I have a question for you. As a real estate agent, how topical are you?

What do I mean by topical? In other words, when you watch the news at night, open up your web browser, or scroll through social media, a lot of real estate news hits us. Because we’re in the real estate business, we see a lot of news that affects us.

If it’s really top of mind for you, guess who else sees that? All of your clients see that too.

So when there’s a topic that’s hot, and you see a lot of trending discussion around that topic, what should you do with it? Well, you should speak to it. You should put out your own content where you talk about your opinion on that specific topic.

I’m going to give you two examples that fall into that realm right now—topics there’s been a lot of chatter about, two proposals by the current administration. You can agree or disagree with them, but there’s still a lot of chatter.

The two proposals: 50-year mortgages and portable mortgages.

Have you heard the chatter?

This...

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
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Have you ever heard the term heuristics? Heuristics with an H. If you haven’t, it’s an interesting concept that deals with the power of first impressions — how people perceive you and treat you.

As human beings, we do something we don’t even realize: we assess people within milliseconds of meeting them based on a lot of factors. One major factor is how they’re dressed, their demeanor, and their overall appearance. Those things play a big role in how we view someone — the respect we give them, how much confidence we have in what they say, and whether we believe them.

It’s all built into what’s called heuristics. The human brain developed this over tens of thousands of years because, back in the caveman days, we had to make split decisions. Can I trust this person? Should I run the other way? We had to decide quickly whether we were in a good environment or not.

Today, we can apply that to business. The way we approach a client, the way we’re dressed, our demeanor, our grooming, can c...

If we went through your SOI—your sphere of influence—I bet we’d find several people active on LinkedIn.

First question: are you on LinkedIn, and are you active there? You should be. But let’s set that aside and talk about what you can do on LinkedIn to really make an impact.

One of the easiest things you can do—something that takes just 10–15 minutes a week—is endorse a couple of people’s skills. LinkedIn makes this simple. You can say, “They’re great at marketing,” “They’re a strong presenter,” or “They provide excellent service.”

Whatever you truly believe they’re good at, endorse them.

Once you’ve endorsed their skills, let them know. Send a quick text or LinkedIn message:

“Hey, I took a minute today to endorse a couple of your skills. I’m doing this for a few friends. Just wanted to let you know. Hope you’re having a great day!”

That’s it. No ask. No expectation. Just a feel-good connection and a little gift they weren’t expecting. You’re being the Go-Giver, leading with valu...

As a real estate agent, you're probably looking for ways to generate leads in a unique or different way.

I'm going to give you one of those strategies right now. It’s completely outside the box, and I hope it gets your wheels turning and inspires a fresh perspective on your business.

Let me start with a fascinating statistic I first came across in The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley. I’ve researched it myself over the years, and it consistently holds true:

90% of all millionaires—and people who will become millionaires—have volunteered or are actively volunteering in a charitable organization within their local community.

So, ask yourself:

Are you modeling that behavior by getting involved in local charities?

If not, what would happen if you started?

Here’s what happens when you do:

You begin networking with great people—people who are already successful or on their way to success. You’re also giving back to your community in a way that aligns with your passions.

If you’re ...

If you're a broker, owner, or manager, here’s a key question for you:

Are you benchmarking your agents?

What do we mean by benchmarking? It means drawing a line in the sand—looking at what an agent has done over the past 12 months and what they want to accomplish in the next 12 months.

We call this Per Agent Productivity.

Start by measuring your entire office: What is your average per agent productivity?

Let’s say the average agent in your office is closing 6 transactions per year and doing $3 million in production. Once you know that number, and you must know that number, you can set a growth goal.

Now, based on that, figure out how you can push the envelope and go from 6 to 7, 8, 9, even 10 transactions per agent? What’s it going to take to make that happen?

It comes down to two things: recruiting and retention.

From a recruiting standpoint, your goal should be to help new agents outperform where they came from. This is another layer of benchmarking.

When an experienced agen...

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...

Here’s a question I get almost every day from people who think they need to start recruiting to grow their business.

As a real estate brokerage owner or team leader, the only way to grow profitability is by increasing the number of agents working for you.

You have to switch hats. Many of you are coming from being top-producing agents, where your focus is on personal production. But when you move to the brokerage side, it’s no longer just about your production—it’s about where production comes from.

Production doesn’t come from one, two, or even ten agents. It comes from a team of agents working under you. Your customers are no longer buyers and sellers. As a brokerage owner or team leader, your customers are agents.

If you want to grow, you need more customers—more agents. If you stay stagnant with the same number of agents, you won’t just fail to grow; you’ll become less profitable over time. Inflation is constantly eating away at your profit margins. It’s grow or die. Expanding y...

What if your next transaction is embedded in your current transactions? This is such an easy concept but often overlooked by many agents. Every escrow you have is a pathway to more escrows. Let me share three key strategies to help you leverage this opportunity.

First, introduce every single person you're in escrow with to your VIP program. You might say, "I don’t have a VIP program." Well, you need to start one. A VIP program simply means telling your clients:

"Now that you’re my client and we're closing this transaction, I’d like to invite you to my VIP club. Here’s how it works: If you hear someone thinking about doing real estate business and refer them to me—even if they don’t close—that act alone makes you a VIP. As part of the VIP club, you’ll get access to special events throughout the year, quarterly prizes, and a grand prize at the end of the year. Plus, for every referral you send, you’ll receive a small gift from me."

Your VIP program can look however you like, but the k...

How many referrals did you get last week?

If you received none or just one, you might be wondering, "How can I get more?"

Well, here's the secret: To get more referrals, you need to start by sending more referrals. It all begins with the concept of giving. When you give generously, the power of reciprocity comes into play, and you'll start receiving more referrals.

As REALTORS, we often act as real estate concierges, with a network of contacts at our fingertips. When clients ask for recommendations, it's common to say, "You should use my friend John for that. Let me send you his number." However, this might not be the most effective approach.

Instead, consider this value-added strategy to increase your referral potential. Say, "I have an excellent gardener who does exceptional work and offers my clients special deals. Would you mind if I give him a call and have him contact you, so he knows the referral comes from me?" People will likely agree, appreciating the added ...