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Beatty: [00:00:01.38] Well, hey there. This is Beatty Carmichael with get sellers calling you. And I’ve got a really exciting guest today and this is one of those kind of like a deja vu. Guess if you want to call it that, because it truly is a deja vu. About three years ago, I interviewed a friend of mine here in Birmingham named Toni Fiore. At the time, he’d been selling real estate over 20 years. He’d had his own brokerage for 18 years. And the cool thing about Tony is he just has this amazing knack of having all of the business he ever wants to have an incredible lifestyle and have an incredible family work life balance between his work and his life and his family and just being able to juggle all that. And one of the keys to juggling that is having enough money that you can do what you need to do and one to do. And the other thing, this is one of those things that the interviews I did that I really was not expecting it to turn out as it did because I’ve known Tony all these years. I didn’t really understand what he did or how he did it. But the one thing I found out on this is really cool and this is why I want to kind of resurrect from the the oldies but goodies of some of these past interviews, or at least this past interview is he did all of his business and continues to do it and grows his business at any time whenever he wants to without spending a dime in marketing.

Beatty: [00:01:38.98] Now, I love selling postcards. I love helping people grow their businesses. But there’s a lot more to growing a real estate business than simply spending money. And if you can learn the best practices of how to do it, if you can learn how to grow your real estate business, turn on that prospect that that actually that that business faucet. Any time you need to and hit whatever your financial goals are, then what that means is you don’t have to spend a lot of money doing it. You can have time with your family and you can start to have a life while being a real estate agent. So I think you’re going to enjoy that. So with that and no further is let me bring this on from about three years ago and enjoy be blessed the wife. All right. So hey, I’m Beatty Carmichael and welcome to the Get Sellers Calling You podcast. And I’m excited about today’s call because I get to interview not only an amazing realtor but also a friend from many years, Tony Fiore, and a column kind of amazing. Not because he’s a super top producer, though. He could be, but I think he’s more amazing. And what I want to share with you is he’s he’s balanced his life. He’s one of the few agents that really has balance in his life between his his business and his his personal life. And he’s got some things to share about that. So for that reason, I just love to have him on. And also, as a reminder, this is an Internet call, so please pardon any Internet type of interruption. So, Tony, how are you doing?

Tony: [00:03:10.76] I’m doing great. Thank you, Beatty.

Beatty: [00:03:12.44] Yeah. And we go back many years. Not to belabor too much, but we were both single many years ago when we actually started to get to know each other. Do you remember those days?

Tony: [00:03:25.94] That was a long time ago.

Beatty: [00:03:26.93] Yes, that was a long time ago. And one of the things I’ve really been amazed as I watched you, as you’ve always seemed to be just a real I’ll call it a steady Eddie type of producer. And I don’t know. I don’t know. I didn’t during those years, I didn’t know much about your production, but I started to say, you’re building go up and your brokerage go up. And so it’s just fun. So if you would just as we get started, maybe just tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tony: [00:03:56.35] Right. As far as the real estate goes, I started real estate 27 years ago. I started out as a sales agent and did that for quite a while. And then back in 2001, I started my own company, which was Fiore real estate. And my plan there was to be a one person company, which you can’t really be unless you work all the time. And that didn’t work in my plan. So it kind of grew and 2004 bought a Remax franchise and grew it up until this point. So I love it.

Beatty: [00:04:25.36] And now you’re one of these. You go out and you run ads and you advertise everywhere and you buy leads and all that stuff to drive your business, right?

Tony: [00:04:35.98] None whatsoever, no. Have you ever done that? So business has always been exclusive of our referral. And so when I started off in the business, I really just help friends and family and then referrals and it evolved. I really didn’t have a very specific system in place at that time. I just knew that I wanted to be more of a service as opposed to a salesperson. And so I just serve people. And then over time put into place a coach, my business and a coaching organization that really helped me fine tune that. And we called the company brand Buffini. And I’ve had a business coach for the past 22 years because of that, and that’s really helped me be very specific on not only just working by referral, but building a business and a company that works by referral.

Beatty: [00:05:19.45] Fantastic. So as most of your success, would you relate it back to what you’ve been doing with Buffini?

Tony: [00:05:27.73] I would say a large part of it. Yes, it’s a relationship type business and it’s not a sales type business which most people think of. Real estate is being a sales. It’s relationships.

Beatty: [00:05:36.73] Right. Okay. So let’s dig in on this because you’ve got let me ask it this way as I move into this. Do you can you turn your business up and drive more volume if you wanted to? In other words, are you in control?

Tony: [00:05:52.78] Okay. Yes.

Beatty: [00:05:54.07] So then let’s talk about this relationship, because most agents out there, you know, it’s the they’re the tail being wagged by the dog. And it sounds like you’re the dog wagging the tail. So what are you doing in the relationships that’s driving your business? What makes it consistent?

Tony: [00:06:11.03] Source individual one on one time. Again, people, because of their personalities, do different things. My personality is the one. I’m a one on one person, so I’m really good at one on one lunches with clients, with friends. Some of the things that I do, whether it be church oriented or maybe even a hobby, my one hobbies are run. So I have a lot of clients that I run with and so they tell people about me and I just spend time doing things I enjoy doing and that involves the business. And then you do an exceptional job for somebody. And what if they tell someone else about it? One thing I would say that people have a misconception on is when you say what my referral is, they think it’s a passive word of mouth business. And that is not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about hoping someone refers me. What I’m talking about is when I talk to Betty and I help Betty and PR with their home sale or their family member, they have a great experience and they want to tell people about me and that isn’t good enough.

Tony: [00:07:04.75] I have to stay in touch with Bebe, and I will continue to develop relationships well beyond the sale, sell the home I have set up. So four or five, six, seven homes to over the years and they would never call anyone else because I had such good care of them. But now what happens is the reason I do that is because I’m in constant contact with them. Over time, you might say, how do I stay in touch with them? Well, just recently for Thanksgiving, I had pie giveaway clients come to my office. I gave them pies for Mother’s Day. I deliver flowers. I deliver flowers to Mother’s Mother’s Day. For Father’s Day, I deliver Dad’s root beer to Dad. So a variety of things, just people think, oh, that’s it’s relationships. It’s going and just supporting people and just checking in with them. And it’s not about selling someone a home. That is never the goal. The goal is to be your trusted advisor for your entire life. Anything you need, you call me about it. And that’s what I am. I’m their source of everything and their trusted advisor.

Beatty: [00:07:58.99] You know, I love that because I don’t know if you know my experience and I don’t think she’ll ever watch this video. So I’ll be real open. I won’t use her name, but my wife’s cousin sold her our home like 20 some odd years ago, the other home, and it’s in a nice area of town and the second nicest area over here in Vestavia. And what’s interesting is because of the relationship, we always felt that she assumed we would always come back to her simply because there is a marriage cousin relationship. But she never did any of the things she did. She never kept up with us. She never nurtured the relationship. She never appreciated us. And as a result, when we sold the house and bought a bigger house recently and it was a pretty sizable transaction on both ends, she wasn’t involved. We picked someone else. So you staying in touch? I guess. Yeah. So? So I love what you say. It’s not a passive business. So you’re out jogging with people and you’re involved in life. What are you doing with those relationships that that get them to choose you? I mean, are you always saying I’m a real estate agent? Are you sending them stuff in the mail? What what are you doing that prompts them when it’s time for a real estate need that they call you? Does that make sense?

Tony: [00:09:28.26] It does make sense that actually I probably don’t do what you would expect. I do. I don’t tell them what I do. Other people tell them what I do. I’m there with our running group, for example, to run. That’s why I’m there. I’m not there for business. It’s about productivity and whether it’s someone going to church or being a coach or their son’s league. Whatever it is, I’m there for the purpose of something I enjoy doing. The byproduct is people know what I do, and then what’s going to happen is they’re going to hear someone else in the group. Oh, well, Tony was my agent. This is what he did for me. That’s the best sales pitch you can get. Is someone else talking about you, not yourself. And so I don’t go out there and push myself. Other people push me because also what I do is when I meet with someone, I explain to them that I’m going to devote my time and attention to them and not marketing to the public is to them. And so what I would hope they would do is if I do an exceptional job for them, they would tell their friends and tell me about me.

Beatty: [00:10:22.70] You know.

Tony: [00:10:23.18] And that’s what they do.

Beatty: [00:10:24.35] That’s fascinating. So I don’t mean to dig too deep into something that may seem obvious, but the disconnect that I have right now that I’m kind of missing is you’re out there. You never tell them what you do, but then they choose you. Is there anything that you do in terms of mailing them something or dropping off a gift or Christmas card or anything throughout the year that lets them know you’re a real estate agent? I mean, is there or I mean, literally, do you just go run your you zip your mouth, you’re not gonna help me with that discount?

Tony: [00:11:02.81] Yes and no. For example, as I meet people, it’s often you ask them, what do you do for a living? That happens often. And so you tell them what you do. And so people do know that in the real estate business, I do send a picture of my family for Christmas and things that I would do to friends. There are times where I would be a sponsor for a race, for example. I’m a very I run trails, for example, and road running. And so the traveling community in Birmingham mostly know who I am. And as a result of that, I could probably give you 20 names right now. In the past two years, I’ve helped people in that community. Well, they tell each other about me. And so that’s very common to do that. But I do on occasion sponsor races as Tony Fiore, as the agent who is sponsoring this race. And my banner is up at the race and they see me that way and identify me as a sponsor. That does happen sometimes, but that is not necessarily to get business. That’s just a brand recognition over time to support what already is supporting me.

Beatty: [00:11:57.95] I love it. I love it. That’s really neat. So if you could then maybe boil down. So does this take the picture that’s running in my mind is are you super outgoing, involved in lots of activities, or do you have to be kind of super outgoing, involved in lots of activities to build a business like you’ve done? Or if someone is not as involved, how did they take what you’ve learned and kind of apply it into a different realm? I’m sure you probably taught agents over the years that aren’t as involved, so I help me with that. Does that can you do that?

Tony: [00:12:33.98] Yes, and I will. I’ll back up and say everyone that has come to my company has come by way of referral. So I’ve not recruited agents. Every single person has been referred by someone else to come and speak to me. And we started them off almost everyone exclusively. Never been in real estate, ever. Starting off from scratch and building a business and become very successful. They only work by referral. That’s all they know. And so what I’m talking about is the philosophy of the entire group that we have. And so to answer your question is, I’m not a super outgoing guy. I’m really not. I would much prefer to be one on one with somebody at the same time. I can speak to the crowd, but that’s not typically what I do. I’m not the social life of the party guy. That’s not me. I tell the agents what you do best, whether I be running. It may be something with church. It may be something with a hobby you have or whatever it is, do your hobby. And that’s where business is going to come from. Some people, for example, might have a dinner party for their clients.

Tony: [00:13:28.51] Some people might do a different activity. So, yes, some people might have a big cookout for their clients. That’s not something that I do. Years ago, when my children were small, I would have Santa Claus at my house and I would invite my clients to come to an open house. Have your picture made with Santa Claus? Well. My youngest child is about to be 18 next month. The oldest is 24. So that’s not really a fit for where I am in life. It’d be a great idea for people, but you tend to find that a lot of your clients are typically in the same life place you are. So early on in my career, I sold a lot of homes to first time buyers, so that was the age bracket I was in. Now, today, maybe on the third or fourth home, now I sell homes to people who are 20 and also 70. So that doesn’t matter. But it is common to be around people that are typically your age for the most part because of where you are in life.

Beatty: [00:14:18.70] That’s really neat, you know, because most of the agents that I’ve worked with over the years, they’re so focused on marketing and advertising and buying leads. All these, I almost want to say, nontraditional ways of building real estate, but I think there are now the traditional way and yours is a nontraditional. So yeah, so it’s been really successful. So with your business then, have you had ups and downs or is is working this process really steady?

Tony: [00:14:53.72] And there can be ups and downs and it’s all I’m not going to say intentional, but what you put into is what you get out. Okay. So if I don’t do anything for the next three or four or five or six months, then I’m going to expect the next four, five, six months to kind of be slower. Now, there’s going to be some business no matter what, because I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s going to happen. But if I want to wrap things up, I’m just going to make more phone calls. I’ll give you the things we do. There are three things I do. Calls we phone call people. Just checking in with you, Betty. How you do it? I’ll write personal notes. Big on personal notes. And we do what we call pop bars. We visit people. And that could be delivering the Mother’s Day flowers or dad’s beer or whatever it has to be done. So one thing that people often neglect is writing a personal note to somebody that’s huge. And so just taking the time to say, hey, very good talking to you today. Glad seeing you. And people are shocking you on a personal note. So call notes on three very basic, simple things we do. That’s the foundation of our business.

Beatty: [00:15:51.38] So it’s interesting you mention, because now this is is making a little more sense. If you slack off for several months, then you’ll know that the several months after that is going to be pretty slow. So you’re not advertising in marketing in a sense, but you are active in always on the phone talking to people, just saying hello, handwriting the notes, doing the pop by. So you’re active in engaging with them personally?

Tony: [00:16:18.35] Yes, it’s very proactive. We’re not sitting here waiting for the phone to ring. That is not going to work.

Beatty: [00:16:23.84] That okay. That makes a lot. So your marketing is really just relationship nurturing and it’s not advertising or sending out postcards saying, you know, choose me.

Tony: [00:16:34.58] Here’s why my marketing is in relationships with people that I personally know.

Beatty: [00:16:40.07] I love it. I love it. Now, do you do any, like just sell postcards or just solicited or anything to your folks?

Tony: [00:16:46.07] Usually I do not. Okay, now that’s not a bad idea. I just personally haven’t done that. But that would be a good idea for some people. I would not say Don’t do that. I just haven’t done that.

Beatty: [00:16:55.88] Okay. And the last question I want to kind of shift like we talked about earlier on the call, but I wanted. So you’re making a phone call or writing a personal note. What do you say? I’ve got a new agent over here or a four or five year agent. They’ve never done this. And the only thing they can think of is, hey, do you know anyone thinking about buying or selling? So what do you do? How do you. How do you engage?

Tony: [00:17:18.60] A lot of the postcards or notes I’m writing are not really asking for business. It could be simply, I enjoy catching up with the day. Let’s get together again soon. It’s really tell me something simple or if there’s something specific we talked about, it could be something that I’m address about that. It’s not a very lengthy two or three line. It’s really Tony, put a card in there and I put a little sticker on this is oh, by the way. And one of the phrases we go by is that, by the way, if you are buying or selling a home or had a friend or family member who was he had a real tutor for him, too. That’s what we would ask. And then they either do or they don’t. And one thing is, some people like you mentioned, Betty, have family members who are realtors or have long lost friends. That’s great. We don’t want to take anybody’s business away from. That’s not the objective. I’m looking for people who don’t have realtors who want to establish a relationship. And so sometimes it’s not a fit.

Beatty: [00:18:09.01] So so the personal notes that you’re doing, those are actually personal notes after you’ve spoken with them or have met with them. It’s not. Okay. So so really, your your outward engagement is a phone call to say hello or bye. And then the personal note is after one of those engagements.

Tony: [00:18:31.57] Yes. The note table comes afterwards. Yes.

Beatty: [00:18:33.70] Okay. Really?

Tony: [00:18:35.17] I just thought about you today. It could be something just random. Yes.

Beatty: [00:18:38.11] Okay, great. You’re listening to the Get Sellers calling you podcast to increase sales from past clients and sphere of influence or from a geographic farm. Learn about agent dominator. We guarantee your sales in writing or give your money back. To learn more, visit our website at Get Seller’s Calling UK and Select Agent Dominator from the menu. And now back to the podcast. Now earlier before this call, we were talking about your balance and that sort of way alluded to it and just a moment ago when you could drive your volume up a lot more. Everyone saying, I want more volume, I want to make more money, but you have purposely not done that. Talk to me. What drives that? Talk to me about I’ll call it the balance in your life.

Tony: [00:19:24.74] Okay. That’s a great question, because I’ve never been driven by money. I’ve never been driven. I certainly have to have a good life. I want to provide for our family. I have four children to have graduated college, one’s in college, one’s about to be in college. And so for 24 years of my life, my children have been a huge, huge part of my life. So I’m going to focus on being a great dad. But even before that, the number one thing in my life is my relationship with God. So that’s the foundation of everything I do, and hopefully every decision I make is based on that. And so taking my relationship with God and the principles of that, to run my business, how to be as balanced as possible, not that it always is, but always trying to go back to that to where I’m going to take time off. I don’t recall ever missing a kids activity in my life, ever. I’m always there. And so I’m always going to be present. Whether it’s whatever’s going on, I want them to know I’m there for them. So that’s been a huge thing for me. So my foundation and my faith is number one thing. Second is my family.

Beatty: [00:20:23.59] Very interesting. So talk to me a little bit more about so your foundation is your faith in God and and how does that I know you mentioned it. It’s it helps you with the balance and giving your family priority. Can you go a little bit deeper into it, maybe some practical things where it comes out, some boundaries where it comes out, and maybe just for you internally, what it how does it drive you, especially for someone who may not have quite so much reliance on the Lord right now? What does it mean to you? That’s probably a lot of questions trying to impact in a little time. Okay.

Tony: [00:21:02.93] That is for me. And my personality is maybe different than some others as well. So I’ve got to take that into account. I’m pretty driven. I’m very focused and very specific, and I move pretty quick. And so I’m very confident. And so because of that, I do get my business done and I take off and I don’t mind taking time off work. And another thing is people in the real estate business tend not to take off because they think they’re available. 20 47i am not available. 24 seven. The very first thing I do in meeting with the client is we sit down and talk about what’s going to happen today. When you move in the home and to your home sales, what’s it going to look like a picture for you? And part of painting that picture is what your role is in the client. What my role is as your agent. And part of my role is I’m not available at 10:00 at night, so don’t call me. And I’m going to set the tone because if someone expects me to be available 24 seven, I’m not the guy for them and that’s okay. And I know my boundaries are going to be such to where I’ve got family time. I will never miss the kids activity.

Tony: [00:22:02.66] I will never miss my church activities. Those are my priorities. And that’s the big things I’ve put in my my priority list first. And they know that. But because they were referred to me, they trust me before they walk in the door. They’ve been sold before they get to me. And there’s two things. There’s one’s a confidence and one’s a character. A character. You trust me because your friend told me about you. The confidence. Do I know what I’m doing? I have a lot of friends that are awesome people, but they may not be great at their job. So it’s not just are you a great guy? Not means you love God, but are you good at what you do and you got to be good at what you do. And so all that package together kind of makes somebody that I would consider as the right person as far as what I’m trying to accomplish in my business. And that’s also what I try to teach people in our companies. We train them to be that type of person, to have boundaries for your family. And what I’ve seen people do is have a great business and have a great family life, too.

Beatty: [00:22:56.33] I love that because I normally don’t say that with a lot of agents. They either have a great business or a great family life, but they rarely have both talk.

Tony: [00:23:06.35] And.

Beatty: [00:23:07.16] Talk to me. So as a producing sales rep, you’ve got to generate business, which you’re doing by staying highly in touch with contacts. And there’s that tendency that I got to be available for that call. I’ve got to take this next call. This person wants me to come look at a house at six or 7:00 at night, and you’ve got these boundaries that you’re always being tempted to push. How do you have the peace to say no and to draw the line when you’re a straight commission sales rep? Is that a good question? Does that make sense?

Tony: [00:23:43.70] Great question. Yes, it is. I think that goes back to the very first thing I said. It’s important to me is my faith in God. God is going to provide for me. I have no doubt about that. And so my role is to set the boundaries, whatever that may be for me. I explain it to my client. They know what they’re going to be. And that first meeting, if that’s not okay, we go our separate ways. That rarely would happen, but it could happen and I’m okay with that. I’ll walk away because I don’t make any deal. I will not compromise what I’m going to do. And so I am flexible because there are people who have various schedules and some people can’t take off during the day at 2:00 to look at a home. And so, yes, I might make it at 6:00. There are exceptions, but I know that ahead of time and I set my schedule up accordingly. And so it will vary somewhat depending on people’s schedules. But I am okay turning the phone off and saying I’m unavailable, whether I’m going on vacation or taking time off or myself or whatever it may be, I’ve got it covered and when I’m unavailable I have someone taking care of things for me. I’ve got a great team of ten agents. We work together closely and we’ve been together for a long time and we cover for one another. We help each other, we meet monthly, we have a great core group of people. And so because of that, things are always covered. And I cover for them, they cover for me. And we have a great system.

Beatty: [00:24:58.34] I love it. I love it a lot. Talk to me a little bit, if you would, on what’s the. In terms of. What how do you how do you actively apply your relationship with the Lord in your business? Not so much just the boundaries, but in terms of can you maybe give me some examples of of and I don’t want to put you on the spot or have you feel like you’re trying to teach your horn as a Christian. But for people who are, you know, we’ve been told you separate your personal life from your your faith. And, you know, there’s a separation of church and state. There’s a separation of business and and church, and it really isn’t. So talk to me in terms of how your faith in the Lord starts to impact your actual involvement with your clients, maybe things that you’ve turned down because of that or things that you’ve done that most agents may not have. And I know you’ve got to fill back and be a little bit candid, but can you do that?

Tony: [00:26:00.59] Yes, of course. And I’ll tell you, Betty, I’m one person. So there is no Christian and realtor there. The same person. Yeah. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m out sharing the gospel with every person I meet. I’m not saying that at all. I am saying that people typically know where I stand with my faith. There are times where I pray with my clients. I don’t all the time. It depends on who they are. And it is not uncommon for me to perfect people and it depends on the situation. It’s not uncommon that a lot of people have been referred by people, that because of my faith, because they know they can trust me and have similar values. And so there is no differentiation between one or two persons. There’s one person.

Beatty: [00:26:41.60] I love it. Talk to me. Not so much on real estate, but Tony Fiore as a person there struggles that we all go through in life, whether it’s raising our children, finances or health challenges. What what is your relationship with Christ meant for you during those times, and can you kind of share how that has impacted?

Tony: [00:27:07.78] Yes. I honestly don’t understand someone surviving without Christ. I can’t imagine going through life was not having the foundation of Jesus in your life. And so it’s just so far into because that is the source of everything I do every single day. My life is about how does Christ work in my life? And so, yes, it’s a good life, but there are some hard days and there are some hard periods in life and there are some very difficult times and there’s some very disappointing times in life and there’s a lot of hurt in life. And those are all very real things. But in the midst of that, when you’re having a horrible day, God is still present and that doesn’t change. God’s love can’t change, ever, no more, no less. And so that gives me strength, knowing that no matter how I may feel today, my feelings are real, but I won’t be okay because I know God’s got this. And so and I’ve got a great kids have turned out exceptionally well. I’m blessed with that. And that is the thing I’m constantly focused on. I thank God every day for how blessed I am. I tell people all the time, I am a blessed man in so many ways and in the midst of the most difficult things in my life. And I’ve had a lot of difficult things in life that were not good days and not good seasons in life. And God has got me through that and I’ve come to find out after going through that, I’m a much better person and much stronger because of it.

Beatty: [00:28:29.65] Without putting you on the spot, is there anything? And please say no if you don’t want to. But is there anything in some of those struggles that you can share what the struggles were and kind of how the Lord brought you through it?

Tony: [00:28:42.58] Well, we don’t have much time.

Beatty: [00:28:44.48] Okay.

Tony: [00:28:45.03] Okay. Maybe I’ll take that. I’ve had. It’s almost like every four years I’ve had a major event happen in my life. It can be just crazy stuff you can’t make up almost. And it’s okay because. Because God has got it. But in the interest of protecting people, I would probably not say anything else on that.

Beatty: [00:29:01.33] Okay, perfect. Perfect. So, Tony, I want as we start to wrap up, I want to ask one more thing. Now, your children, you’ve got four children and you’re pretty proud of them, aren’t you?

Tony: [00:29:13.15] Yes. They’re awesome. Yes.

Beatty: [00:29:14.80] Talk to me in terms of, if you would, raising your children as a realtor, but more importantly with your faith in the Lord. And what specifically did you do, if anything, in terms of how you raise them, that you feel? That is kind of what got them through and become so excellent. Does that make sense, what I’m asking?

Tony: [00:29:38.62] Yes. Well, I’ll start by saying it’s God’s grace alone that has gotten them where they are, because it is not me. It’s I’ve been present and I’ve been very present from day one. And so my children, they are 24, 23, 19 and 17, and all four of them, I couldn’t imagine them being as good as they are. I mean, we’re blessed. Every day is not good and we have our struggles. But through the course of raising the kids, I’ve made it a priority to spend time with them collectively, but also individually. I take them. I’ve taken them all one on one on trips just to man them before, whether it’s going to jail for the week with each kid or whether it’s just a single trip here or there. I’ve done that. Getting back to the notes I mentioned, I write my kids notes and letters. I’ve always done that. So my kids have kept letters I’ve written up over the years. So just always being engaging, always making them feel like they’re important. And I tell them this there’s nothing you can do or not do to make you love me any more or less. I will always love you no matter what and constantly tell them that and being positive and I’m an optimistic person anyway and just constantly give them positive affirmation. One of the things I said growing up is become a joke today is I always have the best day of your life. And it’s a joke now that I’ve always said that so many times. So has the best day of your life. And I mean it because it’s a choice. Our it’s a choice. And so I think having a positive attitude is really encourage them. But more than anything, I’ve prayed for them every day of their life. I pray for God’s protection on them every other life. And I’ve had even kids recently tell me, I know you pray for me, I can tell it. And so I would say that’s what it’s about. Praying for your kids.

Beatty: [00:31:17.26] I love it. That is really great. And I know when we were raising our children, we would always have Bible story time at night and to get them, you know, because when they were small, they didn’t have short attention span. So to keep them focused, we would have what I call skittle questions. And if you can answer the little questions about what we read, you get a skittle. And so they would stay engaged and it was really a.

Tony: [00:31:39.04] Lot of fun. That’s awesome.

Beatty: [00:31:41.80] Well, is there anything before we close that you would like to share either going back to some things that we talked about that you like to add to or anything in terms of your relationship with the Lord or anything at all. Before we close up.

Tony: [00:31:56.38] I think you’ve done a good job of covering a very broad picture of everything. People have a misperception of what ruleset is about and about what it can be, and it can be frantic and it can be chaotic and it can be out of control. And that is often what people see. And that’s that’s often what happens. But I think if you approach it as a business, that’s exactly what it is. It’s not a job, it’s a business. And you’ve got to approach it that way. If you approach a business with a business plan and you follow that plan, you can be successful. It’s a great business. It’s offered me a lot of flexibility with my family, with my personal life. There’s nothing I could do. And be as secure in my job as I am in real estate because I’m an average guy. God’s blessed and in business turned out really well for me.

Beatty: [00:32:42.27] Hey, I’ve got to ask you two questions because okay, so now this is for my benefit and maybe for the benefit of those listening your list size that you’re touching, that you do the phone calls and notes and pop bys about how many people is that? Do you mind.

Tony: [00:32:58.71] Sharing? Trump Well, I’m not real consistent as I should be. My database today because I’ve sold thousand plus whatever. I mean, how many it is? I mean, it’s been well over a thousand times, let’s say. But in the course of time. But they’re probably, I’m going to say 100 that I’m in constant contact with, maybe 200 max. Okay.

Beatty: [00:33:25.88] And then the amount of time it takes to do the phone calls, the notes and the pot buys to those couple of hundred people, how many hours a week do you think you’re actually investing in nurturing those relationships?

Tony: [00:33:40.28] Not nearly enough. I mean, I’m really not because like, sometimes I will just go somewhere and I’ll see five clients. I see clients everywhere I go. Okay. So last night I went to a run and I probably saw ten clients there and I’m engaging with them and I’m not specifically asking at that time, but I’m seeing people constantly, maybe at church or different activities. So I don’t do as good a job as I should do because I’m at this point in my business, I’m looking for stability in my business, not for growth in my business.

Beatty: [00:34:12.83] That makes sense.

Tony: [00:34:13.55] So because of that, I’m not I’m not really engaging. I’m not spending 2 hours a day. I’m not doing that. If I were newer in the business, I would be doing that. I would be much more engaged with people and doing a lot more activity because at this point, I just recently had a merger with my company and I’m really taking some things off my plate. So where I am at this point in my life, I’m trying to have a different quality of life now and just branch out in different areas of things I’m doing.

Beatty: [00:34:39.71] That’s fair enough. Well, Tony, thank you so much for your time. This has been really it’s been great catching up with you.

Tony: [00:34:46.97] Absolutely has been.

Beatty: [00:34:49.04] And so for those who are watching, if you like this video, please subscribe. Please like it. You can find us both on iTunes and Stitcher and Google Play, I think for our podcast or online and visit our website at Get Sellers calling EW.com for more information. Tony, thank you so much. And you have a great day. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe to it so you never miss another episode. And please like our guest sellers calling you Facebook page. Also, if you want to increase sales from past clients and sphere of influence, dominate a geographic farm or convert home valuation leads. Check out our Agent Dominator program. We create custom content that differentiates you from other realtors, then use it to keep you top of mind with your prospects, with postcards, targeted Facebook ads, email campaigns, video interviews and more. And the best part is we guarantee your sales or give all your money back. Learn more at Get Seller’s Call in EW.com and select agent dominator in the menu. Thanks for listening to the best sellers call Calling You Podcast. Have a great day.

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