Real estate coach extraordinaire Tom Ferry took the stage at Inman’s Luxury Connect on Wednesday in Beverly Hills for an entertaining session where, among several personal stories, he outlined for the luxury agents in attendance the four biggest mistakes an agent can make.
Focus on solving big problems, not small ones
“You’re trying to solve little problems, not big problems, which is why you have little income and not big income,” Ferry told the room of luxury real estate agents.
Ferry explained that too many real estate agents spend time thinking about small problems, like “What customer relationship management tool should I be using?” Or “How do I list this home?” Agents should instead be thinking: “How do I control 20 percent of the market in my area?” Or “How can I generate 50 to 60 referrals a quarter while also sitting on the beach in Hawaii?”
“When you think small, you get small,” Ferry added.
Don’t be afraid to take risks
Ferry said you don’t get to be a top real estate agent unless you stand out and do something risky, raw and authentic.
“If you’re not punching consumers in the face, nobody knows who you are,” Ferry said.
He showed the audience the now-viral video of listing agent Tim Smith, who spent $50,000 to create a “Teach Me How to Dougie” parody video to sell a Newport Beach home.
“This is how you sell real estate,” Ferry said.
Don’t cast too small of a net
Ferry shared an anecdote about a news story he was watching, about how Japanese fishing companies drop giant nets from planes after using radar to identify the largest fish in the sea – and the Boston fishermen that aren’t happy that those companies are grabbing all the best fish. It’s the same for agents, who aren’t casting a big enough net.
“The biggest mistake is that agents think their database is enough,” Ferry said. “That is a vital mistake.”
“There are people that know you and there are people that don’t,” Ferry added. “Which group is bigger?”
Follow a process and stay on top of your relationships
To be successful, agents need to follow a process closely, according to Ferry, and that process needs to be the same for every transaction.
“When I get a new listing, I’m not re-inventing it every time,” Ferry said.
Ferry also said top agents need to keep track of how many sales they generate from leads they developed years prior. Part of that process is staying on top of potential clients and continuing that relationship.
