This week I spoke with Bruno, a Smart Agent Member who has got off to a good start with our program.
Not only that, but he beat out the dreaded "my friend is an agent" excuse.
We go over:
- Why this member was able to win this listing or a FSBOs friend.
- How he won an expired.
- What script and package he left the expired.
- How he has buyer leads from an open house.
Highlights:
Full Interview:
Transcript:
| Bruno:
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I've been a realtor now for going on four years, actually. Still pretty young in it. |
| Smart Agents:
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How long have you been a member with Smart Agents? |
| Bruno:
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Oh, about what, almost eight months now? Going almost on nine, yeah. |
| Smart Agents:
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And how many listings have the books helped you get? |
| Bruno:
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Oh, the books? Yeah, the books helped a lot actually. |
| Smart Agents:
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Can you put a number on it? |
| Bruno:
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Yeah, I've actually sent out ... well, my advertising budget since I'm still brand new is a little tight, but what I did was I sent out as many books as I could ... I'm working mostly with expireds and FSBOs because that's what you guys teach there at Smart Agents and it worked out pretty well where I sent out, I think several books to expireds and about five books to the for sale by owners. But with the for sale by owners, I actually delivered them to their door in person. |
| Smart Agents: | Nice. So, how many listings do you think that the books have helped you win? |
| Bruno: |
Definitely two. Both one expired and one FSBO as well. With the FSBO, I actually, like I said, I deliver right to their door and I got the lead just from I think it was right from Zillow.I just look them up and I call them, cold call them and make an appointment. And with the FSBO, he said, "Yeah, come on over." They let me in, and I went there to just look at the house.And what happened was when I walked in he says he has got a friend, who's actually a realtor, but if I have any buyers I can bring them by. |
| So, I was a little disappointed, but I had the book with me and although ... I put the book actually in a yellow envelope along with the actual ... it had some material in there as well that what I would do for them to help them sell their home.
So, I still kept a pretty good attitude and just went to ... he gave me a tour of the home and it was really nice. And I said, "By the way, this is for you. A little gift for your time." And just put it on the table. And I thought nothing of it. |
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About two days later, I got a call from him. And he says he wants me to list his home.And sure enough, hell I was really excited. And so, I just gave him some information about what we do next and go by and take some photographs of the home.Then I asked him, "Well, what made you choose me over your friend?" He said, "Well, I read your book and I think you just seemed like a lot more knowledgeable and a lot more qualified than my friend." And that was a $790,000 listing actually. So, that worked out pretty well. |
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| Smart Agents:
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Oh wow, that's amazing. What happened with the expired? |
| Bruno: | The expired, that's a little different story. I tried to hand deliver them myself, but normally for some reason around here they're just not either home ... I work and live in the San Francisco Bay area. I think they're just really busy, but I kind of stole a couple ideas from another agent of mine who said the best way to get ahold of them is go up to them and bring a gift bag with a bunch of trinkets in there from whatever brand he's with like pencils, pens, and post it notes, et cetera. |
| I thought it was a pretty good idea, but I had a little more of a twist. Rather than put all that boring stuff in there, I actually went to the dollar store and I went and bought some trinkets maybe like chocolate, and I put some chocolate, pencil holders, coupon books, whatever. But I also threw in a CMA and I threw in a book with the expired. And the way it works is you go up there and if they're home, they see the gift bag with the balloon on it and they figure, well, it's good tidings and they're not going to argue with you. And, of course, it opens up a good conversation, you can start talking about re-listing the home. |
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| And her script was something like "I can be as unique as this bag when it comes to selling your home" and that's a start of the conversation. But if they're not home, she puts the same script on paper, like on the letterhead, and puts it in the bag. So I had both my script in my head ready, and a letter just in case they weren't home. Sure enough they weren't home when I went there so I left it on their porch and I just left it there and I walked away. |
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About a week later, I was in the area again and I noticed, of course, the bag was gone. But this time what I did was I put my little card, my business card on the door saying, "Sorry I missed you. If you're still interested in selling your home, please give me a call."
That very night I got a call from the owner and we started talking and he said he got that gift bag and really appreciated it and I asked him ... he actually told me the reason why he called is because he was gonna start interviewing some agents again to sell his home.And I said, "Okay can you do me a favor, can you just interview me last?"'Cuz I have better material as far as the presentation. He goes, "That's why I'm calling, I'm not gonna interview anymore.After I read your book, I just figured I'd just hire you, if you want to come by in a couple days and we can put it back on the market."And that one was a $525,000 listing and that's how that one worked with the expired. |
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| Smart Agents:
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Oh wow. That really is exactly how it's designed to work and pretty amazing. Have you had any other experiences like that with the books in any way? |
Bruno: |
I did a couple open houses, I did also buy some of the "How to Find Your Dream Home" and I got a couple really strong buyer leads from those two.Now those are still being pre-qualified, so I don't know how they're gonna work out, but they called me because of the book as well when I did the open house. |
| Smart Agents: | What happened when you gave them the books? Were they immediately have the reaction like they were gonna call you or were you surprised when they called you back? |
| Bruno: | Well I knew they were gonna call me back because most of the questions they answered, I already knew was in the book. So as I was talking at the open house, because I will still trying to get the other folks ... I didn't give them too much of my attention. I actually just said, "Go ahead and take the book and if you have any questions give me a call." And that's when they called me because the questions he asked me and what was in the book, I guess, correlated together and now I'm actually working on getting them pre-qualified. |
| Smart Agents: | Wow that is awesome. |
| Bruno: | Yeah the books are a great tool because I don't think nobody does it.
Again you got trinkets, you got this, you got that. But the uniqueness of the book does really make you the authority in the area and if they have any doubt they just read it and when they read it, they call you. It goes hand in hand. |
| Smart Agents:
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That's perfect. So yeah, I appreciate you taking a couple minutes. I think that covers everything we should have gone over. What I'll do is I'll get with support and they'll call you within a week or two and set up your twenty free books. And then I'll probably reach out in a couple months see how it's doing. |
| Bruno: | Cool, Smart Agents, I appreciate it. I meant everything I said. This is a great product ... as my advertising budget increases, I'll definitely get more books because man they're making things a lot easier.
Especially, I mean I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's dog-eat-dog out here. So it's a great tool to take the extra leverage on top of that. So I appreciate everything you guys are doing for me as well. |
Books have a huge perceived value. They don’t get thrown away.
They can get tucked away somewhere, but most people aren’t going to toss them in the trash. They’re worth something, and they’re worth something to the author’s name.
Do this and you will position yourself as the authority in your market. When you give away your book, it will separate you from your competition. That’s how a smart agent thinks!
Want to get a free sample of the book that will get you more listings? Click the link below.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
