We've promised the audience to help them identify two blind spots. All of us have blind spots, right? And they're always more apparent in others. Meaning, it's always easier to spot someone else's blind spots than it is our own. Obviously. That's why they're called blind spots.
Yeah. It's hard to see the picture when you're sitting in the frame.
I like that. With the amount of transactions that you've done and the amount of agents that you've coached and taught and helped, there's a couple that probably stand out to you. Would you do me the favor and let's start with the first one. What's the first major blind spot that you think real estate agents struggle with?
The first major blind spot when people get into real estate is they don't realize that they are actually tasked with running a business; That their own personal real estate activity is a business. And the minute that light bulb goes on for them, so many things change in terms of the way that they go about their day. They just see themselves as, "I'm a real estate agent." I don't know if they think that, well, they know it's not a job, but they don't quite realize that it actually is a business and can be run as a business.
I love that you said that because it's true. I think they come in the business saying, "I want to learn how to sell real estate." And so they see themselves as, "I'm a real estate salesperson," just like maybe they used to sell appliances or cars or RVs "...but now I sell real estate." And even though there's this 1099 reality, I agree with you wholeheartedly that there's a little bit of a deficiency in realizing that "No, I'm actually a CEO. I'm actually a business owner," right?
Yes, and the minute they start to realize that, one of the biggest things that changes is they start to think about being in business. A perfect example, I see so many agents, especially newer agents, but I see agents that have been doing this for a while. They'll meet someone, they'll get into a real estate conversation and that person expresses that they're not going to sell their house for probably two years. When their youngest kid graduates high school, they're going to downsize. And that kid is a sophomore and the real estate agent gets frustrated. They're like, "Oh, I keep talking about these great people, but this one's not for six months. That one's not for two years," or whatever their timeline is. The way that people initially respond is there they're not happy because they need a transaction.
"I'm so frustrated. Nobody came to my open house today, right? Like nobody came..."
"...but they're not going to buy it until next year.
"And they're just window shopping."
The shift that happens when you think of yourself as a business owner is "Well I plan to be in business two years from now. I plan to be in business six months from now." So I'm not thinking about while, yes, I do need something to happen this weekend. I also know that I'm going to want to be in conversation and have a closing six months, two years from now, ten years from now. Because as a business you're looking the greater scheme of things. So anyone listening today who's in real estate and has been in real estate for more than six months, think about this.
If six months ago you would have this mindset, what would this weekend look like for you?"
You just got paid two years from now if you have the foresight to see it that way? Right.
The way that I look at it when I'm talking with somebody who has an interest in buying or selling real estate is, I'm not so concerned with when that's going to happen. Is it going to be this weekend? Is it going to be this year? Is it going to be six months from now? I'm more interested in the fact that when they buy that house, I'm the one handing them their keys. Or when they sell a house, I'm the one putting my sign in their yard. As opposed to when exactly that happens. So that's the biggest mindset and there's a lot of other things when you start thinking of yourself as a business owner. It's helpful in terms of how you look at taxes and how I track things but the biggest impact on your bottom line is really keeping track of these people and being excited to talk to anybody about real estate that's going to be buying or selling at any point, whether it's tomorrow or next year or two years from now.
It's almost as if one can say with the right perspective you're not buying for two years from now. That means I get two years to build a relationship with you and get in your referrals along the way. I have more time to have you as a forever client.
Exactly. When someone expresses to me that they're going to buy or sell at any point and my goal is that when they're ready, I'm their obvious choice.
Fantastic. I love it. Let's move on to the second blind spot. What is another major blind spot that you see agents have that we can help with today?
Well, it dovetails nicely with what we were just discussing. So, the second biggest blind spot is the job of a real estate agent. The main job really is prospecting. It's not selling houses. For very obvious reasons, most real estate agents think their job is to sell houses and really that's the byproduct of their job. And that's at the end of their job where the income is, but their main job that creates that income, that gives them that opportunity is prospecting. So, having a daily habit of prospecting. And I think in the book I say two hours a day and that's a little bit but I don't feel like it needs to be a specific number. It might be different for everyone depending on what their goals are.
I feel like somebody starting off, should spend the majority of their day prospecting until you have somebody to show houses to. That's the main thing. I put two hours because people always ask, well, "How much time should I spend?" So, I kind of had to come up with something and I feel like that's a good amount for people just to be coasting on. But the real takeaway that I want people to understand is that your job literally is prospecting. And any day that you did not prospect was a day off. What happens, real estate agents are highly focused on getting a new client, they do whatever activities they do, whether it's open houses or phone calls or door knocking that works, and then suddenly they've got three transactions in escrow and now their hair is on fire.
They stop prospecting because they're dealing with everything. You know, keeping those deals together and getting them across the finish line. Well that happens and now, they just got paid on these three transactions, but their pipeline is empty.
Hence the roller coaster!
Hence the roller coaster. And that's how it happens. And the way to avoid it is to have a daily ritual. The pushback I get from agents is they'll say, "I don't have time to prospect, I've got these deals in escrow." And literally, it happens around three to four deals in escrow. Whereas once you have systems in place, I can have 10 deals in escrow and that's not a problem, right? I just have a normal day.
You just have different systems.
Well, what happens is people think they don't have time to prospect. But when you shift your mind and say, "No, that's your job," everything else fits in around it. So, if you don't have time to do everything on your list, and prospecting is non-negotiable, you realize that maybe you can pay another agent to go sit at that home inspection or put the fliers in your box. Because remember you've got some money coming in. So you, you do have the ability to pay somebody a nominal amount to go do some of these tasks for you. Or you can pay them a small percentage of your commission so you don't have to write them a check today. You can pay ...
