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Stay Paid Podcast
Real Estate Is Under Attack — Here's How to Survive the Next 10 Years | Allan Dalton
00:43:00
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome to Stay Paid. I am your host, Luke Acree. I am excited to bring you guys a special episode. I was actually in the office today with one of my mentors friends. He's also a consultant for us here at Reminder Media, Mr. Alan Dalton. And I said, man, I'd be remiss, all this wisdom that he's bringing to me if I didn't bring it to you guys. And so, as you know, Stay Paid is the podcast for you as an entrepreneur, business owner, real estate agent, whatever industry you're in to help you live a life of freedom. But you can only get a life of freedom if you learn to take action today. And Alan is one of the mentors in my life that is helping me understand not only the industry, but where I need to apply myself. Alan, for those who don't know, he's been on previous episodes of Stay Paid. And Alan is just, I mean, a legend in the real estate space. Not only was He a past CEO of realtor.com and helped reshape that business and bring it back to life. Alan actually had his own real estate company that he built to sell 60 offices and hundreds of agents. We were talking today, billions of dollars in sales. And then not only that, he has led so many of the major businesses out there. Last, I think your tenure was senior vice president at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. And now Alan is in the game of impact, right? It's like the Ray Dalio challenge, where what do you do in your career? You're aggressive, you're building, but eventually you get to a point in your career where you just want to impact others. So, Alan, thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for being, being willing to get back on here with our listeners.
- [01:26]
B
Thank you, Luke, for that very kind and overly generous introduction. Great to be here. And also, I must say, at the outset, you're also a mentor of mine. I, I, I study what you do, and I'm very impressed and I'm delighted that we can share some thoughts together with your audience.
- [01:43]
A
Thank you. Well, I wanted to bring you back on because, you know, we have a bunch of things going on. We, we'll talk about that maybe on some other shows, but Alan and I are looking at writing a book together on teams in the industry. We have a lot going on with Reminder Media and what we're trying to develop with our Client for Life program. But one of the things that Alan, I would say your life work has been about is really helping agents understand they shouldn't have past clients that they should really only have clients because you're not a past agent. And then that is translated to, you wrote this book all about AI, and you now are looking at the industry and you're really looking at it from a way of going. How do you elevate the real estate agent from being just an agent to being an actual consultant? Do you want to talk about how you view the industry? Because the industry's under attack from lawsuits. It's under attack from technology changes. With AI, a lot of people think that real estate is not going to exist in so many years. How do you see the industry? Why are you trying to make this shift from an agent to a consultant?
- [02:42]
B
Well, first of all, that's a very complex and comprehensive question, so it deserves some nuance.
- [02:49]
A
Yeah.
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B
Okay. And I'll take some of those components one at a time. Many years ago, in fact, 35, 40 years ago, I created something called the Real Estate Financial Planning System. I then went on to create real estate planning programs for a number of real estate brokerages. That said, I think that that concept was ahead of its time because 20, 30, 40 years ago, it was a good idea to be able to involve the consumer and clients in a planning process. Because what percentage of consumers regret not owning enough real estate? Many, if not most. Yet what percentage have ever developed their real estate plan for life? Very few. But that wasn't part of the auspices of what most real estate professionals provided. So it would have been nice. Now it's critically important. The reason it's critically important is because AI, the fact that homeowners are living in their home for over 12 years, whereas it used to be six years, there has to be a mechanism for real estate professionals to show greater value. And that's one of the ways to introduce the fact that they can help people do real estate planning. But I've taken it now to another level with my business partner that I consult with this company, Anthony lamacchia. Anthony, as you know, Anthony's amazing. He is amazing. He was the number one agent in the state of Massachusetts. But that's just the beginning of his credibility. He's gone on now to build a brokerage that's in six states that's going to do upwards of 3 billion from scratch. He started the company, and he also is a prodigious national coach and trainer. And together we are introducing a program called the Certified Real Estate Consulting Network book and online course. Because there's a need to reframe the value. Because almost everybody that I know who has a leadership role in real estate has been conveying for years, if not decades now that the real estate industry has to become more relational and transactional. In fact, that's become like a calcified cliche.
- [04:58]
A
Yeah, but nobody has accomplished it.
- [04:59]
B
That's right in the backdrop here, the name of this fantastic podcast, Take action. No one has taken action in terms of creating a deliverable that expressly relates to helping consumers have enjoy long time value. We've all heard that the overwhelming percentage of homeowners say they're going to return to their agent. 90% I think, and 12 or 15% do. 10, 15 years ago I started, I don't want to sound too pedantic, but I started to educate the industry that we should get rid of the term past clients. Because if somebody's a past client, that means you're a past agent. But it's not just as simple as I'll change what I say. It's a thought process. How did we ever get to the point of even inventing that term? My past client? That's not how doctors and lawyers and financial planners think. And so the concept of real estate consulting is important because in the age of AI, consumers will will no longer look to realtors for advice. They'll need them for consultations. In fact, I did research once in a formal book. I paid $150,000 to a consulting company and they surveyed the public. I did this for my board when I was CEO of realtor.com the questions for the public was this, where do you go for real estate advice? And number one was family and friends, number two was like financial planners and number three was real estate agents. I then went to AI and I asked AI and writing my book on AI agent to AI agents what will happen if real estate agents don't do consultations? Not advice, but consultations, And AI said they will not survive. And they said just in the same way that travel agents didn't survive other than the people who plan expensive luxury tours and that life insurance didn't survive because they had to become financial planners. And they said even doctors who are not proactive will not survive if they, if they don't become more proactive. And so you have to be able to have reframe your title. That suggests something bigger than selling, marketing and even advice. Because I only, I own the URL Real estate Trusted advice. But I'm that I'm shelving that. I'm shelving that because the concept, you don't hear people say I'm a trusted cpa, right? I'm a trusted attorney because AI actually says that creates greater mistrust. But AI did said this, did say this. If a. If real estate agents take on the role of real estate consultants and do in home in consultations, the program that Anthony and I have developed, they'll go to be the number one position where consumers will go for real estate advice. They'll go to real estate consultants. If they don't do that, AI I put it in one of my books, they'll drop the five. So we're very excited. We're introducing the certified real estate consulting course. It's an eight to nine week online course. It's also a network and it's also a book.
- [08:06]
A
That is the thought process behind the certification. Essentially, hey, we need to up the credibility and the professionalism of the real estate agent. Or is it that, hey, as a real estate agent you do a terrible job keeping in touch with clients. This certification is going to teach you strategic ways how to keep in touch with your clients in order, like through the consultation process, like the planning process where we meet with you annually, we go over the things about your home that I'm going to give you an avenue to essentially fill that loyalty gap. Does that make sense what I'm saying? Meaning like, is the process getting a certification because real estate agents need to up their professionalism? Because not to be funny, there's a lot of certifications out there that somebody can take to do that. Or is it more about, hey, not only with a certification, give you credibility and more education, but more importantly, it's about helping you in the loyalty gap that takes place in your business where when you sell Alan Dalton's home, you have no real sophisticated way to keep in touch with Allen for the next 12 years until he moves again. And becoming a consultant is all about actually consulting every year in an annual review. Like, can you give a little bit more detail there?
- [09:27]
B
Another great and comprehensive question. You know, we've all heard the everybody says words matter. And I remember always I had a plaque in my office that read, watch your thoughts because your thoughts lead to your words, action, behavior, character and your destiny. Let's look at the words that you just used there. You used the word stay in touch. Is that really what consumers want? I question that. In fact, I may not be right. But I'm convinced that if there was a do not be contacted by a Realtor or real estate agent registry, many consumers would sign up for it. It's not a question of staying in touch, it's a question of providing ongoing Value. See, realtors have stayed in touch. We, we've kept the postcard business in business. Yeah, we've kept the.
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A
Hey, we appreciate your postcard business, you know, shameless.
- [10:19]
B
We've kept the calendar companies in business. Yeah. The refrigerator magnets in business. We have client appreciation events galore. But that doesn't change lives and it doesn't bring value.
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A
Okay, well, push back. I think it bring. I mean, I'm in the business, so I have bias. I think it brings value of relationship, but it doesn't bring value of. What do you call it? Like education. It can, you can do a postcard that has educational content, but the medium of delivery is lacking. The client appreciation event. Don't you agree that when Julie Vanderblue write your agent invites you to it, it at least makes you feel like she cares. But it's not going to change what you think of her in terms of her credibility as a good real estate agent.
- [11:06]
B
See, but see, that mentality to me is why they'll always be more client appreciation events versus agent depreciation events.
- [11:18]
A
What do you mean by that?
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B
Where the consumer wants to throw a party to honor their agents.
- [11:23]
A
Oh yeah. Well, there's no agent appreciation that I know of except from real producer.
- [11:29]
B
Instead of agents sending out thank you notes, they're receiving thank you notes because. Because the point is this. Every successful agent must send out thank you notes. They must do client appreciation. They must stay in touch. But our industry has stayed in touch
- [11:48]
A
and they haven't succeeded. Is your point.
- [11:51]
B
Because it's not enough of an impact.
- [11:53]
A
I gotcha.
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B
It's not creating enough influence that can withstand the fact that people are now in their homes for more than 12 years. There has to be a deeper and more profound and more relevant.
- [12:06]
A
So what is that way, like, how do you make an impact with the consumer? That's what this whole consulting thing, I believe is about. What does that look like? How would the ideal agent in your mind, you know, obviously do the client appreciation events, do the postcards, do the things like that? Because that's a bar minimum.
- [12:24]
B
You have to do that.
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A
Yeah, but how would they go.
- [12:27]
B
The next magazines, then you take it to a higher level. But even the magazines, they're going to help an agent keep their clients do a lot more business. But even that is not the final answer.
- [12:37]
A
Exactly. What's the final answer in your.
- [12:39]
B
The final answer is if. If I, I don't want to sound too arrogant when I say please be
- [12:45]
A
bold, you know, we want Alan Dalton's final answer.
- [12:49]
B
No I like to say I may not be right, but I'm convinced the agent's going to have to actually go into the home, not just reach from afar, sit down and consult with people.
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A
Okay.
- [13:00]
B
Not advise people. Because consumers are going to get advice from AI. Hello. A lot of agents are now even getting advice from AI. This is the first time in history that the consumer has access to the same advice to the same advisory resource. They're going to have the same advice. The Realtor has to consult because consulting comes before advice. So let's talk about what the In Home consultation program consists of. First of all, as part of our program, we have a whole campaign marketing materials about the concept of doing home equity checkups, because that's a very easy way to get back into the home. So instead of an agent advertising, when you're ready to buy, sell a home, give me a call. Otherwise, get lost. They're doing the opposite. They're saying, I want to commit to your home and talk to you about your equity, where it is right now, based on. On market analysis using AI. And then we're going to talk about a lot of other components of it. So there's five steps with all of our marketing materials. I'll walk you through very briefly here because we only have so much tolerance for verbiage here. So the first thing is this. So when they sit down with somebody, folks, tonight I brought five areas that I cover with my clients as a real estate consultant. As you can see here, we hand them all the materials. Number one is market updates. We cover both local, national, in your home. And we can also do a cma. But a CMA is not enough for our clients as consultants because a CMA only gives you an estimate of fair market value. We also do an mma, a major, A master market analysis. We use AI in my experience to consult with you on how you can enhance the value of your home. So that's the first thing we cover. The second thing we cover is home improvement. Now, where do we get all the information? Home improvement, it's all general. That's why we're not there to advise. We get that from AI. They have checklists, all the different categories of home improvement. The most likely 95% of people are going to do a home improvement, the return on investment. But that has to be customized because somebody might only get 40% on a swimming pool in a tiny little home. But if they don't have it in an estate, they won't sell the home. So you've got to. You've got to consult with people on the advice you're bringing them. So you're guiding them through consultation versus advising them. Plus again, no one says I'm a trusted advisor because AI says that creates mistrust. I'm a trusted attorney. Hello. That's step number one. The second part of the consultant, the third part of the consultant is home maintenance. Home maintenance is a big issue, especially the longer that people are staying in the home.
- [15:42]
A
Yeah, we see this from the title companies that we have looked to partner with in the mortgage companies and stuff like that they're trying to play in. And then you go to the one which is the war warranty companies. We just, we just met with a warranty company out at Next Homes event and they literally have an app that is trying to help consumers understand the maintenance that has to happen on their fridges, on the appliances in the house, all that stuff.
- [16:09]
B
And that's exactly what's going to happen because of the software companies, AI and marketing companies. All of these products are going to be sold to realtors and to the public. But the most important product is the agents must see themselves as a product and real estate professionals as a product is being attacked in terms of long range value. So the most important product is the productization of the agent. Must go from just being a real estate salesperson to, to being a certified real estate consultant. That's the number one product because otherwise, otherwise the homeowner is going to be able to get all of these apps, all of this information with AI.
- [16:59]
A
With is your argument that the agent needs to be the hub in which they get these apps from. Because even in you stating you go over their home maintenance and you stated, oh, you get it from AI, you, you go over their home market value. Well, where are you going to get that? Eventually you're going to get that from AI. So is the argument there that hey real estate agent, unless you work to position you and your brand, your company as the person who introduces these things, these concepts to your client, look out because they will go find these things and then you basically have no value except for the transactional value of, of representation. And there's some inherent value there, but it's going to minimize over time with tech and with all these bigger players coming into the space.
- [17:49]
B
Yeah, exactly, I completely agree with you. But there's two points here I'd like to make that, that reinforce what you're, you're introducing here. Number one, you go to a doctor, but beyond going to the doctor, you may go to a lab to do blood Tests for a culture. Yeah, you may go to get an X ray from another doctor. But all of that information comes to a doctor, comes down to your doctor, comes down to your family, doct comes down to the surgeon, so forth and so on. So they have to anchor all of this. So therefore the doctor then doesn't advise you as much. They'll actually consult with you. We can do this, we can do that, we can do this, we can do that.
- [18:29]
A
Yeah, it's a good point.
- [18:30]
B
And AI for example, I just went and I had spinal fusion surgery. I had a disc removed. I had a number of medical issues that I dealt with. And I went to AI and there was a lot of different options and the doctor went over a lot of different options. So the doctor then consulted me. I get advice from AI, but. And that's the same thing that's going to happen in real estate. See, here's what's happening. Right now, more than ever, buyers are going directly to the listing agent. And that's in its infancy. And one of the reasons is, is even though an agent, if they get to meet with the buyer, they can explain how the compensation might come from the proceeds and how the home seller may pay the compensation, the negotiated fees and so forth and so on. But nevertheless, more buys than ever are going directly to the listing agent. Now, the people in real estate, including many of the coaches who are only playing checkers, here's what they'll say. Well, that means that listings are even more the name of the game. That means you even get to get more listings. That's the checkers player. Here's how a chess player thinks. Once the home seller recognizes that the buyer didn't have an agent representing them, how long do you think it's going to take for them to conclude, wait a minute, why do I need to pay for representation? Not to mention the fact a lot of the more important parts of a transaction, the home inspection, the appraisal, title, mortgage, actually aren't performed by real estate professionals. So therefore, that's all the more reason that if an agent doesn't solidify and create a client even before they've ever had a transaction. See, a lot of people think that they only use the word client during a transaction. That's why the industry invented past clients. Because after a transaction, they are past clients.
- [20:14]
A
Yes. What are you.
- [20:14]
B
Yeah. Now, before the transaction, they, therefore they can't be a client. And that's why the industry got into this notion. These are my onesies, these are my twosies, these are my threesies These are my huts. These are my.
- [20:26]
A
Yeah, because like in the commerce or retail space, they're customers. But real estate agents don't want to call them customers because they want a longer term relationship. But they haven't got them to actually.
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B
But they can be a client before they ever have a transaction. Yeah, see, that's the beauty of it.
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A
So is the argument, because I'm just thinking through the lens of like Acre Brothers Real Estate. Right. And like all the teams and the agents that we have at Reminder Media, the argument really is, and this is what I've been thinking throughout Reminder Media is how do we help agents make sure that they do that? Consulting. That home equity checkup, you know, whatever you want to call it, the financial
- [21:01]
B
plan of your home is very important.
- [21:03]
A
Well, I get that from a marketing standpoint and brand clients. Exactly. But like helping them at least do that once a year, like once a year for all of your clients in your database, you, you should be meeting them with a home equity report, but doing some checkup of their home equity. Not just the market condition of their home, but appliances, the maintenance, all the stuff that goes into that, they should be doing that. And you're saying your certification and everything that you're doing basically offers what they need to go over.
- [21:37]
B
Exactly. But there's even other steps because the fourth step is to also. Part of the fourth step, the first step is the market analysis. Then home improvement, home maintenance, home savings, they don't have to all be in that exact order. But also part of the home savings is to review their insurance policy. Part of the home savings is also property tax Appeals. Something like 11%. Only 11% of people appeal their property taxes. I saw this in a report, but 48% of people think they're paying too much.
- [22:10]
A
Yeah.
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B
Is a doctor going to go into somebody's home and discuss this is a lawyer, is a teacher, is the landscaper. The only hope is a real estate consultant to go when they're not in the marketplace. That. And go over everything. And then the last part is part of our program is our real estate planning because agents have to also be real estate planners. So that's. I started that 35 years ago. We've rolled that in there as well.
- [22:36]
A
Okay. It makes so much sense to me. It's the execution that I think is the tricky part for people. It's making sense. So I learned guys today about what Alan's doing on this certification of real estate consultants. And you know, I've always believed in. You got to create a client for life. Alan is one of the ones that helped me kind of coin that term for our company. But hey, look, the problem with real estate agents is they know it's about relationships, they know it's about referrals. But when you track and act the act, when you or watch the activity that they do in order to get referrals, in order to build the relationship, they spend all their time, energy and money on the anonymous public. They spend all their time, energy and money going after leads versus going after the relationships that they have. And I always have seen that loyalty gap and that problem. Hence Reminder Media exists because of it. But there's never been an incredible like solution to getting the consumer to know like and trust you at a level that they stay with you like you're their financial advisor, you're their doctor. That's never been able to be accomplished within the real estate industry. And it's because there's that lack of value. Yeah, people could do magazines, they can do client events and all good things, but there's this lack of inherent value that the real estate agent provides me. So therefore, when I go back to the marketplace 12 years later to sell my home, I don't really have that deep of a connection unless I'm in a friendship. That's that, that's almost like what's happened to the industry. Because the industry doesn't know how to actually provide the value. Over the length of the 12 years, someone moves, on average, they resort to get trying to get into friendship with all of their clients. Because I feel guilty. I think of Brian here, my agent here. If I didn't use him, I would feel kind of guilty not using Brian because we're friends. Right? But is it off of actually I want to use Brian because he is my consultant. Like he is my trusted advisor, like that. That's the real reason you should want to use somebody. Not just because you know them and they know your family.
- [24:38]
B
That we're going back to the providing for value. But let me add this dimension in this perspective. Why is there a loyalty gap and why haven't agents gone in? Because agents have so much knowledge. Knowledge and homes, knowledge and new construction. But let's break it down how much they're using it. Okay, so let's say one of my clients is in Long Island. The Laffey, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and Fillmore. Emmett Laffey is one of the great leaders in the industry, spent a lot of time consulting with that company. Their average, their average fee on a transaction is about 20,000 a transaction. It's high. More than most of the country. Let's use that. So I asked this question to agents that I work with. What percentage of the time when you go on a listing appointment to get the listing? You know what I always hear? 80, 90, 95%.
- [25:25]
A
Wow, that's high.
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B
Now, I saw something once from Zillow. I think it said 84%. That means that the real estate industry does not have a listing presentation problem. Even though no one wants a listing presentation. They want a marketing proposal. That's another podcast. But the point is this. So that means that if they made $100,000, that. That meant they had five transactions, okay, if they made 200,000, okay, I guess they had. Let me see how much I had 20. If they. They had 10 transactions, okay, they made 200,000. If they're getting 80% of the. So they're meeting with 12, 13, 14 people. That means all their knowledge, all their training, all their coaching. Oh, they're advising in the home to 12 people a year. Imagine a doctor who said, oh, yeah, I met with 12 clients last year. I met with 12 patients. All of this talent. And in that marketplace between them, in Brooklyn, Queens and Long island, there's 13 million people. So you have an agent. 13 million people. Average fee is 20,000. Somebody who made 200,000 met 16 people. Okay, now why are they only in 16 homes? Because of the way the industry has been taught for the last 40 years. What I call real estate, old math, the 80, 20 law. Why is there only 20? Because the way to be successful, you've got to do prospecting, social media, a lot of open houses, direct mail, artificial intelligence, all of this, it's all transactional math. No one ever has, ever. As far as I'm concerned. Forensically evaluated relational math. Let's talk about the relationship. I call it Alan Dalton's New Math. How does that work? I asked the agents. If you met with two people a week, 50 weeks a year, 100 people, how many people do you think you get a listing? Well, if only 10% sell, that's 10. I'd get eight. Well, that's another $160,000, because when you made 100,000, you work 40 hours.
- [27:31]
A
You.
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B
You're making $50 an hour. So now you spent 100 hours, you made another 160. You're making $1,600 an hour. That's the new math. Okay, now how many of those sellers are going to buy? 6. How many buying? I'll get four. That's another 80,000 now you're up to 220,000 now because you're not just having a sphere of influence, you're influencing your sphere, but you're also influencing their spheres. Because you might have 200 people in your sphere of influence. Each of them have 200. That's 40,000 people. But you're not influencing. They belong to a bowling league. You only know one of them, but there's 200 others. But you're not influencing them to influence their spheres because they're not going to say, you've got a list with so and so. Because I had a client appreciation, which you should have because you're going to lose them. You've got to meet with Luke because he did. He helped us appeal our property taxes. He got us on this real estate plan. He's got us using our home equity. That's providing value. So how many listings will you get from the referrals? They say 2010. That's another 200. That's another 400,000. Their math, not mine. Their math. Then you're going to bring in home service providers, carpenters, plumage with your home service directory. How many listings? Geez, I get another 10 or 20. That's another 400,000. Right now you're meeting with 20 people a year in the home and you've got 20 years of invaluable knowledge and professionalism that's being underutilized because the industry has taught everybody transactional math and not relational math. That's where I come in with reminding media, because you are the epitome of relational math.
- [29:12]
A
Agree. Yeah, that's been the whole.
- [29:14]
B
And I'm sorry I'm not more excited. I've had a little bit of a cold.
- [29:18]
A
I was going to say preach, man. What do you preach over here? I mean, honestly, like that is. And we know when we talk to top producers, you guys know this too. Go talk to any top producer. Maybe you are a top producer. Listening to this right now. Talk to any top producer and they will tell you the majority of their business comes from relationships. It comes from people in their sphere that they've influenced. It comes from referral and repeat business. That's where the majority of transactions come from. But yet the activity that we do, unfortunately, is not a what I would almost call like a direct value add or direct response type activity for the sphere. And what you're proposing, in essence is, hey, as a real estate agent, just try to set a KPI goal for yourself. If you have a hundred people, meet with two of those people a week to do an equity checkup report in
- [30:09]
B
an in home consultation.
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A
In home consultation. And just from there you can net 180,000 or whatever your math was. But let's just use it as an example of like Garrett. You know, a friend of mine down in Hampton Roads, Virginia. He has about 280 to 300 people in his database. Keeps it really, really clean. Guy closes 80 plus deals a year. Right. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, and all he does is nurture and take care and work with those people. I can't even imagine what Garrett would do. And I should ask him, hey, do you do anything like this home equity checkup where you're in the home and doing a consultation? What I love about it the most, and this is why I want to try to figure out, okay, how can reminder media help agents facilitate. It is it's a direct value add around the assets that are most important around the home of the service that you offer. And, and it's an easy referable thing that that client can refer you now to their friends and family to do the same. Where what I'm asking for usually in a referral is, hey, do you know anybody looking to buy or sell? Well, that is the transaction. So you're looking for the ultimate, like, do you know anybody who's ready to buy right now? It's very little. And so that's why, like, this is something that's referable, but it's non. Like it's not the ultimate. The person doesn't have to be ready to buy or sell. It's just a straight value add. Hey, bring my friend Luke in. He can give you a home equity checkup where he walks you through in a consultative manner what you have in your home, all the different things you should be aware of. And that helps you solidify the referral, solidify the relationship.
- [31:47]
B
Yes. So well put. Yeah. The home equity checkup is part of the program Anthony and I have developed, as is the real estate planning, because you also want to be a real estate planner. But the thing is this, who is more likely to do an in home consultation? A real estate agent or a real estate consultant?
- [32:04]
A
Yeah, real estate consultant.
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B
It's that simple. But it's going to take a while because it is, to use a cliche as a paradigm shift in terms of. And so that's.
- [32:12]
A
Well, the, the industry is up against an attack right now where the, the consumer, whether we like it or not, does not value real estate agents. They do not view the profession as a good profession or as a high credibility profession. It just is what it is. I think it's above car salesmen, but it's not too much above it. And so there is a trust and there's just a bad connotation in the industry around what a real estate agent does. And so agents need to redefine themselves to the consumer. And the only way that happens is not by branding, not by saying you're a trusted real estate agent or whatever marketing slogan you need that helps. Not the trusted part, but doing slogans. But what you have to do is redefine the value that you bring to the table. That's ultimately what agents have to do, that they're not really moving on.
- [33:00]
B
Right, right on. You know, but you mentioned you're going to talk to one of your top colleagues there and if he's done this, what I suspect you might hear from a lot of top producers is this, I've done that. But there's a difference between I've done
- [33:15]
A
that and I do that, then I
- [33:16]
B
do that every week.
- [33:17]
A
Exactly.
- [33:18]
B
Because see, because if somebody's only was with 20 people in the home, you know, and they could meet with another hundred.
- [33:26]
A
But see, everybody agrees with it.
- [33:28]
B
Right?
- [33:28]
A
Everybody, I think everybody listening to this because. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Yeah, I agree with that. But executing that is so difficult.
- [33:34]
B
Well, no, well, you have, you have to resource, you have to train.
- [33:36]
A
Right.
- [33:37]
B
Because. Because I've already started some of the training and, and here's what I found. This is, this is an interesting phenomenon. You have to contact people and let them know. I'd like to come in and do a free home equity checkup. I'd like to come in and do a complimentary in home consultation. When somebody asked how's the market? After you explain it, say. And by the way, another part of the market is people are staying in the homes longer, which is why I'm doing free in home consultation with all of my clients and future clients, including home equity checkups. Let's get together. It takes about 30, 40 minutes. I'm not going to take no for an answer. You're going to get into the home. Right, but, but then what's going to happen is that you're going to, you're going to have a completely different approach and you're going to have a different approach to, to time management and that. So it's so. But because historically real estate agents don't call buyers to get appointments. That's why there's something called Legion. Yep. But we have to start understanding. If I were to ask if, if I were to do a survey and I used to do a lot of surveys when I was CEO of realtor.com, if I did a survey, my own agents as well, and when I was senior vice president of research and development for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. I love doing surveys. And if I was to do a survey, I would ask this question, okay, what percentage of the time, what percentage of the time when you meet with homeowners or people come up and ask how's the market? Do you end up with an appointment in the home that week or the second week? That's number one. The second question is this. What do you think is the number one lead gen system in the industry? I may not be right, but I'm convinced very few would say I'm the number one legion system. My sphere of influence. Now why have, why haven't we arrived at that conclusion? Because agents can't be self monetized. See, agents are monetized. So when you have lead gen systems, that's when agents are being monetized. And billion dollar companies are talking about lead gen systems. Why would they ever want agents that are in that marketplace for 30 years with all their credibility and immense professionalism, why would they ever want them to think they're the number one legion system? 60% of buyers are moving within an hour's radius because no one makes money off of them.
- [35:54]
A
Yeah.
- [35:55]
B
And therefore they have to see, they have to make a few changes. You said earlier, database, part of the teaching and the coaching that Anthony lamacchio and I do in this program is that you need to evolve your thinking from a database to a client base. I could have the largest database in California next week. I could buy the voter registration rolls, Republican Democratic party and walk around Sacramento as proud as a peacock.
- [36:19]
A
Yeah.
- [36:20]
B
But in six months I might be a feather duster because also every, I've been saying this for 20 years now, every, everybody tell agents, treat your business like a business. No, treat your business like a professional practice. You've heard me. I've said that for 15 years at seminars. Because a business has customers and a practice has clients. And so when your clients, what are you going to do? You're going to bring in real estate planning, you're going to bring in. There's a great program out there now, homeowners AI that all these apps and take care of the home.
- [36:50]
A
Yep.
- [36:51]
B
Brian Buffini's come up with a phenomenal program now, certified real estate professional. But you want to make sure you get in there beyond that, as a Real estate consultant. And so that's so I love it.
- [37:04]
A
I mean I.
- [37:04]
B
Words matter if somebody understands because I
- [37:08]
A
wrote someone great told me once that words are the clothing of ideas.
- [37:12]
B
Thank you. You know what? I wrote a book with. And I wrote a book with one of my mentors. I have some great mentors. Gino Blefari is my number one mentor. The goat of the real estate according to Swan Pole 2023. But another one is Chris Stewart. Yeah, Chris Stewart was the former CEO of the same brand and then he's very prominent with place. Okay. And he and I wrote a book together, Real Estate Influence. And I did a lot of research on that subject and research reveals this. The two most prominent ways for somebody to have influence. Now, how much do people talk today about influencers? Do real estate professionals want to be influencers? Do brokers want to be influencers? Do great team leaders want to be influen? Of course. Well, the two major ways of being an influencer, according to research number one is through intimidation. That isn't available to us. Okay. We're not going to go out there and threaten people.
- [38:06]
A
Some might do it, but we do not suggest it threaten people.
- [38:09]
B
If you don't listen, you may not have a home when you come back. Okay, so we don't have intimidation. The second one, the one that we do have available as professionals with dignity and integrity is prestige. I believe. Again, I like to say it, I may not be right. But no, convinced. Certified real estate consultant is the most prestigious credential in the history of the real estate industry. It's prestigious. That's why there's consulting companies. Okay. You first have to consult and I say that I own real estate Trusted advisor. It's not enough you consult and then you advise. In the age of. Of AI.
- [38:53]
A
Yeah, it's because I think in the age of AI like advice is going to a commodity. We can all get information easy. And it's what you do with that advice that matters. And that's the consultative process. When you hire a consultant, you're hoping that that consultant actually works with you collaboratively and actually maps out a systematic way to get something done. Man, this has been great. I could go on literally for hours with you. But one more point. I was going to ask you to plug where people can find it, but go ahead.
- [39:21]
B
I want to one more. You know one of your great clients, this is my agent, Julie Vanderbilt. Yeah, she said something very flattering about remind. I think she's the number one agent the team in Connecticut. She's not. She's way up there. She's a phenom. And she said something about remind me. In fact, I received your magazine from both of them, from Julie. And Julie said, reminded media is keeping the humanity in real estate.
- [39:46]
A
Yeah.
- [39:46]
B
Okay.
- [39:47]
A
I love that. I'm stealing that. Julie.
- [39:49]
B
No, Reminded media is keeping the humanity in real estate. And see, the word consulting is collaborative.
- [39:57]
A
Yep.
- [39:58]
B
See, like a, a president. No matter what political party, they'll have advisors, CEOs will have advisors. But there's a difference between an advisor and a consultant. There's nothing more collaborative. So we have to put our egos aside and understand AI is going to be valuable. Yeah.
- [40:15]
A
It's going to give better comps than you. It's going to give better info than
- [40:18]
B
you, collaborate with people and arrive at the best outcomes for them. Yeah, well said. That's why words matter in certified real estate consulting. I think it's in its infancy right now. There's a course, there's a training certification. I think it's, it's the most prestigious and will have be the most influential. And actually we're capping IT at only 5% of the industry because we don't want to water it down.
- [40:40]
A
Yeah, love that. Now can they find it? I think you had said it's what, Certified realestate consulting dot com.
- [40:45]
B
Yeah. Certified real estate consulting dot com. And I'll tell you right now, it's not like this is going to go out to 10 million people. You can also email me Allan Dalton, A L L a n dalton consultingmail.com and I'll even give you my text 805-338-8796 so I can consult with you.
- [41:06]
A
Yep. I love that, Alan. Thank you, man. I mean, just, just a crazy legend in the industry, but just full of wisdom. I'd encourage everybody. Whether you do the certification with Alan or not, you should seriously consider doing this whole home equity checkup. This idea of the consult in the home with the client as information just becomes commoditized. The value is really in the consultant. The value is really in the verification of the advice, the verification of the information, as well as the implementation of that information. Remember that the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every industry is that top producers take action. So take action on what you heard today. Go do home equity checkups with your clients. Make that happen. I can't wait to hear what you think when you do it. I know we're going to do it at Acre Brothers, but I just want to encourage you to take action on that. If you love this episode, make sure you subscribe. Make sure you share it with a friend. You can check it out on our YouTube channel. So go to YouTube. Find it@YouTube.com remindermedia. You can also find it@staypaypodcast.com where we'll have all the link to the show notes as well as the links that Alan mentioned today. Guys, appreciate you listening. Thank you for listening in to really a mentorship call from Alan to myself here today and checking out this special episode. Remember difference between top producers, media producers in every industry. Stop Producers take action. Take action on that today.
- [42:41]
B
Sa.