Before we jump in. I Just want to say thank you to everybody out there. Um, because of you. We were just named the number one coaching company and training company again 10 years in a row.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. Really, it's it's really a shout out to all my 227 coaches. The 200 plus people at Ferry International I Love you guys thank you so much and thank you! Now with that said, I have five amazing agents right here inside my studio in Orange County I've got David and James I I. Always like we'll say Million Dollar Listing and I know that's over but so many people got to know you guys through that show and then I have John and Lauren and Adam now on buying Beverly Hills Another show who did something that most people could never imagine.

They took two wildly successful teams and I'm gonna say this, you all get it five incredible Egos and brought them into it's like the Miami Heat right? Like with like bringing together a super team in Los Angeles and arguably one of the most complicated, complex real estate markets we've seen in a long time. but just for the one person that doesn't know who you guys are. Quick introductions all the way around, right? starting with James Sure! James Harris Uh, born and raised in London Been in Los Angeles 19 years David and I set up fun Street Partners 10 years ago and we are now Bond Collective with these three fabulous people under Tom Ferry Management, you're giving away the Earth You're giving my last the E-block the big announcement. Just kidding.

Just kidding. Just kidding. We're very happy to be here. and uh Happy New Year to everybody watching.

Outstanding Outstanding. Fire Away I'm David Barnes I'm 32 years old I'm a Sagittarius Was it that obvious that I'm not 32 years old? Yeah, the last five years have been really rough. Uh, five years ago? Yes. I Think it'd be like the last like 32 months if we were being really honest.

It was a little good and crazy. All right. Lauren Fire Away. Uh, nine years I think yeah, he's been married for how many of them? Yes, good question.

Uh, almost eight. There we go. All right. Oh yeah, somebody knew the what was she wearing that day.

John All right, it was. You know, the day we met. Okay, all right so you kind of the internet for John John how long in the business too? And I think we should clear that up with everybody also. Uh, so John Grauman.

This is gonna be my 20th year in the business. Uh In Fairness I Started as a mortgage broker yep, um and then had some experience as a developer. I've been selling full-time now for this will be year number 12. Outstanding, Yeah.

Outstanding! Adam Flip that little microphone. it's doing a little Wackadoo just so everybody hears you perfectly. Yep, Yes! Fire Away! Uh Adam Rosenthal it's originally from Miami Yes, yes, earlier. yes I love that reference because I that special place in my heart and like the thought of like ego a Dream Team coming together I'm taking my talents to Miami That's right, that's right.

I've been in Los Angeles for the better part of the last 11 years and I've been in real estate for 10. my background was more on the legal side and more recently on the development side and I could not be more excited to be here with you guys. I'm going to be doing this with them. Yeah, All right.

Outstanding. So so really what we want to talk about today for you and I already see like people checking in from all over the place and all the different channels. We want to talk about the obvious questions right? So I'm gonna hit some obvious questions. I'm gonna hit you guys with some not so obvious questions right about this merger? The market expectations.

What's going to happen with clients? How do you guys make the whole thing work? All of that then I pinged you so I'm holding you accountable Lauren I Asked everybody for what is one remarkable thing you're doing in your business today that you would recommend for every person watching no matter where they are in the country or what their sales price is or around the world. and then I want to do some audience q A So I'm gonna hit you guys with not so obvious questions. Actually the obvious questions first and you guys whoever wants to answer can answer the first question is what was the back story and what in the world were you guys drinking that you came up with this idea? So who wants to go? Why? Why is this now a super group? That's a great question you know. We collectively always felt this was direction of business is going in.

it's no longer I it's we? Yes, um and it all started over a very casual dinner of looking towards the future. Not in my head, it wasn't cash David's not joking by the way. he had done the deal before. we ordered appetizers.

um but no. look this. This was nine. ten months of poking holes at this idea and sort of and 10 years of friendship.

Ten years of friendship and going through the kind of process of elimination like let's talk ourselves out of it and if we still don't by the end then we know it was the right thing to do. And together we're a force and you know we have big Big Dreams goals, aspirations of where we're going to be in the future and what our next steps are. and I think we're all aligned and we all bring something so different to the table in this partnership that it just makes so much sense. It was a it was a similar experience as when Adam and I partnered right? we partnered with Adam rather.

Uh, about a year and a half ago where like initially it's like, all right. Well, I'll of you, you left me. but that's not. That's not a reason enough, right? Okay, so we have a mutual adoration for each other.

It has to be something more than that. Then you start looking at what are our core values. Are those aligned right? Because we're going to build everything off of those pillars, right? And that's the thing we want people to understand is like we scrutinize this idea. We challenged it, We stress tested it.

We really put it under the microscope. We came with you. Yeah, we really like. Okay, so we all like each other.

We all but what but why? And it was really that our whys were so closely aligned. Is that we all had the similar why? So so was it from whoever was it? the hey, the consumer deserves a better experience or was it we're all competing against each other anyway Or was it like three plus two equals a thousand? Like do you know what I mean like when you see the why help like what was it? So I'll stick to that. I'm gonna go back to the experience of starting to work with John and Lauren you know separately with each Out Of Reach And it was. It was strong and powerful and we had beautiful businesses and I think we found that when we put it together, it was almost like gasoline on the fire.

It just ignited and the reach became exponentially larger. so it wasn't two plus two equals four. it kind of became two plus two equals 40.. And that feeling now you know, obviously merging with with David and James feels that much larger.

Yes, and you know I Think for us, in terms of where we see this business going, it just made so much sense. The chemistry we have together between the five of us is spectacular and we genuinely like each other. like really like each other. Spend time together socially and we always say you know being successful and having the beautiful business and making money is wonderful.

But when you do that with people that you genuinely love and trust, there's nothing better than that. We said it walking in here, then yeah, we were walking in and we said we're working right now. This is working like we just love each other, right? right? God It's a love festive, not so obvious questions. Okay, so why were you just? are you always like that? Is that intuition? Are you just impulsive? Like what? Is it The uh yeah people tell me I shouldn't be driving which I Love? Yes, by the way, he ran through a red light on the way over here completely unaware We just Cruise Right through it, my life flashed before my eyes.

My wife and me or may not watch this podcast. but having said that, thank you. Um, yes, Lauren Go go for it because and then I'll explain myself. Okay, so are you sure? Yeah.

Okay, so we were driving back Lauren and John and Adam had been so helpful to us James and myself and I really? Laura gave me great recommendations I've never seen a list like it. but so James and I wanted to take Lauren and you probably invited you guys. you're probably busy for lunch to say thank you because everything she did was totally selfless. It was almost like we are effectively competition.

Yes, we're friends, but we're competition. but Lauren just wanted to see us succeed and for me, I You know this business can be pretty Cutthroat right? And and a lot of people have these big walls up and they hide behind them and they don't share information Lauren just wanted to see us do it. She would recommend you to us. For example, we joined with Yvonne straight away I was in a conference walking around like the next week but I still couldn't put it together anything from James and and we were after lunch we were driving back right to the office and I think Lauren said you know John and I always kind of joke about and Adam you know what if we we merged with with you guys I was like that's a bloody brilliant idea Did the group text set the dinner and the rest is history? It's serendipitous.

Yeah okay now I want your perspective because I know looking at at these four crazies that you have the unique opportunity to stand in the middle of it all and attempt to manage it. So what were you thinking when this was coming together? Uh I guess that's a good question. Um, to David's point I Have always wanted to see them succeed I Also think it's important to understand the dynamic here. We literally used to share a wall in the agencies God bless you Lord there's no feelings on it and these two.

it's not loud. well more James than me. I'm actually quite quiet talking like so we're very intimately familiar with one another's businesses over all this time. but I think to me just seeing what's possible and so what Adam said of like the exponential power of the group of them together they're Maniacs but I'm used to that like in my marriage the sweetest, most kind, lovable, like amazing.

Maniacs So there's I welcome all of it and it's not just me like it's our CEO like I've built in layers of insulation Yes, very small so so talk to me about the early challenges. it's it's I've been invested in a lot of companies and when I get excited about some change I'm like oh we're gonna have amazing and then you get into the sausage making and that's where it gets muddy. That's where it gets dirty. That's where it's like what in the world were we thinking I'm assuming you had at least the five of you a few of those moments I mean we're in the thick of the mud right now.

Look at he's got no, she's saying yeah, no no no no it is right now. Okay, so it's making really hard decisions which I can't disclose in this moment. Um, because they haven't been made yet. But adding that to the not so awesome, let's pick it away.

But on that being said, it's been amazing. Like everyone comes to it: respectful, ready to make hard decisions. Everyone's bending and flexing. But I think it just goes back to how we all share the same values and it's about the greater good and not any one of us and any one of our own egos or opinions about things.

Yes, I really agree with that and I will just add and I think this goes for anyone in business. any Business Partnership is you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses right? and I am very clear of what my weaknesses are. And the other thing I love about this partnership and any partnership is you have to play on your strengths and delegate your weaknesses. And when you talk about the big decisions that we're making and the things that we're doing, we're now able to delegate those to our CEO to our CEO and Trust the process that they've got our back for the better of the business.

and I think that was one thing we always said over and over and over. the business is put first yes and I've already seen it with the way they work and their business. and I know with us, put the business first and the rest will follow. and that's kind of like because we're all aligned, we're all aligned and you have to agree to disagree.

but you have to trust the strengths that be behind the scenes to make those decisions. And the only thing the only thing I'll add to that is that James is actually not taller than me. He's standing on a block. This is the best part.

I will come back anytime. I thought he looked tall I was like I am standing on a block and I'm not by the way. So anyway, good seeing you down there. I I Have to agree.

That being said, but the truth is, it's strengths and weaknesses and um, you guys are incredible. I'm I'm and you are too. I'm very grateful to be part of this and Renee as well and everyone. So what's oh God No.

I was just going to say that um, I was certainly concerned I think we all were about potentially having too many voices in the room, right? right? But not only is everyone come to this with a really open mind and open heart and accept it when you know. Well, I Think people come to willing to hear someone else's opinion and potentially change theirs if they feel differently. Um, but I heard something beautiful the other day. I'll try to get it right here in terms of you know the right: Partnerships that you can have disagreements that's fine, that's functional and then it's healthy.

But it's a different thing to have a fight right? A disagreement is something to convince. A fight is something to win right. and I don't want to win anything that they lose and vice versa Sounds very. Ray Dalio Principles: I Got it from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Mic Drop: How do we make decisions? Um, more or less it's the majority.

Um, but again, depending on what the decision is, if it's more in my and the CEO's Lane they will oftentimes have an opinion, but then defer to us. Okay, for sure the exact team 100 when it when it's dealing with something structural, which is what they're in the weeds in every single day. You know if the four of us monkeys are out there selling and we don't get as involved on the back end of the business as they do, we certainly want to chime in from time to time with you know, overarching things that need to be discussed. but we have absolute intrinsic trust in Lauren and Renee our CEO excuse me, our CEO And when those decisions need to be made, they have our full authority to do whatever it is that needs to be done.

So so what's in it for the clients? A lot? Wow. But have you have you actually mapped it out to say you know, hey, we were doing this and they were doing this and that. We put it together this way and this is what: I Think that you know the things that the clients want from us, particularly in like the ultra high-end arena, Is they want reach? They want attention? Um, they want uh, service and this collaboration allows us to do all of those things on such a greater level, right? Our reach again doesn't go from two to four. It goes from two to 40 As Adam said um, you know this, this support and the service that they get because any one of us are essentially interchangeable and we already in the first week of the new year.

we just signed our first listing together as a group and already did all of you go? Uh, three of us went okay, um and the question was afterwards. it was like you three are great, Where's your fourth? Okay, you're like thanks for the bloody invoice It was better. no and we've already I Think found a way to kind of effortlessly share in that process and like understand who's going to come in here and then we. You know we'll have our challenges in terms of I thought you were doing that or I thought you were doing that.

but it so far has been really seamless as has kind of everything, it just felt really organic. So you two would go on presentations together. you two would go on pretty much no. sorry, did you guys go separately all the time? Not not all the time.

but we've always been um of the mindset from when we started. um, we divide and conquer and that's what we did. smart and it's kind of like a full circle whereby that's happening. Now it's you know, changed into like we come back together again.

The four of us, five of us really. And it's kind of special. But back to your other point. your other question.

Um, Tom That you said, you know how do you service your clients better? It might be a bold statement, but I genuinely believe because I have not seen it before. The more we delve into this merger, the more it became clear to me personally how good this is going to be. Yes and how good it already is and and a lot of it is thanks to Lauren and Renee Um, but I haven't seen and we've been trying to emulate it for years. I haven't seen firsthand a company that has run that well that I have been exposed to in my entire life.

and I actually believe Thanks genuinely. I mean credit where credit's due. There should be a round of applause. it's a standing ovation and a box Yes.

But I think that this is going to be the biggest, most significant real estate team certainly in the luxury Market in the country, if not the World Mark those words yes and that's not being arrogant. that's just. and I'm not even taking credit for it. If anything, it's Lauren I'm I'm just seeing it and I'm proud to be part of it.

It's just incidental I am. but I can see it happening. Okay, so let's do the not so obvious questions. Um, so hey, Mauricio we would like to have a meeting with you and then the five of you walk in and and every executive knows you've had this experience.

When five agents walk into your office, you're like something is going to go incredibly wrong. Why don't you share when Billy actually believe it? Yeah, right? Okay with Billy Rose was in the meeting also who was yeah, yeah, we had an excuse to meet yes and remember we're on Instagram live thank you I'm not fair. Who's a client like hey hi Uh So the agency recently took over a new office space just across the hall right and they had come to us and said hey, you know both your teams are growing. you need more space.

We're thinking about, what would you guys think about? Maybe both of you going next door. We were like I don't know yeah I think we could probably make that work like we're already having these conversations. So the meeting is kind of under the heading of we want to talk about the office space which again, look, we love the agency. We've all been there a long time.

It felt disingenuous to not be more forthcoming, but we just had to keep a tight lid on this. Yeah, the fact that we were able to keep it a secret for as long as we did is nothing short of a miracle. I mean the five of us and you are pretty much the only people on this planet that even knew this was happening. But again, we needed that opportunity to really stress test it, make sure we were ready to reveal it.

Um, so you have no idea how hard it was. we were like Tim Smith was like Hey you posted a photo or the are they merging? It was like it was like the first question I think Moe's just a little shell-shocked because he's got so much going on at any given moment I think he thought we were coming in to talk about an office space and like he's like office space. Get this off my plane somebody else and then we told them and he was like oh, that's amazing. Okay, all right, yeah, that's amazing And then Billy joined the meeting late.

yeah and Billy said so what did I miss and we're like oh my God we just went through the whole thing. we went well in short, we're merging. He went I think that's great because he thought it was a complete joke. He was like oh well good for you guys like did not even take it seriously.

they were like we're actually being serious. So um I mean overall I think that they you know Well yeah, they welcome news with open arms I think they're They're genuinely really excited for us and I think they also see the potential this holds for the agency. Sure, obviously we love the agency. We're so happy there and we see a beautiful future with those guys and we know that this is great for the company in terms of how we're going to be able to recruit.

I continue to Champion that rant. Okay so I'm gonna the not so obvious question: when does Santiago join? Hey, what's up and all of a sudden now you guys are the company's volume in Beverly Hills and I'm kidding. but I'm not kidding. We talked about this years ago.

you guys were not there at the Summit years ago when I said you watch super teams are going to be foreign and we also said super teams will be acquired over time because there was just only so many independent real estate companies you could buy and next up would be to buy teams. Now you guys are not for sale. This is none of that stuff. Well hold on.

We just yeah, make that check payable too. But we see, we see this. You know this growing. Trend So I am curious.

like how are your other peers in, you know did Aaron Kerman reach out and go? What? Like, Like, how did how is everybody responding to all this? Um, I think it was a bit of a mixed bag I Think for the most part, most people were overwhelmingly gracious Congratulatory: Yeah, um, especially. you know those were super close to Appears and then there were some people who just didn't get it. And you know, unfortunately, sometimes people feel a need to speak up when maybe there's sure no reason to and sure, maybe it's gonna happen. Maybe it's gonna hate some people, some people just a hard time thinking larger and and that's totally fun.

And I can certainly appreciate everyone's perspective, right? Regardless of that, I Think we are all absolutely Resolute in the decision and has no doubt with complete certainty about hundred percent hundred percent. Yeah! I Genuinely think for me, at least the the feedback from everybody in the agent Community was nothing but supportive. I Think those that have a problem with something is usually them internalizing a problem with themselves or wishing they were a part of something. Perhaps that they're not.

But the way I see things is that success breeds success. I've lived by that for so many years and when you talk about the Benbaleks and the Santiago's we know that they're probably not joining our team. We're not going out to fire I would have been in so much trouble. You're like really really? Santiago A friend of all of us, but like we're not going out to coach anyone.

but I think it's attraction rather than promotion. You're going to see agents in our business. They're going to see what we're doing. They're going to want to be a part of it and they're going to come.

I Don't think it's us going out actively trying to get agents. We want to put out a great business, a great brand, show people what we do, how we do it the way we do it and if they want to come great, we're ready and it's going to mean something to be a more Collective agent. This is not like an open door policy where it's revolving like this is going to be a Navy Seals unit of Egypt that we're bringing in here. So what's interesting and I just I'm curious for everybody's perspective.

you look at what's happened just in the last 120 days with the market making adjustments Drew Fenton leaving starting another like there's a lot of change happening in the market and you know I Do get the phone call when hey we're thinking about doing this. Can we meet and and I'm I'm sensitive to the fact that we are in a declining real estate transaction market, right it? That doesn't mean the end of the world, But when you're used to 6.9 million individual units and you drop down to 5.1 million, it feels like you had, well, you the rest of us, it feels like hitting a red light. Okay, going through the red light. Yes, we intend to keep going through that red light.

But no, Genuinely, that is the time whereby you need to be best positioned. Or we need to be best positioned to capitalize yes, on the inventory that it's still there because people need somewhere to live. Interest rates are actually not that bad. yes or below five percent.

Historically, that's a great rate. I Agree. If anything, inventory is low, but we have a lot of good listings coming up, so if we can control the inventory effectively, we have a huge influence on the market. What we're doing is, we're positioning ourselves to best take advantage of that.

Yeah, and and in my opinion, this is probably the best Market to be doing what we're doing correct, Because when we come up on the other side, that's right. We won't be number three team in the country. We'll be number one, right? What better time to like? Sincerely, go and look internal and work on the business. Yeah.

Declining Market Okay, so let's switch gears to the C block and let's talk directly to all the friends watching. So there's a lot of advice. I mean so what's fun is I think everybody except for Adam What? You just don't want to speak at my events Adam Like look I don't think I ever got the invite time the time of the final call s all of you are spending some time I Mean obviously right? So the collective is spending time on stage in LA or San Diego or Orange County coming up this week talking about Op segment listings Etc Um, so you all have a lot of advice to give to people that are watching right now, so everyone watching wants to grow in 2023 regardless of market conditions. Tell tell our listeners what are you doing specifically better or more consistently or different or you're adding to ensure success.

So whoever wants to go first I mean I'll I'll talk about a couple of things. these might be a little bit myself I would have shared. Um, this is maybe a little ethereal. It's more on the psychology side I guess.

but you know I remember time I come home at night and I don't have the patience to like watch Netflix anymore. So I'm always looking for things to I know? Well, there's one show. Um, there's one show. Yeah yeah, uh.

flying Beverly Hills yeah I binge watch like four of them. Recently it was it was I mean I was super entertained. Yes, Yes! Shout out So one of the guys I Love watching is Garyvee and Garyvee talked about something that you know really kind of hit home for me. which is this notion of being an Enthusiast as opposed to being an expert Yes! And you know, while I'd like to think of myself as an expert and maybe others will look at us as such, yes I think it's so important to to go into this kind of business every single day thinking of all the different things that you can accumulate and learn and how that's going to help you place yourself in terms of the industry and the perspective that that that breeds.

and for me, just being so enthusiastic about what we do every single day, getting up and attacking this work with like an enthusiasm. unknown Mankind: I'm a Michigan guy Jim Harbaugh Always talks about attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Yes. and I think you know when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

and for me, I just kind of put it as a game every single day and I try to be completely outcome independent and I know that sounds like a crazy thing because we all do this essentially to earn a great living. um, and to provide. But I find that when I I take that part out of it and I just focus on the process I do my job a lot better because the emotions don't kind of get to me and I don't worry so much about the wins and the losses and I see the field much clearer. Yes, so much of this just playing out that working on the roadmap tour and all my notes.

And one of the one of the points is if I were to reflect on 30 plus years of conversations with wildly successful agents and new agents and everybody in between. What I hear is your identity determines your your beliefs right, and your beliefs ultimately create your rituals. and that's how you generate results. So so what do you think is the right identity Adam in this market that an individual agent should have and maybe speak to the camera directly because there's probably someone listening right now.

That's like you don't understand I'm like I I haven't had I talked to one of our clients in Israel a couple days ago. Get this, he's the number one team in Jerusalem right? So Re Max agent in Jerusalem and I said how's the market He said we're off 65 on transactions in November in December He went from doing like 8.7 million shekels a year in GCI to less. come on brother before babe Exactly I mean you know we don't want Bitcoin anymore. Yes, all day long.

But but having a conversation with him what was fascinating So big shout out to Ari right? What he was saying was hey, look because the market turned, it doesn't impact my identity I'm still a bad mother like he's like I'm still gonna get after it like I Just know we need to do more. We need to be more aggressive. We need to make more phone calls. We need more open house like he was just like he was in this ramp up mode.

But a lot of people when they think you know. um La Southern California is off 40 on transactions, right? Jacksonville Wyoming right is off 50 on transactions? Yeah, right. You know Now granted, the sales price are up 29 percent. How does somebody get their identity back when so much might have been tied to the market? I Think that's a really good question.

it's a tough one. and I'm speaking more to the camera I think there's many different ways to look at that time, right? So like the first thing is doing the things that I know you always preach which admittedly, I've struggled with, it's hard for me to get away to make my phone calls to do my rounds. Um, you know, so you know, honing in on that discipline, especially in a down. Market You know, working on your sphere of influence and making sure you're hitting the right people up on a regular basis, but doing so in a really authentic way, right? I Think there's this notion of being in real estate and what that means and like the stigma that comes with like the used car sales and the mentality of real estate that we certainly don't relate to, right? We get up every single day and we act as our authentic selves.

And when we were asking for business I Think we're doing so in a much more subliminal manner by being ourselves, being as likable and charismatic as possible, putting yourselves in positions to be around people that make big decisions and then working that sphere warmly and organically. Yes. And I Think in doing such, you know as long as you have this aggressive mentality that there is no quit, you're going to figure out a way to be successful because anybody can be successful in this business. If you're willing to do the things that need to be done regardless of the cards you were dealt at Birth it's possible for anybody.

I Agree. Love that. Well, okay, James What does somebody have to do to be wildly successful in this market? Yeah, I'll speak to the individual agent rather than the agent that's on a team or a mega team. you know? I believe that your brand is everything right? This is what we realized very early on that reality becomes perception.

We're in a market that's changing. That's okay, we have to accept it. Acceptance is key. But what? I've always done and what's always worked for me is understand who I am, what my brand is, and that reality or perception is reality.

And what I mean by that is the glass has to always be half full. No matter what's going on, we can always find positive instead of dwelling on the negatives instead of thinking about what's not how the Market's changing, how interest rates are going up, Look for the opportunity, look for or the positives, not the negatives. And with all of that, once you've figured out who you are, what you are, what you want your brand to be. Go out and create it because your brand is who you are and what I mean by that is, think outside of the box of how you can be different to your competition and then go out there and own that space, own it and be consistent.

And I think the biggest problem that agents have in our industry is they're not consistent in what they do. They put all of this time into coming to a Tom Ferry Summit or hiring a coach or a mindset person, or reading a book, they go out. they Implement those things for a day or week a month. and then they go back to their old habits.

So as an agent, whether it's social media, whether it's door knocking, whether it's connecting with your community, whatever it may be, go out. do it consistently on repeat, over and over again. You have to live it. You have to breathe it, You have to sleep it.

You have to get passionate about it. And this business is about pipeline. If you go out, create your brand, an idea entity, go out and do it passionately over and over again. You'll start seeing that your pipeline starts building and building and building.

and then it goes back to you throw enough mud at the wall. Something's got to stick. and before you know it, you're closing deals. You're gonna have to work on your enthusiasm.

Ugly. But this is truly how I feel. Really? That's very obvious. Yeah.

And and the truth is, you have to carry yourself. You wake up in the morning. Are you going to sit there and think about how the day before was and how you're in an argument with your mother and father and your marriage is awful? No, you're going to think about positivity. How I'm going to get up, get dressed, look good, feel good, go out, carry yourself about the day, and make money.

We all started actually around the same time. actually the same company, same company, but they created they. They understood what their Niche was and what they were going to go after. and then they just went out and did it with passion with consistency with enthusiasm, which they both just exude.

And the results come that if you keep up with it, day in and day out, how do you add value? Because like, yes, right? Like there's in Los Angeles alone there's 30 000 real estate agents, everybody, and their mother knows a hundred of them, right? They're going to choose who they want to work with, who they know like, and Trust so you know if there is zero barrier to entry other than basically a couple courses and a test to basically take care of some of the largest Investments and transactions people are going to make. What value are you able to add as an individual, as a group, as a team right? That's going to make somebody want to work with you as opposed to thousands of other people. But it all starts with you I Want to come to John on market knowledge. But first fun fact because we're doing all this MLS Uh, data right now on.

La Orange County San Diego in prep. And so there's there's 23 000 active agents in the last 12 months in LA and all that means is one closing. Amen. There's 30 000 licenses, right? But would it shock you to hear the 2.7 of the agent population control 17 of all the listings? Wow, that would be you guys the top.

I Believe it. Actually yeah, here's the opportunity for the person listening, especially for the top teams right now. So 64 of all the agents in LA county did between two and four listings sold I'm sorry one and four so the average is two. So I think no, no listing Sold.

Okay, right. so so think about this right now. So if you're watching this and you're a brand new agent, I'm not I'm not in any way shape or form poo pooing on you I'm acknowledging that I think one of the great Trends going forward is how do we put your knowledge on steroids? How do we make you guys the obvious choice they might say you I mean everyone watching, right? Like because consumers right now they're making a decision in this market to list with their Uncle Larry right? You know Aunt Phyllis Who's from, you know Glendora and they're in Beverly Hills Right You with me and and what's happening is I'm just convinced that that's going to be the next expired listing that Ben Black's gonna call and convert someone else, right? So you've seen those videos. It's an enormous number of listings, right? It's about.

um, it's 24 of all the listings. 64 of all the agents, right? That's a huge opportunity. I Think market knowledge and getting it out on steroids is one of the ways you create a degree of separation. Talk to us about market knowledge.

It's so funny. I'm sitting here or standing here rather, you know, listening to each one each person's answer and again we each have different strengths that complement each other right. Adam talks about being the Enthusiast and I'm thinking my part in this is is being the market expert right? That's as much as I you know love the idea of being the Enthusiast and I Want to be that as well. What I truly embrace is I want to be that person that someone sits across and goes wow This person really understands what moves the market right, how it functions, where we are and hopefully gives me some insights to potentially where we're going.

so you know. look I Listen a lot I read a lot I follow I follow keeping current matters obviously and and you know I call mortgage brokers and escrow officers What are you seeing? What's the Fallout rate where interest rates right now like I truly make myself the market expert and that's one of the ways that I differentiate myself um and again I think that you can't have just one or the other I think it's a combination of all of those forces that really make what this team is. So I just in Park City over the holidays I asked a couple buddy of mine like one is a board member of a 45 billion dollar business that owns a lot of real estate. one is a private Equity guy and another guy is a real estate kind of basically asking this question, how would you select a real estate agent today Oh right, and you want to know the answer yes I want the person who can tell me about the market today I Don't care about what they did six months ago, right? I don't care about what they did a year ago I don't care, they were number one in 1972 I Want to know how well do they know the Deer Valley the the Solomon market right now? I Love that.

and I Thought that was a written and all three of them were unanimous about it. Like everybody says, they're number one. Yeah, show me the person that can tell me exactly what happened on the last three transactions on my street. The irony for me is that nobody quite knows where the market is going.

That, ironically, everyone seems very quick to want to label it right. Yes, all the market is doing right now is what the Market's doing. right now. it's literally we're in a shifting Market it's still trying to find its footing once the FED starts peeling off rate hikes and the market.

Finds Its footing we sort of reach our cruising altitude. Then we can kind of adjust to like the new norm and people know where we are because I'm a firm believer that we can markets to perform well whether in up markets or down markets. but you need to know which one we're in and the last six months feels like people have been getting tossed in the surf and they just don't know up from down. right? Once the market kind of stabilizes, you're going to see a renewed sense of confidence and you're going to see people want to buy back into the market.

So I don't know about you guys, but I've talked to I don't know half a dozen really successful teams and individual agents just in the first couple days of the year. everybody's saying the same thing, especially coming off this last. Sunday Southern California New York City The Hamptons Everywhere they're like I had open houses and it was crazy busy. Like 30 people like Pandemic busy.

And I'm not saying that's your Marketplace I'm not I'm just acknowledging a lot of people are saying there's just a sense of like and hey, it's New Year New you. We know that January is the most trafficked month on the internet for new homes than any other month outside of maybe closes. July right? So we know that's there. Okay, what does an agent have to do to be successful in this market? I think I Think it's very simple.

First, you don't over complicate it, right? I Think you have to look for the opportunities in every single situation. It's kind of like the glass being half full situation. We have to be smart about it, right? So we go back to the thing. I Would really focus on getting listings.

Put yourself out there. Sit open houses. To your point. Lots of people are coming through these houses and by the way, a lot of people with open houses.

Back to that, It's like oh, they're a load of look. you lose a load of neighbors. It was a waste of time. No, every single neighbor is gonna be a future seller.

They are clients, your future pipeline of business coming in which you're going to multiply your business with. Sit The Open Houses. Get the listings work with Buyers as well because I'll tell you something. We're not in a financial crisis like in 2007-2008 because a lot of the people that own properties right now are either all cash or they have really good rates of Interest locked in, right? So if anything, we're going to have a a restriction of Supply which is why I'm saying sit those open houses, pick up those contacts, and get those listings.

With those listings. You will dominate the market. It might not happen overnight, but if you're consistent about it, it will get you to where you want to be. And there's no magic.

One people say, oh, how do you do what you do is that they literally think we wave a magic wand and it happens. We roll up our sleeves, we stick to the formula, and we never give up and we remain ethical and stay in our lane. And that's exactly how we have built our business to where it is today from scratch. And by the way, we're two English guys, we didn't know anyone.

Do you know what I mean is? Yes, they sound smarter. That's what we did. We didn't know our way around for crying out loud. but you know, like I got this all CX and I'm like, listen man, yeah, people just fall in love with you because the accident I was on the phone with him.

But that's great speaking to that sort of the notion of idea. What is each agent's identity in this market? Look, let's speak. Let me be clear. the last two years have not been easy, but it's been easy to do to sell houses, right? It's been really challenging just because the sheer volume of business has been overwhelming and harder you deal with it, but it's been much easier to sell houses than it is currently and probably will be for the next, you know, foreseeable future here.

Um, but this is when you get tested right? If you don't look at this as an opportunity as a challenge to really Define yourself and say well, I better step up I Better dig in here because otherwise I'm gonna get swept away. Yes, right? Because that's the reality is. if you don't have a foothold in this market, you're not surviving this cycle. So in terms of what's your identity, your identity is.

you know. Buck up. Dig in and get ready because this is what you're gonna have to go through wartime. General That's it.

Let me add one thing to that because we're talking about knowledge being an expert and all of that is very true. But I Think to the new agent out there, you don't have to become the know it all day one. I Think that you know if I'm looking at an agent that I'm bringing onto my team that's new. I Think it starts with you: How much do you believe in yourself? How much do you believe in your ability to climb to the top? How much do you believe in your ability to go out and be passionate and go and find new business, make contacts, make relationships with other agents, How much do you believe in yourself that you're going to be successful in this industry? For me, if you truly believe in yourself and your identity and your brand and you are your own biggest competition I Want to sit down and talk with you because those are the winners.

The knowledge and information will come next and it might come light hand in hand. but it all starts right here with you. Like you have to go out there, remove fear from your vocabulary, and know that you're going out in a business where you write your own paycheck. So if it doesn't start here, where you believe in yourself, you're in the wrong business.

You should go get a day job where you're making a salary pay print. You know that's it for me. I Don't know if you guys were on the room when Vincent Kessel Who's 19 years old was on stage at the summit I think young guy I was literally so so he's had 15 or 16 million dollars in sales last year on like 12 transactions. He looks like if you're watching you know I love you.

You're not getting like a god son to me. He looks like he's like 11, right? right? But what he said one day he'll appreciate that. Yeah, a 34 year old? yeah, I'll be 41 in a couple of months. Don't even get me started as the senior Statesman here.

But the point was to your point. Like he literally said I'm just going to go do more meetings I'm at like he he moved from Melbourne Florida where his dad has a 500 gazillion transaction business. he could have been on Easy Street and he said no I'm gonna go make my own way move to Palm Beach that's a low end easy Marketplace to live in and he just said I'm gonna knock on doors and make phone calls I'm going to hold open houses of other agents listings I'm gonna do whatever it takes. He did buy Realtor.com that got him like six or seven transactions.

That was awesome too. But the point is, like we're all saying the same thing. it's work ethics. stay in your lane dude.

But you got to believe what does an agent have to do to be organized in this environment? We're just going to add one thing to the whole experience. Part of that I was thinking about as you guys were talking which is that's one thing as a newer agent that you can control, you may not be able to control who's in your Rolodex and how easily you can get in front of potential sellers, but you can control market knowledge. And I think we've honestly struggled with this with some agents we've worked with um in the past which is Agents have become very reactive versus being proactive like if you don't have business and you're and even if you do, these guys all attest to it. you should be out pounding the pavement.

You should be out every Sunday previewing property. Yes, every broker Caravan like you should be studying everything. So when that opportunity does come, when there's a referral or someone picks up the phone or someone answers the door, you're able to step into it and know it. And that doesn't necessarily take experience.

Yes, it grows with experience of course, but that's something that you actually have control over, right? But I would even. Okay, so Ron Legendary he was at coal Banker I think he was in my office when we all met. he was in my office Rhonda Salvo myself and Betty Graham and Betty I won't disclose all the details but Ron was like I just need to jump start my career. Covet is over.

what do you recommend and I was like how'd you get started I knocked on doors I did this I did that I did this and I focused on getting appointments and I focused on like serving clients and he's like and I was like you should do that again I mean if you're watching you know I Love you right and you owe me a text message. But like legendary real estate agent and I think what what happens is sometimes someone's watching you guys and they get so enamored by the charm, the looks, the track record, the experience, the new and we just forget like whoever works the hardest wins Yeah! Can I tell you the best thing that happened in your daily organization? Best thing that happened to David and I when we started door knocking the best thing hands down Bond on was we knew nothing and I can only look back at that now. Hi, where are we? What country are we in? It's a thousand percent Why? Because we had no fear on that basis. There's no fear.

You can't get scared about something you don't know. There's so many agents. I Was chatting to one on our team yesterday so how much abuse we got? By the way you sit there, you think about it. you you can't sit and think you have to go out and act.

it's action like you just have to go out and do it for all four of these. and I've also ran a couple of big agents businesses and I always said to him even when you were starting out on the sales side about Larry young yes he worked harder than everyone else. It wasn't right, right? A year later than everyone he showed up earlier, he did more and all four of these guys share that exact same thing almost to a vault because I live with one of them your phone down. But yeah, speaking of you, it's getting hot in here.

You don't want to be in a car with two of them together. ever. And this is exactly what happened on the way down here. What do you mean? it's perfect.

The other one I'm talking. they're just on the phone the entire time I had to pull over on the freeway to let her drive. Top three pieces of software you use to manage the business I Wasn't expecting that question. Uh, top three pieces of software.

Um I would say one of the things that we've uh, well, I mean something as simple with the team is slack being able to communicate in one place and we are all about communication and collaboration. so that's a big piece of it. I think just kind of bringing the walls down so no one's on an island. um I would say Rcrm and being able to continue coaching and training our agents on how to effectively use it and trying to train these Horrors which follow-up bosses the CRM she's afraid and then even though this isn't a system, the piece that I was gonna my answer was going to be.

even though we have so many processes and systems and we're a weld machine and all of that. Not to say we that we can't always improve on things, we're really going back and dissecting each and every thing that we're doing so putting together a completely new marketing plan in support of these four four guys. If it's open house strategy, we're diving in and it's like, what layers can we add in to differentiate ourselves? to go the extra mile to squeeze the juice as much as we can versus just like. oh, we put up some signs, we show up, we try and interact with the few people and there's our day.

like no, we are door knocking. we're learning what's sold in that area off. Market we're looking for Pockets We're doing all of this prep work and I think for the four of us or five of us, we've all been in this business long enough to have gone through different waves and dips, so our work ethic hasn't kind of wavered through that. but I think for a lot of newer agents in the business, they're just used to it being easier again being reactive versus proactive.

and I know when you say easy. Everyone watching knows it was easy to enter a listing in the MLS Correct. It was hard to field 38 offers. Yeah, right.

Depending on their price points, it was easy to find a buyer. It was hard to get an offer accepted. Yeah, right. I Don't think there's anything about this business.

Everything's easy and everything's hard, right? Yeah, so so slack communication follow-up boss. Living inside the CRM and then I Love like Stephanie Younger published for us at the Summit like here's our open house strategy and it was like pages and pages and pages of going deep. We literally have a listing Playbook which includes our open house strategy. Oh I Love it.

We've been working towards this for 10 years and Lauren just gave it to us. She's a technician, she's a surgeon. Yes, it's constant and never-ending Innovation Never-ending Innovation Always looking at it always Reinventing It We're just. you're never there.

right? The top of every Summit is the bottom of the next one right? Like you're just always kind of working towards something and finding how to refine it and make it better. It was an iPhone one stop right? Exactly. We did it right. Done forever.

often says like we're not afraid to blow I'll say stuff instead of the actual word. Um, we're not afraid to blow up I think that's what she's trying to say. Yes, Green Light All right. So so I'm gonna say to the audience really quickly and I know my team is back here watching.

It's a little hard for me to see it on this but I'd love to do a couple questions from the audience. Yes first though I want to give a little friendly coaching advice and I'd love your feedback on it. So the the thing that I want to stress to you watching right now is having now completed 65 000 hours of coaching. Wow in an environment like this, even listening to the five of them I can get a little overwhelmed with Oh God I Want to redo that? Anything about that now? How am I going to learn about it right? Like how do I be my authentic? Like you're right? Like we have all these questions.

Here's the challenge if you try and Chase 45 things you get Nothing. Yeah, so what do we? We all know no more than three goals in 2022. and I'm going to ask you one of the goals. So your first goal I would challenge you on is simple volume transactions GCI Profit and profit better be inside there, otherwise you will have not enough of it.

That's the first goal, but the second goal's got to be and you all said it in your own way. How am I going to put trust and likability your brand on steroids? This is going to be. This is going to be a market where you see more and more individual solo agents, small teams, large teams, everything else are just going to push themselves out more. get more yeses, get more traction, get more people going to their website following more on Instagram ultimately interacting with them and doing more listings and sales.

It's all the consumer data says 74 of consumers select someone that they know like trust or they were referred by someone they know like. and Trust Yeah, so how are we gonna do that? That would be number two, but Challenge number three. To keep it really simple is what is our goal for the number of listing appointments. we're going to go on because you were supposed to have it.

but I'm challenging them to say and let's we didn't talk about it. But while we're waiting, if you have a question, you need to put it inside there now and my team's gonna help field it. So if you have a question for anybody here, you got to put it inside whatever platform you're on. There's a very real chance I'm gonna have a a somber moment here.

There's a very real chance that in the next 20 months the Doj Nar lawsuit gets finalized and buyer representation as we know it is gone now gone. I Think what's going to happen is there'll be one of three solutions agents won't know what to do. So there'll be a bunch of companies that overnight or started for for 500 or represent you like an attorney would write a contract for you on LegalZoom for X dollars that's going to be a very real potential solution. If if this goes down the second one is going to be a whole bunch of people are going to just be caught with their pants down, and they just said well I knew about it but I heard about it but I and when it happens if it happens and I don't want it to happen if it happens, it's going to go like this on.

Tuesday Yep they're not going to say yeah hey Bob Goldberg at Nar We're going to give you guys three years to work through your process to figure this out. The state of Washington has already enacted it, the DC Marketplace has already enacted. They're ready for this. So the the second one or the most important the third one I should say is going to be the agents that have figured out their buyer value.

Add presentation where they can literally say to somebody and this is what we do to represent you and this is how we get paid. This is our fee structure now. I'm challenging everybody on this because I started by saying you should have a goal for the number of listing appointments you go on. Yeah, you guys know from coming from the UK did you look at real estate there like oh yeah I've always loved it.

so does James But but the market there is a one to two percent list side only. no cooperation. it's just all of Europe. It's much more simple so it's much more straight.

Um, similar to what you're describing. If right an AR comes through, the point is okay. what's the solution If that is The case, Yes, if it happens, the solution is you want to be a listing agent. You want to get as many listings as possible and that goes back to the point.

What I was saying before you then control the market Bingo That's your solution and narrative. That's what. That's why my third and most important goal is up in visual in your office How many listing appointments you're going to go on? Yeah, because whoever goes on the most Timmy Smith has to go with 300. Wow 300 And he said what if I fail a misery and go like on 278 right? And what if I only list 150 at an Ever sales price of 5 million? Tom There's also niches.

It's like, you know you say, listing appointments? Okay, well you can categorize yourself and I know this is specific for right for Adam and myself. Really? Um, I I am really good and Adam's really good at developing like building houses, right? So that means the Nisha is working with developers. Yes, So you can go for if I went for 100 listing appointments with with a mum and pop and James did, he'd probably get more than me right? If I went for 100 listing present? uh, um, listing appointments with developers or Adam did for example, um I'd probably get more than James did on that respect. Not there's a competition, sure, but you go.

you gravitate towards your strengths. It's about strengths and weaknesses. So listing appointments can be categorized into your comfort zone as well. Where you think that you're you add the most value, right? Okay, by the way, don't turn down any but I'm just saying.

So look at the question that Nick Schumacher is asking and any one of you can answer. But let's let's try and do a bunch of these team right. So so a couple answers on this, we'll go to the next one. So what was the one thing that catapulted your career? One consistent Behavior What was it Anybody? I mean the one thing um, was going to honestly to one of your events and coming away with this notion that this is not a one-man job and starting a team? Yeah, and it's just not.

It's not a one-man job. Back somebody from my team. go grab me several hundred dollars to him. Yeah, that wasn't meant to be.

You know something? No, no, no. I'll take it. yeah. Number one coach Ten years in a row baby.

I'm very in the house, but starting a team and building infrastructure and support around me and my efforts was the one thing that catapulted that I wasn't that proverbial chicken with its head cut off trying to do everything myself. Yeah, take us one of you. take us back to the early days because that was the one thing that like what was the thing that like that was a clear answer of what catapulted right. Okay, what about you Adam I apologize but just kind of going back to what David was talking about when I moved to Los Angeles and and I got into this business which was after watching Million Dollar Listing before we were on it.

You told me this story like if these guys can do this I can do this and I learned pretty quickly. It's not that easy, especially when you're in a market. Yeah, you don't have that many connections, you don't have a lot of people. you've got to figure it out pretty quickly.

There's got to be a business model that you can tap into that makes sense. And for me, since I realized you know I'm not going to get a listing competing against some of the best in the industry when people have no clue who I was Yeah, I needed to figure out a different way and that Niche for me was development and working with developers and understanding that segment of the business as best as I possibly could. And developers are like the gift in real estate that keeps on giving you know they're not out there buying one property every 10 years. They're buying five to six properties a year, sometimes turning them over and sometimes more.

So Adam What I'm hearing is similar to kind of playing off this conversation is: find your Niche whether it is expired listings a geographic Farm attorneys your friend group bicycle clubs no matter what it is the bar I like to play golf going out to the course and you know being at the country club or even at the municipal just everybody's a potential client. and then the only other thing I would say is find great partners and if you don't have great Partners find a great team. There's nothing better than working with great Synergy with amazing energy your tremendous Charisma like you see with these animals in this room and and the bonds that are built over that um okay uh uh Kelsey can you move that back over because I saw a bunch of questions and I'll just kind of Rapid Fire and hey, you guys want to make it all organized and sexy. So what is your best advice? So Olga asks what is your best advice? Uh, but you can't do that because then I can't see it.

What is your best advice for open House preparation? And how many hours do you think is effective? So much content on this. you don't need to like reinvent the wheel like as Tom Perry YouTube Open House search look I Built my business on open houses literally and uh, I don't think the number of hours that you need to put in it, but the prep you need to do is first and foremost. You obviously need to know everything about that house when it lasts. Sold, How much it sold for when it was built the square foot Etc Then you need to know everything that's on the market because that person that's walking into that open house likely saw three or four other properties that day.

And you need to know what those properties are and how your house compares to it so you can speak to that, right? Well, this house has a fourth bedroom. Well, this house has a bigger backyard et cetera et cetera. Then you need to know what's sold, right? So you can speak to the comps because that person that's looking at that house in that one specific geographic area is probably obsessing over that geographic area and may know more than you do. So you have to train yourself to be the expert.

And finally, you have to have a character dangle. Which means you have to know about something that's coming up that's off Market in that area. So if they don't like that house, you have something, you can pivot them to get their contact information and give yourself a reason to follow up. Otherwise, my voice everyone else, he didn't have his own listings to sit, so he was al