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New Objections Agents Get and How to Overcome Them · Massive Agent Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: On this episode, we're going to talk about what you need to be prepared for when meeting with potential clients this year.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: Because as you may have, maybe you've noticed, uh, realtors and our profession and commissions and just the whole business model is in the news negatively a lot lately.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of misconceptions that consumers have about what we do, how we do it, and how it all works.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Are you prepared for those?
0:23
SPEAKER_00: We're going to walk through it so that when you show up to these appointments, you know what the objections could potentially be and you know how to overcome it, which is gonna translate into much more business.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: The massive agent podcast.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: We need generation tips and strategies to give you more leads and sell more homes.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: I love to buy houses, I like to sell houses.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: It takes brass balls to sell it.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Leads a week.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: You're a week.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: I've had better.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, have I got your attention now?
0:56
SPEAKER_01: Here's your host, Dustin Brome.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: What is up, everybody?
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 316 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dustin Brome in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's try this again.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: So I've done 316 episodes of this podcast, uh, with with the the daily show we used to do.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you know, we used to do a daily podcast, the Massive Agent Minute.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, may bring that back in the future, but that that was quite an undertaking.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: I did 500 episodes of that, uh, hundred thousands of videos.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is my second time recording this fucking podcast because after 316 episodes and a million downloads, um, I can't remember to make sure the mic is unmuted.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: So unfortunately, the first one that we recorded this morning is the best episode you'll never hear.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: Had you heard it, you would cry tears of joy because it's just so eloquent and so impactful on the psyche.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Jokes aside, yeah, uh, I fucking forgot to unmute my mic uh this morning.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: So this is this is the second go-around, but this one will be more concise and to the point and more fiery because I'm pissed off about the uh about Mike Gate.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: We'll call it Mike Gate.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, guys.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: 2024 is starting off strong.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: We're seeing a lot of buyers come off the sidelines.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh, talking with agents from my team and from the society coaching group, there the majority of them are seeing a lot more activity to start the year.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: Lots of optimism about sales increasing dramatically this year, which is which is super awesome.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: But there's something that you need to be prepared for when you're going into more appointments this year.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've noticed, but our profession, real estate agents, and and the whole business model around it, how commission works and how much we get charged and all that has just been it's been shit on in the media for months.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: So let's call it a year.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: But so it starts with with NAR and the class action lawsuits.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: It starts with the sexual harassment at NAR.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the reason that I'm bringing this up today, what what got this on my radar for a topic this week was just yesterday, Monday, uh uh what it January 8th, Monday, January 8th, the president of NAR, Tracy Casper, resigned claiming she's being blackmailed, and if she doesn't resign, they're gonna release some bullshit.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: What what just how awesome is that?
3:31
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we need is just more drama and like uh what is this succession?
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Is this succession or or house of fucking cards?
3:41
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: But uh not what we need right now.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh so NAR is just like it's just this constant barrage of negative press.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: And we, as a profession, unfortunately, are taking the brunt of that.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: The class action, the class action lawsuits, uh, the the big one being Sitzer Burnett, which somehow we lost.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how they quote unquote prove this collusion uh but between brokerages to to keep commissions high and to charge more commitment.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Has anyone ever told you how much you can and can't charge in commission?
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because here's the here's is this a conspiracy?
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Because if so, I've been left out.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: I've been excluded.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: I should be offended that I was not consulted to be included in this fucking conspiracy because it doesn't exist.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: How did we lose a lawsuit claiming that something happened that didn't happen?
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Like it just it boggles my mind.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: But the result of that is rampant misinformation on the internet about people from people who are not in this industry who are making claims and interpreting what that lawsuit, what the class action lawsuit means in wild ways.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, this is the world we live in.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go over in a minute exactly like I'm gonna give you some examples of misconceptions, some of the stuff that I'm hearing from consumers, some of the stuff I'm seeing online, because some of it is so wild, but you have to be prepared to handle these misconceptions.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: You have to be prepared to overcome more objections.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Overcoming objections and overcoming, you know, people that are like, hey, you know what?
5:17
SPEAKER_00: I know that you say you're you're charging X amount, but so-and-so said they do it for less.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Why should we hire you?
5:23
SPEAKER_00: You've always had to be prepared to answer that.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: You've always had to have a great response to that.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you're not getting hired.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: But being able to overcome objections is becoming more important now than ever before because of all of this crap, the lawsuits, NARs, drama, all the nonsense happening in the media, that's all negative about real estate agents and our business model.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: So before we get started, if you if you don't yet have a tool belt of great systems, processes, tools, I don't know, I don't know what what you're doing.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you're planning on doing this year.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: You're claiming 2024 is going to be the best year.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but you're going up against a lot of agents who are stacked with a bunch of tools, AI tools, informational tools, services, automation, like all this stuff, right?
6:13
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm talking about specifically right now is arming yourself with information and knowledge so that you can position yourself as the authority, the real estate advisor in your community.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: But you have to know what's happening, why it's happening, and what it means to buyers, what it means to sellers, and what they should do as a result of are interest rates coming down?
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Are they going up?
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Are there going to be more home sales?
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Are they not?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: What's happening with inventory?
6:38
SPEAKER_00: And you could obviously just spend all day, every day researching this shit, which a lot of people do.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Or you could just pay keeping current matters to just give you all the information that they spend all day analyzing.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: KCM is the best tool that I've seen for agents to be armed with knowledge.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's very, very inexpensive.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Yet most of the top teams and top agents in the country have been using KCM for years.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And you can use this tool in your tool belt as well.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Go to trykcm.com/slash bam and get yourself a trial and check this out.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, if you're not armed with that information, your competitors are.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: That's just a fact.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: That's the world we live in.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And so you can't claim that you're the real estate advisor or the knowledge broker if you don't have the knowledge.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: If you're if you don't have the advice to give.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: You're just underserving the community, which means fewer sales.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh that's not awesome.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: That's you're listening to the show to help you grow your business.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm just shooting it to you straight.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Try KCM.com/slash BAM.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: And speaking of BAM, go to the BAM website, nowBAM.com, and look at the BAMX community.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: What an amazing group, uh community of like-minded agents, entrepreneurial agents, agents who are at all different levels of their career, selling all some are some are brand new, some are selling a thousand houses a year and everything in between.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: And uh it's full of online courses and training.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: If you if you are taking your business seriously this year, look at the BAMX community as one of those tools to help you.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you use code MASSIVE at checkout and get yourself a pretty decent discount on that.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh try case, that was the last link, now bam.com, or you can go to massiveagentpodcast.com/slash BAMX to check out BAMX.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about objections.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: So I I am a consumer of social media, I am a connoisseur of sorts, for better or worse, of all the bullshit happening on social media.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Some of the stuff that has absolutely boggled my mind, that made my eyes bleed when I saw it, uh, is stuff that realtors are dealing with.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, because of the Sitzer Burnett class action lawsuit, that somehow NAR, Keller Williams, and uh Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, somehow they lost that.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me started on that.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: More than I already have.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: But we have to deal with the ramifications.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: One of those ramifications is people thinking that now it's illegal for agents to charge commission for their services.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: I've actually seen comments like this in Facebook groups, uh, not real estate uh industry Facebook groups, but there's there's this big um this big group, like random group in in Utah that a lot of there's like 50,000 members or something.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: And there's numerous people that that are giving advice to others who are looking for agents saying, hey, good news because they just lost the lawsuit, they can't charge for commission anymore.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's interesting.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: So are you prepared?
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I know it's laughable.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Are you prepared to educate people if they bring that up?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: If they have that misconception, that wild misconception, are you prepared to deal with setting the record straight?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's also more scrutiny on sellers paying for the buyer's agent commission.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: So you're going to have to be prepared to explain and justify why should a seller should do it in the first place.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: And look, this is good.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: I think this is a positive thing because in the past, you just have sellers, they're like, okay, I guess that's how it works.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: But in just because they agree to it doesn't mean that they're happy, doesn't mean that they're on board with it.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: They're just, they just feel like they had no choice.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: So giving more transparency to consumers and explaining why most sellers choose to pay a buyer's agent commission, why it's actually an incentive to bring the majority of buyers to your house to sell it, why that's gonna lead to a higher, a higher sales price and all of that, that's gonna lead to a more empowered seller, right?
10:47
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be they're going to be happy to pay it if they choose to, right?
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Of course they could choose not to, but that's their choice.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: It's always a choice, right?
10:57
SPEAKER_00: So for anyone listening who's outside the industry that just wants to like clip the show as like, you know, uh, because I do have to be, I'm I do have to be somewhat cognizant of the fact that any podcast, any video that I do could be used in one of these class action lawsuits.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of crazy.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys know this, but there was a clip from a Tom Ferry podcast from a few years ago where it wasn't even Tom, but it was it was a guest of his who was an executive at one of these big brokerages who was on the show talking about how they don't ever discount commission.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: And it was it was a pretty aggressive approach to basically saying, screw off, I'm never gonna discount my commission, blah, blah, blah.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: And they use that uh to show that we're a bunch of you know commission fixing assholes.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's crazy.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, but I want to make it clear, and in case you don't know this as an agent, like it it is fully the consumer's choice if they hire you, how much they pay, how much they agree to pay, if they want to pay for the buyer's agent side, if they're a seller.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's all totally on them.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: It's just a fact that like what 92 something, 94% of agents choose to use a real estate agent and pay and pay commissions.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: That's just facts, right?
12:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it's it's over 90% of homes are sold with a real estate agent, and there's commission involved in that.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: So you what is so important is that agents understand it's a good thing to be transparent with with your potential buyers and sellers because then they then they have more control.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: And when they have more control, they're more bought in.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: They they they're not as they're not questioning everything.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: They're not so you you guys have had clients like this where they're they're kind of um what's the word?
12:51
SPEAKER_00: It's not pessimistic, but they're um they're it's not sketchy either.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: What's the word?
12:56
SPEAKER_00: I can't think of the damn word.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: They are um cynical or or critical, like they're um God, I cannot think of the word, but they they are questioning everything and they're kind of doubting, they're like, you know, is this agent really doing what's in my best interest, or are they just trying to get more money out of me, or they're trying to screw me, or they're trying to lead me astray?
13:16
SPEAKER_00: If if that's the case, if you have clients like that, most of the time, not all the time, because some clients are just wackos because we're dealing with people, but most of the time, it's just a lack of communication on your part.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: It's a lack of preparation.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: You have not prepared your clients nearly enough.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: They don't understand the process, they don't understand the steps of the process, they don't understand why it's done that way, they don't understand why certain steps are even in the process.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: So that's our job.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: So, to that end, let me get back to the objections.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: All right.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: So, some of the objections you're gonna get, people saying, Hey, I understand you're charging five and a half percent, but so and so said they do it for 4%.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: So are you prepared?
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I used to do early on in my career.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, 4%, okay.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: I'll do it for four, I'll do it for 4%, right?
14:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of like doing the numbers, like I'll do it.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: But that's lazy, right?
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, if that's how you do business, okay.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: If if you're just gonna be the lowest cost provider in the area and that and you've chosen to do that, see if consumers can choose to pay a commission or not, or we can also choose to charge whatever the hell we want.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: You could charge 10% for your services if you want to.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're just gonna have to justify that.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: Can you justify that you're worth 10% when most other agents are getting 6%, 5%, whatever, right?
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Some of you probably could.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh but you could also charge 1% if you want.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: You could charge$500 for your services.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: You can charge whatever you want, just like a lawyer can charge whatever the hell they want.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: A dentist can charge whatever the hell they want, right?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: A restaurant can charge whatever the hell they want.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: A plumber, a landscaper, a painter, any service provider can charge whatever the hell they want.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: And the consumer gets to decide if it's worth it or not.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: So, your job, first you decide what it is you that you charge, then how do you justify it?
15:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, preparing people up front, overcoming objections, setting the record straight, educating them on why it's a good idea for the seller to pay the buyer's agent commission because it's an incentive to bring buyers to the property and all that stuff.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: That's all that's all so important.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: But you also need to realize that there's so many things that you do as a real estate agent that you that you take for granted.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: You just you're like, I'm a full service agent.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: If you hire me, I just you know I do all this stuff.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is all that stuff?
15:44
SPEAKER_00: What the hell does full service mean?
15:48
SPEAKER_00: There's far too many agents that they're like, I'm I charge six percent and and you you get full service.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: But then the consumer is like, okay, all right, um, yeah, you've done a pretty good presentation, I'll sign with you.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: But then then right after they sign that, they're like, What did I what did I even what do I what do I get for this?
16:08
SPEAKER_00: What do I get for this?
16:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, could I have gotten it for 5%, 4%, 3%, should I have hired somebody cheaper?
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Are they gonna do the same thing?
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Am I overpaying here?
16:16
SPEAKER_00: But what you need to do is be proactive and package up what you do for consumers.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: So in the in a previous episode, we talked about the elite VIP buyer program.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: If you're part of the Massive Agent Society or my team, we've talked about this at length.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't necessarily mean that you add a bunch of new stuff that you're not already doing.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: Some of you need to, some of you need to do more than you're doing.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: But if you already are offering a super high level of service, then you need to, your job is to do a better job of packaging it up and not just assuming that everyone knows what you do.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, if you're meeting with a buyer and you want them to sign with you, instead of just saying, hey, I'll help you find a house and you know, I'm really good at negotiating offers, what if you had a bullet point list of 10 different things or whatever on a flyer, a graphic, a brochure, a video that you've done that says, Hey, when you work with us, we will do these things.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: And number one, we will we will help you find a house, including off-market properties.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: We have access to a list of off-market properties.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: We know how to find these.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a buyer, you're like, off-market properties, that sounds great.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: So in their mind, they're like, okay, this agent will do more than what most other ones will.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: They have access to off-market properties.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: So they f they're like, okay, cool.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: Next one, you say, we will help you find and uh and secure financing to help you with the purchase.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Because look, that's basically saying we'll help you find a lender.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: You realize that is a big value add to a lot of consumers.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: I hope you realize that.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, you just take it for granted.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: Most consumers don't have a preferred lender.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: They don't know a so they're just like, I need to buy a house.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, where do I start?
18:01
SPEAKER_00: So if you help them, if you if you cut through all the noise and you're like, hey, here's a lender that I've worked with for many years.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: I refer my family and friends to this lender.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I bought my own house with this lender.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: They are great at navigating problems and they're super fast and efficient and all this stuff.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: That consumer most likely will see that as a big value add because that's work they don't have to do.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to go out and find their own lender and weed through the 10,000 of them that are that are out there, right?
18:32
SPEAKER_00: So helping them find a great lender, that's a value add.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: How about adding a home warranty, negotiating a home warranty?
18:38
SPEAKER_00: If they're buying a house and you check the box on the on the purchase contract, if you're in a state that has a box on the purchase contract, but in Utah, you just check a box that the seller will pay X amount for a home warranty to the buyer.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, what I used to do before I really understood, before I was any good at communicating what I was doing, I would just check the box and be like, by the way, we got you a home warranty.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Okay, cool, great.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, what I didn't realize was just what a big deal that is until I had a house, uh, the the first house that I bought, until we had a pipe burst within the first year.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: A pipe burst, and I think it was the day or so, it was the day before or the same day that my wife's water broke for um our first kid.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: So we had a pipe that broke, and then my wife's water broke.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And so all I had to do was call the home warranty company, pay a$60 service fee.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: They sent a plumber out and they fixed the whole damn thing.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And it was just, it was such an it was so nice to have that option.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wait a minute, this home warranty is a big deal.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: And and we're just giving it to people without really explaining what it can do for them.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: That letting them know that, hey, if the AC goes out in the first year, it's covered.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: If the refrigerator blows up, if a pipe bursts, if if whatever happens, this home warranty will cover it because we'll negotiate that for you.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: That's just another notch in the column for you that so it people, so that the potential clients, we're talking about buyers now, they can really wrap their head around exactly what you're going to do for them.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: And each time you go through one of these bullet point things, you're gonna help them find a house, off-market properties, home warranty, you're gonna help them find a lender, you know, you're going to uh, you know, you're gonna do weekly updates if necessary, like all those different things that you just take for granted, they start to realize, huh, they sound pretty good.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: That agent is awesome.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: I get all these different things.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that you do more than other agents, it's that you packaged it up better than most other agents.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: So when you do that, buyers are gonna be much more pleased with you.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be much more on board with you, they're gonna trust you more because you set expectations, not just for what's gonna happen in the process, but for what you're going to do for them and what's coming up that you're gonna take off their plate.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: When you are proactive in communication and you just massively overly communicate and massively set expectations and future pace with your buyers and sellers, you're going to get so many more satisfied buyers and sellers, which means you're gonna get so many more positive reviews, which means you're gonna get so many more uh deals in the future.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: People are gonna find you online more and easier.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: You're also gonna get more referrals from those very satisfied clients, which means more closings.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: You do a great job with those people, and then that means more referrals and more closings.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how this works?
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Being the best agent is not always like that.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: That's not the only thing that matters.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: You have to be the best known, you have to be the most visible, right?
21:40
SPEAKER_00: To be seen and hired by a lot of people, of course.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: But you have to be pretty damn good at your job, too.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's that's a minimum.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: So this that's what we're talking about.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: How can you be so good at your job?
21:50
SPEAKER_00: How can you provide such incredible value that people just can't help but hire you and refer you?
21:57
SPEAKER_00: But it starts with the very first interaction.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: You're going to have people that are like, hey, you know what?
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, just wanted to check.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: So-and-so is willing to do it for 1%.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Are you?
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, are you prepared to just match that?
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Or are you going to say, well, you know what?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: I'd be curious to see what that 1% includes and what you're going to get for that.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: But here's what we do.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we charge, and here's what that costs, and here's what that includes.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And then you you show them that 1% discount person over here, it doesn't include everything.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's funny how many consumers just think an agent is an agent.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you've been in the business for more than a minute, you understand agents are not all the same, right?
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Some it's apples and oranges, or for God's sakes, apples and pine trees with some agents.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: There's just no comparison.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Some are great, like world class, and some are absolute shitbags and everything in between.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: So you can't just compare this agent charges this much and this agent and just assume it's all the same.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: So take take what they're saying.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Understand they're just trying to keep more of their money.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: That's really what they're saying.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: It's not about paying less in commission, it's about keeping more of their money.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: So then if you know that they're that's their concern is just keeping more of their money, then show them how you can help them do that, even if you do charge more in commission.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: That's what the best agents do.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: The best agents that sell the most houses, they aren't the cheapest.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: To the contrary, they get more in commission than you would even imagine.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: There's agents that charge 7, 8, 9%.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: There just are, probably in your market.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: There's also agents that will just take whatever, whatever they'll be, oh, the the listings only offering$1,500.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll take it.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Even though whatever.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: You get my point.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: So be prepared for objections.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Be prepared for people questioning your job at all, questioning how much you charge.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, look, there's a lot of people that just look, they they hear about how big realtor commissions are, and they don't know what goes into it.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: They don't know what's included, they don't understand that expertise and experience is part of the compensation, just like it is with doctors, just like it is with a lawyer, the the great ones, you're they may actually work less for on you, but you're paying for experience, you're paying for knowledge, right?
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Consumers don't understand that.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: And it's our job to teach them that.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: And but they're not all gonna get it.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: They don't all want to get it.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: Some of them just want the cheapest option.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: You have to decide, are you gonna be the cheapest option?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Are you okay with that?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Look, I have no judgment either way.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: If you choose to just be the cheapest, great, that's your business model.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not mad at that.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I understand that like there's a lot of big businesses that have been built by being the cheapest.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: But if you don't want to just be the cheapest, you want to charge a certain amount so you don't have to sell nearly as many houses, and you want to be great, you need to start evaluating how well you can defend your value proposition.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: The objections are happening more now than ever.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: People are questioning the need for an agent now more than ever.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: They're questioning do they need to pay up for a buyer's agent commission?
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Should they?
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, and look, they may ultimately decide not to, totally their prerogative.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: But you at least need to help them understand why that's become common practice.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: Why is it done that way?
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not sure, talk to your team leader, talk to your broker.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, get a coach that understands this stuff to walk you through it.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't understand it yourself, how the hell are you going to educate others on why certain uh why certain business models are the way that they are?
25:36
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that our that our profession's perfect.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: We could come a long way.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: We could provide a lot more transparency and give a lot more control back to clients, which I believe is the best thing for us as a profession because it's the best thing for consumers.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: When consumers feel in control, they're just better clients, right?
25:55
SPEAKER_00: They're just better clients because then they're not second-guessing everything.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: They're not doubting everything you tell them, they're not always wondering if they should be going with another agent because you suck.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: If they understand what's happening because you help them understand, you're gonna get a lot more business and you're gonna get better clients that are much more loyal and smoother transactions and a lot more of those transactions.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: So uh be prepared.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Going into 2024, I mean, we're what, 10, 11 days in into the year, already off to a great start, but be prepared to defend your value, defend your existence more than you ever have before.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: The worst thing you could do is just bury your head in the sand and like, oh, I'll deal with it if it comes up.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Because if you do that, you're not prepared.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: If it comes up, you're you're gonna do a shit job defending your value because you haven't thought about it, you haven't practiced, you haven't prepared.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: So be aware of misconceptions consumers have of agents.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh for example, I so I listen to the All In podcast.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the top business podcasts out there.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: I listen to it every single week.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love all in.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: There's these three billionaires from Silicon Valley plus Jason Calicanus.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: He's he's not quite a billionaire.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's why I they're always giving him shit because they're three billionaires plus him.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, very wealthy guy, very successful, very respectable.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: But it's just three guys with a very educated opinion, but they're they're tech guys, they're entrepreneurs, they're not real estate professionals.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: And in one of their previous episodes, I believe it was like two or three weeks ago, just two or three episodes ago, they were talking about these lawsuits.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: They were talking about realtors and the business model, and most of them did not understand our profession at all or the need to even have agents.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And it was very, I was listening to it and they made some some good points, but at the same time, like there was just a deep misunderstanding as well.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And they're they're also in a different, they're in a different place than most consumers, right?
27:55
SPEAKER_00: They're they have teams that can help them do certain things.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: They have attorneys, like they they have a bunch of resources that most people don't have.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: And and just hearing their perspective was very interesting.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed hearing it, even if I disagreed with some of it, because it helped me understand where some people are and how's how some people view us and what we do.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: You need to become more curious about what non-real estate agents think about us, what non-agents think.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing: if you're always talking to real estate professionals, you're not talking to the people that you want to hire you.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: You need to be speaking to the people that you want to hire you and understand they are not real estate pros.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: They do not know what you know.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: That's why you have to break down literally everything that you'll do on their behalf.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: And don't just assume that they know something.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Don't assume that they know you're gonna do X, Y, and Z.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Tell them.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: If you have a big list of 75 different things that you're gonna do for them, they're gonna look at that and be like, holy shit, this is a lot.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: So when you when you can position yourself as the most knowledgeable agent in your market, you're going to thrive.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: When you position yourself as the biggest advisor in your market, you're gonna thrive.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: And you do that by packaging up what you do.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Being the most knowledgeable, so we're talking about consumers, right?
29:19
SPEAKER_00: And how they view us.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Knowledgeable is not just knowing facts and knowing figures and knowing the absorption rate of a neighborhood, like you know, and uh which I've never been asked, by the way.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: What people are really asking, if they ask about absorption rate, they're just asking how fast does it take to sell a house?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: How fast are these homes selling in this area?
29:35
SPEAKER_00: That's that's really what they're asking.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm going off on a tangent here, getting lost.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: This is a squirrel moment for the Massive Agent Podcast, and so be it.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, but I'm totally off track.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: Totally, totally off track.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Either way, pay attention to what consumers are saying because if if certain people have misconceptions, you know you're gonna run into somebody along the way that has the same one.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, I need to end the show with a big thank you because we just hit a giant milestone, one that six years ago when I launched the podcast, I didn't even think was possible.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't think it was impossible, I just didn't think about it.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: But we just hit it.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so 316, 315 episodes in, because this one isn't out yet, 315 episodes in, just a week shy of six years, we just crossed a million downloads.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: If you've listened to this episode as your first one ever, or you've listened to all of them.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever shared the podcast, if you've ever left a review to help us be seen more, if you've if you've ever listened to this show ever before, thank you.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: I am humbled, my mind is blown that we just got a million downloads.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: What's really crazy is I now understand how different uh how different it is to get a million downloads versus like a million video views, a million YouTube views, a million views on an Instagram video or or whatever.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: They're just different because, well, for a lot of reasons, podcasting is just a different medium.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: It it people have to listen for a good chunk of time and they have to actively say, Hey, I want to listen to that.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Click on the episode, download it, and listen for a certain period of time for it to count as a download.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: It's different than like when you listen to podcasts, it's not just sending you a bunch of random podcasts.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Imagine the Instagram news feed, but instead of videos, they're podcasts, that would be insane.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work that way.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm super humbled that uh that we just crossed a million downloads.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited for the next million.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it takes a hopefully it's a lot faster than six years to get there, which it will be, of course.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I'm just grateful.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: I never imagined that we'd get a million downloads, and six years later we'd still be doing the podcast.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: My only goal when I started the show was to get to episode 100.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I wanted to grow and all that, but I never quantified it.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: It was just get to 100 episodes, and now we're at episode 316.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: So thank you very much.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: If this episode resonated with you, if you learned something new, please share it with another agent, share it with your team, share it with your brokerage, share it with other agents in your market, within a Facebook group, within your Facebook, your Facebook or Instagram story, whatever.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: But help us, help us reach more agents and have a bigger impact on this industry because god damn it, we need it.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Agents need a lifeline, agents need help, agents need a support system now more than ever.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: And this podcast can certainly play a part in that, um, as it has for you.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: I'll see you guys next week.