Kevin Ward lost his first listing to Linda Peterson, the top agent at his Century 21 office, in 1998. The loss stung, but it taught him to recover fast, build a track record so listings come to you, and turn defeat into the drive to become unbeatable.
Questions this video answers
1998
Hearst, Texas
Linda Peterson
Century 21
December 12, 2019
Chapters
If you want to succeed in real estate, you have to be able to take a punch and get back up. Hi 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 your life. And recently somebody asked me about, they were talking about how it felt to lose a listing to another agent. And they asked me about the first time I ever lost a listing to another agent. And I hadn't thought about this in years. And yet as soon as they asked a question, I'm like, I know exactly when it was, where it was, who I lost it to, and it just brought back a lot of emotion. And I want to talk today about what happened and how I handled it and how I handled the first listing that I ever lost to another agent. It was in Hearst, Texas. This was back in 1998. I was a brand new agent. And I say brand new. I don't know if I'd been in for probably less than six months. And it was a for sale by owner in Hearst, Texas. I was with Century 21 and I set the listing appointment and it was one of those, like, everything went perfect. I called the first sale by owner. They were friendly, they were nice. They've been trying to sell it on their own for a while, like for several months. I got the appointment, I went out, I did the listing presentation and it was like, perfect. I was like, yes, I got this one. I knew I had it. But of course they wanted to think about it a little bit and they wanted to do a little more research because they had asked about how new I was and all that. And they knew I was a newer agent. And so. Okay. And so they wanted to do their a little more research. And so I left and I was very confident I had it. And then bam. On the follow up call that I made a day or two later, they told me that they had chosen Linda Peterson. Now, Linda Peterson, who is a friend of mine to this day, was the number one agent in our office. I was a century 21 Mike Bowman. It was the number one century 21 office in the world at the time. And Linda Peterson was the number one agent. She was our number one agent in our office. And she was, she was a rock star. She was. And to this day, she got. She still actually trains, is the trainer for the company. And she beat me. They gave her the listing and I'm like, why? And I was like, in shock. And here's. And then they told me how they chose her. And this Was even more heartbreaking was when I went on my listing presentation, I was telling them all about it because I was new. I couldn't really brag about how great I was. So I bragged about how great my company was, and we were number one in the market, and we were the best and all that kind of stuff. And so when I left, they decided to do their own research. And I can't remember, like, it was 1998. If Google, you know, did they Google people back then? I don't know how they did it, but somehow they did their research and they found out that. That Mike Bowman was. Was the. You know, the company was big. And so I think they actually called. I think they actually called the company and they asked, who is their number one agent? And of course, they said, Linda Peterson. And they go like, well, we want the best. We want number one. And so they picked Linda Peterson. She got the listing. I didn't. I was heartbroken. And I was like, ugh. Now, what I want to share with you is how I handled it and how I think you should handle it when you get beat. Because, look, whether you've already. If you've ever lost a. Listening to another agent, you know how painful that is, how frustrating it is, and if you ever lose a listing at all, you know how painful that is. Here's how I handled it. Number one is I got back up. It knocked me flat on my back. It was like a gut punch. It hurt. I was upset. I felt betrayed a little bit. And it wasn't what's. What was really irritating was that I was the one doing the work. I was the one prospecting. I was the one putting myself out there. And Linda Peterson didn't do nothing but be number one in the office. That's all she did. And she got the listing for free, like. So here's the reality is those things happen. You're going to get beat, and you got to get back up. You have. If you want to succeed in real estate, you have to be able to take a punch and get back up and take a punch and get back up. And take a punch and get back up. That's what champions are made of. Champions are not the ones who never get knocked down. They're the ones who refuse to stay down. So, number one, the first thing I did is I got back up. I got back in the game, and I got over it. Number two, I learned that a track record helps. Yeah, that's right. It helps to have a track record like Linda Peterson. She had a track record. And she was able to get a listing without any effort other than the fact that she had built track record. She had brought. Had she. She got success because she had success. And so I realized I have to push through until I have my own track record. And so do you. You got to make the decision if you're new and you're a brand new agent, like, well, but how do I beat them? Because they beat me and they were. And I'm new and all. Well, you have to push through and you have to win and push through until you win enough that you create your own track record. Because look, no matter where you are, every single one of us started at the same exact spot with zero track record. I started with no track record. Linda Peterson started with no track record. What do you do about that? You build a track record by going out and making it happen and winning. And you got to be willing to make the mistakes, to face the failures, to face the fears, to get knocked down, get back up until you build the track record. And then the third thing about how I handled it was I can remember the determination it put in me to get, to get unbeatable. It fired me up. It made me more determined than ever to get better because it irritated me so bad. It was like she beat me because she had a track record of being better. And I'm like, I never want to get beat like that again. So I am determined to get better. You got to have that determination. Winners, champions are extremely competitive high achievers. And this is true in all areas of human endeavor, whether it's sports or music or entertainment or business or finance or anything. Champions are highly competitive. The best are very, very competitive. And so when you get, when you get beat, the question is, does it get you down or does it fire you up? And if you want to win, it better fire you up. It better make you go like, just better light that fire and go like that is not going to happen to me again. I will win. I will become unbeatable. And I will prove to myself and to every person out there that's ever chosen another agent and to those other agents that beat me, I will prove to them that I am the champion, that I am the best. My friends, that is how you handle it. You're gonna lose listings, you're gonna get beat. But when you get beat, you can either get beat down or you can get fired up. Make the decision to win. Make the decision to become the best so that you can always expect. Yes. So I'd love to hear about your experience of the first listing that you ever lost to another agent, put it down below in the comments. If you have questions, post them down below as well. You liked the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and I look forward to seeing you on the next video.
