In this episode Maggie Ives, a luxury real estate professional, talks about the beginning of her journey in real estate and how she transitioned into luxury properties. Maggie reveals the activities and disciplines to deepen relationships with clients. She describes her custom listing plans for properties and how she considers all details before going live. Last, Maggie talks about the books she loves and recommends for every agent to read.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Maggie Ives can be reached at 239.910.2581.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your guide and host through the show. And have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a realtor working in the high net worth luxury space? Well, in just a moment, we’re going to find out and we’re going to be speaking with Maggie Ives from Florida who is one of the VIP Top realtors in the entire country. And she is going to share exactly how she got involved in real estate and how she grew her business to where it is today. Before we get to Maggie, just a couple of quick reminders please tell a friend think of one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing from top producers like Maggie and let them know about our podcast, you can always send them over to our website keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done, you can stream right from your browser. Or if the person you’re sending our show to is a podcast person haven’t pull up a podcast app and search for keeping it real. Hit that subscribe button so that you can get all of our episodes as we deliver them. And also please follow us on Facebook you can find us on facebook@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our interview with Maggie Ives.
Right today on the show we have Maggie Ives from premier Sotheby’s International Realty in Naples, Florida. Now Maggie is a results driven licensed real estate professional specializing in Fort Royal and old Naples as a Southwest Florida native her local expertise is invaluable. Her through understanding of the area its history current trends gives her an advantage in putting together the right deal for her clients. Now combined with over 30 years of successful corporate sales and customer service. Maggie ranks among the top concierge Realtors buying and selling high end luxury real estate in the Naples area. She has built her reputation on providing a seamless experience to our clients. And she guides them through the many steps of a transaction to a successful closing a please everyone visit Maggie’s website, which she just recently redid and it looks beautiful. It’s Maggie Ives which is IV S So Maggie ives.com and follow her on Instagram at Maggie Ives realtor. Maggie, welcome to the show.
Maggie Ives 3:11
Thank you so much. It’s amazing to be here. Thank you.
D.J. Paris 3:14
I am so excited to have you. We it’s funny out of all of the episodes we’ve done over the years. It’s so interesting. I really I was thinking about this just the other day. I really rarely have had on agents who specialize in the luxury market we’ve had some on over the years, but not as many as I always find luxury real estate to be so particularly interesting because it just seems so exclusive and untouchable. And it just seems like a whole different world. So I’m really excited to sort of explore that part of the conversation at some point. But I always, always like to start at the very beginning of the journey. And we’d love to hear about, you know how you transitioned from from corporate sales into real estate on so can you take us back sort of how that decision got made.
Maggie Ives 4:01
So I went to work for a builder, one of the top builders in Naples, building in Port Royal and old Naples and along Gulf Shore Boulevard drive condos redoing condos and I opened their estate management division and I was the director and I had my license at that time. And they were building spec homes as well. So I was helping with the spec homes and then i was running the estate management division. So after about four years ago that I decided that I really was full on sales while state management was wonderful and I learned so much. I wanted to move into selling real estate and connecting people to homes. But all of my clients I had about 45 clients they were all in old Naples and Port Royal. So I was managing multimillion dollar homes at the time and I had a team of five. So I got I got very used to running these I’m seeing these homes understanding the homes. And that has been a huge benefit to selling them. Because I understand them. I know vendors, I understand how it works, what it takes to run them, I understand the client and how they need to be serviced. So that’s just kind of I just transitioned from state management right into southern B’s in that same area, and started connecting people directly to homes.
D.J. Paris 5:28
Yeah, it makes sense. And it sounds like with the sort of property management side of it, or the management side, you really got an understanding of what the luxury client is looking for what they need, how they are different, maybe then, you know, traditional buyers and sellers on who are not in the luxury space. And also, what’s so interesting about about Florida, to me is Florida is a state where there are so many real estate agents, I think it’s, I think it’s the second most, there’s the second most number of licenses outside of California, I think is Florida. So there’s no shortage of Realtors, in in, in Florida, but there’s probably not a whole lot of them that can really satisfy the luxury client. And I know there’s a lot of our audience because we get the we get feedback all the time about, hey, I would love to participate in the luxury space, we have 750 Realtors here at our own firm, all of them would also like to participate in the luxury space, but it is a very difficult space to to, to sort of find and service. So I’m genuinely curious about sort of, if you won’t mind sharing some of those, you know, like maybe how that’s different than a traditional retail client who doesn’t play in the luxury space.
Maggie Ives 6:49
So my client, it’s their second, third, fourth, or fifth home or condo, always, their focus is always on their children and their grandchildren and the experience that they’re going to have in Naples, Florida. Sure. They, it’s always about an investment for them as well. So it has to be good in the portfolio. It has to, you know, crease in you know, has to be good investment. Plenty of space for everybody. I apologize for the noise,
D.J. Paris 7:19
oh, no, you’re fine. Are you sure?
Maggie Ives 7:21
You’re so and they, they have a team, they always have a team. So a lot of times you have to know how to deal with the team, they have full time assistants, they have full time managers or state managers, their lawyer and their brokerage firm is assisting them, their accountant. So you have to understand that the principles in the middle and you’re most of the time dealing with the team around them being directed. So it’s a totally different type of sale, the less you say is more, let’s just say it’s better. Sure. And then you have to be very good at communicating, listening. And being able to connect them to where they want to go, you have to feel them almost and and really listen. And then hone in, they’re not the kind of client where you send them 50 properties are 20 All right, it has to be specific in you’re not listening, I mean, you need to listen, like this is what they want. People say, you know, buyers are liars, which is, you know, I never say anything to say I listened to them always and just try to follow their lead. So I my client, and my world is the hero, and I am the guide. And I am taking him through this process to get to the end, and get them safe in their very new space for their families. So they can build memories, all the while building their portfolio.
D.J. Paris 8:53
And also to it’s it’s interesting, because your clients do have other properties. As you mentioned, sometimes this may be their fifth property. And so they have a certain expectation about how, you know how the realtor should interact with them with also their team. So in some ways, you know, and I’ve also interviewed other agents on our on our show who have sort of similar, they’re in the luxury space and they’ve said similar things and and I would think for me as somebody who who isn’t an actively producing broker, but certainly is in that world, it seems to me to be a very difficult thing to navigate because you have to appease not only the client, but also all of their team members, all of which have different personalities, different functions, different jobs. And trying to to be a good connector, as you said, is gotta be one of the big challenges I would assume because there’s a lot of people in the decision making chain I’m guessing and and your your help trying to help navigate through all of that. So I imagine that can be quite complicated.
Maggie Ives 10:02
It is and they’re they’re moving, they’re flying in on their jets or flying them in their jets, they’re here for three days, they don’t have the normal constraints of a regular person. So they’re always on the move. And you have to be very careful if you’re emailing or texting, you know, what is their preferred your the phone communication, like, what do they like the best? And how do they like to be communicated with what is their timeframe? What are their goals, and but you can’t ask them too many questions, but you have to ask the right ones in the right way. You always dressed, you’re always in a dress, you’re always in heels. My real estate partner is always in a suit. I mean, no matter what we’re doing, they and they, they come in shorts, and their little collared shirt, you know, and whatever they want to wear, and they’re in there, whatever doesn’t matter. You are always dressed, my car is always clean. I have a brand new car every year. You know, it’s always has a yeti in the back. It always has waters and special things for anybody that might need it because I’m running clients to the private airport, or just kind of anything they need to do. And that’s the other thing is that once you’re in this circle, you don’t go away. You stay you drive them to a doctor’s appointment, if they need it, you pick up the phone, and you stay in touch with them all the time. birthday cards. One of my clients just had a grandbaby. I sent a get $150 gift and I had it customed to them and you know with a card and so it’s just very, I had a client that referred me $13 million for the business. So I flew to Atlanta, I bought a $2,000 remez blanket that I knew it’d be perfect in the home out North Park City and delivered it to her thank you No, you know, so it’s just a whole other world. I have a restaurant down in Naples that I love. And I booked the wine room out and I have brunch on Sundays and I handpick clients, I create experiences for them. And that helps keep them in the nest. But you keep them. It’s your your you become part of their team ever crossed the line, you’re never them. You’re never them. I have a billionaire client and her assistant, his assistant told me one time and she was getting on his jet. They driven to the airport. She said, every time she gets up to go on the plane, she says this might be the last time I’m climbing on this plane. She never know, you know, in your wonderful man. But you just you just never know. You just it’s just that, that that group. So you’re very, very hard to service them stock refrigerators. Just yeah, do anything. And they ask you to do all sorts of crazy things. And you just do it you just do it.
D.J. Paris 12:53
So I would imagine those those clients tend to be delegators often because of course they have a team. And And I’m curious too is Is it ever common? Does it ever happen where the actual client prior to purchasing a property with you might just send their team in advance? Or may not even ever see the property? In person? Or do you usually the client actually come to survey the property before before purchasing?
Maggie Ives 13:22
So I would say 65% survey and the rest and the team ahead? Always, you know, head? So that’s, that’s a great question. There usually, so time is the most valuable thing they have. sure everybody has the same amount of time. So my goal is to save them time. And for example, like when you go into an inspection, normally you get an inspection report, you read it, you look at it, you’re like, well, the water here, when you get an inspection report for this client, it goes to their lawyer, my contractor that I pay in Naples, I’d say here’s this inspection, go through it with a fine tooth comb, it goes to their lawyer, they redline it like so you’re paying it, whether you have a buyer or seller is a lot of money going out, I’m not paying his lawyer but I’m paying my contractor. Because you just have to be cut what’s important, what’s not important, who needs to deliver the message to the client or to the team about what the issues are in the house and how we should fix them or what we should do and you know, it’s and it’s protecting them, they have to be protected and you can’t put them in a home without making sure that everything is shipshape and if it’s not they know about it and you have to have a solution like sure you know these for example in your mind but
D.J. Paris 14:36
in once I imagine some of you know these high net worth clients hell that that that you that you service, I imagine that of course they know each other. I can only assume the referrals that that come from doing a good job with these clients is just unbelievable, which is why I assume that that you get referred, I would assume to many, many clients in the same spaced.
Maggie Ives 15:00
I do. I’m very, very fortunate that way. And it was a long time coming. I mean, even though it transitioned, I had these clients in a state management, it was quite the transition to wear a different hat full time. And, you know, transition to that. And all my a lot of my state monad 66 report I had a lot. They already had realtors, you know, they’re already dealing with other people. So it was, you know, just who I could stay on with and who I couldn’t and a lot of lunches, I will tell you when lunches, more lunches than anything but dinners, breakfasts and just staying in front of people, and you’re also a data gatherer, they want data, they want information, what’s going on with the four seasons in Naples? What’s this? What’s that? So I spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day, every day, you know, what’s the new data, what’s happening, what’s being built? And then I spent a lot of time talking to other realtors in my group, which got what’s going on? Who’s this? What’s this? How many here? You know, and just, and I, so every day, I try to be 10 phone calls, and two out of the 10 phone calls are realtors, even no matter what brokerage? Hi, how’s it going? How are your sales? How are you feeling? How’s your family? So, it took me a while to figure out that other realtors are just as important as your clients? Sure.
D.J. Paris 16:25
Well, it’s interesting too, because and I want to flip over to the sell side for just a moment because I what you said just sparked a memory of mine where, when I was first, I think we only had maybe 15 Realtors at our company, we have a lot more now. One of them got a I think like a five or a six mil, maybe it was somewhere between four and $6 million property to list in the suburbs of Chicago, which is obviously a very nice listing, I’m sure. And I said, wow, you know, when I heard about this, I said, I’m not a practicing agent. So I don’t really know what goes into to a lot of that. And certainly I didn’t know, I knew even less back then. But I said, Wow, what an amazing listing this is, you know, and I calculated the commission, and oh my gosh, it was so much money. And I said you’re gonna just crush it. She goes, actually, these are very difficult to sell. And she goes, you don’t just throw these on the MLS and wait for the buyers to come walking in. And I said, Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. Because there aren’t that many people that are just waiting for a $5 million home to go on the market. And when it hits the MLS, they get automatically, you know, sent those emails, she said, No, what I have to do as the listing agent is actually have to kind of find the buyer. And so what she was saying was something you were mentioning, was talking to other realtors. So when she would get these big listings, she goes, I am pretty much the person who finds the buyer, even though she’s not paid to do that. She’s like, I’m calling every realtor I know who has clients who who will can afford properties like this. And I’m like, You have to come check this out. She goes otherwise it kind of just sits there. And so I’m curious if it’s sort of similar with some of these luxury properties for you is how important is it as the listing agent for you to really source the buyers,
Maggie Ives 18:01
very important listings or listings are that is a big, big deal in my market it is you gotta manage the seller, always about the portfolio, the money, it’s the bottom line, it’s all I mean, it’s so business oriented, and you you’re on the phone with them once a day, if not every other day talking to them, encouraging them, every single time a person comes through, you have to call them, let them know what happened. You know, it’s just a tremendous amount of management there. And then you’re 100%, right, I mean, I bring in a drone from Miami and we do a whole drone video, then I have the whole photographer, then the floor plans are about $1,000 Especially if you do color, sometimes more. Everything you write has to be perfect, then you’re paying for the Wall Street Journal to go in, you know, you’re paying for ads going magazines Go for Life. And then sometimes we do the video portfolios out of Miami where I send the video, and they make a book out of it. So you can just open the book, and you send it to certain people you know, but to us a long way of saying other agents are unbelievably valuable on a listing, I show up on every single listing no matter what it is, even if I’m like at 500,000 or 899 I’m always there. And I go to school in the house. So you know it inside and out and you know, cold. And then I memorize an introduction like when they walk through the door. Welcome to this full of law. This is the bottom floor, I’d give a brief overview. And I stepped back in would you like to tour some people want me to lead a tour. And I always walk through and do the tour almost like theater. I love theater in high school. And that’s really come into play because it’s almost like a play, you know, walking them through and letting them know and then we do beautiful books to give everybody that comes that are beyond Sotheby’s that has the highlights and talks in depth about the property. So if they’re interested, they’ve got everything at their fingertips to go through and that That’s takes that’s money in time. And, you know, my full time assistant does that so but you have listings, and it’s expensive, on average of listing in Naples. I mean, anywhere from 1000 to, oh God 15,000
D.J. Paris 20:17
Just for listing, just in marketing and getting it ready.
Maggie Ives 20:20
Getting it. And I have a real estate partner and I often bring him in the objects are very good. If it’s a girl and a guy shot level, some men just want to talk to men, some men, some, you know, somebody wants to talk to a woman, that the houses are so big, it’s nice to be able to split up on the showings. So just, you know, it’s
D.J. Paris 20:40
funny to thank you that is such great information for our audience. Because I think even though not everyone, not every realtor plays in the in the luxury space. A lot of lessons from, from what you just mentioned, really can be applicable to to other types of homes. And I, you know, I wanted to ask you, you talked about, you know, this being, you know, when you go through this and do the the tour, and the showings, you’re there with a buyer’s agent and the client and the potential client. And you’re, I assume you’re telling the story of the of the sustainance. Property?
Maggie Ives 21:16
Yes. And building them? Yes. It’s tricky, because you want them to build memories. So basically, you don’t want to talk too much about who used to live there. We also really stage it out, like everybody, nothing personal. We tried to remove every single personal item in the home, which can be difficult. Sometimes we pre staged it for every single showing, and then we have to scramble put everything back. Wow. Yeah, because you want them to see their pictures there. And they, you know, just see themselves there. So that’s, that’s, that’s a little tough. But here you are telling the story. There’s, there’s one agent enables that she names her homes. Oh, I love that about that for a while, um, she puts it home. And so and then her books, she titles, you know, she says this is the beach beach day home on. So every home, and that’s how she has in our catalog. That’s how. So that’s that’s an interesting approach. It’s It’s not mine. I don’t it’s too. It’s too serious for that for me to sell somebody’s home. It’s, too. It’s too important, but she’s done. I’m not saying her naming them isn’t important. It just puts a little fun. Yeah, that I don’t feel like is there when you’re moving that kind of property. But it is it lends itself to her personality, not to mine, I should say.
D.J. Paris 22:47
You also said something really, really important. And it reminded me of one of the top agents here in Chicago who I had on the show years, a few years ago, or actually, I apologize or No, I did have her on the show a few years ago. And we have about 44,000 agents in Chicago, and she’s in the top 10 As far as production, very successful play also in the luxury space, predominantly. And I asked her this is so funny, you’ll get such a kick out of this. I said, Well, what’s your secret? And you know, in not that there is a secret, but what are you doing that you think other agents are? In other words, what I asked her not about being in the luxury space, I said, Why do you think your production is so much higher than other agents? And she said the funniest thing, or at least I thought it was funny, because I assumed it was just something everybody did. She said, and this is goes back to what you had said earlier, she said, Well, I call all of my clients at least once a week and let them know, you know, what’s going on with the property? And I said, Okay, well what else? You know? And she she said, No, that’s that’s pretty much it. And I’m sure there’s a lot more things that she does, of course, with exploitation or marketing, but she said, DJ, you would be shocked at how many how many agents don’t do that. And I think there’s a lesson there for all all of our listeners. And you know, you contact your clients every day. And that’s what that’s what they need and deserve. But I suspect there’s agents who don’t even call their clients once a week. And that just is shocking to me. When you know whether they’re buying or selling and not, you know, letting them know, here’s what’s going on. And I guess you probably have the the the opinion if the if the client has to call you you’ve probably failed them at some point because you’re so proactive and calling them
Maggie Ives 24:28
yeah, that she’s right. That’s definitely different to communication. Being able to is huge. It’s just you’ve got to communicate. You know, I want to say to two realtors. Every market has its challenges, but there’s one agent here in Naples and she works in an area called Golden Gate and their homes range anywhere from 300,000 to 995. They’re single family homes. There are big pieces of land. People like golden gates way out there. They’re like two, two and a half acres And she made almost a million dollars last year in Golden Gate. And she just has two full time assistants. She has a wonderful marketing girl. She doesn’t work, like dress up like I do, but she has khakis and super clean outfit and loafers. And she shows up every time. She does not talk to them every day when she’s listing but she has a whole program that they get updated, you know, different that kind of client seller needs a different type of communication. And she just kills it out there. And so I remember hearing about her a couple years ago, and I just thought you think you can do a great job in any market? Like it’s just an I can’t do her market? I can’t I pull my hair out. I mean, they have a millions of questions. And it’s so tricky. And the houses are tricky, and there’s wonky things happening. And the land is huge. And there’s sewer and there’s wells, and there’s, it’s very complicated out there, I think her job is much harder than mine. And they need more help her clients need a lot more help, you know, getting things done and title companies and they have budgets, so they can’t pay the $1,000 for the lawyer and that, you know, they need somebody that’s 350, that’s going to do their job. Well, in some ways. I think that’s even more talent. So I would just like to say that any realtor out there, whatever market you’re working, whatever price point you can kill it, you can just just kill it. If you’re if you know, that’s your jam, then. And you know, you’re in the right spot, then just get down and go for it. Yeah, there’s millions to be made.
D.J. Paris 26:34
There is and and systems, right. And you have amazing systems to ensure that your clients are getting the feedback, and the communication that they want and that they deserve. And you you said this at the beginning. And it’s so funny, I’m so curious, because in the luxury space, I would love to I really want to ask this question. And there’s no right or wrong answer, obviously. But I’m just genuinely curious, when you show up to a listing appointment. And let’s say it’s a client that isn’t necessarily a strong referral, it isn’t a slam dunk. Victory for getting the listing, you have to win the listing, when you show up. You know, some agents, although I think this is less common these days, but maybe in the luxury space, it isn’t used to say years ago, will you show up with a blank pad of paper, you ask a million questions you write down and you don’t need a presentation. And then other agents are like you absolutely need a presentation, you need some sort of visual guide to show here’s what I do. And I’m curious when you meet with with a potential seller, you know, are you bringing material there? Or are you just having an informal conversation? What’s your process,
Maggie Ives 27:45
so I get the referral. And then immediately we start researching the person the property, there’s a whole in depth. And then I have a special place that I pay a lot of money that I can really research the person like where they volunteer what they like to do, they like horseback riding, back riding, I mean, it’s so where they donate their money, how long they’ve lived in Illinois. So I do a whole in depth study on how many properties they have everything. So we get that down. And then if I’m lucky enough, I try to speak to the client on the phone, the before the listing. And I try to ask just a few questions just as many as I can. A lot of times they want to tell you something that they think is important. All that’s very valuable. When I have that conversation. It’s very quiet, it’s behind the closed door and I’m very concentrated. I’m not like walking to the grocery store or anywhere or I’m sitting in my car with a pen and paper. So once I get that that leads, you know, if they asked me something, then I’m then I’m onto it. So two days before the listing or sometimes three, I send beautiful flowers, especially if it’s a husband and wife from Kaleidoscope on Fifth Avenue. It’s beautiful. It’s $200. And I have a beautiful listing packet from Sotheby’s and I put the I’ve had it custom done. It has my biography and it has an entire marketing plan that I’m going to do for their home. And that changes from client to client to click because everything’s different and changes with changes with COVID. You know, there’s nothing it has to be redone every single time I go to a listing, so it’s custom for them. So they get this package from me, they read about me then they read about their marketing plan that’s so they’re dying to know like how I’m going to list their house with some of these can do for them and portfolio and everything. So I have a driver that stressed and they deliver all that to them and it’s all wrapped in a big bowl with beautiful flowers. So when the time you show up, I’ve done all of my homework. Sure I need to know what it’s worth. I kind of know where we’re going price wise. They run all about Saturdays all about me all about the marketing plan. Sunday’s are things circled or arrow like what about this? What about this and please talk to me a little bit more about this. And so really when you get there after all of that I just relax. And I said Would you kindly take me on a tour of your beautiful home And then it just comes alive, they walk me all through the home, up and down. And they just want to show the whole thing off. And then we sit down. And we usually talk about price and kind of, and I get a feel for what they’re thinking. And then we talk it out a little bit. And then they’ll sit, sometimes you get hired, right? Sometimes they’ll say, You know what, we’re gonna go move with you right now, I always have a listing agreement with me, it’s already written out, I fill in the price. And then of course, exclusions, you know, but it’s all there, it’s ready to go. And I also have that to hand that to them, will they get it in the pre listing packet, so they can read the contract before I get there. So nothing’s a surprise. Sometimes they say we’re gonna think about it and get back to me. It just depends. And I follow up with more questions. The next day of the day, you know, how was you know, just following up. And I usually do that by email, because you don’t want to be invasive. Sure. And then you just go get it or you don’t get it.
D.J. Paris 30:58
You know, Maggie, we I’ve interviewed hundreds of Realtors on this show. And I think I’m, I’m the world’s worst memory. But I’m pretty confident that that’s the first time that I have heard somebody sending that information before the listing appointment. And it is one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard. And I think that can also apply to non luxury clientele, or I think anyone any, you know, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a $200 bouquet of flowers. If it’s a lower commission, that doesn’t make sense price wise, for a realtors marketing budget, but boy, that would that would sure impress me if I was a seller, and somebody even just said, Hey, I’m sending over a packet of information. And you know, maybe a little house planters or something, it doesn’t even have to be necessarily anything important. But just to receive that. And I want you to take a look at this ahead of time, so that when I show up, you might have a little bit of a better understanding of what I offer. And then we can Boy, that is such a smart idea. And I think any realtor should should and could do that to some version of that. And I wonder what percentage of Realtors actually do it? It’s got to be less than 1%? I bet. So I don’t know. It’s the first time I’ve heard it on the show. And we and we’ve had on, you know, big, big producers over the years. And again, maybe they just didn’t talk about it. But what an amazing tip. And I suspect not something that is as common as as you know, you do it. So you know, it’s second nature to you. But what a smart, smart idea. So everyone listening or watching, you know, and I want to go back to something that you said once and then we sort of move past it. But I think this is really important. You talked about really doing your your your research on the person to know, what are what are their interests, you know, I mean, even linked in, again, I don’t know that you’re really playing LinkedIn. But But again, even just for the average working class person has of LinkedIn profile, it talks about sort of at least their professional life. Obviously social media can let you know more about about their social life and their family life and their interest. But I love that you sort of create a dossier on that person. And I imagine that helps in conversation where you can even just appear to know a lot about the person, which of course you do. And that is incredibly impressive to any individual. Whenever you know someone meets them say hey, I know that you’re really into this, does that come up a lot in conversations where you’re able to talk about that information that you know about them?
Maggie Ives 33:33
Yes, I’m careful with it. Very, very, very coarse for a lead to it, you know, lead to it. The other thing I want to say is usually the day before I go like the night before like around five, six o’clock, I always email the client and just say I’m looking forward to the next day or Monday give them the time and then I send them a virtual you know, I send them a virtual book. So what I’ve sent them in the mail they can look on online for any reason to so it’s the same thing I have it all scanned in and so it’s just another way that they can they can get it and see it and you have to have it anyway because you have to send it to you know, other people need to see it house managers or I don’t know just you have to fit. Thank you for that. That’s really nice. It really works. It definitely definitely works so well.
D.J. Paris 34:19
Everybody wants the luxury experience even if they’re not you know in the luxury space and I think if people are realtors are listening, you know treat your clients as if they’re the most important client which obviously Maggie you do, and because they are and and and it should be for every realtor, whatever the price point is and if you treat them like if you give them the Four Seasons experience, especially if there’s somebody that isn’t a four seasons type of person in their own private personal life. Boy I can’t imagine that would ever go wrong. It’s it’s everybody wants a luxury experience and as Realtors we have the opportunity to do our best to give that to someone. And I think that’s an amazing lesson for for all of our audience to hear. And, oh, I wanted to before we wrap up us, we were Maggie and I were chatting before we got started. And she goes, can I talk about some books that I really enjoy? And I love that. So do you mind sharing a couple of the titles that have really helped you in your business or just books you’d recommend our audience to check out?
Maggie Ives 35:24
So ninja selling by Larry Kendall. I’ve been to ninja trainings. So if anybody has that ability, just go online. It’s a tremendous course it changed me completely in 2018. It was amazing. So it’s called ninja selling. So if you can’t get to the course just read the book, but it’s excellent. And the tastes like
D.J. Paris 35:47
Yeah. And then just selling has been all the rage for years now. And from what top agents tell me so many of them say it’s the gold standard in in training. It’s so I you know, I’m not affiliated with Ninja, but boy, I have just heard it time and time again. So everyone should should at least go get the book.
Maggie Ives 36:06
Yeah. So if you can, and then the Go Giver is excellent. I’m sure many of you read that already. But I don’t care. It’s a great little book. It’s a fast read, but every word of it is phenomenal. And then another book that I love is called into the magic shop. And it’s a wonderful book about a neurosurgeon and how he befriended when he was a boy, a woman in a magic shop. And he she taught him how to think, how to meditate how to separate emotions from his brain. So he could go on and become a neurosurgeon. He was very poor, and it was a tough childhood. And he learned how to hold space, and think and concentrate. And I think that’s really essential in our business to hold space for people and let them talk. I have a wonderful coach. I coach with the Life Coach School, Brooke Castillo. She’s excellent. She has a free podcast, it’s out every Thursday. She completely changed my life. And you can just listen to her free podcast and get anything out of it that you want. But she’s very clear thinker, very focused, and she’s taught me how to listen to other people, which it’s all down to communicating. And of course, you know, Chris Voss never split the difference. He’s the top FBI negotiator. Jerry Metcalf loves him, but I’ve read his book, I’ve listened to his tapes and I’ve coached with his group,
D.J. Paris 37:30
you know, it’s, it’s so I’m sorry, just to I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I always forget about that book because it’s not specifically a real estate book. But it is a book about negotiation. And, and again, realtors what do they do they negotiate so this it’s a it’s a must read? I never thought about that. And thank you for bringing that up because everyone should go get that book as well.
Maggie Ives 37:50
Yes, wait for you want the no you want the No. As soon as you get the No I was had a listing for 6.6 I’ll just say really fast $6.6 million listing and we were just in there and I was on my seventh showing and the gentleman said I could tell he his wife really loved it they lived in the neighborhood and he said well and he said I don’t like this I don’t like this on this and I said to myself okay, there’s all the notes now let’s get to the yes and then I said that the data and he looked at me and he went show me the golf cart garage and I was like okay, and we got back out I pushed the clicker went up he looked at it he said I’d get one golf cart there one golf cart there were three cars there and I had an offer in 30 minutes to get all the nose out. And so normally in the before I read Chris’s book I’d hear nose and I would I would think it was over sure I heard his nose I thought were more in and that in sales that made me go okay, we’re headed towards the yes let’s help him get there. So instead of my brain shutting off and going Okay, my next listing Oh, here we go. Let’s get the yes
D.J. Paris 38:51
well you probably hear the word know a lot and not because of anything you haven’t done correctly or, or but just because these are people who are used to being imagined very exacting. They have very specific standards. And so the word know isn’t necessarily a bad word because they’re used to seeing something that maybe isn’t perfect saying no and then somebody maybe part of their team or somebody goes we can get that fixed we can we can make this work and so I imagined the word no is isn’t uncommon in your world at all.
Maggie Ives 39:28
It’s not it’s not and once I say no you can tell they’re so relieved that they can start to think like I’m often look I said no, no, all I really think can I afford you know, what am I what am I going to move money from you know, and then because they’re off the hook, and they’re wise you’re like okay, and then the magic happens. So anyway,
D.J. Paris 39:48
don’t be afraid of you know, it’s funny I was we were at my girlfriend was getting was looking to buy a car we were down visiting my parents for Mother’s Day, this last weekend, and so they we all went out To the car dealership, where my where my father’s friends with the owner. And so I suspect we probably got, you know, nice treatment, and the manager came over and and you know, there was no, there was going to be no negotiation which of course, in car sales is usually the most uncomfortable in the worst part because you feel like you’re getting ripped off and it just feels uncomfortable. And so he’s like, he’s like, guys, you know, here’s what I can do. And what he said, because there was no real negotiation. And he showed us all the numbers. And he said, You know, I don’t he was just, you know, whether you buy the car or not, he’s like, really doesn’t matter that much to me. He goes, we’re giving you this friends and family discount. So quite frankly, this doesn’t even make our dealership whole lot of money. But but just you know, if you see something better out there, he’s like, please call me. He goes, I’ll tell you whether it’s a good or a good deal to buy that from another he goes, doesn’t really matter. He’s like, I’ve known, you know, he said to my parents, I’ve known your parents for 30 years, he’s, he’s like, I just want to help you. He goes, if you don’t buy it through me, that’s okay. We deal with rejection all day long. And I thought boy, that was one of the smartest sales pitches I’ve ever heard, because it made me want to give him that business. Because I thought, oh, all you ever want in, in a service person is somebody that you trust in that you like, and and I now trusted and liked him. And in a industry car sales, which doesn’t typically have a lot of trust, right, we always kind of walk in going, I think I’m getting screwed, or at least you’re worried that you might be getting screwed. And so I think what you just said is so important because this idea of of, you know, listening to somebody and getting to a level where they trust you because you’re telling them the truth. And and going above and beyond is probably the most important part is what I’m guessing.
Maggie Ives 41:44
Every day I wake up and when I do my readings and say my prayers, and I just say no, who can I serve today? How can I serve find somebody that I can help today. And that’s that’s that ninja that’s ninja selling, you know, serving? Let’s, let’s go let’s help somebody. And if I get to the end of the day, and I haven’t helped somebody I usually get in a Starbuck line and you know, pay for the person behind me and like, Okay, did something for somebody. So but it’s a great story about the car. So I sold cars for about seven years at Lexus. So I understand that was a really good selling ground. We had a guy named Jack jewel, and he taught me a trick. He wouldn’t you’d clients and they were really close to buying. And they’re like, oh, they said, I would always say to them, oh, I would take us what we’re giving away today we’re giving away ice cream. And I would have really wonderful boxes of ice cream. And then you give them the ice cream in this special bag. And then they’d have to go home. They couldn’t go shop you Oh, I love that. All them when they got home and I was like, thank you so much for coming in that their kid was usually eating the ice cream. And then we’d usually put the deal together.
D.J. Paris 42:49
Oh, I love that. Mark.
Maggie Ives 42:53
That’s an old old car trick. But I incorporated it and it really, really worked for me and Jerry’s.
D.J. Paris 43:03
Well, yeah, so maybe if you have a listing and you’re doing an open house or something, give everyone ice cream on the way out so they have to go home. Well, Maggie, I could talk to you all day you are you’re just a wonderful realtor. Of course, you’re an amazing success, you were actually referred to us from one of our other guests, Chris, who we recently had, in fact, I think I just pushed his episode live today. So funny, funny. And we are so grateful to have you and really love your you being able and willing to share the experience of working in the luxury space it is, it is absolutely clear to me why you thrive in that space and why you’re so successful. And I would also just mentioned, because we have so many Realtors from all over the country that listen to our show. You know, if you have high net worth, luxury clientele, or just really anyone that may want to move to Naples, and you of course, maybe don’t service that area because you’re in a different state or a different part of even Florida. And you want your clients to work with Maggie or somebody that she knows that she can refer to. How should our agents get in touch with you if they have someone for you?
Maggie Ives 44:11
I would love to speak to any agent for any reason. And you can call me direct 239-910-2581 Chris read with Arthur SEO did my website. He’s amazing. It has amazing and he’s incredible. And if you go right to my website and I Yeah, it’s dot com My phone number is there, my emails there. It’s super easy to get in touch with me from there. We’ve designed it so anybody can reach me and please I would love to hear from you for any reason about anything. And I love talking to my fellow realtors. It’s amazing. So what’s very
D.J. Paris 44:45
generous of you and you will probably get some emails and phone calls from audience and hopefully, yeah, and you know, one thing we didn’t really talk about, but the reason I brought that up is is since you know Maggie plays in the space where her clients are often have other homes and other parts of the country or in different countries, the relationship she has with other real estate professionals is really critical because it’s a real two way street or I imagine you’re sending, you know, your your clients to other realtors when they’re looking in other areas. And of course vice versa. So please get in touch with her. Let’s build those those relationships between Realtors is a cooperative, you know, industry or at least it should be. So let’s let’s do that. So on behalf of our audience, we want to thank Maggie for continued for being on our show spending time with us, which I know she does not have she is that busy, she is that successful. And she found time for us. We’re so grateful for that. And on behalf of Maggie and myself, we want to thank our audience, the listeners and the viewers for continuing to well not only listen to this episode, but you know continuing to support our podcast. And if you are interested in supporting our show, the best way to do it is just tell a friend, think of one other agent that could benefit from hearing this great interview with Maggie send them a link to our show the couple of ways to do that. If they don’t listen to podcast, just send them to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done, you can stream right from our website. You don’t need to have a podcast app, just listen there. Or if they are a podcast person, have them pull up their podcast app, and whichever one they use and do a search for keeping it real and hit the subscribe button and we’ll keep producing episodes like this. So Maggie, thank you so so much and also please everyone go visit Maggie’s website to see what a really nice realtor website looks like. Which is Maggie ives.com. And please also follow her on Instagram see how she talks about her properties and her clientele which is at Maggie Ives realtor again, that’s I ve So Maggie is realtor on Instagram. And you can find all of her social media on her website as well. Maggie ives.com Maggie, thank you so much for being on the show.
Maggie Ives 46:51
Thank you. I appreciate it.
D.J. Paris 46:53
Great we do too. All right. All right. All right. We’ll see everyone on the next episode. Okay, fine.
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