best for my sellers and for my clients.

Ren Jones (14:25):
Holy crow. And then you have somebody you text every day or every hour or whatever. What’s that about?

Kari Kohler (14:33):
That is just, luckily it’s with a driver because I happen to be a driver myself. So it’s just a few phrases. Have you started? Yes. Did you get a qualified listing appointment? Yes. It’s no, how’s the family? None of that. It’s just get it done.

Ren Jones (14:50):
Awesome. So accountability over the top. Because I’ve got to share a little story. You won’t like me for this, but she and I role played a script over the phone earlier. Sean McCarthy who we had about four or five weeks ago. And if you haven’t watched his four or five weeks ago, you guys should, he did the same thing.

(15:11):
He did a role play and it was just plain Jane. I mean a lot of the people watching this could do it. And I’m like, is that really what you do? And Carly’s like, yeah, that’s what I do. You say it just like that? Yeah, I just say it like that. The only thing she did do, she hung in there. I tried to get her to want to hang up. She wasn’t skittish.

(15:30):
She was strong and she would throw a few basic objection handlers, but she stayed with it. More than anything, she just stayed with it. But it was nothing, it wasn’t like you’d mastered these amazing little dialogues. It was just that you’re showing up every day and doing three or four hours of calls. I mean, would that be a fair assessment?

Carly Hathaway (15:52):
Can we maybe we do a quick role play? Some basic stuff.

Ren Jones (15:56):
You won’t like it.

Carly Hathaway (15:57):
I won’t like it? Let’s try it.

Ren Jones (16:00):
She won’t like it. You won’t like it. It’s just, it’s plain. And the only thing she did is just hang in there a little bit more. I mean we could do it. Yeah. Go ahead, role play. Ring up one of us. Who you are going to call Carly or me?

Kari Kohler (16:15):
I’m going to call you and it’s going to be an expired call.

Ren Jones (16:18):
All right.

Kari Kohler (16:18):
Be nice to me.

Ren Jones (16:18):
All right.

Kari Kohler (16:23):
Hi, I’m looking for Ren.

Ren Jones (16:25):
Speaking.

Kari Kohler (16:27):
Hi Ren. This is Kari Kohler calling with Coldwell Banker. I’m sure you figured out that your home has come up in our computer as an expired listing. And I was calling to see when do you plan on interviewing the right agent for the job of selling your home?

Ren Jones (16:43):
We have the right agent. Her name is Becky.

Kari Kohler (16:46):
You have the right agent. Really? Well, I appreciate your loyalty, Ren. In 180 days though. Becky didn’t sell the home, correct?

Ren Jones (16:53):
No, that’s correct.

Kari Kohler (16:54):
She promised a sold sign and that didn’t show up, did it?

Ren Jones (17:01):
No, it didn’t.

Kari Kohler (17:03):
You deserve that sold sign, Ren.

Ren Jones (17:05):
Yeah, and we will. It isn’t her fault. We started high and the market’s a little off and …

Kari Kohler (17:10):
You started high and the market … Absolutely. If you sold this home, where would you go next, Ren?

Ren Jones (17:18):
Well, we’re going to Phoenix. We’re already there.

Kari Kohler (17:20):
Oh, you’re going to Phoenix and you’re already there. That’s awesome. You’re going to miss the winter.

Ren Jones (17:27):
I’m not going to miss the winter. I promise you that. I will not miss the winter.

Kari Kohler (17:31):
I am sure you will not. I’m envious of you. Ren, what do you think stopped your food from selling?

Ren Jones (17:39):
Well, we started a little high and we had an offer and we kind of ignored it. We didn’t want to go down on our price. It’s our fault.

Kari Kohler (17:48):
And I can appreciate what you’re saying and a lot of people feel the same way you do. Ren, did you know that just in the last 30 days in St. Charles alone, 143 homes sold and many of those were in your price range? In fact, last month I so closed 15 of my own. Especially in this market don’t you think you deserve an aggressive agent to get the job done for you?

Ren Jones (18:11):
Sure. So this stuff really works. Just what you’re doing. Now, you’re using market stats, that’s strong. So are you up on market stats?

Kari Kohler (18:22):
I am. That’s another thing I do between seven and eight is I check the market stats and I have them written in front of me. In fact, I like to prospect in my office because every single wall in my office has objection handlers on it.

Ren Jones (18:36):
Ah.

Carly Hathaway (18:38):
Nice.

Kari Kohler (18:38):
And I’ve got my scripts right in front of me too. So just like you were saying, Ren, that it is so easy. I mean, my coach that I coach with once a week, he applies it to golf, a sport that I attempt to play. Only thing you’re trying to do is to get it in the hole. And that’s the only thing we’re trying to do here, is to get a set of qualified listing appointments.

(19:01):
It’s great to have these memorized. Of course. That’s the best case scenario. But if you don’t have it memorized, then you just have your list right in front of you and you go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Ren Jones (19:11):
So instead of hanging up, because you didn’t, you hung in there. I mean you don’t hang up, you just keep shooting off another objection handler and another and then another and another.

Kari Kohler (19:23):
And closing.

Ren Jones (19:24):
And closing for the appointment. Right.

Kari Kohler (19:26):
Closing for the appointment. And sometimes when it’s a struggle, that’s when I go ahead and I do the pre-qualification questions on another call because I feel like I’ve got to chill for a little bit after it’s been a hard call. But I like to move right into the pre-qual if I can.

Ren Jones (19:43):
Gotcha. And so pre-qualifying, go right into all those questions?

Kari Kohler (19:46):
Correct.

Ren Jones (19:47):
Good. Fantastic.

Carly Hathaway (19:49):
So Kari, someone’s asking, do you do any door knocking?

Kari Kohler (19:54):
I am really being pushed by my accountability partners to do door knocking. In fact, I was just at a seminar. Some I’m going to take baby steps on the door knocking. To answer your question, I have not done door knocking. I’m going to take baby steps and the way I’m going to do that and I thought this was a wonderful idea, find the expired of the day that you didn’t get in touch with that is kind of on your way home. It doesn’t matter if I veer off a little bit, but go to that door and do the door knocking there.

(20:22):
To me that works for my personality. So, that’s where I’m going to start with that. So I’m making the commitment to everybody on this call that I’m going to start doing that.

Carly Hathaway (20:30):
Well, we wish you the best of luck. I think you’ll do great at door knocking. We’re all going to hold you accountable.

Kari Kohler (20:38):
Okay, good. I’ll have lunch and dinner when you come to Chicago. But my partners in crime that I prospect with, they do door knocking and they have a lot of success with it.

Carly Hathaway (20:49):
Good.

Ren Jones (20:50):
What do you try? I know Chicago’s real competitive compared to Cincinnati here and a lot of the country which charges like 6%, Chicago tends to get a little aggressive. What do you charge?

Kari Kohler (21:02):
Yes. It is very competitive with the listing commission. So I do five and six. I try to do six as often as I can, but I definitely dance around in the 5% realm quite a bit.

Ren Jones (21:15):
So when you charge six, what do you keep?

Kari Kohler (21:24):
I keep three and a half.

Ren Jones (21:24):
Ah, I like that. And so you charge six and five?

Kari Kohler (21:26):
Yes.

Carly Hathaway (21:30):
You have a team you work with? Do you work with buyers yourself?

Kari Kohler (21:35):
Not that frequently. I work with buyers. If it’s a listing that I sold and they’re homeless so to speak, they need to find something, eight times out of 10 I will work with them. But calls that come in from our signs and so forth, I have two buyers agents that handle that.

Carly Hathaway (21:56):
Nice. Good.

Kari Kohler (21:58):
To answer your question, I try not to work with very many buyers because my main role is a listing agent.

Ren Jones (22:06):
Can we share that little story we did, as people know, I tend to challenge and tease people and she kept charging five, I’m like, why don’t you charge six? Well everybody in Chicago charges five. I’m like, what if you try to do six? And I finally got down to what would you do with the extra money? She goes, well I’d pay college education. I’ve got a son, Sam and a son Tom, and they’re going to need to go to college. And then what happened?

Kari Kohler (22:34):
Well, we came up with a chart and it was a very meaningful chart to me because I had $0 in the bank for my son Sam’s education. He’s first to go to school next year. And Ren challenged me and said, Let’s make a Sam and Tom college fund. And so that extra money that you make when you push it to 6% is going to go in the college fund.” So there’s a hundred thousand dollars in there for Sam’s education right now, which is only going to pay for two years, I might add.

(23:06):
I have a lot more work to do, but it’s really meaningful to me. I mean, my sons are of course the most important thing in my life. So to be able to work hard for them and to build that so that they can have success in the future is huge for me. It’s a big victory.

Ren Jones (23:24):
She just needed a reason. There was no reason for her to do five or six and then there became a reason. So then she was doing six.

Kari Kohler (23:31):
Yes.

Ren Jones (23:32):
Because in her case, when you look at … when she goes from five to six, she doesn’t keep a half a percent, she keeps 1%. And in order to do that is so much easier to master the skills of negotiating commission is a lot easier than going out and getting another listing and getting it sold. It’s a lot easier. So she could literally add a hundred thousand dollars a year or more to her income by just mastering four or five scripts.

Kari Kohler (23:58):
Yes.

Ren Jones (23:59):
That easy. Just mainly the skills, mastering those scripts.

Kari Kohler (24:03):
Yes.

Ren Jones (24:04):
And she did it. Not a hundred percent yet.

Kari Kohler (24:08):
I’m going to keep doing it because I’ve got a lot of years to pay for.

Ren Jones (24:14):
It’ll get you there faster than going and getting a new one on a listing. Exactly. It’s so much easier in getting another listing.

Carly Hathaway (24:21):
Kari, how do you keep in touch-

Ren Jones (24:22):
Kari. K-A-R-I.

Carly Hathaway (24:23):
Sorry. How do you keep in touch with your past clients and your sphere of influence? Do you schedule times in your day for them or how do you keep in touch with them?

Kari Kohler (24:35):
Yes. I have a 451 sphere of influence, past clients, that I’m responsible for calling four times a year. I mail to them four times a year. And we’re just about to launch our annual client party, which we’re going to have at a restaurant bar type of thing. And it’s two hours. It’s a cocktail party, come and have appetizers and cocktails, any kind of drink.

(25:04):
And it is a huge success. Because it’s such a short period of time, it’s located in St. Charles where I do most of my business, it’s right in the center of St. Charles so many people pass it on their way home, and it’s just, like I said, quick amount of time. You get to see a lot of people. Not everybody comes, but it gives you the opportunity to then give them some value, give them a call, tell them you’re caring about them, hoping they come to the party, hoping you get to see them. And it is just a wonderful way to reach out to people and also to get to see them.

Carly Hathaway (25:40):
Yeah, it sounds fun too.

Kari Kohler (25:42):
Yes.

Carly Hathaway (25:42):
And so what do you mail to them four times a year?

Kari Kohler (25:46):
It’s typically market stats on St. Charles. What is happening in the market? Now, it’s not just St. Charles because I do, do a much larger area than that. So often I’ll tailor it to five cities and I’ll do the market stats and we’ll … Bottom line is, it’s market stats. I’m talking too much about something that I-

Carly Hathaway (26:10):
No, that’s great. That’s great. I think that could be really useful for people.

Kari Kohler (26:13):
And then if I sell a really, well, when I sell a prominent listing, something I’d like to, for lack of a better word, display to my client that it happened, I’ll send them just a little postcard too, just so they know that there’s activity going on and the market is moving. Because I know Ren, you would call it a balanced market from what I’ve learned from you in the past.

(26:42):
But really when you’re working in the ditches here, it really does seem like a little bit of a challenge market. We have more sellers than we have buyers.

Ren Jones (26:51):
Oh really?

Kari Kohler (26:53):
Yes.

Ren Jones (26:54):
So it takes a while to get them sold.

Kari Kohler (26:55):
It does. Which is unlike much of the rest of the country.

Ren Jones (26:59):
I know, apparently. Well good. That is actually good news for you.

Kari Kohler (27:04):
Tell me why it’s good.

Ren Jones (27:06):
Well, for sale by owner doesn’t necessarily sell. A hundred percent of the listings don’t sell. So there’s a little less commission cutting.

Kari Kohler (27:18):
Yes.

Ren Jones (27:19):
And there are expireds every day.

Kari Kohler (27:20):
Yes, there are.

Ren Jones (27:20):
Several. That’s a big advantage. And more of a balanced market or where the more they need your services. Because there are plenty of agents, but can the agent get the job done? It’s a lot of good reasons. So what would happen Kari, if all of a sudden you became allergic to prospecting? What would happen? You were telling me earlier today about a little list you made one time. What would happen if I don’t prospect? And you made this list.

Kari Kohler (27:54):
I did. And that was one time when you had challenged me years ago.

Ren Jones (27:58):
I’m always teasing and challenging when I run into people.

Kari Kohler (28:03):
That is true. But I love it. I think I was probably struggling a little bit and I talked to you and you said, “Make a list of what will happen if you don’t get on those phones three hours a day and prospect.” And I am the primary breadwinner in my family.

(28:22):
So it is really important that I get on the phones. And we all have nice houses and nice cars and food on the table. But that was the first thing that hit me is I won’t have the money to pay the mortgage. I won’t have the money to pay the bills. And then the boys, the most important thing in my life won’t be able to go to college of their choice.

(28:42):
They won’t have the clothes, the sneakers, the whatever that they want. And when I made that list, and then a big thing is we won’t be able to take vacations as a family and I won’t be able to get that concentrated time with my boys outside of the hustle bustle of regular life.

(29:00):
So when I made that list, that list was so incredibly painful for me as I feel it would probably be for most people that I was like, I can never dance around this list. I must move myself out of that. And then for me, I do feel blessed in the fact that I feel like prospecting is very easy.

(29:20):
I think it’s fun. I think it’s easy. I keep track of how much money I make an hour when I prospect and it’s a large amount of money. And so I look at that money and I say, I mean I don’t have the college paid for yet, I don’t have my house paid for yet entirely, so my family needs that money. So I cannot skip a beat here.

(29:42):
I have to do it. Plus it’s easy. Ren, I feel like you’ve probably made this analogy to me too. We’re not on a roof in the middle of July putting shingles on and we’re not on a roof in the middle of January putting shingles on. This isn’t a job. I’m in the air conditioning, I’m in the heat, I can drink and eat whatever I want while I’m prospecting. I can do it with my friends.

(30:03):
It’s easy. It really is easy. And I’ve heard top producers that make millions of dollars a year, just say the most important thing is just to get on the phone. Even if you make a mistake, who cares? Next. You just get the next one.

Ren Jones (30:20):
There’s another one right behind it. So yes. Awesome. That is exciting. We should do some Q and A because there’s a lot of great thoughts you’ve had here. Now I don’t understand this question. It says, what’s your nurture goal for the day? Why don’t you tell them what your definition of a lead is? What’s your definition of a lead?

Kari Kohler (30:39):
My definition of a lead is somebody that wants to buy or sell in the next seven to 10 days.

Ren Jones (30:46):
Next seven to 10 days. So you’re not looking to nurture people over a couple years and then they eventually buy or sell?

Kari Kohler (30:51):
No, because of my driver personality, I literally can’t do that. I don’t have it in me to just keep doing that.

Ren Jones (31:01):
Fair enough. Great. Kari, do you use a dialer?

Kari Kohler (31:04):
I do. I use Vulcan7. And I love it. I love it. I’ve used it for how many years has it even been around because I’ve used it ever since it rolled out?

Ren Jones (31:13):
2011?

Kari Kohler (31:14):
I’ve used it since 2011, I think.

Ren Jones (31:16):
Great, great, great, great. Oftentimes seller’s not owner occupied. They’re not living in the house.

Kari Kohler (31:27):
I love when sellers aren’t living in the house.

Ren Jones (31:30):
Me too.

Kari Kohler (31:32):
I do not mind that one bit. And I do quite a bit of that. And I tell the seller I specialize in that. I’ve done so many of them that I do feel like I specialize in it. I communicate with them quite frequently depending on where they live and let them know what the feedback is, what the market details are, what they can do to improve the property, if anything is needed.

Ren Jones (31:56):
Super. That’s great. Great. The out of town sellers are so motivated, they treat it differently. I’m going to skip the next one because how do you organize folders on Vulcan7 and things like that? And we actually have on a different … I think it’s on Mondays or Wednesdays, one of the days, if you look at the schedule, we actually do programs like this.

(32:17):
And that’s all we talk about is the system. But this is more the mindset, strategy, scripts, how you run your morning. So what if the seller said they have some agent? They already have an agent. I don’t know. Maybe an agent in mind. Is that what you mean? I don’t know what they mean.

Kari Kohler (32:40):
Maybe they’re looking for an objection handler to that. And that would be something like the smart and savvy sellers meet with two or three brokers to make sure that they’re protecting their largest asset, would you like to meet at five or six tonight?

Ren Jones (32:54):
Perfect. I like that. That’s great. And you give them two choices. Five or six tonight. Great. It says on a 6% listing you keep three and a half. That means you’re giving the buyer agent only two and a half. But you’ve got to understand two and a half is the norm. That’s all they see in Chicago. So they’re used to that. So, that’s not a problem. So, that answers that one.

(33:15):
Earlier somebody said, I can’t believe you would call it 8:00 AM. Well, if you’re calling at 8:30 or nine, you’ll find out the hard way, that’s a lot worse. You want to expound on why that’s worse, that the later it gets in that eight o’clock hour, how that works against you? You want to talk about it? Because it comes up on every one of these calls.

Kari Kohler (33:34):
Yes. Well I remember, this is just a visual for me, even though I don’t cook or bake, but you use … Somebody that’s out there, but I don’t, you used to say it’s getting a warm cookie out of the oven. You’re catching them right at eight. I mean it’s perfect. It couldn’t be better. It’s just absolutely perfect for those of us that like cookies right out of the oven.

Ren Jones (33:57):
When you get the seller at nine o’clock, they’ve already been bombarded probably by 10 of the most professional skilled agents. And now you’re number 11 and you miss the boat.

(34:12):
I know the rookies start calling at nine, 9:30. Yeah. What will you say to a seller when they say that we’re just going to rent the house out? What do you tell them?

Kari Kohler (34:23):
Oh, I’ve learned this from my role play partners. Is that plan A or was that plan B? And so you find out what their motivation is, what their plans are for the future, speaking of folders and Vulcan, if they’ve absolutely signed the lease, that’s a done deal. I put them in a rental folder in Vulcan. And I start mailing to them, even though a lot of times I’m not a big mailer. I do try to hit those guys and then I call them and see what I can do to get them that listing.

Ren Jones (34:59):
I gotcha. So what else? Carly read a couple of the questions.

Carly Hathaway (35:10):
Do you ever lose the passion and desire to prospect? And if so, how do you re-motivate yourself?

Kari Kohler (35:18):
I don’t, because I am strongly motivated by that list that Ren and I were talking about is what happens if my boys have to come to me and say, mom, I wanted to go to University of Michigan and I have to look them in the eye and say, I can’t afford that? I can’t go there. So I have to keep prospecting.

Carly Hathaway (35:40):
And then as far as accountability partners, is there a group you can join or how did you find your accountability partners and role playing partners?

Kari Kohler (35:48):
Yes. I found them at seminars that I go to across the country. I go to them all the time when they’re in Chicago of course. But then I also try to go to California, to Florida when there’s seminars, because then you meet other top producing agents throughout the country. And so many of them are just so kind and so giving about, just trying to help you be better too.

(36:15):
And so that’s how I have been lucky enough to connect with all these people. And then you do try to bring something of value to the group too. Just maybe two objection handlers that are just awesome and you bring those along and just bring value to the group also and energy.

(36:36):
I feel every single person that’s on my Google Hangout, I feel like they’re all considerably better than me, which is how I want it because it helps me get better. But if I just try to bring energy and positive thinking and support and that’s what I feel like I can give and then just grow with them.

Ren Jones (36:59):
Awesome. We’re getting some great questions in there. This is real important. Do you always prospect in the morning or do you change it around based on … I mean you wouldn’t go, well, I’m not going to prospect on Tuesday in the morning because I have a listing appointment at 9:30.

Kari Kohler (37:15):
I am religious if that’s an okay word to use about prospecting in the morning. I feel like I didn’t brush my teeth if I don’t prospect in the morning. It has to be done for me in the morning. I feel like a champion when I do it at night because that’s like absolutely icing on the cake.

(37:37):
I’m pushing myself beyond what even my expectations are. My coach wants me to prospect on Sunday nights. I know it’s a very, very valuable time to prospect. It’s also a very valuable family time. So I just have to figure out a way to restructure the week to capture that time in another zone.

(38:05):
But it is a fantastic time to catch people. And my coach too encourages me to take home one of the strongest expireds for the day. Don’t let the kids see that I’m making a call at 7:30, but go somewhere in the house, make the five minute call, try to get that expired that I didn’t get earlier in the day. And I think that’s such a great idea. I mean, that takes 10 minutes. It’s just easy.

Ren Jones (38:30):
Perfect. Very, very efficient. When you take over a private listing, how do you deal with agents basically that try to bid the price up? Oh, I can get you 850 and it’s 750. What do you do?

Kari Kohler (38:44):
So was the question, will I take an overpriced listing?

Ren Jones (38:48):
Yeah.

Kari Kohler (38:48):
If the motivation is strong, I will take an over price listing and then I will work with my role play partners to perfect my price reduction skills. And then I will work on the seller based on market time. If we haven’t had any showings in two weeks, the market is telling us it’s overpriced by 5%.

Ren Jones (39:08):
So motivated, you mean, in other words, they have to move and they have to move right away? Is that what we need?

Kari Kohler (39:14):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (39:14):
Because reality will kick in real fast.

Kari Kohler (39:17):
Reality will kick in real fast. I mean, if the condition is good and the location is good and they have to move, I will take an overpriced listing and I will work to get a better price as time goes on. I will also take a price reduction sheet on the listing appointment if I learn on the pre-qual that they are going to want to overprice it, but that yet that their motivation is strong and try to get them to sign one that we can test the market at this price and reduce it in two weeks.

Ren Jones (39:48):
Gotcha. Perfect. I’m getting a lot of chatter on here about, do you use a virtual assistant to prospect? Are you the main prospect or you have all these other people that are dialing for you?

Kari Kohler (40:02):
Right now I am the prospector on my team. Nobody else calls. Buyers agents call the buyer leads back, return those calls. But I make all the calls for sale by owners and expireds and around listings, just sold and to my sphere of influence.

Ren Jones (40:22):
So, you’re not saying that you should just, what if you just hire two or three people and they make calls, you put your feet up and drink some tea and I mean, would that work?

Kari Kohler (40:33):
I think it would work. I’m not ready to do it because I love it. I really do love prospecting. I feel like I’m providing for my family, I’m doing what I told them I was going to do and what I promised to them. I like doing it because I’m the only one making the mistakes, then I’m the only one I can blame for my income.

(40:51):
I would like to get to the point where … there’s a lot of agents across the country that have hired ISAs and other people to call for them, I like that model. I’d like to move towards it, but right now I’m kind of, for lack of a better word, proud of myself for generating all this business at the moment. But I’d like to keep my mind open to other options.

Ren Jones (41:16):
Good. Yeah, it works sporadically, but a lot of times it doesn’t work very well.

Kari Kohler (41:21):
You have to have good people.

Ren Jones (41:26):
Carly, what do you see?

Carly Hathaway (41:28):
Let’s see. For higher priced homes, do you offer any extras such as appraisals, cleaning, staging? Do you absorb any of those costs for them if it’s higher priced or no?

Kari Kohler (41:38):
That’s a really good question. I basically treat every seller the same way. We get professional photography on every listing, even if it’s a hundred thousand or two million. If the property needs styling, no matter what the price range is, I will recommend that. And I do pay for an hour of styling and then the stylist tries to sell his services or her services upon that appointment.

(42:11):
I typically don’t pay for other things like cleaning and things like that, up front. Sometimes if we get into snags when we’re negotiating and the inspection list becomes over the top crazy and the seller is bleeding, I will do what I need to do to make the deal happen. But I typically do about the same thing for every listing.

Ren Jones (42:36):
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Let’s do one more here that, how do you overcome the objection? Well, I have to check with my husband or my wife or whatever, check with my spouse. What do you say?

Kari Kohler (42:50):
Sure. This is one thing I think of you all the time, Ren, because let’s just go ahead and pencil Thursday night at four o’clock. I’ll call you on Wednesday after you’ve had the opportunity to speak with your wife or your husband. And that way we have it on the calendar. Sound good?

Ren Jones (43:05):
There we go. Awesome. I like that idea. That’s great. We’ve covered some great ground here today. We’ve covered a lot of really, really good ground. And I’ll apologize in advance if a whole bunch of people are calling you or show up on your doorstep because this was really good. This was really good. And so you’ve done all your calls over the last several hours and I think the best thing for you, Carly or Kari, either one, is to get a big spoon and enjoy some delicious Graeter’s mint chocolate chip ice cream because you’ve done your job.

(43:43):
Either that or what we were saying, just have a couple glasses of wine too.

Carly Hathaway (43:47):
I’ll do both. I’ll do some ice cream and wine.

Ren Jones (43:50):
We’ll have some fun. But I want to thank you so much Kari, because this is a real treat. I know there are a lot of people, I can see them out there, their wheels are turning like, I never thought about that. I never thought about that. I never thought about that. I never thought about that. How do I get involved with this? How do I get involved with that? And if it’s pressing, they’ll find a way.

(44:13):
For some of you, you’re just going to stand in the question on, am I going to find my role play partners? How am I going to get involved in something with that level of accountability? It’s all out there. If you ask enough people, you’re going to bump into it a lot of coaching sites, maps and Mike Ferry and Tom and a lot of different ones have sites where you can match up role play partners.

(44:35):
So go find some role play partners and they’re there. And maybe you do it one at a time, maybe you do it with somebody in your office to get started. But get those routines going, get the accountability going. And I’m going to have some ice cream. I don’t know about you guys, but I appreciate everybody being here.

Carly Hathaway (44:53):
Thank you so much.

Ren Jones (44:54):
See you guys next week.

Carly Hathaway (44:55):
That was great. Thank you.

Kari Kohler (45:01):
Thank you.

Ren Jones (45:01):
See you in seven days.

Kari Kohler (45:01):
Thank you. Bye-bye.