S7 E7: Kerry Ellison’s Best Hacks to List Expireds & FSBOs
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Prospecting to List Expireds & FSBOs
Meet Kerry Ellison who has been in real estate since 1994. In 2005 she joined Keller Williams and now runs a team of 7. Her team is the number one team in their MLS with goals of 200 transactions. Kerry’s team does care calls to their sphere asking how they are and letting them know buyers are still buying and the market needs more listings. She strongly believes in the importance of scheduling prospecting on the calendar, as there is nothing more important than finding new leads and following up with your leads.
Ren Jones (00:04):
It’s that time.
(00:08):
Welcome to Roadmap, how to take three listings a week until you’re ready for more. Each week we interview a great agent 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.
(00:27):
Before I introduce our guest, let me introduce my co-host first. From here locally, Cincinnati, Ohio, she’s operating principal of several Keller Williams offices in the Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio area. Sarah Close. Hi Sarah-
Sarah Close (00:44):
Thanks for having me, Ren.
Ren Jones (00:45):
How’s the real estate business? And you run a team and every day you look for new business, expired for sale by owners, your database, anybody that needs a house or needs to sell a house, right?
Sarah Close (00:58):
That’s who we want to talk to. That’s exactly right.
Ren Jones (01:00):
So how do you that? How do you run all these Keller Williams offices and lead generate?
Sarah Close (01:09):
I would say that my number one tool in doing that is a schedule, and it’s especially effective by actually follow it.
Ren Jones (01:17):
There we go. And what’s kind of funny, our guest does a very similar thing to you.
Sarah Close (01:22):
Yeah, I’m excited to have her.
Ren Jones (01:23):
Operating principal with Keller Williams and is also lead generating and has a team, as well. And a lot of exciting things to discuss here in April, 2020, which are very interesting times. So before I introduce her, I want to remind everybody that we’re simulcasting the show on the private lead gen group on Facebook. They have 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’s welcome our guest today from beautiful Little Rock, Arkansas. Miss Kerry Ellison, how are you, Kerry?
Kerry Ellison (02:03):
Hey, I’m doing well. How are you?
Ren Jones (02:06):
Good, good. Welcome. Welcome to the show.
Kerry Ellison (02:09):
Thank y’all for having me.
Ren Jones (02:11):
Good. And hopefully we can learn a few little tidbits, so people out there that are taking one listing a month can get to two to three to four to five…
Kerry Ellison (02:21):
Yeah. Yeah, that’d be good. We see a lot of agents come in taking one or falling into one, so if we can help them figure out to double that or triple that, then we did some good today.
Ren Jones (02:32):
Good. Fantastic.
Sarah Close (02:34):
Hey, Kerry, tell us a little bit about your business. How long have you been in the business? What was your path to this career? And how you were born and then what happened?
Kerry Ellison (02:43):
So I got in the business in 1994 and I have been doing real estate primarily at a small company, and then joined Keller Williams in October of ’05. Kind of started a new journey when I started with Keller Williams. We started … I’d been a successful real estate agent and had been doing seven to ten million for quite a while. And just could never break through the ceiling. When I got to Keller Williams, that kind of taught you to do things a little bit different, be a little more purposeful in what you did, follow a model. I’d call it copy and cheat. And so see what somebody else is doing and figure out how they’re doing it, and then do it for a little while and put your spin on it. So that’s what we’ve done, and now I have a team of seven and we are number 10 in the state in Arkansas. And right now we’re number one in our MLS in central Arkansas for the years.
Ren Jones (03:39):
Congratulate … wow, that’s awesome.
Kerry Ellison (03:41):
Yeah, we’re happy. We’re excited. Yeah.
Ren Jones (03:44):
Yeah.
Sarah Close (03:44):
That is terrific. So what are your goals for 2020 for your organization?
Kerry Ellison (03:51):
That’s a good question. Because what we had, are we going to hit it? Our goal was to do 200 transactions at 40 million. And I believe right now we’re going to be pretty close. We’re a little bit under that, I think we’ll probably hit 150 to 170, just depending what the rest of the Spring looks like and the activity. And in today’s world, the market’s changed a little bit.
Sarah Close (04:18):
Talk to us about how your market has changed with the pandemic. What does that look like for you on a day-to-day basis?
Kerry Ellison (04:25):
The staff of Keller Williams is still coming up to the office and yet our agents are working from home. We are not shelter in place, we are able to still show homes and we are still doing live open houses and doing Facebook live open houses. We’re doing virtual showings if necessary. But we still are able to go list and sell homes. It’s just in today’s environment, the listings have gotten very … our pendings, homes going under contract about paced homes coming on the contract. So we’re really starting to eat into our inventory.
Sarah Close (05:04):
Gotcha.
Kerry Ellison (05:05):
So, that’s a good thing, houses are still selling. If you’re working, you’re selling homes.
Sarah Close (05:11):
If I could ask you, that’s a really interesting point, that is I think something that’s getting overlooked in … I think, at least in our marketplace, I feel it’s getting overlooked. What are you using as far as a script with that data to talk with people about coming under the marketplace? In general, what scripts are you using in the environment today? Would love to hear.
Kerry Ellison (05:31):
I think one of our best one is, how are you? If it’s a network head matter, a past client, hey, how are you? How are things going? How is life? How’s your job? It’s just the simple care call. And then a lot of times that leads into, they ask you the same question. And that’s when you say, the craziest thing in this market is buyers are still out buying. We need more listings. So if you know of anybody that has a vacant house or is really motivated to sell, now is a great time to buy.
(06:03):
Especially if you’re buying up. Our average price range in our market here is about 200,000, my team runs closer to 300,000. And if we have a buyer in that first time home buy … under 200, we’re getting multiple offers. And we’re usually getting multiple offers in the first three days. If we’ve got something up to 250, we’re still getting a lot of activity and offers. The bigger homes are slowing down and that’s where I tell my first time home buyers or the move up buyers, it’s a great time to move up. And we use that script a lot. If you’re at home with your kids crammed in a house, trying to do school and work, what about the house have you learned you really love? And what about your house have you learned maybe you don’t love so much, that maybe we can find you another home.
Sarah Close (06:53):
That’s a great script.
Ren Jones (06:55):
I like that one. Yeah.
Sarah Close (06:57):
That’s great. Talk to us a little bit about the structure of your day. I think many folks have had to kind of rethink what their schedule might look like with the new restrictions, if they’re a … I always think of it as bi vocational if someone has children and is selling estate.
Kerry Ellison (07:14):
Yeah.
Sarah Close (07:15):
What does your schedule look like today versus what it looked like previously? And what would you recommend for someone schedule wise right now?
Kerry Ellison (07:22):
I think the most important thing is to start and plan a schedule. I think the biggest mistake I see in a lot of agents and even agents on my team is they get up and they know they’ve got stuff to do, yet their top 20% isn’t on their calendar. Everything else is on the calendar, like they’ve got to be here or they’ve got to go to a home inspection. Yet somewhere along the way, they forget that … I heard this in one of our classes at KW, that there’s nothing more important than finding new business. If you were out there taking care of business, you’re not going to have any business. Because you’ve got to replace that business. So the most important thing on your calendar has got to be finding new business and following up with your leads.
Sarah Close (08:08):
That makes a lot of sense.
Kerry Ellison (08:09):
So I think the biggest change in my calendar is it’s more scheduled. Because I’ve got to be more purposeful every day. If I didn’t get my contacts in, our team is still hitting 20 contacts a day.
Sarah Close (08:22):
Wow. Now is that per person? Is that how you guys do that? Okay.
Kerry Ellison (08:26):
Per person. Yeah, I mean, that can be a text, it can be while you’re in your car running somewhere, it can be on the way to the grocery store. I think all of us in today’s world have met new neighbors. I know my husband is at home walking our poor dogs three times a day.
Sarah Close (08:47):
Walking their little legs off.
Kerry Ellison (08:49):
I know. So we’re getting a walk in the morning and a walk in the afternoon. And so I’ve actually picked up a lead from one of our new neighbors. I’ve picked up multiple leads, just from talking to our neighbors. How are you surviving this? The new world, as I call it, our new normal.
Sarah Close (09:05):
It’s pretty interesting. I mean, it really has been. I mean, knock on wood, so far, if people do, they’re scheduled to be doing. We have the same thing going on here that you do. For example, last week in Cincinnati there were 450 new listings-
Kerry Ellison (09:23):
Wow.
Sarah Close (09:24):
And 500 pendings.
Kerry Ellison (09:26):
Wow.
Sarah Close (09:27):
So-
Kerry Ellison (09:27):
Wow.
Sarah Close (09:28):
It’s there. We troughed out when we sheltered in place, that was our biggest drop. And it’s been steadily increasing since then. Yeah.
Ren Jones (09:38):
And I’m really worried that in about three or four weeks, the sellers that want to come on that maybe they need to put on a new roof for a new this or carpet. They’re not going to find the contractors, They’re all going to be swamped. They better get the work done now.
Sarah Close (09:53):
Yep.
Kerry Ellison (09:54):
Yeah.
Sarah Close (09:54):
Absolutely. That’s a good call. That’s a good call.
Ren Jones (09:58):
So Kerry, I mean, you’re making it sound like everybody thinks about, well have to make 20 contacts a day and all this and schedule that. That’s about as unnatural for humans of anything out there. They’ll schedule where they have to be because they have to be there when somebody’s expecting them. But they don’t have to talk to 20 people and nobody’s expecting them to. Or in your case, do you have to make 20 and somebody’s expecting you to make 20 contacts?
Kerry Ellison (10:26):
So I think on my team, one of the great things is the accountability piece. At the end of the day, we report our numbers. So I think it doesn’t matter if you’re a part of a team or if you’re an individual agent, find a buddy, go find a group, find one of your friends and say, hey, we’re going to have a game. I’m going to betcha a bottle of wine, or I’m going to bet you a gift certificate somewhere. This is my goal. And it’s like I tell people, you’ve got to build up to it.
(10:54):
I remember when hitting 15 listing appointments with something big a month. And now it’s like, oh, I hit 15 or oh, I hit 18. You get used to it, it’s kind of breaking through that ceiling. And it’s the same thing with lead gen. Once you get in the rhythm, you create the model or the habit and then you don’t do it, you feel like you’ve done something wrong for the day and you’re like, I got to talk to somebody. I got to go talk to somebody.
Ren Jones (11:23):
Any way you look at it, I think we all need a little bit of accountability somewhere. External versus … now the two of you, you’re both high driver personalities. I mean, I’m well-
Kerry Ellison (11:35):
Imagine that. Imagine that.
Ren Jones (11:37):
Yeah, you both are. So you both look at it and goes, well, who wouldn’t?
Kerry Ellison (11:40):
I know.
Ren Jones (11:42):
For both of you, most people wouldn’t. I mean, if you’re a solo agent, you’re watching this and you’re like, I know I should. And getting a buddy will help, anything else they should be looking at to light a fire so that they have an amazing spring and summer.
Kerry Ellison (12:03):
I don’t know if you can see it, I’ve got my-
Ren Jones (12:07):
I see Pebble Beach.
Kerry Ellison (12:10):
I have my dream boards.
Ren Jones (12:12):
Yeah. Oh nice.
Kerry Ellison (12:14):
I’ve got two dream boards in here for why I’m working so hard and what my goals are. So it goes back to what’s your big why and why are you doing what you’re doing?
Ren Jones (12:24):
Okay.
Kerry Ellison (12:28):
A lot of people, like one of our girls on my team wants to take their kids to Walt Disney World. Most people, most agents aren’t in this just for the money. Most agents are in this for the customer service side because we want to help people. And it’s tying that reason we’re doing this every day to help more people. And finding your big why because it’s hard to get up and get motivated.
(12:57):
I know Sarah can probably attest to this, I’ve been listening a lot to Think like a CEO with Gary Keller and it talks about, we all get up every day and we have models. Because 70% of our day is built off habits, so you just get to choose which habit you’re going to follow and create. And then if you’re going to improve it or not. So what are you doing today that is helping you be a little bit better than you were yesterday? So what does that mean? Does that mean that I talked to five people today? Great. Then you know what? Let’s try for 10 tomorrow. What can I do today to be a little bit better than I was yesterday?
Sarah Close (13:37):
Yep. It’s a great time to ask that question. It really is. Because you actually, if you think about some of the commute time even you’re saving and throw that away and dedicate that instead to working on your business or thinking on your business. You can really start to identify, I think, some of the patterns that maybe aren’t serving you or aren’t as efficient as perhaps we might think they are because we just get so quick going one thing to the other in our previous normalcy.
Kerry Ellison (14:08):
Yeah, and I think they talk a lot about creating good habits or creating the right habits. Because just our TV went out last night, so this morning DirecTV was out on our home and it’s like I woke up and it’s like I usually flip on the TV and watch it. And I thought, no, I’m going to get up. I’m going to do my run, I’m going to do my exercises. And I got to work going, oh my gosh, that’s so much better than watching the news in the morning for me. It’s just more of a … it helps with your energy levels and it’s creating a better habit. So it’s no different than calling expired, calling a FSBO or doing follow up calls. It’s just a habit you create.
Sarah Close (14:50):
Yeah, that’s a great point. Speaking of for sale by owners and expireds, generally speaking, when you’re prospecting, what all types of folks are you contacting? What all categories, I guess? Legion levers or whatever term you use.
Kerry Ellison (15:03):
Yeah. Obviously being in the business a long time, we’ve got a great source of network have met in past clients, which is where the bulk of our business comes from. And then I still love to jump on a dialer and run through expireds and FSBOs. Because they’re people with their hand up saying, I don’t remember which seminar I was at, you’re driving by a FSBO and let me see, you’re in real estate and somebody’s standing there with their hand up throwing, I want to sell, I want to sell. And you just keep driving by. And it goes back to expired in FSBOs, they’re out there wanting to do business, so you’ve got to get to ready business and that’s how you do it.
Sarah Close (15:41):
Is that part of your day? Do you call them every day? And how many days a week do you prospect, generally speaking?
Kerry Ellison (15:48):
Five. I would say five. Mondays are a little iffy with our calls and the KW stuff. I definitely get four solid days in and I do, I call through expireds and FSBOs daily. And I’ll make a point to … I go through old list, I go through old expireds. I was just sitting here earlier on dialer, going through expireds from the beginning of the year till current.
Sarah Close (16:15):
What kind of conversations are you having right now? Are they receptive to the calls?
Kerry Ellison (16:21):
Oh, they’re thrilled to talk to you. They’re thrilled to … and we were having that discussion, the ones that are answering the phones, which we’re getting more answers on expireds and for sale by owners right now than ever. And they’re just happy to talk. They just want to know … I think that we’ve got so much negative news out there going on right now, they’re happy to hear that, one, the real estate market isn’t crashing. And number two, we’re still selling homes and listing them. And a lot of people that have their house on the market have to sell. It’s not like they’re out there wanting to, they’re moving out of state, they got a job transfer, they had a job changed, they’re getting a divorce. They have to sell.
Sarah Close (17:02):
Yeah, absolutely. What types of things do you do on a regular basis to keep your head in a game and to keep your mind set right? What works well for you?
Kerry Ellison (17:11):
I listen to a lot of podcasts. I do a lot of podcasts. We do script and role play. We have started 9:00 AM huddles here at the office and we will do, what’s your one domino you’ve got to knock down in the middle of the day? What’s your 20%? And if that happens, nothing else matters. And then we go into one or two scripts and role plays. With everything from lead follow up on open houses, to Facebook lead follow up, to expired FSBOs.
Sarah Close (17:42):
That sounds great. What objections are you hearing out there right now?
Kerry Ellison (17:48):
Well, one, I just had one where they owned a small business and they don’t know if they’re going to be in business in two or three weeks, so that’s a real one. Some people are just like, we just put one on the market that was an old expired and they said they were worried that their house wouldn’t sell because it didn’t sell the last time. And I said, no, the market’s better, there’s no inventory. And we did, we sold it in two days for full price. So those objections, those are pretty much what I’m hearing. Or we’re going to wait for this to ride out.
Ren Jones (18:23):
I would think when they say they’re going to wait and you explain that they can probably get 110% of value, that moves them right into the process.
Kerry Ellison (18:36):
It helps.
Ren Jones (18:36):
And honestly, you don’t have a lot of lookie-loos.
Kerry Ellison (18:40):
No. Your buyers out there are serious and ready.
Ren Jones (18:45):
Yeah.
Kerry Ellison (18:46):
And they’re ready to buy a home.
Ren Jones (18:47):
Ready. I mean, what more could you ask for? Sell in two, three days, no lookie-loos, maybe a little hand sanitizer and you’re off to the races.
Kerry Ellison (18:56):
And the other thing we tell them is there’s nothing that says we have to have longer than the two week listing contract or a month listing contract right now. We need to put it out there and see how the market’s going to respond.
(19:08):
The other big thing we work with them on is there’s more people looking online now than have been … Sarah, probably since you and I have been in the business. And Ren, there’s more people online looking than ever. Because they’re sitting at home, they’re bored, they’re in front of their computer more and they’re sitting in their houses more.
Ren Jones (19:27):
Are you finding people are … there’s a little more eagerness to talk with somebody that has a little bit of positivity? I mean, there are more people answering the phone and things like that.
Kerry Ellison (19:37):
Yeah, we are. And I remember there were a few people up at our office that don’t call for sale by owners or expired, and they called them and they’re like, they were so nice. They were so happy to talk to me. So I think that people just want to know that the economy’s not crashing, we’re still moving, houses are still selling.
Ren Jones (19:58):
So if you have your market stats and you have some stories like you’re telling, as well from recent experience, that sways them instantly. Because if you watch television, you would think nothing’s happening.
Kerry Ellison (20:13):
Oh, I know.
Ren Jones (20:13):
But in fact, when maybe more is happening than a normal Spring. If you’re a seller, anyway.
Sarah Close (20:21):
Sure.
Kerry Ellison (20:22):
Yeah, it’s a great time. What we tell our sellers is we’ve got a little checklist that the realtors put out, realtor association put out for how to show your home during COVID and what to do, leave the lights on, leave the doors open and off you go. Use hand sanitizer when you come back and wipe your light fixtures, your rails and this stuff.
Ren Jones (20:42):
Yeah, yeah. And just tell them, leave the lights on, don’t touch a thing. And honestly, if I was a buyer, I don’t think I’d want to touch anything either.
Kerry Ellison (20:49):
No, yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
Sarah Close (20:53):
You mentioned that your team does open houses. Is that a fundamental lead generation source for your organization right now or previously?
Kerry Ellison (21:01):
Yes, it was. And what was interesting is we weren’t getting the return on investment from it that we wanted to. And we’ve since switched over to a new system called Command, as you know. And there’s some really great … what we found is that the follow up by the agents wasn’t as robust as it should have been. And when we took that out of their hands and we put it into the automated plans, their conversions started going through the roof.
Sarah Close (21:31):
So you’ve built a smart plan, so to speak, around the event of an open house where that follow-up is now automated.
Kerry Ellison (21:38):
Yep. And it includes text messages that’s automated through Twilio and through Command. And it’s already in there, you just have to hit activate.
Sarah Close (21:49):
No, that makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. What do you do upfront to promote your open houses? How are you guys driving traffic? Do you do a standard seventh level type open house? What are your steps? Where do you guys get the most traction so that you really take advantage of that time?
Kerry Ellison (22:07):
There’s two different things. We have one in the live era in what we’re doing now. And then, yes, we were doing seventh level, where every Friday everybody went out and door knocked a hundred doors. We dropped flyers, we door knocked a hundred doors. Our promotion for our open houses, we get them filled on Monday, by Tuesday we got them in our MLS so the feeds are going out to Zillow, Realtor.com, truly all of those places. And then we have the agents preview the property, and then we started on Facebook. We’ll go in and do the Facebook ads through lead accelerator and we will also share it to the homeowners so they share it themselves. We start door knocking on Friday, and then by Saturday we have signs out for the open houses on Sunday.
Sarah Close (22:59):
Yeah, that’s great. That’s a wonderful tool to use. I’m wondering if you were a new agent or a newer agent, perhaps, that maybe wasn’t carrying a lot of listing inventory right now, what would be your advice to someone who’s getting started or restarting their business in the market today? What do you think is the best opportunity for an agent today?
Kerry Ellison (23:22):
Well, I think it always starts with your database. People are so much more likely, I tell you can make six to 10 phone calls and get a lead out of your database. When we’re talking to for sale by owners or expireds, you’re probably talking to one in twenty, to one in twenty-five to set an appointment. Maybe one in sixteen, just depending on the scripts. So your quickest way to get agents into activity is talking to their friends and talking to people they know. And what we find is so many people are afraid to ask for business, that we work with them on a theme home like.
Ren Jones (23:58):
Sure.
Kerry Ellison (23:59):
Oh my gosh. I just saw … I’ll call you, hey, Sarah, it’s Kerry. How are you?
Sarah Close (24:04):
I’m good. How are you, Kerry?
Kerry Ellison (24:05):
I am good. Oh my gosh, I just saw this amazing house at 123 Main Street. You would die if you saw this kitchen, it was absolutely amazing.
Sarah Close (24:15):
Oh, wow. Tell me about it.
Kerry Ellison (24:17):
Well, it’s four bedrooms, three baths, 275,000. It’s move-in condition, and I would just love to find a buyer for it. Who do you know that might want to buy in that area?
Sarah Close (24:27):
Probably every person that’s looking at their kitchen and hating it right now –
Kerry Ellison (24:31):
I know.
Sarah Close (24:32):
So long for sure. Oh, that sounds like a great place. I actually had a girlfriend that was thinking about moving, and then she just kind of dropped it when all this stuff went sideways. That might be the area she’s looking in, I don’t know, I’ll have to let her know about it.
Kerry Ellison (24:49):
Oh, that’d be awesome. Yeah, if you don’t mind checking with her and then if she responds, let me know. I would be glad to send you guys an email to it, and I can even text it to you if you want to give me her name and number.
Sarah Close (25:00):
Oh that would be great.
Kerry Ellison (25:00):
Or I could forward it to you.
Sarah Close (25:01):
Maybe you can send me the email and I’ll send it to her. Okay.
Kerry Ellison (25:04):
Okay. That sounds great. And are you doing okay? You surviving through all this stuff?
Sarah Close (25:09):
Oh, thanks for asking. We’re doing very well so far. We’re very fortunate that everyone’s still healthy, so thanks for asking. You guys well?
Kerry Ellison (25:15):
Yeah, the market’s still crazy. We’re down a little bit year over year, but overall, we’re still selling a lot of homes. It’s a little unusual.
Sarah Close (25:24):
Great to hear.
Kerry Ellison (25:25):
I know.
Sarah Close (25:25):
Nice to hear good news.
Kerry Ellison (25:27):
I know, I know. Well, Sarah, thanks so much for your time.
Sarah Close (25:30):
Oh, it’s my pleasure. Thanks for calling, Kerry.
Kerry Ellison (25:33):
Bye, bye.
Sarah Close (25:34):
Yeah, that felt really easy.
Kerry Ellison (25:36):
And I think the biggest hurdle with agents is they’re afraid to ask for business. So kind of massaging it in a way that you’re just excited about a house and you would love to sell the home, and then it’s about you, not them. And you not hounding them about, oh, who do you know that needs to buy or sell?
Sarah Close (25:54):
I think that felt very, very comfortable. And I’m now going to be looking forward to seeing that link, and Lord knows I got enough time to send that on to about eight other people with these ten other meetings I’m going to forward out to. That felt really good, thank you. That’s great. That’s great advice. I like that.
Kerry Ellison (26:11):
So I think that the other thing, obviously, is you’ve got people over there with their hands up that are actively on the market as for sale by owner or an expired. And if somebody wants to build their listings, that’s where you start.
Ren Jones (26:24):
Yeah, it’s just a matter of where their comfort level is. If somebody’s newer in the business and they’re not used to having these conversations and asking for business. Now, some people, it’s starting with their friends and some people it’s starting with strangers because they’d be terrified to talk to their friends. So-
Kerry Ellison (26:44):
I know.
Ren Jones (26:44):
Wherever their comfort level is, just say, make a goal of … like you were talking about earlier, make a goal of talking to blank people a day and then keep walking that home. Well, this is some powerful stuff to help people, not only in this unique situation we’re in right now, in the Spring of 2020. But just in general, just the accountability, just being in conversation, asking how people are, getting things moving along, having a goal. The challenge I have is you have two drivers here that, what do you mean we’ll all make call. Then it’s all those people watching that say, I should. Yes. Yeah. You should.
Kerry Ellison (27:29):
And then they go down the hall and they get a cup of coffee or somebody calls.
Ren Jones (27:34):
I know. I mean, they need to just write a check to somebody to hold them accountable.
Kerry Ellison (27:39):
Or put a big sticky note up in front of them saying, talk to this many people, and you play a game. So you don’t get up out of your chair until you’ve done it.
Ren Jones (27:49):
Yeah. Yeah. Or I think some people just need to be embarrassed. It’s like you go to the gym, you’ll get up at 5:30 in the morning or 6:00 and go if somebody’s standing there waiting for you. If they’re not, you won’t go. We have to set up these kind of situations where there’s a little bit of pain in this, that you move away from. You’re moving away from that pain.
Kerry Ellison (28:11):
And that’s such a good point, because everybody thinks you magically get up and do X number of legion today, you do X number of follow up, you do all this. The bottom line is we all have coaches. Because we’ve got to have somebody, and not even if it’s an accountability piece, it’s you’ve got to have somebody checking in that is going to call you and say, “How are your numbers? How are things going? Are you getting this done?”
Ren Jones (28:38):
Now we got the real secret. Both of these lovely ladies have coaches. I’m sure of it, I’m guessing, but I’m sure of it.
Kerry Ellison (28:45):
Yeah.
Sarah Close (28:46):
Absolutely.
Ren Jones (28:47):
Right. You have a coach and you have a coach, right?
Sarah Close (28:50):
Yeah, I have two.
Kerry Ellison (28:53):
Yeah.
Ren Jones (28:53):
You have two coaches.
Kerry Ellison (28:54):
I have two coaches.
Ren Jones (28:57):
You both have two coaches.
Sarah Close (28:58):
Well we do have two.
Ren Jones (28:59):
Okay, so now you know the real secret, folks.
Kerry Ellison (29:03):
Yeah.
Ren Jones (29:03):
Accountability. Accountability. Accountability. Now we know the secret.
Sarah Close (29:09):
This is true.
(29:09):
I wanted to mention something that I actually had, not surprisingly, a coach tell me pretty early in my career. And this was very helpful to me in other areas of my life, as well. And what he said was, my frustration was I’m like, boy, I know what to do. I just can’t do it, or I don’t do it, or whatever. Because we all know what to do. I mean, I don’t think any of us have a gap there. What he shared with me that was such a … frankly, it was a gift because I was able to then build on it, is he said, “Well, you know what to do, you don’t yet have the muscle to do it.”
(29:44):
There’s no reason why a mental exercise should be treated any differently than a physical exercise. And he said, “If you’re going to do 20 contacts, start with two. Next day do three and just build incrementally.”
Ren Jones (30:00):
Wow.
Sarah Close (30:00):
And that was such a relief to me, because I felt like such a failure knowing, I know what I’m supposed to do, but I’m still not doing it, therefore I should just go back to get a different job. It was a gift, that was probably one of the most important things anyone ever said to me as far as how to get going.
Ren Jones (30:19):
So, just start with the five pound weights and work your way up to the ten, then the fifteen, then the twenties. Is that what you’re saying?
Sarah Close (30:27):
Yeah, that’s what he said.
Ren Jones (30:27):
Or the secret that’s been revealed here, both of them have two coaches each. So if you learned anything, get two coaches each.
Sarah Close (30:35):
You’ll get really good at Zoom calls.
Kerry Ellison (30:39):
That’s right.
Ren Jones (30:42):
Thanks so much. This has been fantastic. I think there’s a lot of powerful stuff here that if you’re not having a great Spring, play this five or six times and then go out and have a great Spring. Because you deserve it, everybody.
Sarah Close (30:57):
Absolutely. Kerry, it was such a pleasure to have you on today. And Ren, thank you for allowing me to co-host, it was a real treat and it was so nice to get to meet you even here virtually.
Kerry Ellison (31:07):
Well, thank you. Thank you both for calling and I’m thrilled that I got the invite. And if I can ever help you guys, let me know, okay?
Sarah Close (31:14):
All right.
Ren Jones (31:14):
Yeah, thanks, Kerry. And folks, if you’re watching on Vulcan7 and you want to get involved with the Lead Gen Facebook group that simulcast our show, they are at facebook.com/group/gotobjections. And finally, if you’re watching on Facebook and you’re not yet involved with Vulcan7, make sure to sign up at Vulcan7.com/leadgen, press special deal. And make sure you’re here next week when we have another powerful agent with some great ideas that you need to watch over and over again and have an amazing career, an amazing life. See you guys next week.