S6 E1: The Power of Routine

Ren Jones (00:04):
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 a week. And we have an exciting guest today. We encourage you to take notes and apply as much of their knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the copycat principal. Let me introduce my co-host from San Diego, this Carley Hathaway. That’s carleyhathaway.com. Hi Carley, how’s the real estate business?

Carley Hathaway (00:41):
Hi everybody. Real estate is fabulous. Tons of new construction going around. So great time to be a listing agent.

Ren Jones (00:49):
That’s right. Good deal. Glad to hear it. They keep building those houses and you keep selling them. Before I introduce our guest today, I want to remind everyone that we are also simulcasting the show on the private Lead Gen group on Facebook. They have over 52,000 members, so we have a large audience there today as well. We’ll be pausing for a commercial message during the show as a thank you to the Lead Gen folks. So let me introduce our guest today from St. Cloud, Minnesota, Mr. Chris Hauck. Hi, Chris. Welcome to the show.

Chris Hauck (01:21):
Ren, great to see you.

Ren Jones (01:24):
Glad you’re here.

Carley Hathaway (01:25):
Thank you so much for being with us, Chris. So quickly I just want to ask you, can you walk us through a typical day in the life of Chris? What time you wake up, what time do you start prospecting, all that good stuff.

Chris Hauck (01:38):
Yeah, Carley, I’d be happy to do that. Typically I’m up at four o’clock and first thing in the morning we’re working on something that has to do with business goals, objectives, life plans, that kind of thing. And then from there, quick workout for about an hour, hour and a half. And then we’ll be in the office by about a quarter to eight and meet quickly with my staff, do a role play for about 20 minutes and then from there get on the phone or prospect until about 11:30.

Ren Jones (02:11):
Yeah, we lost a bunch of people when you said I’m up at 4:00. So just to help people realize why they may want to do that, or at least move in that direction, let’s say starting next week you couldn’t get into the office until 9:00. How much of a hit to your income would that be?

Chris Hauck (02:34):
If I didn’t get into the office until 9:00, Ren, that would mean I really wouldn’t be up and going until probably 9:30 at earliest, more likely 9:45 or 10:00. And then if you take a couple calls in the interim, you really aren’t going until about 11:00. So what would happen is, I bet you my income would drop by 60% or more.

Ren Jones (03:03):
So even if people will just like … What’s the rule? Just starting next week, start one hour earlier than you are now. And then six months from now, notch that to one hour earlier again.

Chris Hauck (03:18):
Yeah, start with 20 minutes or a half an hour.

Ren Jones (03:22):
So you’re not up till midnight watching late night TV?

Chris Hauck (03:30):
No, no. Typically I’m calling it a day about 9:30.

Ren Jones (03:33):
So it starts the evening before.

Chris Hauck (03:36):
Yeah, today starts last night.

Ren Jones (03:39):
Yeah. Good.

Chris Hauck (03:40):
And it depends, if you’re out late and if you’re out partying or something like that, tomorrow morning might not be quite so good.

Ren Jones (03:49):
And to be on the listing side of the business, we have to be early. How does that help you? Calling, talking to somebody at 8:00 versus at 9:00 or 10:00?

Chris Hauck (04:02):
Well, some people aren’t going to be available. You need to get in touch with them or somebody’s already been contacted by somebody else. It pays to be first.

Ren Jones (04:13):
Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (04:14):
Especially with expireds. So can you give us a little tip for, okay, so newer agents or agents that haven’t made these phone calls and they mostly run their business on referrals in the past. When you are waking up early, you’re getting in and you’re calling expireds and you’re just getting beat up on the phones and you’re not getting through. What kept you going in the beginning when you started this?

Chris Hauck (04:33):
There are a number of tricks you can do. The first call is always the hardest to make. So just start with the second call.

Carley Hathaway (04:43):
That’s a good idea. Start with the second call.

Chris Hauck (04:48):
Some tips and some tricks. If you’ve got a day where you’re just really having a hard time getting started, you should have your list of your raving fans, your best past customers. And if you’re having a day where it’s really tough, call a couple of them. They’re really happy. Just a quick call, “How you doing? Good to see you, God, I’m glad to hear you guys love the house.” And it’ll get you off to a good start.

Carley Hathaway (05:13):
Good idea. I like that advice.

Chris Hauck (05:15):
The other thing is the role playing in the morning is very, very helpful. And not only does it help you get accustomed to the script, but what it does is it really gets you on track from day. I’ve had days where I come in at quarter to eight and I just really didn’t feel like prospecting.

Ren Jones (05:36):
So, Chris, wait, wait, you’re role playing still? You role play?

Chris Hauck (05:44):
Oh yeah, we still role play. We’ve been doing it for years.

Ren Jones (05:47):
So the people are watching like, whoa, doesn’t he know the script by now? How many years have you been doing this?

Chris Hauck (05:53):
43.

Ren Jones (05:55):
Don’t you know the script by now? So help them understand why you do that.

Chris Hauck (05:59):
Well a good example is about two weeks ago I was role playing with one of my partners in Colorado. And you know what, it was a gorgeous, beautiful summer day and it’s the first really nice one we had and there were a lot of other places I really kind of wanted to be instead. But we got about 10 minutes into the role play and it’s just like the switch flipped. I was ready to go, ready to get on the phone, get my job done and it was a very, very productive day. Without the role play, might not have been so.

Ren Jones (06:32):
Yeah. Yeah. And you noticed that role play, and Carley, I know you’ve been doing this too. On the days we have our strongest role play partners is some of our strongest performance because it’s an attunement and that switch he’s talking about just flips and all of a sudden you’re like, it is showtime and you jump in and full game. It’s just huge. That role play is an important piece. And you learn little things or you’re reminded of something that you forgot or somebody that’s role playing with you. I hear little things, I’m like, gosh, I wish I knew that 20 years ago. You learn some new little nugget that you didn’t know.

Chris Hauck (07:16):
Oh, it’s lots of little things, Ren. Sometimes you develop a quirk or a bad habit, your role play partners call you out on that and say, “Well why in the world are you doing this all of a sudden?”

Ren Jones (07:28):
And it can happen to the best of us even if you’ve been doing it a long time. Chris Hauck walked over to me one day and I said, “What are you doing that I need to do?” And he goes, “I’m whale hunting on Friday.” And I go, “What’s that?” He goes, “I call the high end on every Friday. I purposefully call.” Because what he said he was doing was he noticed every year he would get one or two properties in the upper end and they would usually sell. And it was a nice little $25,000 bump. Well I did it and a few months later I had an extra 50, $75,000 thanks to Chris. So you learn tips and things in this process.

Carley Hathaway (08:07):
I think too, it also gets you kind of in the mindset and ready to call because it’s like having a partner that you go to the gym with. You’re not going to flake on the gym that day because they’re there waiting for you. So you’re not going to skip prospecting on Thursday morning because your role play partner’s there waiting for you. Get on the phone, do your role play with them, then you’re in the mindset to keep it going.

Chris Hauck (08:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s accountability and consistency is just critical.

Carley Hathaway (08:39):
Agree.

Ren Jones (08:40):
Has anything changed? Chris, you’ve been doing this a long time. Has anything really changed? You’re saying the same words to different people many years later and starting at the same time. Has anything really changed?

Chris Hauck (08:54):
Can I give you a couple examples of prospecting?

Ren Jones (08:57):
Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (08:58):
Love it.

Chris Hauck (08:58):
Some things that have happened that might be helpful for somebody that’s thinking it might not be necessary?

Ren Jones (09:03):
Yeah.

Chris Hauck (09:04):
Okay. Well one day my sister-in-law dropped off her son for my wife to take care of for the day, it was about 6:00 in the morning and it’s, “Good morning. Good to see you, Didi. Have a great day.” I got to the office, first person on my call sheet was Didi. And I thought, well I’ve already talked to her. Why should I call? And I thought, well it wasn’t a business call. So I called her up and I said, “Didi, good morning,” and “Ha ha ha, long time no talk.” And then I said, “Well, do you have time for a really quick business call?” I said, “Is there anybody new at your organization that may need a house?” And I could hear her yelling across the room, “Jake, did you buy a house yet?” And he goes, “No.” She goes, “We got a new manager. Here, talk to him.”

Ren Jones (09:52):
Wow.

Carley Hathaway (09:52):
No way.

Chris Hauck (09:54):
Everybody is so busy with their personal life that you need to touch base on a regular basis to let them help you.

Ren Jones (10:04):
Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (10:04):
I 100% agree.

Ren Jones (10:06):
Real estate’s a contact sport, but yet we have people that come into the business that after 90 days they think they have it all figured out and they’re going to start doing marketing on social media. Is that really the secret? I don’t think so.

Chris Hauck (10:19):
Well it can keep you really busy. I don’t know if-

Ren Jones (10:21):
Yeah, that busy word. Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (10:24):
Yeah. And so obviously you’re making your calls in the morning and then you’re going on listing appointments in the afternoon. How long does your typical listing appointment take?

Chris Hauck (10:33):
Typical listing appointment? 20 to 45 minutes.

Carley Hathaway (10:38):
So you keep it tight. Why do you think it’s better to keep it short like that rather than just hang out for two hours and …

Chris Hauck (10:48):
It’s more productive.

Ren Jones (10:52):
Because he can do five in a day that way.

Carley Hathaway (10:56):
So are you pre-calling these people before you go to listing appointment?

Chris Hauck (10:59):
Yes.

Carley Hathaway (11:00):
Okay. And your pre-call is strong I’m sure. Do you end up canceling and not going if you get the right information?

Chris Hauck (11:07):
Occasionally. And then occasionally I get out on an appointment and I’m sitting there at 7:00 at night wondering, why in the world am I sitting in this chair? If I’d asked the questions yesterday, I wouldn’t be here.

Carley Hathaway (11:22):
Wasting your time.

Ren Jones (11:23):
And you know why they don’t do that? They don’t want to know because then they won’t have an appointment.

Carley Hathaway (11:27):
Exactly. Sometimes you get too excited that you actually got the listing appointment too, and you don’t even want to ask the pre-call questions because you know it’s probably not even going to be a good one.

Chris Hauck (11:38):
At the same time, yeah, it’s just critical, very important to do that.

Ren Jones (11:45):
So what’s the goal this year? How many units? How many transactions?

Chris Hauck (11:48):
Goal is 130 units.

Ren Jones (11:50):
130 units?

Chris Hauck (11:51):
Yes.

Ren Jones (11:51):
What kind money is that?

Chris Hauck (11:53):
Well, we are in a relatively inexpensive market, so that will probably be somewhere between 900 and potentially it could be just hitting into the seven figures.

Carley Hathaway (12:10):
Nice.

Ren Jones (12:11):
I’m weeping for you. I’m just so sad.

Chris Hauck (12:16):
It’s going to be real exciting.

Ren Jones (12:17):
That’s an exciting thing.

Carley Hathaway (12:18):
Yeah. So let me ask you this. You’ve been doing this for 43 years, you said?

Chris Hauck (12:23):
That’s correct. Yes.

Carley Hathaway (12:25):
Obviously you have the scripts internalized. You could probably say them forward, backwards, in your sleep. How did you get them down quickly when you started prospecting?

Chris Hauck (12:37):
It’s a secret.

Carley Hathaway (12:39):
It is?

Chris Hauck (12:40):
Yeah, it is. It’s very unique. It’s called practice.

Carley Hathaway (12:43):
Oh, that thing.

Ren Jones (12:43):
Oh yeah. Well, and a lot of people go, “I don’t like the sound of a script.” No, you don’t like the sound of a poorly done script. If it’s a good script, they don’t know it’s a script.

Chris Hauck (12:55):
Well that’s a big part of it is if you internalize it, it’s no longer a script. It’s a series of events that lead up to a listing taken.

Ren Jones (13:06):
Very predictable and duplicatable process.

Chris Hauck (13:08):
Absolutely.

Ren Jones (13:11):
Anything else you want to share that will help that person? They’re taking one listing a month and they’re working their database and they’re telling the world on Facebook about their business and they’re struggling to get that listing a week instead of a listing a month. What else should they think about?

Chris Hauck (13:27):
You know what’s interesting, Ren, so far a computer hasn’t listed a house with me yet.

Ren Jones (13:39):
So it’s a contact sport. It’s humans. Got to move our lips.

Chris Hauck (13:42):
You got to talk to people.

Ren Jones (13:47):
Okay.

Chris Hauck (13:47):
Yes. And be in touch with people.

Ren Jones (13:49):
That’s it. That’s it.

Carley Hathaway (13:50):
Do you have a number of contacts you try to reach per day? Like a goal?

Chris Hauck (13:55):
Well, the goal is 30 to 35 a day. And we’ll typically hit that number.

Carley Hathaway (14:01):
Okay, good. And do you just stay on the phones until you do? Oh, is that one of your contacts now? Is that a FSBO?

Chris Hauck (14:06):
That’s one of the people I called this morning.

Ren Jones (14:09):
I want to thank you so much for being here. This is really helpful, Chris, and excited to share this with everybody because they’re going to get some good ideas. That consistency piece carries the day, obviously. Makes you wealthy. Healthy, wealthy, and wise. You remember that show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? He’s won that show for 43 years.

Carley Hathaway (14:32):
Chris has got it.

Ren Jones (14:32):
Remember every year for 43 years, he’s the million dollar winner.

Chris Hauck (14:37):
It’s amazing. It happens over and over and over.

Ren Jones (14:42):
I know.

Carley Hathaway (14:43):
Never stop prospecting.

Ren Jones (14:47):
So everybody, I want to thank everybody for being here. If you’re watching on the Vulcan7 network and you want to get involved with the Lead Gen Facebook group that simulcasts this show on Facebook there at facebook.com/groups/gotobjections. And I want to thank Aaron Wittenstein who runs that group. He has a program called trajectorynow.com. And if you’re watching on Facebook and you’re not yet involved with Vulcan7, make sure to sign up at vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal.

(15:15):
And then finally, I have Chris Hauck’s secret. You wonder how he does it. That million dollars a year just kind of floats from working from 4:00 AM. But really, some of it’s the accountability and the role play partners that flip that switch. But this is what flips the switch for Chris Hauck. He goes and gets delicious Graeter’s mint chocolate chip ice cream. This is the one for taking listings. This is the one he enjoys after three and a half hours of prospecting, he digs in and does that.

(15:52):
And if you do this every day, you will take a lot of listings too. If the listing is slow to sell dig a hole in the ground and bury it upside down and it will sell just like that. So the other flavors, like Rocky Road, that’s for working with buyers. Rocky Road, get it? So see you guys next week. Want to thank everybody for being here. Thank you co-host Carley, and thank you, Chris Hauck, for being here.

Carley Hathaway (16:16):
Thanks guys.

Chris Hauck (16:18):
Thank you very much, Carley. Thanks, Ren.

Ren Jones (16:21):
Thank you. See you next week everybody.