Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of March 18th. The days are flying by quickly. We hope that each of you are succeeding at the levels you’re trying to accomplish in the first quarter of 2024. I wrote down a simple thought. I said, what are the differences between the best Real Estate agent and when I define the word best? I’m not talking about just production or income. I’m talking about quality of work they do, the quality of service they offer other people. So what’s the difference between the best and so many others in our industry? Because the sad part about Real Estate is that virtually anybody that is qualified to pass the test can become a professional realtor in their minds. But then we have that other issue, which is the quality of the service that they offer.

So I’m breaking this list down. I’ve got 12 different items. I’m breaking it down between this week and next week to help everybody get a good understanding of what I see, after 49 years of doing the work that I do, the difference between the best and so many others in Real Estate, no order of importance. But each one of these six points today and six points next week, I think are vitally important. If you take good notes, if you watch this time and again, you’re going to be ahead of the game. And even though your production may not meet the standards you want it to be yet, you’re going to be on your way if you follow this advice that I’m giving you today.

This is a business of talking to people.

So I wrote down number one. The best have a strong work ethic, meaning they’re not playing the game of sitting in the office on their computer, on Facebook. They are going to the office with a purpose. They have a schedule they follow. They’re following that schedule tightly. If they get derailed from the schedule, they quickly get back to it. They’re not afraid to put in the time and the energy that is required to succeed. This is a business of talking to people. And every time I mention that somebody turns off Mike Ferry TV. But we are in the business of talking to people.

I read a simple little email today about a man that had been in our Premier Coaching for seven years, and I looked at the Coaches that he had over seven years, and I think he had five different Coaches. And in each case, this man said, “These Coaches are the best Coaches in the business.” But he had one challenge, in terms of his work ethic. He didn’t like to and would not under any circumstance. In seven years of Coaching, pick up the phone or knock on her door or talk to people. So finally, he accepted the fact that he’s never going to talk to people, and he’s either going to become a consistent lower producer than what he’s been in the past, or he’s going to have to find another type of work. Strong work ethic.

They’re normally going to be talking to more than one agent besides yourself

Number two, both personal and business discipline, the ability to walk in the office and call your past clients and centers of influence, the ability to role-play and practice every single day. The ability to stay on your schedule, the ability to go on a presentation, whether it be a buyer or a seller, and be very disciplined in what you say. It’s very easy to get carried away in a conversation. And remember, if you’re on a listing presentation, they’re normally going to be talking to more than one agent besides yourself. And they’re going to compare these agents to see who they like best. And it’s easy for them to try to derail you from the purpose and the presentation you’re on to get a listing contract signed. It takes a lot of discipline to make that happen.

Very strong individual sales skills and strong sales skills always separate an agent from the competition

I wrote down number three. Very strong individual sales skills and strong sales skills always separate an agent from the competition and they separate just like that. A buyer or seller can tell very quickly if the person they’re talking to has the skill to not only get the property priced properly and get it on the market properly, and get it marketed and branded to the public properly, but also to make sure that when an offer comes in, the negotiation process is done in a manner that benefits both the seller who’s paying the commission, and the buyer strong individual sales skills.

I want to do high levels of productivity.

But then I wrote down number four, and it sounds a little general. It’s actually very specific. An incredible desire to succeed. I’m lucky. I coach five or six great brokers and five or six great agents at this time, and the level of desire to succeed on the agents I work with is probably a 12 on a scale from 1 to 10. They are going to make something happen. Think about this. Do you walk in the door each morning and say, I know there is a potential seller. I know there’s a potential buyer that wants to buy or wants to sell today, and they’re not looking for me, so I have to look for them. I want to succeed. I want to do high levels of productivity. I want to do a lot of transactions. I want to make a substantial income for myself and my family so we can live a better life and enjoy the business of Real Estate at a much higher level.

Should I preview property and should I do it online or should I do it live?

But number five, strong market knowledge, I think, and I believe that it separates the best from the rest. Understanding the market I was talking to one of the clients that I work with personally last week, and the question came up, if I have an hour and a half, two hours in the afternoon, that is free and I don’t have anything scheduled, I don’t have any appointments set. Should I preview property and should I do it online or should I do it live? And I wrote down. I answered that the answer is yes to both, whether it be online or live. The better you understand what’s for sale, the quality of the homes that you’re competing against. If you take a listing in that area, the better off you’re going to be. The seller will always say things like, I know the Joneses sold theirs for $595,000 and we can’t argue with them because we know it sold for $525,000. But we can say to them, you know, it’s interesting. I’ve looked at all the homes that are for sale and that have sold and nothing has sold at that price, including the Joneses. I wonder if that’s what they listed the home for or that’s what they sold it for. So my knowledge of the market overrides the thinking of other people and what they’re trying to accomplish.

And then number six, I wrote down the best have production standards, certain minimums they’re going to accomplish every day. I’m going to role-play in practice for 30 minutes. I’m going to spend 30 minutes making sure the transaction coordinator or assistant is up to date on their files. I’m going to talk to 20 people minimum about buying and selling Real Estate. I’m going to prequalify every single person before I put them in my car to show them property or go on a listing presentation. I’m going to follow the scripts verbatim because I know the scripts lead to contracts being signed. Production standards, which are very important.

We have a successful year in front of us.

So go back, review this list of six, then take next week’s Mike Ferry TV and put the two together. I would actually print them on a piece of paper like this. I would keep them tacked in front of me, posted in front of me. So I see it all the time. In fact, I would even go so far as putting a number next to each one on a scale from 1 to 10. One is I’m not doing it at all, and ten is I’m on target to be one of the best. We have a long year in front of us. We have a good year in front of us. We have a successful year in front of us. And at MFO, we want you to be part of it. Talk to you next week.