How The Land Geeks Establish Trust With Buyers And Sellers

Hey, it's Mark Kudoski, Land Geek, with your favorite niche real estate website, the landgeek.com and on this week's roundtable podcast, we're missing a couple people. We miss you, Scott. Todd. We miss you, Tria. Put in the reps, Harris. But we've got the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are things?

Things are good.

It's good to see you. We've got the Zen master, Peter. Breathe in the mailing. Breathe out the marketing, Mike Zano. Mike, how are things in Bastin?

It's going great here. Thanks for asking.

Yeah, yeah, dude, Buddy, the nightcap OG Scott Bossman. Scott Bossman, how are things?

Things are excellent. Glad to be here.

Fantastic. Last but not least, to round out the roundtable. I love it when you call me Big Papa from Idaho. In a heat wave in Idaho, instead of fishing, Tate Litchfield is with us. Tate, how are you?

A little bit warm, but it's still cooler than Vegas, so I'm not complaining.

Yeah, yeah, It's. It's only 99 here. It's not that bad. It's like fall.

Yeah, right now that's almost sweater weather.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, riffing off of last week, we were talking about trust with our virtual assistants, but now we want to talk about trust. How do we gain our trust with buyers and sellers? So, Mike Zaino, I know you love when I start off the roundtable with you.

In this instance, I do, because I'm afraid somebody else might take it. So I'm going to run with it.

Okay, so what do you do to establish trust?

For me, the biggest way that I built trust on both sides of the equation is to know my process inside and out, know the workflow, so I can. If you were asking to buy land from me, Mark, or sell land to me, and you were like, well, how's this going to get done? I need to be able to just quickly and efficiently tell you, by me telling you, without stopping, pausing, you know, like, that you'll gain trust because it's like, oh, okay, that makes sense, right? I've given you a very clear path to the thing you want, the sale or the other purchase. So for me, it's just about really understanding your process and being able to transmit it to somebody else so they get it right. And there's no if you hesitate, think they're going to hesitate. And you want to prevent that by. So practice in the mirror. Practice. And it's hard to role play because we all kind of get, you know, feels goofy. But you need to do it like this, like. Like we're talking, like, hey, Mark, you know, hey, I'd love to buy that property from you, blah, blah. You know, it's got to be in your own voice. Don't be. Try to be somebody else or something else. Just. Just be comfortable in your own skin and tell them the process.

Own it, own it, own it. I love it. It's such good advice, actually, to be yourself and not try to emulate somebody else. Now, when you first start, though, I don't think it's a bad idea to emulate, let's say, Eric Peterson, but then become more you and less Eric as you get more comfortable, because you need a starting place. For sure. I'm not opposed to a script at all. But then you want to really make it in your voice, your way, because, let's face it, then you have no competition. No one can be you. As much as I try to be wicked smart, I can't be Mike Zano, and it'll come through. So I think that's, it's. It's really interesting, you know, take on. Building trust with your buyers and sellers is just being yourself. What's that quote? Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. I love that.

Dude.

Buddy Nightcap. OG Scott Bossman. How do you build trust with your buyers and sellers?

So I agree with Mike. I mean, confidence is key. I agree with you, Mark. Being yourself and being yourself wherever you are in the process. So this reminds me of when I was in the clinic when I was a student or when I was a new clinician. I'd walk in the room with the script, right? I would maybe have my clinical instructor with me, and it took a little while to get my feet underneath me and become more confident in the process. But even if I wasn't confident in the process, you can instill confidence in people with your authenticity. So there's no harm in telling somebody if it's your first purchase ever, hey, this is my first purchase ever. So here's what's going to happen, and I apologize if I, you know, fumble a little bit of my instructions, but this is my first time. There's no harm in saying that to somebody as long as there's some type of authentic conversation and connection there. And the interesting thing is, as you go along in this business, just as I went along in the clinic, with repetition, with time, with training, with specialty certifications, with whatever, you just get better and better and better and more and more and more confident. And you come across in the room as a very confident, authentic individual. And you're going to do the same thing with conversations with buyers and sellers. The longer you do this business, there are some tools, I think, that help with, you know, legitimacy and with trust. We're transparent. We will provide them with copies of deeds. If they want it, we'll provide them with copies. You know, on the sell side, we'll provide them with copies of due diligence reports, that type of thing. The longer you're in the business, you may do something like get registered with the Better Business Bureau, which is something we did a year ago, which helps with, you know, building trust with your buyers and sellers. So I think it's part mindset, part personality, part some of the, you know, tools that you can use to put people at ease when you're. When you're dealing with buyers and sellers.

I. I love that, and I love the fact that you're not sort of pretending to be something you're not. And it reminds me of the first boot camp with Wes Schaefer. So Wes Schaefer's a sales lister. I, you know, had him on the podcast, and he's a big dude. He's kind of an intimidating guy, and he's sitting in the front. And I remember starting off boot camp, like, look, I'll just admit it. I'm intimidated by this guy, and I'm nervous to be publicly speaking in front of the sales whisperer. And I'm afraid he's going to judge me. And as soon as I said all of it, not only did I feel more comfortable because I'm not holding it in, I think he. He, like, let me off the hook. He's like, no, I'm not judging you. I'm like, oh, great. Like, he was just more comfortable. Like, oh, you know, whatever. You know, his energy sort of changed, and my energy changed, and the room's energy changed. Like, he's, you know, here's a guy, he might, you know, he thinks he's good at public speaking. He's nervous up there, just like I would be nervous up there and not pretending. And so it builds that trust and it builds that rapport because we can all relate to it right away. So I like that. Like, you know, in the beginning, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, this is my first land sale, and I'm probably going to stumble through it with you, but bear with me, because I really want to do a good job for you. I love that. I love that. And then just getting your reps in, and then you'll get more confident. And as you do It. And then you just, you know, one day you wake up and you're Tate Litchfield, and just everyone just trusts you just by the power of your confidence. But let's not move on to Tate too quickly, because I want to hear how Eric Peterson builds trust with his buyers and sellers and what tips you'd have.

Eric, I think we've heard some great things so far. Confidence, just understanding your processes and being able to portray or communicate those processes to either side, whether that's the buying side or the selling side. Transparency, being clear with your buyers and sellers as to how things are going to work. And if it's your first transaction, let them know and tell them you're going to walk them through that process. You're going to share the steps along the way so that you can build that trust with that buyer or seller. I think, Mark, you talk about this at Bootcamp, you know, where someone throws a red flag up and says, you know, how can I trust you? And you kind of put them on the same page with you and get them on your side and say, listen, you know, I get it, but here's what I want to do to help us work together to get this done and build that trust. I'm going to, you know, share every step of my process along the way as I create the deed, I'm going to send it to you. I'm going to take a photo of, you know, me writing the check and putting it in the mail and this, that, and the other thing, and, you know, being really open and clear about what's going on can instill confidence and trust on the other side of that transaction. Verification. You know, I think having some external sources that you can give as referrals for verification for either side of the process, whether that is testimonials that exist out on the Better Business Bureau website or maybe your Facebook page or potentially even your website or some other review website. Those are good things to be able to share with somebody, to show that other people have had positive experiences with you and. And have had good things to say about it. And I think just overall, these transactions, certainly on the buy side, can take some time. So communicating along the way, don't wait weeks before you're back in communication with someone. Keep in touch with them along the way, and maybe check in every few days or at least once a week, saying, listen, this is where we're at. We're going to be ready to close in approximately this many days, whatever that might be, to just build that relationship and have that trust that Comes from just clear and open communication.

I love it. I love it. I mean, really, what you're saying is like, golden rule it right over communicate. If somebody's having a hard time trusting you, step into their shoes. Like, I can imagine. If I were in your shoes, I'd feel the exact same way. So let's do this together. And I'm going to pretend that I'm with you, and I'm going to make this the simplest, safest, most transparent real estate transaction you've ever had. And if I do all of that for you, would you do me the biggest favor? Would you make me a video testimonial for my website so the next person that works with me thinking, feel safer going forward. And people will do it as long as you then follow through like you said, Eric, and show them every step of the way. Take a picture of the deed, make a video, show them. Now, I'm going to email to you as soon as that's done. Here's me writing out the check to you, putting it in the mail as soon as the check clears. Let me know, call me, email me, text me. Check cleared. Great. Right now I own that property. You've got the money. Let's see that testimonial. And now we're aligned. We're on the same page. So that's great. But let's just hear from Mr. Trust himself, because Tate Litchfield. Tate, how do you build such instant rapport with your buyers and sellers?

You know, I think it's. I do believe that it's a skill. I believe it's a skill that anyone can learn if you put in the time right. And the best way to do that is to cut your teeth and talk to a lot of people. You know, it takes. Eric Peterson always says it takes way more ads than you think to sell a piece of property. And you got to talk to a lot of people until you understand the concerns and fears and doubts that your buyers are going to have. And once you understand what their doubts are, it's very easy to kind of soothe those concerns and address them in that initial conversation. So one of the things that we try to avoid doing is going straight for the jugular on our first interaction with them. I don't want us lead the conversation by saying, mark, this is yours today for 250 down and 250 doc fee. What's your credit card? Let's do business. That's not a good way to establish a relationship. I'm not going to like that. You know, that is the used Car salesman approach. And it doesn't work. It doesn't work in today's world. People don't want to feel pressured. We always tell people we're not in the, you know, we're not in the convincing business. We're going to answer all of your questions. If you like what we're selling at the prices that we're offering it, we're happy to do business with you. I think ultimately it comes down to having your buyers be educated in what's going to take place. People are afraid of getting scammed, and the testimonials are a great resource, but, you know, it's really powerful when you say, look, here's the reason why you want to work with me. Number one, after you've paid off your property, you're going to get the. We're going to deed you that property, the warranty deed, which is the best way to transfer ownership. In addition to that, you're going to sign a promissory note, purchase sale agreement, and a land sale contract. And here's what they do. They protect you and they protect me. If you come into the conversation as the expert, people are going to feel confident and trusting and working with you. And, you know, we. We do have a script that our sales team follows. It works. But, you know, I always tell people, be genuine. Be authentic. Be yourself. Don't be a robot. At the end of the day, if you call me and you don't get to know me, if you don't ask me how my day was, if you don't get to understand why I want to buy this property, I'm not going to work with you.

Why?

Because I'm more than just a sale. Right? I've got a dream, and I am hoping that you can help me achieve that dream. So I think trust is something that's established over, you know, many phone calls, many interactions. Honestly, we rarely sell people or sell property on the first phone call. It never happens. Takes time.

Yeah. And even just your confidence, even just the way you're explaining it, your words are like a weighted blanket. Like, I just feel more secure working with you.

When we hang up, I'll get your credit card information and we'll. I'll set you up on some really, really fantastic property. Mark, I know you and your family will appreciate it. Imagine a place, Mark, hear me out. Where your kids can't be on their cell phone all afternoon.

Okay? You just said the magic words. All right, you want that? I'll. I'll give you the credit card right now. On the Podcast.

Let's do business.

Holy cow.

I'm happy to earn your. I'm happy to earn your business.

It's. It's like you were at dinner with me last night. Kids, put the phones away.

Well, that's because you took the family to Indian when it's 120 degrees outside.

That's. That's. That is true.

Yeah, but that's why they were on their phones.

Yeah, I'm like, next weekend.

Too heavy. Too heavy.

We're going a little. Little area here. It's 1.25 acres. There's no sort of cell service.

You don't lead with that, Mark. You don't lead with the fact that there's no cell phone service. You gotta spin that as a plus. Like, hey, look, you're gonna be completely alone with your thoughts, right? And this property is only limited by your imagination, number one. So go out and enjoy it.

I'm sold. I'll tell you what, that's fantastic. Well, I mean, there's two things I.

Want to bring up.

I thought everybody. What everybody said was great. I think for me, early on, the best way, like some of my most loyal customers, the way I build trust, was owning my mistakes. As soon as I made a mistake, I was on that phone and it was, mea culpa, I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Here's how I'm going to fix it. And I was Johnny on the spot with it for sure. I mean, there are times I was working out of Excel, my eyes were. I couldn't see a double. Sold property. They get that note in the mail from the assessor saying this property was already sold by Frontier Properties. I'm freaking out. I think they're freaking out. I get on the phone like, oh, thanks so much for calling. No worries. I'll take the other one. And just look, I can dig you another property. I can refund you right away. How can I make this right and just owning it? Build trust. So, not that I would say make mistakes on purpose, but I would say when you make a mistake, not so bad. It's a great way to build trust. And the other fallback is we can always close through a title company. All I ask is that you pay the title fees. Not a problem. So we always have that as a fail safe if we really can't get somebody on our side of the table. But, Tate, how often does that actually happen for you where you're like, okay, we got to go through title.

I can't remember the last time we closed through title. I mean, I closed through title on a big six figure deal that I was buying property from, but that's because it was above our threshold. But on the sales side, no, we don't even offer it. Yeah.

I mean, unless they.

We don't advertise it.

Unless.

Unless they will not do business without that. It's not something we're really willing to do. And honestly, it better be an extremely good sale for me to want to deal with that. At the end of the day, we're trying to build a boring business. I don't want any variables. Title companies bring in variables. I got to talk to people, I got to email people. I got to create documents. I don't do that. We don't do that. And I can't stress that enough. Like, we don't even offer that because it's my way or the highway. I don't need you to buy this property from me. There's somebody else who will.

Yeah, buyers are like the bus. There's another one down the road, especially in today's market.

Anybody who's bending over backwards too much. I mean, that's crazy.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Eric, when's the last time you had to go through a title deal on the. On the sell side?

I can't remember. On the sell side, it's. It's been years.

Years, dude, buddy.

I took a property through title in March of this year, and I did maybe one last year. Okay, so one a year.

Maybe one year. One a year.

In Zen Master, about the same as Scott. Every so often, maybe we have a little bit higher value deal that the buyer wants to go through title, they pay for it, and everybody's happy.

There you go. There you go. Well, I thought this was a really good topic to bring up, but now we're at that point in the podcast where we get to put on our. Our fireman's uniform, get to jump on the. The red fire engine of tips and tricks, tactics, quotes, and get our tip of the week from the Zen master, Mike Zato. But Mike, before you give that tip of the week, who do we need to give a shout out to?

What's that?

Who are we going to give our sponsor?

Oh, flight school.

Flight school. Flight school. Learn how the next 16 weeks can literally transform your life. Start building a passive income day. Like week three. You're buying. Like, this is execution. This is not an academic program. You will execute in real time with your class, with Scott Todd as your flight school Sherpa taking you up that mountain of land, investing in real time. Over 16 weeks, you will do deals. We're so confident that your flight school tuition ain't going to cost nothing. You'll make that back that money 180 days or less. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. How do you learn more? Go to land geek.com training schedule a call and see if this is right for you. Thelandgeek.com forward/training. Oh, and by the way, we're getting close to boot camp, fellas. Is everybody excited for boot camp?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Vegas, even Vegas in August is fun. It'll be air conditioned. We're all going to be there. It's going to be amazing. Two and a half days of land investing immersion. So if you've got the toolkit, you're in flight school, you're in coaching. Come to the VIP room. Register now. We've got a few rooms available. Go to landgeek.combootcamp and sign up. All right, Zen Master, what is your tip of the week?

It's going to be a very simple quote, but I think it has really a lot of impact our business. So we were just on a trip to St. Lucia with the family, and my son is pretty good at making friends. He's making friends left and right. And there was a couple that a group of people on the plane down to Boston and on the way back and we got to know him. One of the guys name was Dennis and they own a construction company in Boston. And so I was digging into, you know, what he does, and it was pretty interesting. And I said, would you guys take on bigger deals or is it just like. He's like, no, we stick with the small things. He goes, something. I think one of the founders or the grandfather, a quote that he used to tell everybody, he's like, there's, there's millions in pennies. And I was like, that is like such a wonderful. And I thought that related to our business, right? I mean, they're really. We're talking about buying pennies on the dollar. There's literally millions in pennies, right? This, this business model is so incredible that the way we're able to buy land, turn around, sell it, we're in this little niche where, you know, we were not dealing with realtors because it's too small. We know we've gone over all the reasons why we're in this small little price area that we're in, but you can make a lot of money on little deals. And so this. That's it. I thought so for Dennis, you know, and as a. In this, I wanted to get the quote, because I was gonna put it. I love quotes on my wall. So I gotta get the guy's name who said it. But there's millions in pennies.

Millions in pennies. I love it. Love it. I remember talking to a guy at boot camp. He owned a big telecommunications company. And he's like, I love this model. It just reminds me of my current company right now. He lived next to Usher in Atlanta, but he's like, this is even better than what I'm doing. And he just liked that one time sale and that recurring income, and he was making millions on pennies. There you go. And we're doing essentially the exact same thing, but without the headaches.

Yeah, no headaches.

No headaches. No, no. Yeah, no. Renters, rehabs, renovations, rodents, you know, big overhead. Offices, employees. Yikes. Friction. No friction. Travel around the world, make millions of pennies. It's. Look, I'm open to it, Mike. If you find me something better than this, tell me what it is.

No, I don't know anything, really. Where you could start, with a limited amount of capital, you can earn back your investment. Like if flight school, like we guarantee in six months. I mean, you have no choice but to succeed in that environment. But how do you. Where else can you start with such a small amount of money? Right. I started out, Yeah, I had to, but I was in the hole. I mean, we all have different stories like this. We hear them all the time. You start with a small amount of money, and yet where else can you do that? So the way this unfolds is just amazing. Right from the beginning.

No, exactly. Exactly. Well, I want to thank the listeners, remind them the only way that I get to continue to haze Mike Zano and try to fake a Boston accent is if you do us three favors. Follow rate Review the podcast. Send a screenshot of that. Review supporthelandgeek.com we're going to send you for free the $97 whole tailing course, how to double your money, 30 days or less. All right, are we ready to do this? 1, 2, 3.

Let's bring.

Not bad, not bad. So this is our final podcast until August. What are you guys gonna do with a month? We take a break. We're just gonna do the best of. For a whole month. I'm gonna miss you guys.

But then you get to see us in August.

Yeah. Then. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

It makes it all the better.

Yeah.

What is.

What's the line?

Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder Exactly. Exactly. So have a great month of July, and I'll miss you all dearly.

Everybody's laughing.

Not funny.

Sentimental. And they're laughing.

Yeah.

You know, that hurts.

It hurts.

I need to dig at Zaino here real quick. I mean, Zaino, you know that quote's not going on your wall because all the only quotes on your wallet are by you, so. Exactly.

Exactly. All right, thanks, everybody.

See ya. Ya. Thanks for listening to the Art of Passive Income podcast. Start your journey at www.thelandgate.com and www.scotttodd.net. rate and review the podcast and email support@thelandgeek.com your screenshot for a free Passive Income launch kit.