Real estate agent Mike Quail grew his business from $300k to over $500k in gross commission income by shifting focus from marketing tactics to team structure and database work. His coach Lars Hedenborg pushed him toward profitability over activity, helping him build systems that could eventually reach $3M revenue with $900k profit.
Questions this video answers
Three (an admin, a showing agent, and himself).
About six to seven people (after hiring and some attrition).
Around 300 GCI one year, and over 500 GCI the following year.
The High Performance Intensive in Charlotte.
Approximately $3,000,000 in revenue and $900,000 in profit per year.
So I was doing good, bringing business in, but I needed to know how to grow a real business and a real team. And that's what attracted me to Lars. I know a lot of coaching companies can get team leaders up to making a lot of revenue, but profitability is something that when you get to know a lot of people in the business, something people don't talk about that much. And I know that was a lot of what Lars talked about was profitability. And as I was growing my team, I wanted to make sure that we were really profitable, not just bringing in a lot of money and spending too much. So that's what I saw on Lars. And also he knew how to structure a team and get the right pieces on board and how to manage those people. And so that's what attracted me to go into Lars program.
Okay, so you kind of touched on it, but how was your business doing at that point? What did you feel like you were doing? Well. And what I know you mentioned profitability. Did you feel could be improved?
Yeah, I was profitable. I was doing well, But I was just starting to grow a team. I had three people on my team, an admin and a showing agent at that point, and just sort of taking off. So marketing was working. It's doing well. The challenge with the group I was with before is they're so heavy on marketing that all they did is they just kept giving you new marketing ideas. And the problem with, I think, a lot of agents is we like to chase squirrels or the next great idea. And just being part of that program was too distracting because there were too many people from around the country doing too many different programs that I think a lot of us kind of test a lot of those things, but we never fully implement them. So we spend some money on them, maybe make a little bit of money, don't make a little bit or not make money on them. And then we kind of start over. It's this repeating pattern that we call chasing squirrels. New ideas. And so when I came to Lars, I knew Lars was called a squirrel hunter. He likes to shoot down those squirrels and just get you to focus on a couple areas.
Yeah. So what were those areas when you first started working on him? What did he notice you had to start implementing right away?
My database marketing. As a guy who did a lot of Internet marketing, I was doing a lot of stuff with just strangers and not really hitting my database as much. So we're actually still in the process of getting that going. He's been on me for a while to get that Going, getting that going now it's taking me some time, but team building was one of the big things that I really like with Lars and teaching you how to do the right splits with your agent so it makes sense for them, it's logical, it's fair, but allows me as an entrepreneur to be able to one day step out of my business and do what Lars does, work one day a week in it, and have it be fairly self managed, profitable, and have the people happy to be working there.
Okay, so since making those changes, what kind of results have you been seeing?
Well, we have a lot of people on the team now that I mean, or not a lot, but I think we have six, seven people on the team right now. And we've had to let some go because they didn't fit the right criteria after bringing them on. So he's kind of giving me the wisdom of when to let someone go, when to bring somebody on, and how to instill the right habits into the agents on the team so they can be successful. So teach me the culture, the right reporting mechanisms. Those have been huge. All the little things that I don't know if some of the other coaching programs focus on as much on how to really some of the micromanagement that you have to have. No one likes to do micromanagement, but you do need some of it, and Lars is able to show you how to do that. I think last year we were around 300 GCI and this past year we went over 500. So, you know, and we were profitable. And so that was really good. The splits were good for the team. For me, we're not overspending, so we're kind of in that next phase. And I'm happy to still be with Lars. How do we go from 500 to 750 to a million to 3 million? So we're in a good spot right now, but we're in a delicate spot. So I'm really glad I'm in the program. And I have not just his knowledge, but on the Facebook group and the coaching program, you're able to bounce ideas off a lot of people that are different stages in building their business.
Okay, so you mentioned a few previous coaches you had. How in your experience has Lars coaching been different so far?
Well, again, I would say the big things from the business side is the profitability, how to do the right splits with your listing agents and your buyer's agents, how to teach you to just focus on five or six different marketing ideas and not get too distracted. And then he really cares about you as a person on a very, like, true, authentic, deep level, which that's very different as well. Whereas the other coaching programs, they just have so many people in them that I don't think they're able to kind of get personal on that level and give you that personal support. So, yeah, he really cares about you as a person. He really cares about your, you know, I mean, kind of get a little cheesy here, but he really cares about, you know, your soul and who you are, and that's pretty awesome. That's a nice bonus. I didn't expect that. So, yeah, that's great.
Do you have any stories of improving your personal life outside of business?
Let's see. I'm always working on it, even before I started with Lars. But he hits us all the time with improving all the areas of our life. Yeah. So health. Yeah, he's kicked my butt in terms of just talking about health and eating the right things and working out. And I go through phases where I work out a bunch and then I don't. So when I'm in one of those phases where I'm not hearing him talking about health and everything guilts me into getting back into it. So he's helped me with health and my personal relationships with my family, my wife, my kids. He talks about how valuable those are and how to build this business so you can spend time with those people. Yeah, those would be some good examples right there.
How about your experience with the high performance intensive down in Charlotte? What do you feel you got out of that?
I would say a deep level of clarity on who I am in this world and what I want as a human being and a person, and then how my business fits into that equation. Instead of trying to figure business around who you are and what you want in this world, focus on yourself first, then how your business needs to fit into what you want as a person. That was the biggest takeaway.
Okay, so what tips would you offer to someone who is kind of like you in the middle of the program right now?
Well, I mean, I would attend as many of the coaching calls and Q and A's as they can. I would take small chunks of things you want to work on. Say there's 25 things you want to work on. Pick just like two or three and just crush them. Crush those two or three things, get them done, and then move on to the next. Don't try to do five or six or 10 or 12 things all at once because you won't be able to get them done. So that's always a challenge and I think it's just we always try to get it all done, but it's not going to happen. So just be real with yourself, chunk it down and get some things done and then move on to the next.
Okay, and how about what would you say to someone who's on the fence, who hasn't made that leap to working with Lars yet?
Well, I would think anyone that wants to grow their business, create a business that you can walk away from, or only work maybe one day a week and have it be massively profitable for yourself, he's really tops in the industry that I found to help you do that. And also someone that really cares about you. So that's a nice bonus. I didn't join the coaching program because of that, but that is a really nice bonus. He really cares about you as a person and your success. So, yeah, I would do it. It's totally worth it. The fees that you pay, you get back 10 times over. Whenever I have a question, I can bring it right to the Facebook group. Lots of times. Large answer it, large answers it, or someone else in the group that already has the answer answers it. It's pretty instantaneous, which is really great.
Okay, so what does success on the program ultimately look like to you? You know, if we were sitting here maybe a couple years.
Yeah. So success for me pretty much is modeling Lars, where I have a self managed team doing about, you know, 3 million a year, profiting 900,000 a year with happy team members, happy staff, people doing really well and myself included and have the opportunity, you know, myself to, you know, expand or go into a different business and have this business run pretty much on its own. That's what success looks like to me.
Okay, that's actually all the questions I got. Is there anything else you want to add before we wrap up?
Yeah, sure. Yeah. Just a big shout out to Lars and everyone who helps put together this coaching program. Thank you for doing it. It's a great program. I am happy to pay. I get more, more value out of it every single month. And it's just a great program and I'm really thrilled to be part of it.
