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Ep007: How To Make It In The NEW Real Estate Business · The Connect Practice Track & Grow Podcast

• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoyed listening as much as I enjoy recording this.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Ultimate Real Estate Agent Broker Collaboration.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: How to thrive and multiply in the age of Zillow.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Christy Leinbaugh with the 90-minute books, and I want to introduce Chris McAllister, who is here with me today to discuss his latest book, The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Broker Collaboration, How to Thrive and Multiply in the Age of Zillow.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: You start this book off with a pretty provocative question.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Are you tired of doing your job and your broker's job?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, Christy.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's great to talk to you today.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: So thanks for being here and helping me clarify my thoughts about this book.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: The question, are you tired of doing your job and your broker's job?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: I guess the answer that I start off with, there's two primary principles that I live by.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And the first is that relationships are infinitely more valuable than any series or individual transactions.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the second principle I live by is that each of us has a unique ability, and the more time we spend in that unique ability, the happier, the healthier, and the wealthier we'll be.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: My ultimate goal is to focus 100% on the things that I can do better than anybody else and build a team around me who love and excel at the things that I just hate to do or I flat out can't do as well as they can.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: The other point is that technology has really simplified the real estate business or the real estate brokerage business to the point where we really are able to zero in on the activities that add value to the world of real estate and the world at large and support our personal dreams and aspirations.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: In real estate, Zillow kind of embodies that all-encompassing technology.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Real estate agents and brokers used to spend far more time and effort than we do today making sure that the public knew what we had for sale.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: And with Zillow utilizing the internet, all of that is automatic now.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good part about uh living in the world we are and the with with Zillow in it.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: But I never want people to make a mistake.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Zillow is a predator.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Their goal is to make brokers, multiple listing services, and the vast majority of individual agents obsolete.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: If they can automate a transaction and get paid to do it, they will.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: If they can obtain capital at a discount and buy a house and then sell it themselves on their own platform for whatever margin they can make, they will.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: And quite frankly, that's what they're doing in many markets today.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you can use your if they can use your hard won listings as a real estate professional to generate new leads and then sell them back to you, they'll do that too.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that in fact is their business model.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're doing it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: And when you think about it in those terms, as real estate agents, we go out, we generate these leads, we get these listings under listing contracts, and we put them on Zillow.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Zillow goes out, generates leads of people who want to buy these houses, and then they sell them back to us for a monthly fee.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that to me, while it does work, I guess, for a lot of real estate agents, I see it as a broken system.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: So what are we to do?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: What's a real estate professional to do?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think one thing worth doing is rethinking the agent-broker relationship, the relationship between that broker owner who owns that office, be it an independent or a franchise, and the individual licensed agent or broker.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think we need to do a far better job of defining what is that value at.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: What value in the age of Zillow do brokers bring to the table?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: And brokers at worst are a necessary evil in a lot of instances.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Brokerage as regulated by the 50 states is a legal convention that's designed to protect the public from unscrupulous and or inexperienced agents.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And at the end of the day, that's great.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Some of us thrive living in that regulated environment, some bristle at living in that regulated environment, but regardless of how you see it, every agent needs a broker, and quite frankly, every broker needs agents.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: So what if there is a win-win in this crazy situation?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: What if brokers and agents actually started to collaborate or work together to achieve their shared goals, and that's really what this book is about.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I've distilled this idea into the title of this book, the ultimate real estate agent broker collaboration.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: So that collaboration, my ideal situation, is the individual practicing professional, that realtor, they need to be in a situation where they can focus solely on what they do best with the full, defined, and quantified support of the broker and the company that they place their license with.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: I've been in this business for over 20 years.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: I've worked with a lot of successful real estate agents, and at the end of the day, there are only three fundamental activities that successful agents focus on.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: And those three things are successful agents connect, they practice, and they track their business.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: There is a fourth thing that agents do, but it's a direct outcome from doing one, two, and three.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So when agents connect, practice, and track, the result of that is they grow.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's it.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing else that successful agents focus on.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Now, conveniently or coincidentally, depending on how you look at it, there's only three activities that the most successful real estate brokers focus on.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: And what I've come to understand is that successful real estate brokers, whether they are franchise for Remax, Caldwell, whomever, or independent brokers, successful real estate brokers spend their time promoting their agents, they spend their time enhancing their agents' practice, and they support their agents' individual businesses.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: And the really great brokers don't just leave agent growth to chance, successful brokers also coach agent growth.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: And when you look at these activities, so you've got the four activities that successful agents focus on to the exclusion of everything else, you've got the four activities that successful brokers focus on at the expense of everything else.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: And those are really four pairs, right?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: So these four pairs of activities, when they're synchronized as teamwork, that is the ultimate collaboration.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: And when agents and brokers work together doing what they do best, they produce incredibly satisfying results.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's a mutually beneficial relationship between the broker and their responsibilities and activities, and the agent and their responsibilities and activities.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: So what I'm hearing you say is there are four pairs of activities really that happily coincide together that create the magic kind of the four pairs are connect and promote, practice, enhance, track, support, grow, and coach.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So before we go on, as I say, do you want to expand on that just a little bit before we move on to the next?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's really what the rest of the book is about.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: But in a quick preview, if an agent's primary is to connect, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: If they don't connect with people, they're not going to have anybody to work with.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: So if an agent's first activity is connect, a broker's first activity is to help agents promote their connections, right?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: If a successful agent practices their profession, practices their craft, what can a real estate broker bring to the table that allows, that allows the agent to enhance their practice or enhance their craft.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: What are the tools that broker can provide?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Could be culture, could be ideas, could be actual tools.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then as you move down the line, the very the most successful agents track their activities.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we're going to get deeper into that here in a minute, but they track where their business comes from, they track what they do to create new connections, they track everything about their business, including their profit and loss and expenses and so forth.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And the corresponding pair of activities to that is so what support, and I think this is key, what unique support can they expect from their broker specific to their business that they are very clear on because they've been tracking everything they do.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, agents grow as a result of those first three activities, and brokers, I think the really exceptional brokers are able to coach their towards future growth.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I really, the picture that I see is really hand in glove.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: The brokers there really almost as that glove to protect and support the hand of the agent.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Before we go on, let me tell you a little bit about this recording and the book that goes along with it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you have a copy of the book, you will see that there is what is called a mindset scorecard at the end of the book.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And as we go through each of the four pairs of activities, you can follow along on the scorecard and give yourself a score of between one and twelve.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty cool way of thinking about your thinking and really think that you'll get a lot of benefit from it.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have the book handy, you can also visit the ult well the ultimate collaboration scorecard.com and fill out the scorecard online.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: This next one is really up and running and ready to go.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's ready to roll right now.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's perfect.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And jumping right in with really number one, agent fundamental activity connect.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Connecting with clients and future clients.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is really where all business starts.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: That is absolutely true.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have anybody to work with, if you don't have anybody to talk to, if you don't have anybody to show a house to, you don't have a business, right?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you have no one to work with, you got nothing.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: You may have a craft, you may know what you're going to do when you get to work somebody, but you've got no opportunity to practice your craft.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Real estate is belly to belly.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's one person, one client at a time.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's about you and that other person in the moment.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: These days it may be in person, it may be on Zoom, but it's one-on-one.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what else?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's finite.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: You can't scale that one-to-one working together in the moment.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: But that is where the magic happens.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a business, it's almost your wantrepreneur instead of an entrepreneur.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's very good.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who said that, but I love it.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Wantrepreneur.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so what does this connection kind of look like in the real world?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Agents I don't even I think it happens almost unconsciously.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Great agents are generally great people, right?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: They create, they nurture, they leverage relationships, they stay in touch, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the really best among us, they stay in contact, right?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: They make phone calls, they send personal notes, they may pop by with a gift at the different times of the year.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's exciting.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: As we record this, we're we all like to get gifts, right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we're coming up on St.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Patrick's Day, and we have a lot of agents that will play up the luck of the Irish and buy scratch-offs, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: Lottery tickets and put them inside a little card with a note and put them in the mail or maybe drop them off in person or what have you.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: But they make a connection, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: That whatever they need to do.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then they also amplify that, right, on social media.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Usually Facebook these days.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Now, there's a common misconception that Facebook somehow is going to generate new connections and so forth.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: And that doesn't really happen.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: What Facebook is great at, though, is amplifying the existing connections you have in the real world.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a that's an important distinction that agents need to understand.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Social media is critical because it allows you to stay in touch and top of mind with a lot of people, but it doesn't create connections.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think probably a lot of people pour a lot of wasted effort into that.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like fishing in a glass of water.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's you're not going to catch many fish, but amplifying what you're doing really.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I like that too, of what you're talking about popping by with a gift and then being able to amplify it on social media, but really like the concept of you're going to local areas and buying a package of donuts from your favorite bakery, or you're showing a list of hot coffee from your favorite coffee house.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Really, those local entrepreneurs, the local business owners, those are potential customers as well.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like they buy houses and things like that.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that double layering that you suggest of making those contacts and then sharing it on social media as well.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of times a client will share it on social media, and then that that has way more power than us sharing it, right?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's a way that we can use Landia to amplify what happens here in the real world.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: And other things, connection being active in the community.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I also think that the really best among us, they make the correct connections from an attitude of gratitude, right?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Look for reasons to thank somebody to for a job well done, regardless of who that is on a day-to-day basis.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: So there's also, I look at this that there's a for each of these activities, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Connects, enhance, track, and grow, there's a continuum.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: And where an agent sees themselves on this continuum sort of reflects their mindset about fundamental activity.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm hoping you can help me go through these four stages of the Connect continuum.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, let's just jump right in with number one.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Your closings drive income, and that's why you go to work in the morning.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Transactions are where it's at for you.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit about that mindset.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: This sort of speaks to honestly, what I'm afraid the majority, uh how the majority of people in our profession look at the business of real estate and the biggest business of brokerage, that it is transaction-based.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, people approach business in one of two ways.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: They either see the business as a series of transactions to generate immediate income, or they see the business as an interconnected set of relationships that continue to grow and evolve over time.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the folks with that transaction view tend to burn out pretty quickly or get out of the business altogether when times get tough, right?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas the people who are far more relationship focused, they tend to thrive and multiply over time.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, in many instances, they do better in a tough market because their client base and the people their clients refer to them see them as the trusted professional in the real estate business.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And how much more fulfilling and nurturing is that to deal with people that you have a relationship every day versus grounding around digging for the next transaction?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's just that's so satisfying, I think, when you think of dealing with people you have relationships with.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, you long to get a get to a point in your career where customers seek you out and you no longer have to pound the pavement.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's sort of a goal we all want, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: We all want to be so attractive to everybody who's thinking about buying or selling a house that they come to us first.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: And while that does happen for the very, very best of us, it takes time to get there.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: But at the again, it takes connection.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And number three, you love being out in the community and being seen, being visible and available has been your key to success.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think taking an active role and being part of the fabric of community is one of the best uh ways to make connections and ultimately establish and nurture relationships.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: You can't do this alone in your room.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to be out there with people and being abused, being of service, etc.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta be careful though, right?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes people get locked into this mindset of being visible for its own sake, right?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's something there's uh there's this trend out there for the celebrity realtor.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: I guess you see it on TV, right?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of those HGA uh home, what is it called?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: H what's the network called?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Home, I can't remember.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have to fix that.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: HGTV.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Home and garden television, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: So being visible for being visible's sake, being famous realtor, but you gotta be careful.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's great, but only if it helps your business.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if you learn to ask for referrals, to leverage those relationships by asking for referrals, if you don't ask for the business, you're relying on word of mouth, and that's really not a strategy, right?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Being out there, being abused is terrific, but you also have to be able to turn that into some referral generating relationships, and that's something that's the best of us, especially as you move on to number three here on the continuum, too.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And the other thing, famous, being famous, the celebrity realtor is problematic in its own way, but being available for a lot of agents becomes a problem too.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Too much of a good thing can turn out to not be such a good thing, right?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like any professional, realtors have to set boundaries for themselves.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I always go back and I tell my agents, you want to be available 24-7, you want to show that you work harder than anybody else.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: You are a skilled professional, and you know, your doctor or your lawyer isn't available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they've set those proper expectations, you don't expect that from them.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: But you, as a consummate professional, you have to be setting appropriate expectations for your current and future clients too.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, be careful what you wish for if you be famous and accessible 24 hours, you just might get it.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 19:23
  unknown: That's right.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've moved on to number four, you have always known that relationships are really more valuable than transactions, and you are always looking for reasons to connect.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's that that is the fundamental activity in a nutshell.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you scored yourself at number four in the continuum, you're on the path to building a business that's going to grow and support you your entire career.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so I always like to say based on this, where would you score yourself on the fundamental activity of connect?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's the question that our readers and listeners need to ask themselves.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then now we're moving right along to broker fundamental activity number one, promote.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Connecting with current and future clients is where business begins.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Then the most important function of a real estate broker is to promote you.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: The promotion may include personal recognition, public celebrations of your success, but it also includes creating opportunities for you, the agent, to make new connections and leverage your existing connections.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Your relationships are your relationships.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody gave them to you, right?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: As an agent.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think great brokers out there, they acknowledge that and they never take that for granted.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: What does broker promotion look like in real life?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Can you give us some examples?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think I it's a lot of different things.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Some of it is as fundamental as keeping the real estate brand that you work for fresh, right?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that your personal brand never gets stale.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you have to affiliate with a broker, right, it's a necessary evil.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: They better be, first of all, they better be pretty good at it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: And the brand that they and you are associated with needs to resonate positively in the minds of the general public, but it has to resonate pri positively with your client base that you've already worked so hard.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think brokers, great brokers, create opportunities for community involved.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: They they sponsor different events.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's different now in the age of COVID, but I want to believe that we're starting to come out of that as we talk here in the winter of 2021.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Some of it's a bit more personal, and again, things we take for granted, but every agent should have a personal landing page or a personal website that's theirs.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's got their contact information.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Anything that goes through that goes straight to them.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: In a perfect world, there's a personal IDX search bar there so that whatever.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: leads those generate go straight to the agent.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: But again, it needs to be within the the larger broker database.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: But that there, which in a lot of situations I think we take for granted, that is an example of broker promoting brokers promoting agent connections.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to say real quick, do you think that a lot of times that a broker sit back and get comfortable and they kind of get to to continue to create these opportunities for community involvement and they don't really keep their eye on the ball of keeping their personal brand fresh and things like that.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that is a red flag for people to be aware of that that when they've been a broker for a long time they're they focus on themselves and forget about their agents?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think that happens.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think that they take their agents for granted I think that they start to rely on the Zillow business model, quite frankly, that they outsource lead generation to a third party we had ZillowRealtor.com, etc.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think it's easy to get comfortable, especially in good times.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's easy to become complacent.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: The other thing that happens is I think a lot of brokerages feel that they'll leave the whole agent website Facebook business page thing up to the agents.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: If they want it, they can do it, if they don't have to do it.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's self-defeating right especially when we've established the premise that the best agents are focused on other things, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: They're focused on promoting, practicing, tracking and growing.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: They're not the people that are or even should be the experts on how to build a website.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think another example of promoting is our client appreciation events.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: We try to have a couple of events in each office every year where we invite all our clients, the agents invite their clients and we cater the event or whatever.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: Every year in the Springfield Dayton area we have a we go to a pumpkin patch and we invite all of our clients to come.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: All of our agents are there of course greet their clients and everybody gets a free pumpkin and apple cider.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: We've done Mother's Day open house events.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: But we try to do something as a company that gives the agents a reason to connect with their clients and invite them over for something quick and easy and a free gift.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: Personalized Facebook pages the best agents really do utilize Facebook to amplify the relationships but there are licensing laws that govern what happens on Facebook and having a Facebook business page for your personal real estate business is critical and again I see that as a broker's responsibility to set up versus an agent responsibility.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: One of the other things that I think really helps a lot is this is something that we've been doing since we started the company that every month we create and personalize an item of value for every agent to mail out to their top 150 to 200 people in their database.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: So what does that do?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: Even in the midst of the busiest times let's say you've got agents it's springtime and they're spending all their time getting things closed, right?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: They're in the thick of it and that's the time when a lot it's easy to forget to mail out your item of value much less do calls, notes and pop eyes.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: So one of the things that we do as a as a brokerage to enhance connection is we create mail that item of value from the agent personalized for the agent and we do that every single month.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: So on these there's a behavior continuum for each of these brokers activities too you know what I always tell agents, brokers to challenge themselves what you expect from your broker when it comes to promoting your agents reflects your mindset about that relationship.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I'm excited to go through these let's go through the four stages of the great brokers promote continuum one at a time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: We'll start with one your broker has their own book of business to worry about and they don't have time to promote you.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that one.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: I that yeah it happens right that's why this is number one on the continuum.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: But some real estate brokers quite frankly shouldn't be brokers at all and they'd generally be happier and wealthier if they focused on their own practice and stop dabbling in the brokerage business.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: I know that sounds harsh I am a bit passionate about this.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: If a broker doesn't have a burning desire to work with agents they should probably stop pretending.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Now having said that in smaller markets, smaller offices it may be necessary for the broker to continue to practice and cultivate their own personal book of business.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Otherwise they're not going to prosper.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: But you have to guard against the mere perception of a competing broker a broker who's competing for the same pool of clients that their agents are can make it harder to recruit and retain great agents and that is the downside of being a practicing broker.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say there'd be nothing worse than thinking you have a teammate and then finding out you have a competitor.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah exactly yeah and let's look at number two you are consistent you are constantly coming up with new ideas to improve your marketing but you struggle with putting them into practice.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and again agents tend not to have time to to create a marketing plan and if they do have time to create it there's times when it becomes very hard to execute it.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: So in a perfect world it would be your broker's responsibility to ensure that the firm is able to offer more and more effective marketing strategies that's tailored to your goals right to freshen those year after year.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: And to have multiple individual agents right spending their hard earned income on a dozen different strategies or multiple strategies with no support or coordination is a waste of everybody's talents, efforts and money.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: A broker if a broker lacks a coordinated marketing and operations strategy it's easy for the agents to take their eye off the ball and I call it succumbing to the shiny object syndrome right they're going along and then suddenly they get an unsolicited email in their box, they see something on Facebook or whatever, touting the latest greatest thing that's going to change your business overnight, whatever.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: And agents suffering from shiny object syndrome are far more likely to fall for a too good to be true sales pitch and a random email touting a shortcut to success.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: And again those things happen and they happen to the best of us but great brokers they watch out for that they plan for that and they're constantly out in the front and being proactive to make sure it doesn't happen.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's so great too really that being the protector role because so much time is wasted on the next shiny object learning that next shiny object and then now you have to implement the and the majority of the time you don't get there you go on to the next shiny object.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: So now you've got a whole pile of them that you never shiny object collector.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah that's exactly right and then number three your broker is a top producer and you feel grateful to be associated with her.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's all the promotion you need so tell me a little bit about that one.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: Again that's a better place than being in one and two on this continuum, right?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing wrong with a broker who is a top producer as long as they continue to have time to promote you the agent, right?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: But you can't expect to build a professional practice based on a positive association with somebody else.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: You can't rely on that forever.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: It takes intentional effort.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: And while that halo effect may be beneficial I would just caution anybody who finds themselves in stage three of this continuum be vigilant, right?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: You can't rely on that halo effect forever.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: Things change and my guess is you could use and deserve more promotion than just that.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say it would probably be easy for people to fall into that just be being dazzled by the sparkle of the well-known agent and kind of not even realize that they're falling into that trap.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah that that's true too that's why that's a nice place to be but that place isn't necessarily stable for the long term but you don't want to live there.
• 30:15
  unknown: That's right.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: And number four your broker's primary job is to promote you and help you generate referrals your broker works for your future yep and I think that illustrates that mutually supportive symbiotic nature of the promote and connect pair.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: So if you scored yourself in four I congratulate you on the collaboration that you and your broker have so way to go.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely and if you are an agent where would you score your broker on the fundamental activity of promote if you happen to be a broker owner or a managed manager listening to this where would you score yourself?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's part of the honesty of it right that we're able to score ourselves.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I think the step one is always at least when you're self-reflecting is you've got to tell the truth.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely absolutely and uh a friend of mine would always say lie to yourself don't lie to me.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of us fall into the lying to ourselves and not realizing it.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And agent fundamental activity number two practice let's dive into that great agents see their work as a practice.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: So practice refers to the conduct work itself the craft that you create in your particular occupation right so as a licensed real estate agent and accredited realtor you are an active member of the real estate profession and we don't want to lose sight of the fact that helping people buy and sell houses is a profession.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: And great real estate agents the best of the best they practice and improve over time just great artists or athletes do right or doctors, lawyers other professionals the best of the best they intentionally look for are practicing and finding ways to improve over time.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: So how you choose to see yourself and how you choose to practice your profession those are the same choices that doctors, lawyers and other professionals make.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: And what does practice look like in real life?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think actually the act of helping others buy and sell houses is a craft right the skill or the craft of being able to coach a first-time home buyer through their first home that is a that is part of a practice right that is something that you intentionally work at and get better at over time.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: And practice is in the moment right it's in and of the moment it's the doing the work it's the performance it's the actual listing signing contracts educating negotiating wrangling the title company managing expectations it there's a billion things that agents do that they don't even think about that that all go into a conscious practicing and an improvement of the craft great agents they have prepared presentations right whether they prepared them or they adapted from somebody else or whatever that they use without fail.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: Every single time they meet a new buyer and seller over time they learn what works and they learn how to tailor what works to the individual that they're working with in the moment.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of great agents they rehearse right they rehearse their presentations before their performance and they review and they look for ways to improve afterwards.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's not unlike football team watching game tapes right after after the game to see what went wrong and where they can get better.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: Great agents practicing their craft leave nothing to chance they treat every client with the same high level of skill and dedication and you know what they do that regardless of whether it's a million dollar transaction or a$500 transaction they are professionals they could care less about how big that dollar sale is going to be it's about being the best practicing professional they can be.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that really goes back to the what we talked about earlier of the relationship.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you're focused on the relationship it's going to be easier for you to treat the$50,000 transaction the same way as you would treat the million dollar transaction because it's about the person and the relationship and not the dollar sign.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yep that is exactly right and we've set up another scorecard continuum for this part of the book as well.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: So where you see yourself on the practice continuum is going to reflect your mindset.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: And let's dive into that number one your clients don't care how you get the job done as long as they get to the closing table.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that one.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Again this the first one on the continuum and all these is really a transaction mindset right but I once met a mortgage broker who said we we don't close late or we don't close ugly and to her closing ugly meant last minute scrambles and a stressful experience that could have been avoided right I see people score themselves in the continuum.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: They're not thinking that way right their their attitude is the deed gets signed, they get a check all as well.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Professionals right they almost never close ugly sure there's things that happen that might put a kink in the process or whatever but they work through it.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: And more often than not they make it look effortless because they're constantly learning from their past experience and improving their processes.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: They're intentional right intentionality that's the big word here.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: The means to the closing are just as important as the closing the closing itself and I think we can all agree that it's easier to refer somebody after a stress-free closing than it is to refer an agent after an ugly closing.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's right you've worked all this time and now you blow it at the last minute and leave the client with an ugly taste in their mouth that is a horrible way to get a referral.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then number two, you look to successful agents in your office to model the way but they see you as competition there's a lot of offices out there that that really have a kind of a culture of competition.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Other offices they start or at least grow into a culture of collaboration that there's seldom a middle ground either the can the the it's every agent for themselves and they're competing against each other and they don't want to share or the agents are working together and they want and they know that succeeding together is going to be better for everybody.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's really a scarcity mindset versus an abundant mindset.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: And scarcity and competition go hand in hand just as abundance and collaboration go hand in hand.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody has to go out and make a living right everybody has to do their job etc but I want our offices and I think the best offices out there are filled with mutually supportive professionals with more business opportunities than they can handle quite frankly it's that attitude of abundance that says there's more than enough business for all of us.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's no reason for me to try to tear you down so I can get yours.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that really kind of that would be the ultimate how to lose agents checklist of letting your agents feel like you're keeping the secret method to yourself and you're not there for their abundance and their growth that you're you've got a secret way of doing things and you're going to help them a little bit but you're really not going to expose the ultimate way to grow.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing I think worth than having that distrust or that insecurity.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and I think the very best brokers out there they thrive on seeing their agents succeed.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's what's and get better over time.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's what's satisfying to them about their jobs.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: And number three you've been doing things your way and have been successful for a long time you don't see the need to change things now.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so here at stage three of the practice continuum we find realtors who are doing really well but maybe a little too well.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: So again the danger here is that success breeds complacency.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: Business is changing so quickly we can't be complacent about anything.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the world is changing so fast real estate it's even changing faster than like the bigger world around us.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's nuts the changes in the market the way we practice how COVID has played into that's a whole nother book.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: But suffice it to say that if you don't face your business with a clear eye and open attitude you do run the risk of being left behind.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: And would you say that's a pretty common experience that that people who are very successful have I think that I yes it is common but what I find sad is people work so hard, right, to get to that place on the continuum where things are going so well.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then what happens is they start to play defense, right?
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm more concerned with losing what they have losing what they've invested in, what they've built at the expense of looking ahead to the future, talking to their clients and really getting an understanding of what future client needs are going to be.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: The risk in stage three is that you're just relying on what has worked up until now and that you lose sight of the skills that you're going to need, the capabilities that you're going to need to develop to continue to do well two, three, four, five, ten years from now.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's excellent because it really points at their ability to continue to prosper, just being open to that mindset of not working in fear of losing what they have I like that.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, you are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to delight your clients and create raving fans.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the promised land right it's and again it's not enough just to get the job done.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is a relationship business and without the support of your past clients you're never going to achieve the success that I I think we all aspire to.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll ask how would you score on the fundamental activity of practice?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I love that we're able to score ourselves our development all the way through.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: And now let's move to broker fundamental activity number two enhance.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_02: We have a responsibility as realtors to continually enhance the profession of real estate in the eyes of the public right that's what the mission of being a realtor or the realtor organization and a National Associate Realtor is.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: But I think we should have even greater expectations for our broker owners and managers in this regard right I feel like that our profession is being devalued daily by less than professional and in some instances unscrupulous licensees.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: And like I said Zillow isn't helping either Zillow's business model requires that the public sees all agents as being alike and interchangeable.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's killing a lot of agents and it's damaging the profession.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: So one way to fight this these really real threats is for real estate brokers to consciously and continuously find ways to enhance their agents professional practice.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: We have to get better at what we do what was successful success acceptable yesterday is not going to be successful tomorrow.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we brokers at the end of the day we have to lead we have to be leaders in this profession.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: And what does a broker enhancing practice really look like on a basic level brokers and agents brokers and managers I'm sorry need to model the way for their agents they also need to take an active interest in the businesses of the agents they serve.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: Every great agent tends to have a niche that they've identified and cultivated over time.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: Brokers need to be aware of those niches that their agents have and help them exploit those niches right help them mine them for more and more opportunity.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Brokers also they need to be able to add value to agents at every single skill level right a great broker can add value to a new licensee they can add value to a seasoned producer and add value to that super goal oriented team leader that wants to build a brokerage within a brokerage.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: They have to be able to enhance the practice of agents at every single skill level and brokers obviously agents are independent contractors they need to empower their independent contractors and they need to stay out of their way right let them run their business within a business so to speak however where I would caution brokers is empowerment cannot and does not equal abandonment right it's a collaboration.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're in this together the practical things practical enhancement to an agent's practice might be personalized buyer and seller listing presentation branded with the agent and the office.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: So presentations different brochures PDFs handouts takeaways books.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: One of the things that our agents use a lot with their sellers is something we call the home enhancement checklist.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's a small thing but it's an easy way to work with somebody who wants to sell their house and have those hard conversations about what needs to be done to the house to make it saleable.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: So conversations we may not want to have with the seller because we're afraid we're going to insult them.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: But that's like a small thing but it's a practical way that the brokerage can help create tools that again enhance the agent's practice.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of different places that we try to do this and if anybody really wants to dig in and check out our website and blog they'll probably see other examples of how we aspire at least if not every day hit the mark but how we aspire to enhance our agent's practices.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that is so insightful because it's really what you expect from your broker when it comes to their ability to enhance and add value to your practice, it's going to say a lot about what you're paying for.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's what you said.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go through the four stages of the great brokers enhance continuum one at a time.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just jump right in.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, your broker believes that realtors are independent contractors and therefore on their own in the industry.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this is just a different approach to the business than I have.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, realtors are independent contractors.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, they get paid by commission, but that doesn't mean they should be on their own unless that is truly what they want and what they signed up for.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of these 100% commission companies out there these days.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: The broker, I don't know how the brokers make any money.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: But the broker makes money on monthly or annual fees, transaction levies, maybe there's ancillary income because they get their agents to use the in-house title company or the mortgage company.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: But in any case, these 100% companies, they take a hands-off approach to the agents, and those agents are generally okay with that, at least the ones who know what they signed up for.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Agents who dabble in the business, part-timers, let's say, they tend to gravitate to these brokerages because they just want to keep as much money as they can on the few sales that they complete each year.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's a downside to me.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: On the other side, the theoretically, these firms can be good homes for real estate teams who really do operate as a brokerage within a brokerage.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: Some good-sized teams out there, that the team leader does everything that we're talking about here in this book that great brokerage should do.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: The downside of that potential benefit, though, is there's still not much financial incentive for the broker to be involved.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I guess it's offset by the freedom that they experience being in a place that's completely hands-off.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_02: Once in a while, those folks, they do really well, but man, they are few and far between.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: I I just don't see any success really lasting.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I think because they promote that transaction mindset, they tend to have a revolving door of people getting in and getting out of the business.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because again, when you're in when you're in stage one, but it really is about the transaction and it's about the money.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it almost feels like wind them up and let them go.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing is, you don't know where they're going to end up.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that's exactly right.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I don't understand the business model on the part of the broker because legally, as a real estate broker, you're taking on a tremendous amount of responsibility and legal liability for limited upside.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't see this model or even the mindset that you're independent contractors, you're on your own.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: I see this as lose for the broker and lose for the agents.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: But again, like I said, I'm a bit passionate about this, and it's the antithesis of how I and the company that we put together approaches the business.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I like the fact, too, that if someone is scoring themselves in number one, they can move to number two.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, your broker has little time for the top producers in the office because they are constantly recruiting to make their quota.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm afraid this isn't really an improvement, is it?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_02: I can't speak for all franchises out there, but I can speak for my time as a REMAX franchisee.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I learned so much from Remax, and it was a great experience.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: But and again, maybe it's changed, but as a franchisee, I was able to negotiate a headcount goal that I had to agree to meet for each of the five years that I was in the franchise agreement.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time, I had to write a check to Remax for$241 for every agent who was on my broker's license every month.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: So if I had said at the end of 2019 I was going to have 20 agents, then every month I would pay 20 times$241.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Where that got tricky was I may not be able to find 20 agents that see the real estate business as I see it, right?
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Downside is Remax had the option to bill its franchisees to quota, whether they had recruited that number of agents or not.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: So what happens, especially when times get tough, some brokers are forced to lower their standards for who they would want to bring into the company, and they would bring on licensees that they normally would not have brought in an effort to meet their quota in hopes that they would sell something throughout the year, and that would offset some of the outlay to REMAX.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now, again, I'm not here to badmouth Remax.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: Remax is an incredible company, and I've learned so much from them.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: But as a broker, especially in a smaller market or when you're just getting started, your goal, and it's not just Remax, it's other companies as well.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: You keep recruiting top of mind so that you can keep the lights on.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that doesn't help agent development.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: And really, if you're in stage two, there's zero time for coaching because you're constantly trying to make sure you've covered all your bases.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: You can't coach your players or your agents on the other.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: No, you're right.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're only human.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: As much as we may want to do all the things that we aspire to do and be the leaders we aspire to be, sometimes quota comes first.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're in number two and you want to get out of there as fast as you can, you go on to number three.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Your broker is a great example of how a professional practices and practices their craft.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: Your broker is a terrific realtor and models the way for you.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: What a great transition.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: I seldom meet a great broker who is not an accomplished agent.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's a minimum expectation for any broker, whether they're practicing as a salesperson full-time now or not.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: At some point, they learned how to be a great agent.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't learn how to be a great agent, you're never going to be able to help other agents.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think practicing professionals like those reading this book or listening to this conversation, they flat out deserve more.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the agent, again, the agent and the broker have responsibilities to each other to create a collaboration where everybody wins that is above and beyond simply setting a good example or modeling the way.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: Really, I love that the way is a minimum expectation.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to say I love the way that we can see the progression in really the mentality and kind of the feel of it too.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, your broker is constantly looking for ways to raise the level of professionalism of every realtor in their office.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to think that this goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_02: A great real estate broker should be able to enhance the practice of every agent they work with, regardless of their level of experience, right?
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: So they have to be able to raise the level of professionalism of every agent in the office.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm repeating myself, but I think it bears repeating.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: We as brokers need to be able to enhance our agents' practices, be they new licensees, experienced practitioners, or sales team leaders.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's that simple.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are an agent, where would you score your broker on the fundamental activity of enhance?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you happen to be a broker, owner, or manager listening to this, where would you score yourself?
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that brings us to the next one.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: Agent fundamental activity number three, track.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_02: I subscribe to the theory that what gets measured improves, right?
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't measure something, it doesn't improve.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's a universal truth.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_02: Great agents track their transactions, they track their income, they track their expenses, they know if they're profitable or not.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_02: But they also track what Dean Jackson talks about, one of my favorite real estate coaches, their return on relationships.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_02: They literally know the percentage of their business that comes directly from the relationships in their database, and they know where every single transaction comes from.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I call those success metrics.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: Great agents also track, and again, this is another thing I learned from Dean is their listing multiplier index, or what we call LMI, right?
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_02: For listing multiplier index.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: Every listing you take has the potential to generate opportunities for new connections, right?
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: Back to one.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_02: Being intentional about leveraging these connections results in new relationships in your database and additional transactions down the line.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: Tracking this number helps great agents stay focused and keep score.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that LMI is a great way to challenge yourself to see more business where, quite frankly, other realtors might miss that opportunity.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_02: Great agents record a multitude of information about their clients in their database.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's part of tracking.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_02: They know when their clients' birthdays are, the names of their kids, interests, whatever.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: And again, a lot of people are just that way.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_02: They connect with people, they remember things naturally, but the very best sales professionals among us, realtors and otherwise, they document that.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: They're very intentional about it.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's in their database.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: A really big difference between great and average agents is that great agents track their working by referral activity.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not just enough to sporadically randomly do calls, notes, and pop by's.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_02: The great agents track every call they make, every note they write, every pop-by gift they hand deliver, and every new potential referral partner they meet goes into their CRM or customer relationship manager.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: And if an agent doesn't have one of those, that's probably the first piece of advice I would give them.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: They get signed up for one or just use an Excel spreadsheet, quite frankly.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that sounds so great, but what does track look like?
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: Can you make this real for us?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so these CRMs, these customer relationship managers, there's a bunch of them out there.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_02: Some like Salesforce, right, are incredibly complicated, though.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: Those are hard to really get traction on, especially when you're a single agent or newer.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I still recommend that you invest in something.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_02: I recommend you invest in something real estate specific.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: The top producer is still out there.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's actually the platform I started with as a new agent 21 years ago.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: GoGoAgent is a great one.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: Referral maker by Bethenian Company.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: Those are three outstanding systems, and all of them have great training and support built in as part of their packages.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_02: But that is the best tool and the best advice I can give anybody to get started on that tracking mindset.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: So at our company, at Bruce Real Estate Company, we provide all of our agents with a subscription referral maker by Baffini and Company at no extra charge.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: We give it to everybody.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then we our market leaders coach them on how to use it.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, within Referral Maker, there's all sorts of training and videos and help and so forth.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_02: But the brokerage pays for this because that's how much we believe in tracking.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: So referral maker allows our agents to track the relationships, build system business building activities, transactions, and even profitability.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_02: So again, if you don't have a CRM in place now, get one.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_02: On the other hand, a simple notebook will do the trick to get you started, or an Excel spreadsheet.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_02: Just put the information in the spreadsheet.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody gets some columns, and you fill in the columns for everybody you know.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_02: But uh tracking, that's what tracking looks like, that's what it feels like, that's where you gotta start.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of tools out there that you can subscribe to that'll do an incredible job for you if you use them.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say that's your key to get started, even if it's old school pen and paper, and use them.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go through the four stages of the track continuum one at a time.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, number one, you don't believe tracking the key metrics of your business is worth the effort and it changes nothing.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's people out there that refuse to do this, so I get that.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: But if you score yourself in stage one, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you've yet to experience any real success or career satisfaction in the real estate industry yet.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt there.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm telling you, tracking your progress and keeping score is fundamental to your future, future growth and development.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: I thought to say, let's just go ahead and move right to step two.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're keeping track of everything you do.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: You're just not sure you're doing the right things.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_02: Now, here's a situation where that continuum is obvious, right?
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: Stage two is a vast improvement over stage one.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: The the act of tracking your activity allows you to see patterns that will naturally lead to new conclusions, ideas, goals, and that goal of improvement over time.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you think you're employing a losing strategy that whatever you're doing isn't working, the answer is probably going to be in the data, right?
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_02: So your data will help you cut your losses promptly and move on to the next idea.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you can lose a lot, you can learn a lot from a losing strategy, right?
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_02: But the things that don't work, I think, have always taught me far more than things that work out of the box.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_02: And again, if you're not tracking your activity, you run the risk of beautifully executing a losing strategy for so long that it actually harms your business.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_02: So track everything you do, but be open-minded when looking back and reflecting on and analyzing what you've done and what worked and what didn't work.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a play on a quote I heard one time it's a win by losing, just make sure you lose fast.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_02: You're either you're either earning or you're learning, right?
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then number three, you have a great feel for your business and know instinctively where you need to work harder.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there are some great agents out there that have so much accumulated knowledge and experience that they work from instinct, right?
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_02: They just work from their gut.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_02: Everything's in their heads.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_02: They're the consummate professionals and they make it all look effortless.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_02: But please know that for those people, there are years and years of accumulated knowledge and experience, ups and downs that got them through stage one, stage two, and into stage three.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it took intentional effort over time.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_02: If this is you and you're in stage three, congratulations.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_02: I know what it took for you to get here, and you should enjoy it.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then number four, you track everything you do, including your lead generation activities, your relationship, your transactions, your productivity, and your profitability.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: That again is the promised land.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, and the people that do that, they are the ones that make it look easy.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to kind of digress for a second here and talk about this idea that there are there are really four stages in a Realtor's career, right?
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_02: You start off as a licensee, you move on to being an agent, you you move on to being a professional, and then potentially you move on to being uh a business owner, right?
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_02: So you start out as a licensee, you've got nothing to do, nobody to do it with, you get a couple of clients, you represent them, you become an agent, you get better and better over time, and you grow to be a professional, and then eventually you decide that you're gonna be a business owner and you're gonna create a business that's going to work for you.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_02: And each of those four stages is characterized by the mastery of one of these activities that we're talking about, right?
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_02: You you think about it, new licensees they connect, they have to connect.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's what they do, they have to focus on connection with somebody to the exclusion of everything else, because at this stage they have nobody to practice with.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_02: They can't afford to be distracted.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're a new licensee, get out there and make some friends, connect, talk to your family, build that database.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_02: Agents, right?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_02: The next stage, they connect and practice.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_02: So they've made their connections and now they have something to do, so their practice has started.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_02: Professionals, it's a stack, right?
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: Professionals are connecting, practicing, and tracking their activities.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_02: Professionals not only make those connections and practice, they track and they get better over time.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: The business owners, and it's not a lot of people that kind of graduate from being a professional to being a business owner, but they not only connect, practice, and track, they grow.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_02: And as we're going to see here as we go forward in the book, that growth is a natural result of connected practicing and tracking.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: And really, here's the power question: how would you score yourself on tracking your business?
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we have broker fundamental activity number three, support.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_02: We all want to be heroes to the people we serve, but being a hero isn't necessarily enough, but to build a scalable and sustainable business.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_02: To do that, to move on from having a job, so to speak, you've got to learn to operate as a business owner.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_02: So, on a basic level, your broker helps you become a business owner.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go back.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_02: On a basic level, your broker supports your business because they, in their role, have taken on the overhead of operating an office, and they share the expense of operating an office amongst multiple agents, right?
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_02: Not just you.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_02: And many times, you as a hero, you still need help, advice, or just an experienced professional to talk things through with both of those things, that emotional support, that very real physical support of an office, the financial support of having a business that you can rely on, those are all examples of how brokers support their agents.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the best things about being a realtor, and I think all of us who are successful, most of us want to be in business for ourselves, just not by ourselves.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_02: And fortunately, the real estate industry offers that reality.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_02: But support is some of the things that are obvious and some of the things that are a bit more intangible.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's such a great insight, being in business for ourselves, but not by ourselves.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_01: What does broker support for your business look like in the real world?
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm fortunate to have some realtors that have been with me for a long time and they've become really great at tracking their business and tracking their referral generating activities.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_02: And they are at the point where they are asking me for specific support that's tailored to where they are, right?
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes an agent, you've got to learn to, you've got to figure out what support do you need or what's what different support will you need in the future to hit those goals that you have for yourself three, four, five years down the line.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's an interesting thing that if you're an agent tracking your business, you're probably gonna have pretty specific demands of your broker.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_02: Right that I would hope your broker is able to step up and satisfy.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_02: And great brokers, they have a team, they have a staff in place, they mentor new agents, they assist agents with everyday tasks, they provide leadership to all agents, again, regardless of experience or uh income level.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_02: Some of the things, and again, this is pretty boring, it goes without saying, but I suggest every agent look for a broker who at least provides a CRM, a relationship manager.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: You should have an office phone number, right, so that you're not pushing everybody to your cell phone unless you choose to.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_02: You should be getting an Office 365 suite or their Google has a product, whatever, but you should always have access to you know, Word, Excel, etc., showing service subscriptions, dot loop, and a lot of stuff we take for granted.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_02: But in a lot of instances, agents are paying for that now or they're expected to pay for it, and they're not.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_02: So again, you let's even go back to the physical space, right?
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_02: Very few agents actually use a private office anymore.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_02: But at a minimum, you should expect your broker to maintain an office that you're proud to visit, right?
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_02: That you're proud to bring clients to, where when you walk in, the copiers work, right?
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_02: The scanner works, the internet's on, and honestly, there better be coffee.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's the lifeblood.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that that I think is really what broker support for your business looks like.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_01: Really, what you expect from your broker when it comes to supporting your business reflects your mindset about the relationship, would you say?
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we've got a scorecard for broker support.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_02: So let's run through that.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_01: And let's start off with number one.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_01: You expect very little from your broker, but that's fair because your broker expects very little from you.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, I know.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_02: I I it sounds like a broken record, but the broker's business in the age of Zillow has become transactional.
• 1:05:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I get the allure of a business model of Zillow and all that, but it comes at the expense of support and coaching, which are critical to anybody's success.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think that those hundred percent shops where it's hands off, I just think it's a bad place for agents who want to forge a long and profitable career.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_02: Brokers in stage one expect very little because they get very little.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's a numbers game for them.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_02: The more agents they have on their license, the more likely they are to get something from them.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_02: I hate to keep going back to REMAX, but REMAX was the pioneer, right?
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_02: They started the 100% commission concept back in the 70s.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_02: But their original business model, their plan was to run a real estate office just like doctors and lawyers do.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_02: A group of professionals, professional agents would get together to work on their personal.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_02: Books of business while sharing overhead.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_02: So this allowed them to own their businesses because they were responsible for their costs.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: Those agents at REMEX in the beginning on 100% commission were responsible for both sides of the ledger.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_02: And REMEX was known for only inviting the best of the best to join because they were the only ones confident enough in their ability to make the business model.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_02: So what would happen is let's say that there's 10 agents and it costs$10,000 a month to keep the doors open.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_02: That means every agent would get a bill from the broker every month for$1,000 to cover their share of the office.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what doctors who get together and do do business together do.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_02: They share the expense because it's cheaper for 10 people to work together in one office than 10 people to work together in 10 different offices.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_02: But this whole idea of 100% commission started with a valid business plan and it's morphed into something that I honestly, mathematically, I don't understand, right?
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: So the idea back in the 70s, it sounds a little quaint today, but the original vision is almost unrecognizable, right?
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_02: There's brokerages anywhere offering 100% commission schemes to anybody with a license.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_02: But again, on the positive, few of these operators pretend to be offering any specific support.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_02: On the minus side, few of these operators are offering any specific support.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_02: So they expect nothing, and you shouldn't either.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_01: You get less, yeah.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, your brokerage has a revolving door through which a parade of new licensees go in and out every month.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this is a common complaint I hear from great agents all the time.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_02: These are career-oriented professionals.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_02: They're usually at some of the larger offices.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe there's a recruiting quota, maybe there's not, but usually there is, right?
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_02: So the pressure to make the recruiting quota or just to keep the lights on is so great that simply maintaining headcount is the business model.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_02: The percentage of agents who fail their first year is a big number, especially in some of the larger offices where there's uh more of a transaction mindset, the relationship mindset.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_02: Instead of supporting each agent towards their individual goals, something that's going to be win-win, right?
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_02: Win for the agent, win for the brokerage.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_02: The focus is on, from the brokerage perspective, is simply bringing in more agents.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_02: Some make it, some don't, but that's where the revolving door comes in.
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_01: But that's really the thing, too, that that points at the power of coaching and being a leader of these new people coming in from being expected to swim in the deep end when they don't even have water wings, have never even been in the shallow end, that would just increase the parade of them in and out.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know how to swim yet.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's true.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're wanting to move to the number three, you're proud of your sales, but once you maxed out on your split, your broker lost interest in you.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably pretty common.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_02: What does it mean to be a multi-million dollar producer?
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_02: Agents put that on their business card billboards all the time.
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_02: The way the realtors calculate it, it's about$40,000 a year or so on average.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sorry, but I think there's easier ways to make$40,000 a year than being a realtor.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_02: I personally want to see every agent gross at least$100,000 a year.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think$100,000 even in 2021 is real money.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_02: But the needs of an agent getting from zero to$40 a year are different than the agent moving from$40 to$100 or the agent moving from$100K to$500K.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_02: And brokers need to be able to support agents at every stage of the career and be compensated for doing so.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_02: When the brokers are not compensated, when you know there's a cap on a split and are maxed out, and the broker's getting nothing else from that agent for the rest of the year, it's natural.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying it's right, but it's natural that they lose interest in that top producer and go back to recruiting agents who actually are paying money into the business when they have a closing.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think the system is a bit broken, and I do think it's in need of an overhaul.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that takes us to number four.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Your broker actively supports you at every stage of your career.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think I've said it like six times now, but it takes me back to our previous point.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_02: We have to support agents at every stage of their career.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are an agent, where would you score your broker on the fundamental activity support?
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you happen to be a broker owner or manager listening to this, where would you score yourself?
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And now we are agent fundamental activity number four, grow.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Any agent, yes, any agent focused on the three fundamental activities of connect, practice, and track, they will create a business for themselves and it'll be scalable and it'll be sustainable.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_02: If they do those three things, they can't help it.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's just going to happen.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_02: So whether you see yourself as a business owner or not, and you are, you're going to create a successful business if you do those three things.
• 1:11:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that is the essence of grow, right?
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_02: You will enjoy a business, you not just build it, you're going to enjoy a business that continues to get stronger and consistently more profitable over time.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_01: That is so wonderful.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, what's the big picture here?
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_01: What can an agent look forward to?
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think you can look forward to owning a successful business that gives you the space to achieve both your personal and professional goals, right?
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Growth allows you to always be able to envision, look forward to, and realize a bigger future for yourself and for your family as well.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Growth isn't just about your real estate business, growth encompasses all areas of your life.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_02: And when you intentionally focus every day on connecting, practicing, and tracking, your intentions become actions, right?
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Your actions become habits.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it's those daily habits that just naturally result in growth.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk a little bit more about the growth continuum, where you see yourself in on this continuum really reflect your mindset about a bigger future.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is that correct?
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_02: For me, everything's about a bigger future, right?
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_02: All of our agents.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go through these here.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, you're in the real estate business for the money and you see it as a way to make a living.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So no question.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_02: To some degree, any anything we, any work we choose to do has to be about the money, right?
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_02: We have to have food with our meals.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_02: So to pretend like we're going to go out there and do this just for the fun of it or out of the goodness of our hearts, that's not realistic.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_02: But the real magic happens when your means of making a living also is your purpose, right?
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_02: Your purpose in life.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_02: When those two things are aligned, that's a wonderful thing.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Personally, my purpose is helping real estate agents and brokers realize bigger futures for themselves and their loved ones.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's what my purpose is.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I try to focus on every single day.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel incredibly privileged that I'm able to make a living acting out my purpose.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then once you're making a living, you can move to number two.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_01: You want more out of life than you're experiencing today.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_01: There has to be a better way to make a living.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of agents see themselves in stage two right now.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's not an easy time to be a realtor in winter 2021.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's far more buyers than sellers.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's multiple offers, there's escalation clauses, people are making great offers on houses and getting outbid by other buyers.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's tough.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I have to be honest with myself and my agents and everybody else.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, in this moment, there probably are easier ways to make a living, especially for a newer agent.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of people, a lot of us see ourselves in stage two right now.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_02: But there's nothing wrong with wanting more.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_02: But again, we've got to be intentional about making the changes we need to make to create that bigger future for ourselves.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_02: And practically, that's probably figuring out how to create your own markets, creating your own listing inventory and so forth.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a hard thing for an agent to do on their own.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's all the more reason for that positive and proactive agent broker collaboration to work together to solve those big challenges.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you again, you don't feel like you're in business by yourself.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're in business for yourself, but with with backup.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then we move to number three.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_01: You feel that helping others is its own reward.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_01: The work is your purpose.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_01: I like that step forward.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think being the hero to others is its own reward just makes us it feels great, right?
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_02: But like in stage one, you can take that attitude to extremes, right?
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_02: If you if if it comes at the expense of taking care of yourself and your family financially and otherwise, you're going to be of little use to your clients.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_02: Being a hero is terrific, but you have to be a hero from a position of personal strength.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I like the way that you looked at that at both ends of the spectrum.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people can fall into that, going too far on the other end of the stick.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, you know that connecting, practicing, and tracking your activity over time is the best path to personal growth and achieving your goals.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_01: I like the way that sounds.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so this sort of sums up the whole thing we've been talking about, but connecting, practicing, tracking results in growth.
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Growth is the fuel that fires your desire for a bigger future.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Growth keeps it fun, right?
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Keeps it interesting, it's entertaining, it's satisfying, it's confidence building, it's the secret sauce that that makes a long and profitable and useful real estate career possible.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you could even go so far, it's how you lead a life of significance and hopefully ultimately leave a legacy.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And now the million-dollar question: how would you score yourself on your commitment to personal and professional growth?
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that takes us to broker fundamental activity number four, coach.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked a little bit about this, but I'm excited to jump in here.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Invested in their agents' personal growth and development.
• 1:16:33
  SPEAKER_02: They coach their agents to higher and higher performance over time.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_02: And the most successful broker-agent relationships really are collaborations in shared success.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what does coaching really, as far as towards that bigger future, look like?
• 1:16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, practically, for instance, and again, I can pretty much only speak for our company right this right now, but but our company, our local market leaders and our agent success coordinators are all Baffini and company certified mentors.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And we they actually put on and mentor the Baffini Pathway to Mastery and 100 Days to Greatness programs multiple times throughout the year.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_02: But that is coaching and training, it's very basic and fundamental level.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I will tell you that there is no reason for me as a real estate broker to ever pretend that I could create a training program as good as what Brian Baffini and his company have done over time.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's simply the best of the business.
• 1:17:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we make that available to all of our folks.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_02: We also have a coaching tool that's called Agent Coach Thyself.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we use that to help professionals, our folks, our realtors, stay focused throughout the changing seasons of our business.
• 1:17:51
  SPEAKER_02: And when you speak of seasons, speaking of seasonality, we've got this idea called the rhythm of our business, right?
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a philosophy that tends to guide us throughout the year for when it's time to be all in the business, right?
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_02: Spring, everybody's out there wanting to buy and sell.
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_02: And when it's time to be working on the business, so when things slow down and you've got some success and some data that it's time to start analyzing and start thinking about the next year.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, as you move into the gratitude season, basically after Halloween and through the first of the year, where in that part of the year you're focused on saying thank you and showing appreciation and gratitude.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_02: But everything you know that we do, it's designed to help everybody build a bigger future for themselves.
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_02: And what you expect from your broker when it comes to coaching you towards your bigger future says everything about your attitude toward that healthy and profitable collaboration.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Chris, this is such great stuff.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm ready to jump into the four stages of the coach continuum.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start off with number one.
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Your broker is consumed with getting through the month.
• 1:18:59
  SPEAKER_01: He has no time for what might be possible.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big one.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Brokers have their own set of problems in the ages, though, independent from the ages.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Sadly, keeping the doors open is often one of them.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to have a bigger future for yourself, much less anybody else when you're in survival mode.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, and you're in that frantic.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've all been through that desperation mode, killed creativity or inspiration, I've found in my life anyway.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_02: I hate having my back against the wall.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_02: I don't do well that way.
• 1:19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so if we want to get out of there quick and start moving up the ladder, number two would be your broker is a wonderful human being, but lacks the vision required for a bigger future for themselves, much less yours.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_02: And the coast continuum, this is better than a score in stage one, but it still leaves you, the agent, at a disadvantage.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_02: We brokers have to add value regardless of the current challenges.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Really becoming the instead of me focused really in having to move towards looking at the agent and what they can do.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_01: If they're wanting to do, go into step three, you are appropriately challenged and happy with your business and your current status in the community.
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need anything else from your broker.
• 1:20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that one.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't a bad place, right?
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I have if you scored yourself here, I applaud your success and your self-reliant attitude and orientation.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_02: But like almost everything we've talked about today in stage three, it's great.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_02: But the danger is becoming complacent.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't continue to grow, you will eventually stagnate and your career will suffer.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_02: So congratulations on where you are.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_02: I know what it took to get there.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_02: But please be aware that this business is changing on a daily basis, and you've got to look ahead and you've got to improve your capabilities and how you're going to serve your clients in the future.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that is such an interesting way that you word that appropriately challenged.
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_01: What does that really mean?
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And can we talk about that for a little bit?
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so getting better at anything is a challenge, right?
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's a certain degree of discomfort sort of side, right?
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be able to see the good and acknowledge them.
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_02: You have to see the mistakes and acknowledge them.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_02: The great coaches know how to motivate their agents by challenging them to improve in specific ways.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_02: So let's face it, if you don't feel challenged, especially in this business environment, you're not sufficiently engaged, right?
• 1:21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_02: You're just not trying.
• 1:21:31
  SPEAKER_02: So some of us challenge ourselves more than any broker ever could.
• 1:21:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like that.
• 1:21:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think I'm harder on myself than anybody else ever could be, and that's not always healthy either.
• 1:21:42
  SPEAKER_02: But a great coach helps us stay on a middle path where we remain aware of our opportunities to improve, but we also maintain a healthy gratitude and appreciation for how far we've come.
• 1:21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for diving into that a little bit deeper because that that's something I have never really thought about before.
• 1:22:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's super helpful.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, your broker coaches and encourages you to imagine and realize a bigger future for yourself and your family.
• 1:22:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's tremendous.
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 1:22:16
  SPEAKER_02: That that is the book, right?
• 1:22:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, uh in this conversation, a great coach inspires us.
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_02: Great coaches lay out a path, they light the way, and they help us become the very best versions of ourselves.
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_02: In our discussion in Fundamental Activity 3 tract, I shared my view of the four stages in a great agent's career, right?
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_02: They start as a licensee, they progress to being an agent and a professional and a business owner.
• 1:22:40
  SPEAKER_02: There's a four-stage progression or transformation to be in a broker's career as well, and it goes like this.
• 1:22:47
  SPEAKER_02: So newly new real estate brokers begin as a newly minted entrepreneur, right?
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's stage one entrepreneur, and they hire their first assistant or their first team member, and they suddenly they have become a manager, and then they recruit their first agent, and suddenly they become a leader, and over time they become a coach.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we can all agree that the best agents among us, we we hate being managed, right?
• 1:23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody that's why we became realtors and independent contractors.
• 1:23:19
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to be managed, right?
• 1:23:21
  SPEAKER_02: We respect consistent leadership, but where we really thrive is on the coaching that's tailored to our unique situation.
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_02: And this is why I believe that coaching is the most important fundamental activity of a great broker owner can engage in and consistently become better at over time.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the big question: how would you score your broker on helping you realize a bigger future for yourself?
• 1:23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're a broker owner or manager, where would you score yourself?
• 1:23:58
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a lot of great information.
• 1:24:01
  SPEAKER_01: I have absolutely enjoyed it.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any final thoughts for us that you'd like to share?
• 1:24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the end of the day, Christy, it's really a simple idea.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_02: Connect, practice, track, and grow.
• 1:24:15
  SPEAKER_02: We kind of complement the complicate things when we stray outside of those lanes.
• 1:24:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then once we complicate things, our businesses suffer and eventually our lives start to go off the rails a bit.
• 1:24:26
  SPEAKER_02: In closing, my advice to anybody who's gotten this far in the book or this conversation: stay focused, stay in the pocket, be the professional you are.
• 1:24:37
  SPEAKER_02: And if you do this, I guarantee your future will always be bigger than your past.
• 1:24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And what to do next?
• 1:24:45
  SPEAKER_02: So now that you're clear on the four fundamental pairs of activities that guarantee a mutually beneficial and profitable broker agent collaboration, agents have a choice.
• 1:24:54
  SPEAKER_02: You can stay on the path you're on, right?
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Or you have the choice, you can explore a new way forward.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_02: If you like the things that we've talked about today, we'd love you to check out our company, Roost Real Estate.
• 1:25:06
  SPEAKER_02: If you're an agent, we'd love to talk to you.
• 1:25:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you're a broker owner or a successful agent interested in ownership or potentially a franchise, we'd love to talk to you about that as well.
• 1:25:16
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a couple of things.
• 1:25:17
  SPEAKER_02: You can download a worksheet that we put together called Am I Do for an Upgrade?
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_02: So this worksheet helps you evaluate your current relationship with your broker, and that's at www.duedo number four, doforupgrade.com.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_02: You can also go through this scorecard that we've just taken you through online, which is a different way of thinking about your thinking, and you can do that at www.altimate collaboration scorecard.com.
• 1:25:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if you really want to go deep, you can send an email to me, Chris at roostrealestateco.com, and just put learn more in the subject line, and let's just book a Zoom call and talk about where you are, where you want to be, and I'll share that agent coach thyself tool with you.
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_02: So Christy, thank you so much for this.
• 1:26:09
  SPEAKER_02: I really enjoyed it, and I truly appreciate your help and your interest and your collaboration.
• 1:26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:26:16
  SPEAKER_01: This has been just tremendous.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_01: I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I have learned a lot.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Chris.
• 1:26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And there we have it.
• 1:26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening.
• 1:26:27
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to continue the conversation, you can do that.