Welcome to the luxury code, where we decode the mindset, the marketing and the business approach of successful luxury brokers, i'm going to go rapid fire with you what's most important to luxury sellers, uh, discretion, trustworthiness, knowledge and i'd, say authenticity. What would you say anything different i'd say all of those things around my list and just adding client experience. Yeah, that's good, yeah, very, very high level of client experience, and how do you guys define that? I i understand the two words but, like i think, everyone's going to interpret it differently. Well, one of the things i'm not afraid to ask in a situation and a listing appointment is how do you like to communicate? I know you're super busy, i'm sure you get a thousand emails a day.

What's your preferred method of communication? Do you like text? Do you like mom and send you a voice text? Do you want me to email, you and some will say, i'm highly communicative. I want to be kept abreast of everything i will say call me when it's sold right, so just understanding how to communicate the way they want to communicate their modality yeah. What about the buy side in terms of experience, yeah um, i would say, with both, buy and sell we're constantly looking at ways in each deal, because every deal is different. Every group of people is different.

How can we provide service that, maybe is not expected of us or is not in the kind of realm of what's norm um we have so many stories i'll give the most a recent example of the the client that steve and i are working with together um. They wanted to look at a bunch of different properties. I knew they'd been speaking to other agents that were just peppering them with information, and i could tell they were kind of getting bogged down and look if one of the reasons why zillow has become so highly successful. In my opinion, it's two reasons: one.

They have a great client, they have a great um user interface right, super client friendly anybody can navigate easily and the second is they came up with probably the greatest algorithm of all time, which is the zestimate, because everybody in the world wants to know what their House is worth in real time and they check it 18 times a day, even though it's not correct exactly exactly yeah yeah for sure that that small piece, yeah yeah for sure details, that's why we so what we did with this client um. Knowing that, like the way it was being presented, then probably wasn't working was we had our marketing team create a custom website for them that just had a really very kind of simple like panels of each property, you can click on it opens up, takes you some Photos takes you a link to a video, it's not rocket science, but it was presented in a way. Yeah that i know for them being on. The go, was really palatable and easy very easy for themselves.

The mls all of those were off markets that he sourced through his relationships, because this type of client knows anything, that's on the market and you have to utilize the relationships that we have with other agents and through our network um. And then the other is also knowing your audience in this particular case and with these high-end clients, specifically we're not dealing with the client, usually we're dealing with the assistant and anything we can do to make that assistance life easier. Bingo is what causes that assistant to make the decision to further the relationship with us. It's frankly how they said.

Can you help us in new york, we've been so blown away by your service, hence bringing in steven into the mix so, and i will tell you this is no law. I may have told you this. This assistant has mentioned that website more times. Just was blown away by i mean it looked beautiful, i don't say it was simple to create.

It was just organized and wonderful and really has referenced it three times and that interesting so so like when people hear experience they're like. Are you guys dropping off? Like champagne and caviar, no we're just making their life and decision making process easier, faster, more efficient, like just that. We do that too. We're just so we're clear.

We we give yeah, we spend some money on gifts for sure i mean adam has talked about. You know, as like, a closing gift like a ten thousand dollar piece of art. Like me, hill, you know right right, so let's go a different direction. That was fun um.

Let's talk about biggest mistakes, you see, agents making coming into the luxury market. We kind of touched on a little bit earlier, but i want to go a little deeper because because the flip side is i'm going to challenge all three of you and we'll just go there now you're start i'm moving all three of you tomorrow to a different Market uh you're going you're going to see 20 years younger yeah, um, you're, moving to jackson, hall, you're, moving to miami and you get seattle, bellevue washington, you get the high end of no i'll give you a week. I lost a little bit i'll. Give you! Oh yeah i'll give you i'll give you whistler, yeah, okay, yeah, so yeah whistler's, nice right, but that's a long trip by the way to see your wife and kids or you yeah you're like i'll, be in miami baby, nikki beach.

Here we come so. But the point is, being you know all kidding aside is if you were starting over tomorrow and you had 18 months to make your mark, what would you do i'll go first, um. So first i would just align myself with someone local right partner. With someone find a team, you can join again like leverage their experience, stand on the shoulders of giants like i said before, um immerse yourself in that market.

Just study how how how i so okay, you know we are looking at potentially going to miami so uh expanding our team to miami. So i went to miami. I flew out there earlier this year and got in the car with someone, local and drove every single street, and then we got a boat and we went out on the harbor and went and looked at every single one of the islands and like just john, you Didn't do the helicopter? You said that i didn't just really immersing yourself in that market right then. I would reach out to all of my clients in la who know me like me, and trust me and say who do you know in i'm guessing guys from whistler? Now, who do you know in whistler? I forgot where i was moving to? Who do you know in whistler um? Can you make a connection and then i would i mean you know i've always said like where i think i shine.

The brightest is over food and wine right, so a lot of dinners, a lot of just kind of shaking hands, just trying to make an impression on people um and that's how i would that's how i would start okay. So so you would you'd join a team. Yes, align myself with someone somehow sure join a team. Well, i mean align join team whatever, but you're gon na ride on somebody else's shoulders.

You're gon na study the market all day every day until you know it inside and out, and then you're gon na reach out to people that you already know know you, like you, entrust you and say who do you know in this area that i should get To know yes, yeah, that's what i did when i moved to dallas by the way. Yes, that was like music to my ears, yep, all right, your husband's in whistler you're in miami go. He took most of mine, i would say all right. I know you always well the real reason that we're here today.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an intervention. Lauren goes first every time from now on. What what would you do differently? One thing i would do differently. This sounds like a very simple answer, but is leverage video like that's how you get eyeballs on you and how you now present yourself to that world and that space as being someone? That's there that's in the new restaurant, that's at the gallery! Opening! That's you know in the public eye, um reels hashtag strategy youtube driving tours driving tours like the no-brainer, the things he mentioned.

None of those cost money right and video doesn't have to cost that much money. We're not talking about like oh going into a market, and we need two hundred thousand dollars to do it like this is kind of. Do you have an iphone exactly. You know how to upload a video exactly yeah you'll be fine yeah.

I agree. I agree and uh what would you do differently? So i'd echo all those i love. What lauren said about video didn't even think about that um, but i would just go deeper with, and this is what we do in. I always say i'm in the room.

Thank god, so i'm around the people, it's my job to now go further. So putting myself joining, you know getting involved in certain local charities, which aren't as easy it's easier when you're on the board of a charity sitting with the type of people that you want to work with. But but it's proximity right. It's proximity in proximity to the type of people you want to work with, and it's it's reaching out to my clients and friends that i know know people there and then just networking right and like john says, you know: wine and uh wine and food authenticity and Intimacy is where i shine.

So, if i can be with a small group or one-on-one right, that's where i feel boy does he ever what if you ever had a meal with this guy he's like diane sawyer, i mean he wants to know. He knows right, i mean the first time we had uh lunch at barney's, right and parks was and pipes was there yeah and like so. We caught in green grass barney's at uh fred's, yes, fred's at bournemouth fred's at barney's right attention, but but literally like i'm. There trying to understand everything about him right and, of course, he's doing the same thing to me and to bill pipes and you locked in on bill pipes, and you were like well tell me more of that.

Well, i'm really into he's. The best pipes is just like and then when i was five and stephen is now your best friend, but he does it with such tremendous authenticity um. So we talked about sort of the you know starting over. So just to recap, you would align yourself.

You would study the market non-stop all day every day, understanding the ins and outs and probably the power brokers, who's got the pocket listings and everything else. Um, you know be authentically yourself, do the things you do, which is like finding out from your clients who do you know in this market place that i can get to know and yada yada yada? Then video, video, video and more video? You mentioned the first like the social stuff in the galleries and the restaurants, and i went drive tour yeah like why can't we do all of it. Well, i mean i'm asking you uh yeah drive tour for sure i was gon na say on the more real estate side. I think, like going back to basics, what you always tell us market updates yeah going out and driving the neighborhoods educating people about those neighborhoods.

But then you also want people to look at you as an equal and as a peer, which means you need to be in the culture of that place. So i think you have to marry those two and they're both equally important yeah yeah. I always take steal. A line from tony robbins, which is proximity is power yeah right.

I get calls from agents all around the country that ask like, so how you know. How do i break into the high-end space and it's like well, you first need to be within proximity of those people. You know what churches do they go to what country clubs do they belong to? Where do they eat at like? Where are you in their sphere because if you're not, then you know you're just on the outside sort of trying to like knock down the gates, yeah right right and i'm going to go with back to that piece with autumn authenticity, we can we're not for everyone Or i'm not for everyone and everyone's not for me um, but if you're, not every wealthy person or luxury buyer is the same and no just like you know, other brokers in new york. But it's scott out when i refer.

I think who is the right agent for this person? Yes um, and i think that's so important, so you really, you have to be yourself right right. What are you building? This is the essence of my blueprint event so to make your reservation go to tomferry.com forward. Slash blueprint, i look forward to seeing you at the event so two things i want to kind of finish with two sort of big questions. I'm gon na hit you guys with a bunch of rapid fire stuff, so i think one of the big mistakes people walk into this marketplace.

Okay, so i studied the market right and i figured out. I got some friends here, but they don't understand how to communicate. They don't understand how to negotiate. What do you think are the most important skills and it could be life.

Skills could be sales skills, it could be listening skills, but just what do you think of the most important skills like if you, if you could say your children, are, are now the age of my kids and you want them to be your sales agents? What are you're like you, have got to understand these three or four things same same question for all of you in specific to lux yeah she's supposed to go first i'll go first. Are we even gon na have beep on this show, i don't think, there's no beep john. This is john. I asked i asked you the first podcast i did.

Can i swear on this and you said you can, but is that i'm like? Is that your brand? It is it's very authentic, yes, okay, what? What do you think of the most important life skills sales skills, communication skills that are just going to have someone be like again, you think about your children, where they are today, and i look at my kids, where they are today like i, i was very mindful Of like you need to go, walk up, look somebody in the eye shake their hand, don't squeeze it too hard, but don't be a limp noodle like you. Just you got ta find that in between spot, but like communicate, connect, ask more questions, get close, but don't get too close like this is stuff i've been drilling in my kids heads forever. I don't care really if you're gon na be if you're gon na be the guy that drives a trash truck you're, the most charismatic one out of everybody out there right like that, was my intent. Yes, what are you guys thinking like from a luxury standpoint? What are those charming skills that they all need? I mean you hit on some of them, i think at to me.

It doesn't matter how much knowledge you have how connected you are, who you know, and we all know, people in our high-end market spaces that are so awkward. I was just gon na say not know how to just be a normal person like faces running through my head. So to me that's first and foremost, you need to know how to be a normal human being, and i think some of that you know like don't, feel weirdo. That's like or read the the read the book, the alter.

If you're listening to you're, like i think they might be talking about me, yes, we are read the book. The alter ego - yes yeah so like for our kids, that's very much, something like we want and they're very young granted. But exactly what you're talking about is what things we will teach them as they're getting older, but we keep them around adult conversation and communication. So i think, if you're, not someone that was raised that way or naturally has that charisma, first and foremost, you need to find people to mirror and that doesn't even necessarily have to be someone in person as a mentor follow you follow.

Other top agents follow other people to see like how they communicate and just copy it like emulate them exactly right. That's what i did right are indeed everybody yeah. That was it right. What other skills so i'm going to we're, making john go laughs, sweating, so pushy um, the um just yesterday or not yes.

Two days ago, we we were uh, went to visit friends um and there was a group of people there and lily our 10 and a half year old was with us so crazy that she's tennis and she's beyond yeah right she's, a very mature ten to halfway. Yes, but she was in a mood and not you know she said hello, but you know yeah, you know what kids do nowadays. She keeps her mask on because that's her way to like kind of hide behind right. She hides behind them right right.

Will you take that down so that night i was putting her to bed and, i said, listen feel your feelings. You know you're allowed to be sad mad. Whatever you know, i'm not gon na. You know you have to be inauthentic or happy all the time, but when we're with people and someone says hello and they're people, we know and love or not, you smile and you say hello and she said i know i was a little dull.

She said that, and i was like yeah i was like wow, but she heard it and that's really imp, i'm not saying don't. Listen, i'm the moodiest guy in the world. My team knows that but you're so um, but that's that's important and you have to brian. We need to get him a mood ring.

Instead, you have to when you're with people again any level. Yes be authentic, be yourself, but you have to bring it and you have to be on their level. Yes, i have clients that are my god, so charismatic and i can't keep up with them and they're bigger than life and some yeah. The most successful are the quietest ones and the ones they walk in the room.

No one wants to know where they are unassuming. They don't have to talk because they're secure, they know who they are yeah. I love that and look, i think, there's a lot of things in life that can be learned and taught. I think there are certain things that are just sort of naturally inherent and you have to recognize what that is and isn't about yourself and play to your strengths and try to guard against your weaknesses right, that's just kind of and knowing how to read the room.

Because each client's going to be a little bit different, some of them some of them, cast a really big shadow right. So you just got to let them on the spotlight yeah um, but by and large what i've found is it's something i refer to as casual confidence right. I i'm very confident, but i'm not cocky, i'm not arrogant about it, i'm just casual about it and i'm. It's backed up by the fact that i know what i'm doing.

I can speak effortlessly about sort of the market, knowledge and so forth, and i've found with you know the higher end clients, the more you can again. I think you said this meet them on their level, make it feel like you're speaking to them as an equal right, even though your bank accounts may not be equal, you're speaking as an equal, because they are looking to you in that moment in that capacity, as An advisor as an expert in your arena, you're here to advise them on this and they're, often going to think that they know best and sometimes look. There are situations where you have to be more of the enabler, but more often than i i i'm not afraid to just say, i'm not a yes man, that's you know, you may not always agree with what i'm going to say, but my job is to provide You with my opinion, because that's what you're paying me for right so right yeah, so i'm going to counterpoint something! You said earlier, your your boyfriend, my pal tom bill, you mm-hmm right, love, music. I know you do if he's watching that wasn't creepy at all.

One of the things that that i remember the first time i met him. We were talking about the fact that what is in jim quick same thing on my on my original podcast with jim quick, these are all skills. Anyone can learn. Yes, you can learn to be charismatic, you can learn to put on a smiling face.

You can learn to not try and take it over, but instead let them be, you know, have them be even boosted up in their greatness and cast an even bigger shadow and have them love you for it. These are all skills that just most people aren't thinking about. So it's like, i think, we're just we're. Creating some awareness here, which is good so and by the way yeah we're all human and doesn't mean.

Certainly, i don't, maybe you guys do, wake up every day when i'm meeting someone new or a different level, or just i have to remind myself, oh wait, they called me, they want my advice. I have the privilege, i have the privilege and permission to be honest. Authentic right, they called me right, you'd be intimidated. You know what else that we didn't touch on, which really ties back to tom bilyeu is, is be passionate and be energetic, because people respond to that and that that was that's a skill.

The first time i was ever exposed to tom billy was at uh an elite retreat, total man crush. I do i was at an elite retreat. I had no idea who he was and i was like yeah sure. Okay, you have a contest whatever and he was on stage and he said you have to be willing to work harder, smarter and longer hours than anyone else and someone in the audience raised their hand and said question if i'm working, smarter and harder.

Why do i have to work longer hours and he goes because i'm doing all three and if you're, not i'm gon na, eat your lunch, and i went whoa like my passion that he spoke with was so i just i was, i don't know i was sold. Yes, yes, yes, but again, speak with passion speak with energy and enthusiasm. People really really resonate with that. I agree.

I agree all right so uh last question totally random uh. What do you think is the biggest and most important initiative? You'll have for 2022-2023 biggest most important initiative, um you're going last evidently yeah. Clearly you better bring the passion, i'm you're, pausing lauren. What do you got? You can have two you're such an overachiever uh marketing, all things marketing.

That's too broad. I know it's abroad, um. There's so many initiatives we're working on right now, which is building out an entire team. We've recently brought on a videographer, a social media person, um video that we're working on implementing series that we just spoke about last night right.

Let's not disclose that just yet or not, but four new original shows coming out from your team. Five such overachiever uh and to me the biggest thing with marketing means executing on the plan that we've laid out of course. But then the bigger piece is consistency. So, in order to execute on the plan and the consistency, it's building out the right team of people to be able to do that, um and then my second is really driving client experience and conversion with the team.

And how will you know if it works? Well, we'll see it in our numbers. Have you thought about net promoter score mps scale for one and ten? How referable are we like that? That is the measurement of client experience? It's called mps net promoter score, it's as simple as an email, hey! Thank you. So much for being involved with us on a scale from one to ten. How would you rate our experience? Oh we're doing that, yeah, it literally launches january.

First, that's that's called yeah. Okay, high five bam got it. They know that yeah. What you look for is promoters are eight nine and ten right detractors are like from memory.

I think it's like six five, four, three, two one where they're gon na tell people horrible experience and then like the people in the middle, are just kinda like right. But if you get eight nine and ten, like apple, gets, like you know, like nines and tens over and over again people like, oh, you have a samsung. What are you thinking get an iphone right? That's what you want! You want! No, you have to use the commons right like that. That's what you want! That's the goal.

Uh video video video. We need to do more, video kill the radio star, um kill the radio star, yes, um and um we're as we're growing we're fine-tuning our team and who's in what position. I want to break down this this video thing just for a second, because this is something we're all talking about so uh. We did this video mastermind.

We think there was like four or five distinct camps and each one of them was wildly successful in one of the camps and just like every athlete who wants to be a musician and every musician. Who wants to be an athlete right, like everybody wanted to do something else, but there was basically the the tick tockers and they were killing on tick tock. There was the reels and all thing instagram, but really real short form content. There was the over-the-top listing videos and people literally made entire careers just around over-the-top listing videos like hey, come list, my house: what are you gon na do right? There was educational content straight to camera.

Let me tell you what you need to do and how you need to do it yada yada, and then there was like the news right like people bringing the news like how's, the mark. Jeremy knight is the person we kept talking about right. So when you say video like which one because now it's it's getting into these different categories, so the categories that i think we do are the second third and fifth, which are the the reels and everything instagram yeah. It's doing more of those short form uh.

All of our stuff, it's entertaining and hopefully aesthetically a pleasing, but it's pleasing, but also uh we're bringing value, and that is in that. I'm talking about the market that it's news, and so it's just more of that than doing more in video right right. How is costar going to impact real estate? You know information for consumers with their new right like and people like what like what else does he know that i don't know right. As an example, i mean we do our weekly luxury market updates right after a while, though it's it's, it's drones, because it's just a bunch of numbers and sounds the same, but then we attached yeah.

We always attach like three weeks ago, the two top luxury. You know what was it three three or four weeks ago we had the highest, it was 67 contracts of 4 million and above and i think the number was 620 620 million dollars in volume and the top two were two townhouses one on east 67th right off. Fifth and the other around the corner on east 68th, people want to see photos of it. Wan na, like that's just i was just gon na - tell you that, as you said, yeah, that's the headlines, that's what everyone the sexy stuff, if you're looking for next level with that it's all about animations right! So so the the rule now think about it.

On videos, first of all, you have three seconds to capture anybody's attention like when we started this podcast i was like hey. Do you have a million dollars big checks right like because if we don't capture the person they're like i'm out right, but the second thing is you got to keep them on there right right and the problem is, you know, we're we're in our car driving and Watching youtube like, let's just keep it real, we're on the subway, we're right, we're going someplace right like we're out and about we're in the shower. Turning on a youtube video because, like just we're all addicted to this phone, so here's the thing. If i can't keep them watching and the way you do, it is graphics and animation right, so you keep bringing back in like these.

Like you know, we just this 64 million dollar yeah photo goes up right and if it was like, you know, i don't know. If i would do this in the high-end market, like you know, literally 64 million dollars stacked up and then the photo of the house like people will be like it's gon na keep their visual attention. Serena does a lot of that with our stuff. That's key! Yeah! All right, john, just taking notes, i love it, we're always taking notes.

So what are you gon na do? What's going to be like the couple of big initiatives for 2022 to really dominate the luxury marketplace, i mean you guys already touched on a lot on. Video is going to be a huge component for us. We finally hired a full-time videographer, so super excited about creating that content and that content really kind of being capturing the sort of uniqueness and authenticity and authentic nature of myself and adam and lauren, and our team um. I think that that's going to be a big driver, um there's a lot of things in the marketing realm.

That again, i won't get into the details of, but that we haven't been doing and a lot of it just gets back down to the basics right right and we're really going to be, i think, diligent and judicious about making sure that we stay. On top of that um, you know our goal for next year is a billion in volume. So a lot of that is about time. I know i know right.

Okay, um - and you know a lot of that, requires you know, growth, stabilization growth, stabilization and that you know that balance yeah. That teeter-totter of like expansion and stabilization is definitely something that um is. You know an ongoing effort that we're sort of working towards and working through and a lot of that's going to be continuing to help enable our agents and you know, help their productivity. So yeah.

I don't know if i answer the question, but no i mean it's. I mean like we're coming off a you know, a day and a half of planning and thinking and dreaming and imagining and masterminding so you know i know, there's a lot to unpack there, but this has been super valuable. We started this. I literally said it's going to be one of the best podcasts ever and you guys absolutely delivered.

So. Thank you. Thank you. I got you taken away.

I took notes, i'm usually the one that takes more notes in every podcast. I'm like i'm interviewing people like tell me more about that. How do you like what was that script again? That was really good, so uh. So as we as we wrap this up um.

Obviously you should follow everybody here on social uh, instagram youtube every place else because there'll be a mean, a lot more video um and then, if they've got questions, can they dm you? Can they hit you up? Email sell whatever yada yada, all the above right, you're. All very findable, which is a good thing, so uh so closing thoughts, just like simple thoughts like what's your wish for everybody out there listening and watching all the way around i'll go last. Oh, we all wish that john would go last. Yes, you know, but that's a strategy too, because he hears our good stuff.

You took all my ideas and here's one more yes and he's so i love these guys, he's so eloquent and just what his brain to the mouth, i'm like god, that's what i meant, but it just sounded better when you said it anyway: okay, i'm not flattered. Yes, what do you wish for the listeners out there listening and watching uh for well everyone? You know what we should. We should be blessed and have a year full of health, happiness and peace our worlds. I think a little upside down and crazy right now and um.

We should all listen to each other, more, take a pause and come from a place of love. Don't know if that was too. That was great anyway. That's true.

I just feel bad for both these two having to follow that, because i i mean i think every one of us would - and i saw it in your eyes - i mean it's like i know you felt that yeah and sell a lot of real estate, but ah There we go. No, i, like the first part yeah in the second part lauren. What do you want to say to everybody listening, i would say to everyone listening to have a plan and the key is consistency with that plan. Right right, i would say that, in the midst of all of these great ideas and initiatives, and again we just got through a day and a half of this and everyone said a different version of the same thing, which is so many avenues to pursue right.

We all come into these events with you feeling pretty good about ourselves and we all leave feeling like, because i was like there's so much, i'm not doing so much. There's my new advertisement for tom ferry coaching thanks thanks john come in feeling great leaflets. God is so much i'm not doing. Let's go so i would say that in the midst of all this and it's gon na sound, like i'm talking to both sides of my mouth a little bit - and i am find time for yourself carve out time for yourself, because i i can tell you that My goal for next year - and i don't even know exactly what this means yet is - i want to do more by doing less and i i don't.

Even i don't even know what that means. Yet i haven't given it a definition, but i want to take more time for myself. I want to see my kids more yeah, we're like two ships passing in the night. More often than not like.

I want to actually have a little bit more balance, so with all these things, you want to do also it's super important to carve out time every day to feed your mind, to give yourself that time and uh. That's my wish for everybody. I love it. I love it, there's nothing.

I can say beyond all that stuff, you guys rock hey. Thank you so much for listening or watching or, however you're consuming this make sure you're following everybody here on instagram and all the other channels and uh hey. I, like the last part, peace and love, and listening was really what i got there so we're out thanks so much you.