Frank is a real estate agent with 13 years of experience. However, he recently moved to a new part of the country, which means he has a lot to learn about the area. By using his books, he’s found an effective and profitable way to market himself as a real estate authority — and to boost his own confidence in the process.
Listing Scorecard
Number of books given away: 15-20 Listings received with the help of the books: 3 Biggest benefit of using the books: It sets you apart from everybody else…it makes them feel like they’re getting something tangible, that you care about them, and that you’re working for them.
He uses the books as a much more memorable version of a business card. One listing Frank got was for $300,000, which he ended up selling himself, making even more money in the process.
The books help Frank show he’s a real estate expert, and that makes him more self-assured, especially since he’s still learning his new market.
Frank’s approach is to let clients know he’s there for them 24/7 for whatever they need.
His great advice: You’ve got to spend money to make money. Even just $100-$200 can be a huge help. Also, be confident, believe in what you’re saying, and don’t hesitate.
Here’s how Frank gets his listings: #1. He gets leads through Z Buyer as well as Realtor.com, Homes.com, and other similar sites. He also looks at FSBOs.
#2. He meets face-to-face with potential clients and goes through a generic script.
#3. After the sales pitch, he leaves them a packet of information that includes a book. It’s a way to close the deal, and it’s different from all the other agents out there who just share fliers, so he stands out among the crowd.
Listen to the Interview Audios below for more details on exactly how he does it.
Here are the highlights of the Audio Interview:
Here is a transcript of the interview with Ben Curry and Frank:
Ben: So you've gotten listings. So you've gotten three listings in the book. Can you tell me a little bit about how that happened, how that worked out?
Frank: Well, I was ... my listing presentation, I go through the whole listing presentation and everything. At the very end, what I do and which I always find is a good closing statement, you give them the packet of information and you say, "Oh. I'm going to leave this with you to review it," and all that good stuff.
But what I do is I have the book in the folder. They don't see it the whole time I'm there until the very last. Then, I pull it out and I say, "Instead of a business card, this is what I'm leaving with you. It's got my telephone number, my contact information on it. But it's also a book that I compiled. You're not going to find it on Amazon.com, but here is a book that can help you." I have the different books, so if it's talking about how to increase the value of your home or whatever.
I say the book can tell you steps to take to get the most for your home. They smile and go, "Wow, that's really different." And I say, "Yeah. I just want you to remember me. Even if you don't list with me, you're going to remember me because I gave you a book instead of a flimsy business card that you're going to probably throw away as soon as I leave." Then, everybody gets a chuckle out of it. So I found that's a very effective way. Actually, I kind of think it's better than, because it sets you apart and they're kind of wowed by it. I tell you, in the three that I got, I got several that a little more than just three appointments with using the book, but I've got stuff ... I guess you could say irons in the fire. But that's kind of really, I think it was the defining thing that set me apart from everybody else.
And being a new agent to the Pennsylvania area, I even have the Southern accent still. It kind of helps me lay down the fact that I am experienced, I know what I'm talking about and it makes me look like I have the authority and the know-how and the knowledge to sell their house.
Ben: OK. Yeah. I know what you're saying with a Southern accent. I've lived in the South, so I know ... I can do the fake Southern accent and not, but I definitely understand. Question for you. What were the listings that you got? Were they FSBOs, expired, some sort of lead or?
Frank: Well, actually, I partner with another company. I don't know if you've ever heard of it called Z Buyer.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: Those leads are really hard to get because they have everybody and their brother calling them. Just getting your foot in the door is the hard thing. But once you get there, you've got, obviously they've met with three or four other people. So they're kind of hard. One of the listings I got was a $300,000 listing, and I ended up selling it myself, so I actually double dipped on that.
That was kind of nice. The thing is that, they just ... and I also use Realtor.com, Homes.com, sources like that.
Ben: OK. So the three listings you got, was Z Buyer seller leads?
Frank: Well, I think two of them were Z Buyers and one was just a FSBO that I kept calling.
Ben: Wow. OK. Did you give them the book when you first started calling them? Or only when you met with them for the listing presentation?
Frank: Only when I met with them.
Ben: Oh, wow. OK.
Frank: Yeah. I found it, because I have given the book out without some kind of context or something. I think it's kind of lost on them a little bit maybe. I don't know. This is just my personal opinion.
Ben: I get what you're saying.
Frank: But it's really emphasized, because what I say is, I've been in real estate for 13 years and this is just a ... it's kind of a white lie, but I say this is some information that I've compiled for my clients. And I put it in a book form and here it is.
Ben: Ah, OK. How many books have you given away so far?
Frank: Oh, geez. I didn't count them. I think about 15 or 20.
Ben: OK. You still have some left over?
Frank: Just a couple, yeah.
Ben: OK. All right. So you're really using them to close the deal. You're doing other stuff to get yourself in the door with appointments and stuff, but the books are helping you close them in listing with you.
Frank: Yeah. It's more of a closing. I use it more as a closing part, yeah.
Ben: So tell me a little bit about that FSBO. So what else ... what kind of a script did you use when you called them, or what was your approach when you first started contacting them?
Frank: Well, I do phone calls. I use Red X, and I just have the headset and everything. I use the generic FSBO and Expired. Obviously, there's not that many expireds in this area right now because of the market, but the FSBO, I basically use a generic script. My whole goal is to get in front of them, to get my foot in the door.
Ben: Yeah, I understand.
Frank: That's how I approach it. I approach it as I've got to get face-to-face with them. If I can get face-to-face with them, my odds of getting a listing triple.
Ben: Oh yeah, for sure. OK. How do you feel the books have increased your conversion rate on listing appointments?
Frank: Well, it makes me look more, especially in the area where I'm kind of the rookie, I'm kind of the fish out of water. Between me and you, honestly, I don't know geographically, I don't know the area like I do in South Carolina. You tell me any place, any neighborhood in South Carolina I go, "Oh yeah. I know that neighborhood. Blah blah blah."
But here is different because I don't know it as well and I'm kind of, I try to play it off the best I can. But it makes me look more like an authority in real estate as opposed to someone who is just brand-new and kind of learning the area still.
It's been kind of a handicap getting started here. I feel like the books really help me. Really, truly, they just make me feel, they give me the boost of confidence that I need. And I feel like maybe I'm approaching it the wrong way, but I feel like, as far as I'm concerned, it's a good closing. Maybe I should be giving more books out.
Step my game up. But, I found that it's a good closing scenario as far as using them as the closing part of my argument why they should use me. It sets me apart and makes me look like the authority.
I think anyone that's starting out in real estate should really, I would encourage them to buy the books and buy the program with y'all. Because it does give them a little boost of confidence that they do need. And it makes them look like, even if they've been selling real estate for six months, it makes them look like they've been selling it for six years.
Ben: Yeah. Maybe you should just embrace it. You could be like ... find some aspect of Southerners, like you're the hardworking Southerner, the honest Southerner, I don't know.
Frank: Well, that's what I've been trying to do. Ive been trying to embrace the fact that, we take care of you more. I kind of emphasize I take care of my clients. I go beyond the normal call of duty.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: You call me on the weekend, I'm not going to curse you out. Or you call me at 9:00 on a Saturday or Friday night, I'll answer the phone. I'm always here for you.
Ben: What do you do, or what do you say if somebody asks if you wrote the book yourself? Or do you just blow it off? (based on the audio, it’s Frank who said this. It sounds like (Oh I just kind of blow it off))
Frank: Like I said, the first words out of my mouth when I present the book to them is, just to kind of cut the silence or whatever I say, "You're not going to find this on Amazon. However, this is a book that I compiled from my experience as a real estate agent to help you."
Ben: Yeah. And you've been at it for —
Frank: And they never ask me. They never ask me anything else about it.
Ben: Yeah. 13 years, you know a little bit about real estate, I'll tell you that much.
Frank: Yeah. Yeah. I think anyone, even a rookie ... as long as you say that and kind of, just throw it out there because if you go out there and you try to say, "Oh yeah. I sell my books on Amazon.com." You try to be this big-time writer and everything, you're going to look like an idiot.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: You just kind of say I compiled it, some information from my experience to help my sellers.
Ben: You make it look like it's self-published. It's real-life secrets, not polished, professional polished secrets.
Frank: Exactly, exactly.
Ben: People can't —
Frank: And yeah, I never get asked because I always say that. And I've been waiting for the day for someone to ask me that, and they never do.
Ben: Wow.
Frank: They never question it. They never question it.
Ben: Good for you. What do you feel is the biggest benefit for using the books?
Frank: The biggest benefit in my situation is, I think ... no matter how you cut it up, it sets you apart from everybody else. Because everybody else is ... and just emphasize. That's why I say it's important that you emphasize I compiled this information for my clients. If you say that, and you did give them the book, it makes them feel like they're getting something tangible, that you care about them and that you're working for them. And you're giving them something more than just a flimsy business card. I stopped carrying business cards with me because when I go to sell an appointment because I don't want them to have that. I want them to have the book.
Ben: Wow. Good for you.
Frank: I want them to remember that. I want them to remember that. I think, even if they don't list with you, they're going to remember you.
Ben: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Frank: They're going to remember, “Oh, that's the guys that gave me a book,” instead of a business card, and I think it sets you apart. The rest of it, obviously, you've got to present yourself professionally and know what you're talking about to some degree. But if you give them a book, I know I'm kind of making it ... I'm not trying to make it sound like it's the end all, be all. But it does set you apart from every other real estate agent out here that's just going to hand them a folder with a piece of paper in it.
Ben: Yeah. That's true. OK. Let me ask you this final question. Obviously it sounds like you're doing well in real estate selling in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. What would you say to somebody who's struggling to get listings? Seems like nothing's working, they're trying all sorts of different things. Nothing's working. What would you recommend that they do to get traction in their business?
Frank: Well, when I first started back many years ago, I wish someone had told me this and I probably wouldn't have believed them and I probably would have blew them off, but what I know now. You've got to spend money to make money.
Ben: OK. What do they need to spend money on?
Frank: Well, products such as what your company offers, lead sources. I hate to say it, Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com, Z Buyer, sources like that. If you're getting started, I don't care if you know everybody in the town that you live in, they're not going to call you up and say, "Hey. I heard you got your real estate license. Let's make a deal." You've got to fight for every sale you get.
Ben: Yeah. Yeah. With what you're doing, you're spending money on Z Buyer and other stuff and Reddit and you're getting on the phones and you've got tools. You're not starting at ground zero, your starting with something already going.
Frank: Exactly. You've got to have tools. It's just like, a carpenter doesn't go to a job without his tool belt.
Ben: That's true.
Frank: You've got to ... you just can't show up and say, “I'm ready.” Unfortunately, that's not how it works. I was kind of naïve when I first started in real estate. Of course, I went through a tough time with the recession and everything. But if someone had told me, "Hey, Frank, you gotta spend at least $100. Go out and spend a $100 a month on something. You can; it will help you out tremendously. I should have done it, but I didn't do it. I was kind of naïve and thought, "Oh, well people will call me because my name is Frank and I know a lot of people here." But that's not the case, sadly.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: And I came from a place where I know a lot of people, my family knows a lot of people.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: And I thought that alone would set me apart from everybody. Honestly, it doesn't matter, especially in the Myrtle Beach market. The Myrtle Beach market is where I'm from and that's a resort market. And people there, 95% of the business down there is from people out of state. So they don't know anyone that lives there.
Ben: Mm-hmm.
Frank: There's a lot of people here, so it's kind of a little bit harder to get into that little niche than a small town. So that would be my biggest advice is you've got to spend money to make money. You can't just show up day one as a real estate company and expect the phones to be ringing off the hook for you.
Ben: Yeah, that is so true. No kidding.
Frank: That was my biggest failure. The first year ... well, the first year and a half really, if I had spent maybe $100, $200 a month on something, it would have helped me out tremendously.
Ben: Yeah, I see what you're saying. Interesting. OK. Cool. Do you have any other questions or any other things you want to go over or say?
Frank: No. There's one thing that I ... if you're looking to give people coaching advice or whatever, and I hate to say it this way, but another thing for the book is it's not necessarily just the book, but in life and in business in general, I was taught this a long time ago. My first job was actually with the Boy Scouts of America as a district executive, a fundraiser basically.
Ben: For the Boy Scouts. Cool.
Frank: Yeah. I hated it. Sales are all glamorous and really fun, but it was really the worst job I've ever had in my entire life. You had to raise money. You had to go around asking people for money.
Ben: You were placed in sales.
Frank: Yeah, basically, I guess, you could say that.
Ben: I'm a den leader, or I was. I think I'm going to re-sign up this year so I know exactly what you're talking about.
Frank: OK. What they call professional scouters, yeah. So, it's really hard to ask people for money, in my opinion. I really despised it. I really hated it. But we would always have ... every Friday, we would have a staff meeting and we would go over numbers with the council chair or, I can't think of, the scout executive. He was the head guy in charge of all of us.
So we would go around the table and had to report on numbers and everything about money that we raised and all that kind of stuff. And it got this number two in charge, he told me because I hesitated on one of the numbers, because it was something that I was promised to come in, but it hadn't come in yet, you know that story. Anyway. And I already talked to him about it and he's like, just report it and tell Larry — Larry's the head guy. Tell him this number. But he's like, do not hesitate. If you hesitate, he's going to pick up on it and he's going to know that you're doubting yourself or there's something fuzzy about it.
So, it's like the George Costanza. If you believe it and you state it as a fact and you really believe in it yourself, then I know this might sound kind of secretive or dirty or whatever, but it's really not. It just goes back to the book. If you really believe what you're doing is the right thing, then it's the right thing. You've got to believe in yourself, and you've got to believe in what you're saying. If you don't believe, people can pick up on it really quickly.
Ben: Yeah. I've heard of the same fake it ‘til you make it. So.
Frank: Exactly.
Ben: It depends on your ethics and what you think is right or wrong.
Frank: Yeah, exactly. There's a very thin line there, but if you don't ... like the book, OK. Yeah, you didn't write it, but it is information compiled for your seller, for your client.
Ben: Yeah. I see what you're saying. I do think if you go through it and you grasp the concept and the four to five main points it talks about, and you can really get behind it yourself and you believe in, I'm going to do these things to sell your house and I believe that if you do them, it will help you get a better price, sell it faster, et cetera, then it's like buying into a political party. I believe in X political party and what they believe. It doesn't mean you invented those concepts.
Frank: Exactly.
Ben: It just means that you strongly ... and people will get very passionate about that and fight for that. So it's the same thing. You're buying into a set of beliefs. And if you can believe it pretty strongly, it's the same thing.
Frank: I hate to say it, but Seinfeld was right. There was a lot of points for Seinfeld there. We need to take some life lessons.
Ben: Yeah, no kidding.
Frank: I don't ... sometimes these people, I will go to them and I will talk to them about their next door neighbor or the house down the street in such and such neighborhood. And to be completely honest with you, I have not the faintest clue what they're talking about. But I sit there and I look at them right in their eye and I'm agreeing with them and I act like I know what they're talking about.
Ben: Yeah.
Frank: I don't show no signs of hesitation. I don't show deer in the headlights. I'm not terrified. So I think that's the biggest thing, having confidence in yourself and the other things.
Ben: That's good. I think it's a valuable thing to learn — Just the importance of confidence.
Frank: Exactly. Exactly.
Ben: If you hesitate, people will sense the hesitation, sense the disbelief, and then, they will lose confidence, as well.