Mike Ferry’s Podcast the Original: New Market, Same System. Mike Ferry Interviews Zach Purdy

In this episode, Mike Ferry talks with Zach Purdy, a 34-year-old agent from Indianapolis who has been in Mike Ferry coaching for five to six years. Zach is now dual licensed. He is with Berkshire Hathaway in Indiana and with Coldwell Banker in Arizona, where he and his family moved in July. He did 51 transactions last year and will finish this year with about 40 in Indianapolis, even without prospecting there. Now he is starting over in a brand-new market using the same system that built his business.

From Forklift Driver to Top Producer

Before real estate, Zach drove a forklift in a warehouse. He has held his license for a little over ten years, but for the first three years he was part time and sold about two homes a year. He went full time in January 2020 and was introduced to Mike Ferry coaching right away. He met Mike at an event in Fort Lauderdale, where he and Natasha Jones walked up, introduced themselves, and made a commitment that has lasted ever since. His average sales price in Indianapolis is just over $400,000, well above the area average of about $300,000.

Keeping an Indianapolis Business Running from Arizona

The move had been in the works for a couple of years. Zach and his wife wanted better weather and a better lifestyle, and they chose Arizona after visiting several times. He isn’t cutting ties with Indianapolis. His database there has about 400 to 450 past clients, and it produces almost all of his business, along with many agent referrals. He still closes four to five homes a month there. A licensed assistant handles the boots-on-the-ground work, like showings, while Zach takes listings from Arizona.

Building a New Business from Scratch

In Arizona, Zach is virtually brand new. His database has about seven people, and the average price in his area is about $670,000. Working with his coach, Tony, he is building the database through vendors like electricians, plumbers, and handymen, who can also send referrals. He also adds anyone he gives money to, as Mike has always taught. He prospects from 9:00 to 11:00 every morning, spends 30 minutes each evening reaching Expireds he missed, and is adding two Saturdays a month. At 1:00 each day, if he has no listing appointment, he previews property and door knocks seven to ten homes around it, or door knocks around that morning’s Expireds. His goal is to get back to his Indianapolis level of production within two years.

Pricing and Commission

Mike points out a common complaint about nonproductive agents: they win listings by overpricing them or cutting their commission. Zach says he has never had a problem with commission because he learned the objection handler. Pricing is harder now that other agents overprice, so he asks questions to lead sellers to the logical answer and shows them the market stats, including how the market has changed in the last 30 days. As Mike says, productive agents can walk away from an overpriced listing because they know they’ll get the next one.

Prospect and Preview

Mike shares a lesson from his first broker, Pat McVay. Pat told every new agent that if they prospect and preview property, they will win big in their first year, their second year, and forever. Previewing in person, not on the internet, lets you walk into any home and tell the owner what it will sell for, because you are the pricing expert in that neighborhood. Zach says he didn’t preview much in Indianapolis, but it is now part of his daily routine in Arizona.

Zach’s Advice for Other Agents

His first piece of advice is to join coaching, even if you are already productive. Coaching taught him to control his time and build a business that is duplicatable and predictable. Then do what your coach says and block out the noise, because everyone on social media claims to be a real estate coach. His second piece of advice is to prospect, because prospecting lets you control who you work with. He also credits the Listing Presentation. He handwrote it every day for 30 days, then for about a year and a half wrote it out before every appointment with the answers from the seller’s pre-qualification. Mike compares this to professional athletes, who practice every day and play a game once a week.