How to not let your ego get in your way

Welcome and good morning, Superstars. It is the week of June 12th. And today Mike Ferry asked me to talk a little bit about something different. I want you to ask yourself a question. What is the key difference between someone who’s a top producer and everybody else? When Mike Ferry was asked this question he said, “The story they tell themselves.” So I’m going to start by asking you, “What is the story that you are telling yourself in your head at any given time?”

Mindset and Ego

In essence, what that means is your mindset, or in some cases, your ego is what is stopping you from being productive. So as I did a little more research, I started reading what Mike Ferry says about the ego and obviously, there’s the standard joke, “Your ego is not your amigo.” And to go a little deeper on that, the first thing that Mike Ferry really talks about when it comes in terms of your ego is, your ego will not only ruin your business, but it will stop you from doing the Mike Ferry system daily. I don’t think there’s been a truer statement about the ego and the Mike Ferry system ever think about it for a moment?

“Your ego is not your amigo.”

Does your ego get in the way when it’s time for role-playing practice? How many people during role-play let their ego get in the way and start pretending or role-playing a situation that’s unrealistic or that they heard once? Rather than focusing on the things that they’re hearing every day? Well, I know the answers to those. What would you say to this? Well, if you know the answers to those, why aren’t you getting the production you want?

Ego and Live Prospecting

There are people that use the ego when it comes to their live prospecting. They get upset or they get bothered or they get emotional with the rejection that we have to receive daily. Folks, that’s part of the business. Remove your ego when it comes to your prospecting. Just try and find out is the person you’re speaking to in need of your services at this time. Your ego does not need to get involved.

Lead follow-up pro tip: Make sure your ego isn’t getting in your way

Think about your lead follow-up for a minute. Have you ever looked at a lead and thought to yourself, “Ooh, should I call them?” That’s your ego getting in the way. “Ooh, have I called them too much? Am I being too aggressive?” That’s your ego getting in the way.

Ego and Prequalifying

Think of when it comes in terms of prequalifying. You’re talking to somebody who you know is going to list the home, but you start thinking to yourself, “Well, do I ask all the questions?” Or maybe it was a tough appointment to get and it’s time to call them back and prequalify them. You start thinking to yourself, “Oh man, what if they cancel the appointment?” And all of a sudden you’re telling yourself a different story?

Listing Presentation pro tip: Be ready, not cocky

Think about the listing presentation. When you attend the presentation, do you walk in excited and full of energy. Ready to perform at a top level or is your ego getting in the way? Are you second-guessing yourself or you’re thinking, “Oh, this is a cinch, I don’t need to warm up, I don’t need to practice the script.” All of that. Is your ego getting in the way.

Handling Objections pro tip: Stick to your scripts

When it comes to handling objections, are you sticking to the scripts or are you just rambling on and on and on and not even giving the customer an opportunity to answer a question and sign a contract? All of that. Is your ego getting in the way?

Don’t allow your ego to ruin negotiations 

Something we’ve seen a lot of over the last few years is an ego getting in the way during negotiations. “I’m the one with the listing.” Well, yes, you may be the one with the listing, but if you don’t know, if you don’t negotiate well with the buyers, how are you going to get the home sold? Get your ego out of the way.

Strengthen your mindset 

I wrote down a few more thoughts that I got from Mike Ferry when it comes to your ego. If you really want to strengthen your mindset and remove the ego, there’s a few things that you can always do. One thing that stands out to me the most is get disciplined with your daily activities. If you are 100% disciplined in the activities that you need to be involved in, you are going to win. If you show up to the office every time or every day at the same time, you immediately get into your role-playing practice. You get your leads organized and then you start making your calls at a given time every single day you’re going to win.

Dedication is doing the same thing daily

If you’re calling your past clients and you have a certain amount that you need to call every day and you do that and you’re dedicated and stick to it every single day, you’re going to win. If you have time for Lead follow-up and you do it every day, you’re going to win.

Daily discipline is important

All of the simple daily disciplines. If you’re just dedicated to doing those over and over again, you’re going to win at a high level. The story no longer becomes, “well, what if this happens? Well, what if that happens?” The ego no longer gets in the way. You show up and you have your job outlined in front of you. Think about that for a moment. If you can remove all the extra stories and just focus on the task at hand, you’re going to be much better.

Your ego will hurt your relationships with customers

How can you possibly have a good conversation with the prospect or a customer if you’re stuck thinking about yourself, “Well, what do I say here? What should I say there?” When your ego gets in the way like that, you can’t really engage with the customer because you’re too focused on yourself. Remove yourself from the conversation. Remember, it’s not about you. It’s about them.

Stop thinking about your insecurities. Stop judging people. Just focus on the conversation. If they need your services, provide them the service. If they don’t need your service, move on to the next person. They might.

I wrote down another couple of thoughts in order to keep your ego in check. Stop comparing yourself to others. That goes in two different ways. Sometimes it’s self-deprecating and we think, “Oh man, I wish I could be more like this person” and we beat ourselves up and tell us or tell ourselves a story that we’re not good enough. Stop doing that. The other way is you start comparing yourself to someone who is not as good as you’re doing and you think, “Well, as long as I’m here, I’m okay. I could be bad like them.” Both of those are your ego. Get that out of the way and focus on the daily disciplines that you need to do every day.

I wrote down we become like the people that we associate with. I want you to think for a minute. If you go to a typical Real Estate office, is the conversation usually positive, negative or just not on topic? Most of the time people tend to gravitate towards negativity because your ego is fueled by negativity. When something is bad, we want to focus on it. Stop focusing on the bad things.

Another thing you guys have heard Mike Ferry say over and over again is don’t focus on what you don’t like about the business because it’s surely going to bring you more of the same. So start associating yourself with people who are like-minded. Hey, by the way, a great place to do that is the Superstar Retreat in July. I know you guys keep hearing us talk about it. I’m sure some of you are even getting sick of it by now after all the emails and everything that’s coming up. I want you to ask yourself, “Where else are you going to find thousands of people who just want to be highly productive?” Go to the Retreat. Surround yourself with better people and your mindset will also become better.

I also wrote down We must develop an unwavering desire to achieve the business goals that we’ve set for ourselves. Folks, if your desire is so strong to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself, you’re not going to let anything get in the way. The stories will go away. The distractions will go away and you’ll be so focused on the outcome that you want that you will get there. I hope you guys all come to the Superstar Retreat and I hope to see you guys there. Thank you for watching Mike Ferry TV today.