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Beatty: [00:00:23.70] Well, hello, everyone, this is Beatty Carmichael again with Get Sellers Calling You, and I’ve got a really special guest today. We’ve been having this kind of a ball in the pre chat before we start the recording, and this has Lorne Cooper. He’s actually has a YouTube channel and a podcast under the name The Real Estate Agent Advantage. And we were talking recently and I was just really impressed with him and what he does. And so I wanted to have you guys have a chance to hear from him and learn some of the things that he’s learned, by the way. He is an educator on how to help agents grow their business both on the buyer and the seller side. But he’s also a tenured top producer, strong producer himself. And so this would be a lot of fun. So Lorne, let me let you say hello and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Lorne: [00:01:16.20] Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So I mean, I’m a 10 year veteran of the real estate business gave you a little background when you say tenure, top producer, that’s not true. Your top producer, 10 year veteran of the business got you.

Beatty: [00:01:32.89] It’s okay. Good. Good. Great. Great clarification, right? Absolutely.

Lorne: [00:01:37.59] Ok, so my background has always been a little bit artsy and a little bit business. I’ve always had a foot in the entrepreneurial side. I come from a musical background, actually. So I was a professional musician for years, but I can never fully commit to just the art because I also wanted security financially makes sense. Music business is definitely not a way to do that, so I owned and ran a music school for many, many years. I also was involved in retail and that type of thing, so that was my background before I got into real estate. But that also really will help shed some light as to why I have this podcast that you mentioned. Thank you is that, you know, I have this desire to teach and to share. I come from that teaching background from music and now real estate, even with music. Things never. I wasn’t that guy that was everything came naturally to. I had to figure it out, and I always found that when you’re going for music lessons or if you’re going for coaching, for for business or real estate, if you go to somebody that kind of hit the ground running and everything was easy, they don’t necessarily have the insight to share to people that have the struggles because they didn’t necessarily go through it themselves. So I found that I had to figure all that out from playing the guitar all the way through how to sell a house and get clients and and that whole game.

Lorne: [00:02:59.49] So like I said, my first two years in this business. I was kind of thrust in it, I was planning on transitioning very slowly and learning the business as I was getting out of my previous situation. But all of a sudden that just changed. Overnight, I had baby number two coming with my wife on the way. And I had no money. All of a sudden I had no income, so I dove straight full time into once I got my license practicing real estate. I didn’t have anybody in my local office at the time that really could show me the ropes. So I went and I researched and I made it a point to go to all the different trainings and hire coaches and and watch everything on YouTube and everything you can imagine and just kept trying to throw stuff at the wall to see what would stick right? Right. So I went through tremendous, tremendous disappointment and failure for the first two years. I mean, I did three deals my first year, that’s how bad it was, and it was only one sale in two leases. It was brutal and I made a commitment to myself and my wife as I was flowing through our savings very, very quickly that I need at least 10 deals next year to survive and to show that I’m moving in the right direction. Well, you know what’s interesting?

Beatty: [00:04:12.45] Let me interrupt you, because I think this is really cool first off. So baby number two was on the way when you started your real estate career.

Lorne: [00:04:21.78] Mm hmm.

Beatty: [00:04:22.21] And and you had a lot of bumps getting it started for the first year and made almost nothing. Yeah. So baby number two is on the way. When I started my business, really? Yeah, I was unemployed. I was a stay at home dad and I was a stay at home dad because I was unemployed. Ok. My wife was a stay at home mom by choice, and we found ourselves with all kinds of, you know, house mortgage and car mortgage and all these other things and no money coming in. So to show how brilliant I am, I actually did 13 different things that year to make an income. Wow. And my total adjusted gross income was eleven thousand eight hundred and eighty two dollars.

Lorne: [00:05:08.46] I beat you. I got like twelve and a half thousand.

Beatty: [00:05:10.62] Oh, right, OK, great. You beat me. But one of those things was this business that now what is it? That was 97. So this is twenty four years later has been just an amazing blessing. So but I got to ask.

Lorne: [00:05:26.55] Go ahead. It’s really interesting that, you know, the the level of motivation that you have that comes from, I guess desperation really is something that you never really forget, no matter how successful you become. And I think that helps to continue to drive your success forward. I found that for myself, do you find that even underlying at some point? You know, I do.

Beatty: [00:05:47.67] There’s a and I’ll be real honest and those who’ve listened to my podcasts a lot will recognize this. So I’m a really I’ll call myself a passionate believer in Jesus, but maybe a Jesus fanatic for others. And I don’t have much stress anymore. Even during the worst times of our of our business career, where we almost went out of business, almost went into bankruptcy. And even during that first year, I slept fine every night. So there’s a different there’s a sense of urgency, but not a sense of dread, if that makes sense, you know? Absolutely. Yeah, I’m not. I’m not running from that, that running from collapse and failure. I’m running towards where I know I can go.

Lorne: [00:06:33.42] And there’s I think there’s also a matter of inner belief in yourself and your own abilities to drive you forward. I know that when I was, you know, in that those first year in particular, I mean, it got so bad that we went through all of our savings towards the end of that first year. And we were even considering like, maybe we need help. Maybe we need to get some, some help with food. Or I didn’t know I couldn’t even eat for the first month because I was afraid I was going to take food out of my family’s mouth. It was crazy. But anyway, I still had this belief within me that I could do it. I had the ability to do it, and that’s what kept me pushing forward. And thankfully I had the support in my family as well to and my wife to really believe in that I could. And obviously, here I am. Well, you know, later we got there.

Beatty: [00:07:18.36] I think that belief is so important. So, you know, my back story briefly is I was in Amway. Anyone who had ever been in Amway, you know that they focus on belief and self-image. And when you come through that, then at that point you feel like you can do anything if you did anything there. So, so tell me, let’s go back. So, so first year, three deals, second year you had to do 10.

Lorne: [00:07:44.94] In my own mind, that was my goal, right? And that was your goal came from. I didn’t care what it was, but if I could get the volume of 10 deals, then I knew I was moving in the right direction. So I think that second year, I think I might have gotten between 10 and 12. I think it was three sales and the rest releases.

Beatty: [00:08:00.96] I cannot make a comment. Because I think this is real important. Did you have a goal on the number of cells you would make your first year?

Lorne: [00:08:10.63] I didn’t have anything specific in mind, I don’t think. I just wanted to figure out a way to figure it out, right?

Beatty: [00:08:19.66] Have you heard the study that was done? I think it was Harvard Business School. I may be wrong on the school and I’ll probably be wrong a little bit on the data, but the general thrust is is very accurate. They surveyed the students that were in Harvard Business School as they came in and asked, Do you have written, do you have goals, yes or no? And I think it was like 97 percent said no. Those who said yes, do you write them down and out of that three percent, maybe it’s like, you know, the top 10 percent had actually written them down? Or are you familiar with the study?

Lorne: [00:08:55.48] Yes, absolutely. I’ve heard

Beatty: [00:08:56.53] It. Yeah, OK. And then they they surveyed that same group, like 10 years later, and the three percent that wrote down goals cumulatively made more money than the 97 percent who did not write down goals. And that one tenth the top 10 percent of whatever, whatever the number was that actually, excuse me, the ones who had goals earn more cumulatively than those who did not, but those who wrote it down earn more than all of the rest combined. I mean, it’s something dramatic, so there’s power in having a goal and what you’re aiming for it?

Lorne: [00:09:31.99] Absolutely. But I believe in furthering that conversation. There’s power in knowing sort of what realistic goals and I use the term realistic because I’m not putting a limiting mindset on it, but understanding that I can’t come in day one and do a house sale a day that’s not doesn’t make sense. I have to build the relationships, right? So I didn’t have the education or understanding to really even do that at that point. So it’s important when you come in to really understand the business that you’re in, whether it’s real estate or anything else, and then go accordingly.

Beatty: [00:10:09.55] So, so then, Liz. So just then continuing on with your story, so year two, 10 or 12 transactions, that was 10 or 12 and then what happened because you said not a top producer over the last 10 years, but eight years. So tell me what happened between year two and the rest of the story.

Lorne: [00:10:27.94] I think a lot of it had to do with, OK, so what were my activities in year one in year two? I tried doorknocking. I tried cold calling. I tried whatever people talk to you to do on social media and and everything in between building relationships, joining networking groups, the Chamber of Commerce, all of those things. But looking back on it now with my experience, I didn’t commit to any one of those fully and really have a system built around it. So that’s the big difference, and you only know that through experience because you would try something and not get any results for weeks and months at a time and then flip to something else and then flip to something else, right? Well, that’s not working. I got, you know, that was a part of the desperation, I suppose, and I got to get this to work and not having the real guidance or mentorship to do that. So I think what really happened is a couple of different things. I got clearer on my goals and how the business worked. And all the work that I did on the first two years cumulatively started to catch up with what with my results. So it took a long time to build relationships, to build systems, to nurture those relationships, and then for that to translate into steady and consistent business. When I know a lot of people look at different parameters for success and my own at that time was how much money am I bringing in, right? Right, gross? What am I bringing in? So I think it was like 12 and a half thousand. My first year, it pretty much tripled for my second year and then tripled again for my third year, roughly. So by year three, I was at about one hundred and eighty. And then it kept going from there.

Beatty: [00:12:10.66] You know, it’s interesting. Would you like to guess the trajectory of my business when I started

Lorne: [00:12:16.74] Re tripling it as well?

Beatty: [00:12:19.05] Pretty much. It was at year three that we went through. I mean, we just rocketed. It was more than triple, but it was. But it seems like that first year or two is laying the groundwork and then it’s like a rocket taking off.

Lorne: [00:12:34.68] And that’s why it’s interesting to look at that. I mean, those those studies have been out there for years and years and years in any industry that most small businesses fail within the first two years. And we’ve all seen those cartoons where you’ve got sort of the minor digging for gold and then another one right above them and the one that’s like right about there, like or going to hit the oil or whatever it is stops and he’s like, Forget it. This is taking too long. I give up and the other guy just waits like the next day. That’s right. So you have to be persistent, you have to be consistent, but you also have to recognize what is and isn’t working within within those. You know

Beatty: [00:13:07.50] What? Well, I think that’s interesting because even in geographic farming and so many people stop just before it starts to really produce. And I think what happens in business is we we get frustrated because we we want it. We want it right now. If it’s not happening now, let’s stop that. It must not be working. We go somewhere else. And if you keep stopping everything you do and start again somewhere in some other direction. You never you never give an opportunity to grow. And I think, you know, if you look at business in general, real estate and in particular that you see that pattern really prevalent. Talk to me. So let me kind of frame the stage of who I’d love you to to sort of talk to. I’ve got, I think, the agent I want to focus on with this is. Uh, what did you do? What was the difference between limping along and all of a sudden breaking through that agent who not the eight million a year agent that wants to break through to 15 or 20? Ok, that’s a different level breakthrough. I’m talking about the agent that is just trying to break through to where they say, I’ve got a good, livable income and how do I take it beyond there? What are those steps? What did you do? Can give me some feedback.

Lorne: [00:14:31.42] I think, OK, combined with what I did and advice for what I would tell somebody sitting in front of me exactly is you have to be very good at recognizing who you are. And what I mean is this this is a funny business that we’re in. In the 10 years that I’ve been in it, I’ve seen people succeed doing the stupidest things in the world, like, you couldn’t believe that this person doing that has led to that kind of income of saying yes. Oh, you know exactly what I mean. I’m sure everybody you

Beatty: [00:15:02.77] Can’t duplicate what they did because it was them.

Lorne: [00:15:05.23] Yeah, exactly. So the thing that I’ve concluded is that everything works in this business. If you go outside and just shout on the corner, I sell real estate, I sell real estate, it’s going to work for somebody, OK? Not for me, but for somebody. So everything works and nothing works. So what do I mean by nothing? Works well, if if you don’t feel like it, it’s true to who you are and it’s not authentic to you, you’re not going to stick to it. No one, and it’s going to come across as inauthentic, so it’s not going to work. So you have to find out of all the different ways that you can build a business, whether that’s through, you know, events with your database, whether that’s being involved in the community, that’s geographic farming. Online leads doesn’t matter. It has to be congruent with who you are as a person, are you willing to? Are you comfortable with it? You don’t have to be one hundred percent comfortable right off the bat, but are you comfortable with the idea of doing this day in and day out? Because that’s what it takes to succeed at any way that you choose to succeed in this business, even if it’s just posting on social media, whatever it is, I’ve seen the craziest things work. Doing silly dances on Tik Tok works for some people. If you saw me dance, you’d know why it doesn’t. I’ve got to

Beatty: [00:16:13.56] Ask you, OK, so I don’t mean to interrupt your therapy.

Lorne: [00:16:16.90] Please frame the conversation. Keep going.

Beatty: [00:16:19.32] What is the funniest thing you’ve seen? Work for people out there, or at least work for someone?

Lorne: [00:16:24.84] Well, to be honest, these ridiculous dances on Tik Tok. It’s getting people business for me. If I saw that, I’d be like, I don’t understand this. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just this is old fart hat. And I’m not that old, but I’m forty three. But it’s still somebody dancing and lip synching on Tik Tok, and I’m going to call them to sell my house. Sorry, knock, knock and stop it for me.

Beatty: [00:16:48.06] Yeah, I love it.

Lorne: [00:16:49.47] But no, no offense to those that that works for. If it works for you. Great. Go for

Beatty: [00:16:53.28] It. Well, you know, I think it’s so important because so often, you know, even in the Bible, you have David and Goliath. Most people, even if they don’t read the Bible, they probably heard that story somewhere. And David tries on the Kings armor. King Saul was the armor guy at the time, and David is, they say, he’s a ruddy use. So he’s probably, you know, maybe only 13 years old and he tries on this armored, obviously is too big, and he says, I can’t wear this. This isn’t me. So he simply does what he normally does, what works for him. He picks up a slingshot and some rocks. And I think that’s what you know, we have to find what works with you. And do you have any guidance on kind of how to identify what that is? Because so we’ve got there are so many shiny objects of things to do. How do you narrow it down?

Lorne: [00:17:40.83] It’s difficult, I think a lot of it has to do with trial and error, but all of it has to do with inner reflection and understanding who you are as a person. Ok. There are some people that really put down cold callers. You know, cold calling is so nineteen eighty and who wants to be bothered? Listen, like I said, there’s I have nothing against if you can generate business in an honest way. Go for it. Do it. All the best to you. So you have to recognize what you’re willing to do. Do a self-assessment, understand your personality. You know, you can use disk, you can use all these different things and understand what you’re willing to do as a daily activity. If you’re a hard worker, are you a procrastinator? You know, if you’re a procrastinator, if you feel a lot of fear in dealing with people, maybe cold calling isn’t for you. You know, there’s there’s ways to do it where you’re networking. So I think number one, you have to be aware of what’s out there. You have to be aware of yourself and then you have to give it a shot. And when I say, give it a shot, you have to commit to the length of time that it takes. Historically, for most people to succeed in that particular way of doing business, for example, you mentioned geographic farming. You’re not going to do that for three months and give up. That’s just ridiculous. You’re throwing your money out the window.

Beatty: [00:18:50.85] Right, right. You mentioned networking one of the craziest interviews I did. You can find him or find her on my podcast, but it’s called it’s an interview with a lady named Mala Chapo HIPPA, and she she did not realize how much of a rock star she was. So let me just kind of set the stage. She gets her license. She’s a single mom. She’s just moved into a new area and she doesn’t know anyone. So she wants to meet people, and she wants to do something with real estate in meeting them. And so she decides to do this one thing, and two years she controls. She sells 48 percent of all the listings in this five or six hundred home farm, making multiple six figure income. And she doesn’t think she did anything great, and all she did was she created a little networking group and she had this brilliant idea. She said, You know, no one knows the neighbors don’t know each other. If I say, Hey, come to my house, I have wine and cheese and meet each other, no one’s going to come. So she said, but there is one group of people who will come. Those with a home business because they’re always wanting to promote a network. So she invited the home business people in that neighborhood to come to our house. She got a starving guitar player. Maybe that was a few years back.

Lorne: [00:20:16.88] Yeah.

Beatty: [00:20:17.11] And yeah, and and then from that, they did it once a month and it grew. And and the brilliancy of it is they’re all networkers or they’re all got their little antennas out looking, who can they refer to one of their groups in the network because they’re going to get a referral from one of those people as well? And while that’s all she did and that group, but and as with what you’re talking about, she finds she found out what she could do in her own personality and that she could do

Lorne: [00:20:49.14] 100 percent, and I agree 100 percent. So yeah, to answer your question right there. You have to research what’s out there, see what clicks with you, what makes sense, and then give it a real shot. You can’t just sort of test the waters. You have to jump all in. Give it a real shot. And if it involves check equity rather than sweat equity, I’d say be very careful and make sure that you’ve budgeted out, you know, the actual projection of what it would cost for the full term of whatever you’re planning on doing. To clarify on that, you know, sweat equity is things like picking up the phone doesn’t cost you anything. Knocking on doors doesn’t cost you anything. Networking doesn’t necessarily cost you much, maybe just to join or a group or something, whereas sending out, you know, you know, huge ads on Facebook and whatever that that can be quite costly. So really figure out, especially in the beginning, I say find one or two sources of business that are not heavily predicated on your check. Equity should be more sweat equity. And then you can. Once you establish a business and a steady cash flow, you can transition or add on sources of business that involve check equity. Would you agree with that?

Beatty: [00:21:54.99] Absolutely. Can you give some suggestions? So maybe not a litany list, but if if I’m saying, well, what type of things are a good sweat equity that someone who doesn’t like picking up the phone and calling strangers, OK, where do I go from there? What type of things can I do?

Speaker1: [00:22:12.12] 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 and get sellers calling you and select Agent Dominator from the menu. And now back to the podcast.

Lorne: [00:22:34.57] So you don’t want to talk to people, but you don’t want to spend any money?

Beatty: [00:22:38.58] Well, we know so so I’m happy talking to people. What I don’t want to do is I don’t want to cold call.

Lorne: [00:22:45.19] No problem. I’m just poking fun. I know, I know you are. No, you’re OK. So that’s fine if you don’t want a cold call. You know, I find that even there’s a huge difference between cold calling and doorknocking for a lot of people because there’s a face to face interaction. And if you’re coming at it with the intention of helping people not to sell them something, not to get something, but to give something of value, then it’s a very different feeling, right, so you can approach it that way. So doorknocking if you don’t like cold calling, I just try door knocking. So those are the two kind of best ways to get immediate business. Now I’m in a market where we don’t work with expired. We’re not allowed to. Ok. So I wouldn’t knock on those doors. I wouldn’t call those people for sale by owners. You can try that. I tend you need a little more experience, I think, to convert those leads the for sale by owners and the expires. You can get it. It’s out there. The coaching and training is out there. I would say be involved in your community in a way that you’re comfortable, whether that’s if you’re coaching sports teams, if you’re involved in, you know, scouts or girl guide things, if you’re involved in the business community and the Chamber of Commerce or the Board of Trade, whatever you have in your area, there are many different ways to get involved in your community if you’re new in the community.

Lorne: [00:24:03.10] Same thing if you’re if you’ve been in the community for a long time, you will meet people that you haven’t met previously and come at it from an approach of trying to help them. If you’re helping them build their business or there, help them with their lives. It’s reciprocated. It will reciprocate these things. Take time. I will warn you, you’re building relationships. Don’t think I’m going to get in there. And then the next day I’m going to sell someone’s house. It doesn’t really work that way. But if you build up the trust in the relationship and that you’re really there to support them, they will be there to support you in any kind of networking or relationship building.

Beatty: [00:24:37.33] Sure. You know, one of the things I find that has been effective for some people and again, this goes back to does this work in your personality? Is a lot of agents who are trying to grow their business and offer something to support these relationships that you’re talking about to really mature and develop is they’ll offer them the list of their contractors and professionals that they use just to fix up houses. You know, like if I was out door knocking in the neighborhood and say, Hey, you know, you know, I I have a list of some great contractors and professionals for anything you could ever imagine. Hold onto my card because if card, because if you need someone to, you know, check out your roof or work with a flood issue or this or that and you don’t know who to call. I’ve used these guys and I can vouch for them and I’m happy to, you know, share them for free, something that now gives you the value. But it’s a personal relationship,

Lorne: [00:25:35.23] So you benefit from two different sides on that. You benefit from the relationship that you have with the contractor, which you need to go out and build and meet these people. But you also benefit from the person that you’re giving that resource to. So if you’re giving business to an electrician all the time, they’re going to remember that. And if they’re called into a house and oh, we’re thinking of moving well, you know what? I’ve got a great realtor that you should talk to. Who do you think they’re going to talk to? They’re going to recommend you because you’ve recommended them so many times.

Beatty: [00:26:00.82] That is right.

Lorne: [00:26:01.90] It’s a great way to approach relationship building.

Beatty: [00:26:05.80] Very good. You know, the other thing on relationship building is if you can identify and this works a lot with sphere of influence and people that you personally know. But if they’re in a role in either in their occupation or avocation where they’re an influencer, they’re involved with a lot of people, you know, a bank teller or a hairdresser or a football coach really focus on nurturing those relationships because they talk to a lot of people and they can send a lot of business your way.

Lorne: [00:26:37.66] Yeah, I mean, I’ve heard the term cheerleaders, you know, you got your supporters, your cheerleaders that are the type of person that says, you’ve got to try this restaurant, you got to see this movie. They’re the type of person that’s really going to recommend you when they hear somebody saying, Oh, I’m thinking of moving or buying something, Oh, you got to call this realtor friend that I have. So if you can make those connections, there’s there’s an interesting balance. I mean, you’re aware of eventually, hopefully it will come back and help you in your business, but you’ve got to come at it from a different approach. And what value can I add to this relationship? Not what can I take away? Because you will get it. You just have to. You have to put it in.

Beatty: [00:27:12.76] Right, that’s so true. You have to give before you can get and give without expectation of getting. If you absolutely, you know, if you’re there and they feel like it’s connived, it just falls flat.

Lorne: [00:27:26.29] It comes down to being authentic in everything that you do. And and another thing that I would say that that just came to mind as we’re. Doing this in this medium is there’s so many platforms on on social media, whether it’s video on YouTube or pictures and video on Instagram, Facebook, all these different things that don’t cost you anything. If you’re not doing a paid promotion it’s limited to, it’ll be exposed to basically your database. But that’s OK. And that’s another way to get out there. And I’ll I’ll encourage it. And some people will think, Oh, my hair, you know, or I don’t feel, yeah, I used

Beatty: [00:27:59.76] To think about the hair. Yeah, hey, hey, why are you laughing at me? I’m not laughing.

Lorne: [00:28:06.72] I’m laughing

Beatty: [00:28:07.11] With you. Ok, good.

Lorne: [00:28:08.75] And I’ve got something happening here, too. Don’t worry about it. Listen, it’s age. That’s what happens. Just embrace it.

Beatty: [00:28:14.31] Yeah, mine’s not. I got the

Lorne: [00:28:16.26] I got the grays coming in here and there. I tell my kids, you know, with every kid, I added another patch of gray. But so basically, you have all these avenues at your disposal. And the great thing about getting out there, just be authentic. Be yourself. You don’t have to be perfect. People don’t relate to perfect any more. It used to be on the broadcast news and all these different things and the celebrities they presented as these perfect pictures. But now we relate to people that are authentic and vulnerable. So just be honest and be yourself, provide value to people, and you’ll connect with some people. And guess what? Here’s something that I’m going to tell you that you’re just going to have to get over. Some people will not like you, they won’t like you and they won’t call you. And it’s better that they don’t call you. Then having to call you get into a relationship, a business relationship, find out is just not working and have to deal with that because that’s terrible. So put yourself out there. It’s like an automatic filter for those that you connect with. You’ll attract your tribe, basically. And and that’s a great way to do it. That’s low cost. So again, building relationships in person or by doing it in this kind of medium where you’re putting yourself out there and people will find you and connect with you that way,

Beatty: [00:29:27.18] That is really good. What are some other things that you can share on breaking through from that, you know, frustration stage in business and getting it going?

Lorne: [00:29:40.20] Organization. And that’s not something that comes naturally to me. I’m not a naturally organized person. I’m an artsy person, so I’m a big thinker. I take action. I do. I don’t keep everything like in lists and organized, and I’m just not good at that. So it really took an effort to buckle down and put things into a CRM and use these systems that are out there or manipulate them to work for you so that you have a way to keep in touch with your database because database and sphere. For me, I always told people was garbage and it still is not great. I come from a musical background. Remember, I got musicians like what musicians are buying houses. So it’s just not that common. So, but still, when you meet people, you’re adding them to your database, you’re growing that you have to have a way to keep in touch with these people in an effective way. Are you talking to them on their birthdays or are you sending them anything home anniversaries? You know, all these different ways of reaching out to people. You have to have a system for it. So again, in geographic farming, if you’re cold calling whatever it is, you have a system of follow up because the fortunes and the follow up, as they say, and that’s absolutely true. If you don’t follow up, it’s it’s a huge missed opportunity. There are different stats, according to different people. But you know, I’ve heard anywhere from seven to, you know, 11 times is are the amount of contacts you need with somebody in order to get them to convert into an actual transaction. Sure. So that will take time. You have to have a system, otherwise people will fall through the cracks. It happened to me. It still happens to me every now and then. Nobody’s perfect, but less and less I can tell you right now than compared to the first two years.

Beatty: [00:31:19.02] So once you once you have them in that system, then what are you doing? You know, once you have him like in your database or you’re say

Lorne: [00:31:27.96] You have to categorize them and you’re going to follow up with different people in different ways,

Beatty: [00:31:33.27] This sounds like it takes work.

Lorne: [00:31:35.01] It does.

Beatty: [00:31:36.12] It takes work to grow your business. No, no, no. I don’t. I don’t want work. I want. I just want to hand it to me,

Lorne: [00:31:42.72] The most successful people that I’ve found. And I’ll put it this way because I don’t hold myself up as the pinnacle as many experts in this in this industry can and should. I’m not that and I don’t pretend to be that, but I have reached a certain level of success. But what I what I really can add to people is that I’ve made an effort to go out of my way, and this is another thing that you can do, which costs some money, but not as much as some of these other campaigns is get out there and meet other realtors outside of your own market. It might involve some travel. It might involve something, but go to these coaching programs, go to these networking things, get out there, learn the material. But the most valuable stuff comes after the main sessions. When you’re networking with other realtors and asking them, What did you do? You know, listen to podcasts like mine and yours where you get insight into. Experience, real experience, what worked for this person, what didn’t do I relate to that, can I do that? Great. Let me try that in my business. So that’s how you really find what systems you should use and what will work for you.

Beatty: [00:32:45.61] That’s really brilliant, because so I went to a retreat. I call it a retreat. It was a seminar just a few weeks ago, and this guy, everything he touches, it’s always a 10x gross growth year over not 10x every year, but for the last 20 or 30 years, everything he’s touched was always 10x. And then a few more years in other 10x

Lorne: [00:33:09.88] Growth is just related to Uncle G.

Beatty: [00:33:13.45] No, no, no. This is this is a guy named Bruce Wilkinson. If anyone’s read the book called The Prayer Jabez, he kind of talks in some degree of this. But but your comment that it’s the after the meeting talking with someone, and usually it’s just one little nugget. Okay, all it takes. And that is because I immediately went back here and there’s one little nugget I got from the guy and it’s just wrecked my world on how do you go? He said it basically says easier to to grow 10x than it is to grow 10 percent. When you when you understand and the basic idea was this, you have to kill the sacred cows. Because it’s your sacred cows, usually in best practices that are holding you back. And let’s say in real estate, maybe a sacred cow for the person who’s not hitting the volume that they really want. Maybe that sacred cow is you’re afraid that if you reach out to your friends or to strangers that they’re going to be offended, that you reached out to them about real estate. So you stay quiet about that. That’s your sacred cow. Or maybe the sacred cow is, you know, like most agents. I’m just not organized. And you know, and you’re over here talking about where you got to get organized and you had to force yourself to get organized. That’s kind of that sacred cow is I will I’ll kill that cow to grow my business.

Lorne: [00:34:41.05] So I agree. You have to grow and you’re not going to go anywhere in your life or your business. If you’re not on a growth path of growth, then you’re on a path of decline.

Beatty: [00:34:50.50] I think, yeah, you’re either up or down. You don’t stay stagnant.

Lorne: [00:34:53.20] Yeah, yeah, exactly. So but you just

Beatty: [00:34:55.42] Just I want to make one more comment. I just think it’s so brilliant because I’ve never, you know, in my years of of coaching agents is. Just go to these coaching events, these special events, and is the is the meeting what we would call it, the meeting after the meeting, when you’re meeting with someone? Ok. Right? And you’re asking, what did you do? You’ll get so much nugget out of there because it’s going to be condensed and you’re going to be able to apply it. And I think that’s brilliant.

Lorne: [00:35:27.87] Absolutely. And two things are coming out of that. It’s never just one. I mean, yes, it’s the one nugget that you can use and apply in. Great. But guess what? You’re building a relationship. You’re building a relationship with another agent and another market that may have a client that’s going or know someone that has a client that’s going to your area. Who do you think they’re going to recommend someone that they have a relationship with? So now you’re building realtor to Realtor Referral Network, so there’s so many benefits of doing this type of thing.

Beatty: [00:35:52.95] I really love it, and now I’ve got to make a comment from my business perspective. I have family out of town, I’m going to travel for the holidays or anywhere I will travel now, I’m going to set appointments with agents in that area, my entire travel back and forth as a business expense. And now I can say, where else would we like to travel and go down to Florida? Hawaii, where are the main points are? And they become business expenses because I’m going to go down and talk to agents there on networking and how they grow their business.

Lorne: [00:36:26.03] I love I, wouldn’t you? Absolutely.

Beatty: [00:36:27.68] I know exactly. I think I’m going to take a trip soon now.

Lorne: [00:36:31.82] Sounds good. Room two.

Beatty: [00:36:33.86] Right? So, so what else? What else comes comes to mind that you did and that you’ve helped other agents do to really break through?

Lorne: [00:36:45.98] There’s a mindset change that has to happen. People think that they’re getting into real estate or becoming their own boss or whatever the case may be. And they’ve got all this time freedom. They’ve got the flexibility. Yes, there’s some flexibility, but not if you want to succeed at the level, depending on how ambitious you are. If you want to succeed at a very high level, there isn’t that much flexibility. You have to be fairly rigid with your time. Now I’m not saying that you need to. I’m not one of those like every half hour time block exactly what you do, but you have to have a general idea that, you know, from nine to 12 every day I focus on this activity or these types of activities, my afternoons from 12 to three, and it doesn’t have to be broken up exactly this way, be any way you want. I’m just giving a random example. And typically in three blocks, you know, mornings, afternoons and evenings, you also have to set aside time for yourself and your family. You know, whether you have kids or not have a spouse or not, you can’t go insane by going full force, working, working, working on stuff. I did that for a couple of years to get started because I was extremely committed because of that.

Lorne: [00:37:54.05] That worry, that desperation from the beginning, you know, I have to get to where I need to be in order to support my family. And I never want to be in that position again, but I finally realized you need those breaks. So find those breaks for yourself and you have to work those into your schedule as well. But back to the importance of scheduling and mindset, you have to almost think like an employee rather than an employer in the sense that if I was working for somebody else and they saw my productivity in this time block in that time block or on a day to day basis, would they fire me? That’s really. Am I being lazy? Am I doing what needs to be done? Because I’m really the person that I have to answer to. You have to imagine or create an accountability partner or group where you’re accountable to somebody else for how you spend your time. Because if you really want to be very successful, the ones that I’ve found to be the most successful are very strict with how they they use their time and how productive they are.

Beatty: [00:38:54.53] You know, that’s that whole idea of the time discipline.

Lorne: [00:38:59.11] And by the way, the horrible, I’m terrible at it. I that’s another thing that I needed to work on, that I have come a long way with. But and you have to in this business, have some flexibility. But right, for the most part, you have to be very strong about that.

Beatty: [00:39:14.30] You really do. And in the two things that I take out of this part, I love, you know, analyze your time. If I was working for someone, would they fire me or would they pat me on the back and say, Great job with your time? Because I think a lot of times, you know, most of us would get fired if someone was actually looking over our shoulders and saying, I’m paying you for what? Exactly, exactly. Or maybe, maybe it comes out for most the realtors. Well, I’m not getting paid well. That’s right. That’s why, you know? But the other thing I think happens is we’re creatures. You know, you’ve heard this statement, we’re creatures of habit. Yeah. And if you can create that habit of of your scheduling now, however, you schedule it during the morning, afternoon evening and keep to that schedule because I know for me, my personality is very precise. Ok, now yours isn’t. So we’re just polar opposites, right? But my personality is is if every time I shift into a different mode, it takes a lot of time, effort and and mental energy. But if I can get in a pattern that this time of the day, I do this, this time I do something else, then I’m able to shift a lot more because it’s becoming routine, a routine pattern. And I think that’s great. That’s brilliant.

Lorne: [00:40:35.81] And I think, don’t you know, I’m saying, you have to do this, you have to do this. Don’t take it as you know, it’s this or nothing. Like I said, there are many ways of succeeding in this business, but these are general principles that I found to be true and don’t be too hard on yourself. That makes sense. It takes time to build up the systems, the mindset. Allow yourself that time as long as you’re moving in the right. Direction and you keep improving. You know, one percent better every day really does add up.

Beatty: [00:41:04.12] What about organizing your day? I know a lot of people will organize at the beginning of the day what their day and their priorities and goals are. Do you? Were you doing that during your trajectory up that you make?

Lorne: [00:41:18.66] I’m trying to remember.

Beatty: [00:41:20.76] Do you do that now?

Lorne: [00:41:24.18] Yes, now I’m very focused. I’m. A little bit more macro than that micro in the sense that I’ve got large goals that I’m focused on and I’m making sure that I’m doing those activities that are broken down. So I do the pre-planning for that and I make sure that I do those on the regular basis, even when it comes to something as simple as the podcast that I do, which is not monetized. I don’t sell coaching. I’m just doing this because I had such a terrible, terrible time starting out that I wanted to share. And that’s also why I also helped train while I was in several different brokerages up to where I am now. I enjoy sharing with other people. So yeah, it’s just it’s just a matter of not, you know, I lost train of thought,

Beatty: [00:42:09.15] But that’s OK. You know, it’s I was just going to say this whole thing keeps coming back to structure. Yes. Yes, thank you. It really does. It comes back to structure. I heard many years about a guy named Bob Harrison. I don’t even know if he’s alive, but he was. Yeah. I know Bob Harrison. There’s no bob. This is a business owner used to own several car dealerships, went into motivating motivational speaking, and he would also be a consultant for businesses. And his favorite message was where there slack, there’s lack. And that’s the that’s what resonates, as I’m talking with you, Lorne, with all this structure. It’s not overbearing structure. It’s the structure that says if you want to succeed, there are a few things that are non-negotiable and one of them is the structure to make it happen. And I always tell my team operational team, you know, if we start to have problems in a certain area within our company, you can always go back to the phrase where there slack, there’s lack and somewhere the process got slacked, OK? And that’s what I’m gathering. Kind of the big takeaway on all of this.

Lorne: [00:43:20.99] Absolutely. And that brings me back to my original point that I got lost on was the reason why I brought up the podcast is because that’s not something that generates income for me. It’s something that I do to help other people because I enjoy it, and it allows me another opportunity to maybe connect with other realtors for networking purposes. But but that’s basically it. So I need to schedule that in my schedule or it doesn’t get done. So I have to keep myself accountable to myself and my goals, and I have to fit that in. I know that this particular day, every week, I batch record several interviews. There’s flexibility, always if it doesn’t work with the other person. But you have the general idea that this is what I do at that time every week

Beatty: [00:44:01.64] That is so good. We’ve got a few more minutes. What are some? If you were to share the top three? It may be. It’s top four, maybe as top two. But generally speaking, is there anything we haven’t covered that you think are important for someone to take to break through where they are and go that next level?

Lorne: [00:44:25.74] It’s hard to say specifically because we’re not talking about a specific person and it’s always different for everyone, but I think it comes down to being true to yourself. If you have these ambitious goals, what are you willing to give up to achieve these goals? Because guess what? You’re going to give up time, money, energy, focus something in order to get that. So be honest with yourself, it’s OK. You don’t have to. I personally believe you don’t have to be a billionaire gazillionaire, you know, do a million deals a year to feel successful. That’s not what it’s about for me. You have to be fulfilled. You have to have success in your personal life and your professional life. Find that balance that’s right for you. Be honest about it, about what you’re willing to commit to and go for it. And again. It’s OK to recognize that we’re not all great at everything but work towards getting a little bit better every day. And as long as you’re on that trajectory, you’ll get there. The thing to do is share, share, always share because people in real estate offices, whether that’s a cloud based brokerages or brick and mortar brokerages, they tend to be very closed, you know, like, Oh, I’m afraid about giving something away to the guy down the hall, because if I tell him exactly what I can do, then he’s going to do it. Even if you you laid it out on paper, it would not produce the same results. It might work for him in a different way. But it’s not going to take away anything from you. I think if you approach the business in a more collaborative way, you’ll be better rewarded overall.

Beatty: [00:45:58.31] You know that I’m so glad you share that because I’m thinking back when we started our business and that year when my second child was in route and I remember we had this, it was a marketing message on a voicemail. We call it a sizzle line. We actually register the mark sizzle and we let it go. Years back when we shifted, but I remember a competitor came up and copied the very same thing, and I had a business really successful business owner here in town that I was just mentoring being mentored by. And I was all concerned that my formula was so simple it would be so easy to knock off. And he made this very wise statement. He said, You think it’s simple to you because it’s perfect for how you do it, but it’s not simple because there are so many other factors that you don’t even understand. And that’s what makes it work great for you. So this competitor came online and he had a radio announcer voice. My my voice is not radio announcer, and he was recording very similar messages and everything else. And and people would come to me and say, Hey, I used to use you. I went over to him because I thought he was cheaper. But I’m not getting near the results. I’m coming back to you and I’m thinking so true.

Beatty: [00:47:20.87] Absolutely. And I want to encourage that. What works for you? Share it with others. Don’t hold it, because what is true is that the giver will always receive, and the stingy person who tries to hold a hold it from everyone else will always ultimately fail. And if you have that life of giving and I love what you said, Lorne, just be true to yourself. You know, as you’re talking, I’m kind of reliving these old days of mine and even a lot of stuff today. And the question is, what are you willing to give up to get where you need to be? And sometimes the price of what you have to give up is too great. And therefore, don’t worry about not getting where you want to be. Get to where you’re willing to to negotiate on what you have to give up to get there so that the quality of life is where you want it to be and where you can impact someone else’s quality of life and share and teach with them what you’ve done. Which I can tell, is probably why you were teaching at the different brokerages you’ve been at and you do. Your podcast is because you have just a heart to give back and share what you’ve learned that’s been successful for you.

Lorne: [00:48:38.48] Yeah, thank you. I I just I guess I have a passion for helping people. I love seeing people succeed, so I encourage everyone that I meet at these networking events or that listen to this podcast or my podcast or reach out to me any time I would love to talk to you. If I can help in any way, I’m happy to do it.

Beatty: [00:48:53.90] Hey, I want to share one last thing, and then I’ll let you give your contact information and restating where to find you online. I was at a convention and I just met this guy. He was a vendor with me and he was selling books and tapes, and we just started talking and I realized that this guy really understood what he does. Ok? One of his tape sets was millionaire mentors, and it was interviews he had with 10 or 20 of his personal mentors, all of them multi multimillionaires. One of them billionaire. And this is 20 years ago when those numbers were really important, you know, meant something. And and I got up on stage. I never met him other than there. And because I was going to speak before him or maybe right, I think I spoke right after him and I was so impressed. My first comments, I took five minutes and told people why they ought to go buy his stuff. He was so impressed, I mean, I was shooting out of the out of the genuineness of my heart. But what happened is because I was willing to really encourage people to do that. We built this great relationship. He’s a he’s been on national TV, he’s been interviewed by Oprah and all these people. Dr. Phil, he’s had his own TV show. He flies his own jet airplane. And, you know, he helped me get started as we shifted from our first industry into the real estate. He was the one that introduced me to the realtors to help me get started. And you never know when, where those relationships go.

Lorne: [00:50:26.63] Absolutely.

Beatty: [00:50:28.10] So, Lorne, tell us, I love what you’re talking about, and I have to be honest. I teach at a very specific step by step level. Your little big picture. And I love it because because I know most of the people out there resonate probably more with you than the way I teach. And I know they want to get more from you, and I would encourage our listeners really reach out to the training in the stuff that Lorne does because he’s been there, he’s done it. And I have to tell you, I’ve heard almost everything you shared while it’s simple stuff. I’ve heard those type of things before, the nuances and the little tidbits that you put into it really, I think, make the big difference. So how do people find out more about you? Learn about your podcast. Where do they go?

Lorne: [00:51:17.78] First, thank you very much. I’m blushing in terms of getting a hold of me in the podcast. So the podcast again was called the relaunch, but now it’s called the real estate agent advantage. You can find it on YouTube. You can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts. You can reach out to me directly at my email. Lorne at Lorne Cooper. If you just want to talk business and maybe I have some insight to share with you and your business, I’m happy to do that. Like I said, I don’t charge for coaching or anything. I just like to share my experience to maybe help you on your journey. So happy to do that to anyone out there. Thank you so much for putting all your great information out there. And yes, I do think quite big picture and it’s hard to get down nitty gritty when it’s not a specific case. But with regard to your content, your content is fantastic. Anyone listening should definitely check out your stuff because it’s top notch. 100 percent.

Beatty: [00:52:15.09] Great. Well, maybe we can work together and you can help me on big picture and I can help you on the nitty gritty details and we’ll make it even better.

Lorne: [00:52:23.27] Tag team sounds good.

Beatty: [00:52:24.62] Absolutely. Well, you guys have a very blessed day. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to. If you’re not subscribing to our podcast, get sellers calling you. Do hit the Subscribe button and please go over to the real estate agent advantage, either on podcast or preferably on YouTube. There is a lot more there on YouTube. And take Lorne up on reaching out and talking to him. There’s not many agents who will share for free. Most of them want to pay get paid for that. And I have found that those who are willing to share for free you probably get more value out of it. Not because it’s free, but because they’re sharing from their heart and not because they’re paid to share it. And you get a totally different type of sharing. So take him up on that. You guys have a blessed day and we’ll talk with you next time.

Speaker1: [00:53:11.69] Thank you. If you like this training, I like to encourage you to get more of this training for free straight to your phone, and that’s with our podcast channel. So if you already listen to podcast, just go to your podcast player and type in our channel name. Get sellers calling you. Ok, now if you’re not a podcast listener, let me encourage you that listening to podcasts is one of the greatest ways to grow your business because it turns nonproductive time into continuing education time. So whether you’re driving the car or you’re in the kitchen or you’re out exercising, you can be engaging your mind in growing your business by listening to great marketing tips on how to grow real estate business, and there’s three easy steps to become a podcast listener. Number one is go to your App Store if you’re on Apple or to your place to work on Android. Number two once you’re there, then you search for the name podcast. Just type in podcast and you’ll either find Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, depending on which platform you’re on. Once you download and install that app, the third step is in the search bar. You just type in our channel name, get sellers calling you and you’ll see us and you hit subscribe. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. What that does is it now subscribes you to our channel.

Speaker1: [00:54:26.09] Any time we put out a new podcast, your phone will let you know there’s a new podcast you can listen to. And then when you’re driving or in the kitchen or exercising or wherever you have a free moment, mentally, you can play a podcast and listen to it and then you can stop it whenever you want to stop and then play it again and pick right back up where you left off. It’s when it’s a perfect way of growing your business without adding any extra time or stress to you. So I hope that’s helpful. Please subscribe to our podcast now, and if you do, I promise you you’ll love it. Thanks a lot for allowing us to serve you and have a very blessed day if you’ve enjoyed this podcast. Be sure to subscribe to it so you never miss another episode. Also, if you want an easy way to grow your business, check out Agent Dominator. We guarantee listings and sales from past clients and sphere of influence, geographic farming and commercial investment properties. If you don’t get the sales, we promise we’ll give your money back. Learn more on our website at Get Sellers Calling EW.com and select Agent Dominator from the menu. Thanks for listening to the Get Sellers calling you podcast and have a great day.

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