Mike’s Random Thoughts About Today’s Real Estate Market – Part 1

Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of July 31st, the last day of this month, and then we have a new month of August to go out and produce more listings and more sales. I don’t know if you were able to attend our Superstar Retreat, which just completed, but I did something a little bit different. Each morning early before the Retreat started, I took a piece of scratch paper and wrote across the top, “Mike’s Random Thoughts”, and then I would try to create thoughts that I’ve been talking about using, teaching, and coaching on for a long period. And I tried to present 5 to 10 of those each day.

“I took a piece of scratch paper and wrote across the top, “Mike’s Random Thoughts”, and then I would try to create thoughts that I’ve been talking about using, teaching, and coaching”

I think probably the next best thing I could do next to a Superstar Retreat would be to share these thoughts throughout the next couple of weeks for all of you. And it’d be good if you took notes, wrote them down, thought about them, and then figured out a way to implement them into your sales business.

It was a very interesting Retreat, very different for us than we’ve had in the past. Now we’ve been doing these Retreats since 1985, but this one was unique because we had about 1200 of our normal coaching clients in attendance, and they were always there bright-eyed and taking notes and asking questions, and getting very involved.

We had probably 600 to 700 of what we would call our normal great customers, not part of Coaching, attend events, attend seminars, attend Retreats, are very involved with the company and what we teach. Then we had another 500 to 600 people that we were seeing for the first time. And of that particular group, there was a very interesting segment to them because we had about 350 to 400 people under age 30, brand new to Real Estate. Most of them had not sold or listed a home yet. And I guess their introduction to Real Estate was our four-day Superstar Retreat. So it was a very unique audience, and their response to these random thoughts was quite strong.

During the breaks, at lunch, and in the afternoon breaks each day I spent most of that time talking to individuals about these thoughts. So let’s go to Tuesday, day one of the Superstar Retreat, which we titled Mike’s Random Thoughts.

Number 1: “If I know what to say, I can do MORE”

Number one, if I know what to say, I can do more of what I’m supposed to do. The key word is “more”. We are in a direct sales business, as you know, and in a direct sales business, you have to be very, very, very sharp on knowing what to say to not only attract a potential lead, a potential customer, an appointment but know how to convert that appointment to a contract and knowing what to say is what gives us the knowledge and the confidence to go out and execute every single day. The problem, and you’ve heard me talk about this time and time again, is the fact that we don’t like being told what to do in the Real Estate business. It’s the nature of our business. You know, we’re independent contractors. We can do what we want when we want. And if we don’t do anything, it’s okay in most cases.

So knowing what to say is what gives us the confidence to do what we’re supposed to do. I understand 100% that as a new Real Estate agent, as a part-time agent, as an experienced veteran, and as a coaching client, you have your thoughts as to what is to be said to a client. I guess the question is, are you getting the results you want using what you say? And would you like to improve the results by changing what you say?

Number 2: Stop being Disengaged if you want to grow

Number two, I wrote down that at some point the leadership of our industry, brokers, managers, etc., and agents have to reengage with each other. I was talking to my son Tom on the phone a couple of days ago, and Tom was saying, “Dad, are you finding that sometimes if you’re doing an office presentation, the attendance is not as good as you thought it would be?” I did 60 of those office presentations. Tony and Ron did another 15 to 20. We found that almost without a doubt, the hardest part of the business today is the re-engagement. It’s the reconnection between the brokers, the managers, and the agents. I don’t know what’s keeping you apart, but I’ve got to tell you, you can’t run a successful business. Disengaged.

Number 3: Getting more of you engaged in the listing process

I wrote down random thought number three and this one You’ll put a smile on your faces and make some of you probably a little upset. Is it a shortage of inventory or are homes still selling very quickly? See, the problem is we have such a tiny percentage of the agents that are listing directed that almost everything they take is selling. So is it the fact that we have a shortage or is it we just don’t have the excess we’re used to having? So think about it this way. If you’re a listing agent and you’re taking three, or four listings a month and one of your listings is expiring every month, 25% of your clients are not happy with you. They’re probably angry. So are we better off listing less and having a higher percentage sell and or getting more people engaged in the listing process? I think the answer is getting more of you engaged in the listing process.

Number 4: How can we have 4.5 million sales without having 4.5 million listings to sell?

I wrote down number four on day one. I do these random thoughts at 5:00 in the morning. So it was kind of a fun exercise each day. How can we have 4.5 million sales without having 4.5 million listings to sell? The problem is a small portion of the agents are taking a major portion of all the listings. Everybody keeps talking about the shortage. Folks, if we have 4.5, and by the way, you probably saw last Friday now about five, six days ago, NAR increased what their projection is for this year from 4.5 to 4.6 million transactions US to 4.85 million. NAR is saying the market’s going to get better and better and better as the year progresses. Are you participating in that?

Number 5: Too many people have a very valid story or excuse as to why they cannot produce in this market.

Number five, it seems that way. Too many people have a very valid story or excuse as to why they cannot produce in this market. I must have heard 500 people during the Retreat. They would line up at the breaks, which was very kind of them. And, you know, they were taking pictures, but mostly asking questions. And they would always start with you. “You don’t understand Mike, my market and you don’t understand what’s going on in my life.” Folks, you have a job, A J-O-B. And your job is to find people that want to buy and sell Real Estate. That is your job. A certain number of hours per day. What story, what excuse have you created as to why you can’t do that?

Number 6: You have to talk to people if you want to stay in the business for a long time. 

I wrote down the number six. At some point, we have to accept the fact that talking to people is the path we have to be on and stay on for a prolonged period. Sitting in the first 6 or 7 rows were about 500 long-term people. Some 25, 30, and 35-year clients of The Mike Ferry Organization. They’re doing 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 transactions a year without a team. This is their production. Most of that production comes from listing sold. They prospect every day I prospect every day. Are you prospecting and talking to people every day?

Number 7: Do YOU have a strong desire to succeed?

Number seven. Do you have a strong desire to succeed or are you simply working to get a commission check to pay the bills? That desire to succeed is based upon the plans, the goals that you have, and what you’re trying to accomplish with your business for yourself, your family, and your life. When the goal and the desire are higher than the need for a commission check, you earn more commission checks.

Number 8: You have to talk to people that you do NOT know

Number eight, if I don’t talk to people I know and I don’t talk to people I don’t know. Who do I present to? That was the opening line at the Century 21 convention about 15 years ago when I walked out on the stage in front of 8000 people. And they were very kind and they applauded nicely. And I started by saying on my left hand, are all the people I know? On my right hand are the people. I don’t know. Which group is bigger? The ones I don’t know. And if I don’t talk to the ones I know and I don’t talk to the ones I don’t know, aren’t I, in essence, out of the business?

Number 9: Selling is a numbers game

Number nine, selling is a numbers game. It does not mean you take a number and wait for them to call you. When I had Sabrina work with this and typed these notes up, she made a good comment. She said, “It’s not like going to the deli. You take a number and wait for them to call on you. This is a numbers game. The more people I engage and talk to, the better chance I have.”

Number 10: Be in the group of Realtors doing 5+ homes a year

Number ten. Selling zero homes per year is unfortunately very common. Selling 2 or 3 homes a year is a little bit better. However, selling 2 to 3 homes makes you just enough money to stay in the business. But it’s just enough money to be miserable while you’re in the business. There’s always going to be a percentage of the people, which unfortunately is quite large, that sell two, three, four homes a year. We just don’t want you to be one of them.

Number 11: Jokes are jokes

Number 11 on this particular list of random thoughts. And I explained to the audience that telling jokes today in seminars is no longer an acceptable part of a seminar. Whoever the “woke” generation is, they don’t want people telling jokes. They don’t want somebody to be offended and certainly, I don’t think any of the great speakers I know are trying to offend somebody. Telling a joke, or telling a story is a method of releasing stress for an audience. How are you going to release the stress you deal with every day in this business? Because if that stress builds, non-productivity takes over.

Number 12: “No negative thought ever produced a good result”

And then the last thought for our first series of thoughts, no negative thought ever produced a good result. No negative thought ever produced a good result.

So 12 random thoughts this week. I think next week we’ll have a few lists and you’ll notice that I’m going to be dressed the same way for the next couple of weeks. And the question is why? We’re going on an extended trip starting in about three days. I’m in the studio today. It’s the last couple of days of July recording the next few Mike Ferry TVs so you have them at your disposal. Thanks for watching. Thanks for participating. Watch, rewatch, watch, rewatch, and put the ideas into effect. Thank you.