S8 E9December 29, 2021·32 min·Isaac James, Keller Williams

How Isaac James went from 60,000 a year to a quarter million by prospecting on Zoom

Isaac James spent three years making 50,000 to 60,000 a year in Hawaii before committing fully. He now prospects live on Zoom with another agent from 8:00 to 11:30 every day, works circle prospecting rather than expireds, and expects to finish the year between 250,000 and 300,000.

How Isaac James went from 60,000 a year to a quarter million by prospecting on Zoom
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Key takeaways

  1. Prospects live on Zoom with another agent from 8:00 to 11:30 every day, which he credits as the single change that made him consistent
  2. Works circle prospecting rather than expireds because there is no competing agent on the call
  3. Opens with two questions, that there are not many homes for sale and have they thought about selling, then asks whether a crazy number would change their mind
  4. Backs off on cold calls rather than pushing, since a circle prospecting contact does not want the aggression an expired seller expects
  5. Runs a folder system with a folder for each month, and moves anyone not ready into next month’s folder with notes
  6. Targets 20 contacts a session but measures himself on being on the phone 2.5 to 3 hours, loading 200 to 300 dials in advance
  7. Reads for 30 minutes, works out listening to interviews, then role plays 7:00 to 7:30 before dialing at 8:00

Transcript

00:00 — The year everything changed

Sarah Close00:04

Isaac, you mentioned that you had… This is your fourth year in the business and that you had kind of a breakthrough where you got into some consistent prospecting. Talk to us a little bit about that pivot point. What changed? What made that difference for you?

Isaac James00:18

But I was really struggling with being consistent with that. I would get on the phones for a week or so, maybe set a listing with expired or something, and then I would use that as excuse not to get back on the phones.

00:29And so this year I said, “Hey”… I was making about $50,000, $60,000 a year. And I said, “Hey, at some point things have got to change. Either got to give this all and either the system works or it doesn’t, or I need to find something else.” So really at the beginning of this year, I kind of made that decision like, “Hey, I’m just going to jump in, completely commit.”

00:57 — Welcome and meeting Isaac James

Ren Jones00:57

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 is consistently taking several listings each month, and we have an exciting guest today. We encourage you to take notes, apply as much of the knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the Copy Cat principle.

Sarah Close01:21

Copy cat principle.

Ren Jones01:22

That’s it. Let me introduce my shy co-host from Beautiful Camp Denison, Ohio, where the horses roam just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah Close. Welcome Sarah.

Sarah Close01:36

Happy to be here. I’m excited, very excited about it.

Ren Jones01:39

And Sarah comes with a lot of wisdom in this area. She has a Keller Williams office or company because they have many, many offices around Dayton, Ohio and Cincinnati, Ohio, and Westchester. Westchester serves northern Kentucky and Indiana as well; several million people in this area and very successful and has a team with selling… What? Two hundred homes this year is the goal. Is that right?

Sarah Close02:05

Yep, absolutely.

Ren Jones02:06

And she dials for dollars calls, expired owners centers around listings and sales and is not shy about that either. So that’s all good news. So let’s welcome our guest today from Hawaii on the island of Oahu, or in Kapalili we have Isaac James. Welcome Isaac.

Isaac James02:24

Hey Ren. Hey Sarah. Thank you guys for having me.

Ren Jones02:27

Are you getting any snow over there?

Isaac James02:30

A little bit on top of the mountain. That’s about it.

Ren Jones02:33

Oh, actually, that’s true. Yeah, on the big island they have every level of climate zone there is.

Isaac James02:39

Yep. Yep.

Ren Jones02:43

And I understand your volcano us erupting over there. Is it Kilauea?

Isaac James02:47

Yeah, you’re correct.

Ren Jones02:49

What do they call that? The goddess, Pele. I think if I remember correctly.

Isaac James02:53

I think that sounds about right.

Ren Jones02:55

That sounds about right. Yeah. Well, Mahalo for being with us here today, and we want to dive in and learn as much as we can about what you are doing to make a lot of money and live in paradise.

Sarah Close03:07

Yeah, it’s not every day that we get to talk to someone who has a variety of things to deal with like a volcano. So this is going to be… It’s going to be an interesting call. So thanks again for being here, Isaac.

Isaac James03:18

Yes, it is my pleasure. I’m honored.

Sarah Close03:21

So tell us a little bit about your business. So obviously you are one of the most beautiful places on earth and you probably get to sell beautiful homes there. Tell us a little bit about what your business looks like.

03:29 — Four years in, and this year’s numbers

Isaac James03:29

Yeah, so this is… Closing out, this fall will be the end of year four for me. I was going to say, if you backtrack a little bit, the first three years of the business were a little bit rough. I guess you could say I rolled the rollercoaster like many agents. This year, I actually was fortunate enough to have a breakout, and as you guys can predict, that was obviously due to consistent prospecting, dialing for dollars on the phone using Vulcan7. So right now, I guess if you want to talk numbers, I looked it up just this morning. So this year so far, year to date, closed eight units for a volume of 8 million GCI, 165,000, have three units pending or 2.7 million volume, another 67,000 in escrow. And then I have an active listing and a couple more listings coming up.

Ren Jones04:26

If you had to run the average, where do you think you’ll end up the year in income and volume and such? What do you think?

Isaac James04:34

I didn’t do the numbers. Volume wise, I guess I probably-

Ren Jones04:37

Well, what do you think you’ll make an income? What do you think you’ll make in income?

Isaac James04:41

Well, in income, I’ll be at a quarter million, right around… Between $250,000 to $300,000

Ren Jones04:43

$250,000. And how many years have you been prospecting since you started prospecting?

Isaac James04:50

Off and on, now, I’d say about three years.

Ren Jones04:52

Three years, okay. And you’re up to quarter million dollars in Hawaii. That’s not a bad living at all because I know those houses aren’t very expensive over there. How much are… What’s an average listing price?

Isaac James05:04

Well, look this up; last month, the median single family price actually ran as 1,000,050. Condos are a little bit less at half a million.

Ren Jones05:15

So is that your average price? About a mill?

Isaac James05:18

Yes, sir. About a million.

Ren Jones05:20

Good.

Sarah Close05:20

Wow.

Ren Jones05:20

I love it. I love it.

Sarah Close05:22

It’s time to go to the islands, so.

Ren Jones05:24

I know.

Sarah Close05:25

That’s awesome. Isaac, you mentioned that you had… This is your fourth year in the business and that you had kind of a breakthrough where you got into some consistent prospecting. Talk to us a little bit about that pivot point. What changed? What made that difference for you?

05:40 — Making the decision to commit

Isaac James05:40

Well, from the beginning I was introduced to the Mike Ferry organization, their system. And he has a system that basically consists of, you talk to more people via the phones, you’ll get a lot of business. But I was really struggling with being consistent with that. And of course, I heard like a lot of people, you got to have accountability and et cetera, et cetera. But I was always… I would get on the phones for a week or so, maybe set a listing with expired or something, and then I would use that as excuse not to get back on the phones. And so this year I said, “Hey”… I was making about $50,000, $60,000 a year. And I said, “Hey, at some point things have got to change. Either got to give this all and either the system works or it doesn’t, or I need to find something else.”

06:29So really at the beginning of this year, I kind of made that decision like, “Hey, I’m just going to jump in, completely commit, and if it doesn’t work, then maybe I need to find something else besides real estate because it has been four years.” But the biggest change for me was the accountability. I prospected live on Zoom every day. For me personally, I found that it was tough for me not to show up then, because before I would do it by myself. And it’s just easy to tell yourself, you’ll do it tomorrow, next day, next week, and next thing you know it has been a month. But having that-

Ren Jones07:05

You’re with a group of people on Zoom? Who is in that group? I mean in general terms.

07:11 — Prospecting live on Zoom every morning

Isaac James07:11

Yeah, it was me and another agent here in Hawaii, more specifically because we have such a different time zone, but we prospected live every day together from eight to about 11 o’clock, 11:30.

Ren Jones07:24

So accountability is a very important component.

Isaac James07:27

Absolutely,. Absolutely.

Ren Jones07:29

Got you. Got you. Got you. Good. Good. That’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. And a quick question, the Aloha shirt you’re wearing?

Isaac James07:45

Well usually, I guess I could say a normal day I’m wearing a… I guess you could say a polo shirt or something. Me personally, I don’t wear the Aloha shirts, but whenever I go to listing appointments, I’m always dressed like this.

Ren Jones08:01

And that plays fine in Hawaii. Okay, I was just curious.

Isaac James08:04

Absolutely.

Ren Jones08:05

I’m just curious because I know it’s a little different world there, but. So people really respect the fact that you have that much respect for the job and everything that they respond well to that.

Isaac James08:21

Absolutely.

Ren Jones08:21

Good.

Isaac James08:22

I think it helps Ren.

Ren Jones08:22

I think it does.

Isaac James08:22

Yeah.

Sarah Close08:22

Absolutely.

Isaac James08:22

I think when you show up dressed professionally, especially here in Hawaii, because there is such a laid back type of culture, people really take you serious. They take you as a professional. And I think the presentation as Ren, they already judge you as soon as you show up to the door. And so when you’re dressed professionally, it just makes the presentation so much easier.

Ren Jones08:42

You look like you work at the trust department at the bank. I mean, you’re taking it very seriously. You really do. It’s good. It’s a wonderful thing. That’s definitely… I have to believe you get a listing or two that you wouldn’t have gotten from that.

Isaac James08:56

Probably so. Probably so. Yes sir.

Sarah Close08:59

Isaac, your business this year, you said it was obviously due to prospecting. What specific type of prospecting were you doing that has generated the transactions you’ve had so far? Are you calling expireds, cancels, are you circle prospecting database? What does that look like for you?

09:14 — Why he chose circle prospecting

Isaac James09:14

Yeah, great question. That is actually one of the changes this year and that was really obviously due to the market we’re in. As you all know, we haven’t seen a market like this for a while maybe, probably ever. So for me it was really calling neighborhoods, letting them know, “Hey, what just sold? What just listed?” And then just from there it was nearly just cold calling and asking people, “Hey, are you interested in selling?”

Sarah Close09:42

Yeah, talk to us a little bit about what you’re saying when you’re calling. None of us to receive calls from people we don’t know or aren’t expecting. So how are you winning the business in your scripts? What techniques are you using or questions or what’s working for you?

09:57 — The two question script

Isaac James09:57

Yeah, absolutely. So I use a simple script that I used to say one of my coach. I have a lot of people I would consider my coach. He gave me a two question script to use and it was simply, there are not a lot of homes for sale right now. Not a lot of homes available for sale right now. Have you thought about selling? Obviously, their first instinct answer is to say no. And then you go, “No,” and you go, “Okay, well you know what if you could get a crazy number for your home or what if you could sell it for more than you think it’s worth? Would you consider an offer?” But to, I guess, take that a step further, Sarah, because usually I do talk to a lot of agents, especially if they heard that I had little success and they really think it’s the script.

10:42My opinion is the script matters, but it’s listening beyond the script. And so many of the calls like that, they may say, “Well, you need to talk to my husband,” or, “I’m thinking of this or that.” And so it’s really asking the next question. And one of the… I guess could say, one of the mindset shifts I had was when we’re calling expireds, we tend to be aggressive because they want an aggressive agent. So Sarah, if you’re going there, they say, “Hey, I’ll have an appointment with Sarah at 9:00 AM.” You’re like, “Hey, well, I’ll be there at 8:30 to get the listing.”

11:22But when you’re cold-calling or you’re doing, you’re just listed or you are circle prospecting, you actually need to be the opposite of that. So I might say, “Hey Sarah, you’re thinking of selling at Christmastime, I got it. Well listen, I know you’re not in the market today, but why don’t I just come over take a look because I know a lot of sellers like to put money into their properties and sometimes they can’t get it back, so I’ll just give you the information you need.” And so that mindset is, I’m actually kind of taking it back. I’m not trying to get you to sell today. I’m just trying to get in the door so that when you are ready to sell, I’m the agent you’re going to list with.

Ren Jones11:59

So you’re bringing something of value to me; you’re adding some contribution and then they’re grateful for that and you’re building some rapport and you’re working at it as elite and boom.

12:09 — Deals from people who said not yet

Isaac James12:09

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, Ren. The reason I mentioned that is because I would say three or four of my deals this year, Ren, were people that initially told me… And I honestly believe that they were serious. They told me at the end of the year like end of 2021 would be when they would want to do a transaction. And it’s just now… What? October and I’ve closed several of those deals already, Ren. And so it’s just a matter of not… When you’re cold calling, it’s not pushing as much as you would with an expired because they actually don’t want the aggression just yet.

Sarah Close12:46

That’s an excellent point. It’s obviously a little bit of a finesse, if you will. So what are you doing to stay in touch with them in a meaningful way that doesn’t cause them to feel like you’re stalking them from the time that you make that initial offer to the time that they are ready to transact business? What does your follow-up feel like?

13:06 — The folder system for people not ready

Isaac James13:06

Got you. What’s the follow-up? So it depends. I would love to say have a great system. The first system I have I come to mind is I have what’s called a folder system. And so again, Jim Chamberlain is one of the people that has taught me a lot is with Vulcan7, there is an ability in there… And you could do this even without Vulcan. But you just put folders. So you would put, let’s say January through December. So let’s say, as you said, we have that same conversation, Sarah and said, “Hey, Isaac, next March I’m transferring, the military is moving me. Call me in January.” And so what I will do, I guess, you could say, as a system, I’ll put Sarah and I’ll put some notes, Sarah moving in March and I’ll put you in my January folder. So when January comes around, I’ll pull up my January folder, and then it’ll say, call Sarah. She’s moving in March.

14:04So that’s, I guess, you could say my formal system, but also it depends on the conversation we had. So a lot of these people were cold calls, hadn’t really raised their hand saying that they wanted to sell yet. And they may say, “Hey, I’m thinking about this or I’m thinking about that.” And so a lot of times I would move them in the folder system, but I would literally move them to the next month. So if I talk to you in October, I’ll put you in my November folder and I’ll just put in your notes thinking of doing something in next six months, and then I’ll put what you’re looking for.

14:36And so if something comes across my plate, I’ll say, “Hey Sarah, I know you’re not looking at doing anything today, but I just saw this house that seems to look like what you wanted to buy,” or, “I know you wanted to sell, and this house down the street just sold at this price just wanted to keep you up to date with what’s happening in market so that when you’re ready, you can make a move.” And I found that a lot of people are welcoming of that.

Ren Jones14:58

I love that. And that really works when you call people with something very specific that you saw and you thought of them. I mean, the success rate with that approach is highly successful. So congratulations on that. I really like that you do that.

Isaac James15:13

Thank you.

Ren Jones15:13

That does work. That works well.

Sarah Close15:16

Absolutely. What are your goals for next year as far as your business goes? You’re going to close out this year at about a quarter million. What are you thinking about as far as building on what you’ve been able to really stabilize so successfully this year? What are your thoughts on that?

15:30 — A 600,000 goal for next year

Isaac James15:30

Yeah, I’m actually excited about that. So I met with the wife last night and we actually had, I guess, you could say our goal plannings for next year. But next year, GCI, I’m looking to do 600K and that looks at closing about 30 units, 30 transactions. And obviously, that’s going to be predicated on prospecting three hours a day being on the phones.

15:58I don’t know what next year will hold. I mean, if expires come back, I think that’ll be a little bit easier. But at the same time, I’ve really fell in love with the circle prospecting just because when I do talk to a client, there is no competition. When you call and expired, there are like five agents that have called and they’re telling the seller that you’re terrible and you’re talking about your mama. But when you talk to a cold person when you’re circle dialing, you’re the only agent that they’re talking to. So it’s a lot nicer conversation and it just… I guess you could say you’re the only competition. There is none really.

Sarah Close16:40

That’s great.

Ren Jones16:41

Just on the side, but how many of those are offshore? How many are absentee? What do you think?

Isaac James16:47

This year? Let me see here. Actually this year, I haven’t had any offshore listings. I did last year, but I found that they’re pretty easy as long as you have the-

Ren Jones17:00

Most of them are living in the house full-time or maybe they’re there back and forth.

Isaac James17:05

Yeah. Yeah. So well now that I think about it, I have one condo in Waikiki that is off island. I guess you could say solely off island. But the majority of them are residents here. They live here full-time.

Ren Jones17:18

Got you. All right. I was just curious whether you had a lot of absentee, because if you were spending a lot with absentee, I wanted to kind of go down that rabbit hole with you, but it sounds like they’re mostly like Cincinnati.

Isaac James17:34

Yeah. I’ve found both-

Ren Jones17:35

Except for the weather.

17:40 — Why absentee owners are easier

Isaac James17:40

Yeah. Weather is not too bad, but I’ve found, Ren, that the absentee owners, are a little… In my opinion, they are a little bit easier. There are not as… I guess I could say, they don’t question as much. They’re not as mostly attached, obviously because they’ve already left the property. And obviously with 2020 and how of 2021 has been with what has happened, I’ve found that it was easier for me to pivot wherever we needed to pivot because I had done some absentee owner transactions prior to. So it was very easy to do.

Ren Jones18:17

So they’re treating it more stock instead of their baby or whatever.

Isaac James18:21

Right. Right. Yeah. Because they’ve already left the property, so they don’t have that emotional attachment.

Ren Jones18:26

Nice.

Isaac James18:27

The way some other sellers might.

Ren Jones18:28

That makes it so much easier. So much easier. Yeah, and you’re not competing with the king or queen of the neighborhood either, so.

Isaac James18:36

Right.

Ren Jones18:37

Yeah. Because they’re not noticing the signs in the yards and stuff like that because they’re not there.

Isaac James18:43

That’s so true.

Ren Jones18:43

Good.

Sarah Close18:45

Yep. Great point. Isaac, talk to us a little bit about your database. Do you have any specific systems that you use in your database or ways that you communicate with your people that are part of your sphere or your past client base?

18:59 — Touching the database four times a year

Isaac James18:59

Yes, absolutely. I could do better at my database, but again, I use the folder system, but I do it every quarter instead of every month. What I try to do is I just call, maybe give them an update on what’s sold recently and what’s happening with the markets. Obviously this year with interest rates being so low, just confirming that they refinanced if I help them buy.

19:27But I try to touch them at least four times a year. I have about 70 to 80 people in my database, so not huge. But I am proud to say that I have helped past clients buy and sell. So I’m excited with that because to me, it’s an indication that I’m at least communicating with them enough that I was able to help them buy and sell and not someone else’s sign in the yard and I’m driving by, “What the heck,” right? Yeah.

Sarah Close19:59

Absolutely. So is that part… When you’re following up with your sphere and your database, is that part of your three-hour call anatomy as well?

Isaac James20:07

On the back end, but not upfront. So the first two hours of really cold call expires, withdrawns, for sale by owners, old or past expireds, withdrawns. And then on the back end of that, I’ll put in the database calls and things like that. Or even in the evening, right? Because they’re… I guess, you could say they’re not as much prospecting base per se. So it could even be something as simple as just a text, “Hey man, thought about you. Hope all is well. Business is great.” Something like that.

20:43But as long as you’re touching bases with them and communicating with them and just reminding them that you’re in real estate, then the business will come from them or they’ll let you know if they’re thinking of doing something.

Sarah Close20:55

So it stays very relational as opposed to more of a, “Hey, this is a business call.” Sounds like it’s a little bit more on a personal level for your business.

Isaac James21:03

Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely more on a personal level for me. I mean, I don’t know the name of all their kids and their dogs or anything like that, but I do know if they have kids. But I guess you could say I just try to ask them anything about real estate and I’ve just found that… I don’t know why, but seemingly people just don’t call for whatever reason. But if I call them, they’ll go, “Oh, hey, yeah, Sarah, I was planning on,” or, “Oh, I was thinking about calling you, I was thinking about texting you. I wanted to ask this.” And so I found that if you stay on top of it, then when they’re ready to make a move, you’ll be right there.

Sarah Close21:40

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Your call session sounds like it’s about three hours or so. How many folks are you anticipating, I guess number one, having to reach out to, and how many contacts or two-way dialogues are you anticipating having in a particular-

21:57 — Twenty contacts, or three hours on the phone

Isaac James21:57

Absolutely. No, that’s a great question. It varies. We try to hit 20 contacts per dial session. That doesn’t always happen, but I made it my goal to at least be on the phone dialing for those three hours. Normally I try to set up at least 200 contacts in the Vulcan7 system, and then I’ll go through that.

22:21If I make it through the full 200, then I’ll do the 300 dials. And so sometimes I might go three hours and I might talk to three people, five people. And then there are other days where I might do two hours and I’ve talked to 25 people. But for me personally, what I do is just try to be consistent of being on the phone for those two and a half to three hours dialing. And I try not to worry as much as about the contacts because I know it’s the consistency. And then also with every conversation, just making sure that if there is an appointment available, that I try to set that appointment.

Sarah Close22:58

Sure. Sure. Yeah, that consistency is really key in having that target in mind of a designated timeframe, so.

Ren Jones23:05

How do you get yourself… Because you said you weren’t consistent until you got an accountability partner, and that’s working well, meeting on Zoom and watching each other to hold each other accountable.

23:15But is there anything you do to get the morning started, pre-prospecting routine that gets you excited, gets your energy raised to a certain level, gets your focus and pulls you that way?

Isaac James23:27

No, that’s a great question, Ren. So yeah, I go surfing every morning, swim with the sharks. Nah, I’m just joking.

Ren Jones23:34

Wanted hear that one. No, keep going. Keep going.

Isaac James23:38

Yeah, snorkel.

Ren Jones23:40

Get your adrenaline going that’s for sure. Yeah,

Sarah Close23:43

All downhill from there.

23:47 — The morning routine before the dial

Isaac James23:47

But yeah, I do work out in the mornings. Usually, I’m up by 5, 5:30. I’ll read my Bible for about 30 minutes. Then after that I’ll work out. And usually while I’m working out, especially when I’m really focused, I’ll be listening to interviews. So it’ll be The Roadmap or it might be some other entrepreneurs or podcasts, but I’m listening to people that either built the business bigger than myself as far as either the technical how-to stuff or I’m listening something more inspirational where it’s like, “Hey, this guy made $2 last year, now he’s making $20 million.” That type of story. But I try to listen to that and relate.

24:31And then also role play. So usually every morning, 7 to 7:30, I either practice the listing presentation or it’ll be role play. So we’ll practice either the cold calling or the expired, whatever calls I’m thinking I’m doing, or if I’ve had some crazy objections, we’ll go over that and then by eight o’clock on the phones dialing for dollars.

Ren Jones24:57

Good. How important is that mindset piece? If you don’t go through reading your Bible and then listening to some podcasts and… For some reason if you ended up not doing that, how does that affect the rest of the process, the role play, and then all the way through to three hours of prospecting? Would you even do it?

Isaac James25:15

Well, I would do it. For me, the biggest part is, like I said, my accountability partner. But I found as you know, Ren, that even with that, you can be going through the motions, right?

Ren Jones25:27

The energy is not there and they feel it on the other end of the phone.

Isaac James25:30

Exactly. Exactly. And so if you’re not intentional, you can still be talking in… I guess you know this, Ren. Let’s say you have a professional agent that’s really great on the phones versus a new person that really doesn’t know what they’re doing. They both could spend, let’s say, an hour talking to the same 10 people, and that professional agent will walk away with two or three appointments, whereas a new agent would be like, “Oh, there was nothing there. I talked to 10 people and I didn’t get anything.”

26:02But even as a great agent, you can still find yourself kind of going through the motions if you don’t have that right mindset.

Ren Jones26:09

Right. It’s not just skill; it’s skill and energy. It’s not just energy. It’s energy and skill. You’ve got to have all the elements. Yeah.

Isaac James26:16

Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s huge.

Ren Jones26:18

It’s such a… And people feel it. If there’s a spark inside you, they feel it.

Isaac James26:23

Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes it’s always also your energy Ren that grabs people more than what necessarily what you’re saying. It’s how you’re saying it. Yeah.

Ren Jones26:35

Right. Yeah. Just like when you’re talking over the phone and if you’re smiling, people know you’re smiling, they can feel it. Yeah.

Sarah Close26:42

Yep. Makes a big difference. So Isaac, you’re thinking about next year; you’ve got a $600,000 GCI goal-

Ren Jones26:49

He’s skipping 500, he’s going straight to six.

Sarah Close26:54

I know. He’s blowing right by that. So that’s a big move and that’s exciting. When you’re thinking about that change for next year, what do you anticipate might be the most critical opportunity you have? Not to use the word challenge, but what do you think needs to happen for that to work for you?

Isaac James27:07

What needs to happen for that to work for me? I’d say probably just building my systems. Recently, I switched brokerages. I think it was August that I did. And so with that came the challenge of not necessarily having an assistant because the previous place, I originally was on a team for a few months, and I had the great fortune of just using that team’s assistant, even though I was a solo agent. And so when I came over, I had to go through the process of hiring someone part-time and kind of working out those bugs.

27:46But to me, it’s making sure that I have the backend in place as far as taking care of the paperwork, handling the escrow so that I could really focus on being on the phones and prospecting, doing lead follow up, going on appointments; that’s the name of the game. But making sure that the service on the back end isn’t falling apart. So I think that’ll be the biggest challenge with bringing on more deals, in my opinion.

Ren Jones28:14

Bringing on the structure, being a good delegator with follow-up checks and balances. Just having… So you can spend 80% of your time on moneymaking activities.

Isaac James28:24

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Ren Jones28:26

Well, you’re living in paradise. You’ve built a great business. I love that you’re making a quarter of a million in a short amount of time, and now you’re going to $600,000 and on your way to a mill. This is exciting. And there are a lot of good ideas in here, and I think they’re going to help our audience a lot.

28:41And we appreciate you taking the time to contribute. Because there are a lot of people that are looking for, “How do I take two or three listings? I want to do it and I want to do it now.” It takes a little bit of work. Takes a little bit of work. And it sounds like consistency, accountability, a daily routine, the mindset piece. The mindset piece, and that pre-prospecting routine, taking all the… To get that energy up to this level because some of the energy we get when we call these people is kind of counterbalancing. So we appreciate-

Sarah Close29:16

What I really… Yeah, I was going to say, what I really appreciate you shared with us, Isaac, is that you had kind of a reality check where you said, “Do I want to do this?” And you actually asked that question of yourself and confronted it and made a specific intentional change to really validate your career path. And it’s so exciting to see that to deliver results for you. And it’s really… It’s just very generous of you to share that because I think a lot of times people do have that thought, but everyone is too afraid to say it. So thank you for sharing that.

Ren Jones29:54

Yeah, a great shift. And a lot of people are maybe having that very same thought and being like, “Okay, I just have to step in the ring and make that commitment and trust the process.”

Sarah Close30:04

Right. So you’re awesome. Thank you.

Ren Jones30:05

Good.

Isaac James30:05

Thank you, guys.

Ren Jones30:05

Now here’s the thing. People want to buy a second home or maybe a first home or move to Hawaii. They’re living in Butte, Montana, and they’re saying it’s a little chilly. And I was wondering how they could reach out to you to do some business, or maybe they have a property there now and they want to sell it, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Isaac James30:26

Yes, sir. Absolutely. So obviously always happy to pay a referral fee, but yeah, they can reach me at every code 803… And yes, I’ve been in Hawaii for eight years, but I’ve had the same phone number for almost 20 years now. So it is area code 803-360-7145. But also you could email me isaac.james@kw.com. Isaac is I-S-A-A-C dot james@kw.com

Ren Jones30:57

Perfect. Reach out to him and we appreciate this. I’m startled, Isaac, that you didn’t tell him you’re real secret. I’m just startled you didn’t. You know what he does.

Isaac James31:09

I’m going to let you tell them, Ren.

Ren Jones31:12

You know what he does? He goes through and he starts out and he’s reading his Bible in the morning, and then he is listening to some podcasts and watching some videos, and then he does his role play. And then he gets on the phone at eight and somewhere around 11, 11:30, he returns calls and goes to lunch. But no, he doesn’t. He goes to the freezer and he gets delicious Graeters mint chocolate chip. This is the one for listings. This is the powerhouse. You know the flavors for buyers. What is it here? What flavor is for buyers?

Sarah Close31:40

Rocky Road.

Ren Jones31:40

It’s Rocky Road. Yeah, but the mint chocolate chip, this is for if the listing is hard to sell, you dig a hole in the front yard and bury this upside down, the listing will sell just like that. This is his secret. And you can go to graeters.com and find the mint chocolate chip at a store near you. All over North America, including Hawaii and Alaska, Anchorage, on and beyond there. And the big island. We appreciate everybody being here. Thank you, Isaac. Thank you for contributing. Thank you, Sarah and Camp Denison, and we’ll see everybody next week.

Sarah Close32:16

Isaac, have a great week. Thanks for being here.

Isaac James32:18

You too, Sarah. Thank you, Ren. An honor to be on. Thank you, guys. See you.

Ren Jones32:22

All right. Thanks, Isaac. Bye-Bye.

32:22 

Questions this episode answers

How do you stay consistent with prospecting?

Isaac James credits one change: prospecting live on Zoom with another agent every morning from 8:00 to about 11:30. He had spent three years starting and stopping, using a listing as an excuse to come off the phones. Having someone watching made it hard not to show up.

Is circle prospecting better than calling expired listings?

Isaac James now prefers it. On an expired, five agents have already called and are talking each other down. On a circle prospecting call you are the only agent the homeowner is speaking to, which he says makes it a much nicer conversation with no competition.

What do you say when circle prospecting?

Isaac James uses two questions. He tells them there are not many homes available for sale right now and asks whether they have thought about selling. When they say no, he asks whether they would consider an offer if they could get more than they think the home is worth.

Should you be aggressive on a cold call?

The opposite, in Isaac James’s view. An expired seller wants an aggressive agent, but a homeowner you have cold called does not. He deliberately takes the pressure off, offering to come by and share information so he is the agent they call when they are ready, which produced several deals this year.

How do you track people who are not ready to sell yet?

Isaac James keeps a folder for each month of the year. Anyone who names a timeframe goes into the matching month with notes. People who are vague get moved into next month’s folder, and he calls with something specific, like a nearby sale, rather than a generic check-in.

Guest

Isaac James

Keller Williams · Oahu, HI

Keller Williams agent on Oahu, four years in and moving from 60,000 a year to a quarter million on daily prospecting.

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