At Stay Paid, we have conversations with top producers from the worlds of real estate, financial services, and other fields, with the goal of giving you actionable advice you can implement in your own business.
Today on Stay Paid, hosts Luke Acree and Josh Stike share some of their favorite golden nuggets of wisdom from our top guests—and offer additional insight that will help you improve your sales and marketing efforts.
Key Points:
- If you truly believe you’re helping people, you should be willing to have difficult conversations.
- When you track your success, you can figure out what works—freeing yourself up to focus on new things.
- Stick with your preferred prospecting method—a single transaction can often justify the upfront cost.
“If you don’t have a marketing plan, you’re not even in business.” – Tom Ferry, Coach & Founder of Ferry International
Tom Ferry is all about math. His dad was a legendary coach in the real estate industry who believed in cold calling. Tom believes that there are many different ways to be successful—it’s all about breaking things down through math.
If you don’t understand the math behind your business, you won’t be able to scale. Know how many calls it takes to get leads to appointments, then from appointments to sales. Reverse engineer your success.
Tom Ferry says that there’s no wrong way to generate a lead. Cold calls, Facebook ads, and direct mail are all avenues for connecting with customers. Once you figure out how well each approach works, you’re freed up to try something new.
As Tom says, “run plays that work.”
FREE resource: Leads Calculator
“If I was a brand new agent and didn’t really know people, I’d be out in my neighborhood interviewing all the businesses.” – Peter Lorimer, Broker & Co-Host of the Netflix series, Stay Here
When you follow Peter Lorimer’s advice, you can create valuable content that you can give to your database. Peter suggests using the content to create a Facebook ad, which you can target to your zip code.
You also get the connection to local business owners. These people are the movers and shakers in your area. They’ll help you make connections with other people.
These businesses will be happy to get your name out there—especially since you’re giving them free advertising.
Your local community will give you so much content, and you can get eyeballs on it for next to nothing.
“We give away these bottles of wine. We just want to be able to email or call people later. I know that I’ll get a good cell phone number or email address.” – Lisa Harris, REALTOR®
Lisa Harris is giving something of value, but also setting expectations for what will happen. She uses this strategy at wedding shows, and it allows her to grow her database.
Because wedding shows take place around life milestones, you’re more likely to meet people who will be looking to buy or sell. If they aren’t ready now, they’ll know 3–5 people who are.
“Sales is mastering the art of creation of opportunity.” – Jarrod Glandt, President of Cardone Enterprises
Common wisdom has it that the best salespeople close deals. Jarrod Glandt has found that the best salespeople are the ones who create the deal.
ReminderMedia’s best salespeople are the ones who can consistently pound the phone, build a pipeline of leads, and generate more opportunities. As a salesperson, your job is to create opportunities and leverage them.
Remember that you’re not just in sales—you’re a sales professional.
Most salespeople rely solely on their ability. Great salespeople are like great athletes. They have the ability, but they also have the mind-set and they need to succeed.
“It all starts with actually giving a crap about the person you’re sitting across from.” – David DeCelle, Founder of The Financial Advisor Alliance
David DeCelle netted 40+ clients from a single, 35-minute interaction with a client who bought one insurance policy.
This was a meeting that a top producer at David’s office didn’t even want—but David was happy to take—and it formed the foundation of the first phase of his career in financial services.
He was referred to another person, who then connected him with dozens of clients in the pharmaceutical space—which quickly became his niche.
Of course, you can’t say yes to everything. But you need to be honest about your intentions.
Another thing: if you truly believe you are helping people, you should be willing to have difficult conversations.
“You really can earn more and work less.” – Danny Morel, Broker & Entrepreneur
It’s life by design, not life by default.
Once you understand that you don’t need to do the same things as everybody else, it frees you to do what you really want to be doing.
Figure out the life that you really want to live. Then, figure out how what you can do to support that.
Danny Morel’s approach might seem counterintuitive at first, but it has worked for so many people. Plus, when you are doing the things you really want to do, it won’t feel like work.
“You may not be ready to work with an agent right now. But can I give you some advice about some red flags?” – Bryan Casella, Leader of Team BC Real Estate
Bryan understands human psychology so well.
He recognizes problems with what agents are saying. He’s then able to use that for leverage when he’s talking to FSBOs and expired listings.
This offers value to clients while positioning himself as more capable than his competition.
“I started with one farm of 500 houses. It’s really important that you commit for at least a year. I started seeing results after 12–18 months of mailing.” – Beth Traverso, Top Agent & Broker
Consistency is key.
So many people spend their way out of the business. They’ll test things for three months and then stop. They’ll go on to spend thousands of dollars on something else, only to get no results.
If you’re consistent with your preferred prospecting method, you’ll see results. For example, one home sale can cover the cost of your geographic farming.
You need to think long term, not short term.
Do the math, and track your results. Figure out how much you need to spend to get the results you’re looking for.
Kick-Start Your Own Geographic Farm: 12-Direct Plan from ReminderMedia
“So, it didn’t work out? So what? That’s it. I’m gonna try again tomorrow.” – Andy Dane Carter, Real Estate Expert
Just keep going. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.
That’s the difference maker. There’s no magic formula—it’s all about how many times you can get back up.
Be consistent, offer value, and you’ll win. It might take you 20 years, but you’ll get there eventually.
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