Eleven Roadmap guests on why success is not convenient

Ren Jones00:07

It’s that time. Welcome to RoadMap: How to Take Three Listings a Week Until You’re Ready for More. Each week we interview a great agent who’s consistently taking two, three, four listings. And this is the highlights show, season five highlights.

Sarah Close00:24

That’s right. The cliff notes version of all the good ones.

Ren Jones00:26

I know. We encourage you to take notes and apply as much of their knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the copycat principle.

Sarah Close00:32

Copycat principle.

Ren Jones00:35

I want to remind everybody, we’re simulcasting the show also on the private Lead Gen Facebook Group. They have over 52,000 members, so we have a large audience there today as well. And we’ll be pausing for a commercial message during the show as a thank you to the Lead Gen folks. Let me introduce my co-host all the way from right here in town, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sarah Close00:55

Right down the street.

Ren Jones00:56

Sarah Close is back. She is, as you’ve seen her on some of the other highlight shows, you have several Keller Williams offices in town. How many agents total? Where are you at?

Sarah Close01:07

We’re just about 550 right now.

Ren Jones01:10

550 right now. Okay, good. And then you run a team.

Sarah Close01:13

We do.

Ren Jones01:14

And what’s the goal for sales for your team?

Sarah Close01:16

The goal for sales is 200. We’ll be on track by the end of the quarter.

Ren Jones01:21

Good. Good deal, but that’s fantastic. And every day. Headset on, calling expireds for sale, bonus, every day.

Sarah Close01:30

You know where to find me.

Ren Jones01:31

Yeah. And you’ve been doing that for a long time.

Sarah Close01:33

A very long time. And what most people don’t know is she was the very first Vulcan7 customer back in 2011.

01:40The guinea pig.

Ren Jones01:40

And she said, “I think I like this.”

Sarah Close01:44

I think it works. It’s good stuff.

Ren Jones01:45

Great. So we’re going to go around North America and-

Sarah Close01:49

Okay. Where are we starting?

Ren Jones01:50

We are going to start, let’s go to a resort spot.

Sarah Close01:55

That sounds good.

Ren Jones01:55

How about St. George, Utah.

Sarah Close01:55

All right.

Ren Jones01:55

We’re going to see Mr. John and his son, Chase Ames. They run a big team, sell 350 homes.

Sarah Close02:02

Wow.

Ren Jones02:03

Take a look at this. This is all about, because we have 4th of July coming up if you’re watching this now, but Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas. People don’t know what to do as they’re approaching a holiday. This is some of the strategy.

Sarah Close02:16

Oh, that’ll be great. Terrific. Let’s see what we got.

John Ames02:22

You know that during a holiday season, people are going to be home. Now a lot of people don’t want to be bothered during a holiday season, but here’s the secret. People that really actually want to sell, they’ll talk to you on a holiday, because it’s the top of their mind and the thing they have to get done in their life, whatever reason.

02:42So when you’re calling people during a holiday-type season, you don’t care about the ones that are saying, “Not now. Call me in three weeks,” so forth and so on. You’re looking for the one that says, “I would like to meet you tomorrow,” and they’ll make time during the holiday season. So don’t be put off by the people that say call me back in three or four weeks. Be willing to take the hard hits in terms of don’t call me today, call me in three weeks. You’re looking for the one that says, “I’ll meet with you today or tomorrow. Why don’t you come on out?”

Ren Jones03:14

And those are A clients. Those are, “I have to move and I have to move now.”

John Ames03:18

Yep. Best of the best. They have high motivation.

Ren Jones03:22

And which ones are we paying attention to. We get hung up on the ones of a strategy for I’ll talk to you in three weeks, which we can do.

Sarah Close03:31

Sure. Sure.

Ren Jones03:32

And there’s somebody there. We have to… What was that old expression that was, it was a little mantra you said before you made your calls? “They’re home, they’re happy and they really want to move.”

Sarah Close03:42

List with me.

Ren Jones03:43

Yeah, right.

Sarah Close03:43

Exactly.

Ren Jones03:45

They’re going to be happy and they really want to move when you call them.

Sarah Close03:47

Right, absolutely. And I think what he talks about that’s so interesting is the efficiency of that time that he’s using during a holiday break. You’re able to take those contacts that you might have had several hours to get before and compress it into a much shorter time, because more people are picking up the phone.

Ren Jones04:04

That’s it.

Sarah Close04:05

It’s great.

Ren Jones04:05

They are. A lot more are picking up the phone. They’re not in their normal routine.

Sarah Close04:09

Right.

Ren Jones04:09

And it’s fantastic.

Sarah Close04:11

They don’t expect you to be calling.

Ren Jones04:12

And there’s less competition going on.

Sarah Close04:14

That’s right.

Ren Jones04:16

I mean, second week of December, try to find a real estate agent. First week of July, try to find a real estate agent.

Sarah Close04:24

Right. Good point.

Ren Jones04:24

So yeah, it’s fish in a barrel.

Sarah Close04:24

Yeah. Make the playing field in your favor.

Ren Jones04:26

Fish in a barrel.

Sarah Close04:27

All right.

Ren Jones04:27

We’re going to go closer to home.

Sarah Close04:29

Okay.

Ren Jones04:29

Couple states over.

Sarah Close04:30

All right.

Ren Jones04:30

In beautiful Peoria, Illinois.

Sarah Close04:32

Very exciting.

Ren Jones04:33

I knew this guy when he only sold 300 homes a year.

Sarah Close04:36

Only sold 300 homes a year, yeah. Just as a mere boy.

Ren Jones04:41

And he’s way up here. Mr. Adam Merrick.

Sarah Close04:42

Very cool.

Adam Merrick04:45

What we bring to the table, or one thing that I brought to the table early on in my career was the Midwestern work ethic. And it comes down, in real estate I see a lot of brokers looking for the flash and what’s fun, and I call it “sexy”. Success sometimes in this business isn’t sexy or fun and you kind of have to roll up your sleeves and get right down to just doing some work. Drive and desire has taken me a long way in my career, and when it comes to prospecting, that’s exactly what it is. And you have to find a way to make it fun, set goals, crush those goals, keep daily records and weekly summaries and work really hard to improve your skill set every single day.

Ren Jones05:32

What you got to do. You do it on the days you don’t feel like it.

Sarah Close05:35

Absolutely. Well, and he’s talking about competing with himself. So he is giving himself, he is gamifying the prospecting process and it keeps that repetitious boredom, it kind of harnesses that for the good guys.

Ren Jones05:47

It is, and it’s such a challenge. We’re going to, a couple of the people we’re going to have on here surround themselves with additional accountability. Adam has one of those personalities that he can discipline himself to come in and do it on the days he doesn’t feel like it. Which is why-

Sarah Close06:02

Why he has the results that he has.

Ren Jones06:04

… he has money to burn.

Sarah Close06:05

Right.

Ren Jones06:07

He’s super successful. And so that theme, in fact, let’s listen to his morning routine.

Sarah Close06:12

Okay. Terrific.

Ren Jones06:13

Here’s how he starts the day.

Adam Merrick06:17

It’s going to come down to the daily discipline. Having a set schedule. If you’re going to be a prospecting-based agent, you can’t do it every once in a while. You can’t catch a fish on the couch if you will. You have to get into the office at the same time every day. You need to start your prospecting at the same time every day and stop at the same time every single day and make that a staple in your business. The moment I did that in my real estate career, everything changed for me. When I took my-

Ren Jones06:47

IS prospecting the first thing or do you do it in the afternoon when you can fit it in? Where do you do it?

Adam Merrick06:50

It’s the first thing you do every day. It’s the first thing you do every day.

Ren Jones06:53

Is it an early, do you work an early day or you come in at 10?

Adam Merrick06:57

No, no, no. I was always the agent that turned the coffee pot on in my office.

Sarah Close07:04

No real secret while he is having the success he’s having.

Ren Jones07:06

Yeah. It has to be. Think how many agents… Oh, I spend too much time thinking about this. How many agents start their day at 10:00 AM? Most of them.

Sarah Close07:15

Yeah. Third hour of the morning show.

Ren Jones07:16

Most of them. And I know how it happens is they start at 8:00, 8:30 and then they get involved and they have a contract with a midnight deadline and then the next day’s morning shot.

Sarah Close07:26

Well it’s getting to bed and setting your evening routine in such a manner that it can support your morning routine, otherwise it’s a vicious cycle.

Ren Jones07:33

Yeah. You’ve got to find a way to be the early in this business.

Sarah Close07:36

Absolutely.

Ren Jones07:37

If you’re a lead-generating type real estate agent.

Sarah Close07:40

Right. Absolutely.

Ren Jones07:40

Which are the one making a lot of money and have the time to enjoy it.

Sarah Close07:43

Yep. You got it.

Ren Jones07:46

And you look at somebody like Adam and he’s been in the business 8, 9, 10 years. However, we have several people that have been in the business a year and a half, two years on this show that are making just under a million dollars.

Sarah Close07:57

That’s awesome.

Ren Jones07:57

Here’s one of them. He was a school teacher-

Sarah Close08:00

Oh wow.

Ren Jones08:02

… a couple years ago.

Sarah Close08:03

That’s a pay raise.

Ren Jones08:04

About three years ago, he was a school teacher. Now he’s on track for 200 transactions, which is just under a million dollars. 900 and some thousand dollars in that DC/Maryland area.

Sarah Close08:15

Very cool.

Ren Jones08:16

Mr. Brad Kiger.

Sarah Close08:22

All right, let’s see what we got.

Brad Kiger08:23

My day was pretty much lead generating and if I went out on an appointment, I’d be lead generating and some of my first listings I would go on. I remember I went on a for sale by owner appointment and didn’t get the listing, but I went out and I door knocked the neighborhood after I finished the appointment and ended up signing a listing. I took the paperwork from the listing that I was trying to get and went out in my car and grabbed it. I said, “Hey, are you looking to sell?” And she said, “Yeah, I’m looking to sell.” And I said, “When?” She said, “Now.” I said, “Great. I have the paperwork in my car.” So I went and grabbed it and we sold it and I sold it in two weeks.

Sarah Close08:56

That’s awesome.

Ren Jones08:57

Agents getting their own way.

Sarah Close08:58

Yeah.

Ren Jones08:58

They’re not ready. If somebody says, “I want to list my house.” And I go, “Well let’s put you on the calendar for next week.”

Sarah Close09:04

Right. That’s not script.

Ren Jones09:05

And I’ve got some homework… No, you have to say, “I’ve got contracts with me.”

Sarah Close09:08

Right.

Ren Jones09:09

Everybody carries contracts with them or-

Sarah Close09:11

Easy to do now.

Ren Jones09:13

… you make sure that starting tomorrow you always have… Carry a laptop with you. Always be ready to sign a contract.

Sarah Close09:21

Absolutely.

Ren Jones09:21

Yeah. Because here he’s door knocking after he goes on a FSBO appointment and-

Sarah Close09:23

And he gets it.

Ren Jones09:26

… And he goes, “Well yeah, okay, we’ll do it.”

Sarah Close09:28

That’s great.

Ren Jones09:29

So see what you can do. Carry it. Be ready in that way.

Sarah Close09:31

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Ren Jones09:33

Be ready in that way. Yeah, he’s having a lot of fun.

Sarah Close09:36

That’s really neat.

Ren Jones09:36

A little more money than teaching.

Sarah Close09:38

That’s good. Unfortunate that that’s how our pay structures set up, but exciting now that he’s in real estate.

Ren Jones09:44

Right. We had several agents, Bernie was one of them, actually we have another agent who just moved to a new city, knows nobody there, zero, and is right out of the gate taking eight, 10 listings a month.

Sarah Close09:59

That’s awesome.

Ren Jones10:00

Brand new scene. Now you have to do a little more homework.

Sarah Close10:02

Yep. Yes you do.

Ren Jones10:03

Yeah. You got to make sure when they refer to a certain area of town you, you can’t say, “What?” So you got to do a little more homework.

Sarah Close10:09

You can’t sound like you’re brand new.

Ren Jones10:10

Right. But you can sell hundred homes a year in a totally new town and this gal’s doing it. She was at one time at your company here in Cincinnati and is now in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sarah Close10:23

Yeah.

Ren Jones10:25

Watch how she does it.

Sarah Close10:26

Let’s see what we got.

Ren Jones10:27

Accountability.

Kim Ackerman10:29

What I do is every morning is that get into the office role-play first thing and then get on the phones. I’m in a Google Hangout group and I have seven people and a business associate of mine has eight in her group. We have to be on the phones by 8:30 in the morning and we prospect nonstop from 8:30 to 11:30.

Ren Jones10:50

And who are you prospecting to?

Kim Ackerman10:53

Primarily to expireds and for sale by owners.

Ren Jones10:57

And that seems to be working for you. It sounds like it’s working very, very well.

Kim Ackerman11:01

It does. And what was interesting is, in Cincinnati, 75% of my business came from my sphere of influence. Repeat customers, come list me kind of calls. So when I came to Atlanta, I don’t have a sphere of influence yet, so my only recourse was to get on the phones, call expireds.

Ren Jones11:22

Is your-

Carley Hathaway11:22

I was going to say, you’re not going to have-

Ren Jones11:22

Go ahead.

Carley Hathaway11:27

You’re not going to have much sphere of influence moving to a new town. You’re starting fresh all the way over, right?

Kim Ackerman11:31

That is correct. That is correct. Yeah.

Carley Hathaway11:34

Okay. I like it. And so talk to me more about the Google Hangouts. How does that help you stay on the phones? How does it motivate you daily?

Kim Ackerman11:43

Well see, you start off because you chip in money for accountability, you chip in money and if you show up you cannot be five minutes late because then you get dinged $50, okay, and that’s just in one group. But anyway, if you don’t show up at all, you get fined even more. But it does make it fun because then you’re sitting there prospecting and I’ve got friends all across the US that are prospecting with me.

12:10You can hear the different dialects. I mean we got people from New Jersey, so we’ve got them in California, we’ve got them all over the place. So yesterday I did something for the first time ever. I did what they call Money Mondays. So we started at 8:00 AM and we finished at 8:00 PM and our goal was to hit a hundred contacts.

Carley Hathaway12:31

Oh my gosh. And did you meet your goal?

Kim Ackerman12:35

I did not talk to a hundred people, but I talked to a lot. I talked-

Carley Hathaway12:40

Yeah?

Kim Ackerman12:40

Yeah.

Carley Hathaway12:40

Your voice sounds great considering all those calls.

Kim Ackerman12:44

Yeah, I’m-

Ren Jones12:46

That’s because she’s rich, Carley. She’s rich.

Kim Ackerman12:50

No, but it’s enough. But we make, you know what the Google Hangouts does, it almost makes like a game of it. So you’re not just prospecting by yourself, you can actually hear the other people. You cannot put yourself on mute, you can’t be doing email, you cannot do admin, you cannot do buyer calls. It is strictly 100% prospecting for new business calls.

Ren Jones13:13

So I’m going to get a lot of, we’re going to get a lot of people to say, “Well where can I find that?” Talk to Kim Ackerman in Atlanta. In fact, you can talk to our next guest who also does that very same thing.

Sarah Close13:20

The Google Hangouts?

Ren Jones13:21

With a totally different group. There’s lots and lots and lots of these groups of accountability. And that will, I mean that will.

Sarah Close13:30

Hold your feet to the fire.

Ren Jones13:31

It does.

Sarah Close13:31

Makes it a little easier to show up on time when someone’s waiting for you.

Ren Jones13:34

It does. And when you’re on the listing side of the business and you do this, you can do anything you want. In fact, this next person over here in Chicago, she hopped on a plane to San Diego for the weekend and made her calls there. We see this a lot up this way where people go down to Florida for 4, 5, 6 days. They take a little time, set listing appointments, and then fly back.

Sarah Close14:02

Yeah. Those cell phones work anywhere.

Ren Jones14:03

List the property. Yes.

Sarah Close14:04

It’s amazing.

Ren Jones14:04

Yeah, they do. So it’s a very common practice in Kari Kohler from St. Charles, Chicago area can explain some of that right now.

Sarah Close14:14

All right. Very cool.

Kari Kohler14:16

I left Chicago to come to San Diego to prospect. I wanted to be in a place where I was motivated by the sun and the water.

Ren Jones14:23

I like that. So you’re just going to be dialing for dollars on Saturday, huh?

Kari Kohler14:27

Dialing for dollars, dialing for dinner, probably.

Ren Jones14:30

Dialing for dinner. Well you’ll have some fun. I’m excited for you. See, Kari can do that. She’s built up this huge business. What’s your goal for this year? Kari?

Kari Kohler14:38

900,000.

Ren Jones14:42

900-

Kari Kohler14:43

112 transactions. Yes. Well, every day I am lucky enough to be on a Google Hangout with some awesome other agents that are just animals on the phone. And when I say animals, they’re very, very dedicated to it. They’re incredibly professional and I just get to listen to them prospect, so it’s almost like we’re in the same room. So we do that every day. Then I have a mastermind call with similar agents, similar quality agents on Tuesdays. And then of course I have my coaching call on Wednesdays so I cannot rest because I’ve got people riding me constantly.

Ren Jones15:17

But you live a pretty balanced life. In other words, you make a lot of money and you have the time to enjoy it because you’re on the listing side of the business. Would that be a fair statement?

Kari Kohler15:28

That is. That’s a very accurate statement. My boys are really important to me. They’re 17 and 19 so they are doing their own thing, but as they were growing up, I was definitely able to be with them at their games and everything else because I was a listing agent and could control my time.

Ren Jones15:46

Got to love the portability of the business.

Sarah Close15:47

Absolutely. Absolutely. She’s got her cell phone and her laptop and that’s really all you need.

Ren Jones15:52

Yeah, she was standing right there in the San Diego airport.

Sarah Close15:55

That’s awesome.

Ren Jones15:56

On her phone.

Sarah Close15:58

That’s great.

Ren Jones15:59

It’s exciting.

Sarah Close15:59

It’s kind of nice to mix up the scenery a little bit too. A little inspiration. I love that. It can get kind of gray around here in the winter. I’ll keep that in mind.

Ren Jones16:06

I know, I know.

Sarah Close16:08

I like it.

Ren Jones16:08

You can do it.

Sarah Close16:08

I can do that.

Ren Jones16:09

Yeah, there you go. You-

Sarah Close16:10

That’s very cool.

Ren Jones16:14

… can do it from the, what do they call it? The equator. Galapeligo Island?

Sarah Close16:17

Galapagos.

Ren Jones16:17

Galapagos. I knew you would know because you’d been there.

Sarah Close16:20

Yeah. Phone service was not great there, so maybe a little closer.

Ren Jones16:24

Oh, okay. You can’t do it there.

Sarah Close16:24

But all good.

Ren Jones16:25

Okay. All right. Maybe Costa Rica.

Sarah Close16:28

Yeah, that would work.

Ren Jones16:28

That would work. Good.

Sarah Close16:28

Who do we got next?

Ren Jones16:30

Our next one, we’re going to go up around DC, Maryland.

Sarah Close16:31

Okay.

Ren Jones16:31

And she became a customer recently and decided she was going to do luxury. She had done some lower ones and now she decided, “I’m going to just jump into luxury.”

Sarah Close16:45

Why not? Make more.

Ren Jones16:46

And she did and it’s pretty interesting. Let’s take a look.

Sarah Close16:50

Okay, terrific.

Toni Gage16:53

I think the least expensive home I sold this year was 780.

Carley Hathaway16:57

Nice. Good for you.

Toni Gage16:59

But the average, now my listings, I have a 4 million, a 1.6, I’m getting a 1.4. These are all expireds. I sold a 1.2 and that was an expired also.

Ren Jones17:13

Can be done. And she talks about in that if you guys watch the full show, she talks about her morning routine. She has a two-hour long morning routine that has exercise and inspirational audio and video and-

Sarah Close17:28

Get in the right head space to get it done.

Ren Jones17:29

Right. So that you can do this because mindset is a big piece. Almost everybody that we’ve interviewed is all about the mindset piece-

Sarah Close17:37

Right.

Ren Jones17:37

… because that is what-

Sarah Close17:38

That’s where it starts.

Ren Jones17:39

That’s what takes you out of the game sometimes.

Sarah Close17:40

Yeah, absolutely.

Ren Jones17:41

And you don’t want it to, so here’s a little piece of her morning routine.

Sarah Close17:44

Okay, terrific.

Ren Jones17:45

It’s just one part of it.

Toni Gage17:47

So I go to the gym for 30 or 45 minutes, elliptical or treadmill. And that gives you, that’s the mental advantage that I have over every other agent here that’s exhausted, hates calling. That’s the only way I can pick up the phone and get rejected about 30 times without killing myself.

Sarah Close18:09

That’s awesome. Well she was really purposeful about raising her price point and just said, “This is what we’re going to go after.”

Ren Jones18:16

Yeah. So folks, can you go get a 1.2 and a 2.1, a 3.4? Yes.

Sarah Close18:22

Yes you can.

Ren Jones18:25

Expireds. Yes you can. Well-

Sarah Close18:25

It’s been done before.

Ren Jones18:25

Yeah. Unless they don’t have them in your market. But-

Sarah Close18:26

That’s all good.

Ren Jones18:27

… we have five here now.

Sarah Close18:28

Yeah, that’s all good.

Ren Jones18:30

So we’re going to go back to one of our favorite people. He talks about, Bernie Gallerani down in Nashville. He was one of those people when he moved to Nashville, he sold 49 homes his first year. He knew no one there. He had come from Nevada. He only knew one person and he couldn’t speak the language.

Sarah Close18:49

Yeah, that’s right.

Ren Jones18:50

Southern.

Sarah Close18:50

It’s its own thing.

Ren Jones18:54

I know. And he’s done very, very well, but he’s very driven. And he says, I think he thinks a lot of us are soft and we need to just get in there and make it happen.

Sarah Close19:04

Have a little grit.

Ren Jones19:04

And take a look at his view.

Bernie Gallerani19:07

I said this to you when we did one of your other shows one time, and I said, “Success is not convenient.” And what happens is people get into our business or probably any business in general and they go in there and they say, “Well this just didn’t work out for me.” It’s like you can’t expect success to jump into your calendar and just show up.

19:28Success isn’t going, I only want to drive five minutes to work every day. I want to be home by four o’clock. I don’t want to go to work till nine o’clock. I don’t really want to speak to that many people. Success just doesn’t show up that way. You got to go outside the box. You got to do all the things you don’t want do. You got to be uncomfortable because if you aren’t successful and you want to become successful, you have to change your behaviors.

19:53You have to feel uncomfortable, you have to be uncomfortable. You have to fail forward. And that’s always the challenge with people in this business. The realtors especially because they get into business as independent contractors and they just don’t want to work. The problem is not… They just don’t want to work. And it’s like if you learn to work, Mike Ferry says this all the time. If you just learn to work…

Sarah Close20:21

What do you really think, Bernie? The guy’s got a point and I think that happens. I do think that as an industry, we have given a perception to our customers and clients historically that this is a joyful, happy, we’re driving around in nice cars, we’re wearing nice clothes, we’re looking at nice houses and they don’t see the other side. And then when someone comes into the business and all that there is the other side it can be a rude awakening.

Ren Jones20:47

Would it be it fair to say that one of the biggest enemies for people that come into our business is they have to be their own boss?

Sarah Close20:54

Yeah. It really can be. Not everybody should be their own boss. And without accountability or a coach or a peer group or a Google Hangout or something to help you create that scaffolding, it can be really difficult to be your own boss.

Ren Jones21:06

Yeah. A hundred percent of these people. And almost everybody who’s successful has some sort of a coach. And if you investigate it, you find that they’re all over the spectrum. We have a lot in a couple categories of the same coaching organizations.

Sarah Close21:19

Right. But the really high performers don’t do it alone.

Ren Jones21:24

They don’t.

Sarah Close21:24

No.

Ren Jones21:26

And they add to that coaching, the additional daily accountability with Google Hangout groups.

Sarah Close21:32

Exactly.

Ren Jones21:33

But we’re going to go over here to Valparaiso, Indiana.

Sarah Close21:36

All right.

Ren Jones21:36

And visit with-

Sarah Close21:37

Booming metropolis.

Ren Jones21:38

Yes. And she’s in coaching.

Sarah Close21:40

All right.

Ren Jones21:40

Jeanne Sommer.

Sarah Close21:41

Okay.

Jeanne Sommer21:43

Well I keep my goals in front of me and I break them down. Not just yearly, but how man, listings I have to take so I really zone into how many listings I have to take. And then I surround myself with CDs and tapes and books. Really just good stuff and because it is easy to get off track and I do get off. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t get off track. I get off track. I totally get off track, but I just know that I have to come back and the numbers are there that I have to get so many listings.

Carley Hathaway22:16

That’s great.

Jeanne Sommer22:18

Also, my coach keeps me on track. My current coach is Kevin Eldred and he keeps me on track with how many, just accountability because it’s so easy if you’re on your own and if you have to meet with him once a week and he’s going to ask you what you did, you’re going to have to get you prepared. Sometimes, my calls are on Thursday, sometimes I’m working really hard on Tuesday and Wednesdays.

Sarah Close22:40

That’s funny. Makes sense.

Ren Jones22:46

That’s it. We just have to have that accountability in so many ways.

Sarah Close22:47

And she knows exactly where she’s focusing. You noticed she said that all she’s really thinking about is how many listings she needs to take in her market to hit her goal.

Ren Jones22:54

Well having an exact business plan and then tracking your numbers and looking at where you are relative to your annual business plan is a high form of accountability.

Sarah Close23:06

Right. And when you look at these marketplaces like Jeanne’s in Valparaiso, which is a very small market area, and then you look at Bernie in somewhere like in Nashville, it’s all the same principles.

Ren Jones23:15

Yeah.

Sarah Close23:15

None of these themes are geographically specific.

Ren Jones23:22

Yeah. The script for a 4 million house is exactly the same-

Sarah Close23:23

Is exactly the same.

Ren Jones23:23

… as the 120,000 house.

Sarah Close23:24

Right. Just has a few more zeros when the check comes in.

Ren Jones23:24

And the people act the same way. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a little happier day.

Sarah Close23:24

Absolutely. Where are we going now?

Ren Jones23:24

We’re going to go over to the Chicago area. Orland Park. You were there. We took a trip from here, Cincinnati to Chicago. And you took several of your agents.

Sarah Close23:42

This guy’s amazing.

Ren Jones23:42

Or were they on your team?

Sarah Close23:42

No, it’s all agents, all team leads.

Ren Jones23:43

Agents from your office and shadowed this guy.

Sarah Close23:50

This guy’s amazing.

Ren Jones23:51

Spent some time with Ron Wexler too.

Sarah Close23:53

Mm-hmm.

Ren Jones23:53

Looked at how they were set up and we shadowed this guy and here’s the point. You have a, a listing expires. 25, 30 agents call, yet the same three or four or five agents meet with them.

Sarah Close24:08

Right.

Ren Jones24:09

So it’s puzzling what the difference is, especially if they’re using the same script.

Sarah Close24:13

Exactly.

Ren Jones24:14

Here’s the answer.

Sarah Close24:15

Right.

James Mattz24:16

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 and that 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 Jones24:37

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, are regular people will call that same list and get a goose egg.

James Mattz24:48

And get nothing.

Ren Jones24:49

Every day they’ll get a goose egg.

James Mattz24:50

Yes.

Ren Jones24:51

So what are the little things that you’re-

James Mattz24:53

Well, the-

Ren Jones24:55

The things that get you through that the other ones don’t get through?

James Mattz24:58

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?” And when you get that script from several people, it’s like click, click, kind of thing.

Sarah Close25:23

He set four appointments while we were there. Four.

Ren Jones25:25

Four!

Sarah Close25:27

Yeah. For real, with all these people around.

Ren Jones25:28

They sat there and they watched him set four appointments.

Sarah Close25:32

Yeah. He’s amazing.

Ren Jones25:35

Yeah. Yeah. It’s a treat.

Sarah Close25:35

And he’s very dynamic on the phone. It’s very conversational with him. You feel like you’re talking to a friend and he’s talking to people he just…

Ren Jones25:42

Folks.

Sarah Close25:42

… knew for three minutes.

Ren Jones25:44

You can fly nonstop to his town from anywhere in North America. Go shadow him.

Sarah Close25:49

Yeah. It was a great day.

Ren Jones25:51

We’re going to have some fun. We’re going to go to Bend, Oregon.

Sarah Close25:55

Okay.

Ren Jones25:55

Redmond, Oregon. Bend. Oregon.

Sarah Close25:57

Beautiful.

Ren Jones25:58

Ah, it is a beautiful area. I went out there and spent some time there with them a long time ago. But he did, and you’re going to want to watch this folks. It was season five, episode 16. You’re going to want watch it. He does about eight or 10 role plays of specific scripts stumbling blocks. Carley was role playing with him because everything she’s getting stuck on in her making her calls in San Diego, she threw at Tim and he handled them. So this is just one sample. Go watch all of them.

Sarah Close26:31

Oh, that’ll be great.

Ren Jones26:31

Here it is.

Tim Davis26:33

Do you have any time this week or next week to get together?

Carley Hathaway26:36

Yeah, I’m looking though, would you do 1% commission?

Tim Davis26:40

1% commission? Be hard to sell it at 1% for you because you want to net the most money, correct?

Carley Hathaway26:46

Yeah, yeah.

Tim Davis26:47

Yeah. And you want to get all the agents working for you besides by yourself to help get that price. Okay? So let me show you how we can cover the fee. All right, and still net you the most compared to what you could do with your marketing. If it doesn’t work, you just tell me it doesn’t work. Does that sound good?

Carley Hathaway27:07

I guess that would work. Yeah, I guess I have nothing to lose.

Tim Davis27:09

Yeah, just a business decision. So what’s best for you? Morning or afternoon?

Carley Hathaway27:16

Morning.

Tim Davis27:17

All right. Morning. I’ll be there eight o’clock tomorrow. See you then.

Carley Hathaway27:18

Sounds good.

Ren Jones27:20

Very conversational.

Sarah Close27:21

Very smooth.

Ren Jones27:22

It reminds me of when, and this happens from time to time if they fly into Cincinnati to shadow you and they’re listening to a very conversational, sensible conversation. And then their business is forever changed. We call it the Vulcan7 challenge. Go shadow people.

Sarah Close27:36

Yeah.

Ren Jones27:37

Go shadow James Mattz. Go shadow anybody that’s on here. They’ll all say yes.

Sarah Close27:43

They will.

Ren Jones27:44

Unless they’re in their market.

Sarah Close27:45

Well, and it makes, frankly, the agent’s going to have a great day because they are on.

Ren Jones27:49

Yeah. And it’s a great day-

Sarah Close27:49

It’s showtime for them.

Ren Jones27:51

… for a shadow. So can’t miss.

Sarah Close27:53

Yeah.

Ren Jones27:53

Everybody wins.

27:54Yeah. Fly in, shadow them and forever change your life. They all have Vulcan7 challenges. Do that once a month and at the end of a year you have 12 great friends who are making a million dollars a year and you become one of them very quickly. Very quickly.

Sarah Close28:11

Absolutely.

Ren Jones28:12

So make your coffee at home, save that money and spend $800 a month to go do that.

Sarah Close28:18

Yeah.

Ren Jones28:19

Okay, last one.

Sarah Close28:20

All right.

Ren Jones28:21

This is fun. She’s in a very competitive market with a lot of top players and she’s starting her second year, she was with Brand X and was calling expireds with Brand X and then she switched and she’s like, “Whoa.” She’s now taking two or three listings a week, two or three listings a week in her second year in business, second year in business. She demonstrates very well a way of approaching someone and using the permission question to see, “Would you be okay If asked you a couple of questions?”

Sarah Close28:59

Getting that buy-in up front.

Ren Jones29:00

Yes. Watch.

Katie Englar29:02

The biggest thing is not for us to figure out how we can help you. That we sort of already know, at least an overarching view before I even get to your personal situation. But it’s getting to be able to have that part of the conversation. So how I handle it is just, “I just have a couple of questions for you. If right now is not a good time, I totally respect that, but if you do have a few minutes, I just needed a little bit of clarification,” and go from there and that’s what that conversation sort of looks like. I feel like some people are very non-respectful and pushy past that comfort zone. And you’re not going to build the trust if you can’t respect them in the first five minutes of the conversation.

Sarah Close29:47

That’s a great point.

Ren Jones29:48

Katie Englar. Yes.

Sarah Close29:50

That was a great point.

Ren Jones29:52

And this is all so new to her so yeah, so her people skills are right high out of the gate.

Sarah Close29:57

Yeah. Say common sense should not is-

Ren Jones29:59

Yeah.

Sarah Close30:00

It’s not common, but that is an excellent point.

Ren Jones30:03

So is that point. Common sense is not that common. It’s a challenge out there and to get smooth in conversation.

Sarah Close30:10

Right.

Ren Jones30:12

And a hundred percent of us can go watch somebody do it-

Sarah Close30:17

Yeah. Sure.

Ren Jones30:17

… and emulate that. And I would-

Sarah Close30:17

Just a little nuance pick here and there.

Ren Jones30:18

And take your cell phone and download an app and record. Lay it down, record them making calls for four hours and then play it every day for the next year.

Sarah Close30:28

Yeah. You’ll hear different things every time.

Ren Jones30:30

You’ll be just like that and rich.

Sarah Close30:34

Who doesn’t want to be rich?

Ren Jones30:35

Yeah. And like Kari Kohler, standing in the San Diego airport, you go anywhere you want make your calls in the cold weather. Go to the warm weather. So I want to thank Aaron Weinstein, who simulcasts this show as well on Facebook. His group is called Lead Gen Scripts and Objections. It’s at facebook.com/groups/gotobjections. And he has a program called trajectorynow.com. Told him I would mention that. And then if you’re watching on that group and you’re not involved with Vulcan7, go to vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal. And then most important, I told her I was going to have her… I’m getting the look.

Sarah Close31:21

You’re getting the look.

Ren Jones31:24

The secret that everybody has out there. The secret to listing property, what makes them powerful? Is it the accountability? Is it the coaching? Is it the conversational, is it role playing? It is shadowing? It’s all those things, but there’s one that stands alone as the highest and best thing you could do. And they go online to graders.com and they look where they can get locally. And you can right there in one of your stores in your town, you can get delicious Graeter’s mint chocolate chip. This is the one for listeners. What are the flavors for working with buyers?

Sarah Close31:58

That’s probably Rocky Road.

Ren Jones31:59

Right. Yeah. Or yeah, it could be. Or if you’re really awful, you’re doing Cherry Garcia from another one.

Sarah Close32:10

You are so bad.

Ren Jones32:12

And then if the listing is slow to sell, you dig a hole in the front yard and bury it upside down and that listing will sell just like that.

Sarah Close32:20

Yeah. St. Joseph’s in a quart size.

Ren Jones32:21

That’s it. St. Joseph’s in a quart size. Thanks for being here. Next week we’ll have somebody on season six-

Sarah Close32:29

All right.

Ren Jones32:30

… who’s taking 2, 3, 4 listings a week. Thanks for being here, folks.

Sarah Close32:32

Thanks for your time. Thanks for having me.

Ren Jones32:35

Thanks for being here.

32:35