S5 E13: Shadow Trip to Chicago yields lots of Powerful Secrets

Ren Jones (00:06):
It’s that time. Welcome to Roadmap, how to take three listings a week until you’re ready for more. And it’s another Tesla show. This week, we’re driving up to Chicago, Illinois, in the beautiful suburbs of Orland Park, where we’ll find Mr. James Mattz. James has taken several years to become an overnight sensation.

(00:31):
We have several agents coming with us, from Cincinnati, at the local Keller Williams office, who’s decided to go up and shadow Mr. James Mattz and learn what he is doing. And it’s going to be a real treat. James can set two or three appointments in one day. One day, he can set that many appointments. So, we’re going to see it in action, folks. Enjoy the ride.

Sarah (01:07):
Good morning.

James Mattz (01:07):
Good morning. How are you?

Sarah (01:08):
Very well.

James Mattz (01:08):
It’s a pleasure meeting with you.

Sarah (01:10):
Thank you for having us. Very excited.

James Mattz (01:11):
Hey, Ren.

Ren Jones (01:12):
James, good to see you.

James Mattz (01:13):
Good to see you again, buddy. Man, you look like you’re getting younger.

Amy (01:14):
Amy.

Sarah (01:14):
Don’t encourage him.

James Mattz (01:14):
It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Amy (01:14):
Nice to meet you too, James.

James Mattz (01:14):
Thank you. Thank you.

Erin (01:15):
Good morning, I’m Erin.

James Mattz (01:21):
Hi, Erin. Pretty name.

Erin (01:23):
Thank you.

Susie (01:23):
Hi, I’m Susie. Thanks so much for having us.

James Mattz (01:25):
Susie, it’s a pleasure meeting you.

Jacques (01:26):
Hi, James. I’m Jacques, pleasure to meet you.

James Mattz (01:28):
Thank you. Thank you so much.

Jacques (01:30):
You’re welcome. Awesome.

James Mattz (01:33):
So, by 2009, my 20-year marriage collapsed.

Sarah (01:39):
Oh my gosh.

Amy (01:40):
Wow.

James Mattz (01:41):
Sick mom.

Amy (01:42):
One more thing.

James Mattz (01:42):
The business is at a ferocious rollercoaster down.

Sarah (01:46):
Yeah.

James Mattz (01:47):
And now, my marriage crashed. So, the only thing I knew to do, or what to do, that I had comfort in, like the blanket in the Snoopy character or whatever…

Sarah (02:01):
Yeah, Linus’s blanket.

James Mattz (02:02):
My blanket was lead generation. That’s what I could depend on. And so, when I was listing 18 or 30 properties every 30 days, it went to seven or 10 properties every 30 days. So, lead generation basically saved my life. That’s sort of been my philosophy.

Ren Jones (02:21):
You and Gary Keller.

James Mattz (02:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jacques (02:25):
How many hours you told me you’d calculated that you’ve lead-generated?

James Mattz (02:29):
I believe generated… Well, Gary says 10,000 hours is mastery level. And I sort of went back and counted. And I got 26,664 hours of lead generation time in.

Jacques (02:41):
And change.

James Mattz (02:42):
Yeah.

Sarah (02:43):
And change.

Jacques (02:45):
How many hours a day do you spend lead generating?

James Mattz (02:48):
Every day, from eight 30 to noon. And I was happy. My team doesn’t bother me. No one… My pastor, my best friend, my fiance, everybody knows you can’t talk to me during that time.

Amy (03:02):
So, we get to hear you do some of this lead generation?

James Mattz (03:03):
Yeah. Why don’t we? Why don’t we?

Amy (03:03):
Awesome.

James Mattz (03:06):
Why don’t we?

Amy (03:06):
I’ll just pull up my stuff here.

James Mattz (03:11):
Please do that. And you have the number, right?

(03:23):
Well, that’s what I’m looking at. Well, I tell you what. I’m going to be in that area on appointments on Thursday of this week and Saturday of next week. What will be a good day for me to stop out and take a look at it?

(03:44):
No. I’ll be in that area on this Thursday and this Saturday. Which day would be good for me to stop out and take a look at it? On Thursday. Okay. I tell you what. Can I stop out and take a look at it on Thursday? Let’s see. Why don’t we say about… Why don’t we say about four o’clock? Yeah. Okay. Now, let me ask you a question. I see that, when it came off the market, you were asking right at 219, right? What would you say is your bottom line price?

(04:27):
Okay. Alrighty. And of course, I see that the property has been totally renovated. Is there any remaining work that you need to do, or it’s ready for occupancy right now?

(04:55):
Now, when I come out on Thursday, if I could show you not only of our ability to get this property on your contract, but most importantly, at a price that get you guys the dollars you’re looking to net out, could you see yourself working with us? Okay, great. All right. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for giving me a moment of your time. And I look forward to our conversation on Thursday afternoon being the best one of the day. Thank you. Have a nice day. Bye bye.

Amy (05:31):
I love that he says that.

James Mattz (05:34):
I didn’t like them. They were too dark. You could tell that they weren’t professional. It wasn’t a professional photographer. It was probably their camera phone. I mean, it’s just a whole host of things that you’ll have the opportunity to see, once we get together tomorrow morning. And you will find the value that you have been looking for and that you deserve. Our rate is commission negotiable. One of the most important things about a real estate transaction is the dollars that comes to that title company.

(06:08):
The most important dollars are the ones that go in your pocket. So, I want to definitely have an understanding of that. And we’ll work around that. Wouldn’t that be great? Fantastic. Well listen, thank you so much. And I’m going to assume your first name is Lori, right? Okay, Lori. Well, thank you so much. And I look forward to our conversation tomorrow morning being the best one of the day. And look for the email I’m going to send you. You’re welcome. Have a nice day. Bye bye.

Amy (06:47):
That was a good one.

Ren Jones (06:47):
That was a good one.

Amy (06:48):
I really, really…

Susie (06:50):
So, you squeezed that one in there?

James Mattz (06:51):
Yeah, because she was talking to two people. She ain’t talking to nobody. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Amy (06:57):
I really liked that. And I really like because she questioned your commission, didn’t she?

James Mattz (07:01):
Yeah, she did.

Amy (07:03):
And then, you… That was good.

Ren Jones (07:08):
[I’m going take you to become an overnight sensation?

James Mattz (07:11):
How about 30 years?

Ren Jones (07:12):
There we go. That’s 26,000 hours at work.

Ron (07:15):
You want to take the grand tour?

Sarah (07:24):
Yeah, absolutely.

Ron (07:25):
This is the culmination of 15 years, starting in a 1500 square foot space with 10 of us, and then building to a 5,000 square foot space, then practically to bankrupting the whole thing and being $300,000 in the hole, then moving the office 20 miles west. And we were in 6,500 square feet. We started there. We were in a space. It was 6,500 square feet, but we only had half of it. We split it with a mortgage company. And we had 45 agents. And we stayed in that space, kicked out the mortgage company, eventually, built that up to about 300, 350 I think it was, agents. And then, we moved over here.

(08:08):
So yeah, it’s been quite a journey. And so, this is the culmination of that, if you want to walk through with me, and take a look around.

Ren Jones (08:18):
You do your bolds here?

Ron (08:19):
We do the bolds right in the building. Yep.

Sarah (08:21):
Oh, that’s nice.

Ron (08:22):
Yes. Of course, we have a bold wall.

Sarah (08:24):
Yeah. Great.

Ron (08:24):
And then, I can show you where my team is back here if you’d like.

Sarah (08:27):
Yeah, this is super.

Ron (08:31):
Go ahead.

fem emp with flowery dress (08:33):
What do we do?

Employee Group (08:34):
We list 10 homes, sell 10 homes, to close 10 homes, each and every week. And we list 10 homes, sell 10 homes, to close 10 homes, each and every week. Yes.

fem emp with flowery dress (08:45):
Please tell me your coming.

Ron (08:48):
If someone isn’t here, they have them on the phone. So, they can still report in.

Ren Jones (08:52):
As long as I’ve known Ron, he’s always worked hard and he’s had an exciting life. He’s never been always on real estate or always on in life. You’ve managed that well.

Ron (09:03):
I like to play.

Ren Jones (09:04):
Yeah, I know. But he would… And the secret was, as you explained it a long time ago, was that when you’re on, you’re on. You’re getting all this stuff done and you had it in this tight box. Whereas, most agents spread it out to here, but they’re not as efficient in this time. So, they’re working long days, sometimes a lot of the weekend, because they didn’t do what they’re supposed to do in this. And you pack. You’ve always packed it in tight.

Ron (09:30):
Hardcore, just what I want them to do too. It’s like, if you have an eight-hour work day, fricking work your eight-hour work day. Don’t goof off for four of the hours, and then you’re home and you’re miserable because your production’s down and you’re not doing well. But really, it’s because you didn’t work when you were supposed to work.

Ren Jones (09:46):
Right. And that is a big challenge for most people out there.

Ron (09:50):
We’re very good about space, as in… So, that’s Colleen’s desk and the other half of her desk is one of her assistants.

Sarah (09:57):
Gotcha. Yeah. That’s awesome.

Ron (10:00):
Yeah, we’re pretty hardcore.

Sarah (10:03):
This is great stuff.

Ron (10:03):
Is that good?

Sarah (10:03):
This is fantastic.

Ron (10:12):
You happy?

Ren Jones (10:12):
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Ron (10:12):
Have fun.

Sarah (10:12):
Yeah. This is super. Thanks for having us.

Ren Jones (10:12):
This is great. Yeah.

Ron (10:12):
I’m glad you guys are here.

Ren Jones (10:13):
You can kind of take a peek into the future of what it can be like.

Sarah (10:15):
Yeah, absolutely.

James Mattz (10:23):
I use a combination. But yet, the key thing, and I think what Ren was sharing, is it’s all about the questions, always asking questions, always asking questions, because that’s what keeps it about them as opposed to about getting a listing kind of thing.

Sarah (10:40):
And that’s what they’re going to take from that. You’re going to be unlike any other agent they’ve come in contact with.

James Mattz (10:46):
Right. See, people don’t smile enough. You got to smile a lot, particularly when you’re talking and you’re making a point with them, and then you get to the thing you want them to do and you’re smiling, that whole kind of thing and so forth. Those are the small things that really make a difference because, at the end of the day, people do business with people that they can trust.

Ren Jones (11:07):
Interesting is you’ll sit there and you’ll call a handful of numbers. And you’ll get through and have a conversation with them, while there are people that are… Regular people will call that same list and get a goose egg.

James Mattz (11:19):
And get nothing.

Ren Jones (11:20):
Every day, they’ll get a goose egg.

James Mattz (11:21):
Yes.

Ren Jones (11:22):
So, what are the little things that you’re… the little things that get you through, that the other ones don’t do?

James Mattz (11:29):
The difference is in my voice inflection. And a lot of people are robotic with the scripts. “Hi, my name is John Doe and I see that your home came off the market. When do you plan on interviewing the right agent that can get it sold for you?” And when you get that script from several people, it’s like click-click kind of thing.

(11:56):
Hi. Good morning, this is James Mattz following back up regarding the property on 74th Street. I’ve left a couple messages. And of course, I’m really hoping that I have an opportunity to share some very powerful information regarding the buyer pool that is interested in this property on 74th Street. If you can give me a call at your earliest opportunity, (708) 249-3160, I think we could create a timing situation where buyer interest and availability of this property could really prove to create a sales scenario pretty quickly.

(12:36):
Thank you. And I look forward to speaking with you very, very soon. Please give me a call, (708) 249-3160.

(12:50):
Hi. James Mattz, Keller Williams. Good morning. Good. I went ahead and I did some analysis on that property. And I got to tell you, I was really encouraged based on some of the market data that I looked at. And let me ask you. Are you available either tomorrow evening or Saturday afternoon?

(13:19):
Truly, that’s where the results reside, Ms. Ranger, is in the strategy and in the execution of it. And so, those are the tidbits that we’ll be presenting and going over point by point. Yeah. The biggest difference is how we are going to create the offers. See, the key thing is, if you get it in the offers scenario, that puts you in a position to negotiate it to the acceptable price. If you don’t get any offers, guess what you have? Absolutely. So, my strategy that I’m going to share with you on Monday afternoon is exactly how we’re going to create the offers. And then, once we create the offers, I’m going to show you how we’re going to be able to negotiate it to the acceptable price.

(14:25):
And that’s the key difference and the strategy that you haven’t seen, but it’s something that’s unique to our approach to the business, which really represents our value and our competitive difference in the marketplace. So, I’m just so excited about showing you guys exactly how it works.

(14:48):
It’s just like when you think about great athletes. I’m a big… I don’t know… You guys are from Ohio, so I know you guys got to love Ohio State. Oh, Cleveland though, Cleveland Ohio is getting ready… I mean, they just got AB. Yeah. But I’m a New England fan and have been for many years.

Sarah (15:10):
Aww, I liked you.

James Mattz (15:11):
Many years. Yeah. Many years.

Sarah (15:12):
Of all the teams you’re going to say that you love, it’s them?

James Mattz (15:14):
But the thing is, when you think about Brady… The Lewis guy that was a linebacker from the Ravens said this. He said, “If you going to beat Brady, you better be in a room.” He says, “Brady gets in a room on a small TV. And he sits in the room for eight hours at a time. And he has a clicker. And he’s got the TV and the tape and he’s clicking, clicking, clicking it frontwards, backwards, frontwards, letting the play out, backwards. He’s doing that for eight hours a day.” He said, “If you going to beat Brady, you better be clicking more than him.”

(15:57):
And the thing is, in our business, our skill is built on the rapport that we make with our clients. And so, from a listing standpoint, if you are lead generating on a daily basis and really understanding, just like an athlete, just like shooting a thousand jumpers, or in the weight room, or on the track and jogging, boxers, they’re running for miles and miles…

(16:26):
If we’re really willing to pay the cost to perfect our skills, to get our body and our mind and our mouth working in unison, being able… like a great singer… like great singers, how they get on the mic and they just do things that just tug on your heart. Well, we can have that same type of skill set in what we do. It’s just like what I did today. And of course, I was a little bit more demonstrative because I wanted you guys to really get a pulse of what I do every day. But I really get into it. I really get into it and I set four appointments. And if I could set four or five appointments every day, all I want to do in life is I just want to put seven figures in my pocket. That’s all I want to do.

Sarah (17:15):
But it’s what… It’s not even the money, it’s what the money will do for you and others.

James Mattz (17:19):
Exactly. I’ve driven every car. I’ve had every outfit. I’ve been to most places. I got a grandson now, and I think about being in my summer place, or on the West Coast, and him being waddling in the pool with me.

Sarah (17:37):
How old is he?

James Mattz (17:38):
He’s seven months.

Sarah (17:40):
Aw.

James Mattz (17:40):
Yeah.

Sarah (17:41):
That’s awesome.

James Mattz (17:41):
He’s seven months and I got to… I mean, he’s a…

Sarah (17:46):
Does he live out there, or here?

James Mattz (17:48):
He lives here.

Sarah (17:49):
Okay.

James Mattz (17:50):
But this kid is…

Ren Jones (17:53):
Where’s your place out there?

James Mattz (17:55):
In Palm Desert.

Ren Jones (17:56):
Oh yeah.

James Mattz (17:59):
Now, you can’t tell me that this kid…

Ren Jones (18:01):
I know how you discovered Palm Desert.

James Mattz (18:03):
Yeah, I know.

Erin (18:06):
Oh, he’s so cute. Look at his cheeks.

Sarah (18:06):
Aww.

Erin (18:07):
Oh my gosh. And that hat.

Ren Jones (18:12):
Aww, look at that. Look at that.

Amy (18:14):
Adorable.

James Mattz (18:15):
I’m getting them in the hats already.

Amy (18:17):
Love it.

Sarah (18:18):
That’s cute.

James Mattz (18:20):
That’s what I live for now.

Sarah (18:21):
Yeah.

James Mattz (18:22):
Thank you guys. Thank you guys.

Ron (18:25):
It’s now the best practices then.

James Mattz (18:34):
It is.

Ron (18:35):
And for the group that came up to shadow you, for them, it’s not only what to say, but how to say it…

James Mattz (18:41):
Exactly.

Ron (18:42):
… and how to communicate with people at a much higher level.

James Mattz (18:44):
Yes. Yes.

Ron (18:46):
So, you can set four appointments in a day, which, for most people, is unheard of. Most agents will call those same people and set zero today.

James Mattz (18:55):
Right.

Sarah (18:57):
I think there’s a perception, when you’re hearing about someone’s success in lead generation, that it’s real easy for them and it must be different when they’re doing it.

James Mattz (19:06):
Right.

Sarah (19:07):
And then, when you see that, “Oh yeah, five people won’t answer their phone for James either. It’s not just me.”

James Mattz (19:14):
Exactly.

Sarah (19:15):
There’s, I think, kind of a transference of power almost that, “Oh, I can actually do this. The same things happen. If I can skill up, I’ll get the same results.”

James Mattz (19:24):
Right.

Ren Jones (19:27):
Yeah.

Sarah (19:27):
Makes a big difference.

Ron (19:31):
That’s it, Sarah. That’s it. So, something about shadowing, it’s so much different than hearing it on a stage, reading it online. But when you see it, your belief system goes up so much higher…

James Mattz (19:45):
Yes, yes, yes.

Ron (19:47):
… and the part they’re like, “I can do this.”

James Mattz (19:49):
Right. Yeah. They got some guys that just… like this Chris Suarez. Is that his name?

Sarah (20:00):
Yeah, Suarez. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

James Mattz (20:03):
And I want to spend some time… He’s a interesting guy. He talked about… I went to his CEO breakout session, to our family reunion. And he talked about the fact that he reads a book a week.

(20:23):
That was just such an incredible a-ha. I love to read. Yet, when you’re working until 7, 8, 9 at night and get home at 9:30, 10 at night, and… You want to eat, you want to unwind, and next thing it’s 12 o’clock. It’s time to go to bed to get ready for the next day.

Sarah (20:42):
Right?

Ren Jones (20:43):
Yeah.

James Mattz (20:43):
So, he talked about you got to have… As a CEO mindset, you got to have two hours of white space in your eight-hour day.

Sarah (20:53):
Yeah.

James Mattz (20:54):
You got to make that part of your day that CEO time, that reading time. And that’s foreign to me. I’m going to take two hours to read a book on leadership, when I can be getting some listings.

Sarah (21:07):
Another listing. Yeah, exactly.

Ren Jones (21:09):
Yeah.

James Mattz (21:09):
So, it’s just a different way of thinking, but it forces you to think from a perspective of how a CEO… A CEO is not going on the listing appointment.

Sarah (21:20):
No.

James Mattz (21:20):
But the CEO is definitely very, very aware of how many listings his business needs.

Sarah (21:29):
Right.

James Mattz (21:29):
You know?

Sarah (21:30):
That’s exactly right.

Ren Jones (21:30):
Put it in the schedule.

James Mattz (21:32):
You have to put it in the schedule, but you have to… I tell people all the time, they marvel at some of the incredible things that Lance does. But it’s something Lance said to me years ago. And I asked him, “How did you overcome the times in your career, in building your business, when things didn’t go the way you thought, and when you did have failure?” I wanted to know, because that was… At that time, that was where I was. How do I overcome the fact that I’m at the bottom, and I been up to the mountain and looked up over yonder? How do I come back from despair and defeat and all those kinds of things?

(22:25):
And he said this to me. He said, “Well, send it to the room.” He started talking about he was building his business and he was down to his last 50,000. And he put it into some type of radio/TV something for some big program he was doing. And it didn’t work. And he was telling me about his house being behind, language that I could understand. And then, he told me that he kept plowing in the lead generation. And inevitably, he got that boomerang. But people don’t realize that he had put $250,000 into his business before he started making any money. Well, nobody talks about that.

Sarah (23:16):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (23:16):
Yeah.

Sarah (23:21):
That’s not fun to talk about.

Ren Jones (23:21):
I know.

James Mattz (23:21):
You know.

Ren Jones (23:22):
But the lead gen will save you. When the market start turning on you, it’s the lead gen that-

James Mattz (23:28):
It was the lead gen. It was the lead gen that really saved me.

Ren Jones (23:28):
Yeah.

James Mattz (23:32):
It really kept some revenue stream coming through my hands.

Ren Jones (23:36):
And if you look at all the people that are still in the business, that were in the business prior to that, those are the ones that probably did a lot of lead gen.

James Mattz (23:44):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Those are the ones that survived.

Ren Jones (23:48):
That’s it.

Sarah (23:52):
I like that analogy of a blanket. That makes a lot of sense. You have full control of it.

James Mattz (24:00):
That’s right. I really like this car, man. And It rides like an SUV.

Ren Jones (24:09):
They’re nice. All righty.

Sarah (24:09):
Awesome.

Ren Jones (24:22):
Thank you, sir.

James Mattz (24:23):
Thank you. Thank you.

Sarah (24:26):
Really a pleasure.

James Mattz (24:27):
It’s mine indeed.

Sarah (24:27):
Thank you so much.

James Mattz (24:28):
Thank you.

Ren Jones (24:28):
I appreciate you a lot.

James Mattz (24:33):
That is wonderful, man. I really appreciate you coming out, man, and hanging out with me and having fun. This was great.

Ren Jones (24:37):
Thank you. Thanks for being here for another Roadmap Tesla show. What a powerful show. Sarah Close got to shadow Ron Wexler and his office operation, and learn from that. Her agents got to shadow Mr. James Mattz and watch him take four, yes, set four listing appointments. He said four. Can you imagine that? What an exciting time. You should shadow somebody and learn from them. Find a city four hours away, drive there or fly to some city, and shadow a top, top person. Learn from them and come back.

(25:13):
As you know, we simulcast the show on the Lee Gen Facebook group. I want to thank them, and Aaron Wittstein, who runs it. If you want to get involved with Lee Gen Facebook group, they have 50,000 members. They’re at facebook.com/groups/got objections. And Aaron runs a great program called trajectory now.com.

(25:35):
And finally, if you’re watching on Facebook and you’re not yet involved with Vulcan seven, make sure to sign up at vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal. So, remember the power of shadowing. Today was a great example. Have a great week everybody. See you next week.