#106 Sales Expert: 3 Ways To Get A YES Every Time | Ryan Serhant

Summary

BigDeal Podcast #106 — Sales Expert: 3 Ways To Get A YES Every Time | Ryan Serhant

Host: Codie Sanchez
Guest: Ryan Serhant (Top real estate broker, star of "Owning Manhattan")
Date: December 10, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the art and psychology of sales and negotiation, spotlighting the tactics, mindset, and resilience required to close high-stakes deals with top-tier clients. Ryan Serhant, renowned broker and reality TV star, shares his unfiltered journey from broke actor to industry leader, the strategies he uses to earn trust (especially from ultra-wealthy clients), and the rules that underpin his relentless drive for excellence. The conversation balances raw vulnerability with actionable advice for anyone wanting to break through barriers and get more "yeses"—whether in business or life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Transforming Setbacks and Building Unbreakable Confidence

• Setbacks as Speed Bumps, Not Brick Walls

  • Ryan Serhant:
    • “Setbacks are just speed bumps. They are not brick walls. … All the other issues that I've had through my career... most people would treat them like brick walls. But success is like right over there—past that corner.” (01:01, 06:57)
    • His mindset is fiercely future-focused—he draws motivation from painful memories of being broke, using them as fuel to never go back.

• The Fake Rolex Story: Crafting Identity and Confidence

  • Serhant bought a fake Rolex early in his sales career to boost self-belief and create the identity he aimed for, rather than simply “faking it.”
    • “It wasn’t fake it till you make it. It was, how do I give myself the confidence when I'm 24 to be future me? … That fake Rolex wasn’t about the watch. It was about identity.” (01:49)
    • He eventually bought a real Rolex 18 months later—a symbol of personal growth.

• Advice for Those Feeling Lost

  • “You have to determine one—what's your core identity? What do you actually want in life? … Am I okay being dead broke when I'm 70 as long as I’m performing? The answer was just no. I want to be as successful as I possibly can be. … Endurance for the win.” (06:57-08:24)

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2. The Psychology of High-Performance and Obsession

• Why the Relentless Drive?

  • “Why not go the distance? I almost feel like it’s a divine duty. … I'd rather you regret the things you did than the things you never tried. And that plays a huge role in my DNA today.” (10:09)
  • Codie reflects, "You seem like a man on a mission," to which Ryan responds with his father's philosophy on trying, failure, and regret.

• Not Motivated by Money

  • “No, I’m not motivated by money. … Money is a tool and a resource to create lasting impact. … I’m motivated by goals, and the lives of the people we change.” (12:05)
  • Discipline is about doing what you don’t want to: “I woke up at 4:30 this morning. I did not want to. … But it’s the job.” (13:35)

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3. Sales Tactics and Negotiation Secrets

• The Two Cs—Compliment & Commonality (21:40)

  • Ryan’s foundational technique for building trust:
    • “You immediately give the person a compliment, and it has to be authentic… Then you find something in common. … And then you’re talking.”

• Say "No"—Earning Real Trust with the Wealthy

  • Rich clients respect boundaries and candor.
    • “People don’t trust yes men or yes women. … I said, no, I’m sorry I took you here. It’s far outside your budget. … The trust was built there because I was willing to walk away.” (22:48)

• The Three Ps of Negotiation: Push, Pull, Persist

  • “Every sale has three Ps. … Sometimes it’s an amalgamation of the three. … Wealthy people—their number one asset is their time. Most of the time, the number one thing to do is just to pull.” (23:41)

• The Orchid Trick: Reframing Rejection

  • When Ryan loses a deal, he “sends an orchid with a note that says, ‘Thank you so much for the opportunity and I’m sorry for your loss.’” (18:48)
  • Memorable Quote: “My number one job is to fail. The more I’m pitching, the more I lose. So I want to take as many swings as bad as possible.” (18:48)

• Negotiation Power Moves

  • “The best negotiators… don’t talk—they translate. … You always throw the first punch. You ask the first question. … People love hearing themselves talk, especially grown men.” (53:48-55:47)
  • “If this were to go forward, what does winning look like to you? … They tell you their number one fear and give you the in to go and fix the fear.” (54:30)

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4. How to Sell to the Rich—and Get to the Bullseye

• It’s About Confidence, Not Access

  • “Wealthy people want to know that when you tell them to do something or not to do something, they’re going to believe it. … Confidence is currency, and they’ll be loyal to you for the rest of your career.” (25:56)

• Cracking the Sphere of Influence

  • “The billionaire class is that bullseye. But they are protected by six rings … advisors, family, friends, assistants, bankers, vendors. … Who already has the trust? It’s interior designers, contractors, attorneys… Get share of trust to get share of wallet.” (26:40)

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5. Relentlessness, Time Management, and Building Legacy

• Top 1% Salespeople Just Don’t Quit

  • “Hard work trumps luck when luck doesn’t work hard. … They understand their job is to lose. … The number one negotiation tactic is silence. Silence is violence.” (28:19)

• The Thousand Minute Rule

  • “You have a thousand minutes every day to be productive. … If you look at those thousand minutes as a thousand dollars … it’ll really start to affect the way you give someone 15 minutes, or value your commute.” (33:57, 34:26)
  • “If the call was only five minutes, would I throw away $995 because of five bucks? Probably not.” (34:24)

• Building Through Media and Public Transparency

  • “I built the number one real estate sales team … on the back of a Bravo TV show. … Selling real estate through YouTube in 2015 when it was stupid. … Now we're building on the back of Netflix. … People do get to really watch the journey.” (13:58)

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6. Handling Haters, Hiring, and Leadership

• On Handling Critics

  • “There are three buckets of my audience: super fans, people who don’t care, and people who hate me. … It’s jealousy. … When people talk about me, they do it because when they talk about themselves, no one listens.” (15:52, 17:24)
  • “What other people think affects no part of my working minutes.” (17:24)

• Hiring for Intelligence & the Three E’s

  • “I hire first and foremost for intelligence. … I also test for energy, empathy, and enthusiasm. … Our three key metrics are speed, quality, and experience.” (32:12)

• Leadership vs. Management

  • “A manager does things right; a leader does the right things … The leader picks vision and stands at the front of the line.” (41:10-41:14)

• Showmanship and Branding

  • “A friend of mine told me to get into real estate—‘it’s theater, it’s the same thing.’ … You put on a performance, you put on your suit… and help them make a decision they were going to make anyway.” (38:08)

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7. The Business Stack & Vision

• Multiple Business Segments Under Sirhant Technologies (44:31)

  • Cloud real estate brokerage (“we operate in the phone”)
  • Sirhant Studios (media and lead gen)
  • SellIt.com (education)
  • Simple (AI workflow for agents)
  • “Our LTV to CAC is 6.6 as a ratio … we don’t buy revenue, our lead flow is organic through content.” (46:22)

• On Scale vs. Quality

  • “I don’t want it to be big. I just want it to be the best. … If I could have 10 agents and sell more than any other firm, I would do it.” (48:11)

• Money is a Tool, Not the Goal

  • “Money is just a tool. And when you treat it like a tool and not like the be-all-end-all, then you don’t put dollars on a pedestal. You just put the potential for greatness up there.” (49:33)

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8. Wild Sales Stories & Dealing With Con Artists

• The Ungoogleable Buyer
  • “He DHL’d me a photo of someone in an African headdress…on the back it just said that the purchaser’s name is good for it and does not commit to things he does not commit to. … That guy actually did one day wire the $830,000 deposit ... I asked him why he even bought it. He said, ‘To be honest, I felt bad for you.’” (50:59-53:14)
  • “Superpower number one: make people feel so bad for me, they just buy the damn thing anyway.” (53:14)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Confidence:
  “Setbacks are just speed bumps. They are not brick walls.” (01:01, 06:57)
• On Identity:
  “That fake Rolex wasn’t about the watch. It was about identity.” (01:49)
• On Motivation:
  “Discipline is defined by doing the things you don’t want to do.” (12:05, 13:35)
• On the Art of the Deal:
  “People don’t trust yes men or yes women. … Say no, pull the deal away.” (22:48)
• On Rejection:
  “My number one job is to fail. The more I’m pitching, the more I lose.” (18:48)
• On Leadership:
  “A manager does things right; a leader does the right things.” (41:14)
• On Building a Business:
  “I don’t want it to be big. I just want it to be the best.” (48:11)
• On Negotiation:
  “The best negotiators… don’t talk—they translate.” (53:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Setbacks and Mindset: 01:01; 06:57; 08:24
• Fake Rolex and Confidence Story: 01:49
• The Orchid Trick (Rejection): 18:48
• Sales Tactics—2Cs, 3Ps, Trust: 21:40; 22:48; 23:41
• Negotiation Strategies: 53:48; 54:30
• Thousand Minute Rule: 33:57; 34:26
• Sphere of Influence/Wealthy Clients: 25:56; 26:40
• Business Operations/Stack: 44:31; 46:22
• Leadership vs. Management: 41:10-41:14
• Con Artist Sales Story: 50:59
• Showmanship in Business: 38:08

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Final Takeaways

Ryan Serhant’s sales approach is a blend of relentless work ethic, self-crafted identity, emotional intelligence, and showmanship. He outlines a systematic process—from compliment and commonality to knowing when (and why) to pull away—to build trust and close deals at the highest levels. At the core is his belief that confidence, discipline, and willingness to lose are what ultimately create lasting success. The episode is packed with both philosophy and practical tactics, applicable to salespeople, entrepreneurs, and ambitious individuals looking to break into bigger arenas.

Transcript

[Interviewer]

You're about to make a trade which you do you listen to is it.

[Commercial Voiceover]

Get optioning those options.

Or let's do a little research.

[Interviewer]

Learn [e-mail] TradeSmart you have a thousand.

[Ryan Serhant]

Minutes every day to be productive. If you look at those thousand minutes as $1,000, it'll really start to affect the way you give someone 15 minutes. I was spending so much time where it wasn't a benefit for me. Every day is going to cost me $1,000.

[Interviewer]

Ryan Serhant is one of the top real estate broker the Planet star of the hit Netflix show Owning Manhattan. In this episode we get into how to get a stranger to genuinely trust you with real money, how to sell to top tier clients, AKA rich people without sucking up and how to handle the pressure of being at the very top. If you want to become a certified expert in negotiation, sales and confidence, you want to listen to this episode. What did you do when you were lost and broke? And what would you tell somebody else who was in that exact same position today?

[Ryan Serhant]

Setbacks are just speed bumps. They are not brick walls. I've been dead broke in the city and I will never go back there. I will run as far away from that moment as I possibly can. All the other issues that I've had through my career, I think a lot of people would treat them like brick walls. Go home and success is like right over there, past that corner. Maybe what wealthy people are paying for is not information or access, it's it's confidence. And confidence is currency.

[Interviewer]

How does somebody build their confidence?

[Ryan Serhant]

So two things.

[Interviewer]

I want to dive into. This incredible post I found on Twitter or X these days where you say, about a year into my sales career I decided to buy a fake Rolex and it changed my life. Can you tell us that story? Do you still stand by it?

[Ryan Serhant]

I do still stand by it. I had no money. It's in New York City and I was faced with the option. A lot of people who move away from home, especially who come to New York City, especially in the summer of 2008 come to which is I either have to figure out how to survive here or I have to move home or I have to go get another job. And New York is incredibly cutthroat. Like it is true what they say, you can either make it here and you can make it anywhere or you can try to make it here and then you just die. And so the fake Rolex for me was I was trying to find a way to enter rooms, not as a broke kid and enter rooms as the person I wanted to become. So it wasn't fake it till you make it. It was, how do I give myself the confidence when I'm 24 to be future me? And if I do that, then maybe one day I can buy my own Rolex. And as a little kid, you see the Rolex or the Mercedes symbol, and you attach that image to success. Power of brand. And so that fake Rolex wasn't about the watch. It was about identity. And it was super helpful for me in, like, a blanky kind of way. And even though it didn't tell the time because it was terrible, what it did do was remind me that I had very little time because I had no money and I had to make moves. And I would look down at that thing and I'd have to move my wrist around because in a very humid summer, a fake Rolex turns your wrist green. And I didn't want people to see the green on my wrist. And it just reminded me, I better make moves. I've got to go fast. I want my identity to be associated with success, however I can do that so that one day this could be real. And it was like, 18 months later, I'm doing a deal in Florida, and I didn't do deals in Florida. And I walked through a mall, and there was like a Winston's or some kind of jewelry store, and there was a rose gold Rolex Daytona in the airport mall in Florida. And I went and I saw it, and it was asking $30,000. Great deal, looking back at it now. And I went to the woman and I asked to try it on. And it was so heavy because I'd never worn a real watch before. And I was like, this is what people wear. This is insane how I'll have fucking arthritis in my wrist. And I didn't even negotiate. It's like, can I just put this on my credit card? Because I could buy it and I still have that watch, and I barely ever wear it because I think it's just so ostentatious. But it reminds me so much of those early days.

[Interviewer]

For me, that's so good. I went down a rabbit hole on you. And now, you know, you're this huge success, and you have, like, one of the fastest growing brokerages in the U.S. hundreds of employees, lots of different businesses, you know, big, huge TV series a couple times over. But I had no idea that you were a soap opera star from as the World Turns back in the day. And what I think is cool about that is, yeah, what do you think.

[Ryan Serhant]

Is cool about that.

[Interviewer]

First of all, can I show you this, this picture? I almost don't recognize you without the.

[Ryan Serhant]

With that. With the gray hair? Yeah, I was dyeing my hair back then.

[Interviewer]

Oh really? It was actually. But it was dying.

[Ryan Serhant]

I started going gray when I was 16. That and acne were my biggest weaknesses and me trying to be an actor. I moved to New York City to do theater. And one of my first jobs I got was Evan Walsh IV on as the World Turns. Until that photo is me. During the writers strike of 2007, I went from being a good doctor to killing everybody. And I took my aunt hostage. And then my grandmother wrestled me and stabbed me with a syringe and I died. Which for me in my life meant that I had no job. And then my, you know, $544 per episode was gone. And I had to figure out another way to, to pay my, my rent. But like, you can't be a young 20 something in New York City who has a 20 something face with a head of gray hair. And so I used to dye it like every 10 days because I couldn't have roots. Like, like young dude with like gray roots. I looked anyway today, maybe it would pass back then. Didn't pass. And because I'm so white and so pale. I remember like I just had this like really dark dyed hair, very white. Everything else, and I kind of looked like a vampire.

[Interviewer]

And you're killing all your family and.

[Ryan Serhant]

I'm just killing all my family.

[Interviewer]

But what I kind of love about it is there's so many people that have like, had a weird moment in their life where they're like, what am I going to do next? I'm totally lost. I have to make a complete career pivot. And you've had that a few times over. And so even though you're on high now, like, what would you say to the person who's listening, who maybe now relates to that young Ryan, like, what did you do when you were lost and broke? And what would you tell somebody else who was in that exact same position today?

[Ryan Serhant]

Setbacks are just speed bumps. They are not brick walls. And you have to determine one what, what's your core identity? What do you actually want in life? At that time, when I was doing the soap opera and doing off, off off off Broadway shows, I saw people who. What they wanted most in life was just to perform. And it didn't matter if they made money, didn't matter if they were comfortable. What made them happy was just to perform. And I and I really had to dig deep inside myself and say, am I okay being dead broke when I'm 70 years old and nervous about rent payments as long as I'm performing? And the answer was just no.

I want to be as successful as I possibly can be. I never want to question any price, ever. And I've been dead broke in the city, and I will never go back there. I will run as far away from that moment as I possibly can. And so getting fired off the soap opera when I got into real estate, getting fired off my first building, all the other issues that I've had through my career, Career. I think a lot of people would treat them like brick walls. Go home. Brick walls. Oh, it's not for me. They are just speed bumps on the path to success. And success is like, right over there, past that corner, maybe. If it's not, you just gotta keep going in the dark because it's probably gonna be past the other corner. And you will get there the longer you try. Endurance for the win. Always so good.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. You had this video that I saw the other day that I loved. You were having a 16 and a half hour day, and someone asked you what keeps you motivated on that kind of day? And you said, total bars.

[Ryan Serhant]

You said, pure adrenaline tracing through my bones. Because that fear of losing hurts a lot worse than the pain of pointing.

Yes, I do remember saying that. That was a long day because I had to open up our Rhode island office. And so the day started in New York. Helicopter to Rhode island appointments, back to back to back to back to back to back to back. Launch party, helicopter back to New York City, back in the car to do all the work I hadn't done that day. Like, the work doesn't go away just because you're traveling or doing other things, you know? And I. I try to swallow the tired, and I try to appreciate the tired. If I'm not tired, then I'm probably not pushing hard enough, for better or for worse. But I do agree with that. I think, you know, you listen to a lot of CEOs, a lot of major athletes, and I think they all have this disease where they hate losing more than they like winning. And I definitely feel the same way.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, you know, I know you've said, like, you want to build the number one real estate brokerage in the world. We were just talking about how that's hard. And then you've also said, I thought that the Netflix intro was incredible, by the way. Like, I'm coming for everyone. Very dramatic. So good. But I Was wondering, like, what makes you so fanatical about what you want to create? You seem like a man on a mission. Like, why is that? And, like, if somebody else wants to get that kind of obsession, what do they do?

[Ryan Serhant]

I kind of think, why not? Like, if the opportunity presents itself, why not go the distance? I almost feel like it's a divine duty. And we're talking about a very niche industry, by the way. Like, I'm sitting here saying, I want to build the number one real estate firm the world has ever known. So let's go try, because the opportunity is actually there. We have inbound lead flow. We have great growth. We're moving incredibly quickly. I know how to do it. I'm not saying I want to be the number one basketball player in the world. I tried. I suck at basketball. My dad made me play every single sport known to man my entire childhood. I had to play one season to see if I liked it. I was never allowed to quit, and it was the worst. I went to college, and the only way I could go to college is if I took every single class. I wasn't allowed to just do whatever I wanted. So micro, macroeconomics, biology, every lab. It was the absolute worst. But he made me try everything because he would always say, I'd rather you regret the things you did than the things you never tried. And that plays a huge role in my DNA today. So, like, why not go for it? If I don't make it, at least I tried.

[Interviewer]

Well, it's interesting because sometimes I wonder. I was listening to, like, Brad Jacobs the other day, who wrote how to.

[Ryan Serhant]

How to make a Billion bucks.

[Interviewer]

A few billion.

[Ryan Serhant]

A few billion bucks, which is such.

[Interviewer]

An important three words, you know, Like, I love the. A few billion is something I aspire to say one day.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, we work with him.

[Interviewer]

Oh, you do? Interesting.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Well, You've already closed $10 billion in transactions in real estate, right? Or more than that now?

[Ryan Serhant]

2020. That's an old stat, Daniel. Get on that.

[Interviewer]

So you've closed 20 billion. I was curious, like, on those days where you're struggling, you don't want to keep going, you're tired. Is there an amount of money that somebody could pay you to make you stop?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, I'm not motivated by money. Like, I've made a lot of money. I have. No, I would not be here, like, if it was about money for me. Like, money is a tool and a resource to create lasting impact. And so I am far more motivated by the lives of the people that we change on the sales, the buy and the sell side, you know, that we get to work with. I am motivated by the people we've motivated through the TV shows. Like, I know it's insane, but the amount of kids that come to us that are standing outside Sirhan House in soho right now, like literally right now in the rain, who are waiting for me or someone else to come in just to let them see it because they are so inspired by what we do that they want to get into real estate for better or for worse. I tell them all to go cure cancer. They don't listen to me. Is far more motivating than anything else. I'm motivated by goals. Right. So even on the days that I'm tired, I know that I have goals to, to hit and achieve and I've got to go out there and get them. And I think, you know, I think discipline is defined by doing the things you don't want to do, which oftentimes is like, I don't know. I Woke up at 4:30 this morning. I did not want to. I didn't go to the gym at 5:30 this morning to do deadlifts because, oh my God, I love it. I disliked all of it, but it's the job, you know.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. I think the fascinating part about watching people on the Internet build in public, which has never been a thing we really got to see before, you know, like we didn't see Brad Jacobs on his come up, you know, we didn't get to see. I always really liked, you know, hearing about Charlie Munger and then hearing about Sam Zell. Right. And I just never saw them as young guys. So it's really interesting to watch you. And I think, you know, that's probably why millions of people follow you online.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's also why, like, I think what we're doing is, is a unique social and media experiment. Like I built the number one real estate sales team in the United States on the back of a Bravo TV show. I started selling real estate through YouTube in 2015 when it was stupid. By 2019, was the number one real estate broker in the United States. Right. We're doing just over a billion dollars a year without a whole lot of tools and resources. So I blew up my life, started my own company, and now we're building the company on the back of Netflix. And if I can do it, I get excited about what phase three then looks like. But people do get to really watch the Journey. Like I've been on a reality TV show doing exactly what I do today, just at A little bit of a higher level every year since 2012. So you can go back and you can watch Million Dollar Listing, New York Season 1, March of 2012. And I am just a boy, like, going on dates. Like, I'm like, it's a lot to today. If you really just want to see, like, how does a kid who has no idea what he's doing just do it anyway?

[Interviewer]

You know, it's one of my favorite parts because I remember when I first started getting on the Internet, let's call it like three or four years ago, people are like, you're out of your fucking mind. Like, if you really own all these businesses, if you're in private equity, if you actually went to Georgetown and Goldman, why would you get online and do TikToks? What kind of idiot retail investor are you? Yeah, but I think what's fascinating is, like, I kind of love that you don't take yourself very seriously. Like, you'll sprint in houses, you'll make fun of yourself. You literally have your employees. I saw one were, like, jumping out of, like, I don't know, jumping out of, like, the top of cubicles on top of you in the elevator.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I was wondering, did anyone ever try to tell you you wouldn't be taken seriously if you joked on the Internet?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, this morning. What are you talking about? Like, every day there are three buckets of my audience. One bucket are super fans. They're inspired, they're aspired. They love what we do. Other bucket doesn't care, doesn't know, doesn't affect them. Bucket three hates me. And it's jealousy, right? It's a little bit of the peanut butter and jelly. And it's because we've been able to create a large business on the back of what they talked poorly about. And it's hard to take words back when they're written in permanent ink on the Internet. And I think it's okay. I think that when people talk about me, they do it because when they talk about themselves, no one listens.

[Interviewer]

It's tough. And, you know, I think everybody feels that way about haters. Like, they feel like, hey, I'm not going to care. It's not going to get to me. And then you have it happen to you. And it's quite hard, I think, actually, at least for me, you know, if somebody. I've definitely had the moments on the Internet where it feels like everybody. I know nobody actually cares about me, but I've had a moment where I'm like, oh, everybody's hating on Me on the Internet. So for people out there listening, like, how do you stop caring what the haters think? Like, do you have a practice you do? Is there. Were you just born? Gray hair, don't care.

[Ryan Serhant]

Gray hair, don't care. New tagline, New tagline. Yeah. The Real House Husbands of New York. Gray hair, don't care.

What other people think affects no part of my working minutes. So it doesn't really do anything to me. Like, for someone on the Internet to say something bad about you, I actually feel bad for them because I just know how awesome I am. Like, I'm just like, man, this person needs a friend. I've never spoken poorly about most people. Definitely not on the Internet because I, I have a job and like, I just don't act that way. So, like, I think the moment people stop talking poorly about you is the. Is the moment I'm probably going to have a problem because it just means I'm not doing anything and I'm not doing things right. The other day, I mean, we run four businesses, but I'm mostly known for selling unaffordable real estate to the 1% of the 1%. It's easy to hate on that. I totally get it. I totally, totally understand where that negative sentiment is going to come from. But I also appreciate the fact that I also came from a point where I had no money. And instead of looking up and getting angry, I looked up and said, that could be me too. Let me just do it my way.

[Interviewer]

That's so good. Yeah. You have something called the orchid test, which made me laugh out loud and want to do it immediately. Can you tell us about that?

[Ryan Serhant]

The orchid trick?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's what it was.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes. It's how to handle rejection. Because I get rejected all day long, my number one job is to fail. The more I'm pitching, the more I lose. So I want to take as many swings as bad as possible. Pitching agents, employees, deals, TV shows like Owning Manhattan on Netflix was not the first show that I pitched outside of million dollar listing New York. I think it was like the 70th. So that's 69 nos to get to that one win. And it was just on that other side. And so when people reject me, my go to because I just know how great I am. And I feel so instinctually bad for the person who's rejected me because I know what they're about to go through with someone else, that I send them an orchid the same way you would to send to somebody who has lost a loved one. And I write A little note that just says, thank you so much for the opportunity, and I'm sorry for your loss.

[Interviewer]

How many of those have you sent out, do you think?

[Ryan Serhant]

Oh, 2000.

[Interviewer]

What? That's insane. Do you own the flower company, too?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, no, I just really like investing in florist shops. You can ask my assistants. Like, I send two things. I send a book in a box, and I send orchids. So when things go well, I have, like, a company book. We updated it every year. It's. It's an actual book. I think physical things are okay. It's in a little box. It's our company, cobalt blue. And we write in a silver pen that says, thank you so much for the opportunity. See you on Tuesday. Or little things like, it was so great talking to you 17 minutes ago. Really looking forward to meeting you in six months. Little notes like that, that just peak the ears just a little bit. And I'll send that book when I don't get the deal.

[Interviewer]

We.

[Ryan Serhant]

We. We have. We have put florists kids through college for sure.

[Interviewer]

You know what nobody tells new owners? Your first win feels amazing. Until you realize one accident, one dispute, one oops moment can wipe the whole thing out. Smart owners don't wait for the disaster story. They protect what they're building. That's why I like Next Insurance. It's stupid. Simple. You hop online, answer a few questions, and boom. Instant coverage built specifically for your business. No paperwork, no phone calls, no please hold. And here's the kicker. You get an instant certificate of insurance so you never lose a job. Waiting on admin. Policies start at 29 bucks a month, and they cover 1300 business types. Contractors, creators, consultants, cleaning crews, all of it. Owners take risks, but smart owners protect themselves while they take them. So check out Next Insurance and get covered in [e-mail] Codi I want to talk about that. Because you close deals all the time you're closing. I mean, we see them on the Internet. You're running through these huge pads. But you're probably closing somewhere in your business. I would assume millions, if not tens of millions of dollars every single day.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

How do you get a stranger to trust you? Like, give us the Ryan Sirhant secrets to sales.

[Ryan Serhant]

The number one thing to get a stranger to trust you is first use the two Cs. So no one trusts anybody. You immediately give the person a compliment, and it has to be authentic, right? And then you find something in common, and it can be physical, Right? Like you complimented me on all black because you're an all black. And now we're talking. I appreciate you taking notice of my outfit. Right. I could compliment you on earrings, makeup, color of eyeshadow. Right. It pops. Eyes look great. Outfit, pinstripe. Super cool. And we're both doing this podcast. And now we're talking about business. My sister has a ranch in Austin. Now we can talk about Austin. We can go down to Texas. I'm from Houston. And now we're talking. Okay. And then the flip side to that is to always say no to something. People don't trust yes men or yes women. They do trust when you pull things away or you say no. Like, I flew with a billionaire to Palm beach when Covid started. Before I knew that there was going to be a Covid housing market, I just thought everyone was. It was all over. Right. And then people in New York started saying wife to live somewhere. A lot of wealth had been created. And I flew with this person. He didn't trust me. It's worth a couple billion dollars. Says his budget is 20 to 30 million. And I hadn't really done real estate in Palm beach yet at that time. And so the first house I could get him into was asking $140 million. And he asked me why I brought him there. I got really nervous. Pit in my stomach. This isn't. I'm sorry, I shouldn't do this. And he said, it's amazing. I want it. But he doesn't trust me. Barely knows me. The way to not get trust is to say, awesome. Great. I knew you were going to love it. This house is beautiful. It has an aquarium for human beings. It's the most expensive home ever sold in the history of Florida. Let's go do it. No trust. So the first thing I did is I said, no, I'm sorry I took you here. It's far outside your budget. We're going to leave. Let's leave. We'll talk about it in the car. Took him to another house. $53 million. Projectile vomits in the lobby. Go to another house. $30 million. Won't get out of the house. Won't get out of the car. Sorry. Because what I showed him through my wow moment with the first deal was just too perfect. And the trust was built there because I was willing to walk away and I was willing to not do the deal. Right. It's like at a bar. I'm willing to not go home because I actually do like you and I want you to trust me. And I'm a good guy. So let's talk later. All of a sudden it's like, I don't understand what to do. You know, Smart. And so yeah, Every sale has three Ps. Through the negotiation, you push, you pull or you persist. Sometimes it's an amalgamation of the three. Sometimes like in that instance, it was just pull. You have an incredibly wealthy person in front of you. They don't need to be pushed. You don't really need to persist. They're right there. Wealthy people, their number one asset is their time. So they're going to be moving way faster than you are. Most of the times the number one thing to do is just to pull. Let's not do it. I don't want to do the deal. This is, makes me uncomfortable. I don't want you to hate me. Let's not do it. Let me show you something else. And then you make it their idea to move forward.

[Interviewer]

So clever. Yeah. It's funny, we own all of these service based businesses, right. Like window cleaning. Actually I should be pitching you on why we should be your services for.

[Ryan Serhant]

A bunch of window cleaning. Nice.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. We own a, it's called Pinks. It's actually very cool. It's like 170 locations across the U.S. the whole home service franchise is about 800. Wow. And so window cleaning, painting companies, garage installation, et cetera. But what's fascinating is we found for a bunch of our new franchise owners, their biggest issue was wallet share. So they always assumed that people would never pay for things that they wouldn't pay for. They're like, this is, I can't picture it because I can't pay for it. Somebody else. There's no way they're going to.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And so it's been really interesting trying to break a lot of the team of this idea that rich people actually have a lot of money and they want you to give them a service. Pay for.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And so what do you tell? I've, you know, seen lots of, of your real estate agents, but a lot of them don't come from money. Like they're hustlers.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How do you get them to understand what it takes to sell, to reach to rich people and to break out of what might be their, their wallet.

[Ryan Serhant]

Instead of what wealthy people are paying for is not information or access, it's confidence. And confidence is currency. They want to know that when you tell them to do something or you tell them not to do something that they're going to believe it because they can pay for whatever information or whatever access they want. And they could probably buy this house in front of them or this car or this watch. And if it was a bad deal, it's not going to change their life in any way, shape or form. But when you have confidence in what you know and how you position this in their life, right. That confidence is the energy currency that will help that person make decisions with you and then they will be loyal to you for the rest of your career. It's true, right. Billionaire class is that bullseye. But they are protected by six rings of sphere of influence, right? From advisors to family to friends to assistants to bankers to the outermost ring of vendors. So who is somebody that has already broken through and gotten their trust to get their share of wallet? That's interior designers, contractors, attorneys. We were just talking about divorce attorneys. Right. Estate attorneys and so on. Those people have a shared commercially aligned interest with what we do. And so the way to get to the bullseye isn't to go to the bullseye and sit there and say, hey, come work with me. It's to get to the people where you have a commercially aligned interest and then you can have share of trust while getting to share of wallet. And we teach salespeople to do that. It is not easy, but once you learn how to create those conversations and build those relationships, you can build an uncapped life.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's incredible. It's why I really like that you have the education company. Because I know everybody thinks that education has a sheen on it. You know, they think if you could do, you do and if you can't do you teach. But I think it's a real gift to give people like the secrets that you learn over 10, 15 years of being in, in real estate. And so I guess in that instance with these real estate agents that, that come in for you. I'm sure you have interviewed thousands and you've probably seen thousands across the years. What do like the top 1% do? And that maybe even the 99% would think is unreasonable?

[Ryan Serhant]

The top 1% of salespeople just don't quit. It's the only way to be in the top 1%. Hard work trumps luck when luck doesn't work hard. And so they just show up day in and day out. They understand their job is to lose. And slowly but surely the wins start to outpace the losses. And then you compound and you compound. They're also relentless with follow up. Right. And they have pretty great memories or systems and processes in place to make sure that they follow up and follow through and follow back with everything they say they're going to do with every person that they meet. And they also understand too, like in negotiations, like they, they under to do like what I just talked about in Palm beach, like the number one negotiation tactic is silence. Silence is violence. There's nothing that drives a wealthy person crazier than not responding. And I see it with me. There is nothing that drives me crazier than when Danny doesn't respond to my text messages. Like I just lose my mind with everybody that works for me that doesn't respond in time. And I know my clients are the same way because when they want something, they want it. How dare you not respond? So you have to respond in real time or don't go get another job.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's a good point. I mean I think the richer you are, the faster you move on average. And the one thing I've always found with knowing as many billionaires as we've gotten to know over the years is like they're just faster than anybody imagines. I think a lot of times people think they're always smarter. I'm not sure that's always the case. But like they don't waste time at all. And you've actually talked about this, you've talked about how like you can't get some of your billionaires clients on the phone. They're like, the thing is I don't get on the phone.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And so do you have any weird quirks like that? Like will you not do voice notes? I like, you know Andreessen, Mark Andreessen's comment of like voice notes are violence. I think like it's a one way street. Don't give them to me, I don't want one. You got anything like that?

[Ryan Serhant]

I don't send people voice notes but I do record my own voice notes and then I'll listen to them on the way to work.

[Interviewer]

Right, Motivational quotes.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, I just talk to myself like, you got this right guy, you can do it buddy. No, just like instead of having to type, everything I do now is voice. Our AI service is all voice. Everything is voice. And so I'll just, I'll just talk about ideas so that I just don't forget them to remind myself to put them into action.

Billionaires text more than 13 year old girls. They just do for two reasons. First reason is it saves time and they know that if you try to get them on the phone, what are you going to do? You're just going to try to convince them. And if you can't convince them in writing, you're not good enough. So that's one, two is so that it's in writing. So you can't go back and say, well, we talked about that. Remember when we had that conversation? We did this. We did this. They can just scroll down. Anyone who has become that wealthy has gone through litigation and text messages and emails are admissible in court. And so you just always have to be careful that if you say it right, you can forget it. If you write it, you can regret it. And incredibly wealthy people get that.

[Interviewer]

Let's talk about hiring. So you're bringing a bunch of people on board?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Lots of people want to work for you. I saw the office. It's amazing. You've got your sirhant all over the sides of it. It's a cool building, got people lining up. How do you determine if somebody's an A player or not? Somebody should work for Ryan. I would assume you only want as many A players as you can. How can you tell?

[Ryan Serhant]

We haze them physically. Yeah. Figured if you can't take a punch, you can't work here.

[Interviewer]

You can't do that in New York. Texas. Texas. We're fine. You guys are soft.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, exactly.

Listen, I hire first and foremost for intelligence. If I have someone who's incredibly smart in front of me, even if they don't have the resume, if they don't have the backing, if they don't have the experience, they're just going to figure it out. And a lot of what running a startup is about is not doing things the way we used to do them, but improving on the way we're about to start doing them. And so I used to hire people for experience and I just hated it because every meeting I would go to would be talking about what they used to do. Right. It's like someone who's, I don't know, been divorced three times. Every conversation is about an ex wife. It's like guy move on. Like, talk about the future. And so what I like to do, especially with our executive hires, is I hire for a function and I hire for raw intelligence and I hire out of industry. If they have rideshare, app, operational experience, high growth tech business, they won't have any idea how to operate my business, a cloud brokerage, opening estate every month. But they'll get it, they'll figure it out. I also test for energy, empathy and enthusiasm. Like those are my three E's. And then our three key metrics are speed, quality, and experience. If you're not moving a little bit faster at a little bit of better Quality and leaving an amazingly memorable experience, then we are screwed.

[Interviewer]

It's a good point. Everybody has stories about their realtor, and if it's a good one, you get, I'm sure, five or 10 more clients. And if it's a bad one, you probably get turned down 10 or 20 clients.

[Ryan Serhant]

That's also, I mean, I was mostly talking about staff because I spent a lot of time thinking about the actual leadership, about payroll and the actual. The leadership team. Like our leadership team now is 17 people. And I sit there, and that's an expensive group of people. Every single minute costs money. And I have this thousand minute rule that's really important to me. And I really look at time as dollars. It's the only way that I can be efficient with my time and also not waste time.

[Interviewer]

Right? What's your thousand minute rule?

[Ryan Serhant]

You have a thousand minutes every day to be productive. Some people have 800 minutes, some people have seven jobs, some people have 10 kids. It's all different. But on average, right? You have a thousand minutes every day to be productive. If you look at those thousand minutes as a thousand dollars in your bank of time you get every day, it'll really start to affect the way you give someone 15 minutes or affect the way you start valuing your commute, for example. And I was spending so much time because I'm in sales. I have no salary, I have no benefits. You eat what you kill. There is absolutely no parade when you make $25 million a year and there is no pat on the back when you are in bankruptcy. No one cares. You're in it to win it, okay? And so I was spending so much time meeting with people where it wasn't a benefit for me, commuting, where it just was a complete waste of time. And I was like, how do I re. Trigger my brain to think about time? Like, money every day is going to cost me at that time when I started, this was a thousand dollars. A thousand minutes. A thousand bucks. If it's. If it's, you know, an hour meeting, that's 60 minutes. It also helped me deal with problems and not have bad days, right? Like, you'll have a really bad call and then you have a terrible day. But if the call was only five minutes, would I throw away $995 because of five bucks? Probably not. And it's not a great analogy because you could have a bad call that could ruin your life. I mean, there's tragedies, etc. But, like, it was a real way for me to think about Life in a relative way. That has been a major unlock for how we operate. And so I really try to put our executive team on the thousand minute rule as we go. Harvard Business Review wrote a case study on it, thinking that it was the most interesting thing about me. When I thought that there were so many more interesting things about me, and they're like, no, you're so weird with time management and how you do so many different things. We're going to write about that.

[Interviewer]

Tristan? Yeah. You know, when you were on, I think it was Million Dollar Listing was the first show, Right. You were known as, like, this amazing sales guy, one of the top real estate brokers, but you also had a little bit of a reputation for being tough. You know, was that given you were an actor before, Is that like part of your personality? Is this like a Persona that you put on, or are you kind of like a tough guy while also being this funny guy and highly competent?

[Ryan Serhant]

When Millionaire Listing was created, they cast four of us on the show and they said, we're going to film all four of you for the first season. You spend a year making this TV show, only three of you are going to make the cut.

[Interviewer]

Oh, I never knew that.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yep. And you think business is rough. That was emotional roller coaster because the producers would show up to a scene like, hey, I've got this person I want to show this apartment to. It'd be great. And they would show up and they'd say, oh, oh, this is what you have. Yeah, well, you know, we were shooting with the other guy this morning, and he had this amazing celebrity in this gorgeous penthouse. Yeah, I don't know if it's going to work for you. And it like, what they were doing was poking me and prodding me to make me get better and to figure things out. And I had to not just be like the white, quirky, nice guy that is boring tv. So if I could be the most vulnerable and have a little bit of an edge, I would not get cut because I don't want to spend a year. How many thousands of minutes that would be.

[Interviewer]

That's a lot of.

[Ryan Serhant]

I would stress out and so would.

[Interviewer]

Not write a case study on you.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. So I kind of concocted this arc where, you know, I'm an introvert. I got into theater when I was a little kid, so I didn't have to be myself. It was much easier moving from school to school to school because I was not good at sports. It was overweight, I had rash, acne, and I was going gray. And I moved eight times before fourth grade to pretend to be a tree in theater after school than it was to try to go play football. And the TV show gave me an option to put on a different type of costume. Right? And a friend of mine who told me to get into real estate was like, it's theater. It's the same thing. You put on a performance, you put on your suit, you memorize information, you understand the scene and you say yes and. Right. There's some memorization, but it's yes and how can I help you? You want an apartment? Yes, and what about this? And okay, what about this? And. And then you help them make a decision that they were going to make anyway because they're going to move, except they're going to do it with you. And it was a game. And that's. That's how we built.

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[Interviewer]

Mm.

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[Ryan Serhant]

Phew.

[Commercial Voiceover]

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[Interviewer]

So smart. It's interesting because now that I'm on the Internet as much as I am, I see the showmanship everywhere, you know, and you see it in business. I mean, like, famously, I was reading about Todd Graves from Raising Canes. This other person who's become a friend, David Senra, has this podcast called Founders. He talks about this game of showmanship as a leader and a CEO. So do you feel like you carry that into the CEO position, or do you almost have to leave behind this character development? Like, is there a little villain in the CEO, just like there was in the million dollar listing?

[Ryan Serhant]

I think I'm way tougher as a CEO than I am as a TV agent. Yeah, you have to be, because the liability is so hard and a lot of people.

You know, need to be led. People want to be led. I Am a terrible manager. I hate it. It's not what I do. I have people who manage. I'm a much better leader than I am a manager.

[Interviewer]

How do you see the difference between the two? What's the difference between a leader and a manager?

[Ryan Serhant]

I think that a manager does things right and a leader right does the right things. I think that's a Drucker quote more than anything. The leader picks vision and stands at the front of the line. The manager makes sure that the line follows the vision. You know, if you think about like Marcus Aurelius and that front line and I, one of the ways I differentiate myself, at least in the real estate space, is that a lot of CEOs are in the back. They're in like a high perch paying for things, you know, and then let's see what happens. Maybe like an idiot, you know, I've got like my broad sword out, no helmet, because this could be my last battle. And I'm in the front lines on a horse, you know, marching around. I'm like, you guys better follow me because I'm going. And then they're like, I guess we're going too. And that's, that is literally, that's how we built a company.

[Interviewer]

I feel like I've seen that video.

[Ryan Serhant]

We should make that video.

[Interviewer]

You really should. You know, you obviously have a ton of confidence or at least projected confidence. How do you think somebody builds that? You've talked about how important it is to have confidence to sell things, to sell things to rich people. How does somebody build their confidence?

[Ryan Serhant]

One of the ways I did it was with that fake Rolex early on. I think people have a lack of confidence because they have a lack of identity. You know, one of the things that we'll do through Sell it, so sell it.com is our education business. We train salespeople in 133 countries.

We've changed so many lives. And so it's insane to watch you sit and we say define yourself without using your name or talking about what you look like. And it is so hard for people to do that. They're like, oh, I'm from X. It's where everyone goes. I was born in. I'm like, okay, so just so you know, you just told me everything about you has to do with where you're from or where you're born. Really? Are you sure? Your whole life. Oh, no, no, no. That's it. I'm have a job and they don't know how to talk about themselves. So we spent a lot of Time helping people talk about their core identity. Who are you as a person? What makes you tick? If you understand who you are today, pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses. You can then write your future memoir and go 24 months out. 24 months from today. Where are you? What do you look like? Right. Where are you living? What are your best character traits? What are you watching? How much do you weigh? What are you driving? Get as detailed as you possibly can, and then that is your roadmap. And if you know that's your roadmap, you spike your own confidence because you are able to execute for a year. Right. And then realize that vision for the next year. And if you do it the right way, you are that person before the 24 months are up.

[Interviewer]

I want to talk about how you're stacking all these businesses now. So you start as, like a real estate broker.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And you work for somebody else. Then you build your brokerage. Now you have your education platform. As far as I can see it, you also have your SaaS company, and you have this brokerage. What am I missing? And a media company. Do you separate that? Like, how do you structure your holding company? How does. What does that look like for you?

[Ryan Serhant]

Sure. So I set up Sirhan Technologies, which is a holding company whose operating companies help people move forward. And we do that by providing services that help buyers, sellers, and salespeople operate within the real estate world to make things better, faster, and cheaper. One of the ways we do that is we own a cloud real estate brokerage. That's Sirhant. It's moving incredibly quickly.

[Interviewer]

And what does a cloud real estate brokerage mean?

[Ryan Serhant]

We don't have physical spaces.

[Interviewer]

But you have an office.

[Ryan Serhant]

I have a clubhouse in New York City because I like it.

[Interviewer]

Clubhouse.

[Ryan Serhant]

Okay.

[Interviewer]

I like that.

[Ryan Serhant]

So we have a clubhouse in New York City. We call them Sirhant houses. Agents. We have Sirhan offices all over the country. Now, agents open them on their behalf, and they're powered by the firm. The entire firm operates in the phone. So unlike a brick and mortar, you.

[Interviewer]

Go to Caldwell bank or a Caldwell.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Which are brick and mortar or franchise operators. And franchises used to work back when people paid attention to training because you would have the vision, the brand, and you would train relentlessly so that the experience in every franchise was the exact same the minute the training went out the window, which is what all franchise operators in the real estate brokerage space have forgotten to do. Quality goes out the door. And that's why all those businesses are failing, like, one by one. By one they're also aging out incredibly quickly.

[Interviewer]

That would be like a Keller Williams.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yep. So we have the cloud real estate brokerage. We then have a production company. So Sirhan Studios. So we have the Netflix show owning Manhattan Season 2, December 5th. We have all the top of funnel content which is lead generation organic for salespeople and people who need salespeople that then routes in a funnel over to the brokerage. Right. Our LTV to CAC is it. I told you it was six times.

[Interviewer]

When industry.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Well the industry I think is like at one.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so we're at 6.6 as a ratio over present day value, which is. I would. Which is just like astonishing. And we do it because we don't buy revenue and our lead flow is organic through content revenue.

[Interviewer]

You mean paid ads.

[Ryan Serhant]

You know, by revenue through buying commissions. So like if I'm.

[Interviewer]

It's normal in the industry.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, of course. Just the same way it is in like a hedge fund or an investment bank. You have a sales team or a portfolio manager. He does 20 million a year. There's a multiple on his 20 million. You come in, you lock them up, you give him golden handcuffs. We don't do that. So everyone comes to Sirhan for opportunity and they stay for the opportunity. We then have sell it.com, which is an operating company under the holdco. We then have simple. Simple is an AI workbook flow engine that replaces all back office support. So it's like instacart for work and then we just spin that flywheel all day long.

[Interviewer]

Fascinating. And going forward, which one do you think is the biggest? Or do you think that they're all so interconnected that there will be no spin outs?

[Ryan Serhant]

I think it's a public company. By 2030 I think it could be spun out. Sure. I mean I've set it up in such a way where. And we've had people come to us who only care about simple because all people care about is AI. We also have people who really just care about studios and organic lead gen content and the IP that studios has from us doing this for so long. And there's people who only understand brokerage, but we've kind of built real estate brokerage 3.0 and our average agent is young. The most diverse and inclusive real estate brokerage in the United States by far. You know, we're doubling in size every year and profitable. So like I don't know, it's just working.

[Interviewer]

That's fascinating. So how big do you want this business to be? How big do you think it will be?

[Ryan Serhant]

I don't want it to be big. I just want it to be the best.

[Interviewer]

Interesting. No. Come on. You don't have like a multi, multi billion dollar valuation that you think would be fun to hit in the game at some point or.

[Ryan Serhant]

No, I don't know. I probably to the, to the sadness of my investors.

They think about valuation. I just think about being the best. Like if I could have 10 agents and sell more than any other firm, I would do it. Simple. Replaces a lot of admin workflow, human support, but it empowers the salesperson to do more. Because we buy 80% of their day back, all admin tasks are gone. And so I don't know where we get to. I, I only care about winning and it doesn't have to be attached to dollars.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I get it. I think love of the game is what people gets. People going after a certain dollar amount.

[Ryan Serhant]

I think you think you focus on the money, the money doesn't show up. Like when we raise money. I wasn't looking to raise money. You know, if I were looking and actively trying to go raise money, I think it would probably be hard.

[Interviewer]

Don't you think, like in the beginning you have to be obsessed on money? Like your first 500k, your first million a year, like you kind of need to be obsessed with it. And then at some point maybe not. Or is that not true?

[Ryan Serhant]

I don't know about every other industry. It's possible in other industries.

It's easy in our business to just focus on the work. And if you take care of the work, the work will take care of you. And then you want to understand how much money you have. How much does your life cost? How much does your month cost? Like my monthly is high. Right. And so I understand what the business costs, I understand what my personal life costs, I understand money. But it is not a leading indicator for me and it's not a motivating factor in determining what I want to do. Money is just a tool. And when you treat it like a tool and not like the be all end all, then you don't put dollars on a pedestal. You just put the potential for greatness up there and it's so much more achievable.

[Interviewer]

So good. How about you've had some crazy stories about people who are one, say they have a bunch of money, don't actually.

[Ryan Serhant]

Have so many con artists out there.

[Interviewer]

Really?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. In insane. And they've only gotten better.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that is, that is true.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like you can't tell that. Like AI voice bankers who say they work at Goldman Sachs who will trick you on the phone to tell you that their purchaser has all the money in the world. They submit offers and the deposit doesn't show up and they waste all your time. We have sham buyers all the time. All the time you can tell if.

[Interviewer]

Somebody is serious or not.

[Ryan Serhant]

I mean, the first way to tell is to look them up online. Like if you look them up, Google them, ask chat, is this person real? Who are they? And if there's nothing there and they're looking for a $10 million home. Kind of sketchy. Although I will tell you.

I met someone a long time ago through the Internet who said they wanted to buy a place for eight and a half million dollars and they were ungoogle able. But I wasn't doing a whole lot of deals back then. And so I was like, sure, send me a proof of funds. And he DHL'd me a photo of someone in like an African headdress kind of thing. And on the back of it just said that the purchaser's name is good for it and does not commit to things he does not commit to.

I was like, I'll take it, sure, no problem. And he took out a contract and then disappeared for almost a year. And what people told me is people around the world will do that because they'll take a contract, they'll say it's an American real estate purchase, a sale contract, they got it for a good deal because that home, I think was on the market at 15 million at 1 point and slowly made it down to eight and a half. And then they'll go to people and say, come in on this deal with me for 10,000, come in on this for 5,000 for me. And they just steal money from people all around the world as they go. That guy actually did one day wire the $830,000 deposit, just randomly showed up one day and then totally disappeared again and then forgot to close. And then, long story short, eventually showed up to close, went and bought what I'm pretty sure was a private 737 that was sitting at JFK and then came back and it turns out I think he clears like a billion a year in pure cash. I don't know how much he actually makes. And he controls a Delta in a very, very, very important passageway for shipping containers in a very, very important and potentially scary place. And he makes so much money that one night he was drunk and he was on Zillow and he Filled out a form, and I had nothing better going on. So I was just sitting in the office, and I responded. And I asked him at that first closing. He's bought a lot of properties since then. Asked him, I'm like, why did you even buy this? He's like, to be honest, I felt bad for you. And I'm like, super power, number one. Make people feel so bad for me. They just buy the damn thing anyway.

[Interviewer]

Dude, whatever it takes. 20 bucks is 20 bucks. I'm in.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Puppy dog eyes, you know, gray hair, don't care. Like, just move on.

[Interviewer]

That's incredible. Okay, I want to close out with. I think a lot of people get overwhelmed negotiating. Obviously, that's something that even Americans, we're not that used to. People get scared about getting steamrolled. What do you do in a negotiation to start positioning yourself, like, in a power position? Somebody's sitting here, and they're like, I don't know. They're trying to get a raise. They're trying to interview for the next big job. They're going to the next level of the game, but they don't know how to get in the power position. And negotiation, what do you do?

[Ryan Serhant]

Two things. First thing, you just have to remember, the best negotiators, they don't talk. They translate. I see salespeople all the time, employees trying to ask for more raises. They don't know what to do. They don't understand their value, and so they just talk. They talk without saying a lot. The number one negotiators out there, they translate value. They repeat what you say back to them, and they mirror how you feel. You can get whatever you want if it's the other person's idea. And you do that by translating the conversation for somebody. So that's one. The second thing to understand, to kind of get the control negotiation, is you always throw the first punch. A lot of people want to stand back, right? No, I don't want to push. I don't want to persist. You go into prison, you throw the first punch. So you ask the first question, get them talking. People love hearing themselves talk, especially grown men. They just love the sound of their own voice, and they love hearing themselves talk about themselves to talk themselves into decisions. And so you start top of funnel. Use the funnel technique. Big, quick, big picture questions, right? So where are you from? What brings you here today? How can I help you? What does winning look like to you? That's another great way and a great question to reframe a stalled negotiation, Right? As you mirror them. You say, I totally understand why you're frustrated. I totally get it. Let's walk away. You pull and then you say, but if this were to go forward, what does winning look like to you? And then you put them in a position where they get to say either, well, it doesn't look like anything, which is a weird way to answer a question. Or what they usually say is they tell you their number one fear, and they give you the in to go and fix the fear. And that's how you do it.

[Interviewer]

That's so good. So new episodes coming out December 5th.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. Season two, Owning Manhattan, the greatest TV show in the history of the world.

[Interviewer]

Honestly, the trailer looks great. I'm not a big reality show girly, which is not good to say to you, I guess. But it looks fascinating and I'm excited to see you build live.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, no, we shot Netflix shoots in real time. They give us complete creative control. And because it's not sold into syndication like cable, like Million Dollar Listing was the law and order of real estate. Because whether it's season three, episode five, or season nine, episode two. Right. Cable TV is sold all over the world. Someone's got to be able to turn on the tv, watch it, and understand what's going on. On Netflix. You search. It's all about search. And there's interest graphs and what they call taste circles. So Owning Manhattan is an entrepreneurial, aspirational, sexy taste circle. And it's an eight hour movie. Right. It's eight episodes. And so what we're able to do is really craft the wildest story without worrying that someone's going to randomly turn on season two, episode five. You wouldn't. You could do that. I think they did that with like Bander Snatch. But then it's just complicated. Right. Watch every episode however you want to, which was an experiment that Netflix did, which basically was like, watch this TV show the way you would watch Law and Order. There's no narrative thread. It's just what case is this episode going to be? And Owning Manhattan is unlike any reality TV show I've ever seen. It has narrative thread. It has voiceover, I break the fourth wall, house of Cards style. And you get to watch in real time as a company is built. More so in season two. I think I sell an $8 million apartment this season live.

While getting out of the shower from the negotiation towards deal done. I am butt naked to putting on my shirt between both parties. And the camera barely even cuts. Like I've never seen anything like that before. And I think it's the evolution of the genre. I think people are sick and tired of knowing what's coming next. And owning Manhattan is the exact opposite of that.

[Interviewer]

That's why we deadlift even when you don't like it in the morning. That's why you're up at 4:30.

[Ryan Serhant]

Eat the frog. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Ryan Sirhan, thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Ryan Serhant]

Thanks for having.