Speaker 1:
0:29 Well, hello, my name is Jorge de Leon and today I am excited to feature an icon in real estate in our Breakthrough series, going from average to extraordinary, and it is my distinct pleasure to feature in front of me. In front of you, dan Buehler, pronounced like computer, in front of me, in front of you, dan Buter, pronounced like computer. And before we get started, I would love for you, dan, to share with us who you are. Where were you raised, how did you break into the real estate business and what is it that you have seen throughout the years in your career?
Speaker 2:
1:08 Oh, wow, all right. Well, thank you for having me first. And I came into real estate, and more specifically real estate finance, in my early 30s. Now I'm in my mid 50s, so I have a 20 plus year career, and primarily my background was in music and movie, meaning I worked either in somewhere in the music business or in the entertainment field. I worked for movie studios, all of that kind of stuff, and when you're basically a grunt, even with a nice title and all that, the movie studios didn't really pay all that much. The perks were nice, you get a lot of free swag and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:
1:59 But at the time that's right about when I got married, trying to establish myself, house, kids, all of that, all that takes money in this day and age, especially in Southern California. And so my mother was a real estate agent for many years and she kind of indirectly put me on the path. Because your income potential in real estate whether it's mortgages, your income potential in real estate, whether it's mortgages, being an actual agent, anything in that realm you have an unlimited income potential and being, as I had, a misspent decade in my 20s in the entertainment industry, my college education wasn't all that great. I did graduate, but not with a how do I say this? A useful degree. So that kind of set me on the path and originally I got into it.
Speaker 2:
3:00 I wanted to start buying and flipping and you know doing being a real estate investor and I just poured my spare time into that and I would hang around with several other real estate investors trying to learn from them. And you know I was having a little pity party and talking about you know well, I just can't get ahead. I'm just sitting here going, you know, at nights and weekends, trying to be a real estate investor, while working my 40 hour a week grunt job. And one of the guys said hey, here, here's a card. Call this guy, you're smart, just tell me you're looking for a job.
Speaker 2:
3:37 And I'm like I don't know what kind of job you know, and and that's how I became a lender. Yeah, just that easy. And you know, I consider myself well spoken, at least well spoken enough to fake it when I didn't know anything about mortgage finance. And let's see that's, 24 years later. One heck of a wild ride.
Speaker 1:
4:02 So, so, without a doubt, you have been able to develop a lot of experience on the real estate field. You've been able to watch real estate agents succeed and those that have failed. Oh yeah, and I believe that, because of the fact that you depend on real estate agents being successful in order for you to be able to have a thriving business, you have been able to help people coach because without them being successful. So, dan, you know, it's obvious to me that in your line of work, you depend on successful real estate agents in order for your business to continue to grow, and therefore, it is my observation. I've known you for two years. You know a little bit more, almost like 30 months, almost two and a half years, and I've watched it in action. I've actually watched you present and you have a lot of information to help agents thrive.
Speaker 1:
5:16 Today's topic is related to what happened in 2024. There's a statistic out there that is kind of alarming. You know, only 74% of agents or no, 74% of agents did zero transactions, which means that the difference is what? 26% closed the transaction. But something that is even more alarming, that 2%, only 2% of those agents that are licensed, relisted agents across the United States did more than zero transactions. Yep, shocking, it's very, very shocking. So what I'm going to ask for you again why 74% of agents sold zero homes in 2024. And I always go back to this movie, the Glenn Ross movie with Alec Baldwinc um, there's a character there and I forget the name of the actor. Uh, he blamed the leads. But the question to for me, you know, for the question that I have for us today, is why did 74 of the real estate agents only do zero transactions? And I'm using that, as you know, not to be humorous, it's alarming. Oh yeah, let's talk about the failure to adapt to the buyer representation agreement.
Speaker 2:
6:46 Well, I'll break it down even more fundamentally. Okay, one word fear, fear, fear. And now I'll break down where that fear came from. Obviously, higher interest rates, property values continuing to rise, the overall mood of the country going into an election year, you know, bred a lot of uncertainty and you know, inflation being what it is. People just talking about the consumer, the home buyer. They are dealing with a lot to make their dollar stretch, so sinking into a home is less appealing. Throw on top of that the big one, which is the NAR settlement, where realtors' roles and responsibilities and disclosure responsibilities specifically fundamentally changed. And when all of that happens, it's almost a perfect storm.
Speaker 2:
7:45 Say, because I lived through 2008, the mortgage meltdown. This was even worse as far as the year goes, because back then they pulled the rug out from all of us. There was no lending for a significant period of time where they were basically rewriting anything, not that there was much demand anyway, but I think this is worse because we were all open for business. It wasn't like the whole industry shut down, and so that's discouraging and that breeds depression, and I firmly believe that our whole industry is suffering from a you can even call it a mild PTSD.
Speaker 1:
8:28 Okay, so let's you spoke about fear, right, and in our conversation I think that this is a raw conversation we just want to offer some perspective with the intent of helping our real estate agents break through from average to extraordinary. I think we've established that average. The threshold is very low.
Speaker 2:
8:51 Oh yeah, I'll put it to you this way, and this is something that I train on. Yesterday's challenge is today's normalcy, meaning our industry is constantly changing and, granted, the NAR was a much more significant change than we're all used to. But anytime you change, it creates well, I'll say it procrastination, because no one wants to have to fundamentally dismantle a significant portion of how they go about their business throughout the day and rebuild it. And I'm not saying I don't really think anyone's lazy, you know specifically, but the uncertainty and the change is daunting, and we train on it, we knew it was coming is daunting and we train on it. We knew it was coming. And those agents that embraced it and just didn't even let it bother them and they just kept plugging ahead and that was the recipe for success.
Speaker 2:
10:04 But a lot of agents got left behind from lack of motivation bred by fear and what I would offer as just a 10,000-foot solution. In this business, and every real estate agent and mortgage professional for that matter, for the most part we're all self-employed, we are in business for ourselves and I'll just say fear and depression do not pay the bills. So it's all about mindset and it's about basically getting your mojo back and not letting anything get in your way, and I'll. I can talk more about that in a bit, but basically you have to have a heart-to-heart with yourself as a real estate professional. Are you going to let this stop you? And here's the fun part Considering the statistics you just laid out, 74% of the whole realtor population is experiencing the same thing. So I see that as fertile ground to actually separate yourself, because it's not that hard to break out of that and realize everyone else who's in that 74% they're equally, if not more afraid, right.
Speaker 1:
11:29 So going back to this discussion as to why only 26% of the licensed real estate agents in the United States? I'm not even talking about realtors, I'm talking about real estate agents. We're not talking about a brand over another, we're just talking about this profession as a whole. That's a lot of people that did not produce Correct Right. So I would like for us to focus. I'm not going to focus or dwell on the changes of the biorepresentation.
Speaker 2:
12:06 No.
Speaker 1:
12:06 I would like for us to focus on the fact that there was a change that was imposed upon us and 74% of agents failed to adapt. Right, so let's talk about adaptability, because we know what happens to those that don't adapt to become oil. That's the dinosaur story. Right, absolutely, and I'm really interested in helping those that are following this podcast, this video, to do a self-analysis as to if they are serious about succeeding in real estate, as in real estate profession in this sector of sales.
Speaker 1:
12:48 what is it that they need to do and I'm going to lean in on your experience over the subject matter of adaptability Tell it to me straight and raw.
Speaker 2:
12:57 Well, I'm not a psychotherapist, but a lot of this revolves around that. As far as you need to, as a, let's just say, a struggling real estate professional who's at a crossroads, if you will, you need to be unashamed and accept and own that what's happened has happened, right. You know, in this business, in this industry, we have our booms and our busts, and surviving the bust periods is critical, and so you need to have an honest, open heart-to-heart with yourself and forgive yourself, because, like I said, it was a perfect storm of things that hit us all at once, and there should be no shame in that. It's just how long are you going to stay in that mindset before you break out? And anything you can do as that real estate professional to bust yourself out of it. That's what's going to unlock this and, once again, the beautiful thing is, the sooner you come to that point in the road, you're going to automatically push yourself into that 26% area where you're actually closing deals.
Speaker 1:
14:19 Great. So let's get us to the 26% of those that are closing deals. Okay, and specifically, getting over the fact that change will happen. We spoke about interest rates going up. Yep, there's a generation of real estate agents that have only seen interest rates under five, right. And then the fact that now we have a buyer representation agreement. That's the new way of doing business, correct? Do you think that there's going to be other changes that we don't even know about? Absolutely Right. So let's get over the fact about change. It will happen. We just have to adapt.
Speaker 2:
14:55 It's the only thing we can count on Right Is that our normal right now will not be the same even tomorrow.
Speaker 1:
15:01 So how much does discipline play in the success of that 26% that did do a transaction Critical Right?
Speaker 2:
15:11 And when I say critical I don't want to throw that out as a big scary word because it doesn't take much. And for instance, I'll just say what a big part of my business plan is I track everything. I track how many calls I make, I track how many credit pulls I do, how many applications did I take this week? And basically track everything that you're doing so you know where you're at. But, more importantly, if I was a real estate agent, not a mortgage professional, I would be doing the exact same thing. And it can take an hour, two hours a day of disciplined, focused action. And I'm talking about one of my big words that I like to use connection. And connection is not just calling a cold call list or just randomly letting people know what you do, because there's a ton of real estate agents, mortgage professionals out there. We all do kind of the same thing. You know there are the superstars who differentiate themselves exceptionally. But to get into that 26% the entry fee is not that expensive as far as time spent.
Speaker 1:
16:33 Right, and the point being that in that 26%, there are agents that obviously do more than zero. Oh yeah, which means that if you closed one transaction in 2024, congratulations. You are part of the top 26% of real estate agents. Tongue in cheek, absolutely. But here's another statistic that I would like for us to break down 2% the top 2% of real estate agents closed between 11 and 20 transactions, which means that 24% the top 24% closed one to 10. Correct, how much discipline does it take to close one transaction, dan?
Speaker 2:
17:21 Oh, that's a loaded question, Jorge.
Speaker 1:
17:23 Not a lot of discipline.
Speaker 2:
17:25 Not a lot. There is a little luck involved. Not a lot of discipline Not a lot, there is a little luck involved. However, all you need to do and I teach on this in real estate offices you need to make connections, and it can be as many or as few as five a day.
Speaker 1:
17:40 So the question is what differentiates and this is the word that I've been using differentiation, the difference between the person that closed one transaction and two transactions.
Speaker 1:
17:53 And then let's go a little bit further. Let's talk about those that closed more than the national average, which is six. So the agent that closed between six and ten, they made a lot of money, but there's a huge gap between that that closed 11 to 20 and, obviously, the top half percent that closed more than 45 transactions. Yep, and I would like for us to break it down with consistent lead generation, correct? So let's talk about lead generation and what does it take for someone to go from one to five transactions? Discipline and systems. Thank you for saying that Pretty much that's it.
Speaker 2:
18:36 Have the discipline to make sure you're developing and prospecting and going after leads. And, in my opinion, it's being a human being making a connection with someone. You connect with someone on a fundamental, just, human to human level. They will forgive all manner of sins, even if you're not the most experienced agent, even if you're uh to use. You know, maybe you have a day job. Yeah, it doesn't matter. I, I work with agents where they have day jobs. They work eight to 10 hours a day, yet somehow they carve out three to four hours a night, or even maybe one hour a night, and they are methodical, disciplined and they are actually putting up numbers that would push them closer to that 2% mark that you mentioned. Definitely in the top 26%, but on the higher end, One agent in particular. She works at a hospital, you know, pretty intense job.
Speaker 1:
19:39 Lots of a lot of lead opportunities.
Speaker 2:
19:41 A lot of lead opportunities. That's right. Abc Right.
Speaker 1:
19:45 So let's talk about that subject matter that we just spoke about, which is the lead generation, Obviously those that are not closing more transactions because they're doing the opposite, which is there's no structure, there's no investment being made. And the one that I really think is important is the poor follow-up and client nurturing.
Speaker 2:
20:12 Correct and I'll bring it back to fear, because everyone has had their mojo taken away a little bit with all the changes and it takes time to get good at anything that has altered and so having that discipline to burn through that and I'll give you an example of I'm big on doing videos. My first few videos, freaking, sucked well, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing.
Speaker 1:
20:45 Oh no, you can absolutely and the reason I say that is because, hey, I'm taking, you're taking this conversation where I want to go, even without me leading you.
Speaker 2:
20:53 Oh, thank God.
Speaker 1:
20:55 And a little bit of background. As a hobby, you play music. What has helped you go from garage band to maybe being in front of more than two people? Oh wow.
Speaker 2:
21:10 Okay, I'll give you that little story if we have time. No, we have plenty of time.
Speaker 1:
21:15 I think there's a connection and a parallel between successful real estate and successful musician yeah Right.
Speaker 2:
21:22 Well, I'm a bass player. When I was in my early teens I had very little game as far as attracting the opposite, but so I made the bold decision. I'm going to be a realist. I mean a bass player and for two years in my high school I was ridiculed by the popular kids because not only was I dorky but also I sucked as a bass player. I mean sucked, and that, you know, took a lot of internal fortitude to burn through that and I'm not necessarily proud to say this, but it pissed me off and that was the fire that lit of.
Speaker 2:
22:25 Okay, mfers, I'm going to show you how good I can get and pick your passion or whatever it is, but if someone tells you you can't do it, prove them wrong, do it. Even if you don't land at the pinnacle of success, it's still okay, it really is, as long as you don't give up on yourself. And quite honestly and I'm not, I'm going to toot my own horn a little bit I'm a phenomenal bass player. I have played in front of 10,000 people, I've recorded records, I've done all this stuff. And you know the music business is brutal and obviously it changed in the 2000s. So you know that's a completely different story. But as far as skills and what I do, I can get up on stage right now and throw down with the top people in the industry.
Speaker 1:
23:30 So it took hours and hours and hours of practicing right Hours and hours and hours of practicing.
Speaker 2:
23:40 We don't call it practice, oh, you call it repetition, repetition, repetition, and that goes into systemization. As far as for real estate agents Repetition, repetition, and that goes into systemization. As far as for real estate agents, if you systemize your practice, what I call repetition, that's all it is. And I don't care if you get on the phone and talk to 100 people and the 99 people, at the beginning you completely blew it. But if you learn something through each one of those 99, quote failed calls and you land the 100th, then that repetition was worth it.
Speaker 2:
24:13 And I don't care if it's 10,000 calls, I don't care if it's, you know, 100,000 calls. As long as you keep pushing through it, you're going to be successful because you are learning. The human brain is amazing. It's a freaking computer that basically you're putting input in and it's your own self-generated input, which is repetition, practicing. And so as we learn and evolve, we don't even realize how much better we're getting. Because, back to my bass player story even though I was pretty damn good for quite a while I didn't believe it because I had this preconceived notion that everyone thought I sucked and that just pushed me even further.
Speaker 1:
24:59 It's that consistent message, external message.
Speaker 1:
25:02 Dan, I think that you have actually underscored the most important aspect of this segment or this particular podcast and you corrected me because I called it practice and you called it correctly, which is repetition.
Speaker 1:
25:16 Yep, lead generation, consistent lead generation, requires a lot of repetition. I'm just as a matter of fact, because of this, I am going to change my vernacular to use repetition versus practicing when it comes to real estate, and open houses are a phenomenal way for people to repeat what they're doing, absolutely Even as a way of branding, as a way to lead generate, even as a way of branding, as a way to lead generate. And if you think that, going back to that analogy of Glenn Ross, it's not about the leads, it's about how you close the lead ABC always be closing Correct. And open houses, I believe, are a phenomenal way for lead generation low cost when it comes to investing money, high cost in investing time, energy and repetition. So I think that there's one of the clues to today is that if you're failing, if you were that part of that 74% that did not close a transaction in 2024, what should they be doing more of?
Speaker 2:
26:35 Well in the form of repetition In the form of repetition, I'll say do real estate-related activities. And when I say that phrase, that should be your battle cry. And let's just, for instance, I was out at open houses this weekend. It was a rainy weekend, no one you know, traffic was low. And I did that on purpose, because I wanted to actually have a chance to talk to some of the agents that were sitting at these open houses and, by and large, number one, the agents that actually braved a rainy weekend and held their house open. That takes a little something special. But also, let's say, you're an agent and you don't have an open house for the weekend, there's nothing preventing you from going out and popping into open houses held by other agents. And here's why You'd be surprised what you can learn from watching your competition, your fellow real estate agents, and watch how they do it. Maybe they do it a little different. Maybe they do it a lot different, but you can. You know in your own mind. You don't want to rain on their parade, no pun intended, but you can see what they're potentially doing wrong. But also you can learn what are they doing right? What is it that they're doing? They have the same exact license as you. What makes them different? Why do they have an open house and you don't? And it's because they keep getting out there. They keep doing it. Come, bad weather, whatever, none of that matters and they're focused on to coin the phrase again, the repetition of doing it being involved in real estate-related activities and even previewing houses during the week. Go to vacant properties. You'd be amazed how many times, and for a brief time.
Speaker 2:
28:28 I was actually a real estate agent, so I know a little something about this too. But I would go out and preview just vacant properties, just go, you know, get my list back before GPS. So I had you know a little map quest, but basically go to these houses and just check them out. It doesn't matter that there wasn't a client waiting there for me, it doesn't matter that there was anything remotely related to getting a paycheck right then and there. But I was doing something in real estate and there's a magic to that, because when you're doing real estate-related activities, all of a sudden your brain rewires a little bit and your eyes and all of your senses, quite frankly, are open up to additional possibilities.
Speaker 2:
29:17 I can tell you countless times where I was previewing a property vacant property, no one in sight. I didn't have a buyer, I didn't have a seller and I walked in and previewed. As I'm walking out, one of the neighbors shows up and goes are you a real estate agent? Well, yes, I am. Can you come over here? I want to list my house and I know my house is better than the one you just walked out of. What do you think? Because they're asking this amount of money for this house and I know mine's better. So what can you? What do you think we can sell it for? And boom, I have a client.
Speaker 1:
29:49 So here's something that most real estate agents do not recognize, and I was in new home sales and obviously the model home was the sales office. Just like a retail store will have a storefront. People walk in, they want to pick up. May that be, it doesn't matter what kind of store. But real estate agents fail to recognize that the sales office, my physical office, where I'm physically sale, that is not likely going to be the place where it's going to generate a transaction or a lead, but your open house.
Speaker 1:
30:23 So I would like to, based on, obviously, what you're saying, dan, is that an open house is your extension of a storefront. Oh, yeah, because people see, oh, it's an open house, and they know that at an open house, a potential seller or a buyer is going to find a real estate professional to help them, absolutely, absolutely. So perfect. Transition into the subject matter as to the number, the third reason as to why people failed real estate agents failed in 2024. And it's because of lack or a poor follow-up and client nurturing or a lack of. So how were you able to turn that specific person that you met at that open house into a client that signed a listing agreement?
Speaker 2:
31:12 Repetition and making sure that I had the discipline. Now, okay, let me back up a little bit because, okay, let's say I meet someone at an open house, we hit it off, we make even a minor connection. If I don't get their information, then it was just a pleasant conversation and it ends there. So, obviously, capture their information Legitimately, don't try and sneak it away.
Speaker 1:
31:39 You capture the information and what's the rule for follow-up?
Speaker 2:
31:44 There is no rule but you continuously follow-up until they one tell you to go F yourself or they just ghost you. But even when they ghost you, you'd be surprised if you continuously put them on like an automated drip or things like that. They come around because no one you can't predict. Don't make up your potential leads. Mind up for them. We're all busy, we all have lives. We all have. Unfortunately, a lot of calamities happen in any life. So don't give up on them.
Speaker 1:
32:19 So, as a real estate loan mortgage professional who is working with dozens, if not hundreds, of real estate agents out in the field, what has been your biggest frustration as to the lack of discipline, the lack of follow-through and, more importantly, the lack of taking proper notes to help you help that agent be more successful. What has been the most frustrating thing? And we're not naming names, we're doing this with the intent of elevating and enhancing or helping agents enhance their practice or their repetition in order for them to be successful and I'm not even asking for them to be the top 2%, right, I want them to be part of the 26%, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
33:04 Just one closing Talk about that.
Speaker 2:
33:09 You have to have a certain amount of to coin a term relentlessness. You have to have a sympathetic ear because, remember, we're all going through a period of fear, and I'm talking on the consumer level. You have to meet the client where they're at, both mentally and physically. You have to meet the client where they're at both mentally and physically. And so to get over that hump and as far as what was the most frustrating, there's a lot of?
Speaker 1:
33:42 how do I say this? Can we just call it what it is? It's the lack of professionalism.
Speaker 2:
33:48 Yeah, but I don't think it's intentional lack of professionalism it's driven by a lot of different factors, but essentially you have to put all that aside and you know, because whatever's going on is not going to pay the bills until you get someone to sign on the dotted line. How you get there is critical and, like I said, my basic rule is be a human being. Meet the client where they're at, nurture them, stay in touch with them and, quite frankly you know, be a human, be their friend. Do you feel that the fear?
Speaker 1:
34:23 and I want to clarify something. Do you feel that the fear? And I want to clarify something?
Speaker 1:
34:27 Yeah, I isolated 74% of real estate agents out there with my last comment, yep, and this is not intended to offend you not you specifically, dan but if you were one of those that didn't close the transaction, okay, I'm trying to light a fire under their butt, yeah Right, so lack of professionalism. I say, with all due respect, that professionalism is a definition, or is defined by those that have systems, follow through that repeat repetition, having a focus as to what they want to accomplish and doing what it takes to be able to get to that level. We spoke about the first Hold on a minute Okay.
Speaker 2:
35:15 Doing what it takes. Let's change that to doing whatever it takes, because that is what is on. I mean, quite frankly, as you said, there's a generation of agents that don't know about an interest rate over five, and that's a bit of a shock. We're talking the COVID era, basically, when COVID first hit, interest rates dropped dramatically. Quite frankly, because of the fear of COVID, people were moving out of cities into the suburbs in droves, and so, for real estate agents who were just coming up, it was like deals were falling from the sky Right.
Speaker 2:
35:56 And that was a very special time. I'll call it the silver lining of COVID, because COVID was horrific for all of us. I get it, but to grow up or to be a new agent in that environment, yeah, you would think, oh my God, this is the easiest thing ever. I can make so much money. But that changes. It always changes.
Speaker 1:
36:16 So those individuals that may have benefited from the market or the situation that created that market, may have fallen into a pitfall of not doing the core thing. So my question as a follow-up to that is you spoke about fear. How much does fear play into the psyche of a real estate agent that will not make that follow-up phone call or that doesn't do the second follow-up phone call when they haven't heard back? You said ghosting, ignoring, telling them to go somewhere else. That ends with double hockey sticks. But please tell me from your experience. I mean I can share my perspective, but nobody's going to listen to me because I'm in the business of brokering. You know being the broker of record for agents From as a sales manager. You know pushing them to make the next transaction. I can't force them, but you, as a loan professional, you can give advice because they're just not going to take it from me. They're likely going to take it from you because of your different perspective.
Speaker 2:
37:33 Right. Well, speaking of buyers, because that's who I traditionally most deal with, because people need a mortgage when they buy First off. Don't do it alone. Buy First off. Don't do it alone.
Speaker 2:
37:52 Enlist the help of your friendly mortgage professionals, such as myself to also nurture that lead Also follow up the concept of having a team player that contributes to your success Absolutely, that's how I've built my success is being available for realtors to help them. And you know, I know how to talk to people. I know how to make connections. I'm not looking to steal anyone's thunder, quite the opposite, I'm looking to make every real estate agent I work with a freaking rock star, because I take pride in being part of their team just as much as I want them to take pride in me being on their team. And so, first off, you're not alone, and that's one of the big failings of 2024 is, I think all of us felt alone because it was so overwhelming with all the changes and all the stuff we talked about. It's really easy to feel alone and you're not.
Speaker 1:
38:47 So let's talk about the isolation aspect as a contributing factor as to why agents don't have sufficient training, that maybe they lack accountability, and the other piece which you know some people don't recognize is coaching. I've used the analogy. You know my kids were. You know my kids were. You know they played Little League. You know they also played in basketball. They've gone into track. My daughter is an amazing you know hurdler and my son, my oldest son, who is now in college, is an amazing hurdler. They all have something in common, which is a coach and a specialty coach?
Speaker 1:
39:29 Yeah Right, so would you give us your perspective as to the lack of training, accountability and coaching?
Speaker 2:
39:41 Well, predominantly in the offices I work in and I work in several real estate offices. In the offices I work in and I work in several real estate offices, there is a plethora of available training resources. Now, that might not be the same for every office out there. I get it, but you can't have when it comes to your business, your income's on the line. You can't have a sense of entitlement. You have to go out and get it. You have to invest in yourself. And so, even though I work for a great company and I have all the resources I get trained quite nicely, I still invest money in my own personal coaching because my coach can go deeper. He knows me, he knows my quirks, my idiosyncrasies. We're all humans, we're all flawed, and they bend that all those idiosyncrasies and flaws and get me to produce results.
Speaker 2:
40:39 That's the same thing any coach does. I don't care if you're in peewee little league, I don't care if you're in the major leagues. That's what coaches do. They take the talent of whatever player or realtor in the case we're talking about, and they direct, they shape, they advise and any agent out there and, believe me, I pay for a coach and when I see that, you know auto debit come out of my account every month. It hurts, but I'm investing in myself and I know you know, oh, that's, that's too expensive. I'm not going to do it. My production is going to go down the tubes and it is a cost of doing business. But also don't look at it that way, like it is a cost of doing business, but also don't look at it that way Like it's a bad thing. By investing in yourself and actually following your coach's advice and instructions and you have you have to motivate yourself to actually do what you're being trained on your income potential goes off the charts in the good way. It's unlimited.
Speaker 1:
41:47 So let's talk about isolation. We spoke about, you know, covid, which you know drove people to stay home, work from home, don't congregate, don't do anything, you know, in person with other people. I don't want to get into that part of it, to that part of it, but it really encouraged individuals to think that being in isolation was good. And the problem that I am seeing across the country in this profession and actually, you know, there's even outside of the real estate profession or the real estate sector there has been a huge push to get people back into the office, but we're having a difficult time to get people into the office. Your perspective as a real estate professional with more than 20-some years of experience.
Speaker 1:
42:35 I've been in this for a little bit over 30 years. I see a lot of value with coming to the office. What's your perspective on that and what do you feel is a wasted resource amongst agents?
Speaker 2:
42:50 Oh, my goodness, there is magic in coming into the office. There truly is, and I'm speaking from someone who is in the office every day Through COVID. Thankfully, our industry was labeled essential. We didn't have our office shut down and it was wide open and, quite frankly, it was a ghost town too many times because of everyone dealing with COVID COVID's over for the most part, or at least it's manageable. Like I said, yesterday's challenge becomes today's normal, and so there is synergy, there is camaraderie, there is problem solving that takes place in the office. You're basically doubling, tripling, 10xing your brainpower by being around other real estate professionals with the synergy and how much additional energy you get from being in community. And that's why, if you're in an office right now and it's a freaking ghost town, don't have that be your excuse. That's why I said go out to other people's open houses, go where other real estate professionals are Network with them.
Speaker 1:
44:10 So so I know for a fact that really you know the true serious real estate brokers and brokerages are investing a lot of resources in creating in office opportunities, mm-hmm. And we're also using technology to ensure that people don't use the excuse that you know there's no other way to communicate with us. You know we're using, you know, video, we're using artificial intelligence to help us with that. Do you consider learning an investment, big time? Absolutely right, critical. And if the learning options are available in your office, is that a wasted opportunity?
Speaker 2:
44:53 Big time, you'll notice. Well, you and I have been working together for going on three years and I'm sure you hear through the grapevine I'm always hosting trainings, what I call lender workshops, hosting trainings, what I call lender workshops Almost always. I never put them on Zoom. I want people in person at the office, not for me. I played in front of 10,000 people. I don't need the ego boost, but there's something that magically happens and it's not my interaction with them. I'm just giving them the training of the day of whatever we're talking about.
Speaker 2:
45:33 But it's having all the agents there talking amongst themselves, listening to what's being said and getting other perspectives is way, way better than once again, being in isolation on your Zoom on your couch at home. And I say it this way I'm very, very grateful for every single person who actually makes it into the office on any given day, because they had to break out of the pattern we've been in for quite a few years now. They got up, they took a shower, they put on some nice clothes, they did their hair, their makeup, they got in the car, they spent time driving there and, okay, great, you did all that. But that's the price of entry. Now that you've gotten there, make something of it, make the effort that you've just put in worthwhile and leverage it. And if every agent did that, our industry would be so much more powerful right now.
Speaker 1:
46:37 So I would like to now refocus our attention and I am going to set up the platform for you and I to get together more often to speak about these subject matters on a much more condensed level. Okay, okay, but for now we're going to talk about how do we break, how do we help an agent break into the top 2% and remember, the threshold is between 11 and 20 transactions Okay, okay, okay. So I'm going to talk about lead generation and prospecting. Give me a thumbs up if you agree that this is something that they should do, go for it. Okay, create a structured daily routine focused on proactive lead generation. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Big thumbs up, okay. Implement a minimum contact goal of 10 emails, five phone calls per day At minimum yes.
Speaker 1:
47:35 Okay, the suggestion is making 20 phone calls, 10 texts and five emails. That's the suggestion, the minimum suggestion. I would tweak that just a little bit.
Speaker 2:
47:45 Okay, the minimum suggestion. I would tweak that just a little bit. Okay, definitely a thumbs up, meaning all that's perfectly good. And actually what I'm currently training on is what do you do? Okay, so I'm a realtor and I'm sitting down. I've got my one hour where I'm making my let's just call it five calls, and when I say five calls, I don't mean five dials.
Speaker 1:
48:10 I mean five actual conversations, five conversations, yes, yeah five calls.
Speaker 2:
48:11 I don't mean five dials, I mean five actual conversations. Five conversations, yes, yeah, and I don't call them calls, I call them connections, because that's where it yields the best results. But let's say you get someone who you know you can make a connection with, so let's say it's a past client or a lead that you've already had good interactions with.
Speaker 1:
48:29 We're just teasing the people, so people can actually sign up and listen to the next one, but yes, you're going here. So a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Leverage open houses as a lead conversion tool. Big thumbs up, okay, staying home and watching novellas or TikTok videos.
Speaker 2:
48:49 Huge thumbs down. That's not real estate-related activity.
Speaker 1:
48:54 Thumbs up or thumbs down Call past clients and a database quarterly with a market update and a value-driven check-in. Big thumbs up. Okay, we'll talk about resources on a future podcast Two marketing and branding. There's a lot of controversy around this so please don't kill the messenger. Okay, Use I mean I need an honest thumbs up and thumbs down, or maybe a caution. Use AI-powered social media ads to generate leads.
Speaker 2:
49:28 I'll give that a thumbs up with an asterisk Right with a caution right. Yes, and.
Speaker 1:
49:33 I would like for us to. I think that there's an opportunity there, but I like the thumbs up with an asterisk. How about consistently post educational content through video blogs and infographics? Huge thumbs up. We're talking about branding and marketing, right, because that sets you apart from the 74% that didn't close something. Oh yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:
50:00 We could spend a whole podcast on that particular topic, for sure.
Speaker 1:
50:04 Thumbs up or thumbs down Establish a strong local presence by attending networking events and community meetings and if so, what's the asterisk behind that?
Speaker 2:
50:16 that's a little more hit and miss because it can have huge payoffs. But you know, it's the same thing with. That's like almost like cold-calling, unless you find an established networking group where you can become well-known and well-thought-of amongst the group, and they're out there.
Speaker 1:
50:35 They definitely are. We're talking about branding. Obviously, if you attend networking events and you speak to the fact that you are in real estate, people will recognize you as being the real estate expert in that market.
Speaker 2:
50:48 Correct. Kind of the same thing with if you get dressed up and do all the stuff you need to do to walk through the front door of a networking event, you damn well better be out there pushing your branding and your message.
Speaker 1:
51:02 So let's go to follow-up and nurture. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Set up a CRM system to track and manage all leads Big thumbs up, okay. Implementation of an automated drip campaign to keep in touch with cold leads Absolutely Thumbs up Again in the aspect or the subject matter of follow-up and nurture and I think that you're going to use the word repetition use a mix of calls, text, emails and video messages to maintain engagement. Totally With a slant yes, I like the slants, by the way please With a slant towards video and I'll just give you the demographics.
Speaker 2:
51:45 As I understand it, over 50% of our target audience are millennials. Now they're coming into the market and what do millennials like doing? And I'm not trying to stereotype, it's just a fact. If you leave a voicemail, what are the chances they're going to listen to it? But if you send them a video, way better chance that they're actually gonna open it up.
Speaker 1:
52:08 And, by the way, we're not talking about things that we don't practice. Practice, and I have have had much more success with video messaging correct than the text message or a voicemail. Okay, so I believe that real estate agents should be operating more like a business, like a business owner, independent contractor.
Speaker 1:
52:30 You can't expect for your branch manager to do everything for you, but let me ask you a question and we're talking about specialization and niche Sorry, that's a French word a niche, identify and again thumbs up the same concept. Thumbs up or thumbs down identify and dominate a profitable niche, either luxury, probate, relocation, investors.
Speaker 2:
52:57 I'll give that a thumbs up with an asterisk, okay, because your niche can disappear on you, right? So you always need to. And I'll put it to you this way if I develop a niche and it's yielding good results for me, in my mind I'm putting a white picket fence around there and my goal in life is to keep that what I call evergreen, and that I don't ever stop doing that niche. And unless the niche goes away on its own but I always do that don't always be looking for and I'm totally counter-addicting myself, so I apologize. But number one if you have a niche, nurture it. Make sure you give the proper amount of time, focus and energy to that, and that's why I talk about building the white picket fence around it, because that's something you always do. But always be on the lookout for something else that you might excel at, a an additional niche, so that when things change and they do you're not going to suffer for six months to a year while you're trying to reinvent yourself.
Speaker 1:
54:03 So along those lines, somewhat thumbs up or thumbs down, create a geofarming, geographic farm strategy to become the go-to agent in a specific area. Absolutely Big thumbs up.
Speaker 2:
54:19 I will say that that takes time, but remember, I was a real estate agent for, I'd say, about two and a half years and I did a geographic farm and I farmed it religiously.
Speaker 1:
54:31 But, if you're serious about being in real estate for the next 10, 15 years, you better start today. Well, yeah, here's the magic of that. Don't wait until 10 years from now.
Speaker 2:
54:40 I had 2,000 addresses. I split it up and so I would do 500 a week and I would just door drop Flyer information, whatever it was, and I did that consistently every week for a good two and a half years. And then the mortgage industry kind of sparked back to life and I walked away from real estate, because I'm a good real estate agent, I'm a great lender.
Speaker 1:
55:09 But even to this day I still get people who call me, who want me to come and list their house. And, by the way, I want to highlight the fact and underscore the fact that now we're talking about how to get to the top 0.14% those that are doing 45 transactions plus they're operating like a business right, so obviously that's not going to happen overnight. No, I would love to get somebody to do that in the next year and through coaching we'll do it. But two as far as the subject matter thumbs up or thumbs down, to get to that, 45 transactions plus, hire an administrative assistant to handle transaction coordinating Big thumbs up, the person that is doing three transactions should be doing it. I highly encourage it. At transaction number one Call quality of life, so you can focus on the important things, which is connecting with people.
Speaker 2:
55:55 Right. Your job is not to push paper I mean we all have to but your number one job as the salesperson. It says it right on the license real estate salesperson.
Speaker 2:
56:08 you're in sales, so make those connections, that is your number one job. Pushing the paper, learning contracts all very important and especially when we have changes, you got to know that stuff. But sale that's the number one thing you have to do. And if you can have a transaction coordinator and yeah, absolutely On deal one you want to have a transaction coordinator because they're going to keep you in the lane, they're going to keep you out of trouble and I view it this way real quick.
Speaker 1:
56:39 Don't sell my. You know we're teasing it, I don't want to. So what about partnering up with a buyer's agent to increase volume while focusing on listings thumbs up or thumbs down?
Speaker 2:
56:50 uh, that is a huge thumbs up and personal experience. That's where I've seen your top 1.4 percent. Was that it?
Speaker 1:
56:59 well, this is the top one.
Speaker 2:
57:01 Yeah, 0.14 percent, 0.14 percent, excuse me, I mean it's like that's a very one percent.
Speaker 1:
57:06 I mean, if you are an agent, congratulations that closed more than 45 transactions in 2025, 2024. My personal congratulations because you can advertise that you are in the top point one. Four percent, yep, that's. That's. That is impressive, so my hat's off to you, because that takes systems in place and so forth. So, if you are one of those because that takes systems in place and so forth so if you are one of those individuals that have actually conquered that and would like to attend our podcast, here's an open invitation. There is a link that you can actually send me an email. I'd love to feature you as one of those in the top 0.14%. Let's go back to Dan Buter here and I'm going to let you finish this segment. Okay.
Speaker 1:
57:52 What are the takeaways that we should have for this conversation today, and I just would like for you to share three things that you have seen agents implement to get from zero to more than one transaction. Get out of your way, okay.
Speaker 2:
58:13 Get out of your own way, meaning, get out of your head and go take action. Number two have your plan in place, and the plan doesn't have to be that complicated. I'm going to make five connections a day, that's it. If you stick to make five connections a day, that's it. If you stick to that, you're great. Number three focus solely on, or as much as you can, real estate-related activities and, more specifically, income-producing activities. Going to a training, going to the office meeting, going to, you know, learning about some contract or something, it's all important, but that is not an income-producing activity. That's basically getting you into the door of where you can produce income. Don't forget about what we are in thisproducing activities, which means prospecting, open houses, farming, whatever it is that you find that works for you. Do it. Don't just rely on oh well, I went to the office today and I just hung around the water cooler for 15 minutes and then I got hungry and then I went home.
Speaker 1:
59:24 No, Two-hour lunch yeah, exactly. Happy hour yeah, Dan. I want to thank you tremendously for joining me on the podcast. It's been my pleasure. I plan on growing this to an audience that really wants to learn how to grow their business. How to grow their business. I will have not only your bio on the description of this podcast, but also a link for them to reach you.
Speaker 2:
59:53 I'd be happy to provide that, yeah.
Speaker 1:
59:55 Yeah, so I'm just honored that you drove 110 miles, I believe, to come to the studio. Yeah. We could have done this over the way, but it's important for you know, it's important for me and I just want to thank you, Dan, for making the investment of time to share your thoughts and your knowledge as to helping agents break through, going from average to extraordinary.
Speaker 2:
1:00:26 Once again. My name is Thank you.
Speaker 1:
1:00:27 You're welcome. My name is Jorge de Leon. I am a real estate broker with 30 years of experience, both in escrow title you know, never mortgage but brokerage and from new sales to residential sales. I have picked up a thing or two about what differentiates a real estate agent that wants to get into the business and for those that have actually gone the extra mile. Dan, we'll see you next time and we have plenty to talk about, and obviously we're going to come to you. Once that actually gets done, we will publish it and we would just like to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and share it if you see any value.
Speaker 2:
1:01:14 Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1:
1:01:15 I appreciate it. You're very welcome. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
