Welcome to the luxury code, where we decode the mindset, the marketing and the business approach of successful luxury brokers, super excited of long time, friend, christoph chu luxury, real estate agent from beverly hills, legendary luxury, real estate and jason pantano. I have an outcome today. Kristoff, you have an outcome, i have an outcome, i'm shocked, there is so many people that are fearful lack the confidence. You know what i'm talking about as a coach.

They they say i would love to have the high end. I would love to sell more expensive. Real estate and it's even in their marketplace, but there's just this like anxiety and fear, because you know those high-end sellers are so different from everybody else. They sure are.

I know right so so what i want to unpack today is is maybe some of the origin story of you getting in okay, i want to get into how do we get over? The fear i want to talk about marketing i want to talk about. Is follow-up different? Are presentations different like if somebody was just landed on this planet right thinking of david bowie right behind me, right, ziggy stardust, landed on this planet and decided not to be a rock star, but instead be a rock star right in the real estate business. What would they have to do to break into beverly hills or palm beach or new york city? So i want to explore all that. Does that sound fun? I love it cool so for the people that don't know which would shock me right, because i mean you have been so kind to share my stage and so many other events that people ask you to speak at and you've been in the industry for a long Time give them just a little back story: who's christophe, chu uh.

Basically, i came from a regular family in la my mom was a hairdresser. My stepfather was in the art business. I wanted to be rich and live a fancy life. They couldn't afford me that so i started working when i was 12 cleaning apartments, valet parking cars at 16 and working as a waiter.

I did all the jobs because i wanted a life right and uh. Well, you didn't want just a life. I wanted a fancy life, yes, yeah luxury life and um said work all week, long back in those days to go to dinner one night a week right, spend 300 bucks in those days for dinner, so that was a big deal as a 16 year old yeah. It was and we i did school to go to the restaurants and get facials in beverly hills.

So, okay, so so that's probably not how most real estate agents started, but everybody has their origin story yeah. So when did you first get in the business? Well, i started because i was modeling and my wife gabrielle, who you know yeah um. She didn't like me being gone three four months of time with all these beautiful models, partying fun sure she says how about getting a more stable job and i'm like. Oh, let's go into real estate, yeah no stable, i was 18 and i'm like she said she said how about real estate right and i thought literally as an 18 year old, i can drive a fancy car.

I can show pretty houses, be my own boss and make a lot of money right. I didn't know about escrow's title and no one about anything solving problems for a living, no sorry, crazy clients. I took my test got my license and i started selling real estate. It was just that that simple now were you then like in glendale or where were you so i was serving beverly hills.

No, i was living with my parents in los feliz okay, so i interviewed at the las philas john douglas company, which was the best company back in eighty-nine jack. Yes, jack douglas. They wouldn't hire me because the manager uh said what's your goal. So when i make a million dollars a year under every rolls royce yeah, he says you're, not the right fit for the office yeah.

So i went to the next office which was hancock park and they hired me first year. I did one sale. It was a 43 000 co-op. I made 1732 bucks and then sounds like he remembers that oh, i do maybe a story they're done yeah because i'd spent probably ten thousand to get through the year, and you know right and uh.

So she said to me: well, you've been here for a year now, you've only sold like one deal. You got 90 days, you're out of the office, so i went to a seminar where i learned how to prospect expired. Listings. Yes and then i started coaching and that was kind of the beginning of really making money in the business.

So what year was that that would have been 91. yeah so 91, because you got in let's see 88 or 89 yeah, because we basically started around the same time like me with my dad and you you're, working with your dad yeah, so so kristoff's, one of The original clients from my dad's company, like many many years ago, yeah um, but like we had dinner last night, like we've, we've just become friends over decades and watching each other. You know grow and evolve. So so tell us about the transition from los feliz, because the way you described it last night, it wasn't los feliz the way - and maybe dave robles thinks about those fellows my friend, claudia cole, who lives on the top of the hill, and they were like the Hearty tortie family, like you know, you were south of the boulevard, that's right in that area, right, uh, yeah, south side of the south side of the tracks and um.

So when i was working in hancock park initially i was doing pretty well after you know. Five. Six years of prospecting, i think my top year was like 65 deals, but they were mostly first time buyers. You know second time sales, you know average price.

Second time, sales aka expired listings, yeah, yeah and um, and i think i was i think, with 62 deals. Was my highest number of deals? I was one of the top agents, but it wasn't where i felt right at home. Right i knew beverly hills was for me. You have to be in the space that you're comfortable right and um.

So when i was given the opportunity to go to beverly hills, i did it immediately and moved how did that opportunity arise? Uh. I was a training director for the office and i was in, but you were like five years old, you were a trained director. I was 23, the training director, my train director left and i thought well. I could train these people and i can make money doing that right.

So i made a proposal to jack douglas like a 20 page. This is what i want to do for the training he hired me yeah, and so i did that and um. So i was at uh your dad's management training in newport beach. I remember that there was a four seasons at the time.

Yeah yeah and betty graham was there and all the managers at cobanker and all legends yeah shout out to betty graham and they said uh. Have you ever thought of coming to beverly hills? I said absolutely i've always wanted to i've. Just never did anything about it. So come meet me tomorrow and i met her and she said.

Would you like to join the office? He said absolutely, i packed my stuff up and i was gone and that was it. You switched companies or same companies. Okay, i've always been in the same company was john douglas. We became co-worker, but yes uh.

I always knew that was the best company. So i stayed but i was just moving from hancock park, which is only five mile difference, yes um, but but that five miles uh to maybe someone listening right now who, let's just say this person listening, they're, they're selling, four or five hundred thousand our houses and And there's million dollar houses within minutes right, pretty much i mean a million could be. Two million could be 700 000 and when you're selling 250 000 houses that difference not just in proximity but in price freaks. A lot of people out you, you seem to be the opposite of it, yeah that when you ask that question that didn't quite make sense to me, because the high-end luxury doesn't freak me out.

I feel very comfortable in that realm, so people say that i've never really heard that so much, but it's interesting. I guess people always have fears of different things as a as a coach. How often do you hear that all the time, so all the time which i'm actually sitting here listening like a fly on the wall and i'm kind of intrigued by your mindset in terms of how you enter into luxury? Because there are a lot of agents who they feel intimidated, they feel, like the expectation, will be greater upon them and they won't be able to deliver the results that somehow it's harder and i've been having this conversation with a lot of clients. I was like tell me how people are different.

Tell me how this is different because i don't buy it but you're. This is worth definitely tapping into, because your mindset is vastly different. It's it's on the list. That's really never crossed my mind.

In terms of this you, you could be my new jeff mays. This is a microphone. I said that earlier, it's really effective when you talk into it like a training video, i'm gon na, have to do it like a pretty close to the next card. What? No? Yes, i don't either so so you talked about that like at 16, we were talking about last night like you're, like literally, i would like i'd work all week.

I would like you were like cleaning apartments. You were doing like whatever it took to write to create this opportunity, this lifestyle yeah one - could argue like well, of course. Well that's why he's christopher and beverly hills, but how do i become that? What what about today's mindset or the last 10 years mindset or the last 20 years, have you learned about creating this mindset because there's just different levels of wealth right and there's always someone that's going to be intimidating? That's true! Yes, that's true! Right! You're, like oh, you know, i got like their level of wealth. I understand their level well right and that's how people look at it like like.

They must be different. They must be special, he doesn't have that mindset. Well. Can i well, i want to hear what he says, but i have a thought too.

I want to ask you um. We have quite a few friends that are billionaires and you have a lot of friends like that too. I don't feel any different around them than than a housekeeper or someone i mean. I treat everyone the same.

I mean, of course, the higher end clients, yeah yeah, the the cleaning girl at the hotel room or the valet parker. They should be treated as nicely as your billionaire clients. Yes, that's number one yeah um, i've just never had that thought or mine, maybe because i always search it out, and i remember it was like four years into doing well and i always believe you have to spend money to make money number one i'd say we Were talking at lunch today about coaching - and i said, i've been coaching for 29 years or 28 years non-stop and people like well. How do you pay for coaching, or it's not about that when i first started coaching, i wasn't even sure if my credit card would work for the twelve thousand dollar of the initial fee yeah, but i knew in my mind i said to katie at lunch.

I said i knew if i spent the 12 thousand dollars. I would make at least 120 000 to return the next. I just knew it yeah, so it was not even a question. Yes um.

What was the question again? So so, if, if you you - and i both have studied so much on mindset - yes, you know daily meditations having the right environment like all these things, that we know that that just make us energetically right, yeah, so unpack for just a second. If someone's listening right now and they're like okay, there's, definitely a more expensive area - okay over here, okay, there's the inward work and then the outward work and we're gon na get to both right. So the n word is like your mindset, how you feel about yourself, like? Are you worthy of a hundred thousand dollar commission? A million dollar commission check which one of my clients just got? A million dollar commission check on one deal and he moved on to the next one. Yeah.

Are you worthy, then we'll get to the outward side, which is the marketing side and like how do you message and then how do you communicate? So, let's unpack all that which is funny about questions, because you and i were coaching - i was coaching with you at the time when i got my first 30 million listing. I remember and uh i spent eight hours at i was mentally prepared and psychologically they were friends of mine yeah, but i still spent eight hours with the presentation getting ready right so that if he asked the questions i was really you know spot on responding. Yes, don't worry, my friends, i will be asking you about preparation. That's coming up! That's on my list too! So so what do you recommend to to strengthen their mindset or maybe just create a more abundant mindset or a more accepting mindset, or how would you maybe define it, because i'm throwing words out there? No so, first of all your 10 10 10 book every day, i still do that yeah.

I write down all the 10 things that bother me and are in my mind to let go of and when you first told me about that, i thought. Why would i write down all the negative things in my life but right you're, taking it out of your head and really releasing it over there? So what i actually do is i write it down and then i'll go outside and i burn it. I love that, and i see that do you really. I swear because you know we've like i've done that a million times where i'm like this is just driving me insane.

I've got to let it go, write the letter to the person right to the person that passed away, that i love that i'm just so disappointed with or something write the letter light it on fire. I don't know who came up with that concept. Probably some like people doing like on a wasco, what's up thing like who knows, but to me they're burning is a yeah and i see going there. So, aside from, i do affirmations every single day, usually with one of the tom fury friends nine o'clock every morning, and we do you know i do my five minutes.

They do their five minutes, but one of the first things i do is i do a the same kind of release but mentally. I basically visualize all the things i'm worried about stress about angry about the was sad about disappointed at i talk about, and i literally do do this on the phone i'm like. I pull it from my toes up my fingers up to my shoulder and i see it like steam coming out of a train out of my head and it all just dissipates yeah, and it gives my body a more free space than i can do. The gratitude yeah and it's grateful for no matter what your day is like i'm alive.

I've got a home, a roof over my head, hot and cold water and food and yeah people that i love people watching me and then and then i talk about my intentions and my expecting miracles. Every day they don't happen every day, but i'm always saying i expect magic and miracles to happen each and every day, and somehow the next call is going to be that wonderful magical miracle and it happens right. So if that's that's an everyday thing, no matter, what do you remember my dad used to talk about attitude, approach and expectations? Yeah, you read that, like it's like like hey, if your attitude is like the whole world's falling apart, you see it that way. So he's it's.

It's the intimate it's the exact opposite of that right and expectations. If you expect good things like i'm telling everybody like hey it's the end of the year, you should have your biggest sale ever in 2022., yeah like well. Why and i'm like. Why not? Why not exactly why not just put down! I attract a 20 million dollar transaction 100 million when gary gold listed the uh, the playboy mansion with mauricio, and i was like, of course, because we we sat in a workshop two years before he's like i want to do.

A multi-hundred million dollar deal yep and everyone call me. I got it right and i'm always writing down. I'm going to sell the most expensive house in los angeles. It hasn't happened yet, but it will listen.

We got time together, we got time so so if someone was listening right now and they were like okay, so just to clarify the 10 10 10 is what do i need to? Let go of that's holding me back. That's like that parachute resistance. The next ten is, then, what am i grateful for and then the last ten is: what are your intentions? What are your expectations? What are your goals? What are things you want to accomplish so doing something like that for a decade or so 30 years kind of impacts, your mind, absolutely yeah. What do you say to the person it's like? Oh, i've tried that before we haven't done it long enough hard enough and uh consistently enough and like you've, been talking about the 30-day no news yeah.

I have not watched the news i'll listen to this since, since the twin tower collapsed in 1991 and that day that day yeah - i don't. I don't watch your news. I mean occasionally i'll listen to news for five minutes on a saturday or sunday just to remind yourself. Why not do you know what's going on? How much are we open? Are we closed with cove and all that kind of stuff, but i just i don't put that in my world.

I don't allow it in there i mean if anything, bad enough is going to happen. You're going to hear about it right yeah. So you know who said that first and we saw him on stage at the same time, was mike vance. Oh he's like.

If a world you know if a world war breaks out, someone will let you know, that's right, someone let you know like you know so just stay focused on what you want yeah, so so the mindset stuff is so important. You have a backup question on minecraft. Well, i don't maybe i want to see where it goes with this. I want to go back to what you were talking about earlier, like you had this deep motivation and longing to be in the luxury lifestyle.

Yes, i think a lot of agents resistance. I think some people are afraid that they're not worth the money on the commissions, but i think a lot of agents are intimidated by the people. They talk about affluent clientele and how they're so much different. I just i just wonder what was the motivation behind wanting to be living a luxurious lifestyle? Was it the lifestyle itself or was it to be like the people living that lifestyle was it wanted to get away from the situation you were at? No, i had a very lovely home, it was not fancy i mean.

Luckily i would say this. I had a lot of exposure and you know that exposure is critical, yeah, so being half french and half korean from when i was six years old, six years old. First thing my parents put me on a plane on air france by myself. I flew to france, remember the little like with a little lanyard, your ticket right yeah and my aunts and cousins picked me up.

I didn't speak a word french. They only spoke french and but i went to europe every single summer for three months, not in a fancy event on the farm with my relatives in the country, but i saw chateaus, i saw the louvre museum, i saw art and culture and it exposed me and I'm like wow, there's a lot more out there than what i'm used to, and so i want to be part of that and then once i started making money in real estate, i just did used to buy a lot of stupid, which you told me not to Do and i don't, but i remember it was the first year i made 280 000 and we select we like to travel. So i remember we booked a three-week cruise in the best penthouse suite on the crystal, and it was a week in monte, carlo at the hotel de paris and then a week in rome at the the grand enrollment it was. I think it was a quarter of my gross income for the year for the trip yeah i mean yeah um, but i knew i had to do it you're.

Like oh wait a minute. I have to pay taxes yeah. I didn't think about that. That's a whole! Other podcast, but was interesting every day on this cruise with a thousand people.

This is the key. This is the key on the boat, we're sitting at the lounge chairs. We met this couple from beverly hills. We became friends so when i did physically move to beverly hills.

My first referral was from them a very wealthy indonesian family, just built this 24-unit condo building in beverly hills yeah. They don't want to sell it. They wanted to lease it, but this is back in like 95 or 96. there were like 4 000, eight thousand a month rentals and i had the whole building exclusively in 95.96 yeah.

So i was making about a hundred twenty thousand here just from strictly - and i was doing mostly double end deals on those units, because i come to the sign and today from from that one referral that one of the buyers, one of the tenants that bought referred Me to a client that that buyer and became a seller we've done 60 million in deals wow, but it came from the crews to the rental building to this referral to that. So yes, but like i said you got to spend money to make money, you got to be part of it, live it, be it so. People feel comfortable with you right and then they're comfortable, referring you right. I would also make the observation, like, i think, a lot of people.

This is just my hallucination. I think a lot of people look at those who are affluent, like maybe an agent who wants to break into the luxury space and they see a divide like a line of demarcation between people with money. And then people like me - and i think, if i could it looks like you, looked at that lifestyle and said they have that lifestyle. I want that lifestyle too, and it wasn't so much about.

Am i one of those people? It was more like they're people having that lifestyle, but i can too yeah and i think that's a very distinct difference in terms of how a lot of other people look at the luxury space. If that made any sense, absolutely yeah go go and what's interesting. Is you know i was, you know, 16 started modeling and i was in involved in the fashion world so going to milan in paris and tokyo and doing shows and all that you meet a lot of rich people and yeah see very expensive clothes. I couldn't afford the clothes and, of course you get some things from the designer it costs.

Occasionally that wasn't often fit. You know the old saying fake it till you make it. So i was going to the you goodwill salvation army. I was buying used clothes and like armani, suits and jackets and cashmere sodas from for two dollars and five dollars.

I would wear it and i felt as good as if i bought it on radio drive right, but it's all i could afford, and i remember i went to thailand, we were very young and i couldn't afford any real watches. So i bought a whole bunch of fake watches that broke in like two days yeah yeah. But i felt like oh look at me in my fake cartier watch that broke yeah, so i kind of had to you know, feel comfortable in the clothes and all that um, but that helped certainly yeah. What's so interesting today, is you think about how many people we know on the high end yeah around the world that, like like the guys i talked to in jackson, hole that they're like in jeans yeah and you know, like a beat up cowboy? You know like this kind of look and and they're multi-billionaires and the ones that are helping them, buy and sell real estate they're.

You know they're doing 100 200, 300 million dollars in sales, killing it 15 million sales prices all day, long 25 million sales prices and the key distinction is they're comfortable in their own skin. You have to be yourself, that's what we got to get to right like if you want to move up your price range, you got to stop looking at them and start looking at yourself and saying: hey, look, everybody puts their pants on the same way. Now we're going to get into the marketing side in a minute, but before you i want to go back to your point, two things. Actually you both said it.

One is be aware of your confidences, so there's a lot of people listening right now that are confident that they can't go into the high end, they're, confident that they're not good enough they're, confident that you know only people like kristoff can do this. I wasn't. I was, i didn't, go to paris or france, or you know growing up as a kid, so be aware of your confidences yeah, because those confidences are going to hold you back, you're, confident about other things, you're confident about riding a bike driving your car. Taking a 500 000 listing like what's the difference agreed, it is only the conversation that you're having with yourself yeah.

It is only the conversation. Everything takes time. I mean you can't expect to just jump in and move to, beverly hills and obviously you're going to sell these multi-million elements. You've got sarah decimar in miami yeah well and i think, creating a line of demarcation where there's rich people and there's people like me.

I think that is a dangerous. That's the concept of the confidence yeah yeah who's they're rich, because they chose that lifestyle went after it and most of them, as you all know, most of the really rich people came from nothing right. Most of them didn't even go to college right right, so we're all this. We all started the same way just from different places, yes and where they are, which is when i look.

I look like tim smith. You know well too right. So i look at like timmy's listening presentation. He'll he's just like tell me about tell me about you, yeah how'd, you guys get to this place, yeah like how did you guys get to this house yeah like he loves the backstory, and you know what you don't know about all human beings, not just people That are like wealthy.

They like to tell their story, of course right. It's like their favorite subject. What's an information right right, okay, so one is be aware of your confidences, but the other one is that whole fake it to make it like? You know you and i basically grew up together in this industry like so you, like my dad driving around rolls royce we're both like 20 21 and when we first met right. We, i think we both celebrated our 21st birthday when we weren't 21.

at costa's at the district. Just saying you know passing each other's fake, ids um, but but i remember distinctly hearing people like brian tracy, early mentors, saying that and like so my dad had all these fancy cars and i'd like to like i'd like two motorcycles to start right. Like a honda. 125 cc motorcycle right and right - and i remember like he would say: hey just get the cars washed on thursday, so i would drive one on monday, one on tuesday.

One on you know wednesday, one on thursday and then get them all washed right and i would go - and i would take these expensive cars right completely. Pissed him off non-stop. But i didn't care and i would go to open houses. I'd go to broker previews and i'd walk these houses.

I'd pull up this fancy car and you know i didn't - have a mohawk anymore, but i was still dressed in all black and there's no way they're like this opie kid is not gon na buy this house right, but i started to just get like he he's. Like if you just walk in the steps of these people, yeah how many stories how many books have been written about, the the super? You know person that came from nothing yeah who stayed in the lobby of a hotel just to surround themselves with all these people. Absolutely so they became more comfortable in it yeah and get back to the question about confidence. How do you become confident? Well if, first of all, you have to resonate with the luxury? That's really not just you, because you want to make money or you wonder, because it's cool or you want to be on million-dollar listing or whatever.

That's not the reason do it, because it's it's in your gut in your soul, your gut and your soul. Then you have to figure out. Okay, do i know all the architects, whether it's from the 1920s, who are the interior designers? Yes, this painting that piece of art that piece of porcelain? Yes, that antique car? Is it a bugatti worth two million dollars or is it a fake bugatti? You know right, so you got to really know. Do your homework yeah, oh yeah, like do your homework study, prepare learn.

What's important is people how do they speak what's important to them? Where do they travel right? And i also knew that at six actually junior high school, because my yearbook teacher new junior high school, she was an artist. She was really cool and she really got me so she had all the best magazines w magazine and vogue into italy and europe, and i would look at these magazines and i'd see this the beautiful jewelry and the clothes i'm like whoa. I never knew such things existed, so i just i studied all that stuff yeah and like now we go to parties. I make i'm like, oh my god that bulgari necklace with the with the you know, tourmalines and all that like how do you know it's german? I mean people appreciate when you take the time to understand who they are, what they are and that you know it, because they don't buy that expensive stuff just to where they buy, to show off too right right.

They appreciate when people recognize what they've done and their accomplishments. Yes, there's a lot actually to unpack there. But let's talk about um. Let's just talk about uh luxury listing presentations right so so give us an example of like you're going on a big appointment.

What kind of preparation do you do on the seller on the house on the neighborhood? More than just pulling the comps right like give us like just walk us through, like a typical, hey, i'm going on that appointment. It's a 7 million 10 million, 20 million 100 million, whatever the price is so when i got my first 30 million listing, i had spent years my high sale before that was five million, but i spent years we have care broker caravan, which i go to every Tuesday and i looked at all the houses, why do you do that? You have to know what you're selling oh okay, preparation, good, just and i remember i had a friend in the office she was in the business for 45 years. She was older. She come with me on caravans.

I wanted a friend to come with me and she'd say to me. Why are you wasting your time? Looking at all these five 10 15 million dollar houses? You don't have buyers for that. I said it may not today, but if i do tomorrow i know what to show them bingo. So you know my high sale was 5 million, but and i would be invited because i was known to the big big private showings - of like 20 million there weren't a lot of 20 millions in those days and um.

So i got the call for this listing appointment and i knew it was a very expensive one. So i i was mentally prepared and every caravan i would get the brochures and i had literally um those three ring binders with the plastic sheets. I had the brochures and had honeybee hose one. I had beller one.

I had all the brochures and i would remember of all the cities, no no of the actual brochures of the houses. Yes, yes, but i mean in bel air, in beverly, hills and beverly hills. Flats yeah right because i thought, if i'm getting a big listing, i know how to do it so um, so that i got the call at 8 30 in the morning at the office on a sunday. This is cell phones, iphones weren't, even out yet right, and they said we want you to come tomorrow, we're going to be leaving the country going to sell the house and they were friends even though i was mentally prepared.

He was a major businessman. He had uh made his company go public and he sold it like 400 million dollars and bought this at the time he bought it for, like 16 million for his wife was their wedding gift and then they were selling it 10 years later. So i was mentally prepared. I knew the comps, but i want to be prepared for any objection.

He had. I spent eight hours preparing a really great presentation, eight hours. I spent that give us an example of what was in it. Oh calm, specific marketing plan and letter and all that stuff, and i brought all that stuff and the wife didn't meet it was we met at 8 30 the next morning.

It was just me and him i'd been to the house. I didn't walk through it. We sat in the entryway of the house on a little sofa and i literally and i going back to that more and more i didn't show anything i said steve yeah. Do you absolutely have to sell your phone? I guess well, pipes would be so proud.

The five minutes right right. Yes, well, yes, he says you know we're we're moving out of the country. You know it was october and july because you know we're moving out of the country. I said great: are you willing to price your home to sell and he says well what price you think should i say it's worth 23 to 20., you didn't do i study homes and prices every day.

So i assume that remember that remember, that's right! We're like we're like really dating ourselves afterwards, yeah. Yes, so i said it's worth 23 to 24 million yeah. So what you listen for us is 26.5. He says no one will sit for 30 million.

I said okay, i said if i sell your home in the next 30 60 days. Is that okay with you, he says? No, because the kids are in school, we're not leaving till july got it. I said okay, so then, if that's the case, i need a one-year listing agreement right and this took a lot of guts. I had written in the contract, six percent - commission, yes, and he says how much is your commission? I said six percent yeah.

He says to me: i'm only paying you one million dollars to sell this house, so i scratched it out. I wrote in one million dollars we sold a year and two months later for 23.5 million and he paid a million dollars. That's amazing, because that's what he said so, what's beautiful about that and and i've done this so many times and you - and i just had this conversation earlier today, if you, if you prepare really well the day before yep, you don't always use all the materials. Yes, but you know it, you walk in with this sense of confidence like it doesn't matter what they're going to say, like i'm ready, because i took the time, do you think agents that are listing this right now? Maybe an individual, that's like okay! I want to go to the higher end.

Should they grab all those high-end brochures absolutely, should they go preview, all those houses absolutely. Should they get to know the communities? Yes, shall they study all the architecture? Yes know who the builders are go to the party who the bad builders are before they get invited to the parties right because they may not get invited to this journey. That's true, but you know one one thing and i swear you told me this and this i give you credit all the time. So if you didn't please let me know he's not going to do it now, he's going to say, of course that was me.

Is you need to take your database and you need to figure out who do you already know? That's there right, yeah like like that, like i was like yeah like well, you need to know who do you know that's already in these communities right, because you probably already have ends right, and you know we're constantly. How do i market myself to get them to call me? Well, who do you know that already lives in an 850 or a 900 000 or a million, or a 10 million or 30 million right absolutely? Was that you? No it's not me. I honestly was not me well i've, given you credit for like a decade, but also now social media didn't exist 10 11 years ago, really right now it does, and now i was telling people at lunch today said the super rich are part of a private club. They're all on this kind of not really a private club but they're all they go to the same places around the world.

Right, like we see our friends in parties in like in miami at the art basel this week, right like there's 40 friends that are there and then all of a sudden. This one's having a party uh at omar is a new club and then this one's there. I'm like, oh, my god, you know them and like, oh, my god, you know kristoff people like that in that world of high end, they like it that you know their friends and right now. So how do you? How do you do that on facebook without being stockalina, you can't no.

So how do you do it? Because one of my questions ready look at this marketing content, networking and follow-up yep. Let's go to networking you've done a pretty good job. Networking yourself into some pretty fancy situations. What are your three most important hacks for networking effectively, especially if you're looking to move your price range up um, i would say: number one: what helped us a lot was be involved in charities.

Okay or you know whether it could be homeless, youth or saving trees. The number of times i've seen you take the photo of you sleeping on the streets like on a like on a cardboard knockout right, yeah, right, yeah um. You know you just do and that's not charities is not the right word. Helping people or situations that could could use your support and your influence there.

You go. I don't like the word charity, because yeah and the reason i started with homeless, if they came out of the blue, a friend of mine, said well, you know, covenant house, california is looking for a new board member. Was this something you'd? Consider i'm like? Okay and i went there and i thought well, i didn't have a lot of support from adults when i was young with my dreams because they didn't understand them. So i thought well.

This is my opportunity to give back to the youth that are on the streets. Help them see that people care and if they have a dream and a vision, are willing to work hard to get there. There are people that will support them in that effort. That's why i did it.

I didn't think about business and meeting rich people. It wasn't that it was just what can i do to give back to help those that need it? So that's beautiful, i think, if you do everything from that perspective of coming from a good place of love, kindness and goodness, the universe will take care of you. Maybe not when you want to yeah just when they choose to. Can i i think that's a really important distinction, because being involved in these causes is certainly a networking component to your business.

But but i think it's interesting, like a lot of people might be cynical and say, like: oh people only get involved in these things because they want to be able to network with other people. I'm like no, this what's happening is there's a level of bonding at work here, because you have people like you and like them, who are having the same thoughts about. I want to give back in this capacity because they do care yeah and then you connect over that yeah. I just i think yeah and you like that, could be at your church, your city that could be you know your local chamber, yeah right business.

You know business groups. Do you guys remember the tip of course, so i was asked to join the tip beverly hills many years ago and i thought oh, this is great. I'm with 50 people, they're all doctors and lawyers, and all these i'm like i'm, going to get a lot of business. Zil chose nada for, for i mean they would pass out those referrals because you're required to, and it was yeah i mean i'm nothing.

Yeah um like when i joined covenhouse, i think two weeks it was, you know, once a month board meetings and really helping the cause and the president of the board said you know i got some properties i want to sell. Can you help me with it so that started and i did other business through the board, but i never even thought honestly when i joined the board that was going to happen. I just wanted to help the youth yeah well, that was that was like. We talked about authenticity in my head, but that, but that is it right, like i support casa and it's all children's related things that i support right.

So it's like it's very real for me, like i'm not there to like gosh. They got me to get a coaching client out of this and i think a lot of people network with that intention versus like hey. Can i meet some cool people? We all have something in common here right like let's, let's figure it out yeah. So so that's one what's two one is you said, is: is you know, get behind things that you're passionate about right? What's number two: what was the question again? What are your top two or three hacks for networking in in the higher end? Okay, um uh, one-on-one networking.

You got a lot of events. You meet people, you, like people, have commonalities, take it to a different level. You know, don't be cheap, take them out to lunches and dinners and get to know them or or support their cause. They're doing a charity event right, buy a ticket or buy a table.

Yes, if someone asks you something to support them, if you can afford it, do it yeah, because then they see that you care about them and they will hopefully care about you too down the road. So i think that's an important factor what i think i think, going back to everything people who want to be in luxury but are afraid or not confident, if you're afraid not confident either you choose to change that mindset and be different or if you really feel That way, instinctively, then maybe it's not your your realm right. No one has to be a luxury agent. I mean everybody wants to be a luxury good thing.

Oh the big commissions but, as i talked about today, the bigger the commissions, the higher the highs and the lower the lows. True true yeah we're gon na we're gon na unpack it before we're done. Can i ask a question too, like when you're at that listing presentation just going back for a second, you talked about really preparing ahead of time for their objections. Yes, i have a sneaky feeling that the objections you anticipate are different than what other agents, who might be afraid of that presentation might anticipate what kind of objections would you might have prepared for.

In my experience, the objections are commonly the price differential. You know my price is different than theirs: the commission length of term of contract. Those are really the main objections i mean the other stuff i mean. Sometimes people don't want to spend the money on staging or staging because they live there or whatever um, but isn't that funny? Because that's every price range yeah, it's true: it's commission, price and term.

That seems to be the number one number three things so kristoff. We we love you everything, you're saying sounds fantastic, but that you know, like five percent commission. Like i mean i just talked to jason pantani, i said i'd. Do it for like four three yeah? Three i get it tommy sounds like a lot of money right.

I just know that they're, you know i mean i just feel like we have a beautiful home and it's going to sell quickly. You know nothing in this area ever comes on the market when it does it's gone yeah, so just i just don't feel like. I should be overpaying yeah, you do have a beautiful home and it probably will sell quickly, but that doesn't always happen. What are you looking for in the agent you choose? I mean, as i said like we chose you because we love your video first marketing.

You know we we believe in that you know i'm a huge fan of that work. Um. I think it's that i think you know i mean. Obviously multiple people said: oh kristoff did a great job for us.

I actually reached out to a few of you, know, people and like actually like got the scoop and everybody said the same thing: you're just warm you're, authentic and you're, really good at what you do um, and so we want you to like fight for us and Get us the highest possible price and make this process as easy as possible. It's true, and you know, jason's an amazing agent. There's no doubt about that and i'm assuming you're a businessman. I mean you built your company.

You made a fortune in that you're, a tough negotiator, yes assume jason came in, he asked for a full commission and you got him down and negotiated him down to the price right i did you did. I did is that the kind of agent you're looking for someone that can just like that chop down their commission by one or two percent - the greed in me says yes, the businessman in me says i you know, i hear i hear what you're saying i mean Think about it, you're you negotiate all the time. Would you agree that you know one percent in a negotiation on a 10 million dollar house is what a hundred thousand dollars right. Don't you think that could be gone in a split? Second, i have the ability and the guts to fight you, a major businessman to fight for what i believe is right for my commission.

Wouldn't you want me on your side in your court on the boxing match fighting for you. Can we just go to 4.75? Well, i'd like to do that, but you like me right yeah and i like you and do you feel i can sell your home god. I love you. Let's just get started and often i just say i'll: do it for six i'll? Do it i'm tapping out? No, but commission compression's been really a serious, of course, and that's why i bring it up because because that is i mean it is very real yeah right, but it's very real in every price range you.