YesTalk-230 - KEVIN WARD Interview for Prospecting Today with Kimberly Houk

Welcome to Kevin Ward's YES Talk for Realtors. This is Kevin Ward.

Hello, I'm Kimberly Hauck, the journalist behind Prospecting Today. If you're a real estate agent who wants to learn how to build a sustainable business, then make sure you subscribe to the Prospecting Today YouTube channel.

Well, what got me into real estate was funny. So my background is Christian ministry, and a lot of people do not know that. And I just did not function very well in a very traditional church. And that was what I was raised in. And I wanted to still be able to do ministry but not be tied to the politics of a church telling me what to do and all that kind of stuff. So I was kind of rebelling that. And so I said, you know what? I can do real estate. I can make my own money. And because I own my own business, and I can have the time to do the work I want to do on the side and do my own work with ministry. So that was what originally got me into what's up, Masi Ray? Hello, everybody. I had a closing this week, and I put three under contract. Okay? One closing and three sales. Yes. In December. Great job, Masi Ray. One, two, three. Boom. All right, who's next? So the book of yes is the script book. I mean, this is what I. So here's what happened. When I started real estate, there were two things I hated. One, I hated rejection, right? And nobody likes rejection. So I'd get told no, and I just hated it. It was like, ah. It was like, brought back memories of getting turned down by girls right when I was in school. So I'm like, I'm gonna crack the code of how to be able to get people say yes to me. I. And number two was I hated the BS of a lot of the traditional sales scripts that I was given in real estate. And it was just like, are you kidding me? You actually want me to say that? And some of them may be like, that's stupid. It's corny, or it's not true. Like, you're trying to give me. You want to pretend like I have a buyer for a For sale by owner. I don't have a buyer. Why would I say that? Right, well, get your foot in the door. And I'm like, I don't want my foot in the door. I want to build a relationship. I want to help them sell their house. And if I go in. So here's what I figured out, just as an example of this, like, I may have a buyer for your house script that I was Given as a new agent was I realized that when I go to their house under those that pretense, I'm literally training them not to hire me. And why would they hire me? I've already told you, if I have a buyer, I'm going to bring them. Why would you need to hire me to sell it? Because if I don't have a buyer, then I'm not going to sell it. So why would you. I'm literally training them not to list their home with me because I'm training them that their hallucination that all we got to do is work with agents and they'll bring us a buyer that they don't need to list or hire an agent. And the reality is just not the way it works. Agents are not out looking for buyers to bring to for sale by owners. They avoid for sale by owners like the plague if they have a buyer because they know that the owner is emotionally attached. They're not a professional. They sometimes they'll lie, they'll cheat, whatever. So they don't want to work with for sell by owners, agents that actually have a buyer. They will avoid them. So when I go in and pretend like I'll bring a buyer if I have one, it's I'm literally reinforcing their false belief that that's in their best interest. Their best interest is hire me and I will get your house sold and I'll get you better terms. I'll get you a better price and I'll get you a better result than you can get on your own. And it's so funny because you look at the founder, buyowner.com, the CEO of For Salebyowner.com both of them, the stories are in realtor.com when they sold their house, both of them use realtors. One of them from the beginning hired a full service realtor. The other one, after trying to sell it on his own on his site for six months, hired an agent and they sold it for more than his original asking price. So the reality is if you know what you're doing and you're a skilled agent, you can get a better result for for sale by owner. So I just looked at it and go like, I know that now. I got to figure out how to communicate that in a way that a buyer, a seller will listen to me and hear it. And now when I go out and meet with them, I'm not pretending like I'm coming to see the property. We're coming to talk about whether you want to hire me. Or not. And so I get listings first time out, over and over. It's just like I was telling you about this one kid in Las Vegas, Rafael, that just joined our coaching, just started using the script and his first month. Got it first in December of 2020, middle of pandemic, middle of the holidays. You know, nobody's selling all that kind of stuff. You hear people say prospecting doesn't work anymore. Calls her on the phone. She's rude. She don't want to talk to him. He just stays with her, stays with the script. She finally gives you an appointment. He goes out, gets the listing on the first appointment, prices it right. It's already sold. That works. And no bs. She knew when he came out. Here's why I'm coming out. Talk to you. You're interviewing me about for selling your home. So that's what I did with this. Every script in here is no BS and the first half of the book is actually not scripts. The first half of the book is how you master a conversation. So it's like you and I were talking about while ago. This is not. When it sounds like a script, you're dead right. One of my mentors who was an actor, said in Hollywood, the saying is, the script is the enemy. Not that scripts are bad, but when it sounds like a script, it's bad. So you got to master it, internalize it, and then present it in a way that sounds like a natural. Literally a spontaneous conversation. And when I've mastered the script that well, so that it sounds like I'm just talking, I'm just having a natural conversation. The beauty of it is when I'm not having to think about what to say next, like, oh, yeah, what's. And then ask the next question, I'm able to listen. That is when. That is when a conversation gets powerful. If you are in a script and you don't have it. Mastered it. And this is the reason most scripts don't work for most agents, is they don't master it. And when they don't master it, they're too busy thinking about what to say next, so they can't actually listen. And if I'm not listening to you, you don't trust me. Yeah, I can't engage with you.

Can they master it without the role playing?

Probably not. I mean, it's kind of like learning to kiss you probably someday you're gonna have to kiss somebody, right? Any. If you want to learn a skill, you know, like snow skiing. I remember. I didn't. I never went to snow Skiing until my senior year in high school. And so I had a book and they're taught and then I went and I went skiing and I went skiing and then I went to college. And in college in Abilene, Texas, I went to Abilene Christian University in Texas, hundreds of miles away from there at ski slope. And so you could take skiing as a PE class. And you spent this whole semester of watching videos and reading books. At the very end of December, we went for 10 days to go skiing. Well, all the stuff that you learned in a whole semester reading books and watching videos was one tenth of the power you got of actually putting on skis, getting on snow and letting gravity pull you down a hill. That's where you learn. And so until you're actually doing it, you're never going to master it. And like, well, I'm not comfortable yet. I want to get to where I'm, you know, confident and know the script. Here's how you know it's do it. And you can start with role play. But even then I'm test driving. Like this kid Rafael I go back to is he wasn't a master. He was still scared to death. What was he doing? Calling for salvation. Did he mess up on some 100%. But he's better now because he learns from the experience. Yeah.

So give me an idea of a fail proof script. When you're cold calling on expireds and somebody actually picks up the phone, what do you say?

Well, so we actually have created new scripts. Okay. And so the script that I use for years, that made me millions of dollars on expired. So I was, I listed. I've listed and sold over 200 expired listings in my career. So the script that I use primarily is not the main one I'm teaching now. So the number one thing we say is, hi, I'm calling about the house for sale. Are you still accepting offers? Which is a totally different approach than I used to say. Hi, Hi, is this Kimberly? Hey, Kimberly, it's Kevin Ward with Yes, Masters Realty. I'm sure you're aware by now that your house is showing up on the mls. It's off the market, so that's how you start it. And I was wondering when you're planning to interview agents again for the job of actually getting it sold. So that was the original conversation and that one worked for me fabulously. But what we've discovered, as times have changed, people are less patient now. This is actually a study. I don't know where the study was. And I heard this from Russell Brunson, who is a marketing genius in the digital marketing space. But there was a study done back in the 80s, and they said the average customer prospect would give you in a sales presentation, would give you 20 minutes to basically in a conversation, they would be willing to engage you for 20 minutes and let you talk, let you share your sales pitch. In 2018, when the think study was done, seven seconds. And I remember him saying, he said the attention span of a goldfish is seven seconds. But what that means is people aren't. They're not, especially on the phone where they don't know you. They're not willing to listen you any listen to you anymore. And used to people considered it rude to hang up on somebody. So they would listen and they'd be like, well, I'm really not interested. But if you kept talking, they would keep listening. Today they have no problem hanging up on you. So you got to get to the point fast. So are you still accepting offers in your property? Boom. That's what I want. I don't want an agent, want an offer. I had my house on the market for six months or four months or whatever. No offers. I'm sick and tired of that. Are you accepting offers? So what we found out is when you go right to what they want, they'll engage you in a conversation. Okay, so that's what you go. And so, great. So when you saw that's where you're going next. Now the next step is I want to find out what their motivation is. Ask. I got to be totally interested. And what their situation is. Because the motivation is the hook, meaning the one moving part in all real estate is motivation. They gotta want to buy a house, you gotta want to sell a house, period. If they're a seller and they're not motivated to sell, you're gonna kill yourself. Yeah. But if they're motivated to sell, all you gotta do is be good enough to get in front of them and lead them to the decision that you're the best agent. So what I want to do first is I want to debrief since last week when we spent our two days together, to what you did. Coming out of that, what has changed for you? What is happening for you? What clarity do you have? What have you really stuck with you? Since there are two days in the championship quest last Thursday and Friday, and we found from one of my coaching members a new approach. And it's a text message approach. And the text message approach, basically you pull up your subway owners and you do a quick CMA So it's a real quick cma. Just run, pull the comps and then you look and go like, okay, this one, this house will sell between 505 40. Okay, cool. I'm going to go on the 500. I'm going to go conservative. I'm going to run a quick net sheet or I can just know, you know, in my market, that's about 10% off. The closing is going to be. They're going to net about 450. So I just send a text and say, hi, this is Kevin. Would you accept $450,000 for your home net after all expenses? And then they're going to respond guaranteed every time, yes or no. And if they respond yes, great. When would be a good time for me to give you a call? If they say no, say, great, what's the lowest price you would accept? And they say 475,000. 475,000. Great. When it'd be a good time for me to give you a call. Now I'm going to get on a call with them and I'm going to say, hey, my name's Kevin. I'm the agent. I'm a real estate agent. And you and I were just texting and you said you would get. You want to net at least $475,000 in your pocket in the sale of your house. Correct. Awesome. So when, now when you sell the house, where you're going next? So then we just go back into the what I consider the old for Salve owner script that I have here in the book of yes. And one of the things we've done is we have so this was published in 2016 and so we will be are getting ready released in 2021. We'll be releasing a new book of yes. These are all the updated scripts here. So our coaching members get this. People come to our events, people have our courses, they get this. So we've added dozens of scripts, dozens of new objection handlers, scripts that incorporate video. Because a lot of our conversations now. So somebody won't talk to me on the phone. So let's just play with this real quick. I called her for Salve Owner and I've got all my coaching members here on a call. We're getting ready to start in a minute. I call a Purcell bayonet and they go like, yeah, if you got a buyer, bring them. Otherwise I'm not interested. And they hang up. Okay, cool. Now I've got, I know I've got the right number. I've talked to them. I just shoot them a quick video and it's just a very low thing. I just take my phone, hold it up here, or even better is I take like a little portable, little portable tripod. I set it up like this and I'm just gonna shoot a video. And let's say it's Masi Ray. And I'll say, hey, Masi Ray, it's Kevin Ward at yes Masters Realty. We just spoke briefly on the phone. I know right now you're trying to sell the house on your own, but I just want to shoot a quick video to introduce myself and let you know that if I can help with anything at all, please let me know. And if you're looking at getting the most money in your pocket quick for your house, I'd love to talk to you about how I can help you do that. This is my cell phone. Feel free to give me a call anytime. Boom, that's done. 15 second, 22nd video. And I text it to them. Now when I text it to them, what they just got is no pressure and they're going to watch it. I just became a human being. Before, I was just a voice on the other end of a phone. Now they see me. And when you're dressed professionally, you're in business, you're excited, happy, articulate, and you're a person. And now they feel like they know you, you're a journalist. So you know, when people watch you on television, if you're a TV journalist, somebody watches you on television day in and day out, they feel like they know you and they absolutely will trust you. So this is putting them in, putting you in front of them where now they put a name with a face with the name and they actually get to see you. And we have found it insanely powerful. It lets them see that you're tech savvy. So there's so many benefits of doing that. So now the scripts have moved from a one dimensional approach of just this. And if they hang up, game over. Right? So now I can text. We start with the text, we go to the phone, and then we can go to video. So there's just, just that as one little micro example of what, what we're seeing in the book of yes, we've got a 2020 vortex edition is that's where everything is going. And I just take, because I coach with agents that are making, you know, that are in the game today and I'm taking the best of what they've done, help them get better with it, because I'm a master of communication, a master of words, a master of tonality, a master of inspiring people, connecting with people. And we just make it better.

Yeah.

And we don't stay with the same old script. And we're seeing it working less and less and less and less. And we let people have options. We're still doing what I call split testing of like, which script works better, this one or this one? And what we found out is if you will and do the work they all work, is if you want to live a seven dimensional life, really crush it in all seven domains of your life. It should be seven days a week. So I'm now calling it a 7D life. Is most people, you know, a 3D, 3D reality, virtual reality. Most people live a one dimensional or two dimensional life at best. And I'm talking about living a seven dimensional life and everything changes. We're talking about greatness at a level that most people never even envision existing. But you can't. I'm not a big fan of random door knocking. Okay. So this is what's traditionally called cold calling. Cold calling works. So I'm not, I'm not an opponent of it. But it's if. If you have a business model and you have a system and you have a framework, there is a much better. There are much better ways of generating business than just randomly knocking doors. Because we live in a time now where, and especially in the time of COVID after the pandemic stuff is you're even. There's even a double chance of people not being happy that you're knocking at their door. It's not just like you're in. You're interrupting my day. Why are you here? Who are you? What do you want? You know, that was already happening, but now, as with the pandemic, you got another thing I didn't want. Like, stay away from me, you know, you got cooties, whatever. So it's like the cooties from junior high. Yeah. And so it's just a hard way to do it. So every type of lead generation has a cost. Okay. If I do marketing, has a material cost. So I do geographic farming. So primarily time and money. If I do it myself, time and money. If I have somebody else do it, it's just money. Okay. If I prospect, it's just time. But it's not just time. It's also emotional energy. So I train that. There are four, what we call investables. There are four resources that you have to invest. One is time and one is money. We know those. Right? Time and money. Another one is energy, the actual expenditure. So if I go out and I cut down a tree with an ax, it doesn't take money, but it takes time, and it takes energy. So it's not just time. I can sit here and watch a video that's just taking time. It's not really taking energy, but when I'm physically doing something takes energy. But there's also a fourth investable, and that's your heart. How much heart, how much emotion? So emotional bandwidth and all that, what I'm expanding, that takes its toll, too. So for me, prospecting for sale by owners and expireds, which is how I built my business, was time. Because I didn't have money when I started. I was broke. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna use my time. So I'd call on the phone. But it also took an emotional toll because I was talking to people who didn't want to talk to me. Now, how your mindset, how your attitude is set on that makes a big difference because I enjoyed the challenge. I loved getting listings with those. The harder the better, you know? And then I could bring into the sales meeting to come announce my listings. I would literally bring in the for sale by owner sign that yard sign, and I would bring it in, and I would just. And everybody would see me. At the beginning of the meeting when we're. Everybody's lining up, all you guys, new listings line up, and you're gonna come up here in the front and tell them, announce your new listings. So they could all watch. And I'd be bringing the sign up, and they'd be, oh, Ward's got another one. So for me, that was part of the game. So I. So I enjoyed that grind because it was tough. You know, even back then, people were still. We had to be rude, you know, all kinds of stuff like that. But it also. So it emotionally would drain me, but it also would emotionally charge me because I would get recognition for it, which is great for me. So all of that comes into play. So now I'm like, okay, how much time is this money, emotional bandwidth, and how much my heart does this take? So when I'm talking to strangers, it takes time, for sure. Door knocking takes time. Takes a lot of time. It also takes a certain amount of emotional bandwidth because you're. There's stress I could get. You know, I've got one of my coaching members in Palm Springs, California, had somebody pull a gun on him. A little stress there, right? So, I mean, there's a little. So there's A little. Now after that there's like, okay, there's some fear. That's an emotional toll that every contact makes on him when he goes knocks on a door. So when I'm knocking on a random door, I just look at how much the cost. Well, one, it's a lot of time and two, for me it's a lot of emotional toll. Takes a lot of heart and it takes some energy. And so I'm like, what is the best bang for the buck? So I look at what we call turbo leads. So a turbo lead is something that can turbocharge your business. Somebody that's already announced, I need to sell my house. That's a for sale by owner. That's an expired. That's somebody whose house is in default. That's somebody who is a probate. Probate estate's property that's owned by somebody who's passed away. Those are probably going to be selling. Okay. So I would rather focus on those because I can talk to 10 of those and I'm going to get a listing. Whereas if I just go random door knock, I got to talk to 100, 200, 3 or 400 of those to get a listing. So I'm spending all this time and this emotional bandwidth to get a listing. Does it work? 100%? It works. Geographic farming, same thing. It works, just takes a lot of time. Not your time, it just takes a long time for it to kick in. But it, it just takes money. It's Facebook marketing, all those. So it's a trade off. So I look at what is the return on investment and what do I like. So some people love that. The grind, the challenge. I've got a coaching member in Palm Springs, Alejandro, that had the gun pulled on. He loves expireds. I mean, lives on him and he loves. He'll prospect six hours a day, literally.

Six hours door knocking or expired.

Now he does almost off phone. He used to do door. And the magic right now is old expires. And I'm hearing this all over the country.

What's old?

Like old is over three or four months anywhere. Three, four months. Just two years. Three years, even 30 days. Because they've kind of got over their anger and nobody else is calling them now. All that first thing that happens the first week when you're getting hammered with us and all the mailers and all people and all that kind of stuff that's kind of passed, they're more likely to talk to you and engage with you over time. So just in terms, that's what we're seeing across the country, new expireds are still awesome. They're still the best because you get on their radar early. Your chances of getting a listing that day go up dramatically. But anyway, the whole point of this is if it depends on what you like. So I've got Sergio Nazaro, who is one of my other yes Masters coach. He made 330,000 in GCI's first year, nearly 30 deals. He has never made a prospecting call to a stranger, ever. Why? He talked to all the people he knew and they didn't want to work with him. They said, if you're new, come back, sell some houses, and then come back and talk to me. Goes like, dude, I'm your friend. Who do you think is going to work harder for you to help you get a house? Who's going to help work? And he would literally, he was super strong and he had these conversations with his friends and they go, okay, we'll give you a shot. And boom, he started selling houses. Selling houses. And then. And then the word gets out. So now he can have all his conversations or easy conversations. They're with his friends, they're with people he knows. There was his past clients. So for him, he doesn't. Why would I talk to strangers? I'll talk to strangers all day, but they're going to be referred to me by Jim, that I just help him and his wife sell their house. And now when that person gets referred to me and I talk to that stranger, guess what's happening? I already have the credibility and trust because Jim and his wife know them. I don't know them, but they know Jim and Jim trusts me. So Jim refers me. So the dot, the biggest gap between you and a seller is the trust gap. What is the best way to bridge the trust gap? Well, the reason I did the book of yes, where the book of yes was that I found the best conversations that would help me bridge the gap and help a seller or prospect or a lead understand I'm on their side, by the way, by the things you say and the way you say them. That's bridging the gap. But it's easier if somebody else that trusts me tells them, hey, Kevin's the best. Talk to him.

So give me one example of a way to bridge a gap with a stranger.

Ask them questions about what they want. Okay. I mean, this is all real simple. Yeah. You know what? When the house sells, where you going next? And it is being interested. See, when. If you look at my scripts, every single one of them are question Based. Okay, so we ask questions like, so in the house sells, where are you going next? Now, there's two ways I can ask it. So here's one way I can ask it. So, Kimberly, when the house sells, where are you going next? And you say, New York. Are you going to New York? That's exciting. So what's taking you to New York?

Oh, I just love Broadway.

I love Broadway. That's awesome. That is so cool. Okay, now, that's one approach. Now here's the next one. So when the house sells, where are you going next?

Palm Springs.

Palm Springs. Why are you going to Palm Springs?

I just need the sunshine.

All right, now, did that feel different?

Yeah.

Yeah. Why? That was an interrogation.

Yeah.

I wasn't interested. I was like, when the house sells, where are you going next?

Yeah.

As opposed to, so when the house sells, where you going next? See, one, I'm interested. I'm not just. I'm interested in you. I'm interested in what you're doing. I'm excited. It's like, in one, I like you, and the other one, I'm, like, trying to get information from you. So one is conversation, the other is an interrogation. Now what? How did I do that? Well, when I'm interested, I sound different. So when the house sells, where are you going next? Like, this is exciting. We're getting ready to go on a journey together.

Yeah.

As opposed to when the house sells, where are you going next? Yeah, now I. Come on, don't waste my time. Just give me. Give me information. I just need information so I know whether or not I can get a listing. Right. So one, I'm interested in me, the other I'm interested in you. And it comes out. So, one, it comes out in the tonality. And the other thing is, it came out when you said New York. Oh, you're going to New York. That's exciting. So this concept of repeating and affirming, which is an NLP strategy, repeating and affirming makes it a conversation rather than an interrogation. Because I'm engaging. I'm like, I'm listening to you. It also lets me really internalize what is important to you. When I repeat and affirm, it, it tells you I'm listening. It also tells me I'm listening because it helps me remember it. So now the whole conversation from now on is tied to what she wants to go to Broadway. She'd love to live in New York. That is so cool. I'm excited about what you're excited about. That is a connection. If I'm Just here to get a listing. You hate that. Has there ever been a seller that was excited about a listing? Never. Because to them, it means I gotta keep my house spotless. I got strangers coming in my house. I gotta sign this stupid contract. I gotta deal with this agent. I gotta deal with all these. It's pressure. So sellers to hate listings. Agents, we love them, Right? But stop loving listings. Start loving clients. You love a seller. Like, I'm not after. I don't. I'm not after listing. I'm at your sellers. I'm after clients. You win the client, you got the listing. Yeah, but the difference is I'm focused on you and what you want, not focused on me and what I want.

Is that the same approach to keep you from coming across too salesy?

Oh, totally. It is. I mean, it's everything. Because I'm not. My goal is not to sell you. My goal is to help you.

Yeah.

So it's a serving approach rather than a sale selling approach. Selling is, I'm trying to get you to buy something for my benefit. Serving is. I'm here to help you. Can I help you? Look, this part of the script and listing presentation. Look, if I can't help you, I'll tell you today. Because I'm not interested in just getting a listing. I'm very interested in helping you get to New York.

I love it.

Because that's what you want, right?

Right.

We're on the same page.

Changes the whole feeling in the room.

I'm literally taking away. I'm not interested in just getting a listing. Now what am I doing? I'm confronting their false belief that goes like, I know what you want. You just here for a listing. You just want to get a commission check. I know you. I know what you realtors are like.

Yeah.

And so you have to know that's the way sellers look at us. Right.

So what is the best scripting advice you'd give to agents? I know it. Different scripts for different roles. Whatever you're trying to do. But what's the best advice when it comes to scripts?

Mastery.

Okay.

You got to master them. You got to master them so well that it's just conversation. Because when I mastered them, when I sound better. But two, now I can listen.

How long did it take you to master a script? Like, what's the.

I'm still mastering the learning curve for.

Like, a newer agent.

Well, so for a new agent, the beauty of it is the bar is so low because I always ask the question of how much time does the average agent Spend a week in training and practice. And the answer is zero. Most agents never role play. They just don't.

Because it's uncomfortable or it's uncomfortable.

They don't feel good about it. And they. And because they. They've seen bad scripts and they. Because they've seen bad performance of scripts at all, they. They think scripts are bad. They're like, you know what? Scripts just aren't for me. I just. I can't. No, I just want to. I just need to speak from the heart. Me too. But when I speak from the heart, I know exactly what I'm going to say, and I know the right things to say to lead the seller to a decision. But I took a script and I put it in my head, which is called memorizing. And then I got it in my heart, which is called internalizing. And then I mastered the delivery of it, which is called communication. So when I'm speaking from somebody else's script, whether I wrote it or not, and you watch. When I watch my best coaching members that they do their role, I mean, I'm like, you're better than me, man. That was so good. Because when you're great at it, you're listening, and the listening is the most important thing. But you can't listen until you master what you're going to say. So I don't have to think about what I'm going to say next. When I've mastered the script, I'm just listening to you. And what comes next is just a natural conversation. And because I've done this after, you know, having thousands and thousands and thousands of conversation, having countless thousands of no's, is this all this has just been what grew out of it for me. And then now it's working with agents and role playing with agents every week. I role play with agents every single week, and I talk to my coaching members every single week. So I'm knowing what's working, what's not working. And they're like, I literally would talk to my top inner circle members, and I go like, how is the expired script working? It ain't working. And that's how we started changing it. And I'm talking to Alejandro, and he goes, here's what I'm saying. I've started doing this, and this is what's working, working for me.

I'm like, what's a quick change he made?

So a quick change was instead of going like, I'm sure you're aware your house came up on the market as an expired listing, he doesn't say that anymore. He just says, hey, I'm calling about your house for sale. Are you still accepting offers? Right. So, boom. Just jumps right to the chase. And it's not asking, when are you going to interview agents? Because nobody wants that. Sellers hate that. He asked, you want an offer. That's what he wants to know. Because that tells you they're still motivated.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Yeah. So what is the one phrase that keeps people from getting appointments? One phrase they say they shouldn't be saying. They're not even aware that they might be making this mistake from an expert like you. What is that one phrase that will always keep them from getting an appointment?

If I. If I could get you to top dollar, if I could sell your home, if I bring you a buyer, if I. Because you're telling. You're making it about you now. In the book of. I think it's in the book here. I've got so much parts of training. I train what I call resistance triggers. And that's words and phrases we say that make people resist you. Those are resistance triggers. So there are resistance or, like, can't. Like, need to. Like, like appointment. That's the worst. Because what do we think of? Just there's an. There's an energy and association that we have with words. So when we think of appointment, what automatically comes to mind? Going to the doctor, meeting with an accountant, going to talk to the school principal. We don't have a pleasant association with having an appointment. It's not exciting to us. We're like, I've got an appointment with the doctor. I've got an appointment with my dentist. I hate appointments. So we don't ever say, let's set an appointment. Let's set up a time to get together. Now. Do you like to get together? Yeah, 100%. Because it's a positive association. So we never say, all we need to do now. And need to is another horrible resistance trigger. Why? Because when you were 7 years old, your mom says, you need to be more like your brother. You need to finish your dinner. So need to is one of those horrible statements that makes everybody like, no, I don't have to do anything. Right. So we don't say, need to. So we don't say, we need to set an appointment. We say, wouldn't be a good time for us to get together. And another one is show you. I'll show you. People hate it. Why do they hate it? Because when you were four years old and your big brother said, you don't know how to tie your shoe, let Me show you. And you're like, you ain't showing me nothing. So show you immediately subconsciously creates resistance. So I never show anything.

What would you say instead?

Just take a look at some options. Okay, so when. It'd be good time for us to get together and take a look at some options. Now, people don't like to be shown, but they love options. So they don't like appointments, but they love to get together. So I don't say, let's. We need to set an appointment so I can show you how I can sell your home.

Perfect. Handling objections. We just talked about the resistance trigger. What is like the typical objection that you're. You've done enough conversations that you're like, just be prepared for this one every.

Time we need to think about it.

And how do you overcome that?

Awesome. I totally agree.

And then follow up.

And then you just keep going to the next question. Yeah, yeah. All I do is acknowledge it. How much is your commission? You know, it's a great question. And obviously the commission and all the cost or stuff that we'll go over when we meet. Fair enough.

Okay.

So that's another one. Is the commission question. We're not interested. Totally get it. And this is where a lot of times now, and this has been one of the biggest breakthroughs that this. I call this a million dollar phone. Why? Because this gets you appointments that you cannot get in the live conversation because it's a video. And they. They're like, yeah, know, really not interested. Call us back in a month. We need a break. I just shoot them a quick video. Hey, it's great to talk to you. If I can help with anything, you know, this is my cell phone number. Keep it. If I can help with things, let me know. And I shoot them a quick video and I send it to them. I put it. It puts it in front of them. They never forget you. And when they hang up with an agent, they never. They don't know who the agent is, but once they watch your video, they know exactly. Hey, this is Kevin Ward. I just talked to you on the phone and I. You guys are kind of burned out right now with having your house on the market. Just wanted to let you know I'm here for you. If I can help with anything, please let me know. This is my cell phone and I'll be here for you to help anytime. Great. That's it.

Is there. What's the I feel guilty approach? Because I know you've referenced that.

I remember what you're talking about. So this is when somebody goes, like somebody had made a phone call that they're supposed to make a follow up. I feel guilty. Is that what you're talking about? Or they're like, do you mind if I give you a. If I call you back?

Yeah, that kind of. That kind of.

Those are horrible.

Yeah.

So, like.

And is that more of a thing?

No, it's a stupid thing. Okay, so it's like, would you be offended if I called you back in a week? You talked to her for Salvatore and they're like, yeah, we're in Irish store. We're doing it on. Okay, great. Would you be offended if I followed up with you and stayed in touch? Well, no, I don't like to be followed, so please don't follow up with me. Another resistance trigger. Never say follow up. I mean, unless you're on Twitter. Nobody likes to be followed. Right. So we never say and we never ask for permission to do something that they probably don't want. So would you be offended? What am I doing? I'm creating what's called a negative frame.

Right.

I'm ask. I'm literally putting in their head, you know what? Now that you mention it, I think I'd be offended. So just don't call me. Right. So in a sense, it's that all that adage that it's always better to ask for forgiveness and permission. Don't ever ask for permission to continue a relationship.

Okay.

Okay. I'm assuming it's going to go well.

Okay.

If I was to go on a first date, I'm not going to. Would you be offended if I call you for a second date? Right. Okay. One, if it's. They would. I probably already know. But two, I'm just going to assume if I like. If I like them and I want to ask them out again, I'm going to assume they're going to say yes to me. Why would I go? Like, would you be offended? And they're going, like, why would you think I'd be offended? Are you idiot. Right. So don't ever put that stuff out into the. You know, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to bother you. That's the guilt of the guilt thing. I'm so sorry to bother you. Are you really sorry? Do you not want to help them? No, I want to help them. I never apologize. They need my help. Absolutely. I look at. This is the mindset. Every seller out there, if they don't have a great agent, they need me. They need the best agent. And. And that's me. Because I've trained to do the best results for every client. They need me. Why would I apologize for calling them? Okay, as a, you know, a firefighter, if you're in trouble and emergency medical technician comes up and goes, like, I'm so sorry that I'm about to have to hurt you. No, this is the job. I'm here to save you. Is there going to be some pain? Yeah. You're going to have to meet with me. You may not want to. I get that. Yeah. But I'm here for you. I don't need to apologize for being here to help you. So my. My burning desire, which is what you got to have, Jenny. The burning desire feeds my focus, okay? My faith, it's got to be congruent, right? It's got to be congruent with what I believe. It's got to be congruent in my life. It's the reason I teach you to get yes without the BS because if your faith, your belief says you always tell the truth and yet you're lying to people to get your foot in the door, you lose.

Is the COVID changing anything? Anything with your scripts? Anything with any type of advice you'd give real estate agents.

Yeah. Which it doesn't change the script so much as it changes, in a sense, the sensitivity, just to be a little more sensitive and be a little more personal. Okay. But if I'm calling up for something under expired. Doesn't change it at all. If they mention it, then I'm going to be like, I know. I totally get. It's crazy. You know? And absolutely, we have a complete protocol in place to make sure that everything is protected, that you're protected, your family's protected and all of that. And when we get together, we'll go over exactly our protocol that we're. Our COVID protocol that we're doing to make everybody safe. So when you have people bring it up as an objection of, well, we just. I think we're gonna wait because we don't want to have strangers in the house. I totally get it. Okay. And then I go to the next question because I need to find out what's your motivation? And if they don't have to move and they're, like, scared to death, then it may be the best thing for them to wait a few months, but. And if you're not desperate and you're there when you're making enough money and generating business because you're not trying to convince somebody who's not motivated to meet, because what's the number One moving part in the industry, a motivated client. Nothing works without that. And so scripts are not designed to motivate, scripture designed to find motivation, because it's way easier to work with people who actually want to work to move than it is trying to convince somebody who doesn't want to move to move.

What's the best approach for reconnecting with those already in your sphere of influence?

Really good. So right as you and I are recording this, it's in December, so holidays is a great time to reconnect and just do a phone call or text. Just say, hey, hey, I was just saying. And best time to do it is a phone call is, I would say, like, let's see, you're a past client of mine. I haven't talked to you in seven years. And there's a lot of agents out there like that. They're like, I haven't talked to any of my people. They probably don't even remember me. Okay, here's what will happen. Hey, Kimberly. Is Kevin Ward with Yes, Masters Realty. How are you doing? And they're like, oh, my gosh, here's. And we're like, I'm so sorry I haven't called you. And they're going to. Why? See, they weren't waiting for your call, so they didn't feel betrayed. You felt guilty because your own guilt, because you. Your own expectation was, I should have called them, and I didn't. So you just touch base with them. And so we actually have a script in here for, like, what do you do if you haven't talked to him a long time? Hey, I've been thinking about calling. I've been thinking about you, and I've been meaning to call you. And today I decided, you know what? I'm just going to pick up the phone and call Kimberly. So how are you doing?

Perfect.

That's perfect. Now, another thing is you can just text people and say, so let's just say in, like, we did this in Covid, and we found that people get talked to in this. So it's just like, hey, Kimberly, just wanted to touch base with you, see how things are going. Hope you and your family are doing well in this crazy time. Just sending you good, healthy vibes.

Perfect.

And it's just a text message. And they're going to go like, oh, thank you so much. We're doing good. Da, da, da. And you just now re engage that conversation. No selling, no asking for business. Now I'm just connecting. I'm building the relationship. They know what you do when you and you can ask later for business. Right. And I'm totally comfortable asking for business, but not on your first reconnection with somebody you haven't talked to in a while.

If you were talking to a whole group of real estate agents, say they're brand new to the game, what would you tell them is the biggest mistake new agents make?

They don't commit. They don't commit to win. They come in and go, I'm gonna give it a shot. Yeah, I'll see how it goes. I call it the number one superpower in the world is commitment. You commit, I'm going to be the best and I'm going to win, period. That's it. I'm going to succeed.

Great. You know, so how important is prospecting to building a successful real estate career?

Well, lead generation is everything. Prospecting is using a conversation as opposed to some passive means, digital means or whatever. And so I'm, I just think prospecting is still the best way to go. I think who you prospect matters a lot. That it's not like all, all prospects are not created equal. First people you know, but you got to prospect them. The universal law of asking you shall receive works in real estate. And people that you know, they know people, and they know people are buying and selling. They don't think, one, they don't think to refer you, and two, they don't think that that's what you want unless you let them know because they have their neighbors selling their house. And their neighbors talking to them says, yeah, we're getting ready to sell our house. Your friend does not even conceive of the possibility that they don't have a good realtor because they know you. They have a realtor. Well, they think their neighbor has a realtor and they don't know that their neighbor's been surfing online trying to figure out who do we hire. Oh my gosh, the reviews are awful and we're so terrified of hiring a bad agent. And they would have been happy to refer you, but they don't connect the dots because you didn't ask. So I'm big in asking. So number one is people you know, then number two are the turbo leads expired for sale by owners. You know, agents love them or they hate them, but man, they need you. And wow, is the opportunity great and the money is good. It's just harder if you're only going to do a one shot approach. One call, they say, don't call me. They know, they say, we're not interested. And you let that stop you. That's why we teach a what I call MMA mixed method approach. Call them. Doesn't work. Good. Just send them a video and text message. Hey, great to talk to. You know, right now, you guys are just not wanting to do anything. Just want to let you know I'm here if I can help with anything. Again, my name is Kevin Ward. You can go check out my website at 28days, 28day guaranteedsell.com and it'll give you some information that may be helpful for you. So that's where now I have another approach, and that is having what we call an online vortex, which is not just a Zillow knockoff of a search for a house website, but actually a place where you have video and you're able to share your value proposition, your audacious promise. They can't throw an objection out because if they do, the video just keeps talking. And you can also put up your testimonials. So now all the people that you know, your happy clients, video testimonials, they now they get to tell their story, and they get to promote you and give you credibility. And guess what? That stranger didn't want to talk to you. They will listen to that stranger that you've helped. And all of a sudden they're going, wow, I guess this may be a pretty good agent. And they've got your text right here because you got the video. So if you send them an email, what do people do after they read an email?

Delete.

They delete. What do they do if they read a text message?

Just move on.

They just move on. Then it never disappears. It's right there. And so now they're like, who was that one agent? We had all those agents calling, but there was that one that sent us that video. Guess what? The video shows up.

Yeah.

And they remember your name. They remember your face. It's all there. Because you're the only real person they've talked to. And they'll go back and find it. And they'll look, because you're scrolling through your old emails. You're looking at, there's Martin, Julie, Paul. Oh, there's an eight, four. I don't know who that number is. That must be it. They click on it. Oh, there's a video. Yeah. And they call you and say, hey, you called us a while back before we told you to take a flying leap, but you sent us that video. We kept it. And yeah, happens. I have. I cannot tell you all the stories that I have gotten from coaching members that that video changes the game. For them.

Wow.

Yeah.

It's very simple.

Very simple. Very ends free. And it takes 15 seconds. It's so important. Everything, guys, all of this feeds everything. So fitness. How is fitness affected by a definite major purpose? Because I got to have the energy to be able to execute on my goal. My body's got to be. So it drives me to get up and eat healthy and work. Right. Because I just don't like the way I feel after I spend the night eating crap and drinking or whatever. Right. But if I don't have a dream, it doesn't matter. But dreams change everything. So your focus becomes that your family and friends. All that is like, is this going to serve? How is this serve me and my friends and family? So let's just get a coach. I think the biggest thing really for real estate agents is go pro. You do what the professional does. And I look at what are the industries where people pay or where people get paid based on how well they perform. And a professional athlete is a great example of that because you can be a basketball player and you can be super talented, but there's a difference between amateur and a pro. Amateurs don't get paid. Pros get paid. Same with realtors. An amateur doesn't get paid. A pro gets paid. And when you perform at a higher level, you get. You get paid more. And so one of the things we tell our agents when they come to, especially when they train with us in an event, is like, pros only. I train. I only train pros. I don't train amateurs. You're going to show up like a pro. You can't work with me. So how does a pro show up? Well, I have a friend that was an NFL coach named Tim Adams. And in the NFL, there's a $10,000 mandatory fine if you show up late for practice. What amateurs do, they show up late all the time. What do realtors do? They show up late all the time. Not mine. You were, you just saw in my group coaching calls how many people showed up late? 0 by 10 minutes till they were all on the call. 10 minutes early. Where have you ever seen that happen in real estate industry? You won't see anywhere else. Why? I train them. I train. And guess what they never do? They never show up late for a listing appointment. You want to lose a listing in two minutes, show up two minutes late. Because your very first promise you ever made to them, which was, I'll see you at 2 and you show up at 202, they're going like, you lied to me. You Said you'd be here at 2 and you're showing at 202. I can't trust you.

Yeah.

And they decided that at 1:59pm they're going like, they're not here. They're probably not coming. So now they have doubt about you. And then if you show up at 2:01, you go, I'm so sorry. I had all this business and I'm so awesome, and I have my time, so. And they're going like, I don't care why you're late. You're just late. I can't trust you. Then never say that. They may not even consciously know why they don't trust you, but two minutes late, you've lost 50% of your credibility. A pro never shows a place. Yeah. It's just little. These little distinctions are massively different just in the way that you approach the game. Where does that go back to? It goes back to that superpower of commitment.

Yeah.

New agents commit, you win.

So, Kevin, what sets you apart amongst all the other coaches?

I hate that question. Yeah, because you always wanted to say, well, I'm better. That's all I want to say.

Yeah, but you have your unique strengths.

Well, so, yeah. So, I mean, you know, we have some different approaches. You know, number one, as I talk about here, hate bs, so I'm all about getting yes, without the bs. So nothing do I train is bs. And the way I just define BS is if the seller knew what you were really thinking or why you were actually saying that or doing that, would they be upset? That's bs. If you're. Because you're tricking them, you're deceiving them. So, I mean, yes, without the BS. Another thing is I'm 100% clients best interest over your own. It's all about the client, not about you. You help them, you win, they win, you win. That's how you grow a massive business and you become irresistible. And then third, it's about not just making money, it's about having a life. I just think too many agents we got in real estate because we had a dream that this would give, you know, make more money, I'd have time, control, I can have a life. And then they get into the work out. Well, it doesn't work out because they know what to do to actually make money and have a life. And so I also train, and you saw my coaching call today. I'm teaching them how to. We're talking about having a life. You know, we're talking about lifestyle, we're talking about Just winning in all the areas of your life. We're talking about your relationships, we're talking about your fitness, we're talking about your joy and how much you're enjoying your life and enjoying what you're doing. I think all that. So people didn't get in real estate just to make money. They want to have a life. And so I coach a lot, and a lot of them will say, you know, you're not just a real estate coach, you're a life coach. And I don't take that lightly. And I don't think that's a. You know, a lot of people say I'm a life coach. I just want to know. What I care about is not how much money you make this year. What I care about is 10 years from now, are you winning, or does your life suck? Yeah, because I've seen. I've been in real estate for now 22 years, and I've seen so many people, they've been in real estate for years and years or just a few years, and they hate their life, and their life sucks. I was in real estate for two years. I became. I was voted Realtor of the year. I mean, I'd sold 108 homes and had an affair and burned my life to the ground.

Yeah, and before you did a midlife.

Crisis, that ain't worth it. You can call it what you want to, but I didn't take care of my life. And I was killing. I was making hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was tonight top agent, top team. I was all. You know, it was all this great stuff. And then you. Your children never get over that. And it happened to me, and I don't ever want it to happen to anybody else. So I'm like, right now, you're doing great in your business, but you're about to burn your life to the ground. That's not okay. So we had to deal with the crap. And a lot of times, real estate's a great place to escape the crap, because I cannot go home because, man, my wife's gonna be mad at me. And so what do I do? I stay at work late. I'm like, I know, honey. I'm just gonna make the money and all this. So I get home after I know they're asleep so I don't have to deal with that. And that is not gonna end well. But we put it off. And we put it off until it all explodes. And that was all fixable, that that was all preventable. But you can't ignore it. So that's Part of what I coach is we look at, we take a whole. We call it a seven dimensional lifestyle. Is all the different domains of your life. If you're not winning in all seven domains, it's going to all come collapsing down at some point. And so we're like, how do you win in every area of your life? So that man, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, you have a life that you want. That's all I care about.

It's amazing. Well, so how can people find find you?

Yes, masters.com is our website. You can find me all over YouTube. Kevin Ward, just Kevin Ward real estate. I'm easy to find on YouTube social media, I'm easy to find. Kevin Ward now is my personal page. Kevin Ward page is our yes. Facebook page. You can get in our yes Masters real estate success community, which is our private Facebook group. It's for realtors only, so we don't allow anybody who's not a practicing realtor in because we don't want a bunch of mortgage officers and title company and people coming selling crap. It's a place for agents to come in and learn and win and support each other. Find role play partners.

Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. It's been an honor to be with you.

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Hey there, it's Kevin. I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Are you tired of getting no after no? When you're out there trying to get listings and trying to inspire sellers to say yes to you, then I'd like to invite you to download a free copy of my no BS Listing presentation. This presentation will guide you through exactly what to say that will have motivated sellers saying yes to you over and over again. Stop getting stumped with skeptical seller objections or the famous we need to sleep on it, eliminate the resistance and have sellers ready to hire you and give you the listing before you even finish your presentation. To get a complimentary copy of my proven listing presentation, go to yes masters.com forward/download again. That's yes masters.com download to download your free copy today.