Think Bigger Real Estate

Real estate agent nutrition. It’s such an often overlooked element of the fast-paced and busy life of a real estate agent. We’ve all been given the gift of a reset on many areas of our lives, to see what’s serving us and what is not serving us. This episode with Frankie Leigh, who overcame two cancer diagnosis’ at the age of 27 and has gone on to be a nutritionist, offers so much value and wisdom for those who want to look, feel, and live better than they do now. 

In this episode we discuss sleep. Specifically, the common myths about sleep, about how much sleep we need, about how to get our bodies ready for sleep, and why hours of sleep before midnight matter more than anything else. We also talk about what keeps us from sleeping well.

We also discuss nutrition. We talk about how soon you should eat after you wake up, what you should be eating and how much of it you should be eating. Frankie also shares some great insight about the way in which you drink your water, that warm water opens your digestive system while cold water closes it. 

We also discuss caffeine and what the implications of over-indulging in it may mean for what our body is actually needing. 

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Right now, Radiate Wellness is giving away the 5 Step Guidebook Mapping Overwhelm into Action as a little taster for our online course, The Pivot Project. There are still a few open client seats as well. Curious? Book a Q&A session with Frankie Leigh! All sessions are 100% virtual and open to anyone living in the USA. 

Take Better Care of Your Clients. Kim Gellatly, who closed over 180 transactions in just 2 years has redefined what it means to take care of your clients. Some may think that if I’m going to do a lot of volume, then I couldn’t possibly take care of people at a high level. It’s got to be quality or quantity. Kim proves the fact that you can do both. 

In this interview we discuss three categories of care:

1. Taking care of your clients during the transaction- Kim has the practice of reaching out to all of her active buyers and sellers 6 days a week. Although to some it may seem like overkill, she’s realized that it really is her job to tell her clients what is going to happen next, not for the next week, but in the next day. Her clients have concerns and questions and curiosities now and by her having such open and regular dialog, it empowers them to ask the questions as opposed to thinking that they are too small of a concern. 

I learned this firsthand as a high-end homebuilder. If I wasn’t in contact with my clients, then, they were in contact with me and by that point they were assuming that they needed to do my job because without the communication, they assumed that I wasn’t doing my job. By me being in regular contact with my clients, it freed them up to know that they didn’t need to manage the project. I was already doing it. 

1. Taking care of your clients outside of the transaction- A key to Kim’s success is the fact that she recognizes that she doesn’t have past clients. Instead, she just has clients. Some need her now and others will need her later. By looking at it this way she can really pour into her clients and solve problems that they have related to real estate and problems they have that are not related to real estate. 

Kim shared that one of her favorite resources is Keeping Matters Current, which has recently given some insight as to the fact that not all recessions result in a housing crisis. This is one example of her taking on the role of advisor and leader as opposed to just someone in sales.

1. Taking care of your clients during a global pandemic- Of course extra care is being taken now to keep people physically safe from the effects of COVID-19, she is also having free dinner for pickup to her friends and clients to get some relief of cooking at home. She also just set up a Zoom call with each of her sellers so that she could have a more face-to-face that would allow them to get their questions answered. 

Be Well Amid Covid-19. How do you stay well mentally, emotionally and physically when we are in a stay at home situation? We ask Sarita Dua who has a passion for wellness and adding genuine concern to her community while being a top producing real estate agent, MIT prospective MBA 2020 graduate, and a devoted wife and mother. 

Sarita Dua, one of the top producing real estate agents in the Portland Metro area for the past 14 years is here to help us answer that question.

Mental Wellness-  Be careful of the news, which are more politically motivated than anything else. Take this time to decide what is going to stay in your life and what is not.

Emotional Wellness- Go serve other people. Reach out to those that are in need. Enjoy the time with your loved ones while leaning into reaching out via phone with those that may need support.

Physical Wellness- accountability is critical. Find people with whom you can be really authentic and really accountable. 

In 2019, not including some builder business with which she has some additional help, Marie sold 51 homes in 2019 and has a lot of business in the pipeline and still moving forward. 

Now, enter COVID-19 and in addition to her already heavy demands she is also a homeschool teacher of three young boys. 

The big question I posed to Marie is, “How are you managing?”

Schedule- I used to be up at 4:30 to be at Orange Theory Fitness by 5 am. Now I’m up to get in 2-3 hours of work before everyone wakes up. Then I have breakfast with the family. My workout has shifted to the evening hours. 

Mindset- I find myself at times feeling guilty about all of the things I’d like to be improving upon during this special time and I’m not finding that I actually have extra time. From this, I have to find mentors that help me to fix my mindset and stay positive. For Marie, this is Rachael and Dave Hollis. 

Health- I go crazy if I don’t workout and so again, I’ve shifted my workouts to the evening. 

Homeschool teacher- My oldest two have curriculum from school but I’m finding my oldest gets his done earlier. Both he and I need him to be busy for longer than a couple of hours and so I’ve asked his teacher for more work for him. My second oldest has to be supervised more because he loses focus quickly. My three year-old, on the other hand, is very active and I’ve got to keep my eme on him. 

Business- Things have slowed a little bit, but not enough to really feel it. I’m taking additional precautions for my clients and have found that my sphere really appreciates pop-bys in the form of things for their kids during this time. 

Marriage and relationships- I don’t see my husband a lot right now because it’s tax season. Now that this has been extended, it’s as if more miles were just added to the end of our marathon. I’m having to be intentional to spend time with him. Additionally, I’m having to be intentional with my kids that I’m not just their teacher but that I also have good experiences with them. 

From all of these categories we recognize the need for intentionality, the need for self-awareness when we really are doing all that we can do and to not let guilt step in and rob us of our limited resource of time and energy. 

Referrals without asking. That is exactly what author and coach Stacey Brown Randall teaches her followers and clients how to do. With real estate agents facing what may be the largest challenge of their career, Stacey’s advice on how to fill your pipeline in a comfortable and genuine way is needed now more than ever.

Stacey defines referrals in two parts. The first is that when someone personally recommends you and trust in you is transferred from the referral source to the referral. The second part is that the person being referred has an actual need that your business can fulfill. 

Stacey shared that within all of the different types of business inflow, none are wrong, but some are more valuable than others. Referrals, as defined above, are the most valuable form of business in flow into your business. 

This then begs the question of how do you go about getting more referrals? Stacey outlines a 5-step process for doing this:

1. Go back 2-3 years, if possible, and look at your sources of business. Identify who those sources of business actually are. 
2. Every time you get a referral, send them a handwritten thank you card. 
3. Give those people real value roughly six times per year… not value for you disguised as value for them.
4. Language differently what they mean to you. They are not a means to your end. 
5. Systematize staying in contact with them while remaining genuine. 

Towards the end of the episode, Stacey shares that right now, she recommends that agents go to step one to start to identify who these people are. Then, start reaching out to them asking how you can help them with some idea in advance of how you might help them. 

At this time, people need leadership more than ever. The reality is that real estate agents know their customers on a more intimate level than most all other professions. You know where they live, where they work, everything about their home, roughly how much money they make, how many kids they have, what are their short, mid, and long term goals, what networks they’re a part of or would like to be a part of. Attimes like these you can use this information in order to provide real value to them to help them in whatever way they might be needing help. 

To help all agents get a better understanding of where they’re at along the getting referrals without asking continuum, Stacey has put together a simple quiz at: https://referralquiz.com.

You can also find her book: Generating Referrals Without Asking on all of the major publishing platforms. 

Right now the world is being forced to slow down and stay home. Most activities that used to occupy our time have been canceled. Most of our business activities have had to adapt and change to this new reality. In addition to the inconveniences  of this new reality, we are also finding some silver linings. We are finding more time to be with those we love. We’re finding more time to do activities together for which before we’d all been too busy. 

The same is true in our businesses. We now have the time and added need to reach out and connect with people to genuinely see if they are okay, if they need anything, and what it is that we can do to help me. 

The questions that Ben and I answer are: What is happening in our lives, in our homes, in our businesses, and in our communities that we love because of all of these new changes? What can we do now to start to re-engineer our lives so that once this is behind us, we keep the good changes that we’ve made? 

During these unprecedented times that we are experiencing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, not only has the health of many experienced trauma and even death, our economy has suffered some traumatic blows as well. 

Fortunately, we have a government and an economy that is strong enough to help businesses and individuals for a period of time. However, the only goes to those that qualify for the help. While many of these programs are forgivable, meaning that they require no repayment, many are passing because they don’t think they need it or because some other reason tells them they shouldn’t access it.

Another big question mark that everyone has right now is the difference between mortgage forbearance and mortgage deferral. While forbearance means that it all comes due as soon as the forbearance period has passed, deferral technically means that the life of the loan is extended out the same amount of time as the deferral and there is no lump sum payment due at the end of the deferral period. Keep in mind that different mortgage lenders have different definitions and interpretations for these distinctions and so it behooves each person who is interested in qualifying for one of these programs to call their lender to get clarity on what that means to their specific lender. 

We also discussed the general sentiment amongst buyers and sellers at this time. While many buyers and sellers are still moving forward, there’s no doubt that our economy has been wounded. While 10M in the US applied for unemployment in the past few weeks, we must recognize the trouble that this signifies trouble for both the employee and the employer. It behooves real estate agents to bulletproof their transactions by ensuring that those with whom they are working are employed and that there is a high probability that they will stay that way. 

Tony shared that the silver lining in all of this is the return to humanity in our business. He sees this as being a real shock to the iBuyer movement because people will realize that they appreciate and need the human side of the business. He recommended reaching out to all of your clients to check in and see how you might serve them in their time of need. 

Tony’s answer to the Signature Question of how he continues to think bigger and expand his own possibilities is to get outside himself and be concerned about the needs of others. He finds that as he does this, he immediately finds space and opportunity to grow. 

Justin Bosak is out of Wall Township, New Jersey, which is considered a suburb of New York City. NYC, as many know, is considered the US epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. New York City has  banned all real estate showings and new listings, causing the real estate market to slam on its brakes. With the NYC and NJ economies being deeply connected, there is no doubt that Justin Bosak finds himself and his family in a difficult situation.

In challenging times, we have to manage our mind and do what the great leaders and success stories have always done. We have to maintain a strong mindset and do everything that does lie within our powers now. 

That is exactly what Justin Bosak is doing and it's giving him the confidence to realize that once this storm passes, he is going to be positioned for massive success. While many are using this time to hibernate or spend endless hours following the tragic news stories of our world today, others like Justin are going out and doing everything they can now to prepare for brighter days ahead. 

Some of the things that Justin is doing now include:

• Embracing and leading with technology. He recognizes that the more visibility he can give his listings now, the higher the likelihood that they’ll sell and the more people will see him as the right resource when it comes time for them to sell. While others are avoiding this new world or slowly dipping their toe in the water, Justin is sprinting forward. 
• He’s up, dressed, and in the office working. He’s respecting social distancing of course, but also putting in the work now that his teammates, clients, and community need. 
• He’s getting essential information out to his clients, including details of the government stimulus package. 
• He’s cutting expenses and renegotiating contracts. Zillow is offering leads for half price and so he’s looking at all of his expenditures to see what needs to go, what needs to be renegotiated and what should stay. 

How Justin continues to Think Bigger and expand his possibilities, even amidst perceived shrinking possibilities, Justin is looking to other leaders to see what they are doing. He is listening to podcasts and finding others that are winning in this environment and immediately implementing their activities. 

The first main point is why being in front of and in contact with your database right now is so important. John Maxwell teaches that leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. To which I would add, sales is leadership nothing more nothing less. Those that are good at sales are good at leading others. Period. 

During times of crisis, leadership is needed more than ever. At the time of this recording, we are right in the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic that is wreaking havoc on the health, wealth and overall well-being of people, communities and nations. 

The second main point is why agents don’t do this. At a time such as this many are concerned about reaching out to their database for fear that it is bad-timing to be making sales calls. Here are a couple of things to realize: Cody and I outline three questions that would be well received by any of your clients, especially now: 

1. How are you?
2. How is your family?
3. Is there anything I can do to help you right now? 

These questions will be easy for you to ask and well-received by your clients. Additionally, if you’re genuine, patient, and curious in your approach, you’ll be able to peel the onion to find out ways that you can serve them that may or may not have anything to do with real estate. 

I shared the story of a client, Kip Craglow who, out of genuine concern for his hair stylist reached out to see how she was doing. He got a call a few days later from the hair stylist's brother who needed to sell a townhome. That won’t happen every time, but it will happen. Even when it doesn’t happen, you’ll still be adding value to yourself and to others by reaching out in care and concern. 

The other part of why agents don’t reach out isn’t just because they don’t know what to say. It’s also because many don’t have a database. Or, it may be because many don’t have an organized database or a systematic way to communicate regularly.

The third main point is how to overcome what keeps us from staying in front of our people. Stay in your area of brilliance. You get paid as a real estate agent to build relationships of trust, to know the market well, and then to interpret the market for your clients in a way that is customized to their specific situations and goals. You do not get paid well when you try to be the web developer and the one turning all of the gears and levers. Yes, during this time you should absolutely get your systems in place. And when I say you should get them in place, that doesn’t mean that it should actually be YOU that does it for you.You should also find someone else who is expert at that to do it for you as opposed to you taking this time to learn a skill that isn’t as valuable as is the time you could be spending with your clients. 

For a great solution to this, be sure and go to luminaryagent.com or contact Cody directly at cody@luminary agent.com.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the lead generation opportunity of a lifetime. You may think that whoever said that in this environment must be a total shark. I assure you that today’s guest is the total opposite of a shark. He is one of the most genuine human beings I’ve ever met and for this reason he is a nationally known and recognized lead conversion coach. He teaches people to convert leads through the mindset and skill set of actually caring about them enough to get them talking. 

There are so many nuggets of wisdom shared by Robby T on exactly how to take advantage of this opportunity by serving people at a time that they need more leadership than possibly they’ve ever needed before.