Help your Realtors increase their income, efficiency, and inner peace

How The Zen Real Estate Speaking Program Started

Part 1: In 1973, I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, the now high-tech capital of the world. Because of this, when I needed to declare a major in college, I decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in Business. However, as I was about to graduate, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. This, combined with the ending of a romantic relationship, led to me experiencing overt anxiety, which led to undiagnosed depression, which led to some deep soul searching. I spent the next year waiting tables and reading personal growth and development books.

Part 2: In 1999, inspired by a former Communication Professor, I decided to go to graduate school to teach the subject matter and, after a few years of teaching at the college level, I did post-graduate work in Leadership Coaching where I also began coaching entrepreneurs. Given that I taught public speaking, I added speaking to my repertoire and started doing presentations at high-tech companies in Silicon Valley like Apple, etc.I was teaching, speaking, and coaching.

Part 3: In 2006, I was invited to co-lead a presentation at a local real estate company and, shortly thereafter, I was coaching new Realtors, established Realtors, and the #1 Managing Broker from that company. I was told that my approach wasn’t being taught by anyone else in the real estate industry. Within a few years, most of my clients were Realtors.

Part 4: In 2009, after attempting to be superhuman for a decade (the best teacher, speaker, coach, husband, father), I crashed – I became physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. I took six weeks off to rest and, as I started to more healthily re-enter my life, the market crashed – my income plummeted, we lost our home, and my wife-at-the-time, our two children, and I moved in with my mother-in-law. I spent the next few years doing as much as I could to stay afloat.

Part 5: In 2012, I was hired as the Vice President of Professional Development for an independent real estate brokerage and, shortly thereafter, it was acquired by a major real estate company. That company hired me to lead the transition and launch of this new venture, so I let go of teaching, speaking, and coaching. About a year later, I was unexpectedly let go – turned out they wanted me, and their Realtors, to be superhuman. I knew there was a different way and Zen Real Estate, the name of my speaking and coaching programs, was born. For the past decade, I have helped countless Realtors increase their income, efficiency, and inner peace.

7 Steps To Help Realtors Increase Income, Efficiency, And Inner Peace

Step 1: Selling. Most Realtors do not communicate what they are ultimately selling. The definition of marketing is “the action or business of promoting or selling products or services”. Although marketing plays a major role in helping to increase a Realtor’s income, they are not ultimately selling a product (ie. home) or a service (ie. themselves or their company). They are selling a desired future. People buy and sell homes because they want to experience a certain type of future.

Step 2: Promoting. Most Realtors promote their services without a solid lead generation plan. Realtors will spend thousands and thousands of dollars on promotional materials without understanding how they are going to support their lead generation efforts. As a matter of fact, most Realtors will subconsciously do this in order to avoid having to do lead generation. There are three lead generation strategies that I recommend drive a Realtor’s promotional choices; 1) current connections via phone, social media, and email, 2) a wisely chosen farm, and 3) open houses.

Step 3: Structuring. The first part of the definition of structure is, “to construct or arrange according to plan…” Not only do most Realtors not have a solid plan, they are extremely unorganized. This leads to inefficiency which leads to working more than necessary and/or hiring unnecessary team members. The single most important structure in a Realtor’s business is their schedule. A schedule is a Realtor’s plan, arranged and, as I mention in the 5 Foundational Questions For Realtors To Build (Or Re-build) Their Business Upon, this consists of being a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon. And the single most effective place to have this schedule is in a calendar.

Step 4: Systematizing. Systems is defined as, “a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method’. Most Realtors have an inefficient client acquisition methodology; they don’t efficiently lead generate, conduct appointments, or convert clients. The most efficient client acquisition methodology consists of doing these three things, in order (lead generate to set an appointment to convert to a client), and the most important system that supports all of this in happening is having an efficient CRM.

Step 5: Implementing. Implementation is defined as, “the process of putting a decision or plan into effect; execution”. Most Realtors do not execute their plan because they don’t have the most powerful structures, systems, or support to do so. As also mentioned in the 5 Foundational Questions For Realtors To Build (Or Re-build) Their Business Upon, having access to seeing this information combined with accountability increases a Realtor’s chance of implementing their plan (which increases their chance of hitting their goals) by 76.7% than if they don’t. The most powerful information combined with a powerful support person, someone who knows your plan inside and out, and whose sole responsibility is helping you to execute that plan, is critical.

Step 6: Meditating. Most Realtors are easily overwhelmed. They have a difficult time being present and calm during their work week, and they often bring work home in their mind. There are many different types of meditation and, in my 25 years of experience meditating, the type of meditation where someone sits in silence doing nothing both helps with these things and cultivates inner peace. Phil Jackson, the NBA’s most championship winning Head Coach, integrated meditation into his team’s routine and players like the late Koby Bryant said it literally changed the game for him. It can change the game for Realtors, too.

Step 7: Coaching. Most Realtors do not consider themselves coaches, but they are. A coach is essentially someone who supports someone else in achieving their desired future. And as I mentioned in Step 1, Realtors are ultimately selling a desired future and, once someone becomes a client, a Realtor is supporting them in achieving that desired future. Unfortunately, most Realtors aren’t highly trained coaches. Having a highly trained coach, preferably one that has trained other coaches to coach, is ideal in helping both a Realtor and their clients achieve their desired futures.