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Jordan Cohen — the top-producing RE/MAX agent in the world — doesn’t sugarcoat his method for reaching the top, which sees him bring in $300,000,000 in annual sales revenue without help from a team.
The Los Angeles agent, who received Inman’s 2019 award for Top Luxury Agent, told the crowd at Inman Connect Las Vegas on Thursday that he owes his success to one of the most fundamental yet challenging stages in the listing agent process: The listing interview.
“The most important skill any real estate agent can have is the ability to interview and win,” Cohen said. “There’s no second choice to this.”
Cohen said he goes into interviews assuming that the sellers are planning on interviewing at least two other agents — that’s the recommended amount on Google — and angles to be first in the interview process and impress the sellers enough that they call off the two other interviews and hire him on the spot.
Once he’s started the interview, he identifies the main decision-maker and levels his pitch toward them, while making sure his eyes are on both parties and starts with a variation of the same line:
“My goal today is to have you be as confident in me as I am in myself — that I am the best real estate agent for you that I am the best real estate agent that’s going to get you your price or more,” he said.
“I used to say ‘fair market value’ but I don’t say that anymore, because nobody wants fair market value, which is why there’s thousands of homes that are for sale: Everybody wants their price or more.”
In making his presentation he has found that the most important point to emphasize is the amount of marketing their house will receive with him as listing agent.
“I only get paid when I sell your home, not when I list it. So I’m going to do everything it takes to maximize the exposure of your home, to get as many people as possible to be aware of your home,” he said. “Because it only takes that one buyer that’s going to be willing to pay your price or more.”
Even when you have credentials as impressive as Cohen’s, it’s best to focus on what you will do for the client, not what you’ve done in the past.
“Sellers don’t really give a shit about all our past accomplishments,” he said. “What they really care about is what we’re going to do for them.”
