How to Break Into the Luxury Market | REal Success Episode 7

welcome good morning good afternoon great agents its coach bill pipes coming at you again alive excited and as always full of energy welcome back to real success where we have real agents sharing real strategies and the real success ultimately that they're having in their business really excited about today's call but Before we jump into that I've got I got a question for you have you been in action have you been taking some of the great strategies some of the ideas some of the processes that you've learned from some of the previous calls and implemented it in their bin to your business because here's what I know there are many agents out there who have the best ideas they have all types of things that they want to do but they're not putting it into action and here's what I challenge you what I challenge you for these next 30 days is to get in action because all success occurs from you being in action not from getting great ideas and you're going to get a lot of those but from taking them and doing something with it and you know what I know that a lot of the strategies some of the things that we've been talking about it but a little bit uncomfortable I've had people calling me saying gosh bill you know like you know it makes me uncomfortable to do some of the things that Dan griever Tim Smith or Eileen Rivera or Tom tool or the airline jail or any of these great agents have recommended and here's what I'd say to you it's the same thing that Tom Ferry said to me when he's probably 10 years ago he said all great growth comes from getting outside of your comfort zone and so what I would challenge you again not just to be an action but to be an action doing things that have you feel uncomfortable because here's my quote for you today if all that you do is what is comfortable for you the best that you will ever be as average so let's let's talk about uncomfortable and why do we have someone here today that is going to do that for us and a good friend of mine someone that I respect someone that I've grown close to and I can't wait to introduce her to you because today's call is about you making more money how many guys are up for making more money I know everyone just raised their hand yes and you know I was leading a seminar called sales edge in Los Angeles that I had some good friends of mine that stood up and they shared their goal for this upcoming year for 2015 for the year that we're in and they said we want to move from X number to Y numb and it was only a movement of seven transactions and they're doing substantial business in Dallas Texas I said well that doesn't seem like a big growth that doesn't seem like a lot of movement forward and what they said to me was this they said Bill it for us it isn't about doing more deals we want to double the average sales price of the homes that were selling we want to earn more selling the same and so today's guest is going to really help us she's going to pave the way for us give us some great strategies some great ideas in terms of what we can do in order to be able to grow at a high level but more importantly how to be able to sell in a luxury market so it's with great pleasure that I get to introduce a good friend of mine great coaching client and just a general kick-ass gal this is Wendy Walker hello Wendy hello bill thank you my gosh that was quite an introduction will you say that so tell them a little bit about who you are about your background your history um you know I mean how many homes did you sell last year let's just start there last year I sold almost forty forty home for okay good excellent was that it up here for you it wasn't up here for me absolutely my average sales price was right around 1.7 awesome great and how many homes did you sell the previous year 26 remember 20 2014 40 26 yeah yeah and then jumped up the previous year or this year so it's fantastic so any here cocaine market ah thanks - yep all the great coaches at tom ferry that are around um you work primarily the luxury market right your idea so tell us a little bit about the area that you sell in where do you sell and what is the average sales price inside that area so my primary focus is a town called Paradise Valley and also an a city called Scottsdale so I have recently moved primarily into or moved into Scottsdale but my primary focus for the last 15 years has been Paradise Valley so I'm actually starting to move a little bit with my inventory and my focus as well so hopefully I'll be able to share some good tips for everyone excellent well you know what what I want to do today 20 is I want to debunk some myths you know like I think there's some myths out there about selling the high-end selling luxury property um you know one of them being that you know it takes a certain type of person to be able to do it and my belief is anyone that makes up their mind to be able to do this could do it absolutely tell us about your background I mean because I think one of the hallucinations is we hear the names like Christophe and Jade and yours and Tim and you know all these big producing luxury agents and we think that they you know they must have come from a background that was easy for them to sell luxury luxury properties so but what's your background sorry Mitch actually haha so I'm from a small town in Ohio Northeast Ohio I moved to Phoenix about 20 years ago I didn't know a soul I had 300 bucks in my pocket and I said I love the weather here at least during the winter months and I was so close to California I figured I could visit the beach when it's really hot which is what I do I started my career here in sales I quickly became the number one sales rep went to get my master's degree in global management and thought I would travel the world when I was recruited into real estate by close friends who said she thought I would be perfect for the business and asked me to partner with her so I did that for a year and then went out of my own and quickly realized that I thought I would really liked to enter the luxury market but I had no experience in luxury no contacts and luxury and I decided to step back for a few years and become an assistant to a wonderful mentor of mine who had been in the business for 30 years now she's in the business for 45 and since retired but I studied under her for about five years and eventually started working on her team and then ended up taking over her business about seven years ago so you came in so because you went to like Kent State I mean you're from okay it's not like you were born in Beverly Hills or not far so you came in and said I'm gonna I'm gonna be an assistant I'm gonna figure this out a little bit I'm going to find out from someone that actually is already gone ahead of me and just sort of model their success was that a critical part to do your your growth process I think it was not only critical to the growth but also to my success and the confidence that I have today I'm the type of person whenever I go into a listing appointment I definitely want to approach it from a point a standpoint of confidence and from a place where I know that they need me just as much as I may or may not want to list their home and so I can be much more selective and I think that that's helpful and beneficial in my success but has been really instrumental in my growth process is having someone that really I could mentor with I could ask questions I can learn from and really troubleshoot things that you know maybe I wouldn't have had the experiences for years to come so I I call it a very quick education another five years yeah so you know are one of the promises that we make on every single one of these calls to our listeners is that in 30 minutes they're gonna walk away with three ideas three actions that they can take that can help them move the dial on their business in that particular area you know today obviously being you know our conversation in terms of breaking into luxury luxury sales price.and it doesn't necessarily have to be luxury sales price it can also be just increasing their own sales price right so they don't have to be selling four or five million dollar homes so tell us a little bit about I wrote some questions down here is there a difference really between selling you know the high-end versus selling the normal market and if so what did you do to you know to position yourself well I do think that there is a difference obviously the fundamentals of real estate are all the same but as far as working with the affluent there are some specific differences that I found that I've had to overcome coming from the background that I had one being you know we're working with top level people we're working with executives entrepreneurs business managers attorneys financial advisers and folks come from a place where their lifestyle and their emotions convenience is much more the driver and security privacy those are all differences that I find and you know maybe a lower price range in my area would be say under four hundred thousand where you know they're looking for for affordability and you know maybe schools or things like that where these folks are really much more emotion driven or lifestyle driven convenience ribbon so I do find that there is a difference you're oftentimes working with our attorneys we're in the lower price ranges not so much and I find that they really want to study and work with people that they feel are also tops in their field because their tops in their field or they feel that they are so you really have to dissect who they are you know the doctor who's you know has a big ego or they you know a entrepreneur who you know started a non-profit and you know or something and sold it maybe an engineer who was in the tech field or you know you just have to really find out the personalities of these folks like we do in in any real estate transaction but these the motivators I find are a lot different you know and I love that and in our conversations that we've had in the past one of the things that you stressed was how important the knowledge base that you have is to be able to generate confidence for that person in fact I think one of the things you had said is they they want to feel comfortable they want to trust that you know exactly what it is that you know that you have that knowledge of the market um if I'm going to break in to a little bit higher in price price range or if I'm going to break into the luxury what could I do to build that confidence you know for myself because obviously you know I want to exude that right as an agent that's coming in there to be able to compete so what could I do or what did you do to build that confidence for yourself one of the main things I did was actually study the other luxury agents very closely so I went to our luxury home tours which a lot of people call in caravans I look at who the top players are in different areas I wanted to really dissect I have a psychology in a marketing background so a psychology is very important and I love to study it's interesting to me so you know I study their personalities and you know who is selling what and with price ranges and what areas of my small affluent area that I focus on and then I really wanted to as well figure out how to best assess them to know the value of homes so you know when you walk into a home for instance I went to a listing last week where on the phone I had already negotiated the price because I knew the property and I had the listing paperwork ready to go at that price and then upon entering the property and really going through it I had to tell my client who is a longtime client you know what actually I think we should listed a hundred thousand higher well I know that because I know the value and so there are some things that she had done that I hadn't you know I didn't realize that she had upgraded and I said you know what I'm really sorry I think I'm off and she she actually started crying and said I trust you so much that whatever you say if you think that's the value she said but of course I would love a hundred thousand more and we ended up selling it for another forty five thousand in less than ten days so you know they really with those clients they want to trust someone and they want you to be a trusted advisor and the only thing you can do that is to really study the market and know the value and I think that once they feel that your confident and you can talk about the house down the street that you've seen and you know the inventory and that really speaks to them you know so there's three things already I've taken from this call number one is study the other agents yeah number one is study the other agents look at the people that are having success figure out why it is because there's probably different things that different agents do they have their own sort of you know approach but figure out what it is that they're doing number two study the market right that we've got to be studying the market taking a look at that and seeing what's going on we got to be then you know really have a strong knowledge base I'm going out on the caravans on the on the on the tour to be able to speak intelligently and confidently you know one of my own tours Wendy used to say knowledge equals confidence so you just come completely the support of that um you know one thing that I like that you said as well to that I want everyone to pick up on is it's the fundamentals you started this entire thing off you said it's still fundamental sales as sales you know you've got to be able to read personality and be versatile etc so let's talk about differences though let's I wrote down marketing from a marketing component and a marketing perspective I mean we see some incredible marketing pieces at the tom ferry organization from some of our great agents like yourself that do sell luxury is there a difference in marketing and if so um what would I need to adjust myself to be able to actually to make that change and to be able to market in the luxury that's a great question that was one of the myths whenever I teach a luxury class at the Arizona School of real estate I often ask people you know why do you want to sell luxury and they say I want to make more Commission but at the end of the day to earn that to mention it it costs a lot more money so you really have to understand that these homes or the expectation of marketing in these homes is very high it's a very high level the designs of the depth and breadth and the reach you know most of my clients in my area have second third and some time for homes they travel the world they really want to know that you can can reach people globally I know in areas like California the Asian markets are very strong in my area the Canadian market is very strong so you know they really want to know that you have a way to reach these people not just on the internet but in other in other ways do you have the network of people and agents and do they have your respect and so you know I often tell people you know these palms can carry eaten spend six to ten thousand dollars on these homes from photography to magazines - you know my designer my marketing coordinator I have all these people on my staff that work for me because I want to focus on negotiating and getting more business but their expectation on marketing is so high so what are they three four five without giving away and like your trade secret right um I want to break into this market I want to do I want to make sure that my marketing really speaks to this this you know particular type of seller a particular type of buyer what would you recommend what what type what adjustments or what type of marketing should I be doing or how should I adjust my normal marketing to have it fit the luxury of a luxury brand well one of the things I personally did was went with my branding person and he looked at all the top sites of luxury so Prada Gucci Maseratis all of all the marketing the looks I went to Donald Trump's website and I look I thought okay Donald Trump is in real estate I want to see which color background is he use what kind of logo does view's what kind of ad copy does he use what is that what are the fonts look like and really want to I wanted to create a luxury brand that fit in with the other brands that these folks are are associated with or or or would use or revive and so I think that's very important is the look I'm very specific myself and my team on my look nothing goes out unless I've seen at first as far as actual materials or things that I send out I do send out a bear high level farming brochure to a couple of key areas that looks very nice it's custom it has my logo it has my homes on the front cover it looks like a magazine and then on the back I customize the back every month with something that I think is pertinent it could be a letter from me it could be a market update it could be something that's related to what's happening in our area but it's it's very personalized and nobody else has that piece that looks like mine number one number two I also send out a newsletter that again has the same branding look and feel but it goes to all the agents that I have in my database as well as clients and I find that that is actually a really great tool I get a lot of feedback it has statistics it has a letter for me about what's happening in the market it has my listings on it it has you know oh I I show listings outside of my own area so that my clients know that I you know I have agents in Florida or Hawaii or California that I work with so that they see that I have a referral network that works with me so I do send out a lot of things that are branded and look the same like just listed it sold cards but they all are custom and I've customized them over the years and continue to do so so people know I mean just like seeing that GG you know what give right seeing the true seeing the tried it you know on you know you know it's a Maserati right I mean it's people see your brand and they recognize that's Wendy Walker right and so would you I mean that they've got to do that I mean definitely yeah eww baby exactly and I love that did you buy your fonts did you like it just like I purchased my fonts I actually have several of them but I purchased my w's and then my the rest of my logos all purchase there's actually free fonts that make up my logo but it's not a font that you get on your computer it's something that my branding person actually researched and I I went through quite a few different ones because I was so specific about that look I love it so I'm noticing this whole dialog in terms of that the conversation on marketing to the luxury to the luxury market is that they're used to seeing that higher end they're used to seeing a little bit sexier a little bit more polished right and so because because they're used to that if you're not aligned with that then it's probably not going to actually speak to them the message even no matter how good the messaging that's right well I find that you know when I go in I do not cut my commission it's just a rule of thumb and so when I'm in a listing appointment I'm presenting hi number one tailor my presentation based on the personality the person I've taken a listing in 15 minutes and it's sometimes taking me two or three different times to get the listing but I'm very selective I tell them that I don't take every listing I am I present myself in a way and my company and my materials in a way that's very professional and if they want to hire the other person that wants to discount and and not do the things and offer what I have that's okay I'm not the person for them and I'm very very okay to walk away but I do spend a lot of time effort energy money creativity staff on putting all these things together so you know with that comes comes little sickly expense and so I have to recoup that somewhere and I think I really don't have a problem with it to be quite honest because they normally can see the difference yeah you know it's it's interesting cuz I'm sure that some of some of our listeners right now we're going oh my gosh that sounds like spending a lot of money okay um image you and I talked about this before critical image bits do you feel that dressing a certain way presenting yourself a certain way I mean does that come into the decision-making process of this higher end buyer or seller I think it does but I think again in real estate we sort of have to tailor our presentation to the personality so you know based on the type of person that I'm dealing with some of them you know their finance or financial advisors make their decisions I have two athletes now that I've never met and I work with the financial advisor so when I'm dealing with a financial advisor it's all numbers driven because that's all the financial advisor cares about if I'm dealing with you know someone who's been in their home it's old money they've raised their kids there for years but yet they just want to downsize and get out of 20,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet you know that's some that's a different presentation and so yes I do think it's different in luxury they are looking for someone who's polished there they are but you do have to tailor some of those folks aren't as pretentious as others love it yeah you know I I love one of the things that you and I were having conversation I think it was last week about this and I said you know you've just broken into the luxury market there you go I didn't have that room that much money just spend on clothes right and and and you can share with them what you told me yeah a lot of people what what you did well I I didn't have that much money to spend on clothes and so I did two things number one I traded with other people but I went to resale shops that were in the area that I live that I work in and a lot of those ladies have beautiful clothes that they never wear them so that's still one of my little secrets that I have is I have beautiful clothes but I don't spend a whole lot of money on them fantastic that is good so even if someone does have a lot of my they can still break into this market I just rose it yeah they broke em um how do you generate I mean you're you're a lead generator you still prospect can you talk to us a little bit about how to generate leads what is your best source of lead generation now and you know when you were first started let's start with what it is now and then we can hop over and then when you first started how did you how did you generate leads well now I do I followed a ferry program where I do my farming I have I work my sphere of influence because I you know now my sphere is much larger I obviously network with other agents with the top agents that we you know work very similarly we have a lot of reciprocity here with California so you know I have a lot of close relationships with California agents in fact I got two referrals from Californians today so you know I use a lot of different marketing strategies now of course advertising works referrals most of my business is referral based at this point which I'm fortunate to say but when I started in the market luxury market I didn't have the ad and so even though I was working under tutelage and mentorship of another agent it was very important that I you know be seen at certain events you know charity events or local events that were going on we respond to things the country clubs we were you know I frequent the clubs that are in my area very often even if it's just to have lunch there so this to be out and about in the community it's important for those people you know to see you especially at the events or a lot of the other my competitors would be as well so I do think if you're wanting to break into the market the luxury market number one is to really focus on some of those events they don't all they're not all super expensive to attend but to be seen at them is important number two would be sitting open houses in the area that you're really focusing on I think it's important a lot of times a lot of times I see new agents they're so excited to have a million dollar plus listing that they they really don't understand exactly what they have they don't understand the area they don't understand the value and so it just start doing all these things and you know what you need to really do is take a step back and understand what's happening in that neighborhood know the names of the people on the street that are around that house people are looking for that they asked all the time oh did you know so-and-so do you know that if you don't how you learn those is by sitting open houses and meeting the neighbors so use the Tom ferry megha open house idea but do an exclusive event for the neighbors beforehand so that you get to meet the neighbors so when the next day for something you can this neighbor was just there and they feel like you're the market expert we rather than you having to actually have known them for years they don't need to know that so there's ways around that that you can really but I think it's important if you really focus on one specific area first and then you can start moving out outside of that area and that's advice I've given to a lot of clients I know you refer to me to talk with is don't try and take the whole market at once start small become the expert in that community and then start to branch out because that will eventually happen when people are coming through open houses or you have those types of exclusive luxury people like exclusive event I love it you know so there's so right now your business agent you had a lot of referral business both agent to agent referral also from your database you still prospect though you're doing you're welcome to them to your sphere of influence but if I'm brand new get to the events you know find social functions I call it social farming right do social farming where you're out about and you're seen because those I think you've said in the past those individuals that you're gonna you know that that higher-end buyer or seller they like people that are also in sort of that network a little bit right they'd like to see you and then I love this open houses the the whole concept of development houses you know be able to do that and do the mega open where you you get to connect with the neighbors you know I know a lot of people may be sitting there and thinking gosh you know I've got a little fear a little anxiety you know it's it's one thing if I'm talking to a member that's right wrong or indifferent got it's one thing to talk to someone that's a 10 or 50 thousand dollar homeowner but it's another thing to talk to someone who is you're talking about a athletes CEOs you know like high-powered individuals how did you personally overcome that fear and did you ever have it to begin with I did have it but you know as I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation is how I get to a place of confidence is a feeling that I can bring value and I'm knowledgeable and they need me and so I really studied and I spent a lot of time I went around to open houses I went to all the caravan tours I talked to the agents I spent a lot of time really educating myself on the market this very small market that I wanted to work and it took it took a while you know it's the streets those houses the neighborhoods how they're different you know when you're showing houses people want to know the difference they want to know about the schools they want to know about you know they do that but but in the luxury market really they want you to do that very succinctly and they want you to have the knowledge to do it quickly because they don't have a lot of time they like confidentiality quickness privacy security conveniently and about their emotional people they don't they don't need to be slept around I don't I don't ever show more than ten houses generally because I can narrow down exactly what they want or at least be able to tell them what community they would want to be in and generally they are brilliant so they need to have information delivered fast it needs to be succinct it needs to be delivered confidently and it needs because they're they're quick and on this side you know and it's something women are all do something else they they don't have the time okay so just build that confidence again just go you know the studying and build the confidence so that you can overcome that fear you know you and I you've been through a lot I mean it's been it's been exciting to watch I mean really inspiring so in I always ask this question and I would ask it to you too how important is mindset in this game of your success and what do you do to be able to maintain your mindset and be able to be a great mother great wife amazing agent incredible leader give back to the community with all the highs and lows what do you do to maintain your mindset besides crying to you every week well I think the mindset and I think it was even Tim Smith on his video the mindsets everything I you know there was a thing over the summer I just I was tired our season was in a wall and I just stopped prospecting I wasn't listening to the right music I wasn't reading the books like I generally do it was I was just completely out of sorts but I sort of gave myself that that latitude because I thought I'd worked so hard you know for six months which is our highest season and really it hurt me tremendously in the last part of the second half of last year it really did and I felt it and you know we talked about it is you know once you get back on track and you have that energy I love negotiating I love working with people um you know I listen to music I'm reading books you know I love autumn audible I listen to a book on tape about once a week and it just really is energizing and being around other agents and really networking around those folks I actually flew to Beverly Hills last year and to meet with an agent because I just told her I was in a lull I was in a funk I wasn't you know I was thinking maybe there's more to life than this and all these things and she said Wendy my gosh what are we gonna do with yourself you you love to negotiate you make money you work with these amazing people you know and I thought gosh actually she's right what would I do with myself so you know you just have to really have that support around you I'm coaching obviously it helps my business tremendously from a leadership standpoint I really having you know work on my leadership skills and read books and talk to people and you know I I have the I'm very fortunate that I have a wonderful database of people that are highly successful and really willing to share because once they get to know you the circle of the affluent sometimes is very small and people that they trust and that they really confide in and so you know once you once you to establish that relationship you know they're become friends and and fortunately I've been able to do have many of them as mentors even if they didn't know it I love it awesome yes so there's so much there's there's way more than three things inside of this but and for me number one is knowledge build the knowledge build the knowledge that they have the confidence number two is they've got to update their marketing they've got to really look at their brand and without spending a lot of money up upgrade the brand a little bit right number three it prospecting is prospecting I mean the way that you're generating business is very similar to the way that other individuals are it's just a matter of maybe it's more social farming more events and things along those lines and it's all and again mindset you know like you're you're you're listening to audible you're reading books you know I you're you know exposing yourself to other great agents that and they're you guys are sharing ideas so there's so much so I'm leaving this call if if I were to do one thing from today's interview you know if I were to take one thing away what would you recommend that first action that I take be if I wanted to actually increase my price point or break into luxury market well number one you have to really decide that you want to do it and that you have the ability and the time and effort and energy to invest in it that's number one don't just dabble in it if you're going to dabble in it you may as well coalesce with somebody which isn't a bad idea I I tell agents that you know again I don't take every listing but I do tell agents you know I'm happy to help them if they want to bring something to me and I you know I'll look at them I'll help them even if I don't take it at least you know it's an opportunity for you to go on a listing presentation with an HD and do does this all the time and so it gives you just an idea of what you might have to do and so if you have to give up a little on the Commission big deal that's a huge learning lesson and maybe you find that it's not for you but if you found it is for you then you know then you've got to invest the time and you really have to decide that you're going to you're really going to push towards raising that price point or you're really going to push towards that market and how do you do that how do you best do that in the area that you are in you know is it by being at events or country clubs or is is there something else in that community that's a driver you know do you want to live in that community I lived in one of the communities for a while just to have the sphere of influence and know those people so you know I would say number one decide and the number two really educate yourself so that when you do get that appointment you're very confident and and you're not scratching to get it you're you're really presenting something that they need they really need you and that you have the ability to handle that listing properly really oh properly yes that the word that came up so much confidence confidence confidence confidence confidence just across the board and you exude that for sure well I know I mean I got four pages worth of notes I'm sitting here in this little hotel and Stan and Tony you know riding on the embassy suite no thing but can't wait to go back and review this and I know that all the viewers I just want to send out a big thanks to you so how do they get ahold of you if they do want to send referrals or they have you know want to connect with you how do they do that look I'm always available to and I'm happy willing to answer questions and take phone calls as I can but you can reach me either through my office which is six zero two seven one seven five zero seven one or six zero two four six 88888 and or email which is Wendy with a why @ww fine properties calm awesome well Wendy thank you so much for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule more than once to be able to do this I'm super grateful very appreciative and for everyone that is listening here's my question what are you going to do next what is going to be the action that you take to take this from great ideas to actually happy clients and money in your pocket because that's what the game is all about so until I get a chance to speak to you next month thank you again miss Wendy Walker thank you for all of our listeners that are that have listened to this and until we speak you know hey keep your mind focus on the future keep your actions right here in the present and keep on moving forward make your life epic look forward to talking to guys soon have a great month bye bye

Channel: Tom Ferry

Views: 49,732

Rating: 4.8976235 out of 5

Keywords: Tom ferry, tom ferry coaching, real estate, real estate training, real estate coaching, sales training, marketing, motivation, sales skills, Success, Training, sales tips, lead generation, real estate events, real estate tools, referrals, lead generation for real estate agents, lead generation systems, real estate coach, real estate coaching programs, real estate sales training, top real estate coach, listing, luxury real estate, luxury market, tips, real estate agent, new agent

Id: goJdjin-lZA

Length: 37min 50sec (2270 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 26 2015