Welcome to another episode of Coaching Moments With Ryan D’Aprile from D’Aprile Properties!
In this episode Ryan discusses several different issues affecting agents today. First he reveals how to cultivate and deepen client connection through discipline and habit-formation. Next he discusses top strategies of converting prospective clients to active buyers/sellers. Last he advises how agents should stop focusing on selling and start focusing on understanding client needs.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Ryan D’Aprile can be reached at 312.590.6416 and ryan@daprileproperties.com.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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All right. Welcome to keeping it real, the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris, and I am your guide and host through the show. Today we have our monthly episode, which is called coaching moments with Ryan de April. Now if you’re not familiar with Ryan, let me tell you a little bit about him. Ryan is a progressive thought leader. He’s focused on providing for his agents and staff, his strengths, our motivational skills, coaching style and his dedication to training. Ryan has 13 offices throughout Chicago and also in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan and as hundreds and hundreds of successful brokers at his company. D APR properties is a coaching company with eight strategic coaches who work week in and week out with every agent individually focused on bills, business planning, coaching and accountability. And if you would like to take your career to the next level, or if you’re just getting not getting the attention you need or deserve, check out D APR properties, visit D APR properties.com. Once again, welcome back to the show, Ryan.
Ryan D’Aprile 2:00
Thanks, JJ. Appreciate you having me. Yeah, I
D.J. Paris 2:04
appreciate your all the contributions you make this era, some of our most listened to episodes are your coaching moments. So we really appreciate your help. And yeah, what’s so what’s going on? Right? You know, obviously, right now we’re most of the country is at a stay at home order. Some states have deemed real estate to be essential. Some states have not. So we’re fortunate, at least here in Illinois to be able to practice to some degree, other states aren’t as fortunate currently. But what are you seeing out there? What are you what are you seeing with your agents?
Ryan D’Aprile 2:41
So we’re thankfully seeing a continuance of business. So I mean, there’s clearly been a slowdown, but before we launch, you asked how things are going and I said, really good. And then you said, You were surprised. And I said, Well, relative to the current market, what’s going on, things are actually going really well. And in fact, last week, this past week, we saw quite an uptick. I think there is a lot of demand out there. Clearly, there is not enough inventory. One of our agents just put a home under contract, she was on the market for 48 hours and had nine offers on it. So, you know, business is down because of the shelter in place, and the fear that’s out there, but I think it’s temporary, like anything else, it will lie, it will pass. But recently, in the past week, we’ve seen an uptick. And I think we’ll see that continue, as you know, as the world starts to get a hold of this. And we start to get to hopefully better and better news.
D.J. Paris 3:45
I remember on our last episode, the stay in the stay at home order was was also enacted. And you had said that this, in some ways was similar, but also different from the real estate crash of the late the late zeros from you know, 2008 to 2010. But you had said something very interesting. That was echoed by a someone that I interviewed yesterday from San Jose, California with no connection to you. But he said exactly the same thing that you had said that you had done back in 2008. When the market crashed, you said you doubled your efforts, you doubled your marketing efforts, and it paid dividends and he was saying the exact same thing. So if you don’t mind, I’d love to for our listeners to hear more about, you know, what, what does that look like? What What should agents? Absolutely.
Ryan D’Aprile 4:34
And I really think you know, there’s a book out there as its title is that it’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it. Now what happens, sees what you do about it, and I feel it’s really important that we look for the good in life. And when we have situations like these and it seems to happen every 10 years 911 The Great Recession, this pandemic that’s going on. You know if you really pray There’s a life of lifelong learning. And you’re going to get caught up in the moment watching the news and that deer in headlights, but you kind of come back and you dial in. And what’s different for me now in 2020, to 2008 2008, as in my third year in real estate, and I was selling real estate, and I double down my activities in my business, and 2020 is my eighth year of growing our company and running our business. And man, so many good things have come from this that I’ve learned from, you know, from the importance of culture and community and in keeping together and being a beacon of light for your agents, who are essentially a beacon of light for their community and their network. We’re doing the weekly zoom calls, we’re having over 250 participants weekly on it, getting a lot of great feedback, our managing brokers, who are coaches have really rolled up their sleeves with their office managers and are making sure their agents monthly marketing is getting out there. And the agents are staying engaged in their network and in their, in their, in their flow with their, with their network. And some really great best practices are coming out of this. And yeah, I’m certainly we’re gonna see the ripple effect. And we already are after just one month of like real, concentrated Kool Aid, you know, really putting it in there and getting focused on our practices. And, and what we need to doing, we’re already starting to see the results of more business or agents or feel are much busier than the average agent in the marketplace. And the morale is, the morale is really, really good. I mean, again, it can get scary and but the folks that are buying in and participating in the weekly calls, and that are letting manager broker approach, hold them accountable and meet with them on a weekly basis. It’s really, it’s starting to trickle into their life in their personal life and everybody really in a pretty, pretty good state of mind.
D.J. Paris 7:04
I remember reading from a quote. So I’ve actually listened to interviews as well with Coach John Wooden, who is I don’t know if he’s still the most winning coach for NCAA history for men. But I believe he certainly was, and probably still is. And he ended up winning, I think, seven NCAA championships in a row, like, which is just completely unheard of. And then I think he won like nine of 12. Like he’s some incredible statistic. But anyway, the reason I’m bringing him up is he was all about process and discipline and fundamentals. And he he said he and this is his his words, not mine. And it wasn’t metaphor or exaggeration. hyperbole. He legitimately said he never looked at the scoreboard. He said, I just never looked, he goes, we just keep our head down, and we do what we’re doing. And I wonder if you know if that’s really the secret to staying,
Ryan D’Aprile 7:58
you know, it is and success in life and in business is it is a process. They say we’re in sales, I don’t think, you know, sales is an art. I mean, it’s a combination. But really, I don’t feel like we’re in sales, we help people navigate through the marketplace, our biggest value that we bring to the market is emotional intelligence, and helping people through that huge transition in life. But out for a real estate agent, a loan officer or anybody else who is responsible for essentially supporting themselves by generating leads. It is absolutely a process. You’re only as good as your habits and these habits and these daily habits are not for the few they’re for the majority. It just it’s all apparent Are you willing to dedicate, in time block one hour a day and do it five, six days a weak, I’m a I’m a gardener I love I love my plants. I love my flowers and I I cultivate, and I look at my business, my companies, I look at my personal business, I look at my children, I look at my garden, all of its cultivating and, and I try to please love the journey. Embrace the journey. And I right now it’s May, isn’t May, it’s April 30, almost. And it’s almost like tulips are all well. And I plant my tulips in the fall. And I weigh all winter for spring. And the most fun is when they say the little green sprouts. And then the next Ooh, there’s the bulb. Now they’re gorgeous. They’re beautiful. They’re all over the purple and they’re white. But in the back of my house, I have about 100 sunflowers planted and have more fun with the little green sprouts that come through the dirt. I’m enjoying the beauty of my tulips, right and my rhododendrons and what I’m excited for my Azaleas are about the top. What am I talking about people and what the hell is he talking about? It’s cultivating and it’s enjoying the process and the journey. So if you bring it back to what we do for living, you know, I really would challenge anybody to look at their business. And are they truly getting the most pleasure at the closing table? When they’re getting the check? Or are they really they stop and they reflect, and they take a moment to look back at the process from soup to nuts, A to Z wherever you started? And did you enjoy the journey, and eventually did, and it has its ups and it hasn’t done and it’s, it’s difficult living in the moment, I completely understand. Because when you have those downs, they’re hard. But if you could step up, step back. And as Deepak Chopra says, become a witness to your life, and become a witness to your life and your practices and, and start to watch, you know what you’re doing and enjoy. Enjoy that cultivation process. I have no idea how we went down this this road.
D.J. Paris 10:47
Nobody but you’re right. It is about habits. It is about discipline. And it is about you know, it’s funny. It’s like, you’ve always said this in previous episodes. And I think it’s a really important concept to circle back to, which is there’s freedom in discipline, the the irony of, yeah, there’s some short term pain, but you’re going to actually have more freedom in your life by having structure. It’s sort of just, you know, absolutely,
Ryan D’Aprile 11:15
yeah, that and that’s what I love. That’s what I love about what I do. I’m a coach, right, we have a coaching company, and working with so many individuals in our office, our agents, and really kind of having these different breakthroughs. And one of them is, is getting people to stop fearing success. Because they think once you become successful, I’m have less time for this. And we have less time for that. And folks, it’s not true. You know, I have I have 400 plus people at my organization from a real estate company, a mortgage company, a title company, I’m a wife and three daughters, I coached the basketball team, I was able to do all these things in success did not get in the way. But I had to have discipline, I had to have processes. You know, it’s exhausting working in your business everyday, you got to take time to work on it. And that’s the cultivating and, and a couple of things I want to talk about in our in coaching moments today for some takeaways for our listeners, DJ is one, the cultivating of the business which I just kind of covered. Two, I want to talk about converting, I think one of the things that we need to speak with speak to our agents or listeners here is, you know, you have you have your network or your lead source, I prefer the network lead source, but there’s many others, they move into prospects. And then they move to active clients, and then they move to sales. But moving on from prospects to actors. How do you convert a cover that then I think to wrap up is let’s talk about, you know, stop selling, and start understanding your client, being a buyer seller understand their why. And working with so many agents, they they come to me and they look for advice on a buyer consultation or listing consultation that they’re going on. And it always usually starts with them. And what are they going to say? And I said, Stop, don’t make it about you. It’s not you’re a participant on their journey. It’s about them. And you need to learn how to ask why questions. And why that is so important is through out the journey of a buyer or seller’s transaction. They’re going to come up the roadblocks and a lot of those roadblocks are themselves. And you have to go back to their why and to help them see why they started on this and help them gather way they will come to the decision that you know they should make. But remember, you know, that’s why we add the value or the third party we’re not so emotionally attached to it. And when emotions are high. Logic is low. So we gotta go back to that way. So let’s talk about let’s talk about converting. Is that okay with you?
D.J. Paris 14:03
Perfect. So we’re talking about converting prospects to, to customer?
Ryan D’Aprile 14:10
Yeah, exactly. A prospect to an active client. Right. And just some bullet points that I have here that I wrote down. One. First, you should assume that you are their real estate agent and follow up with action. You don’t have to wait for permission all the time. People like to be led. Okay. And one of the things that I like to say is get over the imposter syndrome, right? Get over the imposter syndrome. And that’s self imposed. And that’s these limiting beliefs that we all have. And you have to understand people have a need out there. You’re a professional, you went to school, you got your license, you go to continued education. to go into the office on a weekly basis, you go to office meetings, you’ll learn best practices, you’re learning at the statistics, what’s going on, you are the experts. And it’s, I equate to like going to a doctor’s office and a doctor hesitating, when you walk in, say, may I would you mind if I took your blood pressure, you’d be freaked out. And you have to you what you have to look at, when you have somebody who’s a prospect. And again, a prospect, or client is that a buyer that’s in your car driving around, it’s not a it’s not listening, it’s active listening, actively listening, you have to take out that that imposter syndrome and which is self imposed. You have to speak and statements, not questions. And then of course, you have to look at the different categories of the lead sources, which will direct you on how you act with them. So let me elaborate on that a little bit. Okay,
D.J. Paris 15:56
sure. I’m just gonna back up just one pause for just a sec. Because in Ryan’s about to say a lot of really, really great things about about how to prepare. But I will, and I want to add to that, just briefly, is to say, you know, if someone if you’re newer to the industry, if you’re not as experienced, and your client asks you a question where you don’t have the answer, right, front and center, tell the truth. Say, you know, that’s a great question. Let me get right back to you with an answer on that. And most people understand that you’re not going to have every answer. So this imposter syndrome Ryan talking about is really, really important. Don’t be afraid to say to the client, that’s an amazing question. I mean, happens to me all the time. I had somebody I’ve been doing this 10 years, somebody I was trying to recruit somebody for our firm yesterday. And they asked to come or a commercial transaction question. I said, to be honest, I really don’t know. But I will get back right back to you with the answer. Give me 30 minutes. And they were like, awesome. That’s perfect. So yeah, but if I if I would have, if I would have, you know, answered it differently, or hemmed and hawed, they probably wouldn’t have thought, it’s highly of me. So I always say, Don’t be afraid of being an imposter, you can always tell the truth to always tell the truth.
Ryan D’Aprile 17:13
Absolutely. You know, I remember it for our listeners out there be real estate agents or loan officers. A sale is a byproduct of a relationship. Yes, that’s what it comes, you don’t sell homes, you never have, you never will. Right. You add a ton of value to the marketplace. And that’s emotional intelligence. It’s understanding what’s going on how to refocus people that are buyer’s or seller’s throughout the process, the focus on the goal and their Why buy but you know, in the beginning process of this is you have to focus on the relationship, and then knowing what their Why is. And then there’s a point where you have to get out of your own way. And you have to have a belief system in yourself. And you have to understand that you are the experts. And you got to start speaking in statements. Yes. And that questions? Yes. You know, if you speak in questions, and you ask, Would you like me to send you this? Would you like to do this? Would you like me to give you would you like me to come by and give you a an idea or value of your home? You could be scaring them, because they don’t know what comes first, right? People want to be led. Yes, you have to lead. So DJ, you are considering selling your home. You know, DJ, that sounds great. Listen, I want to come by next week, I want to just take a look at your home, there’s a lot of steps and going over, there’s a lot going involved in selling your home, I don’t want you to think about it, I got it all covered. But I need to come by one, take a look at home, have a cup of coffee, give you some ideas. And I’ll show you what the next steps are after that. That’s just one example of how I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. And what the happens to do is I puts me in the lead position. And they come to us because they want us to lead.
D.J. Paris 19:14
And it also the other thing it does, and I want to make a point because I we do this in our recruiting calls. So so, you know, I recruit realtors to work at our firm. And one of the shifts I’ve been doing this 10 years, when I first started, this was my own ignorance. I would say, Hey, would you like to learn more about our firm? You know, I would give a little pitch and you know, maybe they’d say yes, most time they go, no. Then we changed it. And it was a small change. But it’s really what Ryan just said. And now what we say is to say hey, if you’re ever interested in looking at another firm, we’d be honored to talk to you that went from a question to a statement. And it goes back to that, you know, if you’re doing it right, you don’t have to ask for the sale. And we just said hey, we would love to talk to you if you’re if you’re interested in Let us know. And we checked. And that improved our, our these phone call responses by like, we have twice as many people interested from that simple switch from asking a question to where it really puts the person on the spot. And maybe they’re not ready to make that that commitment. And also, they might have resistance towards it. Now we just say, Hey, if you’re interested, let us know. And we just pause, and we wait for them to respond. So it’s kind of similar to what you’d said, it’s
Ryan D’Aprile 20:29
a great point. So when we have somebody that’s in our prospect category, that we want to move to active. What I mean by that is, when they are ready, you know that they are going to use you. Yeah, and so again, we don’t sell we don’t force we swim downstream. But you have to understand what your lead sources, all this. All these, these definitions, and these, these are these terms that I’ve been using, they’re very important, because one of the things that we use at our company is called a dashboard, something we built, and it gives you control and it gives you visibility. And really, most CRMs will have this ours is customized to more of our language and how we flow. But you got to know your lead source, because you have to work with everybody differently. And let me tell you why. So if I’m going to convert somebody from a prospect to an active, and they’re an open house lead, okay, that’s going to be different than their lead from my network, right would be different if their lead from my referral from my network. So if let’s talk about open house, wait. So agents out there, you said an open house. And you know, a lot of agents tend to sit at their open houses over and over again, I do encourage agents to kind of get out of the practice and maybe have other agents that your open house, they’re gonna get more unbiased feedback, they get to you that you could relate to your client. But it also puts you in the state of mind that when you are hosting somebody else’s open house, you’re not so focused on selling that house you’re in, but creating relationship with a potential buyer that walks in. And when you are working with an open house lead, and that conversion that I’m talking about, I think first thing you need to focus on, is that relationship. Where are you from DJ, and let you speak and you’re gonna ask her? Where are you from? It’s one of my favorite things to open up with. Because you may tell me physically where you live, right? You may tell me where you grew up. You may tell me where you went to school, you may tell me where you work, I have no idea. And then the conversations that could choose your own adventure. But the questions I’m asking are always about you. Right? And there’s this eve Have you heard of Ford, the acronym Ford know that stands for. So for the stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and dreams of over dreams in a second because that can be confusing. But these are things people want to talk about, about them. Your job in the lead development, as a real estate professional, or a loan or loan officer, the businesses that I run, and then I coach, and your job is to create relationships. If you want to create a relationship with DJ, if I want a relationship with you, I’m going to talk about you. And I’m gonna ask questions regarding family, or your occupation, or what you’d like to do, or dreams. What’s dreams. So what do you plan once the shelter in place is left? It’s dreams, music future type questions? What are you gonna do for spring break? What do you plan for the summer? And that’s right, and then you can go on and on and on. We’re talking about converting a prospect to inactive clients. So the first thing you have to do is you’ve got to build trust. And if you want to build trust is give that individual that you’re speaking to significance, and learn about them. And that’s about talking about the why. Now, I’m giving some examples. We’re on a podcast, it’s Facebook Live. It’s unique to me. I’m getting used to this so and Ryan,
D.J. Paris 24:18
by the way, is normally in front of a whiteboard, and he’s scribbling furiously, and he’s not able to do that right now. And I know that stuff, if you if you’re watching this, you know Ryan, normally we have to have a camera following him. So I noticed this isn’t as comfortable for you is because you’d normally in we should mention before you start what exactly what Ryan does for his agents because this is really unique and we have 44,000 Real estate agents in Chicago. That is a significant number of agents. And Ryan does something that virtually no other no other broker owner does, where he travels from office to office. He’s got 13 offices, and he literally has whiteboards in every office and he coaches every single he coaches his coaches he can Just the agents. And he runs around and this is his life. This is what he does. So sorry, we don’t have a whiteboard for you, but
Ryan D’Aprile 25:07
that’s okay. And it’s uh, you know, it’s the energy, right. And there’s usually the classroom people and I could we could dialogue back and forth. So and then I’m trying to, you know, for brevity, I’m trying to keep the stand. So I don’t want to lose the listeners or poor listeners, but coming back, you know, to this, right, it’s, I built a report with you. Okay, listen, real estate agents, this is particular Illinois, when we have the private network and whatnot, then you have to practice it understand techniques, because when you meet somebody in an open house, you know, that they’re out looking, they might not be looking to buy for the next four months, who cares? You know, you’ve just identified somebody who’s in the marketplace, man, take time to build relationship with them. And then please, take the home buying process as fun, you know, pay attention to your vernacular and, and make it exciting to them. That might be different for seller. And we’ll be going to that maybe in another episode, because everyone for four hours on this, but I’m, after I build the trust with you, okay. And I’m hosting an open house, okay. I’m going to want to do all the few homes that are on the private network. Prior to that open houses prior proper planning, I want to plan plan properly going that open house. So after I build the report with you, and I find out what you’re looking at, and I mean, I’d say a $500,000 home, but you’re looking for a $300,000 home, okay, I might not have it memorized. But it was just an example. But I might say, you know, DJ, there’s home on four or five, six, Apple Street, and 1321 Main Street, not yet on the market, you should go drive paths, and take a look. And then I’ll say and listen, you know, if you want. Now you gotta know your audience, right? So maybe you’re my I’m in the community, and DJ, you’re new to this community. Make it fun, hey, DJ, if you ever want, I’d be happy to drive you around the town and show you where the different schools are, where the downtown is, where the dog park is. And then they’re gonna say, I don’t want to bother you, I don’t want to waste your time, you have to come back with your first language, which is your energy. And you’ll say no, this is fun. This is I love to do this. If you want, I would be happy to do it if you don’t want to. And then we send them a community tour. We send them bits of information to them, after we met with them. But you know, in the time, the 10 minutes, that 30 minutes we spend together 80% of it on that report, then the next 20% of it, yes. But yeah, the next 20% of it is going to be what are you looking for, you know what, there is a couple homes they know, and go over and look at this and be and be like, you know, I work at this organization. But I’m friends with so many agents in this community, if you want a shoot an email, could see what else is coming on, and keep you up to date of what will be out there and what might be coming. And then after that, I’m going to stay in touch with you with a text message or an email, we could get a conversation as to how to get that stuff. And there’s techniques to do it. And when I was selling, and I was doing this, I mean, eight out of 10 times, you end up working with me. And through my closest friends today. And the number one focuses was on them the report and then coming off with my love and my energy for the business, ensuring that people buy homes by communities. They’re buying towns or by neighborhoods, they’re buying, you know, a lifestyle and they’re buying a future that they’re looking into, really embrace that and ask to be a part of that journey and lead them lead them and say, Hey, you’d like to pick me up, we’ll go get a cup of coffee. Take you 20 minutes, the happy show you around. No strings attached. By the way, I don’t see no strings attached. I don’t like sales type shirt type of cliches. But I imply it if that makes any sense.
D.J. Paris 29:10
Yeah, I want to tack on a few just really quick techniques, because you said a lot just now and and one of the things that you said quickly and I want to circle back to is this idea of when you’re doing an open house to know not only the neighborhood know what all the homes on the MLS are that are comparable, that clients who are going to walk in are prospective clients, you know, would probably want to know about and then also as Ryan said this was big and I don’t know that every every MLS in the country has this but you should look to see is called a private listing network and Ryan very quickly said you should be checking the private listing that work to see if there’s any other available units because those those properties tend not to stream out to Zillow. Redfin, a lot of the the consumer facing websites So what Ryan’s saying is go there and say, Oh, by the way, there’s another property that hasn’t yet hit the MLS, I can shoot it over to you, I’d really like you to Yes.
Ryan D’Aprile 30:09
And agents will want you to listen too closely here. And the point of contention I have with the association is what they essentially did is they, they sold our data to the Zillow so the world who are then selling it back to us, but God forbid you send a postcard with another agents information, you’re in violation of the rules. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. But I want you to understand with what DJ is talking about the PLN there’s a proper way to send properties that are on the PLN to people that you meet from these lead sources. And listen closely, if not through an automated search on the MLS, right? It’s through a text message. It’s through an email. And you’re saying, Hey, I know of a property. It’s four bedrooms, it’s five bathrooms and making this stuff up, right? It’s through budget, it’s four bedrooms, two bathrooms, it’s in that price point. The address is 456 Main Street, one dry path, you want to get in, let me know, what am I saying? I’m saying not the DJ and open house, and then go log in the MLS and put DJ in a automated search. Anybody could do that you’re in the 80% if you’re doing that,
D.J. Paris 31:18
and they could do it themselves, too. They don’t yeah, for that,
Ryan D’Aprile 31:21
right. Right. Now you got to get creative. You got it, you know, you got to become that gardener, you know, grab your miracle girl clip and prune and take care of that lead and cultivate it and and really step back and witness your activities and put yourself in their shoes. Like how would you want to be led? Yes. How would you want to be led to the process?
D.J. Paris 31:42
You know, it’s funny I am I’m going to give you an example of when I used to, I get all my clothing from basically one place but before before then I used to go to Banana Republic and the reason I like banana republic now but what I liked about them was their salespeople were quite good as I would walk into the store. And uh, you know, some of their sales people, of course are better than others. But they’re, they used to have an office or a, they had a store here in Lincoln Park that’s no longer there. But I would walk in, and they would say, Hey, I Okay, looking at my coloring and my skin and my hair and whatever my height, whatever my style, they would say, What do you want? What do you what are you looking for? And I would say well, I’m looking for X, Y or Z. And they would say, okay, based on your skin, tone your hair, you really should be wearing these colors and stripes but not you know, vertical but not horizontal, whatever, and different types of clothing. And then then they would go give me a few minutes, I’m going to find a few things for you. And I would be walking around. Yeah. And they would come back to me at like a conceptual would. And they established rapport. They asked what I wanted. And they said Hang on, I’m gonna let me think about it for a few minutes and they would come back and it was one of the best shopping experiences and that’s why I was so loyal to Amanda Republic. I still am I love banana republic. But the point is, is I went that’s a good and I don’t even want to say the word salesperson because they’re not a salesperson. I bought the clothes because they
Ryan D’Aprile 33:06
lead they they lead you and that’s what people want. They don’t want decisions you guys so like listen put into an automated searches blast and what’s in the MLS, you’re not adding any value. So go find a couple of houses. And here’s the next one that people talk about is well, they checked No. on everything. I sent them cool to get them out to one or two properties and three or four homes that they checked no on that you think like, show it to them, surprise them say hey, I got to work. Let’s just go look at this. Here we times that happened with it. Oh my god, I love this home. And yes, you check no on it. I didn’t I don’t say that. There’s no point. But you as real estate professionals you have to understand, let you know like you got to take control. Go back to the dressing room, like do you just said, go grab some items and say, let’s try this. And let’s try that and speak in these statements, not questions. And lead. People want to be led.
D.J. Paris 34:06
People want to be led by by consultants. Right. So I’ve always said, you know, it’s a shame that that we’re called salespeople, because I don’t I don’t think anyone who’s successful in real estate would probably refer. I mean, they might say they’re in sales, but they’re really a consultant, their job is to find out what what the client needs, and then to authentically give them solutions. And yeah,
Ryan D’Aprile 34:28
I mean, the sales made when they hire you know, that’s the only time you were in sales. And that’s simple, just a byproduct of being in flow with your network and create relationships, like you are in the friends making business. And it’s not it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and so on and so forth. So there was something else DJ wanted to cover, but it just slipped my mind.
D.J. Paris 34:50
You were talking about today’s market, so
Ryan D’Aprile 34:54
yes, well yes. Can I can I can I can I lead here? Okay, cool. Well, you Yeah, so Converting Prospects to act as we just went over open houses. So now let’s talk about network. lead source. Okay. So DJ you, I didn’t meet you an open house, you’re somebody in my network. And I know you, I know what’s going on, because I’m good daily habits. It’s my job to know who you are, and work with you. And by chance at a basketball game, or a soccer game or a cocktail party, you say, you know, yeah, you know, thinking about buying a home next year, you wouldn’t come out and say it, but you’d say little cues. This is totally different. Because I have no relationship with you, because you’re from my network. So I’m going to handle that I’m going to work different. And I’m going to not ask them when I tell DJ, that’s awesome. I can’t wait to work with you. What I’m going to do is start sending you some properties. And listen, I know you know, you’re not ready eight months from now. But eight months goes like this. And this is so much fun. What do you do next Saturday or next Sunday? I need you to give me an hour, one of those days, grab a cup of coffee. Let’s go out. It’s a lot of fun. Let’s go see what’s out there. I didn’t ask if I could be your agent. Right? I didn’t go on a buyer consultation with you. I didn’t put myself into an interview. I grabbed you. I you know, virtually put you in the car. And we just went and started the process.
D.J. Paris 36:29
And even if I had said, Hey, Ryan, I’m busy, Ryan would have gone okay, no problem, what about next week, and I really want to get you out there we got us, we really should start this process.
Ryan D’Aprile 36:39
100% don’t feel like an impostor. That’s your job. Because here’s the thing. TJ wants to buy a home, he’s talking to me about it. Right? And I’m bringing it on. So I’m going to lead, I’m going to be confident, your confidence is incredibly important to your success. And we’re gonna go out and we’re going to enjoy the experience, you need to be the curator of the experience, we live life for experiences. So think about the experience, you know, in whatever you’re good on that everyone go down that rabbit hole, but the cleanliness of the car and everything else you do. But take control now. Same exact thing. But DJ, you want to sell your home. Right, so now you’re listening. Same that same exact step, DJ, that’s awesome. I’m gonna shoot some data, what’s going on in the marketplace, we like to do. We like to not talk about comps in the beginning. By the way, when we are working with our agents, we’d like to look at some statistical data and really separate ourselves marketing. You know, we don’t even go down the rabbit hole of marketing because in today’s day and age, you know, you could be a one man shop put on the internet, your homes all over the world is the marketing is it’s articulating your value. And it’s really understanding like the case, Shiller, the indices talking about real estate from a national level, bring it down regional here in Chicagoland or southern Wisconsin, or Northwest Indiana, or, and then then bring it down locally, then this time, I was going to a local community talking about supply and demand and pricing of all the homes. And then let’s get into the comps. We could talk about that. But, but But first, I’m at a cocktail party, and you’re talking about potentially selling your home, say DJ, that’s awesome. I’m sending you some information tomorrow, what’s going on the marketplace? And I want to go over your house next two, three weeks. And you might say, well, you know, we’re not looking for the next year. And I’m gonna say that’s okay. You know what, I still want to get over, I want to take a look. Hey, you know what, DJ, let me ask you a question. What if somebody came to me and said they want to buy your home, you never had to go on the market. We never had a list that and I had an easy, smooth transaction, on your terms in your conditions. And you might say, well, that’d be perfect. Okay, cool. Then I use your home. I’m a real estate agent. I work in an office with hundreds of Agents, I’m friends with the 1000s of agents in this community. Let me come over and by the way over the next year, let me give you advice on what we need to do. And by the way, again, here I’m speaking as a leader, okay? I handle it for you. You can live your life you can be you know, be the attorney that you are, or be The Stay At Home father that you are or be the accountant do what you do focus on your family. I got this, I’m gonna take control. And so there’s so many nuances that can that can dive into. But what I want our listeners to understand is when I’m working with the network connection, and I’ve done my job of creating relationships with people, my network, and they bring that up to me. I’m not asking you to be their agent. I’m, I am the agent. I’m your agent, and I’m going to take control the process.
D.J. Paris 39:48
Yeah, though, they’ll tell you if they’re not interested. Of course. You know, it’s so funny. This is exactly
Ryan D’Aprile 39:53
why most won’t. Sorry. You’re right. I really want to help you guys. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, most of you like braces. And it’s good. Thank you, TJ for saying that, because that’s true, you might get one out of 20 that will say no, but most Won’t we don’t appreciate.
D.J. Paris 40:10
It’s the same reason why I love personal trainers, which right now is a little bit more challenging to work with, like 10 pounds, I’m here. I’ve gotten more than that. But I love a personal trainer, I once went, when I was hiring a personal trainer years ago. And he went, he said, Well, what are your goals? I said, Look, I only have one goal, because some people come in and they want to lose a certain amount of weight, or they want to gain a certain amount of muscle, or maybe endurance or whatever. I said, I only have one goal. I said, I just want you to put me to work, and do whatever you do, you’re the expert, just tell me what to do. And don’t let me quit. And, and that is I think a lot of times how people just want it. If you’ve established rapport, if you’ve established that you’re the expert, and you know, and they believe and trust in you. You have to, you know, congruently tell them what they need to hear. And impostor syndrome should should not prohibit you from doing that. This is your job, you were to say, just like Ryan was saying, in a very assertive but respectful way, say, Okay, we’re doing this now, this is what we have to do now. And you say it in a kind way. But boy, I respond as somebody who, who I just want professionals in my life, I want my insurance agent to call me and go, Hey, by the way, I noticed this thing and one of your policies, I’m gonna switch you over to this other thing, because it’s better and cheaper, or it’s got more coverage. I want those kinds of phone calls you I need you to sign this because it’s actually better for you. I want my financial adviser to call me and say, Hey, I noticed you’re a little overweight in stocks and equities. But your bonds are a little underweight. And we need to evaluate that I want somebody I want those people in my life. And I think most people want that, too. So this is what they want, you know, this is what you can do as a real estate professional.
Ryan D’Aprile 41:59
Right? Absolutely. So let’s go on to the last topic, okay, wrap it up for the listeners for sure. And this is you can converted the individual, they’re an active client, right? And in the process. This is where we tell people you know, to stop selling, and ask why, and figure out what it is because it’s incredibly important to know, their why because in negotiations, or whatnot, they’re going to bring up things that have nothing to do with why they’re selling. And if you bring it back to the why, or why they’re buying, you’re not going to be running into a brick wall over and over again. And you DJ, if you’re the buyer, you are the seller, by me bringing up your wine talking through you through it with you, you’re going to end up getting out of your own way. And so what am I talking about? I just give you a couple of examples. I’m just making this up on the spot here. Let’s see. So, DJ, why you are selling your home? Is because you want a bigger home. Why do you want a bigger home? Right? Yeah, right the last year.
D.J. Paris 43:00
Right now there’s a lot of people being included. And this is a real example where I’m feeling a little the four walls I live in are getting a little feeling a little cramped. So I’m looking to upsize it right now of course rates are very attractive for you know, upgrading. So I actually am looking to, to sell and buy.
Ryan D’Aprile 43:22
Right, so I’m gonna come up with a different number. Because what I’m going to do with you what I would do with you right now is I drill down more sure I saw rates are low and you want a bigger home, I still have more to deal with. Yeah, right? Because there’s that now let me give you an example. So I know one that he used. So you want a bigger home. And why? Well because you know you’re married. And you have two kids, right? Or if you’re in the city Chicago says all time you might have one kid, you live in a one bedroom condo, you’re not in a rush. Right? You have your second on the way, right and so there’s so many different things or for you DJ you know you want to move right? You’re single you live in a in a condo and rates are low. I’m ready to figure out more What the Why is. You know, how long have you lived there for DJ? Two years? Okay, great. Do you are you seriously think about?
D.J. Paris 44:16
Yeah, I mean, right now I’m in I’m in our office and Linkin Park, but I’m feeling a little a little claustrophobic in my place. I’d like to
Unknown Speaker 44:24
so is it small?
D.J. Paris 44:25
It’s eight. It’s yeah, it’s a one bedroom. It’s 850 square feet.
Ryan D’Aprile 44:31
Anything else are you looking for? Like what do you want to get out of a movie?
D.J. Paris 44:34
I love a west facing view. Because I like to see the sunset. It sounds silly, but it’s important to me. I like to be up high. I like being in high rises. And I would like to add a second bedroom for visitors.
Ryan D’Aprile 44:50
Why do you want a second bedroom for visitors?
D.J. Paris 44:51
Well, my parents live three hours away in Peoria, but they’re from Chicago. So they’re up here all the time. Their businesses are up here. And I don’t like sleep. Find the air mattress and giving them the bed every time. So I’d like more space.
Ryan D’Aprile 45:04
Yeah. Holiday pants.
D.J. Paris 45:07
Early 70s 70s. Okay,
Ryan D’Aprile 45:10
cool. And you like the West sunset? I do. What do you see now?
D.J. Paris 45:14
So yeah, face west, I get to see the Chicago River. It’s right outside my place when I’m very fortunate to have that. So I like being I’ve also been on the east side of the city curfew is
Ryan D’Aprile 45:26
not an issue. No. Okay, so you you’re happy with your, you’re happy with your issue. So you guys, I want you understand what I’m finding out here. So I’m finding his wife, but I’m also going to go and find out what his pain is. And I haven’t found out his pain just yet. I think his pain is slipping in the air mattress when his parents come. That’s and yeah, yeah, and the other thing I want to talk to you eventually is understanding that, um, you know, we tend to overvalue our money and undervalue our time. Yeah. And our parents are in their 70s. And, you know, money comes and goes, but when five years goes from now, you can’t get that time back, right. And so one of the things is you might be wanting to use, you might be wanting more time with mom and dad, and enjoying it. And, okay, and you can’t get that time on mom and dad and your one bedroom, 800 square foot apartment, and you have the ability to get that two bedroom, you’re paying isn’t your Westview because you got to do the Chicago River. But your pain might be, there’s gonna come a time when I’m gonna get can’t come see me. Right? And this is stuff that I’m going to No, I’m not going to repeat this with you. Right now. I’m going to notate it, right. And so many real estate agents are so focused on while I’m with this company, we got this market share, and I got this marketing, I got that it’s not about you. It’s understanding who your client is, what do they want? And then hey, let’s go out DJ, let’s look through this. And then when DJ, when you’re the deer in the headlights, because of all these different things that are flying at you, your iPhone, buddy, I’m your beacon of light. I’m your emotional intelligence. And we’re saying, well remember this, is this still important for you? Is this what you need to do, and it helps you, it helps you cross the bridge. And you’re the one who’s crossed the bridge, not me, I just have pointed out what your why is and then what your pain points are. And this is something that you could practice on with your friends, I’m not talking about making a sales practice is like, actually just get into a conversation with a friend or your child and talk about them about something they’re looking to do. And ask them why don’t say, Well, I’m practicing my real estate career. And this is why I wanted to just really try to add value to somebody’s life, it has nothing to do with real estate, and get in the habit of asking why. And start consulting with people on other things that they want to do, and be that voice. It’s a wonderful skill set and a gift that you could give to your friends and your family. But it’s something that comes with time and practice guide DJ, I want to talk to you more about why you want to move and in concert with you and go through that. But this is where, you know, in wrapping up the call for everybody is, you know, you know, stop selling yourself. Right and, and don’t worry about all this other chatter that’s out there in these trends. And this net, it’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s not about my company said about your company, it’s about your client, it’s about them, and be that servant leader, be that person who is interested in the other individuals and then you add your your value and age, it will flow naturally for you.
D.J. Paris 48:40
Yeah, the more information you have about what your clients want, what their musts, their shoulds, and they’re not importance, and their why knowing all of those things is so critical. Otherwise, you’re throwing Dart darts in the dark, right? You need to know exactly what people want, and why they want it. And then that and really, it’s funny. It’s not as commonly done, successful agents do it and not as successful agents don’t. And if you have that information, and you spend the time to really connect and find out what the client is looking for, and why you will be so incredibly successful, because you’ll know you’ll they’re giving you the exact formula for you to be able to find them the property they want.
Ryan D’Aprile 49:32
Yeah, it’s easy way. It’s easy way. Your egos not your Neagle, you know, let it go. It’s not about you. It’s about the consumer, the client you’re serving, you know, dig in and figure out about them. Okay, so I think that’s a good wrap on the call. I hope it is I think I’m trying to keep it in that content series here. For your listeners.
D.J. Paris 49:54
I want our listeners also who are in the Chicagoland area to know that what I do for a living because this is this I will give some context to what I’m about to say is I spent 100% of my time recruiting for the company I work for, but I’m putting that aside in the moment because if you are looking to switch firms, if you’re a broker in the Chicagoland area, the suburbs, the city, or you’re in Michigan and Northwest Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and you’re looking for that one on one coaching experience, and maybe you’re just looking to see what other firms offer, please take a look at depot properties. Ryan has not asked me to do this plug for him, but I’m going to do it because I’m such a big fan of him and his company. So please go to D APR. properties.com Reach out see what they offer. They have a full marketing and coaching solution. It’s incredibly unique. I, I recruit agents from all firms, you know who I don’t ever recruit agents from Ryan’s company, because you must be doing something right because nobody ever leaves. So that is, that is my biggest, highest possible recommendation for anyone listening who wants to just see what other opportunities exist, reach out to D APR properties and see what they if it’s a good fit. I’m a huge fan. And we’re so honored Ryan to have you on the show. Before making your welcome. Before we wrap up, I want to say two quick things. One is ways our listeners can help us so we’re going to ask you for two quick favors. They’re pretty painless, but one is to please tell a friend. This is a wonderful coaching session we just did with Ryan, please think of one other real estate professional or a loan officer or you know, anyone in sales I could benefit from hearing from these great strategies Ryan just shared and please pass the podcast over you can send them directly to our website which is keeping it real pod.com Or just have them pull up any podcast app search for keeping it real world will show up. The second thing is please follow us on Facebook you can find us@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod why? Well, number one we broadcast these episodes live so right now if you’re listening to this, we already broadcast the video portion while we recorded it on Facebook so you can watch these episodes before we actually finish them. But also every single day we find an article online written somewhere designed to help you grow your business and we share it with you. So we’re all the whole intention of this podcast is to help learn from the best and people like Ryan come on every single month we’re so honored to share his strategies and Ryan thanks again wonderful episode.
Ryan D’Aprile 52:24
We will see oh DJ appreciate it.
D.J. Paris 52:26
Yeah, we will see everybody next month. Or and with Ryan again and hope every hope all your agents are staying safe and healthy and and family and friends too.
Ryan D’Aprile 52:41
Thanks, Ryan. Thank you
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