Author: admin_jq3l4bdc

Bob: Hey, Dan. I saved $15,000 on a lawyer by representing myself!

Dan: Good for you! Let’s go out and celebrate!

Bob: OK, but can you wait two years? I’m in jail right now.

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You’ve heard the ads.

“Jonny hired ‘FSBO Inc’ and saved over $15,000!”

 Really? How does Johnny know he saved $15,000? How does he know he didn’t actually lose money by choosing not to hire an experienced, highly skilled agent?

Answer: Johnny doesn’t know, and he’ll never know because he’s already sold his home to some lucky buyer who cashed in on his massive naivety.

You’re a professional REALTOR®, so you know exactly what I’m talking about, right? 

But how do we explain this to the public?

How about simply telling them the straight-up truth?

(Note: You might need to tone down my snarkiness a smidge.)

The straight-up truth about FSBO, Inc:

1. They claim you’re going to get “professional representation” to help with all the paperwork, marketing, negotiating, etc. Ask yourself one simple question: If these people were actually good at what they do, why are they working for peanuts for ‘FSBO Inc’? 

2. When it comes to negotiating, you’re on your own (see #1 above). So, how do you think you’re going to fare negotiating your first real estate transaction against a shark who does this for a living? 

3. Despite the “rules,” most agents will avoid showing your property and will discourage buyers from writing an offer on it. Why?

First, there’s a high probability that it’s overpriced, based on the combination of the terrible advice you’ve received from the FSBO “agent” and your own “feelings” about what your home is worth.

Second, every professional REALTOR® knows that working directly with a FSBO seller is likely to be a painful experience compared to dealing with a professional. It’s usually twice as much work and three times as much stress. 

Third, there are additional legal liability concerns because a FSBO is simply not held to the same reporting and disclosure standards compared to a professional real estate brokerage.

4. You really have no choice but to pay the buyer’s side of the commission anyway (you already know how to explain this.) On top of that, there are listing costs from ‘FSBO, Inc’ that need to be paid up-front, whether you sell or not. So tell me again, how much are you going to “save”? 

5. Quality of Buyers – There are three types of buyers. (1) Potential Buyers – anyone who wants to buy a home, (2) Qualified Buyers – those who have the ability to buy a home, and, (3) Serious Buyers – those who are actively looking to buy a home. 

But the ONLY buyers who matter are both (2) qualified and (3) serious. You can have a serious buyer who isn’t qualified, or a qualified buyer who isn’t serious, right? So, guess what? 

Almost ALL serious, qualified buyers are working with a professional real estate agent – the ones who want to avoid showing your FSBO! 

The people who call you directly? Those are potential buyers, but are they qualified? Are they serious? How will you know? Have fun showing your home to a bunch of looky-loos who have no intention of ever buying.

Let’s expand on this and look at serious, qualified buyers from a different perspective. All of the following buyers are both serious and qualified:

‘A’ Buyers 

‘A’ Buyers are every REALTOR®’s dream client. They’re getting transferred from a city where prices are significantly higher than in your market. For me (Calgary), this could mean they’re coming from Toronto or Vancouver. If you’re in one of those cities, maybe your buyer is international, Hong Kong or New York, for example. 

These buyers are moving to your market area because they’re probably getting a promotion/raise, and they’ve got a pocket full of cash, having just sold their home in (expensive city). They’re working with a highly qualified agent referred by their trusted local agent, and they’re flying in on the weekend to look at ten homes and choose the best one.

They can’t believe the “bargains” in your city! But guess what? The REALTOR® wants to make the most of the short time they have together, so they’re not going to waste valuable time looking at FSBOs.

No ‘A’ buyers for you!

‘B’ Buyers

These buyers are local, but they’ve just sold their existing home. They’ve got a short window of opportunity to find their new home, and they’ve already developed trust and rapport with their agent, so guess what? This agent isn’t going to waste time with their valuable repeat-business clients looking at FSBOs.

No ‘B’ buyers for you! 

‘C’ Buyers 

These are first-time buyers. They’re scared, and they don’t know the process. They were referred to their agent by their parents or someone else they trust. The agent takes this responsibility seriously and will not risk getting into a messy deal with a FSBO. 

No ‘C’ buyers for you!

‘D’ Buyers 

These are bargain hunters and investors. They know the market, and they’re looking for people selling undervalue. They LOVE ❤️working with FSBOs!

Congratulations! You get all the ‘D’ buyers!

You still think you “saved” $15,000, Johnny?

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(Thanks to my friend Pete for this simple A/B/C/D presentation. He does it on a whiteboard, overflowing with confidence, and he’s never once in his entire career NOT successfully converted a FSBO back to their senses.

Honestly, despite my snarkiness oozing in this article, the truth is:

I feel sorry for FSBOs.

I mean, how are they supposed to know, if you don’t explain it to them?

I completely understand how people can conclude that FSBO is the way to go, if they’ve had one or more bad experiences with an unskilled, unprofessional, apathetic agent, which—let’s be honest—is not a rarity.

These agents are the seagulls of the bird world – obnoxiously loud, squawking scavengers who serve no useful purpose, at least to the untrained ornithological eye. I’m sure seagulls are good for something (?).

No wonder people turn to FSBO Companies. They think we’re ALL seagulls.

Are you a seagull? Or are you an eagle?

Be an eagle. If we were all eagles, ‘FSBO Inc’ would not even exist.

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Disclaimer: The Agent Skills Master’s Program contains NOTHING about FSBOs in the entire course. I’ll fix that with the next update, but here’s why it never occurred to me to include it the first time around:

I always knew how to demonstrate my value. As a result, I attracted high-quality clients who trusted me as a professional and would never even consider selling their own home, or represent themselves in court, for that matter. 

If you really want to convince people not to go FSBO, demonstrate your value with actions, not words. It’s not as difficult as it sounds.

Be an eagle.

Meeting and connecting with all different people is a big part of what makes real estate fun.

This has nothing to do with being introverted or extroverted. Introverts may be less comfortable in a big crowd (at a party, for example), but they can be masterful at connecting one-on-one. 

The key thing is that you enjoy people – all kinds of people – and you’re open to learning from them. What makes them happy? What is important to them? What good things are happening in their lives, and what are some of their challenges?

If you have the attitude that you can connect with and learn from almost anyone, and you have the ability to apply what you‘ve learned, you’re going to be a success.

But even though we should all try to grow and become better at whatever we do, and a lot of that growth comes from our personal interactions, there’s more to life than just personal growth. Sometimes we just need to stop and enjoy what we have.

Unless you’re a psychopath or a narcissist (or both!), the personal connections you make during your short time on this earth are what make life worth living. The more true friendships you have, the happier and more satisfied you will be.

If you value personal relationships and you want to connect more with people, sometimes you need to stop being a REALTOR® for a while. Take the time to enjoy having a normal conversation that has nothing to do with real estate and build your personal connections.

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Do you ever feel regret at the end of a business transaction that you’re not going to get to spend time with your new “friends” any longer?

If you feel that way, they probably do too. So how do you go about converting a business relationship into an ongoing friendship?

It’s easier than you think, but someone has to make the first move. Here’s a simple suggestion:

Invite them to your home for dinner. This is more personal and meaningful than just meeting at a restaurant. Maybe you invite another couple you think they will like, also. Make a night of it!

If you’re worried about this being too weird, use the excuse that it’s a thing you do for your favorite clients to show appreciation for their business. After all, if you feel an affinity towards them, they’re feeling it too, and they’re going to truly appreciate the opportunity to get to know you on a personal level after business has concluded. 

This could be the first step towards a lifelong friendship!

I tell you this with regret in my heart ❤️ that nobody ever suggested it to me.  I’ve made so many close personal connections to clients over the years that never ended up going anywhere. Why? Because I was too shy to pursue the relationship outside of the confines of business.

I wish I had.   

After all, life is so much more than how many transactions you completed last year. If you can find a way to combine business with pleasure, why not?

Does this describe you?

“I didn’t get into real estate to run a business. I got into it to make money and have fun and wield my skills and talents. I just want to sell my craft and not worry about the business end of things – It’s too hard, it takes too much time, and it’s just too heavy.”

I totally understand. Honest. 

And, I have three possible solutions. Pick the one that works for you:

1. Join a team! 

The team is a business, but they take care of all that yucky stuff you hate. That sounds good, right? But nothing in this world is free.

The biggest trade-off is making less money. But perhaps even more importantly, you will now have significantly less freedom. Now, you need to follow the team leader’s orders, including learning cheesy scripts, chasing crappy leads, and working the phones for hours every day. 

If this appeals to you, I have no idea what brought you to read this blog post because I just described the antithesis of Agent Skills.

To be fair, there are many different team models, including small customer-service-focused teams with support staff – including a business manager – where you might be very happy. This could be worth exploring if this concept appeals to you.

2. Do nothing!

Choosing to do nothing is a choice unto itself.

You get up every day, you react as best as you can to whatever is going on, you go to bed, and then you get up and do it all over again. 

You’re doing okay, right? Maybe you’re not the most organized person in the world, but the deals come together, and you’re making a decent living, right?

No? ☹️

Hey, if you’re not satisfied with your career and you don’t want to join a team, you still have one last option:

3. Quit yer bawlin’!

Sorry! Not sorry! It’s all in your head that the business end of real estate is so excruciating. Learning a few business skills makes your life massively easier—not harder! When you have business skills, your life is more fun, not less fun!

Face the facts. If you want real success in real estate, you have to put on your big-girl panties and learn some basic business skills.

The more you learn, the more money you will make (and keep), and eventually, you’ll have your own full-time all-star assistant who can take care of all the mundane tasks you hate doing and free up your time to make even more money.

In the meantime, you don’t have to do everything yourself! In fact, I recommend against doing the things that you hate, especially if they’re not directly related to making money. But you can’t just ignore those things; you need to hire them out to the right people. This is an important part of being an effective business manager.

Learning how to get more done, more effectively, in less time, requires hard work, sacrifice, and taking on some things you’re not thrilled about. For now. 

This is the cold hard truth for every single successful business person who has ever lived.

So, quit yer bawlin’. Learn some skills, implement them, and watch your business grow! The time you invest now will pay off for you a hundred times over in the future.

Are you a time-optimist? ⏱️

A time-optimist is a person who always thinks they can fit in one more thing, or they allow just enough time to get things done under ideal circumstances. 

In other words, they’re late for everything.

They always have an excuse which they breathlessly explain immediately upon arrival. Once you get to know the time-optimist, it’s sort of a game to guess what excuse they will use this time.

Me? I’m early for everything, which means I’m a time-pessimist. I worry about being late. 

To me, being late goes hand-in-hand with being disorganized and ineffective. Let’s look at a simple example to illustrate what I mean:

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Me (a time-pessimist) and Otis (a time-optimist) both have listing appointments at 3:00 pm this afternoon. Coincidentally, the properties are side by side.

I completed my initial CMA two days ago, fine-tuned it yesterday at 10:30 am, and reviewed it again today at 2:00 pm, an hour before my appointment. These events didn’t happen by fluke or because I’ve got more time to burn than Otis has. On the contrary, I’m far busier than Otis is, but I run my life by controlling my calendar. 

I purposely scheduled ‘Appointments with Myself’ to ensure each step of my CMA process – including the fine-tuning session and final review – got completed on time.

My listing appointment is only 15 minutes away, but I leave at 2:30, just in case there’s heavy traffic or something else goes wrong.

I sail straight there and arrive early at 2:45. No problem. I park down the street and quickly review my CMA one more time. I’m feeling very confident with it, so I use the remaining extra time to check and respond to my messages.

Deliberately allowing extra time between appointments is one reason I’m always on top of everything. After all, I can run my entire life off my smartphone. Can’t you?

At 2:55, I drive up to the house, park in the driveway, and quickly review my notes one last time before ringing the doorbell at precisely 3:00 pm. I go in, nail it, and walk out with the signed listing contract.

During that appointment, a funny thing happens. At around 3:07, I hear a car screeching to a stop outside, followed by a door-slam and rapid-fire footsteps.

That was Otis showing up seven minutes late. He left his office “on time” at 2:45, but apparently, he hit every red light on the way. That was his excuse this time. He uses that one quite frequently, now that I think about it. 

As always, Otis has been super busy, so he never got around to starting his CMA until 2:00 pm (actually, it was 2:11). On the way over, he glanced over his CMA at the red lights, realized he messed it all up, and ended up stumbling through his presentation and not making much of an impression. 

It turns out he’d already lost the listing at 3:05 anyway, before he even got there. Why? 

Because his potential client was a time-pessimist (like me), and she was incensed that Otis would show up late for such an important meeting.

If you’re a time-optimist, know this: Time-pessimists don’t buy into your feeble excuses for always being late. We see this as a weakness of character and completely disrespectful of our time. After all, we make sure we’re on time for appointments. Why can’t you?

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Let’s take a look at why Otis’s life is so hectic. Is he just plain way busier than me? It sure seems that way.

Nope! In fact, I’m doing three times the volume of business compared to Otis. There are numerous reasons for this, but I’ll tell you one of the most important:

I’m not a time-optimist.

If you are one, it’s time to get more pessimistic (about time)!

This is a massive topic that’s not going to get resolved by reading a three-minute blog post. But here’s a hot tip to get you started:

Stop trying to be on time, and start planning (using your calendar) to be 15 minutes early. Just try it for one week, and then tell me you aren’t far more efficient and organized.

A 15-minute time shift can completely change your life.

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A personal note from Ted: I’m a natural-born optimist about most things, but when it comes to time, I’m a pessimist. It’s basically part of my DNA to fret over being late, which I’m grateful for.

But being a time-pessimist doesn’t mean I’m a naturally organized person. In fact, I’ve got a not-so-mild form of ADHD, and I’ve had to learn skills to overcome this. Otherwise, I’d be a total mess.

The point is if you’re a time-optimist, and you think there’s nothing you can do about it, stop fooling yourself. The skills you need to stop feeling so out of control and behind all the time are entirely learnable.

Last week, I talked about Defending Your Commission by presenting yourself as a rare pink diamond instead of a crusty old rock from the pawnshop.

If you’re a highly skilled and experienced agent, who consistently delivers outstanding results, shouldn’t you get paid more than the ‘average’ agent?

Certainly, but it should be through increased demand for your services and improved efficiencies—not by charging more, one deal at a time. I mean, you could charge more, but is it really worth it? 

Big picture thinking is how much you make in a year. Small picture thinking is how much you make on an individual transaction. 

Let’s say you charge a little more to ten different clients, enough to make up one full extra commission. You do a great job for all ten clients, and they all still recommend you to their friends, but now it’s with a caveat, “He’s great, but he charges a bit more,”

You’ll never know it, but that caveat was enough to prevent two potential clients from calling. You think you’re one commission ahead, but actually, you’re two behind. And the missed opportunities snowball from there.

Besides, the public should expect a high level of service to warrant a five-figure expense for a single transaction, don’t you think? I want my clients to say I was worth every penny, and then some. I want to confidently tell my clients that I charge only the average rate, but I deliver results miles above average.

This is a hot topic for me right now because I’ve recently heard about a Mega Team where the new agents have to sign a contract (I’ve seen it) agreeing to a commission split of 30/70 (30% for them and 70% for the team leader) if they charge “only” the typical prevailing rate in their market.

To “earn” the “full” 50% split on a $500,000 property, the commission earned on the seller’s agent portion is over 84% higher than the prevailing rate!  

This percentage goes higher and higher on more expensive properties, crossing the 100% higher threshold at $800,000.

Essentially, this means that the seller is now paying three full commissions—one to the buyer’s agent, one to the seller’s agent, and one to the seller’s agent’s boss—the greedy Mega Agent who is doing absolutely nothing. If only the sellers knew that the famous Mega Agent cares so little about their listing, he’s probably not even aware of its existence.

All commissions are negotiable, but in my opinion, charging this much is an obscene abuse of the public’s trust. Do you think these Mega Team agents tell their clients the “standard” rates charged by the majority of their competitors? I think not.

And by the way, who do you think is willing to pay these outrageous fees? I’ll tell you who:

Honest, trusting people who don’t know any better, including the elderly and immigrants. 

The sad irony is that the folks paying these ridiculously high commissions probably actually believe they’re getting more for their money. But despite the flashy advertising and misleading promises, the listing agent they’re dealing with is most likely inexperienced, unskilled, and poorly trained. 

The Mega Team is charging more money for an inferior level of service compared to any high-integrity, highly-skilled, individual agent (or small customer-service-focused team). 

Think about how you would feel if your parents or grandparents were taken advantage of in this way.

I’ll tell you how it makes me feel. My blood is boiling as I write this, and if you know me, you know it’s not going to end here in this little blog post. Stay tuned…

Hold onto your integrity. It’s worth a thousand times more than charging even a tiny bit more on a single commission.

During my full-time career, I was rarely ever asked for a reduction of my commission. There’s a good reason for this, which I will explain within this post.

Early on, when I was a relative newbie, I’ll admit that I caved and negotiated a reduced rate on a few occasions.

I regretted it every single time.

Turns out, it’s the people who respect your value the least who are the most demanding of your time and also the biggest pains in the butt.

If I could do it all over again, I would never give a discount, even if it meant losing a deal now and then. I’ve learned that if you turn away one pain-in-the-butt client, somehow you gain two super-nice ones!

If you keep this in mind, it’s hugely liberating when you can muster the courage to decline a marginal listing – one that you know is going to be a pain-in-the-butt.

Think about it. You always know, don’t you?

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The biggest reason I hardly ever got asked to reduce my commission is because I’d already sold them on hiring me long before the topic of commissions came up.

Not to blast my own trombone, but purchasing a rare one-of-a-kind diamond is not the same as shopping for the cheapest rock at the pawnshop. Try asking for a discount on the perfect one-carat pink at Tiffany’s. 

The trick is to cast yourself as the rare pink diamond, not the ugly pawnshop rock.

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Within my listing presentation, I don’t even mention the commission. I wait until we’re reviewing the contract, at which point I tell them the rate and then move on to the next clause. At this point, they’ve already decided to hire me, and it’s a moot point.

The worst thing you can do is to make the commission a point of discussion.

If they ask, I just tell them I charge the exact same rate to everyone because I don’t feel it’s fair to run my business any other way. My rates are consistent, and so is the extremely high level of service that I offer to each and every client. I can say this with absolute confidence because it’s true.

Their response 99% of the time is, “Okay, that’s fine. Thank you.”

If they persist, my spidey senses kick in, and I will politely suggest that there are plenty of discount agents they could hire, but of course, you get what you pay for, just like everything in life. Then I’ll explain how the commission works and how they need to ensure that the discount agent reduces their rate from their side only, not the buyer’s agent side.

Then I’ll ask them if a discount agent can’t defend their own value, do they really believe they’re going to stand up and defend the value of their property? Do they really think they’re going to get the equivalent level of skill, experience, and dedication that they’re getting from me? Do they really think that a discount agent will deliver anywhere close to the same sale price that I can?! 

What’s more important? Saving a few pennies on the commission or a much higher net result?

I explain these things with a look of incredulous indignation. Then they apologize profusely, and I forgive them and move on.

It’s all about presenting yourself with confidence and authority and knowing in your heart that you actually are a rare pink diamond and not a cubic zirconia. Otherwise, it’s all fake, and I don’t do fake. 

If you’re not currently a pink diamond, it’s easy to learn to be one.

How often have you heard this?

“My clients like the property, but they don’t want to participate in multiple offers.”

I roll my eyes and have the overwhelming urge to respond in my snarkiest voice, “So your clients would prefer to have ZERO chance rather than SOME chance? They’d rather wait until there’s an inferior listing that nobody else wants?”

I have to restrain myself, every time.

Of course, I’ve had my own clients who suffered from FoMO Syndrome. They heard some obscure story about “bidding wars” and didn’t want to get suckered into paying more than they wanted to, somehow.

“I sure don’t want to get into a bidding war!”

So I educated them. Starting with this:

There’s no such thing as a bidding war!

It’s your job to explain how our system actually works and how your clients could still “win” in a multiple offer scenario without paying a dime more than they want to. 

I mean, if there are 14 offers on the property, and they want to write $25K under, forget it.

But I’ve written offers under list and won in multiple-offer situations numerous times in my career. It just depends on the circumstances. The bottom line is if you don’t try, you definitely don’t win.

It seems appropriate to quote the Great One on this topic.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

What’s the worst thing that can happen? You don’t score. But sometimes, you get a fluky one, even if you’re shooting from outside the blue line.

Here’s what I’ve found from experience: Once you’ve convinced your clients that there are zero risks and nothing to lose by giving it an honest try, their mindset shifts. 

Before, they were adamant, “No possible way are we competing!” 

But after you educate them, “If we’re going to compete, what is the highest price we’re willing to pay?”

Next, they’re asking what you think it will take to “win.”

I usually give my clients a range of probabilities based on my experience. For example, “At this price, I’d guess you’ve got a 50/50 shot. At this price, maybe it’s 75%, or at this price, 10%. 

But 10% is still better than 0%!”

Of course, I underscore all this with the standard, “there’s no way to know for sure” speech. Then let them decide. Your job is to provide guidance. It’s up to them to determine how much they want it.

This is not about manipulating your client and talking them into doing something they don’t want to do. It’s the opposite of that! It’s about educating them so they won’t miss out on a golden opportunity for no good reason.

I can’t even count how many times my clients started with a severe case of FoMO Syndrome and ended up winning a multiple-offer scenario, just because I took a few minutes to cure them. ‍⚕️ 

Even if they weren’t successful, the experience of writing and submitting an offer was great “practice” for them, and they were far less hesitant—downright enthusiastic in fact—the next time around. 

Education is the best path towards overcoming an irrational fear.

Just remember, if your clients are suffering from FoMO Syndrome, it’s your fault – not theirs.

Most REALTORS®: “If only I had more leads, I’d be wildly successful.”

Me: “Leads schmeads.”

I never chased a cold lead once in my life, but somehow still earned yearly commissions in the upper $800,000’s as an individual agent.

I did it by consistently and thoroughly impressing my clients and building a business that generated a never-ending stream of incoming referrals. Of course, referrals are leads too, but they’re blazing red-hot leads like the surface of Venus, not stone frigid blue like Pluto. 

There’s a world of difference.

One of the ways I impressed my clients was keeping the tough deals together, sometimes with duct tape and Krazy glue, or whatever was needed. After all, we are problem solvers; the better we are at finding solutions, the more successful deals we complete, and the more referrals we get.

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Last week, in The Dreaded Question Every Agent Gets Asked, I talked about how the public tends to put so much importance on your “marketing plan,” but marketing is only one of many important components of your work. For example, your communication strategy with your clients is even more important than your marketing plan. 

You’ve got an unmotivated buyer or seller. What do you do?

You’ve just had a bad home inspection. What do you do?

You’re dealing with an inexperienced, unskilled agent. What do you do?

You’ve got to be tenacious, creative, and skilled to keep the tough deals together, and reduce the time you spend dealing with bad situations.

Most agents give up way too easily. They explain to me what happened and why their deal blew up as if it was inevitable, So I ask them: Did you try this? Did you explain this to your clients? Did you try bridging the gap this way?

“No, I never thought of any of those things….”

The skills needed to keep more deals together and make more money are entirely learnable and almost always revolve around better communication.

But rather than me trying to explain how to deal with a thousand different scenarios, if you’re experiencing a difficult situation right now, please give me a call, and maybe I can help you put a different spin on things.

If it’s too late, perhaps at least I can suggest a way to avoid a similar situation in the future. Almost certainly it’s got something to do with having better communication before the problem comes up.

I’m dead serious about calling me. Do you know why I started Agent Skills? It’s because I love helping agents from all over North America, and I’d love to brainstorm a solution with you.

Quite honestly, even if I can’t help you in your current situation, understanding your challenges may help me to improve my program, so it’s a win-win.

Here’s my phone number 403-973-9730. Call me now!