Kevin Ray Ward argues that calling expired listings first thing in the morning gives agents a real edge. The first caller is more memorable, more likely to reach the seller, and faces less competition. Ward shares how an earlier competitor won more business by calling first.
Chapters
There is no time of day that you can call an expired listing that you don't stand a decent chance of annoying them. Okay? It's just, that's the way it goes. Some are going to be annoyed, some aren't. Hey there, it's Kevin Ward, the founder of yes Masters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yeses and more successes in your business and in your life. I got a great question from one of my coaching members about expired listings. And here's the question. Do you believe it's important to be the first agent calling an expired listing? So now the question is, you know, you want to be one of those agents that's up there bright and early and you're annoying sellers by calling them before anybody else and you know, calling them while it's still dark. Should you go knock on their door when it's still dark and all that. So does it help to be the first one calling the expired listing? Answer it helps. There is no question about it. Now you're like, well I'm afraid of calling them too early, it's going to annoy them and, and so forth. Look, there is no time of day that you can call an expired listing that you don't stand a decent chance of annoying them, okay? It's just, that's the way it goes. Some are going to be annoyed, some aren't, alright? But when you're the first one that calls them, it gives you a major advantage. Now when I first started selling real estate, I religiously prospected for sale by owners and expired listings. Now expireds always call them first because they're more urgent. However, the way I set up my business was that for almost my entire career I prospected from 9am until noon every day. And I was just a little stubborn. I had my morning routine, I dropped my girls off to school and I came to the office. I role played. And then I got on the phone at 9 o' clock and I knew every single day that Paul Tassello was going to call expireds and get there before me. Now who is Paul Tassello? Well, Paul Ticello worked for Coldwell Banker in my market and he was the early bird. He was the first agent every day and I don't know what time he started. I'm betting he started between 7, 7:30, he called early and he would always be the first one. And in all the years that I had of prospecting expired and going on listing appointments, he beat me more than any other agent ever. And I believe without a shadow of a Doubt that the reason he beat me was, was because he got there before me. And in just my experience and experience of many of the agents that I've coached and so forth, and just general psychology and general human understanding, human behavior, when you're the first agent that calls, there is an advantage. I know this is true for subway owners because unlike with expireds, I would sometimes be. Not that I would not be the first because I wasn't calling him until 9 o'. Clock. He was calling him at 7:30 and there was other agents calling earlier and so forth with for sale by owners. A lot of agents wait until second day the first week or second week to call for sale by owners because they're like, you know, what's the point of calling them quick? Because they're not going to hire an agent the first day. But here's what I discovered. The sooner you call them, the more they remember you. Same with expires. When you're the first agent that calls them, there's an advantage for you. In fact, I think there's three reasons that calling expires early and being the first agent to talk to them is better. Why is it an advantage for you? The early bird gets the worm. Or in this case, the early bird gets the listing. And here's why. Number one is because they're more likely to remember you. They're more likely to remember you when you're the first agent that calls. And it's this. It's the first kiss principle. Do you remember your first kiss? And the answer is, I bet you do. Do you remember your seventh kiss? I bet you don't. Why? Because when we had that first kiss, that first romantic moment, that first kiss, you were nervous, your palms were sweating, you know, all the, all the hormones and emotions were at their peak. Your attention was there and it was like this was a first time experience. The first time we do something, we tend to remember it because of its novelty, because it's new to us. But by the time we've done it several times, no longer is the newness there. So it tends not to create as memorable a moment. When you're the first agent that's called them, they're like, oh, somebody's calling me. Hello. And then they're like, I'm stuck with an agent, but they're talking to you and they're going to remember you because you were the first one, alright? By the time you're the seventh agent or the 10th agent, they've already talked to agents and you just kind of, they all Run together. Okay? It's just like if you look at one house and you remember that house. If you Show A buyer 10 houses in a day, they don't remember any of the houses. They may remember one or two things about one or two houses, but they don't. They get them all confused. First house, they never forget. First agent people don't forget. Number two is they're more likely to answer the phone when you're the first agent that calls. First agent that calls, their house expires. Sellers have no clue what's coming, right? They don't. They don't know their phone's going to blow up that day. And all of a sudden they get a call, they ring like, okay, who's this? They answer it. Hello, and it's a realtor. They go like, oh, oh, my house expired. Oh, wow, I didn't know that. Or whatever the conversation is, they're going to talk to you. But after the third call, they're going like, it's another realtor. And whether it shows the caller ID their real estate office's name or not, they're going to go like, you know what? I'm not even answering my phone anymore because obviously my listing expired and now all the agents are interested in my house, so I'm not going to talk to anybody else. So the earlier you are, more likely you are to actually get a conversation because they're going to talk to you, they're going to answer the phone. And then number three is when you're the first agent that calls, they tend to be less resistant, which simply means they haven't got. As if they're going to get upset. Every call that comes in, they're going to get a little more upset and a little more upset, and they're going to. Every time they talk to an agent, they're going to get a little more resistant and they're going to perfect their script of how to get rid of you. Because if you're the 10th agent that calls, they've already had nine agents ahead of you to practice on. The first agent maybe caught them off guard. They didn't get a practice, but now they're going like, okay, our house expired. We can probably expect more calls today. So what are we going to say? And they're ready for you by the night when you're the seventh agent or the 10th agent or the 20th agent, the that calls them, they're ready for you, baby, and they're ready to knock you down. And they're going to challenge you, whatever. And it's just tougher to get the appointment. So all of that is simply to say, I know it's a little higher risk and it may feel that way. You may be like, what if I'm calling too early and they're going to upset them because I'm calling? What if they're still asleep? Look, you can what if yourself to death. If you want results, these people need your help. If you're a pro and you're a great agent and getting them great results, they need your help. Your help. You got to show up. And the earlier you show up, the better the chance that you're going to be able to help these people get the result. In this case, yes, the early bird gets the listing. If you have any thoughts on it, if you have questions on it, or maybe there's another situation or scenario that you want to ask about, make sure you post your questions down in the comments below. If you like this video, if it's helpful for you, make sure you give it a thumbs up. Share it with other agents that you know. Make sure that you subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't done that yet, and I look forward to seeing you on the next video.
