Hey guys, did you know that in the last 12 months there’s been an average 7% increase in homeowners insurance rates? When people are homeowners and paying insurance, premiums on average have gone up 7%. In a lot of markets, it’s probably much higher than that.

When we hear this, we might say, “That doesn’t impact me. I’m a REALTOR. I’m not selling insurance.”

But this is actually an opportunity.

Everyone in our database has homeowners insurance. Why don’t you reach out to our database today and say, “Hey guys, you’ve probably noticed your homeowners insurance rates have gone up. I just want to be a resource for you. I’ve got a great contact—an insurance professional here in town. If you’re looking to shop your rate or get a different quote, I’d love to refer you to them. Just give me a quick call. I’ll make sure they put you at the top of the list and give you exceptional five-star service.”

Now, why don’t you just give them the name of the person to call?

The reason is you want t...

Hey guys, one of the things I always tell people when they’re starting out in the business is to watch what top professionals are doing and model other people’s success. When you do that, you unlock a bunch of “secrets.”

I’m going to share one secret right now that you may not have noticed, but once I say it, you’re going to dial in and think, “Ah, I have noticed that.” It’s one of those Captain Obvious things when you really look at it.

People who are doing a lot of real estate sales—$20, $30, $40, $50 million in production—often talk about new sales, listings, and closings by saying things like, “I just sold my friend a house. I just sold my buddy a house. I just helped my friends buy a duplex.”

Everyone they talk about is their friend.

Then you reflect on your own business and ask, “Why am I not selling as much real estate as they are?” They put their pants on one leg at a time just like me. They’re not working ten times harder than me.

The reason is simple: they have more frie...

For you agents out there, I’ve got a question: have you mapped home anniversaries for your entire database?

What does that mean? When we help someone buy a home, we automatically record the closing date in our CRM. If you haven’t been doing that, start now. If you haven’t done it for your whole career, go back and do it for every house you’ve ever sold.

When that anniversary date comes up—January, February, March, April, May, whenever—you now have a reason to call those clients and say, “Hey, happy six-year home anniversary. Can you believe it’s already been six years?”

Then you say, “Guess what? It’s your turn for a home equity analysis. I like to update all my friends on how much money they’ve made on their house over the last 12 months.”

You tell them, “Here’s what you’ve made. Percentage-wise, it looks like about $22,000.”

That’s a great present to get every year. Your clients will love this.

Second, you follow it up by saying, “By the way, if you know anybody buying or selli...

As a brokerage owner or team leader in charge of recruiting, where is the number one source of recruits for your team or office? Where are you going to get the most recruits?

It’s an interesting question, right? You might think it comes from video, cold calling, sending texts, video texts — all the things we talk about in recruiting. I’m going to tell you: all those things play a part, for sure.

But the number one recruiting source for brokers and team leaders across the country comes from one area: referrals from your current team.

Just like agents, whose number one source of business is their SOI — their Sphere of Influence — our number one source of recruits is the same.

It comes from your own version of an SOI: your agent body.

Now, what if your agents right now are not referring more agents? You might ask, “Why aren’t they sending me agents?” That should be your number one source of recruiting. Why aren’t they doing it?

A few reasons:

• You’re not close enough with them. Yo
...

How many referrals would you like to receive next week?

If you could just say, “Hey, I want to receive referrals,” how many would that be? Now, everybody would say, “As many as possible,” but let’s be realistic. How many have you received this year? What’s been your average? You’ve probably been getting one a week. For most of you, that’s not the case.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you just got one referral next week? What if you got two? Wouldn’t that be absolutely incredible?

You might say, “How can I start to juice this? How can I get referrals to start flowing to me regularly?”

We often think of it in terms of our spheres of influence, which is good. But we can also get referrals from another category, another source — and that is B2B referrals.

What’s B2B? Business-to-business. We’re always looking at business-to-consumer, B2C, but B2B is a powerful, powerful strategy for you.

Let me give you a good example. If I want to start receiving one referral a week, maybe two, what shoul...

Brokerages owners, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before, but I want to give you a different spin on it.

When I’m talking to agents, I give them what I call my “4-1-1-1 Strategy.”

For them, that means:

1. Lead generate for one hour a day
2. Set one appointment a day
3. Go on one appointment a day
4. Add one new person to their sphere of influence each day

If agents do that consistently, they’ll see transformation in their business within 30 days.

But what if I told you, as a brokerage owner, that you could apply your own version of the 4-1-1-1 Strategy to create transformation for yourself?

Here’s what I’ve found: the most successful recruiters in the country—the ones consistently bringing on experienced agents month after month—operate just like top-producing agents.

Most of their recruits—70%, 80%, sometimes even 90%—come as referrals from people already in their office. They’ve built such strong relationships that their agents become evangelists, out there singing their ...

Quick question: Have you put your sphere of influence to work? If not, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

Think of your sphere as a massive sales army. Maybe you have 100 people, maybe 200, maybe 500. But are you actually putting them to work?

That means programming their reticular activator—the brain’s pattern recognition system—to look for real estate opportunities. We all have it, and you can tap into it. I’ll give you two simple techniques.

First technique:

When you’re talking to someone this week, try this script:

“Here’s a crazy stat that might blow your mind—within the next two weeks, you’re going to hear of someone who wants to buy or sell real estate. You might not think so because you’re not tuned in to it, but just watch. And when you do, think of me. If you can, I’d love for you to send me that referral.”

What happens? Almost inevitably, they’ll hear about someone buying or selling a house within the next couple of weeks.

For the second strategy, say this:

“As we he...

Here's a question for you: Are you a real estate concierge?

What’s a concierge? If you’ve ever been to a hotel with one, they’re the people who connect you with local shows, restaurants, and experiences. They make your stay smoother and more enjoyable.

That’s exactly the approach we should be taking with our clients—and even our potential clients.

You can start the conversation like this, “Hey, as a real estate professional, I work with vendors all the time—gardeners, plumbers, electricians, carpet installers, landscapers, you name it. If you ever need anything related to real estate, call me. I can connect you with the best.”

Because I refer clients to these vendors regularly, my clients usually get the best pricing—and they move to the front of the line. It’s a win-win.

When you position yourself as the go-to person for anything home-related, you naturally start having more conversations with clients. They’ll call you and ask, “Who’s your landscaper?”

You say, “I’ve got a great...

As a brokerage owner or leader of a real estate company, you probably remind your agents every week that the best way to grow their business is by engaging their Sphere of Influence (SOI) and consistently asking for referrals.

But are we holding ourselves to the same standard?

We should be asking our own agents for referrals and recommendations about who we should be talking to in the marketplace.

Questions to ask regularly:

1. “Who are the top agents you’ve worked with in the last six months that would be a good fit here?”
2. “In that last transaction, how did Bob do? Would he be a good fit for our company?”
3. “Is there anyone I shouldn’t talk to—any red flags in the marketplace?”

By engaging agents consistently and requesting their generosity, they start to understand the importance of referrals—just like our clients do when we ask.

Agents aren’t conditioned to send referrals unless we ask. The best time to ask is right after you’ve helped them like after:

• Solving a problem
• H
...

Let’s say you got a referral today. What's your next step?

You should have a series of steps you follow every time. When you systemize how you approach referrals, sure enough, more referrals come your way.

Let’s start with what NOT to do: We’re not just going to send a silly little gift card or a coffee card as a thank-you. That would be ridiculous. We should do way more than that.

Think about it—this is the apex point. Everything you do with your SOI (sphere of influence) is leading up to getting a referral. And when you finally get that payoff, when someone actually sends you a referral, wouldn’t it be crazy to just send them a $5 or $10 gift card?

That’s why we're going way bigger than that.

So here’s a list of things to consider:

First, call them and thank them. If you haven’t already, send them a handwritten note: “Hey, thank you so much. I appreciate the referral.”

Then praise them publicly on social media. Make a post thanking them. This encourages others in your SOI to t...