If you have a listing that's been lingering on the market, I like to have a “positional pricing” conversation with my seller.

What does that mean? That's for a seller who's not quite ready to do a full price reduction, but they would definitely look at an offer.

So my conversation looks like this. I'll say:

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"Hey Mr. or Mrs. Seller, I know you're not quite ready to do a full-blown price adjustment yet, but can I give you an idea?

And my idea is this: when we have the next showing or we do the next open house and we have attendees, what I like to do is, with your permission, call that buyer or that buyer's agent and say, ‘hey, my seller's gearing up to do a price adjustment soon. Not quite yet, but we wanted to give you some advance notice, so we are going to make you an offer on this home that is going to be reflective of the price that we're going to be going to in MLS, but that's going to be a little bit off, a ways off.

So here's our price for you:”

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So what are we doing...

What’s your response when the buyer says to you, “I think we're going to put a pin in this right now. We're just going to wait and see what happens with the market.”

Your first response should be, “Hey, totally understand. Let me ask you, what do you see as the advantages to waiting?”

Dig deeper. Figure out what's going on in their heads.

Most of the time they're going to say that they’re waiting for interest rates to drop or prices to fall.

When you hear that, what are you going to do?

You could say, “Well, we'll wait and see with you,” and then follow up in six months. But if you do that, they'll end up signing up on some lead form, getting captured by another agent, going to an open house, or being connected with someone else through a referral, and you're probably going to lose them.

That's the reality.

So instead of doing that, here's what I'd recommend.

Say, “Hey, totally get it. Waiting for interest rates to stop seems like a safe bet, seems like the wise decision to mak...

We’ve all heard of a listing presentation and a buyer presentation. Hopefully, you’re already doing those. But let me give you another spin on that—what I call a success portfolio.

Think about when you hire a photographer, architect, or wedding planner. They always have a portfolio to show their previous work. A photographer might showcase wedding or graduation photos. A wedding planner highlights past events. An architect shows their plans and finished projects.

Why not do the same thing as a REALTOR? Every year, go back 12 months and highlight your successes. Showcase the buyers and sellers you worked with, the marketing strategies you used, and the testimonials you received.

For example:

• “These buyers thought they wanted this, but we ended up finding them that—here’s how we guided the process.”
• “This seller wanted to market the home a certain way, but we introduced fresh ideas, highlighted a unique feature, and positioned the home around its million-dollar view.”

That beco...

Let’s say you meet a buyer at an open house, online, or at an event, and you think, "Hey, I’ve got a hot lead here." Then they cool off. Ever have that happen?

Here’s the issue: Most buyers are not immediate buyers. About 75% of buyers are in the buying cycle for six to nine months before they actually close. Only around 25% of the people you meet will buy within the next 30 days.

The problem is, most agents don’t have a strong follow-up plan.

Your follow-up process should have at least five touchpoints during the buying cycle—and for many of us, it probably needs more.

Think about your follow-up: How often are you reaching out? And how many different media channels are you using?

Sure, you can just call. Or just text. Or send video texts. Or rely on social media. Or mail letters.

But really, you should be doing all of it.

The one thing I want to emphasize today is the concept of a video drip campaign.

This is a system anyone can implement, yet almost no one is doing it.

Even ...

This is the season of open houses. We should be doing more open houses than ever. When you’re hosting them, think about incorporating curiosity questions into your conversational strategy. Curiosity questions can unlock the door to continuing a relationship after someone leaves your open house.

Let me give you an example. What if I said, "Hey, feel free to walk around the house. I’ll answer any questions you have and point out some unique features. But one quick question for you— the seller has authorized me to give anyone who’d like a copy of the CMA we used to price the property. The comparative market analysis—it's almost like an appraisal. Would you like a copy of that?"

This is catnip to most buyers. They usually can’t resist wanting it. Often, they’ll say yes. I’ll respond, “Great! I can text it to you or email it to you—what would you prefer?”

Now I’ve gotten permission to continue the relationship.

Of course, before I make this approach, I would’ve cleared it with the selle...

Guys, I’ve got a great strategy for working with buyers. One of the biggest concerns buyers have is understanding the paperwork involved in real estate. It’s a real fear point—not just for buyers but for sellers too. But let’s focus on buyers for now.

Let’s take a different approach when handling paperwork with buyers. Here’s the worst thing you can do as an agent: You take a buyer out, show them homes, and they get excited about a specific one. Then, you bring them back to the office and say, “Okay, it’s time to write the offer.” You pull out 30–40 pages of paperwork, and suddenly, that excitement turns into hesitation. It feels like a bucket of cold water being dumped on them. They start second-guessing everything.

So, how do we prevent that? You take the sting out of the paperwork early. Here’s how:

During your initial consultation with the buyer, you say:

"One of the biggest value points I bring to the table is guiding you through the paperwork. There’s a lot—typically 30+ page...

Hey guys, I want to give you a strategy as we head into the busiest season of the year for listings—February, March, April, and May. This is when the most homes hit the market, so it’s the perfect time to ramp up your efforts.

I’ve got two strategies that can help.

1. Create a Real Estate Resume

A real estate resume highlights your background, skills, education, and successes. Keep it simple—just a one-page document. You can use Canva, where you'll find plenty of great resume templates. Pick one, customize it, and build out your real estate resume.

Once it's ready, send it out to your entire database with a cover letter. The letter should say something like:

"As we enter the busiest season of the year, I wanted to share my real estate resume in case you know any buyers or sellers looking for an agent. I’d love to interview for the job of helping them buy or sell their home."

This positions you as a professional and keeps you top of mind with potential clients.

2. Build & Share Y...

Okay, guys, here’s some great language to use with buyers who are on the fence. When you’re following up—because we should all be following up—you can say something like this:

“Hey, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know I’ve been thinking about you. Now that we’re in a new year, I wanted to talk to you about all the new listings starting to hit the market. February, March, April, and May are when we see the most listings, which means the most opportunities. In fact, we have 10% more inventory on the market this year compared to last year. So, I wanted to reconnect and see if we could start looking at some properties together.

“Now, I know you might have some concerns about pricing and finding the right value. Here’s the key message: When you work with me, we’re not buying the market—we’re buying a specific home. My job is to ensure you get the absolute best pricing and value on the home that fits your needs.”

You can also add a personal story to connect with them, li...

Other than your direct sphere of influence, what’s the second-best source of business for REALTORS? Let me share my perspective and see if it aligns with yours.

We know 70–80% of our business comes from our sphere. So, what should we focus on to generate the remaining 20–30%? In my 35 years of coaching, I believe the biggest opportunity lies in your buyer pool.

Buyers are the ultimate magnet for sellers. The question is, are you using your buyers effectively as a lure? I call this strategy In Search Of (ISO) ads. Here’s how it works:

Think of yourself as a fisherman. The lure on the end of your line could be a free CMA or tips on getting top dollar for a home. But the best lure is a live buyer ready to purchase.

For example, if I have a buyer interested in a specific neighborhood, I’ll let the neighborhood know:

• "I’ve got a live buyer moving from Sacramento. They’re ready to purchase within the next couple of months, but nothing on the market has met their needs. Would you consi
...

The NAR settlement, which will happen in mid-July (but you’ll start seeing this already): You're going to see a rise of unrepresented buyers.

These will be buyers knocking on your door as a listing agent and saying they’re unrepresented and that they want to make an offer on your listing.

Are you going to, as the listing agent, treat them the same as if they're represented? Or are you going to treat them differently?

Well, I just saw a top agent that did an internal study with his team and found…

70% of the deals that came from unrepresented buyers in his market failed.

So think about that, and I believe that to be true because they just don't have somebody walking them through the process. When you’re sitting with your seller, you need to have an unrepresented buyer conversation going forward. And here's what that conversation might look like:
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“Mr. And Mrs. Seller, there's been some changes with the way that we're selling real estate based on an NAR settlement. You probably...